Women's Dress Codes

It looks that Cons are too much obsessed with this burqa thing these days. They are not missing any opportunity to demonize a culture which does not fit their values. Keep in mind Cons are known to be secretive in every facet of their lives and camouflage every aspect of their lives. Then you have people like Sanford of South Carolina and Ensign of Nevada who promote moral and family values, yet when it comes to their personal lives...

We of course have those kinds aplenty in Canada – holier than though types.

Now let us look at the Muslim burqa thing. In the picture above we see mini, mini skirt and skimpy dress which our fashion shows promote. Quite frankly that cheapens women as sex objects and also motivates men with lust; some carry out that lust with disastrous results including rape and other crimes. Nuns are close to burqa, that is a religious thing and Cons do not object to that. Then you have Muslim dress which, with the exception of fundamentalists like in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia where they go overboard, encourage covering the body and use headgear in the interests of modesty. Now what is wrong with that? If the women are coerced to wear that dress then it is wrong but if that is their belief then leave them alone – a belief like nuns in Catholicism which encourages covering the body and also headgear.

On the other extreme look at Hooters. Aren't these women obligated to wear very revealing dresses? If they don't they lose their jobs. Is that not coercion? Is that not demeaning and exploiting of women? Should the Cons not concentrate on that? It looks hypocrisy is the religion of Cons.

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Obama Salutes the fallen soldiers

It was a touching movement. It shows that Obama cares for fallen soldiers. Why is Stephen Harper not doing the same for our fallen soldiers? Another Canadian soldier was killed this Friday. After all, Harper fully supported Bush's war and the least he can do is pay respect to fallen soldiers. Also, the public needs to know about the sacrifices and price of the war in human lives. Why is there a curtain of secrecy when it comes to our fallen soldiers? It seems to be copy of Bush's policy.

Every time a soldier is lost we should lower the Canadian flag on Parliament Hill.

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Happy Halloween

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Hillary Clinton patronizing Pakistan

Since Hillary Clinton conceded to Barack Obama in 2008 she behaved perfectly magnanimously. I had nothing but praise for her. She was appointed Secretary of State and she performed her role quite well, that is until she visited Pakistan recently.

I believe what she did in Pakistan was a major diplomatic stumble. She basically told Pakistanis that they are not doing much to fight the Taliban and that if they don't want financial help from the US for such a fight they will get nothing. This is like grandma reprimanding her grand children. It is patronizing. I have been following this conflict a little bit and it looks that Pakistan has lost more soldiers and civilians fighting this US war than all the NATO countries put together.

Hillary Clinton also does not understand the socio-political dynamics of the area. Pashtuns are a major segment of Pakistan's territory, as well the southern part of Afghanistan is Pashtun. As a matter of fact, Karzai is a Pashtun. It is Pashtuns who turned Taliban. What should Pakistan do? Kill all the Pashtuns in its territory. Pakistan has suffered many attacks from extremists including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. More recently their military headquarters in Rawalpindi were attacked which is quite dangerous as Pakistan is a nuclear power. Moreover Pakistan invaded Swat Valley and later Waziristan and killed many people to please Americans. What more does the US want from Pakistan?

Zardari is not necessarily your ideal leader. He is known for past corruption, but then what is new in that part of the world. Look at Karzai. My belief is that this Afghanistan war is an un-winnable war and Hillary Clinton is lashing out for nothing on Pakistanis which is not going to help. This war is a disaster. It has strengthened the Taliban and spread them to Pakistan too, hence destabilizing Pakistan. The US and NATO must rethink their strategy.

Update: Pakistanis gave it to Hillary Clinton:
click here.

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Roman Polanski and Phillip Garrido

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What is the difference between Roman Polanski and Phillip Garrido? They are both child molesters. I don’t see any difference. Do you?

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Afghanistan and Human Rights

By many accounts the human rights situation in Afghanistan has severely deteriorated. Mathew Hoh, a senior US diplomat in Afghanistan who recently resigned, alludes to similar circumstances. He is basically saying that we are making the situation worse in Afghanistan.

Click here for a story depicting the worsening situation of human rights.

There are a lot more stories on the above site that you may consider to read.

Also this video sheds a lot of light on what is going on in Afghanistan when it comes to children.

There is a need for United Nations involvement and for the involvement of many nations to resolve these issues. These issue cannot be resolved through bullets which actually have worsened the situation. We went after Al-Qaeda and in the process we further destroyed Afghan society. There is a need for education and developing societal institutions to battle these horrible crimes going on in Afghanistan. US and NATO countries have been concerned about their own interests only. This is deadly wrong. These invading countries have a responsibility now to repair the damage done to Afghan society.

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Want to be the President of the US?

Have fun. Not me. Good luck to Barack Obama. Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Economy, Healthcare and on and on. One has to be somewhat crazy to seek this job.

