Banana Counting Monkey

2006-03-02T11:56:00.000-08:00

Anonymous note to the driver who parked besides my car at the Esso this morning.

I couldn't help but notice while I stopped for coffee.

I thought you should know that parking in front of, but not in, the handicapped parking spot does not make you a sensitive human being. It's parsing the meaning of "parking in the handicapped spot" in the same way as "I did not have sex with that woman."

Just a thought.

2005-09-08T07:09:00.000-07:00

You are The Cap'n!

Some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some slit the throats of any man that stands between them and the mantle of power. You never met a man you couldn't eviscerate. Not that mindless violence is the only avenue open to you - but why take an avenue when you have complete freeway access? You are the definitive Man of Action. You are James Bond in a blousy shirt and drawstring-fly pants. Your swash was buckled long ago and you have never been so sure of anything in your life as in your ability to bend everyone to your will. You will call anyone out and cut off their head if they show any sign of taking you on or backing down. You cannot be saddled with tedious underlings, but if one of your lieutenants shows an overly developed sense of ambition he may find more suitable accommodations in Davy Jones' locker. That is, of course, IF you notice him. You tend to be self absorbed - a weakness that may keep you from seeing enemies where they are and imagining them where they are not.

What's Yer Inner Pirate?
brought to you by The Official Talk Like A Pirate Web Site. Arrrrr!

2005-09-06T09:07:00.000-07:00

Saturn's Rings Dimming

"LOS ANGELES (AP) — New observations by the international Cassini spacecraft reveal that Saturn’s trademark shimmering rings, which have dazzled astronomers since Galileo’s time, have dramatically changed over just the past 25 years.
Among the most surprising findings is that parts of Saturn’s innermost ring — the D ring — have grown dimmer since the Voyager spacecraft flew by the planet in 1981, and a piece of the D ring has moved 200 kilometres inward toward Saturn.
While scientists puzzle over what caused the changes, their observations could reveal something about the age and lifetime of the rings"

I blame Global Warming. This must be Bush's fault......

2005-09-01T04:26:00.000-07:00

Monkey got Married!
On August 14th, 2005 at Oakville Terrace in Richmond Hill, Ontario
....and we couldn't be happier.

2004-12-16T08:55:00.000-08:00

It's a National Scandal!!!!

Bigger than Shawinigate, than Adscam, Watergate, Rathergate! More terrible! More tragic and incomprehensible!

TIM HORTON"S is closing on December 24th (Christmas Eve) at 3pm, not reopening until after boxing day.

This is criminal. Obscene, even! Would they close the hospitals? Shut down the Police or the Fire Department?

This cannot be allowed to stand.

2004-10-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

Syria's Border troubles with Jordan

Hmmm. Syria has border troubles with Jordan as well as Lebanon, Israel and Iraq. All it takes if Turkey to make it a clean sweep......

AMMAN: Jordan and Syria are facing the most serious political crisis since their new leaders took over five years ago and promised to boost bilateral ties that were often strained during the era of their late fathers, according to diplomats and analysts.

Some even suggest current tensions could slip into a military showdown by year-end if Syria does not move to demarcate its "leaky" border with Jordan, return 125 kilometers of land Amman claims has been seized by Syria over the years, and stops cross-border infiltrations by radicals, allegedly often operating with tacit support from Syria's intelligence agencies.

The tension has been brewing for months, even before Jordan announced in March the arrest of a group of Al-Qaeda- linked "terrorists," and claimed some had come from Syria to stage the first bio-terror attack against the General Intelligence Department, claims Syria has denied.

But it was only recently, as Syria was subjected to U.S. and Israeli pressure, that Jordanian officials, feeling unprecedented support from Washington, began talking about the "silent crisis" with Syria, in private meetings with foreign visitors, as well as Arab and Western diplomats.

Another front opened up by the incompetent diplomacy of the US, I guess.

2004-09-30T09:20:00.000-07:00

Today's Syria Updates

"US Wants Tough report on Syria from Annan this week Powell tells AFP"

WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (AFP) - The United States wants UN chief Kofi Annan to present a "tough" report this week on Syria's compliance with a UN Security Council resolution demanding respect for Lebanese sovereignty that says Damascus must do more to meet the world body's demands, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told AFP on Wednesday.
Powell would not comment on what the US believed would be in the report which Annan is to present to the Council on Friday but said Washington did not think Damascus had done enough to meet the requirements of the resolution which calls for the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.

Well, that does figure. Syria does still have 15,000 troops left in Lebanon. Withdrawing 3000 is a good start -but only a start. If Syria expects that their partial withdrawal will get them off the hook, hopefully they're wrong.

I have faith that the US will consider the pullout inadequate. What I wonder about is the reaction to the UN resolution's co-sponsor :France. Will the French attempt to straddle the divide and agree with Syria that this represents some kind of exceptional progress which should be rewarded by the community of nations.

Of course, any progress obtained- real, on the ground results, not diplomatic platitudes about progress- throught the UN is a display of exceptional and awesome progress!

The Economist has an overview/analysis of recent events.

It is by no means certain that the crackdown on jihadis, along with this week's cosmetic withdrawal of a few thousand Syrian soldiers, and earlier promises to seal its border with Iraq better, will be enough to get the superpower off Syria's back.

Good.

2004-09-23T09:29:00.000-07:00

Chronological Syria Timeline

August 26th: Assad meets with Iraqi delegates
September 2nd: Resolution 1559 passed in the UN Security Council, calling for Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon.
September 10th: Iraqi Interior minister visits Damascus
September 11th: Assad and a US delegation led by William Burns, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs meet. Syria/Iraq border is the main topic of discussion.
Week of Sept 13-15 Egyptian President Murubak visits Damascus
Sept 17th: Sudan denies Syria tested chemical weapons in Darfur
Sept 26th: Hamas man killed in Damascus
Sept 29th: Syria completes troop withdrawal
October 2nd: Kofi Annan to report to Security Council on Lebanon situation, updating Res 1559.

2004-09-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

Syria

What's going on with Syria in the last couple of days? We're seeing announcements of troop withdrawals from Lebanon and commitment to work with the US on tighening their Iraqi border. A whole bunch of activity all at once. What's up? What's changed?

I'm curious, so I'm going to assemble the info from the last week and see if any better picture emerges.

Today (Sept 23rd) : Syria continues withdrawing forces from Lebanon

"....Witnesses said they saw a Syrian military procession composed of 56 armored vehicles and trucks loaded with equipment and buses carrying soldiers heading via the eastern borders to Syria after yesterday midnight taking the main highway between Damascus and Beirut. The soldiers were seen dismantling their camp which is situated in the coastal al-Damour area.

The redeployment operation which seemed to be an attempt to eliminate pressures led by the USA to minimize the Syrian influence in Lebanon covers 3,000 Syrian soldiers, most of them will return back to Syria. It is estimated that 15,000 Syrian soldiers will remain in Lebanon after the fifth redeployment operation within three years.
Both the Lebanese and Syrian authorities stressed that the redeployment operation falls in the course of implementing one of the Taif accord item signed in 1989."

I don't know this Taif Agreement. Looked it up and it's the pact that ended the Lebanese Civil War in 1989. So Syria is claiming to be fulfilling its obligations fifteen years afterwards. No rush guys......

Also : Syria hails "improved ties" with U.S.

Syrian state radio hailed Thursday what it described as a "marked improvement" in ties with the United States after a series of top-level encounters this month.
The upbeat comments followed a meeting Wednesday in New York between US Secretary of State Colin Powell and his Syrian counterpart Faruq al-Shara, which the radio said took place in a "positive atmosphere."

That meeting, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, was the first between the two men since May 2003 and followed talks in Syria earlier this month between US Middle East envoy William Burns and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
[...]
A US delegation is expected in Damascus later this month to discuss concrete ways of securing the border, across which Washington alleges militants are crossing to destabilise the interim Iraqi administration.

So there's more to come this month in relations between Syria and the U.S.

We hear something from the Lebanese opposition, opposing the Lebanese President's term extension.

Wedensday Sept 22nd : Syria's Defence Minister Lieut. Gen. Hassan Turkmani discussed with Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud the redeployment of the Syrian troops working in Lebanon.....

Tuesday Sept 21st: Vast redeployment of the Syrian forces working in Lebanon starts today

In a step preceding the report of the UN secretary general Kofi Annan to be on October 3rd concerning the Syrian presence in Lebanon, Syria announced by its ambassador in Washington Imad Mustafa that the Syrian forces will start today ( Tuesday) a large scale redeployment process for its forces in Lebanon.

So there's a UN report from Kofi on Syria/Lebanon on Oct 3rd. Noted.

This redeployment is being hailed as something that will imporve Syria/US relations....

The sources which contacted the Syrian ambassador in Washington Imad Mustafa said it notified it that the " matter is official and the step should satisfy all sides and that Syria tries by this step to collaborate with the USA." Adding that this step came as a result of " greater confidence in conditions " and the realities of regional and international condition, however it is a leap in the bilateral relations between the two countries.." (emphasis mine)

Interesting.

"the step means withdrawing Syrian units which are still deployed in areas of Mount of Lebanon, especially al-Damour, Aramounm Bolonia, Daher al-Shweir and Aley and that the forces will withdraw towards back position in the Bekaa areas. The source expected the operation, which is the fourth during four years, to last for several days."

The Bekaa valley? Isn't that Hizbollah's base of operations?

Also : Syria, EU reach agreement on weapons

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BEIRUT: Syria and the European Union have reached an agreement on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that had bogged down an economic association agreement, a Western diplomat said in Beirut.

Libya is not party to the process, but has observer status at some meetings.
The talks with Syria had been held up by the EU's requirement that all such agreements now include a clause committing both sides to fighting the proliferation of WMD
Beirut's Al-Hayat newspaper reported Monday that France was in no rush to sign the deal, as it is unhappy about Syrian involvement in Lebanese affairs.

The EU has pursued the agreement despite U.S. sanctions against Syria earlier this year over its alleged support for terrorism and other issues, including an alleged banned weapons program. While the deal has been ready for signing since December 2003, talks stalled after the EU sought more stringent Syrian commitments on weapons.

In response, Damascus said it wanted the entire Mideast to be free of weapons of mass destruction.

This has been in the works since August, see Aug 18th.

Also on the 21st: US presses Syria to stabilize porous border (with Iraq)

...But in a meeting Sept. 11, Assad and a US delegation led by William Burns, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, discussed those issues only briefly during more than two hours of talks, according to participants on both sides. Instead, according to participants, the meeting was dominated by US concerns over Syria's desolate 450-mile border with Iraq, which Arab fighters easily cross on their way to fight American soldiers.

''This visit was driven by one thing and one thing only: Iraq," Imad Moustapha, Syria's ambassador to the United States, who attended the meeting, said in an interview. ''They brought up their well-known list, and that took 10 minutes, then we brought up our list. But they came to discuss Iraq."

The meeting ended 15 months of near silence between the United States and the Assad government, a primary target of the Bush administration's push to encourage democracy in the Middle East.

The administration accuses Syria of being a haven for terrorists, particularly militants battling Israel over its occupation of the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, and of having one of the most advanced chemical weapons programs in the region. Syria considers the Bush administration beholden to the Israeli lobby in Washington, and set on destabilizing its government.

Also, Allawi comments on Iraq/Syria relations

Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi on Monday described Iraq's relations with Syria as excellent and are moving in the right direction in the interest of the two states' peoples.

In a joint press conference held with the British Foreign Minister Jack Straw in London, Allawi referred to his latest visit to Syria and his meeting with President Bashar al-Assad; " During that visit, we discussed several issues that concern Syria and Iraq," he said, adding that both countries are a pivotal part in the region and that they are basically interested in keeping and securing its people.

So Allawi met with Assad recently?

Tuesday Sept 14th: Dance Puppet! Dance!

President Emile Lahoud of Lebanon stressed that security in Lebanon is the result of the strategy Lebanon opted for with Syria, asserting that the Syrian presence in Lebanon is legitimate and it boosts stability and security in the area.

During a meeting with a British Parliamentary delegation on Monday, Lahoud asserted that Lebanon and Syria have rejected terrorism and expressed condemnation of terrorist acts targeting innocent people.ccupied Palestinian lands.

So the Lebanese President met with the British earlier this month. I wonder what else they were talking about?

Monday Sept 6th: Syria's Information minister comments on UN Resolution 1559
Information Minister Ahmad al-Hassan has stressed the importance of the Syrian-Lebanese relations and has called for such relations to take a stronger form by more coordination and unified vision in defending the common causes of destiny.

