The seeds of a thousand dictators

Simon Bolivar was supposed to have uttered on his death bed; “I fear I have laid the seeds of a thousand dictators” Whether he said it or not, he did help create the conditions in South America for dictators to flourish. Now hopeful “President for Life” Hugo Chavez has decided to dig up Bolivar for what seems the bizarre hope to prove that Columbia poisoned him. No doubt in attempt to divert the Venezuelan people from the mere trifles of life like food shortages, soon to be followed by beer shortages. I predict that when Chavez destroys the only beer making company in Venezuela there will be revolution. I spent some time in there in the 90’s visiting my brother’s mining camp in the jungles and traveling around. Very different than other places in South America . The corruption was so intense you feared the police more than the crooks. Mind you while traveling with a bunch of Venezuelans we met what must have been the only honest cop there, he refused to take a bribe and handed the money back stating he did not take bribes, the locals were stunned, their jaws literal dropped and it’s all they could talk about. That cop created a glimmer of hope in those people that night, I hope he is still able to be honest in these hard times.
I also noticed that the country produced almost nothing except for Oil, Music and Women (stunning and amazingly beautiful women that is.)

More on the politics of digging up bodies here.

Operation NANOOK

August 3, 2010
Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Montreal and HMCS Goose Bay (background) shortly after departing from St. John’s Newfoundland transiting towards the Arctic to participate in Operation NANOOK.
Operation NANOOK is one of three major recurring sovereignty operations conducted annually by the Canadian Forces (CF) in Canada's Arctic. Planned and directed by Joint Task Force North (JTFN) the whole-of-government operation highlights interoperability, command and control, and cooperation with interdepartmental and intergovernmental partners in the North. Operation NANOOK 10 takes place in Canada's Eastern and High Arctic area from August 6 to 26 and includes two major exercises, Exercise NATSIQ, a sovereignty and presence patrolling exercise of military resources, and Exercise TALLURUTIIT a whole-of -government exercise that focuses on environmental containment and remediation resulting from a simulated fuel spill. For the full caption…

Hey Ayatollah, Leave Those Kids Alone

A clever use of “Hey teacher leave those kids alone” by Pink Floyd. The Video captures some of the fear and tension that enveloped the streets of Tehran while the people battled against the thugs that control the government. However I wonder if the Clerics really run things now? The Revolutionary Guard is slowing taking over the economy and becoming the real power in Iran.

Courtesy of http://pajamasmedia.com/michaeltotten/2010/08/07/hey-ayatollah-leave-those-kids-alone/

Off camping for the next few days

Closest picture I could find

Well I spent the night fixing the van/camper which we won 4 days of rental with at a charity auction. The owners claim they use it all the time… maybe not based on what I can see. The kids though are excited , this will be a new adventure for them, going to take them to Cultus lake, lots for them to do there. The wife is not so excited, she likes her comforts and still is sleeping with an electric blanket in this heat. She gave me a very dirty look when I explained there is no electricity at the site. This is what I get for marrying a tropical girl! Hopefully all will go well and I will be able to convince my wife to try tent camping again. The first time up in Riske Creek in early June didn’t go so well! The marriage barely survived that one!

Anyways I shall not be posting for a few days till we get back and then I am off to Ottawa for a week of life draining meetings on business process. I will try to blog a bit while I am there as well. I have noticed a small but steady stream of visitors including folks from Sweden, Germany and various parts of South America. Welcome and thank you for stopping by and reading, it is appreciated.

TALIBAN PROPAGANDA WATCH – 022325UTC Aug 10

Ever wondered what the other side (Taliban) say to the press? here are some links at Milnews.ca

TALIBAN PROPAGANDA WATCH

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 00:34 Qari Yousuf Ahmadi
HELMAND, Aug. 02 – Monday’s fighting between the US invaders and the minions broke out after Americans killed two puppets in Musa Kala district of the province resulted from an attack on the puppets outpost the report said, adding that the gun battle continued for about one our forcing the soldier of ANA to flee leaving their arms and ammo behind, while the US invaders burned down their post to ground. In fact, there has been an air uncertainty and mistrust between the US invading forces and puppet ANA recently. It is worthwhile that as many as 17 soldiers of ANA surrendered themselves to Mujahideen yesterday night in the neighboring Sangin district.t

Northern lights coming Aug 4th to a sky near you.

A massive coronal mass ejection on the sun is going to give us a spectacular light show on Aug 4th creating “Northern Lights”. The sun has appeared to have woken up from it’s 11 year sleep cycle. Meanwhile the MSM is calling it a solar tsunami…..sigh and they wonder why we think less and less of them.

Police: Cost of Bribe Nearly Doubles

Picture courtesy of Mac Geek computer blog

Nothing like “market pressures” to influence the cost of doing business. Corruption is a chain that drags the economy down, I saw this in painful detail while visiting Venezuela. It is amazing how it can stifle life and small business. Be thankful we live in a country where corruption is not the norm, unlike Russia

The average bribe has nearly doubled from 23,000 rubles ($760) last year to 40,000 rubles ($1,320) in the first six months of 2010, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday.

Bribes have become more expensive because those engaged in the widespread practice are rejecting small bribes as too risky amid a Kremlin-led fight against corruption, the ministry said.


"The authorities are fighting corruption, and bribery has become more dangerous," said Albert Istomin, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry's department for fighting economic crimes, which released the new bribe figures.

read more

Canadian pole dancing

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A little bit of humour. Bears are neat (and fun)to see but give them the respect they deserve. This video shows how quick things can go bad. Luckily the photographer was armed with a handgun which he used to fire a warning shot, saving him, the bear and the cubs.