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George W. Bush a motivational speaker?

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Lot of wisdumb from George W. Bush as Keith Olbermann of MSNBC puts it.

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Afghanistan: Sexual exploitation of young boys

I watched this on CNN with horror that how very young boys are being exploited for sex. We have heard of the worsening of women's rights and increased drug trade but some how this worsening tragedy of sexual exploitation of young boys has not been fully exposed. It applies to young girls too but the situation is equally bad if not worse for very young boys, especially homeless and poor boys are used as sex slaves. The invading army has done very little or nothing to curb this hideous sexual exploitation. What kind of freedom and democracy are the US, Canada and other NATO countries bringing to Afghanistan?

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Rush Limbaugh fell into Cuckoo’s nest again

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This is a good one. Keith Olbermann's Worst Person In The World segment includes a piece on Rush Limbaugh's newest stagger. It's funny and also shows that Limbaugh is beyond any help for his craziness.

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Alan Grayson’s Website on Names of the Dead

As I wrote earlier, Rep. Grayson is collecting the names and stories of those who died because they had no health insurance or because health insurance companies would not cover their treatment. His list is fast expanding. It is frightening what is happening in the US when it comes to healthcare. Americans do need healthcare reform and need it soon, and they must have public healthcare content. Private health insurance companies are deadly and truly the Grim Reapers. In my view private health insurance companies should be outlawed including here in Canada.

Click here to visit Congressman Grayson's website.

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David Axelrod: A moving story

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David Axelrod is a senior advisor to President Obama. You would think that he is at the top of his game and a great success. What more he needs. But life has its own twists and turns. He and Mrs. Axelrod were on CBS's 60 minutes last night to talk about their daughter who has very serious epilepsy. Epilepsy is becoming a common health problem and it is indeed very debilitating. It must be very hard on the person suffering from such health problems and loved ones, in this case parents Mr. and Mrs. Axelrod. Life has its burdens for everyone no matter how successful the person is.

Medical advances will hopefully find a cure for many such health problems so that people suffering from such ailments can live better lives.

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Stephen Harper set for Copenhagen Climate Change Conference

Yes he is all ready along with his friend Don Quixote. Now all he needs is to spell Copenhagen correctly. Maybe he will also take a dip and do a few laps in the Tar Sands ponds before he heads for Copenhagen.

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George W. Bush: Shoes forever

George W. Bush was visiting Montreal, Canada. Protestors showed up equipped with his favourite shoes. That is one legacy which will last forever along with his war crimes. An eternal reminder from Iraqis.

MONTREAL – "Crash the party! Bring your shoes!"

That call to protest is on the English poster calling on Montrealers to demonstrate over a planned speech by former U.S. president George W. Bush.

Click here to read the story.

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Helen Thomas: Listen Up Mr. President

Helen Thomas has co-authored a new book with Craig Crawford entitled, Listen Up Mr. President.

Here is a brief bio of 89 years old correspondent Helen Thomas from Wikipedia:

Helen Thomas (born August 4, 1920) is an American news service reporter, a Hearst Newspapers columnist member of the White House Press Corps and author. She served for fifty-seven years as a correspondent and, later, White House bureau chief for United Press International (UPI). Thomas has covered every President of the United States since John F. Kennedy. She was the first female officer of the National Press Club, the first female member and president of the White House Correspondents Association, and, in 1975, the first female member of the Gridiron Club. She has written five books; her latest with co-author Craig Crawford is Listen Up, Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do.

I have not read the book yet but watched her on CNN along with Mr. Crawford being interviewed by Rick Sanchez. She is simply a very fascinating woman and exceptionally bright. She was asked, among other things, who is the worst president of United States as she covered 10 Presidents. Without any hesitation she said George W. Bush, referring to the way he undermined the constitution, carried out an illegal war in Iraq when there were no WMDs, no Al-Qaeda and which had absolutey no participation in 9/11. She also talked about the torture of foreign nationals at Gitmo and in Iraq and Afghanistan. She did not hesitate for a moment and hit the nail right on the head in pointing what a tragedy it was to elect George W. Bush as the President. She did not use that word "tragedy" but the implication was there.

If an ordinary person is accused of committing a crime they go to jail and sometimes innocent people are executed as happened in Bush's own state of Texas when an innocent person, Cameron Todd Willingham, was executed. According to media reports Governor Rick Perry had the information that the man was innocent and yet the execution took place in 2004. However a person can be a mass murderer and if he is President then the story is quite different.

For the President, even if he is a war criminal, he is provided bodyguards on taxpayers' expense, a fairly good pension and earns millions of dollars from speaking engagements. No questions asked. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and associates were involved in such war crimes and all are enjoying very comfortable lives and being given awards as Cheney received recently. What an unjust, cruel, barbaric world we live in and yet pretend we are civilized. Especially in the west and we want other nations to adopt our way of life. If you think the era of despotic kings is over then think again.