In a statement read at the beginning of a meeting with Lebanese journalists and representatives of non-governmental organizations who are scheduled to take part at the Reform and Changing Symposium which is to be held in Damascus tomorrow and organized by Information Ministry with the cooperation of the Lebanese -- Syrian Cultural Forum, the minister underlined that the free Lebanese writers express the will of the people to resist the policy of dictation and hegemony.

Al-Hassan underlined the importance of such a meeting in the light of the Lebanese government decision to extend the mandate of Lebanese President Emil Lahoud for three years, and the American-French pressures to issue a UN Security Council decision which is considered by Lebanon and Syria as a blatant intervention in the internal affairs and relations between the two states.

The minister expressed regret for the compliance of the UN Security Council with the US pressures to become a cover for the United States attempts to impose its hegemony on the world following the collapse of the Soviet Union and Sept. 11th events.

I see. Lebanese President just had his term extended by another three years. Okay. let's look up this UN resolution while we're at it. Here we are. Dated September 2nd.

Thursday Sept 2nd: Resolution 1559 at U.N. Here's the press release from afterwards.

The Security Council this evening declared its support for a free and fair presidential election in Lebanon conducted according to Lebanese constitutional rules devised without foreign interference or influence and, in that connection, called upon all remaining foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon.

In a related provision, the Council called for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias.

Asserting that the Syrian actions in the past week had made a “crude mockery” of the principle of a free and fair presidential electoral process, the United States’ representative said the Syrian Government had imposed its political will on Lebanon and had compelled the Cabinet and Lebanese National Assembly to amend its constitution and abort the electoral process by extending the term of the current President by three years. Clearly, the Lebanese Parliament had been pressured, and even threatened, by Syria and its agents to make them comply.
Similarly, the representative of France, who, along with the United States, had introduced the resolution, worried that persistent serious interference in the political life of Lebanon might cause it to retreat from the objectives that had been reaffirmed constantly by the international community.

Wow, France is on side for once. I'm shocked. This resolution also calls on the Secretary General to report back to the Security Council in 30 days. So that's Kofi's upcoming report on OCt 2nd, triggered by this resolution. Okay, I'm sold that this is the primary driving force behind this week's events. Now is it a potempkin withdrawal or the real thing?

Same day news released that the US doesn't accept the extension of the Lebanese President's term.

Wedensday August 18th: EU Diplomat optimistic over EU-Syria association accomplishment
See also Aug 4th: EU expects partnership with Syria in September.

One diplomat in the European Union in Brussles said yesterday that Syria is ready to accept a more tough formulation over banning the dismmination of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons modified from the original formula, Syria negotiated with Brussels over in the past for approving an Association Agreement which Damascus has not so far signed.

A high ranking negotiator from the European Commission is expected to visit Damascus in the first quarter of September in order to draw the final touches on the agreement and this will be crowned by a meeting between al-Shara and the EU foreign minister at the UN in September.

August 14th 2004: (Lebanese President) Lahoud confers with American Delegation

During a meeting with a delegation from the U.S Congress, Lahoud said that the strategic options Lebanon committed to in coordination with Syria helped in reuniting the Lebanese national army and institutions.

He asserted that Hizbullah is not a terrorist party since it has worked to achieve one target which is the liberation of the Lebanese lands.

I'll end here. The last month does give a bit more perspective as to what's happening.

2004-09-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

Test

2004-09-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

Alberta Personal Tax Calculator

Fraser Institute study on health care wait times

2004-09-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

MOVING TO ALBERTA?!?!?!

I've been giving this a great deal of thought lately, having had the idea bouncing around my head for quite some time. The following links and stories are going to be a scratch pad for my research as I find the articles.

2004-05-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

Surplus Sons

Article here

Brothers Judd blog pointed this out in the IHT, and I think this is another demographic timebomb that will help shape the conflicts of the 21st century, along with Europe's suicide.

The most populous nations in Asia, including China, India and Pakistan, have acted upon their deep cultural preference for sons by culling daughters from their populations through the use of ever more efficient sex selective technologies. Amniocentesis and ultrasound as a precursor to sex selective abortion have been joined by sperm-sorting technologies that increase the probability of conceiving a son.
[...]
The technology to select male offspring before birth began to spread in the late 1980s, and the birth sex ratios began to rise. In China, the official ratio is 117 boys born for every 100 girls, but the reality is probably 120 or more. In India, the official birth sex ratio is 111-114 boys per 100 girls, but spot checks show ratios of up to 156 boys per 100 girls in some locales. For comparison, normal birth sex ratios are 105-107 boys born per 100 girls.
[...]
The bottom line is that there will be appreciably more young men in their societies than young women. Using conservative estimates, in 2020 India will have about 28 million more young males (aged 15 to 34) than young females. In China, the figure will be closer to 30 million; in Pakistan it will probably be 3-5 million.

The comment I left on the brojuddblog was..

I'm curious if there is any such effect in the muslim world as well. Given that muslim culture esteems sons over daughters, it would seem to follow that similar things would be happening among muslim populations. I've heard about the Indian and Chinese issues before, but never any indication of the same among the muslim world.

I wonder why? Is the technology simply not availalbe there or is there a consensus against its use?

In the long term, will this lead to a demographic collapse in China and India of the same type as Europe?

One solution that I think is likely to arise will be something like the "mail-order-brides" of the past. Given that China and India will have higher standards of living than many of the surrounding countries, it would be an attractive proposition for many women in the less developed nations. Of course, this would require the men of China and India to get past some of their traditional racist notions about other countries.

It also appears that Adam Smith's "invisible hand" works in population control as well. Is it just coincidence that the two nations with this problem are ones will very large population pressures?

Response from Orrin Judd was:

BC:

China doesn't face population pressures but population collapse.

ISLAM (not sure where someone found these #s):

Bahrain 1.3 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Djibouti 1.07 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Jordan 1.1 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Kuwait 1.5 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Oman 1.31 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Qatar 1.93 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Saudi Arabia 1.24 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
UAE 1.51 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Question for MonkeyLeader: What's happening in Kuwait? the stats here imply 1.5 men to 1 female. Does this fit what you saw? Did you see any awareness of the problem and anything being done to address it?

My followup comment on Brojudd:

"Thanks!
I assume that that's the birth ratios. I wonder how many years this has been going on for? How close is the first imbalanced generation to adulthood?

Is there any sign of Egypt or Libya being similarly skewed?

If this trend carries over to the population that Europe is importing, the implications are unpleasant for any sort or peaceful transition to Eurabia."

2004-04-22T06:50:00.000-07:00

"Walk With An Old Dog" -- by Gayl Jokiel

Because you will not be forever,
Hope against time though I may,
I paint your picture in my memory,
Eyes blue with age, muzzle gone gray.

Because you walked with me in Springtime,
Puppy-clumsy, running free.
As you grew, we grew together-
You became a part of me.

Because you shared with me my sorrows,
Not understanding- simply there.
Often spurring me to laughter--
My friend, you know how much I care.

Because the years have slowed your fleetness,
Though your spirit still is strong.
I promise I will take more time now,
So that you can go along.

Because you do not fear the future,
Living only in the now,
I draw strength from your example-
Yet time keeps slipping by somehow.

Because the day will soon be coming
When I will no longer see
You rise to greet me-but in memory
You will always walk with me.

2004-04-19T13:39:00.000-07:00

Currently posting at The Shotgun Effect.

I'll try to start cross-posting too. No promises.

2004-04-12T07:51:00.000-07:00

Right. Back from death yet again

2003-05-11T10:45:00.000-07:00

Guilt Post

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. [Our true enemy has not yet shown his face.]"
-Michael to Harrison and Connie (The Godfather III)

I attended the Toronto Poliblogger bash on friday, and received much good natured um encouragement to post again. Well, it's certainly nice to know that one is missed!

Great place, good company, look forward to doing it again.

Well, as for the absence, mea culpa, no excuses for it. I'll save my excuse making capability for explaining the performance of the Canadian dollar against the greenback as of late. As we've all seen it's rocketed up to the lofty heights of $0.72 USD from a low of $0.61 a year and change ago. I've been on the dollar doomwatch since starting the blog, expecting an eventual slide to less than sixty cents US. In the long term I still think it will happen. I still have absolute faith in the utter incompetence of the Liberal government, which has only been slightly rattled by their not bailing out Air Canada.

Anyway, excuse time. I'll just use a quote to weasel out of this one- "Success is 99% failure"- Sochiro Honda My prediction has failed for now, but my Monkey Honor will be avenged!

2003-03-20T07:38:00.000-08:00

Hmmm. Shall I take a surf over to The Toronto Star and listen to the squealing?

2003-03-20T06:18:00.000-08:00

Subtitle on CNN while interviewing Kofi Annan

"Annan: UN will do its part to assist the Iraqi people".

Yeah right. Like you protected the people in Rwanda when you were in charge of Peacekeeping there Kofi?

2003-03-18T08:42:00.000-08:00

Business Book Club

I'm going to be setting up a Book Club here in Toronto with a focus on business books. I'm going to be aiming at meeting in the downtown core about once every two weeks to discuss books and choose new ones to read together and discuss.

If anyone is interested in attending, please drop me a line. If anyone has any experience attending or organizing a book cub, please let me know as well. I'd love to get any tips you might have.

2003-03-18T08:16:00.000-08:00

The Modern World

Okay, I've been away and occupied with other things, grovelling apologies and all that.

I read with interest the other weekend that Hamas vowed to target the Israeli leaders directly in retaliation for the killing of one of their leaders. (How many "top leaders" does Hamas have anyway? Seems Israel kills one every couple of weeks....)

I find this threat less than impressive. Hamas has always vowed to kill all of the jews anyway. Vowing to kill Israeli leaders amounts to no more than quibbling about the order in which they attempt it. All told, I prefer Hamas to go after the Israelis who have the heaviest security around them. Hell, I always prefer it when my enemies attack my strongest points instead of my weakest ones.

Now as to today's news that Uday has refused Bush's ultamatim on his papa's behalf. I actualy admire this reply on a tactical level. It lets Saddam refuse the US ultimatum while giving himself and his sympathizers some cover. If the US used this refusal as justification for the start of the attack, one can already hear the French howling that "Saddam himself has not said no.... this is the ultimate proff of the US rush to war...etc, etc, etc". It also has the insulting tone of allowing a subordinate deliver the reply.

Cute, but it won't matter.

I imagine that Saddam is probably carrying a pistol in his hand right now. These are going to be probably the tensest, most frightening hours of his life, wondering if the next officer he talks to will be the one who shops him to the US, wondering if he'll hear the sound of a bomb a split second before it detonates. At least, I hope the bastard is living in fear. Odds are he still believes he can pull it off. After all, he survived the 91 Gulf war, at a point where US forces were in his nation, had thrashed his military and crippled his infrastructure. If he came back from that, why not this situation too?

I hope the Iraqis get ahold of him, the common people on the street. I hope they give him what the Italians gave Mussolini, a hanging from the nearest lamppost.

2003-02-27T06:25:00.000-08:00

FUGLY!!!!!!

Why in god's name would they decide that New York, and the Western world needed such a piece of crap? Hello! Welcome to New York and the world's biggest DNA helix! Can you find your genome? "76th floor, McMaster and Son Barrister and red hair recessive genes!"

Plus it just looks like a skeleton. Skeletons are cool when they are done in "Jason and the Argonauts", but not as the centerpiece of the greatest city in the world.

Rant ends. I'm sure I'll love it after it goes up and I get used to it.

UPDATE: Okay, I love the height being 1,776 feet in honor of the Declaration of Independence. That's cool.

But it's still fugly.

UPDATE II Now I'm confused. The FOX article says it's the Libenskind design instead of the freak DNA.

2003-02-11T18:55:00.000-08:00

"Bin Laden": "Fight like in Afghanistan"

Headline- FOX News.

Yes, please do. It was sooooo effective last time.

"Osama Bin Laden" 2003:

"So if people hold their positions ... and we hope our brothers in Iraq will do the same ... if we are in the trenches they cannot get us. The enemy is going to waste their ammunition for nothing."

General George S. Patton, WWII:

There's another thing I want you to remember. Forget this godamm buisness about worrying about our flanks, but not to the extent we don't do anything else. Some godammed fool once said that flanks must be secured and since then sons of bitches all over the world have been going crazy guarding their flanks. We don't want any of that in the Third Army. Flanks are something for the enemy to worry about, not us. I don't want any messages saying that "we are holding our position". We are not holding anything! Let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly and we're not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him by the nose and kick him in the ass; we're going to kick the hell out of him all of the time and we're going to go through him like crap through a goose....We have one motto"L'Audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace!" Remember that gentlemen

Yes, please do dig in. Moving targets are harder to hit.

