Friday, December 29, 2006

eye for an eye - the hanging of saddam hussein



I am disgusted today. Today is tomorrow in Iraq, and even as I write this, they are either fitting a hempen cravat around Saddam Hussein's neck, or they have already hung him.

There is no debate that Hussein was a very bad man, like so many brutal dictators supported by countries like the US and Britain. There is little point in rehashing the history of Iraq either. It is a convoluted lie - like so many histories popular.

The point is (for me) that there were irregularities to his trial. The government of Iraq, and it's institutions, have been set in place by the American gov't - just as in Afghanistan. There are other crimes that Hussein was charged with, that he won't be tried for. The inconvenient truths will not be revealed.

The crime that he is being hung for at this moment occurred in the early 1980's after an assassination attempt. The French, and the Americans, carried on a relationship with him until he ruffled feathers by drilling at an angle into Kuwait's oil reserves - with technology, and tacit approval afforded by the Americans. Then came Gulf War I. Then came sanctions and no-fly zones. Then came 9.11, and the perfect smokescreen to invade Iraq on false pretexts. And now the little shrub from Texas is probably sitting with eyes glued to some satellite feed so that he can watch Saddam struggle and kick at the end of a rope. What a pair of pricks they both are.

The British, Americans, Russians, Israelis, etc., assassinate people all the time, and when people stand up against it, they unleash incredible military might - killing women, children, men young and old - by the tens and hundreds of thousands, but it's in the name of democracy, so it's ok.

Finally, I just do not agree with capital punishment. I can understand revenge killing in the heat of battle. I can understand killing to protect oneself, or someone innocent in danger, but capital punishment is done clinically, and in cold blood. To me, that is a crime.

I heard an Iraqi man on the radio today who told of his father being one of those killed by Hussein. He did not want Hussein to be executed. He did not believe that it was right, and further, believed that it will inflame the mayhem in Iraq ten-fold. There are crazy mulef*ckers running things that want Armageddon. They are going to get it - and so are we. Hussein is not afraid to die, but he asked to be executed by a firing squad, instead, they want to hang him like a rat - for the spectacle.

It's a terrible day today (tomorrow in Iraq). Nothing unusual about that.

EDIT -

For those of you fascinated with snuff films, who have been hunting for the video of Saddam being executed, here is a link. It does not show him kicking at the end of his rope, but shows him dropping from sight. I did not really care to see it, or not, but did want to provide the link.

I do have to say that he showed a lot of courage for someone moments away from his end, but did look a little like he was going to cry.

Interesting comment from Scotsman.com - TV plans tasteful coverage of Saddam execution. How the hell does one have tasteful coverage of an execution?

I still maintain that it was wrong to kill him. It was not justice, but vengeance.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

winter

I haven't been posting much as of late. Nothing exciting these days.

The snow is all gone now, and we had a sunny day today. It's been mostly raining and dreary for a while. I'm always glad of the Christmas lights. They make things more cheerful. I have them up in the house year-round. It's a good light source - not too bright - and I like the colours.

Here are a few more shots of the winter wonderland we had in November. It's long gone now, but I like the pic's.

Enjoy. (click on any image for a larger view)





Sunday, December 24, 2006

happy christmas (or kwanzaa, hanukka, solstice, whatever)



This is me in 20 years...

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

oops! bah!

It seems that I have a lump of coal for a heart...

You're a Total Grinch

Ouch! You make the Grinch seem like Santa Claus. Holidays definitely aren't your thing.
Just relax, and create your own tradition. Even if it's drinking spiked hot chocolate and heckling carolers.

thank you Tara



Tara, over at eclectic spaghetti, is on my sweetness list for making me a virtual birthday cake - and that for a sour-puss who hates his own birthday...

Thanks so much for thinking of me. You are an angel.

Monday, December 18, 2006

happy flippin' birthday to me



Agh! Birthday again.

I'm not very big on my birthday - fact is, I don't like December at all.