Update: To learn more about injustice done to Cameron Todd Willingham Click here .This tells you that capital punishment is wrong. No one should be allowed to take another person’s life.

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Stephen Harper: An American at heart.

Stephen Harper does not like Canadian news. Only Americans.

"I watched the last several elections in the United States very closely. I tend to watch mainly American news because I don't like to watch Canadian news and hear what Allan (Gregg, a pollster and CBC pundit who was in the audience) and everybody else is saying about me, so my hobby is to watch politics elsewhere."

Click here to read more

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Sarah Palin: From Rogue to Rouge

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From Keith Olbermann, Countdown MSNBC. It is indeed funny.

You have heard about the new book by Sarah Palin, Going Rogue: An American Life. Another book is going to be available too, Going Rouge: An American Nightmare.

Going Rouge, which is being edited by two senior editors from The Nation, is being published by the young imprint OR Books. The company seems to be hoping to either catch the wave of enthusiasm greeting Palin's book -- it's currently the #2 bestseller on Amazon, and Palin will be a guest on Oprah the day before the book arrives in stores -- or to confuse Palin supporters into purchasing the Palin-unfriendly book.

You can click here to read the story from the LA Times blog.

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Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby Given Award...

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Why? Dick Cheney ordered mass-murder in Iraq and Scooter Libby is a convicted felon gone crazy. The above video includes a very interesting exchange between Chris Matthews, Ron Reagan Jr., and Frank Gaffney.

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Alan Grayson on Healthcare

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I like this guy, he says it like it is. We need more politicians like him - willing to stand up for people and not beholden to lobbyists or corporate interests.

He has set up a website, NamesOfTheDead.com, which shows the names of those who died because they were unable to get proper healthcare.

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Meet Dick Cheney Khan

Maybe he is a descendant of Genghis Khan. He is very critical of Barack Obama for not conquering Afghanistan. He gave Obama all the secrets of conquering Afghanistan through a report before leaving Whitehouse. Click here to read more on this.

What is wrong with Dick? What about what he and his apprentice Bush did for eight years? Why did he divert the US military to Iraq to be a bigger conqueror? What a mess they left for Barack Obama, and now Cheney has gall to criticize him. There seems to be no resolution but to seek a diplomatic solution and withdraw for face saving. It does not look that McChrystal will be able to conquer even if he is given the 40,000 extra troops he is asking for.

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Meet Monk Rick Hillier

He is peace loving, caring, and a deeply soul kind of guy. It was all Paul Martin's fault that he wanted him to take Canadian soldiers to Kandahar in the middle of combat. Monk Hillier wanted to take them to an exotic and peaceful area around Kabul and meditate and ponder over the meaning of life. Then along came Harper who made similar mistakes and won't listen to Monk Hillier. Then there were these heartless bureaucrats who were not much help either. Poor Monk Hillier.

What a piece of crap Hillier has written in his new book "A Soldier First: Bullets, Bureaucrats and the Politics of War" where he blames everybody else but him for the botched mission to Afghanistan. What a cop out. He was the hawkish one. Here is what he said in 2005:

"These are detestable murderers and scumbags. They detest our freedoms, they detest our society, they detest our liberties. We're not the public service of Canada. We're not just another department. We are the Canadian Forces, and our job is to be able to kill people." - Hillier on July 14, 2005, referring to Taliban.

Does that sound like a peaceful guy to you whose job he described as killing people? Way to go tropical storm Rick (Hillier).

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Good “Yes men”

This "yes men" organization believes in environment protection. They pulled off quite a stunt at the US Chamber of Commerce.

“A "press conference" held at the National Press Club was a hoax. A man purporting to be a spokesperson for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was interrupted by a real representative of the organization, but not before he announced a dramatic policy reversal.

A "spokesperson" for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce held a press conference at the National Press Club where he announced that the organization had reversed its position on a climate change bill. "Hingo Sembra" told those assembled that "We [the U.S. Chamber of Commerce] believe that climate legislation currently being considered by the U.S. Senate is a great start towards a bill that will spur American innovation, create jobs, and give us all a good chance of survival." “

Read the story here

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Hamid Kazai and Elections in Afghanistan

There is a lot of talk of election fraud in the recent elections in Afghanistan. Many NATO countries have expressed their concerns. So did our grand leader Stephen Harper. Is it possible that Karzai is getting a little edgy from all this criticism?

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Stephen Harper and Doorknobs

Stephen Harper does not understand why Liberals are objecting to stimulus money for doorknobs. He loves doorknobs. Look at his cabinet and caucus. Doorknobs aplenty.

