Hama redux

Photo via Reuters

Like a chip off the old block, Bashir al-Assad is following in his fathers footsteps, brutally suppressing dissent throughout Syria and in the town of Hama. To be fair the death toll under Assad throughout Syria appears to be around 2-3,000, with a significant amount injured, arrested and some "disappeared". This seems to pall in comparison to his fathers approach to dealing with Hama, where between 10,000-40,000 people died over a few weeks. Seems all that western education has paid off, maybe Assad son will be able to make his point with only a few hundred dead, now that would be considered progress in that part of the world.
About the only silver lining in all this is it gives me more ammunition to beat "history unaware" progressives who seem to think all evils flow from Israel alone. Prior to the current uprising, few had ever heard of Hama or the atrocities committed there and why should they. Authoritarian regimes are always suppressing somebody and makes for boring print. Plus the dictators don't give a damn anyways. Far better to beat on Israeli's who actually care about their international reputation.
Meanwhile I await the first flotilla to Damascus to help the poor people there to throw off the shackles of the oppressor. (I don't plan on holding my breath)

Peggy Lee - Why don't you do right

Found this song on a video game I am playing "Fallout, New Vegas". The song has a great feel to it, the singer is Peggy lee. Enjoy

The politics of pizza

Quick Guide to Different Governments



Bill, James, Tyler, Andrew, and Mike get together every Friday night and order pizza. They can never agree on what to get, though. Bill wants to get Meat Lovers'. James wants to get Canadian. Tyler wants to get pepperoni made with free-range meat because he is against animal cruelty. Andrew is a vegetarian, so he wants to get veggie pizza. Mike is vegan and wants to get vegetarian pizza with soy cheese. So how do they decide?

read the rest here

Good luck Jack

I am no fan of Jack Layton, I despise his politics, his party platform and the way he portrays himself in the media. That being said, I wish him well in his fight against cancer, it's a crappy disease that has taken my sister, my sister inlaw and almost my Dad.
This is not how I wanted Jack to leave the political scene, there is no joy in him leaving this way. I hope you recover and we can trounce you the political battlefield, in the meantime I wish good health to you and your family, it will be a hard road regardless of the outcome.

Simon's Cat in 'Hidden Treasure'

What lurks under your fridge?

Black bear on Hwy 37

Saw this young black bear on Highway 37, It either just got booted from mom or lost it's mom. I suspect people having being feeding it. this is a bad idea which lead to having the bear hurt someone and getting killed. If it can find enough food then it stands a chance to survive the winter. Actually hanging out near the road might be a smart survival move as the road will keep the bigger bears away and it can avoid bear on bear conflicts. On this 3 day trip, saw 3 Grizzlies and 12 black bear.

Here is one of the Grizzlies

why I am voting Yes

The HST referendum is upon us, I will vote Yes to extinguish the HST. I have heard arguments on both sides, some businesses do benefit from less paperwork with the HST, but many people shoulder a greater tax burden because of it and I see that extra tax every day.(Not to mention the recent carbon tax increase and the proposed Evergreen line levy)

Yet that is not the main reason I am voting to rid us of the tax. For me it was the way the tax was imposed on us after promises it would not and the way it was sold, which was downright dishonest. The Government need to punished for that breech of trust. A vote to extinguish the HST will be a clear message; "You govern on our sufferance". Governments by their nature quickly become arrogant and the government under Gordon Campbell was more arrogant than normal and much of that attitude and the players still remain.

If the referendum is successful we will return to the GST/PST tax which was far from perfect, however there will be nothing stopping government from improving it and even proposing a new HST. I am not against that, but do it properly, be open, debate, be prepared to go to the polls on it. Had they done the HST honestly we would not be doing this referendum right now. This is a lesson the government needs to learn, a vote to support the HST is a vote in support of dishonest government and will tell them there is is no consequence for lying to the public.
The government is feeling the pressure though, promising to lower the HST to 10% from 12%. Lets be real, if it was not for the referendum, the HST would remain at 12% and we would be stuck paying more in tax. So I ask, if the government can afford a 10% HST, why then did they original try to ram a 12% HST down our throats? Where do these tax numbers come from? political whim or true costs?

Boogie Song "Caledonia"

Some kids just make you feel inadequate. His name is Frank Sugar Chile Robinson Another video of him here and when he is older.

Aftermath

Social media that likely played a part in encouraging the rioters,  is showing them it is a double edge sword. The public is now using Facebook and blogs to out the rioters. You can bet there is some frantic erasing of Facebook pages going on, however that which is posted is never really gone and will come back to haunt them. Already people have lost their jobs and another has lost sponsorship. I could blame it all on a generation which grew up with an expectation of entitlement and lack of consequence, but to be fair there has been riots in our city's past and will likely be more in the future.

What I do like is that people are taking it onto themselves to help correct the wrongs. First was the people who stood up for what's right during the riot, this takes a lot of guts and likely was a spur of the moment thing. But says a lot about their character and understanding what is right and wrong.
The second group are the people who came out the next day to help clean up  the mess and help the businesses. It speaks well of their sense of citizenship.

The third group has a finer line to walk. they are busy outing those responsible. This requires a sense of justice and sense of responsibility not to tar those they can't be sure where responsible. One such sight is this.

I can't not abide or support those who harass the families of those involved. Yes some of the parents failed, but others had done their best to raise their kids and it was the young adults that made the choices they must live with. focus your anger on those who caused the mayhem, but always temper it. It's likely that few will be successfully charged in regards to the riots, but the burden of proof in a civil court is much less and far more likely to be successful.

Behind the scenes the knives are out, seem blogger alexgtsakumis.com is taking aim at the leadership of Vancouver for bungling the riot. Also reports that their budget had been reduced will not help. I am not sure if the Olympic parties had lulled City Hall into a false belief that all would be fine, despite warnings of what was likely to come. The political nastiness is far from over and these decisions will come back to haunt the current administration at the next election.

Excellent Tango

Some excellent work there, the toe lift is well done.