Born 3 days before the longest night of the year. Darkness and brooding.

Born on a Monday afternoon - Monday's child is fair of face... Certainly I am better looking than my brother (huh?), but I ain't no Brad Pitt (it's his birthday today too...)

December just keeps on getting grimmer. When I was in university, my best friend was killed in a car wreck two days before my birthday. My Grandma, who I loved so dearly, died the day before my birthday in 2003. Then, last week, on the 14th, we had to euthanize one of the best friends I have ever known - our wonderful, beautiful dog Que. All I really look forward to is the days getting longer again after the solstice.

Don't call on the 'phone, don't e-mail me. Just look forward to spring.

I'm here in my silent Scream...

Thursday, December 14, 2006

a deus sweet que



Que is gone.

Our wonderful vet - Sue Hughson - came this morning and gave Que a lethal injection, and she was gone in just a couple of minutes.

I'm too upset to write about it now. I will deal with it later.

Good bye Que. We love you.

Monday, December 11, 2006

stephane dion



A little over a week ago, Stephane Dion was elected as the new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. I have not written about that yet because I do not know enough about him.

I have no affiliation to the Liberal Party, and have never voted Liberal. I never liked Chretien, and was ambivalent about Paul Martin. The whole sponsorship scandal was really quite boring to me, and I was never outraged by it. Cynically resigned would be a better measure of my feelings about that.

Although I never cared for the Liberals, I was hoping that they would beat the Conservatives because I detest Herr Harper, and most of his cabinet. I feel that they are divisive, and petulant, and I am quite a bit more progressive than they could ever be. I did take interest in the Libearal leadership race because I was hoping that they would elect someone that could beat the Conservatives, and get their own party back on track, and maybe even get Canada back on track.

I felt that Bob Rae might be a good choice because of his experience in the trenches. He was much vilified after his tenure as Premier of Ontario, but I felt that it was unfair. Rae took power just as recession set in, and he had not much to work with after the Liberal gov't of David Peterson. But Rae would have had a hard time sloughing off that baggage, and would have been hurt in the important jurisdictions of Ontario.

Gerard Kennedy caught my interest too - especially as the only one that spoke against the notion of Quebec as a nation. (that is a subject that deserves much more time than is afforded me at present) I did not think that he could beat Harper though, and I never had a good sense of what he was all about.

Ignatieff makes me physically ill (almost, anyhow) with his ego and insincerity. I prayed that he would not take the brass ring. I hope he runs back to his beloved Amurika, and leaves Canada to Canadians.

Dryden is smart and sincere, but lacks vision and experience - in my humble opinion.

Who else was there? Never mind, they probably left as little impression with you as they did with me.

Back to Dion. Largely unknown outside of Central Canada, and has some baggage in Quebec as a result of his activities as Minister of Inter-Governmental Affairs. Some pundits say that is a liability.

I saw a couple of interviews with Stephane Dion this past week, and have to say that I am impressed. Would I finally vote Liberal? I don't know about that, but I do think that Dion can clean the floor with Harper, and would feel a lot more comfortable with him as P.M. than I do with Harper.

He is smart, animated, and passionate. What I have heard from him so far makes me think that he can win the next election, and at least form a minority gov't. He could probably work well with the NDP (who will never form a gov't - in my view, and I wouldn't want to see that anyhow), and maybe even with the B.Q. I think that it would provide more stability in gov't than what we have had for a few years now.

So far, I like what I have seen. Dion needs to polish his English a bit, but because he seems so passionate, and erudite, I don't think that it will be a problem for him. He comes across as someone who doesn't listen well, but that is the hallmark of an intelligent mind. He seems to anticipate the crux of questions, and does not have the patience to bandy about platitudes and fluff.

I hope that the Liberals form a minority gov't, and maybe even form a loose coalition with the NDP. I hope that Layton stops trying to undermine others for a few extra votes, and is willing to work with the Dion Liberals for the good of Canada.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

euthanasia and the medal of bravery



Poor old Que. She has been such a trooper. A good and loyal dog. Even in her days of illness and weakness, all of the other dogs still respect and fear her - as do the cats.