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Donald Trump and Rod Blagojevich: The Battle of Egos

Rod Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois, is going to be on the Donald Trump's show Apprentice. It is going to be some show to watch. The battle of big egos as both are known for it. Although one has to admire the tenacity of Blagojevich as he never gives up. First he tried for Get Me Out of Here I Am a Celebrity but the legal begals would not allow him and instead his wife was on the show and I think she did quite well. Now Blagojevich is going on Apprentice. Do you blame the guy? He has to survive and look after his family. Any other man would have gone to pieces by now but this guy has a lot of resolve and perseverance. This particular version of the series will be fun to watch.

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Military Generals and Symbolism

When a person wears their Military General uniform, the symbolism does something to them. They start behaving like God, like any other powerful position. Rip their uniform off and expose their humanness and maybe society will look at them differently and not take so many orders from them. General McChrystal is one of them. He wants to conquer Afghanistan and he is using all kinds of dirty tricks to get his way. His report was leaked to put Obama in a difficult position and push him to give in to his demands of 40,000 more troops. It turns out that McChrystal actually asked for 80,000 troops. How is he going to do the conquering? This is not clear.

How to overcome eight years of botched war is beyond comprehension. After tens of thousands of innocent civilians killed, will Afghanis trust a foreign army? I doubt it. I have said this before and I will say it again, unless the local population is on your side you can never win a war, especially given the history of Afghanistan as the graveyard of empires (rough terrain, tenacious fighters). Someone needs to put General McChrystal and General David Petraeus, who are putting so many American and NATO allied forces' lives at risk, in their place.

The only achievement so far is that, besides further destabilizing Afghanistan, Pakistan has been destabilized and because of its involvement in the US war, Pakistanis are constant victims of the Taliban's deadly attacks. More innocent lives are being lost. Also, Pakistan is a nuclear power and the attack on Military Headquarters in Rawalpindi is very scary. Something needs to be done to stabilize Pakistan for the sake of Pakistan and world peace. As far as the war in Afghanistan is concerned, diplomacy may be the only solution left for face-saving.

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Balloon Boy: The Real Story

The media missed the story again and rescuers will not disclose. It was Dick Cheney hanging from the balloon. He was doing some experiments of his own in collaboration with Richard Heene. What experiments? We don't know ;)

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Stephen Harper and Beatlemania

There is a hilarious picture in Macleans showing Harper and Family as the Beatles are shown on one of their albums. Now that Harper is in the entertainment field, what is going to be the next step? Maybe Gene Simmons of Kiss.

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Harper Government: Some changes

Probably you've heard that Government of Canada cheques were given out with the Conservative logo on it. That is just the start. Enjoy your new Flag courtesy of the Harper government ;) Don't get upset, the maple leaf is still in the middle. Now you know that the Harper government stands for change ;)

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Healthcare in US

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Keith Olbermann, Countdown, MSNBC. Healthcare is an absolute mess in the US, this becomes more obvious as the debate on healthcare rages on. I am glad I don't live in the US.

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Glenn Beck: Enhanced Stage

Did you ever wonder what the GB stood for? Now you know.

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Rush Limbaugh: No balls for him

Limbaugh is trying to buy an NFL team but the players are saying not so fast. The majority of these players are black or minorities and given Limbaugh's racist past and attitude the players are resistant. Will he succeed to swallow the NFL? Time will tell. In the meantime he should stick with his oxycontin.

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Wall Street: Betting on your life

First it was mortgage on houses which were bundled and sold over and over again until the US had the worst financial meltdown since the great depression. Now they are betting on your life, death bonds. Life insurance is being bundled and sold over and over hoping people will die soon and that corporations who are betting on your life can cash in. Will there be schemes to hasten the deaths of the insured? Health Insurance companies may come in handy for such a scheme.

You many consider to watch this ABC video too.

It is plain scary. Capitalism and its main ingredient, greed, gone wild.

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Afghanistan: The Mission Impossible

I watched this documentary on Afghanistan by Richard Engel of NBC. Superbly done and extraordinary courage on the part of Richard Engel and his colleagues. It is a must watch documentary for those who are interested in knowing what is going on in Afghanistan. As I watched the documentary it looked more and more like the Vietnam War and a Mission Impossible.

It is not clear what we are going to achieve in Afghanistan. If the local population is not with you then no military power in the world can prevail. The best solution looks like to leave Afghanistan. The Taliban never attacked the US and their interests are of a local nature, and after 8 years of war they will think twice to give refuge to Al-Qaeda. It is an un-winnable war and too late to win the hearts and minds of the locals. It is also further destabilizing Pakistan, as there are daily attacks on Pakistan by the Taliban. If a diplomatic solution is found then this violence might subside, however too much damage has been done over the last 8 years and there will be a lot of turmoil before this region calms down... if it calms down. Nontheless a military victory looks impossible.