So, which military philosophy are you betting on?

2003-02-11T12:23:00.000-08:00

The New Villians

Hillary Kramer of TCS asks who's going to be Hollywood's next villian.

It's unclear who Hollywood has in mind for this decade's main villain, although North Korea seems to be off to a good start? namely, 007's nemesis in Die Another Day. Perhaps even Iraq, since conflict seems imminent there. Either way, Hollywood will surely find its next bad guy, because it makes for good business.

I have the answer. The French!

Seriously, you've got a nation of white people (so it's not racist to portray them as villians) who have something vaguely sinister about them to begin with. The US public is starting to hold a grudge against them anyway and they regularly try to ban Hollywood culture. There's plenty of french actors available for villian roles who'd do a great job.

For the last three years, serbians have been the new choice for Hollywood villians. I think the French will supplant them veeeeerrrrry soon.

2003-02-03T06:06:00.000-08:00

As usual, Lileks nails it on the head

The rest of the day I listened to the radio. NPR had an interview with one of those people who think we should not send people into space, but rely entirely on robots. As I pulled into the parking lot at the mall he casually asked “what can a man do on Mars that a robot cannot?”

PLANT A FUCKING FLAG ON THE PLANET, I shouted at the radio. Pardon my language. But. On a day when seven brave people died while fulfilling their brightest ambitions, this was the wrong day to suggest we all stay tethered to the dirt until the sun grows cold. Are we less than the men who left safe harbors and shouldered through cold oceans? After all, they sailed into the void; we can look up at the night sky and point at where we want to go. There: that bright white orb. We’re going. There: that red coal burning on the horizon. We’re going. And we’re not sending smart toys on our behalf - we’re sending human beings, and one of them will put his boot on the sand and bring the number of worlds we’ve visited to three. And when he plants the flag he will use flesh and sinew and blood and bone to drive it into the ground. His heartbeat will hammer in his ears; his mind will spin a kaleidoscopic medley of all the things he’d thought he’d think at this moment, and he'll grin: I had it wrong. I had no idea what it would truly be like. He’d imagined this moment as oddly private; he'd thought of himself, the red land, the flag in his hand, and he heard music, as though the moment would be fully scored when it happened. But there isn't any music; there's the sound of his breath and the thrum of his pulse. It seems like everyone who ever lived is standing behind him at the other end of a vast dark auditorium, waiting for the flag to stand on the ground of Mars. Then he will say something. He might stumble on a word or two, because he’s only human.

But look what humans have done. Again.

Amen.

2003-02-01T08:17:00.000-08:00

God Rest the Astronauts of the Columbia

The space shuttle Columbia, carrying a crew of seven, broke up Saturday morning 200,000 feet above Texas.

Remember STS-113

Rick Husband, Commander, second mission.
Laurel Clark, Mission Specialist, first shuttle flight.
Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist, on her second mission.
Ilan Ramon, Payload Specialist, first flight.
William C. McCool, Pilot. First shuttle flight.
Michael P. Anderson, Payload Commander, second flight
David M. Brown, Mission Specialist, first flight

Seventeen years after the last shuttle accident, another crew has been lost in bringing us toward the next frontier- but let there be no doubt- we will get there.

We will get there.

2003-01-31T14:44:00.000-08:00

Where you Will Not find me this weekend

Seeing a hagiography of Fidel....

You don't need to watch Fidel to realize that Fidel Castro was, and still is, a big man on the global campus: it's not just any stylishly bearded despot who could provoke the C.I.A. into (reportedly) plotting his assassination around the clock in the '60s and still count on getting a public thumbs-up 40 years later from Ted Turner. Captain Colorization is just one of the famous faces who pop up in this incongruously flattering, largely exclusionary portrait of the man whose fiercely socialist agenda left a stamp on the political topography of the late 20th century and has retained its potent force into the 21st.

Director Estela Bravo's thesis in this new documentary is that Castro, in addition to being an admirable private figure, was an earth-shaking force for positive revolutionary progress during the Cold War and beyond, and that his suspicion and hatred of American interests in Cuba was basically justified. She gathers together people like Muhammad Ali, Nelson Mandela, Gabriel García Márquez and Jack Nicholson to lend her movie credibility.

Right. "Big man" as in big bully who's been killing his countrymen for nigh a half-century now. "Potent force"- sure- if you count making liberals fall on their knees and worship. if you count any real measure of influence, Cuba is a zilch. No money, no military might, no morals, no resources. Well, you could count selling plastic surgery vacations as "a force for positive change" in the lives of wealthy Europeans.

I've said it before- I will not go to Cuba on vacation until the country is free, as in "freedom", not "free education" (no drugs available without Dollars) and "free education" (indoctrination).

My basic litmus test for whether a nation deserves to be called a respectable nation: a citizen must be able to go to the town square and yell at the top of his lungs that the head of the government is a #$%^&* and not fear any consequences other than being looked at funny.

Cuba.... does not pass this test. No word in the review if the film covers the impact that Fidel's "fiercely socialist agenda [which left] a stamp on the political topography of the late 20th century and has retained its potent force into the 21st." has had on his domestic dissidents.

2003-01-31T14:41:00.000-08:00

Calling John Williams...

How the hell did you let your masterpiece get so dammed rare? I'm referring to the soundtrack for "The Raiders of the Lost Ark".

Go ahead, you can hear the opening fanfare in your mind, can't you. Just enjoy that for a moment.

I've looked through Toronto's record stores, HMV.com ("this product not available") and found it on- of course- Amazon.com, for the measly price of $33 USD or more. Lessee, that's $51 in the funny money we use up here, plus shipping. Gah.

Perhaps it's time to invest in a CD burner and join the 21st century.

2003-01-31T14:34:00.000-08:00

2 more weeks until I get this dammed cast off.

I'm not looking forward to seeing what's left of my wrist. Will it be no#7 pencil thick, or No#5?

2003-01-31T13:35:00.000-08:00

Canadian Government-"Lost it's moral compass"

....is the title of this Samizdata post on the Canadian government's battle against personal privacy rights.

Hell, they never even had a map..... Nor a desire to be guided by morals or any other such construct which gets in the way of the sacred reign of the Liberal party and its following intelligensia.

2003-01-26T14:23:00.000-08:00

My Motto of the Day

You always kick more ass when you keep kicking.

Hey, it motivates me.

2003-01-24T13:00:00.000-08:00

Strikethrough and substitute time...

Vodkapundit's long awaited return works almost as well for Canada as for France. My substitutions are in red....

we’ve been subsidizing ~~French~~ Canadian stupidity since 1945, and now we wonder why there’s so much more of it? We’ve made anti-Americanism a winning proposition, a gamble without a downside. If you tell me that my pair of nothin’ will trump your full house, you’re damn right I’ll raise the bet. What’s the house max?

Thanks to our subsidy, ~~France is now as pretty and~~ Canada is useless as ~~Marianne~~ the CBC, "canadian values", their national symbol.

~~France~~Canada is playing a game we rigged for them. They’ve come to expect that our benevolence is endless, and that our gullibility is, too. It’s no wonder that they also expect to compete in a world economy when competition is all but outlawed at home. It should come as no surprise they think they can get national defense and power projection with a tiny army and a laughable aircraft carrier. Nod knowingly when ~~France hamstrings~~ Canada whimpers and bitches and postures about our efforts to fight Islamofascism abroad, when they won’t even tackle it in ~~their own capital~~ Montreal and Toronto.

So now ~~France~~ Canada says they’ll ~~veto~~ waver on any UN use-of-force resolution concerning Iraq – a resolution we don’t need, according to the very resolution (1441) that France not only voted for, but co-authored.

Are we to be surprised? Are we to be blamed?

2003-01-24T10:53:00.000-08:00

History being made.....

As we speak. Yes, Iraq is big news, but in the long term, the rupture between the Germans, French/ EUniks and the US is going to be absolutely huge.

I always expected that the EU and Europe would come to a break, but I didn't expect it this soon. Not good- my other personal prediction is that the US is going to have to go over there at least once this century to sort things out like last time. I dread the day at least one european country starts to build an effective military.

At Samizdata, Perry DeHaviland talks about the schism between the EU and the US....

...may achieve something I have long wanted to see... the end of the fiction in American minds that either France or Germany are in fact US allies in any meaningful sense.

This is the first step needed to de-couple the Anglosphere Atlantic Alliance from the legacy of World War Two and the Cold War. The first clear step that this process is under way will be the permanent withdrawal of most US forces currently stationed in Germany, a situation which is a costly anachronism in the post Cold War world. Maybe the opportunity will be immediatly post-Gulf War II, with the US troops currently based in Germany which are going to be involved in Iraq going back to bases in the USA instead.

I just hope the pompous Chirac and the buffoonish Schroeder keep plucking on the eagle's feathers... sooner of later Blair, or his successor, is going to have to decide if they want to be on the side of history's winners or history's losers.

Hell, changing the name of N.A.F.T.A. to North Atlantic Free Trade Area would not even require reprinting all that stationary with the acronym on it!

It's not just the UK that faces that choice. Canada faces it as well, and the signs do not look good. As noted in the Mark Steyn column a few days ago, whenever the Liberals get a chance to follow their EUish ideals, they do so, no matter what the cost to Canada. What we are seeing in Canada at this time is the triumph of the EU ideology. (Let's just call it what it is, eh? Wide-eyed blissed out socialism)

The current growing distance between Canada and the US does not represent a failure on the part of the Canadian government, but the ultimate success of it's ideology. A recently as a decade ago, the fact that there was a unified right wing party meant there was a counterbalance to the Liberal anti-americanism and repairs to the damage done by liberals (albeit every 8-10 years or so) Now the Liberals do not have any practical (read- electoral) motive to tack to the right, posess a decade of accumulated arrogance and insularity feeding off each others' anti-americanism to the point where the logical identity for Canadians who wish to be "distinct" from the states isn't a Canadian identity, but an anti-american one. Especially when we have the UN and the EU to suck up to and preen for.

If the Liberals view our looming schism with the US as a problem, they only see it from a perspective that their actions should not cost Canada anything. Breaking from the US will be done in much the same fashions as the euros, with protestations of eternal friendship and the solid belief that ingratitude and spite should never have any consequences. As for the cost to regular Canadians through the economy, well the Liberals have a large store of experience in impovrishing large stretches of the country with only the nobelest motives. Why not go the whole hog?

I'm interested if anyone remembers the days of Trudeau- did our relations with the US decline to this point?

2003-01-23T17:38:00.000-08:00

Y'know, prepping for an interview and practicing answering interview questions prompts some seriouly deep introspaction and self knowledge.

Wish me luck tomorrow morning!

2003-01-22T10:12:00.000-08:00

Lileks Rules yet Again

In today's Bleat. (Emphasis added on the best line)

Remember: some on the left in the 80s were seized with the Spirit of Nixon, and wanted nothing more than détente and rapprochement; they wanted endless negotiations that would codify the precise number, size, and destructive potential of the missiles aimed at our cities. If we all agreed to have 27,293 missiles apiece, and we swapped ballet companies once a year, everything would be fine. For us, anyway. For those living on the other side of the wall, well, they had our warmest personal regards and best wishes. We had our system; they had theirs.

Which is like saying we fed our dogs, and they beat them and put them in kennels, but since we both have dogs we must celebrate our common bond. The Anti-Communists didn’t buy it; they wanted to confront Communism and defeat it. They kept pointing out the nature of the Communist regimes, and insisting that everything the nutball left said was metaphorically true of the West was factually true of the Communists, and more so.