I have been writing about her saga for a while now. It all started in the summer, when she was diagnosed with cancer. She was 14 in September, and so has lived a good, and a long life by dog standards. She has not seemed to be suffering any pain, only blows to her dignity, so we have avoided euthanasia. I have been changing her bandages and washing her daily for the last 6 months. We tried arsenicum to give her her own decision on whether to keep going, but it is time for us to make the hard decision.

We have a babby coming in 2 months, and the stench of her cancer is pervading the house. She has also taken to crapping in the kitchen lately. Last night and this morning, she had horrific smelling diarrhea, and it was all over the kitchen, and her. This has become untenable with the imminent arrival of the babby. I am just too worried about bringing a new-born into a house full of disease.

We have decided to end it this week. J called the veterinarian this morning to arrange to have her put down this week. It breaks my heart to do it, but I feel that we have little other choice. She can barely haul herself up the 4 front steps to get inside, and her world has shrunk to the kitchen, and the front yard and sidewalk in front of our house. She has absolutely no quality of life left.

I have given her this medal (from the Bataan Death March) for her heroism in defying death. We will not receive any such commendation, as we have succumbed to the inevitability of it for her.

I'm very sad today, and humbled.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

blotus



Blotus was my friend. He lived in my kitchen window for about 8 months through most of last winter. He came in the summer, and we would catch bugs for him and feed him. He got very big and fat - hence the name "Blotus"

The winter before that we had Brutus, and the winter before that, Boris the Spider.

We fed them all, and they caught their own too. The weird thing is that they got used to us feeding them, and would get all in a dance when we went near. So yes, one can even train spiders.



We don't have a spider this year, and we think that Moses the cat caught and ate Blotus (cats love to eat bugs...).

one of those days



Yesterday was one of those days.

I was going to help J, and we would have been done quite early, but...

First, we were going around and doing our pick-ups, and I shut off the motor to save gas, and so that J wouldn't have to breathe in exhaust fumes. When I tried to re-start the van, all I got was some clicking sounds. The battery had decided that it's useful life was finished. We called BCAA to come and give us a boost, and we were told that they were very busy, and that it would be about an hour.

Judy called a friend, who came and got her, and took her home to get my van so that she could continue to do pick-ups while I waited for BCAA. BCAA finally came over two hours later (they have been swamped all of this month). I got a boost, and went home to wait for BCAA's mobile battery service. That came about another hour and a half later, and I had a new battery installed for 150 bucks. Cost of doing business.

Shortly thereafter, J called me and said that my van wouldn't start. I was pretty sure that it wasn't the battery, because I had a new one just a couple of years ago. J called BCAA again, and they arrived about an hour and a half later, and determined that the starter was shot. They did get her going, and she continued on to drop off all the dogs. She had to leave the van running for every drop-off, as she wouldn't be able to get it going again.

She got my van to the mechanic, and it will cost about $250 for a new starter, plus another couple of hundred for labour. Meanwhile, my master brake cylinder has been failing for the last six months or so, so I asked the mechanic to replace that while the van was there. He looked at me and asked if we had won the lottery. The master cylinder will be another $300 or so - plus labour. By the time the day was over, we had incurred well over $1000 in vehicle repairs.

One step forward, and four giant leaps backwards...

I'm awfully glad that we don't do Christ! mas, though I'm sure that we just made the mechanic's Christ! mas a lot rosier.

My head hurts.

Monday, December 04, 2006

hector rendhindi and me

Hector with William S. Burroughs



me with a reefer

This is an e-mail exchange that went back and forth over two days between me and my friend "Hector Rendhindi".

"Hector" is a whacky artist/poet/musician whom I have been friends with ever since I came to Vancouver. He moved away to Ontario last year, and I miss his whacky ways.

There are a few of these exchanges that I will post as time goes by. There is a certain weird poeticism in our streams of conciousness.