Part 1:

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Part 2:

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Part 3:

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Part 4:

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Part 5:

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Final Part:

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Happy Thanksgiving

Guess who was made the turkey of the year this year by Harper? He is now being served at 24 Sussex Drive for Thanksgiving. The poker game of politics continues.

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Is Canada a Welfare State?

If you have the patience to read the National Compost then you may like to read this article. These are similar views expressed by Harper before he ever became Prime Minister. In light of the healthcare debate in the US, Canadians should have realized how better off we are than the US. But the National Post will like you to think otherwise. No wonder CanWest has gone belly up and may be looking for a bailout. Corporate welfare is good for these folks but for the general public it is sooo bad. Look at the corporate welfare in the US the model state for the National Post and others of its ilk.

The link to the article is below.

Why Canada became a welfare state.

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Meet James Carville’s Twin

And why Mary Matalin loves him so much.

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Meet Ayatollah Limbaugh

Now that he has aligned himself with Iran and the Taliban he is going to change his image.

From now on he will be known as Ayatollah Limbaugh.

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Congressman Grayson on Healthcare

Finally someone is speaking out. It is a good speech. One of his interesting remarks is that if Obama found a way to feed the hungry of this world, Republicans would say he is responsible for overpopulation.

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Rush Limbaugh joins Taliban

Also he is forming a coalition with Iran. Way to go Rush.

Will this guy get anymore crazy? He is ready to be hauled away to a mental asylum. Should he not be proud that his President got the Nobel Peace Prize? Yes it is a little premature and Barack Obama has to prove that he deserves such an honour, but give him a chance. He has been in office only 9 months and look at the mess he inherited. However he must stop the murder and mayhem which is being carried out in Iraq and Afghanistan otherwise "God Bless America" will be symbol of this as shown in this video:

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The Dangers of Gun Ownership

Remember Dick Cheney and how he shot his own friend Rush Limbaugh – okay it was someone else and not Limbaugh although that would have been more fun. Maybe people like Cheney must not have a gun. Gun control is extremely important. Put a gun in a moron's hands and there is bound to be a murder sooner or later (more likely sooner). Look at Dubya Bush himself. He had the gun of power and what havoc he caused in Afghanistan and then Iraq. Anyway, that was on a large scale. Even on the individual level it is extremely important to have gun control as to who can and cannot own a gun otherwise there are bound to be more accidents and crimes.

A good example is this guy who killed his own fiancé because he had a gun. It is tragic but if only he had not had a gun his fiancé will be alive today. The link to this story is below.

Man kills fiancé 1 day before wedding.

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What next for Michael Ignatieff?

Surely Stephen Harper must be dancing with joy as he is in majority territory. Michael Ignatieff's pathetic performance has brought his approval rating below 20% and the Liberal Party is 14% behind the Cons. Is there anything Ignatieff can do to change his fortunes and that of his party? Will people forget his views on Tar Sands and the Middle East and unconditional support of Israel's actions in Gaza in December 2008? The US is supposed to be much closer to Israel yet even Barack Obama did not give that kind of support. Liberals are supposed to be liberals and that is why Chretien refused to participate in the Iraq War. Ignatieff has too much baggage already and he is not Prime Minister yet.

I really don't know what more can be said on this issue. Liberals and Michael Ignatieff have to think, what next? Should Ignatieff go back to his academic world and let politicians lead the party? Those are the questions that the Liberal Party and Ignatieff have to think about.

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Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize.

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He must be doing something right. Now if he can end wars in Afghanistan and Iraq it will give him more credibility. I may write more on this subject matter.

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Are Liberals in big trouble?

The latest Ekos poll shows that the Conservatives have a 14 point lead over the Liberals. Conservatives are within striking distance of winning a majority. Oh God help us. Ignatieff's personal approval ratings are in the tank. It looks his stumbles as well as negative ads by the Cons are working. Does the Liberal party need a new and real leader? Canada will not be able to stomach a Con majority. Hidden agenda will be no longer hidden, it will be out in the open.

Click here to read the full story.

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Healthcare in US

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The above video is the last part of the one hour-long commentary by Keith Olbermann of Countdown, MSNBC, on healthcare reform in the US. You can watch the rest of the commentary here.

It's scary stuff. I did not know how scary it was until I watched Sicko by Michael Moore and now the healthcare reform debate. Over the years I have travelled many times to the US without worrying about healthcare. Now I am afraid to travel to the US unless I have health insurance for travelling out of country otherwise I will be completely broke if I fall ill there.

Here in Canada you are covered from conception to grave for doctors and hospitals. In America you're a commodity to make money off of, from conception to grave and even after you're in the grave as some companies are buying life insurance on their employees and wait until they die and cash in on such insurance. No! Employees and loved ones get nothing, just the employer gets all the money. Healthcare insurance companies in the US are truly the worst kind of vultures, predators and death panels. To ensure that their prey never escapes them they buy off congressmen and even Presidents and that is why there is such opposition to healthcare reform in the US as hundreds of millions of dollars are spent by these so-called health insurance companies in advertisement or in buying off lawmakers.