2003-01-22T04:22:00.000-08:00

Here it is

A North American "confederation" is never going to happen. Not now, not in 50 years. Europeans, living on a continent of mostly failed nation states that rewrite their constitutions every generation as they lurch from Third Empire to Fifth Republic, have concluded understandably enough that supranational institutions are the way to go. Equally understandably, Americans have no interest in diluting either sovereignty or democratic accountability in transnational bodies.
[...]
Within 48 hours of 9/11, it was clear that Canada had a choice. It could be inside a North American perimeter or outside a U.S. perimeter. Given that the trucks were mostly backed up on the northern side of the border, the answer seemed obvious. But the siren song of "Canadian values" -- i.e., Liberal Party values -- was too powerful, and, as we know from Kyoto to the gun registry, whenever the national interest conflicts with Liberal platitudes the Grits go with the latter. Last fall, when the U.S. announced that Canadians born in selected Middle Eastern countries would be required to submit to "special registration" procedures, Ottawa's privacy commissioner responded by demanding that "place of birth" be removed from all Canadian passports and The Toronto Star huffed and puffed about "Muslim-focused racial profiling" full of "contempt for due process."
[...]
Professor Bliss talked about whether a "Republican government" would "want us as we are now." But that formulation's too parliamentary: The reality is that to get any additional stars on that flag there has to be something in it for both teams. In the Fifties, when Alaska and Hawaii were admitted, each party figured they'd got a state apiece. They were right, though not about which state was whose. On those terms, eight out of our 10 provinces have no chance of admission to the Union, since the GOP would be signing its death warrant. The only possible scenario is a deal by which Alberta and B.C. wiggle through -- Alberta for obvious reasons and because to Republicans it hosts the only assimilable population of Canadians -- or, at any rate, the least unassimilable; B.C. to even things up on the grounds that, given its propensity for electing charlatans, sleazeballs and all too human failures, the Dems might regard it as at least potentially rich soil. It would also fill in the map, leaving the "continental U.S." as a pleasing semi-serifed L-shape from Alaska to Florida.
[...]
America didn't change. We did, and in a dizzyingly short time. What would it take for the Americans to revise their view? Well, we could change back. It won't happen, can't happen. Indeed, on present demographic trends, it's more likely that Alberta will gradually lose the will to resist joining its neighbours in the Trudeaupian stupor.
[...]
Bali was a soft target for the terrorists because it exists in both worlds -- a Western enclave in bandit country. Canada also exists in both worlds: We're the country that supports both the Princess Pats and Hezbollah.

Washington knows that now. The big story since September 11th is that they finally see us for what we are: foreigners.

Bang. On.

2003-01-20T09:51:00.000-08:00

Bloody dead-on Mark Steyn column in the National Post today. (online tomorrow) He hits the nail on the head as far as the current and future state of US-Canada relations is concerned.

2003-01-18T18:37:00.000-08:00

Rules For Nations

1:The Leader/Ruling party should never be able to extend their term by any means other than a democratic vote of the people.

"Under Venezuala's old constitution, the president [Hugo Chazez]'s term would have come to an undistinguished end with an election on November 2003. But under his own new constitution, he can rule at least until 2007."

Source: The Economist "The World in 2003"

In the words of one of Dogbert's victims "Isn't that like giving a burglar the keys to my house?"

2003-01-18T14:22:00.000-08:00

2002 Review

So, now that I'm a few weeks into 2003, it's time for an assessment of last year, safely away from New Year's drinking and resolutions. Soooo, what was great about last year?

Two vacations to the Dominican Republic

Completing the Chartered Financial Planner examination with flying colors

Also completing the Branch Manager Course and Options strategies courses with honours

increasing my net worth by 100%

Increasing my paycheque by 10%

Having one great (if unfortunately short) relationship

Doing public speaking at work- They are paying me to do what I love!

Expanding my responsibilities at work into fixed income and new issues work

Salsa dancing-getting advanced lessons

Dropping 15 pounds over the year- I actually dropped 4 pounds over the holiday season!

Starting and maintaining this blog

Seeing one of my friends get happily married- good for keeping up my faith that it is possible

Keeping my friends and having a great time with them. Without them life would really not be as much fun

Driving a hell of a lot more. I finally see what the fuss is about. Car ownership coming when I get this dammed cast off.

Being part of SG-4 at Toronto Trek (looking forward to next year)

Having a great Halloween- The leadup was as good or better as the celebration itself

Celebrating friends' birthdays- Learned Monkey's when we went to see Resident Evil and Ice Age then go drinking was a great memory.

Speaking of which- The best year of movies since 1994

Many great gaming sessions. The debut of the cowardly Siou Lubb being my favourite thing

David Weber's "War of Honor" and his other half dozen books

One good Chess game

George Bush's Presidency

Discovering that I no longer care what genre music is from, just whether I like it or not. (say hello to Eminem and Saturday Night Fever in my music collection)

Pity I got lazy near the end of the year-it did cost me. Well, this year, I hit 30 on May 11th, I will pass the CFA level 1, get my DMS, generally kick ass and fergeddabout the names and God willing, find a wife.

2003-01-17T05:51:00.000-08:00

Tax Package

Got my tax package from the CCRA, or as everyone still calls them, Revenue Canada. On the back is the cheerful slogan:

Your Tax Package- More Ways to Serve You!

Yeah, in that Twilight Zone "To Serve Man" kinda way.

2003-01-13T11:17:00.000-08:00

The long term effect of MERs: Screwing the Investor

Detailed in this column by Jonathan Chevreau

"Instead of pricing coming down, the industry is opting to make it more expensive," says Glorianne Stromberg, a former securities regulator.

Despite poor performance and rising costs, fund redemptions have been far lower than you might expect. There appears to be a bifurcation of investors into two camps: knowledgeable value-oriented investors and oblivious victims.

The first camp, a minority, consists of cost-conscious investors who shop around for active funds with reasonable MERs (like Phillips Hager & North, Saxon Funds or Trimark Fund), or embrace passively managed index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The more populous camp contains investors seemingly oblivious to the impact of high MERs and who trust the supposedly "independent" financial advice they get from integrated manufacturer-distributors and bank "wrap" accounts.

Held separately, actively managed mutual funds in Canada are expensive enough: the average MER in Canada is 2.16%, compared to just 1.44% in the United States, according to Moshe Milevsky in his recently published book, Wealth Logic.

[...]
As Rudy Luukko wrote recently in the latter, the median Canadian equity fund has an MER of 2.78% and returned an average annual 0.1% over the three years ended Oct. 31.

That's an incredible figure -- 2.78% is 16 times higher than the 0.17% MER the Barclays i60s ETF charges for equivalent exposure to Canadian blue chip stocks. A median 2.78% MER means half of Canadian equity funds have MERs even higher than 2.78%.

So what? Every 1% paid in fees and charges reduces your end capital 20 years later by 20%, Stromberg says. So a 2.5% MER will eventually cut the end capital you would otherwise have had in half

Mmmm hmmmm. There's a nifty little calculator to check out the effects of different levels of MER on your long term return. Check your funds and see what sacrifices your future lifestyle is making to keep the fund managers in theirs.

2003-01-13T06:10:00.000-08:00

She dumped me. Last night, 1030pm. By phone. She "doesn't feel the same strength of feeling" that I do. No sleep last night. Endless churning over in my head that no meditation exercise could still. Christ. Well, if I hadn't taken the Captain's advice before, I sure as hell will have to now. I really did think she was going to be the one, silly little dreams of writing a big screaming post "She said Yes" here when I asked her. All of the little silly dreams of a future now dead running through my head, deflating one by one last night. Biterness, self-blame, blame, choking up, lolniness, rage, blind hope (mercifully brief.).

Loving someone is never enough. After this many lessons, you'd think I'd learn.

2003-01-13T05:59:00.000-08:00

Monday Is Bad

First-

SEOUL, South Korea Provided North Korea stops its nuclear weapons development, the United States is willing to consider energy aid for the communist country, a U.S. envoy said Monday.

The comments by Assistant U.S. Secretary of State James Kelly raised the possibility that the United States was willing to make a deal with North Korea to resolve concerns over its nuclear activities.

"Once we get beyond nuclear weapons, there may be opportunities with the U.S., with private investors, with other countries to help North Korea in the energy area," Kelly said at a news conference in Seoul.

"Fold" "Cave" "collapse" "craven appeasement"

I cannot believe that the US is caving into this blackmail. I am so deeply dissapointed I don't know where to start.

I'm hoping the Vodkapundit can explain how this is all part of the fake out that he was always pointing to regarding Iraq.....

2003-01-12T16:49:00.000-08:00

Throw 'em a Bone

Last Thursday at work, our local Chompskyite was crowing to a fellow sympathizer (and indirectly, but quite deliberately, me) about Tony Blair's little speech that the U.S should go slow and wait longer (if ever) to invade Iraq.

"Way to go for Blair, standing up to Bush at last, eh?"

I sat there and didn't bother saying anything in return. Inside I was sniggering. The headlines out of the UK the day previously had been of the orders for British deployment of troops and ships to the Gulf. Blair's statement the following day was nothing but a cheap, meaningless bone thrown to his Labour party supporters, the UN and the other appeasers like my coworker.

Worked perfectly as intended, I'd say.

2003-01-05T09:09:00.000-08:00

Bulletin From The VRWC

Specifically the "Right wing controlled corporated media" division.

"Wall Street Journal Editorial Board with Stuart Varney" will not be returning to CNBC.

...on Friday nights. In the course of long-planned renegotiations, CNBC and the Journal failed to agree on the future direction of the program. We are grateful to CNBC for the opportunity, and we are especially grateful to our viewers.

What, the WSJ wasn't right wing enough for CNBC?

2003-01-04T11:25:00.000-08:00

New Scientific Law

Or at least what should, if real world experience is any guide.

Don't trust Dictators. Any agreement you sign will be violated. You will get screwed over.

Of course, we all know that something like experience is to be ignored when it comes to rosy Transnsational progressive dreams. Real world experience is a classic western imperial racist sexist&trade construct which must be denounced and destroyed. Yadda, yadda.

Here is the latest example, Canada getting screwed over by Castro's Cuba.

Taxpayers, along with small and medium-sized businesses in Canada, have been burned by Castro ever since the Prime Minister and ministers such as Paradis started promoting trade with the tropical tyranny.

Mississauga-based Adecon Ship Management, for instance, provides refinancing and administrative services to Cuban shipping companies. The Cuban government currently owes it US$2.2-million, but is ignoring a Canadian federal court order, delivered through proper diplomatic channels, to pay up.

When an Adecon director went to Havana at Cuba's invitation to negotiate a settlement, he was detained and his files taken away when he refused to drop his Canadian court case against the Cubans. In a communication marked "confidential," Jennifer Irish, then chargé d'affaires for the Canadian Embassy in Havana, said the "official Cuban reaction has been that the documents are 'subversive to the Cuban economy' and are being used as the basis for an investigation...." Yet the documents merely show that Castro's government did in fact owe Adecon money for services rendered. The company's director and papers were released only when the Canadian government intervened. Adecon is now tracking Cuban ships around the world and impounding them in order to force payment.

Canada's Export Development Corporation has used the same strategy for recovering Cuban loans, using taxpayers' money to provide accounts receivable insurance for Canadian exporters. The EDC had the ship MV Caribbean Queen, owned by Cuba, detained in Casablanca, Morocco, in 2001 before it collected on a debt amounting to approximately $500,000. It had another Cuban ship detained in a French port until the Cuban government settled out of court. But these are only small victories in a much larger battle for repayment that EDC is losing.

2003-01-04T08:30:00.000-08:00

Broken Link

So, yesterday we finally get Canadian snow here in T.O. I go to work and I'm going for the subway when its doors close. Oh well. I turn to stop and find out the hard way that the platform is very, very slick and slippery. I go down hard, landing on my wrist. Gratuitous pain and swearing all around. Get taken to the hospital and after four hours sum total get treated for a broken wrist. Yay. Oh yay oh yipee oh @#$%^%!!!!!!. That's my good hand in a cast for six weeks. This is me writing this post in five times as long with my off hand.

I cannot possibly enumerate the number of ways this sucks. I don't even get a regular plaster cast until next week. In the meantime, if anyonw wants to sign my vitrual cast, please feel free to do so under the comments!

2003-01-02T18:25:00.000-08:00

Ethical Mutual Funds

In regards to my previous post on the Sierra Club opening up its own family of mutual funds,
Austin
commented that he'd found that "Good Guy" mutual funds had outperformed the relevant indicies since 1999 as per Morningstar. I tried Morningstar's page, but don't really want to pay the USD subscription fee. I do have access to a Canadian Morningstar page through my brokerage account though, so I'm going to compare the Canadian funds. I haven't looked yet, so we'll see whether or not I eat crow.

The only "Good Guy" funds I've been able to find so far for Canada are Ethical funds.

So, fund by fund, Simply summing the % returns for the three years '99-'01. (Yes, I am aware of the statistical sin I am committing, however the results remain the same on whether or not the funds outperformed the relevant index during this time.)


Fund                          Fund            Index        Outperform 3 year Index?    

Ethical Special Equity        32.6            16.2                          Yes

Ethical Income                11.6            17.2                          No

Ethical Global Bond           (4.4)            1.0                          No

Ethical Growth                (0.6)           26.5                          No

Ethical Balanced               4.7            16.8                          No

Ethical North American*      (54.7)            2.1                          No

Ethical Pacific Rim          (33.8)           12.3                          No

* To be fair, this fund wildly outperformed the index over '98-2000.