From: "dreamroom"
To: "Hector"
Subject: I decided not to German
Date: Sat, 21 May 2005 23:45:54 -0700

in the same way that a crack in a mirror reveals the illusory nature of a reflected image. I decided not to German, and instead, walked to the nearest smoke shop. The proprietor was not in (he never was in those afternoon days of sunken sunlight that I remembered so well before they ever transpired to pass.), so I stood in the summerbreeze rain and gaped at the raw reflection that I saw. It was then that I realized that this wasn't The Edward Hopper painting - not really anyhow - this was real life! But it wasn't my own. Oh no. Not by a longshot as a rivulet of Alizarin Crimson caromed past. "On it's way to somewhere, I guess". At least that's what I thought, but, I suddenly realized that I was floating. But I was not the only one on that cool midnight blue Saturday before dawn, Uh-Uh - not by a long shot....

>-----Original Message-----
From: hector
Sent: May 22, 2005 3:15 PM
To: dreamroom
Subject: RE: I decided not to German


unlike a brick wall reminds you of another brick wall. I couldn't make up
my mind to Inuit, and instead, ran to the nearest monestary. The bumfu*ker was
there ( he always was in those late nights of rising stars that I forget so often as they keep on coming, so I layed down in the winter snow and closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to deal with anything. It was then that I had no idea that this was a Bateman sketch, really, this was phoney, and I owned it. Period!, as a chunk of dried Hookers Green remained permanent on the palette. Going nowhere fast. I wasn't thinking. I was sinking. And I was the only one that hot burnt sienna day just after dusk, oh yes it was happening........


>From: "dreamroom"
To: hector
Subject: RE: I decided not to German
Date: Sun, 22 May 2005 17:39:34 -0700



I had counted seven - I say, seven - giraffes by the time we had
arrived back from South-east Gillander. M. de Rivar was still with us, and
he spoke of a time when he was still indebted to James. As I think you must
know, James had an older sister named Frieda. She was a sordid type, and her
cohort referred to her as Frank. It was sometime after the "Little War", and
she had been more-or-less absolved of her mis-deeds, and of her infamous
gluttony (she still refused to admit to inspiring Munch's "Scream"). She had
taken to leashing herself, and parading herself around like some demented
poodle. I guess the positive thing was - James had still not returned from
his sojourn to the tropics. Anyhow, we had all been at the cathedral, and
found it to be quite fascinating. We had seen several nuns (they didn't seem to be lesbians) tending to what we had thought might be sheep, though on closer examination they turned out to be drunken Ethiopians without their parasols. Oh, but they were the envy of the Crumdites! They had glistening teeth and voices like gypsy-hog banjos. When they walked, they had a certain je ne sais qua - a swagger I suspected... But we were having none of that! Goodness no! There was much stained-glass strewn about, but it also turned out to be quite different than what we had expected. In fact, it wasn't stained-glass at all, but a strip-mall in Kentucky! Oh my, but how I laughed at their gullibility! Last Friday I had another letter from my Aunt's brother's cousin, ( you might remember her from our school days - it was her
Grandfather's son who invented the laser trousers that we wore with such glee when we arrived in Athens that day). She said to say "hello" - should I be talking to you. I think she has had a thing for you since that time in Penetanguishine. Ha! You must remember that escapade all too well? None-the-less, I should remember to send her some of the marmalade that we made from those tangerine berries. What a joke!



----- Original Message -----
From: hector
To: dreamroom
Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2005 7:11 PM
Subject: RE: I decided not to German


there was only two ducks-you said,two by the time we had returned to Northwest Squamish. M.de Rivar was never there at all. He was James lover, as was his younger brother Fredrick. Just before the big bang he had inspired Monets unknown painting titled "Corn Hole Over Them Fu*kin' Lilies",lashing themselves and galavanting ariund like some bitch freak on a hot pride day.The only negative thing was is that James returned that day from Ohio.
We hated the cathedral and passed on going there. Earlier we had seen some
nuns rug munchin each other out back so we avoided it. Heres where you passed out from your pills and we had to cancel our appointment with monsieur.You woke up screaming " I wanna lollypop" so the male nurse hauled you into the other room where he said he gave you an oral sedated.