Lot of lies are being told about public healthcare in Canada and Europe. A big deal is being made about the waiting period for medical procedures, to the point of outright lies. Yes there is waiting for non-life threatening procedures or operations and public healthcare in Canada is not perfect but it is multiple times better than the US for the general public.

As far as waiting is concerned, I will give you a personal example. I rarely go to the hospital because thank God I am doing fine. However, a few years ago I had a very strong chest pain. I had heard about heart attacks so I got in my car and went straight to the emergency room of the local hospital. As soon as I approached the receptionist there and mentioned chest pain she did not waste any time and I was on a stretcher and wheeled to the x-ray room for x-ray and many other tests. In less than an hour I was wheeled back to the emergency area. I had to wait for another half an hour or a little more, in the time it took them to view the x-rays and other tests a doctor showed up. He was all smiles and asked me what I ate for lunch. It turned out it was gas and acidity in the stomach which caused that unbearable pain in the chest or so it seemed. He gave me a prescription for anti-acids and off I went. No cost to me whatsoever. In US it would have cost me maybe $10,000 or more. So it is a big lie that there is a long waiting period.

It is only the very rich people who cannot wait to get non-life threatening procedures who head south to the US and pay for such procedures and sometimes get reimbursed back in Canada. As I said before, our system is not perfect and a lot more needs to be done. We are not as good as some of the European countries but in Canada we are light years ahead of the US. I hope that the US gets the proper healthcare reform because it is the worst healthcare system right now among industrialized nations – the most expensive and highly inefficient for the general public.

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Tom Delay and his foot

No he did not put his foot in his mouth. He just did not put the right foot forward. Unfortunately, dancing practice caused fractures in his both feet. Nonetheless he proceeded to dance on Monday night despite that the doctor and producers told him not to. One has to admire his determination and courage. However, according to media reports he has withdrawn from the competition because of the fracture in his feet.

Poor Cheryl Burke, two times winner of the competition, is without a partner now.

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Dr. Willard Boyle Wins Nobel Prize

It is a great source of pride for Nova Scotia, Maritimers and Canada that Dr. Willard Boyle won the Nobel Prize for 2009 in physics along with his colleagues, American scientists Charles K. Kao and Dr. George Smith. Dr. Boyle was born in Nova Scotia and holds dual Canadian-US citizenship. He was interviewed on CTV Atlantic. Very humble and impressive man. Congratulations to Dr. Boyle.

"He (Boyle) co-invented a type of laser, worked on the Apollo space program, and in 1969 helped develop an image sensor, later hailed as a scientific breakthrough.

The charge-coupled device or CCD, developed with the help of American scientist George Smith, transforms light into a large number of digitized image points, or pixels, in a split second.

Today, the device is used in most digital cameras and camcorders, including the tiny, delicate ones found in operating rooms and the heavy-duty versions inside massive telescopes."

Thank you Dr. Boyle. I love my digital camera.

To read the story, click here.

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Clean Coal???

Watch CBS News Videos Online

You must have seen those "clean coal" ads on your TV. You must have heard about coal ash too and put two words together and bang "coalash" – sounds sexy eh! Very dangerous stuff and highly polluting and no proper disposal quite often. I watch 60 Minutes once in a while and this Sunday there were some very interesting stories including one on coal ash and how hazardous it is. Lesley Stahl tells the story about the incident which happened in Kingston, Tennessee. Rest of the story you can watch on the video above.

We humans are self-destructive and we are contributing in so many ways to destroying our planet through pollution and wars. You know the Adam and Eve story where they ate the apple and got thrown out of heaven? I read the story as how we can be involved in self-destructive behaviour and the very earth which can be a peaceful and enjoyable planet we humans manage to turn into a hell through the destructive activities of pollution and war. One of the greatest destructive forces is called capitalism where greed is the over-riding factor and human lives become totally secondary. Humans in general become fuel to keep the fire of greed burning as we know that 98% of the world population works for 2% of the population who lives in opulence and the rest of the 98% are convinced that they have to work hard and they can be rich too. Sure! And if they cannot attain riches they will live in heaven for eternity. When religion is used as a tool to perpetuate this fraud then no wonder people like Karl Marx called it opium for the masses.

One of the worst example of that capitalism is our southern neighbour the U.S. The recent events of the Wall Street disaster, the fall of the banking industry and ponzi schemes are good examples of capitalism gone amok. Look at the health insurance industry which makes billions on the backs of people and is spending hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising to stop any healthcare reform which will cut into this profiteering. All kinds of scare tactics are being used to kill healthcare reform.