So, that's where my disdain of "Good Guy" funds comes from. If one wanted to check the Ethical Funds' stats out themselves, I'd go here or here. Check the URL on the second one. How's that for sanctimony?

2003-01-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

I Have Been Told.

By Emily

BC Monkey: about time you got back to work. Slack off again, and I’ll force you to drink American beer. The worst kind.

Under such dire threat, Hitler would have gone back to housepainting.

2002-12-30T11:40:00.000-08:00

Sierra Club to Launch Mutual Funds

Why, oh why, is it not possible to short sell mutual funds like you can stocks?

I saw an interview about this on CNBC, and this is the closest I've seen to substantiating it. (Question 8) Damm, if the Sierra club is going to appear on CNBC, you'd think they could at least have a link to the proposed mutual funds on their webpage?

8. The Sierra Club Board is currently considering a proposal for a Sierra Club mutual fund. Please state whether or not you support such a proposal and what questions should be asked about the proposal in order to make a sound judgement.

I support exploring the possibility of a Sierra Club branded mutual fund or family of funds because:

1.We focus on electoral politics, while essentially ignoring corporate politics. Yet corporations rival or surpass government power in some areas. We need to be more active in the corporate arena. Sierra Club mutual funds would provide a vehicle for us to encourage environmentally conscious investing. 2.The Club will spend approximately eighty million dollars this year; thus we need to raise that much. Any proposal that both advances our mission and generates income is attractive.

Before supporting a specific proposal I would need to be sure that:

1.We control the "screens" that are used to sort potential investments.
2.The screens prohibit investments in environmentally destructive businesses.
3.The Club is adequately protected from risk.
4.We would generate enough revenue to justify our investment of time and energy.

Eighty million? How the $&$%^&!!! do you have to spend before you are considered to be "big time money" or a "special interest" of "lobbying group"? Which, of course, the SC doesn't consider themselves. No Siree!

4.We would generate enough revenue to justify our investment of time and energy.

Oh, I'm sure the SC will do so. Just put up the MERs to 3.5% and watch the money roll in! Mind you, the investors will get screwed (which is fine- dirty capitalist pigs- expecting a positive return on their money! Exploiters!) as "ethical funds" have historicaly underperfomed other funds by a fairly substantial margin.

2002-12-30T06:30:00.000-08:00

Random Thought

I'm sure that North Korea is very, very grateful that their reactor facilities are far out of the range of the Israeli Air Force.

Sigh. If only Israel had a carrier.

2002-12-27T13:18:00.000-08:00

Canadian Dollar Update

$0.6376 USD, Down 0.0049

or, in other words, it takes $1.5683 Cdn to buy a real dollar.

But, you do understand that the Loonie is really worth around $0.80 USD. Chretien tells us so. It's all the fault of people on Wall Street wearing red suspenders. Johnny C wouldn't lie to us.

2002-12-27T10:22:00.000-08:00

Summary:Canada 2002

As per Jonah Goldberg

Canada, once a staunch and valuable ally in war and peace, has been exposed to have the military might of the Rhode Island National Guard, thanks to a liberal government intent on impressing the United Nations by bad-mouthing the United States.

Did I mention that this is from Jonah's "Losers of 2002" list?

I really can't disagree. Canada has been intent on destroying its relationship with the US. Our government seems to believe that it can continue to spite the US and automatically gainsay every policy of the US without any sort of cost to us. I think I know where this particular breed of cluelessness comes from. It comes from the Canadian government's realtions with Quebec for the last thirty years.

For that entire time, the provincial government of Quebec spit in the eye of the Federal government, basing its decisions on the obsession of becoming a distinct society. Ever possible insult was offered, every nose turned, every ingratitude offered. And the government of Canada embraced it all. Every insult was taken as an opportunity for the Canadian govenment to examine root causes of sovereigntist anger and to offer danegeld. More powers, more money, more concessions and more power in the Canadian government. Consequences? Please, we're Canadian. We're all about reconcilliation and groveling for forgiveness.

Perhaps our government thought that what worked for the Quebecois would work for them.

Fortunately not. I have seen repeated indications that our nation's attitude is being noted down in Washington, and increasingly severe snubs are being returned in kind.

The dammed tragedy of this is that Canada is trading gold away for the approbation of fools and a suit of Emperor's new clothes.

2002-12-27T09:50:00.000-08:00

FREEDOM

Via The Corner

CHRISTMAS CONFUSION IN MOSCOW [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Anne Applebaum from Russia: "The celebration of Western Christmas on Dec. 25 is a phenomenon purely of the most recent, post-Soviet decade. This week, a poll showed that 18 percent of Russians intend to celebrate on Dec. 25 (which remains a working day). Those who do so are, among other things, more likely to be well-off, more likely to be under the age of 25, and more likely to live in large cities. Some are Catholics -- there are about 500,000 in Russia -- but most are part of a new generation of Russians who identify themselves with the West and wish to celebrate in a Western way. Even among such people, there remains a good deal of confusion about what Christmas is actually about. One Russian friend explained with great confidence that 'Christmas is the day Jesus was crucified.'"

Remember, only fifteen years ago, what most Russians intended was only an academic concept.

2002-12-27T09:42:00.000-08:00

Dangerous Year in Journalism

67 Journalists and support staff killed doing their job this year.

2002-12-27T08:54:00.000-08:00

Harry Potter "Promotes Religious Hatred"

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian prosecutors have opened an investigation into whether the Harry Potter series of children's books incite religious hatred, an official said Wednesday.

The investigation was started at the request of a Moscow woman who was upset by the novels, said Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for the Moscow city prosecutor's office. Petrenko said she didn't know how long the investigation would take, but that it is required under law to be made when a request is filed.

When the investigation is completed, prosecutors will determine if any criminal charges will be filed, Petrenko said.

The Potter books have drawn similar complaints across the United States by parents who complain they promote wizardry as a religion.

Right. Harry Potter is a religion. Do people seriously think that their God is threatened by the adventures of a fictional teenaged wizard? Apparently they do. Oh ye of so little and fragile faith. The obvious point being that the only religious hatred the books promote is the reaction to them by these whining Moaning Myrtles.

If it makes the complainers feel any better, my pagan cousin is a witch and loathes the books for the portrayal of wizardry. Imagine, GodBods agreeing with a pagan. Such a pity that something so petty is all that's required to bring them together in spirit.

Y'know, as a Dungeons and Dragons player (for 15 years plus), I'm really starting to feel left out, yesterday's news, ignored&trade. I remember the good old days when it was Dungeons and Dragons that were going to lead all the kids Straight To Hell. When urban legends of D&D inspired suicides and games played for real in sewers were front page material. Rolling dice was going to insipre people like me to lose all track of reality and be unable to distinguish the game from everyday life.

That's all a load of BS, and as I told my folks at the time, I'd Fireball anyone who said so for 10D6 damage with no saving throw. So there.

2002-12-24T11:20:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

2002-12-24T11:03:00.000-08:00

Petty Discontent

I'm Canadian, therefore I must have petty discontents which I pretend are earth shattering profoundities and shocking injustices which Must! Must! be rectified by Liberal government legislation or "soft power".

My petty discontent today? That CNN.com has so much better a news page than FOXnews.com.

That just cheeses me off. I root for FOX mainly because they are open about their slant and put opinion pieces on the front page. Oh- and they have given bloggers great breaks over the last year. I always go to FOX news first, but if I get wind of a more obscure story on the tv, then I go to CNN. For example, the Guliani story in the previous post.

2002-12-24T10:35:00.000-08:00

Giuliani unhappy with trade center proposals

Understandable. Most of the designs I've seen have been absolute crap. It seems as if on one hand you have the original towers, which were booooooring, and on the other hand architecture of the "look at me! I'm so clever!" school of freakishness. Can't there be something reasonable inbetween?

In a few articles about the proposals, I've seen concerns about the towers being attacked again. There's a way to ensure that any such attack in the future will come to be seen by americans as an opportunity to ponder "root causes" and work with the other nations of the world yadda, yadda, yadda.

Relocate the UN to the lowest floors and basement of the new WTC buildings.

It's perfect. The UN already wants new buildings and expects the US to pay for them. If the new WTC gets attacked and falls, the UN immediately get buried, leaving the US free to do what needs to be done.

Then again, if the UN was destroyed as a consequence of the attack, I predict that a great many of the US population would be deeply ambivalent about the whole thing, and would restrain the US from going on an Imperialistic quest for vengeance.

See? Perfect!

Except the UN would want to be on top of the new towers. Unacceptable, for equally symbollic reasons.

2002-12-24T09:56:00.000-08:00

North Korea warns of an "uncontrollable catastrophe"

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell spent a fourth straight day talking to North Korea's neighbors about a growing nuclear crisis as Pyongyang warned of "an uncontrollable catastrophe" if Washington maintains a hostile policy.

As opposed to a controlled catastrophe, something that North Korea has been for years.

Y'know, it's all the fault of that Bond movie. If it wasn't for that Bond movie, N.Korea would never have invaded South Korea, never have starved its people or been reduced to beggardom. After all, it takes a lot to sabotage the cornucopia of prosperity that the Dear Leader's Guidance and Superlative Wisom! has unleased through the gift of eternal communism!

2002-12-24T09:26:00.000-08:00

In honor of the Holiday season, I will not be taking time off blogging. I will post regularly! Really!

The proof, as they say, will be in the pudding. Christmas pudding.

2002-12-23T12:56:00.000-08:00

In a continuing quest to Re-BlogStart....

Well, I still don't know that much HTML. At this rate I will have mastered it sometime about when it comes to be regarded as BASIC is. In other words, useless and obsolete.

Y'know, several years ago, as I was putting myself through university, I was manager of an ice cream operation at an amusement park. I was in charge of hiring new people to hawk ice cream at inflated prices. One of the candidates was the sorriest sack I've ever met. He was the avatar, the paragon of unemployable. He

didn't wash (Did I mention just how small my office was?)

wore a shirt that had been used for other things than covering oneself

proceeded to complain about how difficult it was to get by and how he needed a job to make ends meet after the cuts to welfare payments (anyone who knows me can guess how unmoved this left me. Gee- cutting welfare works!)

complain how difficult it was to get time on the library's computer to make his resume.

But the resume- ah, there was the rub. Spelling and grammar had nothing to do with this document. The kicker though was in his "skills" category. "HTML i am teaching myself html very slowly."

Yeah, well at least I can spell.

Oh yeah- and can someone tell me how the hell to get the links column back to an original size?

2002-12-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

Back Again

I'm just learning new HTML skills. Bear with me and I'll be blogging again in a few days.

Truth of the matter is that I've claimed to know HTML, and I'd better dammed well be able to back it up!

One comment I cannot resist though- The Liberals have rammed through Kyoto, and the silence is deafening. No-one is commenting or even acknowledging this. The national Post had the story on A7 yesterday. Very, very strange. Are we just waiting for the Senate and GG ratification?

2002-11-15T05:52:00.000-08:00

Canada's Kyoto Commitments

BREAKING NEWS

Canada to meet Kyoto commitments with Ontario's cooperation in instituting rolling blackouts and brownouts in 2003.

Developing.......

2002-11-15T05:41:00.000-08:00

"We just don't get it, do we? "

Asks Damian Penny, in regards to Al-Queda's recent threats which specifically mentions Canada.

Nope, Canadians don't get it. There is a very strong belief in Canada that "it can't happen here." Intellectually, most Canadians do understand that we are vulnerable to terrorist attack. In the same sort of way that we understand that eating cheeseburgers and not exercising makes you fat. You know that for a fact, yet you keep on doing what you're doing believing the consequences of your actions will never really arrive.

Last year I had a flight that was scheduled to fly to England on September 13th. I did go to the airport and was confronted by armed soldiers, stepped up security and a real sense of danger. I didn't get to fly out that day and had to reschedule to a month later. When I came back to the Toronto airport a month later, I'd swear it was September 10th. No additional security. No additional procedures or questions. Nothing. Not a single acknowledgement of what had occured and that there were terrorists out there who had declared war on the west. I've been to the Toronto airport twice more since then and nothing has changed. Our institutions don't get it.

Of the Canadians I know here in Toronto, I'd say the proportion who are actually concerned and "get it" is no more than 25%. The rest think that this is to do with the US and its need for oil and imperialism and Bush being stupid. The danger to Canada they see is that we will become "guilty by association" in the terrorists' eyes. Ie, the terrorists aren't the problem, the US is.

I'm just wondering, what is the breakdown in other parts of Canada? If anyone comes from other parts of Canada, can you let me know what the breakdown is like there? How many people in Canada do get it?

2002-11-14T10:47:00.000-08:00

"Adult Themes Dominate Video Games"

Gee, ya think? Given that the price for your average new console or computer game is $80 cdn, only an adult can afford them.