> >
> ><<>>
>
>_________________________________________________________________

6 weird things about me



I have been "tagged" by Tara and babybull
to claim 6 weird things about myself. I guess tagged is like playing tag, but electronically, and now I'm it.

Here goes -

1) I don't like sweets, and never have. I don't like ice cream, soda pop, candies, cake, lolly pops, chips (not sweet, but still junk food...), pie, cookies, whatever. I never have, and when I was a kid, never even ate my birthday cake. I used to put it in the freezer, and save it for years.

2) I count my steps. Stairs, how many steps to the corner store, etc. Every step is counted.

3) I don't really get any older. People consistently think I'm ten years younger than I am.

4) I have a weird effect on clocks and watches - I slow them down. For this reason, I cannot wear a watch. When I used to visit my Grandma, her clocks would be about an hour slow after me staying there for 10 days or so.

5) I can tell you what time it is within three minutes - even if I have not seen a clock all day.

6) This is the weirdest thing. I asked J last night what was weird about me, and she said nothing. When pressed, she said I was not like other people, but that I am not weird, they are. Huh?

There are hundreds of things that I could tell you that could be construed as weird, but I don't want to freak anyone out.



Why do people run from solipsist?

You wear clothes from the sixteenth century and yell All the World is a Stage over and over



'Why do people run from you?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Sunday, December 03, 2006

the belly, the babby


Here are a few shots of the-belly-with-the-babby-in-it. We're at 7 1/2 months now. I wonder at how big that belly will get. J is small, and I am big, so I trust that her body knows how big to grow that babby. I was over 10 lbs when born. Hoping for no more than an 8 pounder here.

I have seen the babby pushing out for the first time. What a strange sight. The little gaffer was stretching or something, and it was weird to see. Reminiscent of an alien or such.

A couple of J's friends threw a baby shower for J yesterday, and she received some nice gifts. Babby clothes, books, etc. I read a Dr. Seuss book to the baby this AM. It is a book that Dr. Seuss wrote before he died, and is meant to be read to the babby in utero. It tells of all the Dr. Seuss stories that will be read when the babby is in this world. It was kind of fun. I liked the Hop on Pop story, as I'm sure that I will be a Pop that's a good spot to hop upon.

We chose not to know the sex of the babby before it was born (I admit that I pushed that), because we wanted the surprise. I'm so old-fashioned in some ways. J would like to know now, but she is cool with waiting. We just don't know what colour of clothes to get. We both really want a girl, but the divining done yesterday indicates a boy. No matter, I told J. If it's a boy, we'll just raise it as a girl. I'm kidding! Just so long as we don't get any Oedipus thing going.

We have no firm ideas for names because we both think it's silly to name someone that we do not yet know. The babby will reveal it's character, and we will name it then. The only sure thing is that we will honour my grandparents. McConkey for a middle name if a boy (my Grampa's middle name), Pearl for a middle name if a girl (Grandma's middle name). Names are very important, so we want to do it right.

Stay tuned.




Saturday, December 02, 2006

snow bound




Ugh!

Snowy week. Crazy city. The weather is warmer, but the snow is hanging on. This was the wisteria on my back deck on Wednesday. Things still look much the same, but the snow is slowly melting.

The problem in this city is that no one knows how to drive in snow (well no one knows how to drive period), so it's a flippin' nightmare trying to get anywhere. I had to drive all week, and trips that should have taken 10 minutes took a half hour. At least no one smashed into me. A lot of people did smash into each other though. I saw a lot of dented and bruised cars around.

The bright spot is that it is only 19 days to the solstice, and the days will start to get longer again after that. The spring will come, and we will have a new baby to usher it in. Yikes!

 

Stats