With all due respect to my American friends, they have seen many disasters and if this monster of capital keeps rolling through the land much more is to come. When leaders in the US say, "God bless America" don't be mistaken that they are talking about God in heaven. Actually they are talking about the Almighty Dollar. So the slogan might as well be changed to "Almighty Dollar Bless America".

This situation in Kingston, Tennessee is being repeated all over the US and the World. We have our Tar Sands in Canada which are an environmental disaster. Unless humanity wakes up to these dangers we will succeed to self-destruct. Also we need to learn to live like one global family in peace and stop this nonsense of super power who wants to police the world in search of resources – again human greed. Does history not tell us that superpower causes horrible disasters and never survives forever?

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Mr. And Mrs. Bin Laden

I had another dose of CBC's the Passionate Eye (this particular one I believe originally a BBC documentary) this Sunday. A crazy English woman, Jane Felix Browne 51 years old, married Osama Bin Laden's 26 year old son. Then she got divorced within a few months and yet went to see Bin Laden in Egypt. Sounds like an utterly crazy, or extremely brave, or both. Let's call it strange love. Even in Egypt Bin Laden Jr. was being tailed everywhere he went and so was Browne. After all, he is Osama Bin Laden's son. She sold the story to the media so maybe it was all a stunt to make money.

"A strange tale of love and lust straight from the newspaper headlines, Mr. and Mrs. bin Laden tells the story of the fourth son of Osama bin Laden's controversial marriage to a British grandmother twice his age." Click here to read the story.

I could not find the actual video of the program.

Long ago there was a movie "The Graduate" and song "Mrs. Robinson" which went like this:

And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know (Wo, wo, wo)
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey)

Mrs. Robinson screwed around with a student as the movie goes. Maybe there will be a movie called "Mr. and Mrs. Bin Laden" ;)

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Harper Turns into a Beatle?

Or should the heading be John Lennon got murdered again? Lennon must have turned in his grave for being impersonated in this manner. I like the Beatles and now I have to listen to the Harper version. Yikes.

Okay politicians do sing and dance and this was Harper's attempt to do the song. I cannot wait for his dance now. It will be interesting which songs Iggy and Layton will pick. Joking aside, not bad for Harper. Good piano player but he should keep his day job.

Please note, this is a repost; it's early in the morning and yesterday was a hectic day for me; I accidently had published my notes to myself in the heading.

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Hamid Karzai's new image

Karzai is quite unpopular in his own country. He has been linked to drug lords and his government is considered quite corrupt. More recently he has been accused of vote rigging and illegally claiming victory. He is also becoming unpopular with his western allies. So with the help of Harper's primps he is going to overhaul his image.

He is going to get rid of the nightgown he wears all the time and change to a kilt and whatever else comes with it. After all, the Scottish are quite friendly and that is a nice image to have. He will also be playing bagpipes in the poppy fields to get his popularity back ;)

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Michael Ignatieff to convert to Buddhism?

There is a suggestion that Michael Ignatieff should convert to Buddhism because the Dalai Lama supports environmental protection and Iggy may follow his beliefs. Why not? After the way he has messed up on environment issues, Tar Sands, and international issues his chances of becoming the next Prime Minister look grim. However, if he does convert to Buddhism there is a chance, given his high profile, that he may be next in line for Dalai Lama.

To qualify to become Dalai Lama he not only needs to convert to Buddhism, but he should also live in Tibet for a few years or as a monk in Burma. He may learn a lot about life and develop leadership qualities manifolds better.

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Human Organ Trafficking

I must admit, last week was full of sad and heart-wrenching news. First there was the tsunami on the Samoan Islands and then a major earthquake in Indonesia killing hundreds of people. These were natural disasters and humans have very little control over it.

Then there were many murder and mayhem stories around the world. Closer to home there is a story of a father in New Brunswick who killed his newborn son, the 19 years old mother was a party to it. As soon as the baby was born the father felt for the baby's heartbeat and stuck a sharp knife through the heart and buried the body in the woods nearby. What a brutal world we live in.

Then I watched a documentary on CNN this Saturday about human organ trafficking in Israel. I first heard about it when Levy-Izhak Rosenbaum was arrested in New Jersey for human organ trafficking but I did not know how bad it is. The CNN story said that it is common in Israel, where there are rich Israelis who need organs and Palestinians who are poor and can be lured into giving up there organs, such as a kidney, for a few thousand dollars and sometimes for food and shelter for a limited period. The actual operation of transplanting takes place in Russia, China and Turkey after the organs are obtained. Who says we humans are evolved? In many instances we are worse than animals.

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Rush Limbaugh rejoicing

Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and the ilk are celebrating that Obama could not get the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. What are they rejoicing? That the US would have gotten hundreds (maybe thousands) of jobs from these Olympics that are now lost? Will these FOX News types get any dimmer?