I picked up a Playstation 2 recently, which somewhat accounts for my lack of bloggage. Bad me.

2002-11-14T08:36:00.000-08:00

Machiavelli and Chretien

Just surfing through the Right Wing News, I found a nice little post on the best of Machiavelli. One of the quotes in particular got me thinking.

""And that prince who bases his power entirely on...words, finding himself completely without other preparations, comes to ruin;" -- Niccolo Machiavelli "

I couldn't help but think of Canada. Our emphasis on "soft power" and our effective disarmament. Nasty thoughts about Chretien ensued, and then an interesting contrast presented itself.

Chretien has run the Federal Liberal party and Canadian government as his personal fief for the last eight years. He brutally punishes those who do not follow his line and rewards those who follow his dictates. He's been a ruthless politcal operator all of his political career, ammassing very real power and using it to secure his position. He understands well the uses of power and that his continued leadership depends on his being able to effectively punish his enemies and those who are disloyal.

How the hell is it that a person who understands so well the necessity of the credible ability to punish and the will to use it, not just moral suasion and discussion can take Canada to where it is in international affairs? Under his rulership, we've become nothing but a nation of words, a "moral superpower" dedicated to attempting to make the bad men play nice by talking to them.

If Chretien tried such an approach on the Liberal cabinet, he'd be out of office within a week. One can only conclude that he believes that the world is a safer place than the Liberal party cloakroom.

2002-11-06T07:44:00.000-08:00

The Dream Palace of the Euros

....is crumbling around them. Not that this is going to get much attention until it blows up in everyone's face.

First, (Via Steven DenBeste- hope his vacation went well, good to see him back.) we have the state of France- which is one of the scariest things I've read this year. Sometimes I think Canada is messed up, but then I read something like this and begin to appreciate exactly how much worse it could be.

"I first saw l’insécurité for myself about eight months ago. It was just off the Boulevard Saint-Germain, in a neighborhood where a tolerably spacious apartment would cost $1 million. Three youths—Rumanians—were attempting quite openly to break into a parking meter with large screwdrivers to steal the coins. It was four o’clock in the afternoon; the sidewalks were crowded, and the nearby cafés were full. The youths behaved as if they were simply pursuing a normal and legitimate activity, with nothing to fear.

[..]

Several things struck me about the incident: the youths’ sense of invulnerability in broad daylight; the indifference to their behavior of large numbers of people who would never dream of behaving in the
same way; that only the elderly tried to do anything about the situation, though physically least suited to do so.

[..]

Another motive for inaction was that, had the youths been arrested, nothing would have happened to them. They would have been back on the streets within the hour. Who would risk a screwdriver in the liver to safeguard the parking meters of Paris for an hour?

[..]

As for the police, he added, they did not want to make an arrest in a case like this. There would be too much paperwork. And even if the case came to court, the judge would give no proper punishment. Moreover, such an arrest would retard their careers. The local police chiefs were paid by results—by the crime rates in their areas of jurisdiction. The last thing they wanted was for policemen to go around finding and recording crime.

Not long afterward, I heard of another case in which the police simply refused to record the occurrence of a burglary, much less try to catch the culprits. "

The artcle has to be read to be believed. There's too much to just pick things out. Suffice it to say that if this report has any basis in fact, there will be UN peacekeeping missions in France before the decade is out. Media articles are often alarmist in tone, but damm, I fervently hope this one is exaggerating to the nth degree, because if it isn't......

Then, Via Instapundit, we get the appalling state of the EU's finances -as corruption ridden as a Thrid-world economy.

"Fraud, errors and complacency in the management of the European Union's €98bn (£61bn) budget were yesterday laid bare in ahard-hitting annual report by the EU's court of auditors.

The report confirms many of the allegations made by Marta Andreasen, the suspended EU chief accountant, who claimed the European Commission's accounting system is deeply flawed. For the eighth year in a row, the court was only able t o certify that 5 per cent of the EU's expenditure - mainly relating to internal administration - was legal and regular. The remaining 95 per cent, including the sprawling farm and regional aid budgets, was not given a positive statement of assurance "due to the incidence of errors found".

Incidents of fraud detected include the usual bizarre assortment of fraudulent subsidy claims, including those paid for non-existent sheep and for imaginary Alpine pastures."

Last Week, we had a survey of the German economy -the powerhouse of the new European superpower, remember?

"the Euro-zone economy is going from bad to worse. It was hardly surprising that many missed the devastating one-word summary of the German economy by the country’s equivalent of the CBI last week: "catastrophic".
[...]
Nothing has more exposed the myth of the superior continental economic model than the flight of capital out of the Euro-zone and the stock market collapses this year. They have been breathtaking in their severity. At one point this month the German stock market was showing a collapse of 70% from its peak, double the percentage fall in the Dow Jones. The full consequences of the destruction of savings on such a scale and at such a pace have only just begun to make themselves felt.

Barely a week now passes without another red pencil taken to forecasts for economic growth in the Euro-zone. Last Friday, it was the turn of the National Institute for Economic & Social Research. As if 1.4% growth last year was not slow enough, it now forecasts that the Euro-zone will only manage growth of 0.9% this year and 2.1% next.

As for Germany, which accounts for about a third of output in the zone, GDP will rise by only 0.4% this year, and by 1.7% next, a shadow of the subdued growth in America - the economy that Europe so despises. On Monday, the keenly awaited Ifo index of business confidence is set to show a further fall for the fifth month running. On top of slowing demand, German business now has to contend with a coalition that has proffered yet more of the disease as the cure:yet more tax. "

In order for Europe to be the new economic superpower that it envisions, it will have to do more than limp along or maintain economic parity relative to the US. It has to narrow the gap. The only way that it will be able to do this is to have an economic growth rate higher than that of the US on a sustained basis. ie, for a decade or more. Beating US growth for one or two quarters here or there isn't going to do the job. If the US grows at 3% annually, the EU will have to grow at 5%, and so on and so forth. Of course, given the amount of regualtion and taxation in Europe, this is unlikely.

So, let's assess Europe's chances for the future.

Crime- rising
Unemployment- rising
Deficits- rising
Taxes- "Harmonization" of taxes. Do you really think any will be harmonized downward?
Economic growth- lower than the US on a sustained basis.

Versus the US
Crime- falling. Murder rates have fallen dramatically
Unemployment. Rates that are half that of Europe are considered a crisis
Deficits- rising
Taxes- falling
Economic growth- still positive

Europe a a great power? Well, they were recently begging/demanding for the US to buy them a military. Right. What an amazing crock of shite.

Thankfully the EU is still snubbing Turkey. If they had any brains, they'd incorporate Turkey into the EU on the condition that Turkey's substantial armed forces become the armed forces for Europe. But I guess that would mean treating muslims as equals instead of cheap labour and supplicants who should be grateful to their betters for Europe's social benefits.

2002-10-30T08:40:00.000-08:00

Dumbass of the Day

"Afghan Schools attacked"

"KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Several schools with female students were attacked outside Kabul last week, with rockets fired at two schools and assailants barging into another and burning equipment, a U.N. spokesman said.

No injuries were reported in the attacks, said Edward Carwardine of the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, which sent a team to the areas Tuesday and confirmed the attacks.

"We don't know why this is happening," Carwardine said. "Clearly there is a lot of concern. Any attack against children should be condemned completely." "

Well. let's see. A regime that refused to educate women and beat them for being uncovered in public, speaking and requiring them to stay indoors with painted over windows has recently been overthrown. Many of the former regime's supporters are still on the loose and have not in the least reconsidered the idea that being oppressed and uneducated is the proper role for a woman.

Nope, that couldn't possibly have anything to do with it. Dumbass.

2002-10-17T07:16:00.000-07:00

Really? I'm shocked, Shocked I say, to find a nuclear weapons program in this Dictatorship!

North Korea has admitted that it has an active Nuclear weapons program- despite signing a treaty with the US to discontinue such research in exchange for two nuclear reactors being built.

It's not like people didn't warn that it was going to happen.

It's not as if history's most consistent lesson is that dictators don't keep their word, no matter how fancy the paper or how big the bribe.

Regarding Clinton, I'd say "And now his failure is complete", but that would be utterly redundant.

"The agreement also called for the construction of two light water nuclear reactors to replace the plutonium-producing reactors Pyongyang had been using. The reactors were being financed mostly by South Korea and Japan. Construction of the reactors began just two months ago.

Stop construction of these reactors. Now. Immediately. There is no point to adhering to an agreement when the other side has already completely violated their obligations. Holding to the agreement is not a display of "good faith", it is a display of idiocy and naivete.

2002-10-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

The Machinery of the Euro Totalitarian State Assembles

Bit by bit.

First,
the
end of Habeus Corpus in Britain..... (Via Samizdata This is truly scary- the amount of unrestricted power that the Euros are giving their Eurocops. Idiotic, the way the UK government is signing off on it!

Give this a read, and then start thinking about the likely shape of the future of the EU, and the future of freedom in the EU.

2002-10-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

On the DC Sniper

"Jack Dunphy", a LAPD officer has a few things to say about the investigation.

I found this bit chilling. (emphasis mine)

"Officers searching the area near the Bowie, Md. middle school where a 13-year-old boy was shot discovered a tarot card, on which was written the message: "Dear policeman, I am God." Found nearby was a shell casing of the type consistent with the ammunition used in each of the shootings. News reports have it that no other shell casings have been found, this despite intensive searches at all of the other murder scenes. It occurs to me that the recovered casing might be a red herring, not ejected from the murder weapon at all. The killer may well have plucked it from the ground at whatever firing range he used to hone his deadly skills, only to place it at this crime scene so as to divert investigative attention from himself, or even to pave the way for an eventual defense in court. Consider: If the sniper is so careful as to retrieve his expended casings at every crime scene but one, and at this one he not only leaves a casing behind, but with it what amounts to a calling card, does it not seem that he intended for both these items to be found?"

2002-10-16T07:02:00.000-07:00

Angelina Jolie- with excessive body hair

Angelina Jolie is going to star in a werewolf movie.

Hopefully the plot will be made a little less than threadbare. Hopefully it will make sense (like Tomb Raider did not in any way shape or form whatsoever....)

I'd love to see more werewolf movies. We've seen vampires done to death and given the recent advances in CGI, I want some nice big werewolf movies to make up lost time. I'd love to see anything based on the Werewolf: the apocalyspe role playing game setting- a view of werewolves that is more than "oh-poor-me-I-got-bitten-by-a-big-shagy-dog-in-the-woods-and-now-I'm-going-insane." Take the werewolf idea and do something interesting with it for god's sake.

Oh- and I note the setting for Angelina's movie- the wilds of that frontier nation- Canada!

2002-10-16T06:12:00.000-07:00

Bomber Confesses

The Indonesian police have announced that the suspect they have in custody has confessed. (Via The Corner)

"The suspect, who is being held by Indonesian authorities, told investigators that he regretted the massive loss of life, but he has not disclosed who ordered him to make the bomb, according to the security official. The official said the suspect had learned to make explosives while serving in the air force, which later dismissed him for misconduct."

Right. He regrets the massive loss of life. I'm sure.

Apparently, other suspects are being "intensively" interrogated. I wonder what that means? Well, let's see. Here's the Amnesty Int'l report on Indonesia.

"...the UN Committee against Torture expressed concern about the high number of allegations of torture committed by members of the security forces; numerous attacks against human rights defenders, sometimes resulting in death; the climate of impunity resulting from failure to bring to justice individuals suspected of carrying out acts of torture; and the inadequate legal and institutional framework for protection against torture."

If these are the actual bombers, I have very little sympathy for them. However, because I know that Indonesia does use torture, there is that voice in my mind wondering if the people they have are really the guilty parties. I'm sure the pressure on the security services to produce results must be awesome, and the temptation to arrest anyone who could be framed sufficently would be not minor. Thus I doubt the standard of justice that Indonesia will bring to bear here. No matter what evidence they bring forward, I'll always have doubts.

2002-10-14T12:54:00.000-07:00

Remember It can't happen here!

Al-Queda in Canada? CBS News

"A former high-ranking Canadian intelligence official tells Steve Kroft that there are at least 50 terrorist groups, al-Qaida among them, operating in Canada whose members could easily slip into the U.S. across the undefended 5,500-mile border.

The full interview with David Harris, former chief of strategic planning for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

“We’ve established through our intelligence service and other means that we have 50 terrorist organizations now on our soil…They range in scope from the IRA to Hezbollah, Hamas…[and] certainly al-Qaida,” says Harris, who has “no doubt” some of those terrorists are targeting America. "

This is opposed to our Prime-Minister-For-Life Jean Chretien's public statements in the past that "there are no terrorists in Canada"

2002-10-14T07:36:00.000-07:00

Quote of the Day

Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting the bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian.

