State of Your United States

Here's why Osama bin Laden will be judged as history's most effective user of violence. He managed to destroy the world's mightiest constitutional democracy for less than a million dollars and a handful of his own men.

Read Phil Giraldi's summary of events here;

http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2010/02/12/civis-romanus-sum/

Some light reading ...

Here ya go:

http://www.amconmag.com/blog/losing-the-bill-of-rights/

Sort of re-definition of who the bad guys are, at the end of the first decade of the 21st century.

Who benefits from wars? - Further educational reading

Sorry to intervene in the seasonal gush of niceness, but I wanted to highlight a bit of commentary that seems appropriate as we look forward to our troops ending their mission in Afghanistan ( ... any bets on the actual date?)

Enjoy!

http://c4ss.org/content/1558

What corporation are you fighting for?

And for another historical look at this modus operandi, check out this article from Ray McGovern:

http://original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2009/12/22/break-the-cia-in-two/

Something to which one can look forward ...

Pianos on the quarterdeck ....



.... and guys for whom one sax ain't enough :



Won't be long now!

Flowerzilla returns!

This thing just popped open in the dining room the other day! Doesn't it know that it's winter outside?

-20C in Ottawa, but not down here ...

... was it really three years ago that we visited this place? ...





It's feeling like the time to have another warm adventure, methinks.

Glenn Greenwald, nails it again

Here's a pretty clear exposition of what really drives our government's anti-human activities:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/12/18/corporatism/index.html

With increasing corporate control of all the media to which we are exposed, is it any wonder we never get to hear about the arguments Glenn Greenwald advances?

Whimsy from the past

A friend, Tim Nugent, hand-painted these ties for me about ten years ago. They were too good to wear so Anna framed them.




They should really be seen by more people.

It's coming ...

It started one morning this fall when we saw this:




... and then last week we saw this horror!...




AAGgghhhh... winter!

More cheery reading

Here's where we are today:

http://original.antiwar.com/roberts/2009/11/06/the-evil-empire/

Feeling better?

Grey Jazz at the Aviation Museum

It's now cold and damp and daylight savings time ends this weekend and so it seems like a good time to go back to the heat of summer and reminisce a bit. Here's the Grey Jazz Band on July 1st at the Aviation Museum in full flight, as it were.


And for the truly fanatical fans of this blog's author, here's the trombone section pumping out the sounds.


Have you ever seen a more appropriately named group?

Thanks and all credit to Richard Lawrence (R_M_Lawrence@hotmail.com) for his photographic skills.

Squirrel-proof bird feeders

Say What??!!

Anna just installed the latest in technology to ensure that the birds got fed this winter,

Regardez le film!

Since it's 9/11 ...

and everything changed on that day, here's a good summation of the progress achieved since then.

We probably should insist that our government(s) provide some evidence to support their actions over the last ten years. There is an election coming, n'est-ce pas? Might be a good time to ask some questions.

Here's a starter: Exactly why are Canadian troops in NATO and thus in Afghanistan? For the money and lives that have been spent, what do we get out of it? Why is that more important than unemployment insurance, arctic sovereignty, fisheries research, pension guarantees, good public transport and clean fresh water in all our houses? If we must fight NATO's adventures in Nowhereistan (far from the North Atlantic), why aren't our allies coughing up the cannon fodder and equipment at the same rate that we are?

Something I had not considered ...

Lifted without explicit permission from Bartcop.com:

"Is God an atheist?

Does God believe in a higher power? Of course not, he's God.

Think about God, using his Heavenly computer to, say, investigate the origin of the universe.
He can find evidence of the Big Bang because that exists, but he certainly won't find any evidence of
God being involved, so wouldn't He, by definition, be an atheist? Certainly God's too smart to lie to Himself.

If God doesn't believe in a higher power, why should you?

When God is facing a big problem, do you think he prays?
Of course not, he's God. Who in the hell is he going to pray to?

All God could do is what you and I should do:
Look at the available facts and study the evidence and come to a logical conclusion.

Seriously, do you really need angels and prayers to make good decisions?
Be like God, and forget that higher-power crappola.

..."

Logic in a dangerous world

Our tax dollars at work. Here's a lovely discussion of the modern way of fighting that Canada's government thinks is just great.

But the real problem is why this is all happening. Who is funding these adventures in nation-building, and more importantly, who benefits from these activities. Here is a reasoned opinion that makes sense to me, and starts to illuminate the answers to the foregoing simple questions.

I think we have been eliminated from having any say in how out taxes are spent. In the late 1700s, a group of people objected to this sort of thing with some success, for a few years. Now it's the same-old same-old running things again.

SERFDOM - the natural order of your life!

A prediction I can accept

Here's a Philip Giraldi prediction that I want to place here so that all you closet warriors can respond in six months time and discuss:

Six More Months

Let the debate begin!

Welcome to (Canada + US) = (Austria + Nazi Germany)

Here's a little item about how our government interprets their mission in life.

We really seem to be sinking into the slime along with our southern neighbours.

Ottawa Folkfest

We checked out the Folk Festival this year as Anna had provided a floral box that was to be in a silent auction to raise funds for the event.

Ray Bonneville was on hand and found himself involved in a 'workshop' with some performers from Cameroon.


The Arrogant Worms from Kingston were back wowing the crowd ...


... and Bruce Cockburn gave a great show to round off the days events.

Too much fun ..

Anna threw a birthday party for me yesterday, and around 80+ folks showed up to schlurp and burp and slide and glide and toot and hoot and holler.

Trouble is, I forgot to digitally document the occasion and don't have a single picture or video to show you the extent of the frivolity. Ah well, maybe next year.

Fortunately, Anna got some evidence and you can check things out at her blog here.

Trend spotting: Check this out!

I thought this was what was happening; somebody else finally got the numbers to prove it.

A new direction for our civilization

Feel better yet?