I think Obama did the right thing and pitched for his country and adopted hometown Chicago. However, given the unpopularity of the US it was not possible. Especially some officials of the Olympic Committee were sore the way they got treated after the Salt Lake City Olympics as there were allegations of corruption and Senator McCain and others tried to make them accountable. To make them accountable might not have been bad thing but the Olympic Committee possibley held the grudge. So it is very little to do with Obama himself or Oprah Winfrey who was also pitching Chicago.

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David Letterman: Worldwide Pants

Was Letterman caught with his pants down? Surely Sarah Palin must have opened the champagne yesterday. Remember he gave her a hard time about her daughters and Palin was quite miffed. By the way, the name of his company is The Worldwide Pants and apparently he could not keep his pants up.

Despite his pre-empting the alleged extortionist, Robert "Joe" Halderman, on his show he may still have problems of his own. One of the women involved is also Halderman's girlfriend and Letterman's producer. Is it possible she may file for sexual harassment? Or is it possible some other women will come forward and file for sexual harassment, saying that they agreed for sex because they felt intimidated and did not want to lose their jobs or promotions. Was he having these jollies when he was married to his current wife? Letterman may still have problems. Time will tell.

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David Letterman

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The revenge of Sarah Palin? ;)

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2016 Olympic Games Go to Rio De Janeiro

Too bad for Chicago, but good news for Brazil. Also bad news for Obama given the effort he put in to lobby for Chicago, and given the difficulty Republicans at home were giving him about it.

Apparantely Chicago got the least votes.

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Baird Attack

This guy is good. If lately you have watched question period then you would know what I mean. Harper has quite a weapon in his armoury.

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Ardi: Human’s great great………. grandmother

Big sigh of relief ;) We are not direct descendant of chimps. We may share ancestors but millions of years ago we parted company and went separate ways. Something eh! But why was Ardi found all alone? Where is rest of her family – her father, mother, siblings, husband and children? No one was nearby and was never found. She was wandering all alone in the wilderness? I don't know where this evolution thing is taking us.

Life is simply too complex to be explained away so easily by one simple evolution theory. Why did evolution need males and females? Why could it not come up with a single gender and then keep on reproducing. The complexity of emotions, mind and many other non-physical aspects of human life are an extraordinary mystery.

Life is too complex. Look at a small seed of an oak tree (or any tree or plant) – extraordinary programming has gone into it. Once properly sown in the soil and fertilized, it has the ability to grow into a huge tree and survive for hundreds of years. Who did all this programming I don't know. Or for that matter take a human egg, when fertilized it has extraordinary programming to grow into a fetus and then a full-fledged baby and human who can live for years to come. All that programming in that small egg. As a matter of fact every single cell in our body has its own intelligence and is programmed in a certain way. Cells are programmed to fight any foreign object coming into the body to ward off illness. Most time such fight is successful but other times it is not. I read somewhere that AIDS cells fool the human cells and indicate that they are one of them and once successful in fooling multiply by millions and ravage the human body.

How can all that complexity be explained through the simple and random process of evolution? I don't know. I sure am bewildered by all this and I don't understand the mystery of life.

Click here to read the story on Ardi.

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Women: Sin Cleansing in Southern India

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

We have heard of women being lashed in Afghanistan for committing sinful acts. Keith Olbermann tells us that in certain southern regions of India women get lashed for even having sinful thoughts. Men, who I guess are simply not capable of sinning, do the lashing. Way to go guys! Now beat that Taliban.

Also, other interesting stories on MSNBC's Countdown.

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Glenn Beck: Vancouver lost a billion dollar for the Olympics

Where does this moron get his information? The Olympics have not even taken place in Vancouver yet. They are coming up in 2010. He used this Vancouver example to criticize Obama who is trying to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. This Glenn Beck guy belongs in a mental asylum.

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Bishop Raymond Lahey Charged with child porn

He is the same Bishop of Nova Scotia who negotiated the $15 million compensation for sexual abuse victims of the Catholic clergy and then he suddenly resigned. Now it turns out that he himself is charged with possessing child pornography and he is sought for arrest. Any faith and trust in the clergy has further gone out the window.

It is also a dangerous precedent. While some people are simply disgusted others feel that "if the Bishop can do it, then I can do it too" thus providing the most horrible role model.

Part of the problem is the celibacy requirement for Catholic clergy. It is anti-nature and hence has its consequences. The clergy find devious and criminal ways to fulfil their sexual needs. Moreover, it attracts pedophiles to the clergy who can use the cover of the holiness of celibacy to carry out their criminal behaviour. In the 21st century the Catholic Church must recognize the obvious and remove the celibacy requirement. The Catholic Church is supposed to be one of the most organized churches but it is now looking more and more like organized crime as far as a significant number of the clergy is concerned.

You can click here to read the story.

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