- Dennis Wholey

Via Samizdata

2002-10-14T06:06:00.000-07:00

Bombing in Bali

Here's a list of people who have been admitted to hospital. (Via Tim Blair) Four on the list are Canadian. The list is short on details, as might be expected.

Jeffrey Canada Kasih Ibu Hospital Evacuated to Singapore
Ricard Canada Wangaya Hospital
Sophie Sureay Canada SOS Medika
Sopie Canada Kasih Ibu Hospital Evacuated to Singapore

No Canadians are among the identified dead.

The US Ambassador warned the Indonesians over a month ago. Repeatedly. The Indonesian government ignored him. "It can't happen here."

Within days [Ambassador] Boyce's actions were explained in Time magazine, which said a senior al-Qaeda member in Indonesia, Omar al-Faruq, had been masterminding a car-bomb attack on the Jakarta embassy when he was arrested in June.

The CIA interrogated al-Faruq after he was deported to the US. He confessed to planning a series of terrorist attacks in Indonesia, the article said and the US embassy confirmed. But few Indonesian leaders were prepared to take this information too seriously. Instead of a considered response to a security threat, the issue degenerated into a debate where the US was flat out defending charges it was anti-Indonesian and anti-Muslim.

"I just can't understand why there is so much hostility to a friend who shares such important information with you," Mr Boyce told a group of some 15 Muslim leaders who felt the US was blackening their religion.

All together now with our Prime Minister Uncle Jean. "It can't happen here."

2002-10-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

U.N. Inspectors to Iraq?

Well, except for the fact that Iraq maintains the right to change the rules at any time. Not that it matters, given that the UN is willing to accept the rules of Calvinball for the inspections if performing inspections had a chance of stopping the US from taking action against Iraq.

Again, not that it matters. The UN can have a big inspection cakewalk and it won't matter a whit- not even if the inspections were to be effective. Why? Because the US has been committed to regime change in Iraq, not just the disarmament of Iraq's WMD programs. Weapons Inspections won't remove Saddam Hussein from control of Iraq. If it was Clinton or Gore in the White House, then it would matter. "We said we were committed to regime change? Shurely you knew we didn't mean that. We meant the Inspection regime. If we happened to explicitly mention Saddam in that particular phrase, well that was just a misunderstanding." However, there's a President who tends to have this romantic notion that his words mean something. Saddam is going to go- soon.

2002-10-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

How Iraqis who have escaped feel about the Issue...

New York Times: "Refugees back effort to end Hussein's rule despite risk to relatives"

National Post: "Iraqi Canadians want an invasion; "Regime has got to go"

2002-10-11T13:14:00.000-07:00

I Want This One On the Record

Well well well, capitalism creates wealth and aleviates poverty? You don't say? The world is becoming a better place? Really? Imagine that.

Read on the latest evidence.

2002-10-05T15:20:00.000-07:00

You could be a Democrat if.....

You mock Ronald Reagan for having been an actor before he was President, citing this as obvious proof of his "stupidity".

You believe that Barbra Streisand and Rob Reiner provide good advice to the Democrats.

2002-10-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

Compare and Contrast

Saddam Hussein: Two Son-in-laws defect to Jordan, waning the world of Saddam's imperialistic plans and weapons programs. Saddam persuades them to return as all is forgiven. Once they return, Saddam lets them know he was kidding about the "forgive and forget" part and has them tortured to death.

George W. Bush: 2002: Democratic Congressmen escape to Iraq and warn the world of Bush's imperialistic plans. They return of their own accord and are subject to questioning by the dreaded reporters of FOXnews.

2002-10-02T10:14:00.000-07:00

Tax n' Spend? Nawwwwww

Toronto City Council, showing its usual fiscal good sense, passed a law yesterday requiring that Councilors cannot pay for their work related expenses out of their own pocket, but must use their office budget of $53,100/year.

City council voted yesterday that councillors must use taxpayer-funded office budgets -- not their own cash -- to pay for postage, printing costs, photocopying and other expenses.

"I'm not going to change my ways; I'm going to spend out of my own pocket," said Ford, who estimated he spends a few hundred dollars of his own money on office expenditures each year.

City records show Ford is the biggest penny-pincher when it comes to spending taxpayers' money to run his office. He spent only $2.04 of his $53,100 office budget during the first half of the year.

Councillor Joe Mihevc proved to be the big spender during the same period, shelling out $35,085 or 66% of his office budget.

"I treat the taxpayers' money as if it was my own and they don't -- and they hate it," Ford said of his colleagues.

"They want to bring me in their cult of spending, which I refuse to do."

Why? Because one of their number was only spending $2.01 of his budget, wheras others have spent as much as 65% of their budget in the first six months of the year. Apparently Toronto City Council is capable of taking decisive action when it comes to their own personal embarassment. Fix the problem? Sure- legilate against personal responsibility! The Taxpayers' money is there to be used!

Councilor Ford has demonstrated that he has more qualifications to be Mayor than any other councilor by his restraint alone.

2002-10-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

Oh Happy Week

This week, Brotherhood of the Wolf comes out on DVD, and War of Honor comes out in hardback.

Oh, and March to the Stars has its first eight chapters posted on the web too. Love it.

2002-10-02T07:13:00.000-07:00

Bushie Behaviour

Last month we were treated to the German Chancellor Schroeder using America bashing for electoral purposes. Bush didn't reply publicly with an "oh yeah? Well you're #@$%^&*($$!!!" No, he let his displeasure be know privately, and the folowing week, small moves were made to let the Germans know that the comments weren't appreciated. Indications are that this incident may chill german-american relations for some time.

Today in National Review, Stanley Kurtz wonders why Bush isn't saying anything about the two Democrats who went to Baghdad and publically called him a liar a warmonger and a cheat.

"Where are the condemnations? Why haven't Democrats openly distanced themselves from these foolish and scurrilous remarks? The truth is, Republicans, including most especially the president, have been almost shockingly quiet about this. What McDermott and Bonior said and did was infinitely worse than the remarks that led to Sen. Daschle's angry denunciation of the president on the Senate floor. It is the president who has shown bipartisanship here. But at this point, honor and honesty demand that Bonior and McDermott be called to account for their actions."

Why doesn't Bush come out and hit back at these people publicly insulting him? Why? Because he's an adult. This is how mature people handle being insulted. Flinging insults back and forth is fine for the High school cafeteria, but is inappropriate for the leader of the world's only superpower. Much better to express your displeasure once in a civilized manner and then take appropriate action.

Had Bush come out an publicly blasted Schoeder back, would we be seeing this? (Via IP)

" GERMANY edged closer to a U-turn on its policy towards Iraq yesterday by making clear that new evidence of President Saddam Hussein’s weapons plans could dilute its resistance to a war.

Statements by two Social Democrat foreign policy specialists have indicated a shift as Berlin begins to buckle under the strain of its argument with the Bush Administration.

The German business community has been piling the pressure on Gerhard Schröder, the Chancellor. German exports to the US are already suffering from a strong euro-dollar rate and weakening American demand. Now there is the fear of a consumer boycott. "

Had Bush come out shooting, Schroeder would have been able to cash Bush as a bully, and continued US bashing as being heroic defiance. By not doing so and instead infliciting costs on Germany for taking the position, has made it that much easier for Germany to make up with the US.

Letting Rumsfield blast the German comments (the comments, not the people- no ad hominem attacks) and then refuse to meet with the German Defense Minister was the "consequence" part of the strategy- letting the Germans know that there were going to be costs for taking the anti-american position.

Hurling ad hominem attacks then doing nothing about it and pretending to be the best of friends two days later is something that the rest of the UN can engage in if they like. The serious issues of the world require a more serious approach than that favoured by 12 year old children.

2002-10-02T07:01:00.000-07:00

Random Coolness

Just reading Lileks' latest bleat and noticing (for the second time) that he plays the computer game Tropico;

"Tonight while doing the evening Twirl (Gnat wants to play the “Chunk Swirly Twirl” from Olie Polie every night, followed by the theme from the Tropico game) Jasper went into a barking fit, so I picked up his front legs and danced him around. He grew wide-eyed with alarm - spiral down into madness if you must but don’t take me with you."

I love it, just that random similarity. Cool, we play the same computer games.

2002-10-02T06:56:00.000-07:00

YACCS

In case anyone wonders why I haven't bothered to correct the "Comments" code, its because when I follow their instructions and go to this page to get the new code, it gives me nothing but that page. No new code, nada. Kinda Silly.

I guess that's what I get for using free systems. I'm at their mercy because what am I going to do? Not pay?

I do check fo the comments though. I do appreciate when people leave their input. It's one of my favourite parts of blogging actually.

2002-10-02T06:28:00.000-07:00

Random Thought

It's amazing just how important emailing friends who you haven't communicated with for a while becomes, when you've got studying to do for an imminent exam.

2002-10-02T06:26:00.000-07:00

Aid to Afghanistan

In this critique of Ted Rall's "work" in the Comics Journal (Via Instapundit), there's an instructive summary of the benefits that the US's liberation of Afghanistan has bought.

"First of all, he ignores the $4.5 billion in international aid to Afghanistan that wouldn't have been sent had the Taliban remained in power. The Ahmed Rashid books he cites ad nauseum should have taught him that the Taliban were known for pushing aid organizations out of the country for such "violations" as being Christian. The World Food Program reports that food aid is now successfully reaching 6.6 million people in Afghanistan. According to UNICEF, who, coincidentally, also voiced opposition to the bombing campaign at first, the international aid agency is now able to go forward with the "biggest logistical operation for many years" in Afghanistan. In an aid update from January, UNICEF workers immunized 572,000 children in Kabul during the first two weeks of 2002, "six times higher than the total immunization coverage in 2001." They also vaccinated over 700,000 children against measles during the first two months of 2002, in a country where, as Nicholas Kristof pointed out in the Feb. 1 New York Times (hard to miss, Ted), "virtually no one had been vaccinated against the disease in the previous 10 years." That alone will save the lives of at least 35,000 children each year. Kristof also quotes Heidi J. Larson of UNICEF saying that she expects maternal mortality rates in Afghanistan will halve as a result of improved health care over the next five years. That's another 112,000 children and 7,500 pregnant women saved each year. So, contrary to Rall's rhetoric, the lives of women in Afghanistan seem to be improving in at least some ways "that matter." Consider that more than 1.5 million schoolchildren have been enrolled in Afghan schools this year ... double the number of children in school last year. All of the girls, who the Taliban prevented from attending school, are going to school for the first time in their lives. It's safe to say, then, that not everyone in Afghanistan is fueled by a desire for revenge against the United States.

It is, as Christopher Hitchens has said, the first time in history a country has been bombed back out of the Stone Age."

Right. Ousting the Taliban has been no improvement at all. Everything is jusyt the same as it was before. The Taliban's rule is preferable to the nationa-building of the US. Whatever.

Well, the Comics Journal had me agreeing with them until they went onto their "Bush is an appointed dictator!" rhetoric. Some myths will never die.

2002-10-02T06:20:00.000-07:00

Advisor

Saw in the National Post the other day a story about Chretien. (No link available from NP. Their online site is remarkably spotty when it comes to keeping articles I find.) Apparently he has an eithics advisor who is paid $1 CDN a year.

Who says you don't get what you pay for? He're a man who knows his worth- whether how much is advice is worth, or how much use it will be to the PM.

2002-10-02T06:08:00.000-07:00

Little Differences

I haven't seen a Lucky Rabbit's foot in years. Is this just one of those tiny changes that herald a change in public opinion towards animals? A minor victory for PETA and their ilk? Perhaps, but I don't really care that much. I can live without a lucky rabbit's foot.

I cannot live without my veal parmiagana and filet mignon. Touch that and DIE!

Matt Labash speaks about his struggle with PETA and his love of juicy animals.

"I've always harbored a secret soft spot for my friends at the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. This is not an easy admission. For the only thing I like better than eating meat once a day, is eating meat two or three times a day. If they made meat desserts, I'd push for four. Meat and I--we've had some great times together.
[..]

To live with myself, I cheat, pretending that animal welfare is of great importance to me. I don't hunt. I give my pet labrador--or "companion animal" as PETA would have it--inordinate amounts of table food (he especially likes meat). And whenever I go to restaurants, I order veal--doing my bit to ensure that those poor calves don't have to spend any more time in one of those wretched crates.

But there is one other thing I do, which is to quietly root for PETA. It doesn't really matter how provocative their latest media campaign is. When they stripped Kim Basinger and Christy Turlington down to their birthday suits, having them declare they'd "rather go naked than wear fur," I could think of no other apparel I would have rather seen them in.

2002-09-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

Iran

Who the regime views as its friends: "Suspected Al-Queda camp seen in Iran"

Who the Students of Iran view as theirs: ""September", The Shared Grief of the Iranian and American Nations "

2002-09-26T09:52:00.000-07:00

How To Make Your Country Really Poor

Ronald Bailey complies from the real-world experience of the last hundred years the steps a nation should take in order to achieve the miracle of poverty.

Ultra-Mega recommended. I wish that they would require this as reading for any basic economics course. Never happen of course, you don't even get to discuss the real world until about third year. By that time, you've studied abstract models for two years which feature the explicit assumption that any data that doesn't fit can be explained away as being other factors not discussed in the context of the model. Screw the real world results, the model works, it's just that the real world isn't good enough to show the results of the model clearly.

Reality can be very simple. If you want to be successful, you have to do what successful people or nations do. There are no short cuts, there are no ways to become the wealthiest nation on earth and yet retain the state mechanisms of oppressing your people and depriving them of the right to property. (Okay- there is one way, which is to destroy all other nations wealthier than you. ) As long as a nation's government views the people as the property of the government, to dispose of as it pleases, stagnation continues.

It's amazing. Everyone understands that if a person wants to be an athlete, to be trim and run a four minute mile then you have to work at it. You have to exercise, train, eat right and generally be disciplined and proactive. There is a very well defined set of actions that lead to success. A person sitting and watching reruns with a sack of Doritos 24-7 also has a well defined set of results. If the couch potato starts complaining that he wants to be thinner, more athletic but is unwilling to part with the couch and the nachos, no blame accrues to the athlete. The athlete is not oppressing the couch potato, unless you count the feeling of envy as being a form of outside opression. If you want success, you have to adopt the models of success. There is no way to escape this, no way to bypass this. Reality, economics and human nature dictate that "import substitution" doesn't work. Socialism doesn't work, cash transfers and foreign aid don't work. The only dammed thing that works is freedom, individual rights (property being a big one) and capitalism.

Of course, to attain prosperity requires the one sacrifice that intellectual elites are unwilling to accept- that there will be inequality. Some people will be wealthier than others. Some nations will do things better and become wealthier. propsperity requires that governments not interfere and attempt to

2002-09-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

Arrogant Politicians, Parts 1 and 2

Flit notes our Illustrious Prime Minister's decision to buy two new jets worth $100 million for his use. Oh- did he mention that the money came out of the military budget? Flit covers the points, so I won't bother voicing my personal (well fatigued) outrage with J.C.

I will say though that Chretien could be classified as a weapon. A decade of him running a country is more than enough to beggar its political and economic life. Perhaps we should consider deploying him to other nations we wish to punish as a use of "Soft Power".

Second, Lileks speaks on Tom Daschle and the roots of his outrage.

"Look. Politicians of this rank come in two flavors: cutthroats and useful idiots. There are the Senators who know how to get things done, how to twist arms and pinch earlobes, and the Senators who float on a perfumed cloud of ideals. If a Senator is not one of the happy-gassy idealists I assume they are a flat bastard in the clutch, and I’m annoyed when they think I don’t know otherwise. (That’s one of the reasons Trent Lott annoys me too: stop smiling! The more you wear that idiot grin the less I like you, and I didn’t like you much to begin with.) I’d be more inclined to respect Daschle et al if they’d just oppose the war and tell me why, and make the case, and have the bloody debate already. Reasonable people can oppose the war for reasonable reasons, so, Mr. Reasonable, put up or shut up. If you don’t have the guts to act like the opposition party, then don’t be stunned when your obfuscation and tail-dragging comes off as petty political maneuvering to smell good now and smell better later.

It’s telling that Daschle finally showed “passion” when he felt the Senate was being attacked. That’s what really galled him. That’s what really made the mask slip. I think that the “attack” on the Senate is one of the least significant events of the last 54 weeks, but that’s what got him steamed. Listening to subsequent speeches from Sen. Boxer and the utterly senile Robert Byrd just confirmed the impression: some of the Senators seem to believe that criticism of the Senate is beyond the pale, because it is THE SENATE, after all.

It’s not a Dem-GOP thing; this sort of self-regarding fatuity affects most politicians when they suck in the first few rarified molecules of Senate air. Some are immune. There's Zell Miller, a Democrat for whom I’d gladly vote - he has a crusty by-God Suhthun coot quality I much prefer to the well-combed hologram we have running for Senate here in Minnesota. Zell made a speech as equally impassioned as Daschle, but the subject was the injuries of the nation, not the tender sensibilities of the Senate."

2002-09-26T07:03:00.000-07:00

The Anti-American Reflex

Dr.Manhattan has the perfect summation of every discussion regarding anything the US considers as a course of action.
Example

They say: "America supports tyrants."
We say: "Okay, we'll take those tyrants out."
They say: "NO! We didn't mean that."
All right.
They say: "America doesn't share aid with these countries."
We say: "Okay, we'll give aid to these countries, and trade with them."
They say: "You're supporting tyrants!"
Okely-dokely.
They say: "You created Saddam!"
We say: "All right, we shall correct our error."
They say: "NOOOOOO! Don't touch a hair on his precious head!"
Fair enough.

Letter perfect. Read it.

2002-09-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

Sweeet Justice for all

A colection of Homer Simpson quotes. (Via Samizdata)

The odds are very good indeed that humans five hundred years from now will know the name "Homer Simpson" in the same way we kinow Robinson Caruso, Robin Hood, Romeo and Juliet...... and Aristotle.

2002-09-25T12:44:00.000-07:00

Shtoooopid Spam

Subject Line: "Here's the $20 I owe you"
Sender: gqqk465@tnh2wqv03.com

How stupid do you spammers think I am?!? When I open the email, is a $20 bill suddenly going to materialize out of the screen before me? Is there some other mysterious way of enclosing a $20 bill in an email? Or is this just an attempt to get me to think "Oh, I could get money if I open this email". Hmmm. Who owes me money anyway? Gqqk465? Oh yeah, him, I remember now. I know him so well, I remember the time we were out at that irish pub....

Sigh. DELETE.

2002-09-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

And Another Thing.....

Via Instapundit, Mickey Kaus points out that Black child poverty in the US continues to decrease even during the middle of a recession. It's been falling since the welfare reforms instituted in 1996.

"The economy went into a recession, poverty went up. That usually happens. But at least two things happened in this recession that don't usually happen. (1) Welfare caseloads continued to fall (contradicting liberal claims that the only reason they were falling was the good economy). And, (2) even though there were fewer people on welfare, child poverty was unchanged -- and the child poverty rate for blacks actually continued to fall.. ...It seems to me (as it does to Isabel Sawhill) that this is fairly strong evidence of the success of the 1996 welfare reform. Liberals like Wendell Primus rightly said the real test of the reform would only come when we'd been through a complete business cycle. Well? "

This is hardly suprising to me as I did my university economics thesis on the effects of welfare rates on welfare enrollment. (Side note- I was utterly amazed at the lack of other research in the area. Getting the "Prior research" area of my paper don was hell. I've always wondered why there would have been so little published material on siuch a basic economic question of incentives, especially when the gov't spends so much money on welfare.) No matter what factors I used in my regression analysis, the most significant and robust result was that welfare enrollment is positively correlated to the level of welfare benefits. You raise the rates, more people will go on welfare. You reduce the rates and fewer people will take welfare.

2002-09-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

"Rights Vs. Wishes"

Walter Williams on what a "right" actually is and what it is not. The basic point?

At least in the standard historical usage of the term, a right is something that exists simultaneously among people. A right confers no obligation on another. For example, the right to free speech is something we all possess. My right to free speech imposes no obligation upon another except that of non-interference. Similarly, I have a right to travel freely. That right imposes no obligation upon another except that of non-interference.

Contrast those rights to the supposed right to decent housing or medical care. Those supposed rights do confer obligations upon others. There is no Santa Claus or Tooth Fairy. If you don't have money to pay for decent housing or medical services, and the government gives you a right to those services, where do you think the money comes from?

If you said "From some other American," go to the head of the class. Your right to decent housing and medical care requires that some other American have less of something else, namely diminished rights to his earnings.

Let's apply this bogus concept of rights to free speech and the right to travel freely. If we were to apply it to my right to free speech, my free speech rights would confer financial obligations on others to supply me with an auditorium, microphone and audience. My right to travel freely would require that others provide me with airplane tickets and hotel accommodations. Most Americans, I would imagine, would tell me, "Williams, yes you have rights to free speech and travel rights, but I'm not obligated to pay for them!"

Read the rest of it here.

"I don't possess the right to take your earnings for any reason. Since I have no such right, I cannot delegate it to government. If I did take your earnings for housing and medical services, it would rightfully be described as an act of theft. When government does it, it's still theft -- the only difference is that it's legalized theft sanctioned by a majority vote. "

Ah yes, the difference again between freedom and democracy. Also leading nicely to the discussion of freedom vs equality. Which is more important?

Personally, freedom is far more important. Bill Gates being a billionaire does me no direct harm. Doesn't make a dammed difference to me as he takes nothing from me excapt what I'm willing to trade for his products. I don't like inequality, but I hate the tyranny it would require to achieve it in any meanigful material sense.

Which brings us to Toronto, where a squatter's villiage has just been evicted down by the waterfront. There's an interesting "Numbers file" that goes with the report.

- 5 hectares of contaminated land.
- About 100 residents living in tents, trailers and shacks.
- 10 cats, 8 dogs and countless rats.
- 1 baby born since the city's homeless began setting up camp 2 years ago.
- 6 extremely unsanitary outhouses
- 1 communal pipe spouting water continuously.
- 0 electricity, although some squatters reportedly tapped into Hydro.
- 1 mountain of garbage attracting thousands of flies.
- $180 million will be spent by the city on homelessness this year.

Thane Burnett notes how destitute the tent city really was....

Before you read any weepy tales of the lives of these people, understand that when police went in yesterday, at least one of the places was equipped with two computers. One investigator involved estimated half these people own cellphones. [...] Residents will be allowed, under guard, to return to collect their belongings from the cabins and trailers, some of which are powered by electricity stolen from commercial neighbours. (Emphasis mine) In one case, a squatter had built a nice patio overlooking the water. Crying for her 140-pound dog who was still guarding her place, Tara Breen, 34, said she wanted back inside.

Excuse me for asking the obvious- but aren't we constantly told that the homeless are starving? Can I ask what the hell supposedly starving people are doing owning a 140 pound dog? Can I ask why the hell one mother decided to have her baby in the tent city instead of taking advantage of our socialized medical system? Note- She chose to have the baby there. She is responsible, not some cruel and uncaring cold-hearted capitalist world. She had the choice to seek medical care and did not. Cellphones? Running computers? Don't even get me started. Tapping other people's power? Hello! Safety risk? Down by the water? Possible electrocution?

2002-09-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

Vacation Wrapup

Well, I'm back from a wonderful week in Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. The hurricanes passed us by, except for a few rainstorms during the evenings.

Best. Vacation. Ever.

Arriving in the airport, I took a moment to go to the washroom. I entered the door to the men's room, and the first thing I notice is a big guy standing there just watching people come in the door. Oooookay. I go over to the urinals past a divider and see that there's three guys in suits standing there talking rapidly under their breath and trading papers back and forth. Doing business. Maybe I don't need to got to the washroom that badly.

We stayed at the Iberostar Costa Dorada, a wonderful hotel which I'll heartily recommend to anyone looking for a vacation spot. Good food in the restaurants, including the three speciality restaurants on the resort. There's a brazillian restaurant which was nice, the waitresses come around with seven different types of meat on this great big skewer, cutting off portions for you onto your plate. Delicious... There's a mexican restaurant with a wonderful hot sauce to combine with the chilli con carne. Gets one sweating very nicely, and finally a carribbean restaurant outside with wonderful shrip, cocktails and desserts. A three man band comes around to seranade you as well in the latter restaurant too. Perfectly romantic.

Wonderful lake-sized swimming pool. Great to lounge around in the sun and get burned. Note- the radiation comes through even when there are clouds. There are few things as relaxing as lying on an inflatable bed floating in a swimming pool and feeling the sun soaking into your skin as a breeze teases you as well.

Of course, while I was away, I see my fellow Torontonians managed to lose the warm weather that existed when I left T.O. Tut-Tut.

Oh well, I'm back and it's time to work once again. Onwards!