Musings of a Canadian Slacker

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2012-01-26T23:16:00.001-05:00

Testing the Blogger App. Seems functional....

2012-01-26T22:56:00.001-05:00

It would seem that I am back. Let's see if I can manage to post somewhat regularly here. And, perhaps update my links and so forth.....

2005-11-30T20:46:00.000-05:00

Election NotesA few of the Red Ensign bloggers will be covering the current federal election by focussing on their individual ridings. I live in Ottawa Centre, but unfortunately, a better blogger than I already called Ottawa Centre. So I'll be doing Ottawa South. The three main parties have all nominated candidates for the election: the Liberals have put up their incumbent: David McGuinty, who is

2005-10-30T12:10:00.000-05:00

As one can see, I am back. And so are my comments: yay.

2005-10-30T11:43:00.000-05:00

Today is the 10th anniversary of the Federalist rally that may well have turned the tide against separation during the 1995 referendum in Quebec. The Montreal Gazette has an instructive editorial on the impact of the referendum and on Mr. Martin's baffling silence on the question of sovereignty in Quebec. (hat tip to Paul Wells) There was an interesting point in the editorial to the effect that

2005-05-06T01:29:00.000-04:00

I was looking around the CBC Ottawa website for some information about the War Museum opening and came across this. We're everywhere.

2005-03-05T17:29:00.000-05:00

Kate over at Small Dead Animals has a note on Laurie Garrett's piece about how corporate ownership has corrupted journalism and journalists. The problem fundamentally is the paradigm that commercial television introduced into journalism in the 1950s and 1960s: the idea that journalism, news, could be made to pay on a commercial basis. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with that..except that

2005-03-04T18:26:00.000-05:00

Maintiens Le DroitCanada's Federal police force has suffered a rather horrendous loss in Alberta: 4 officers shot dead trying to serve a warrant against what turned out to be a marijuana grow-op. The irony is that they weren't initially there because it was a grow-op..they were just serving a warrant against one James Roszko..who is evidently something of a known lunatic in the area. One story

2005-02-26T02:54:00.000-05:00

A test. I'm a Lifer!To you, a job is what pays the bills. You put in your hours, follow the rules, and then go home. Occasionally, you consider quitting, but then you think of how bad the job market is and you reconsider. Whatever happiness you get, you get from your life outside the workplace. Relationships, family, hobbies, and outside creative pursuits are what really matter to you.

2005-02-22T23:28:00.000-05:00

I was reading Jack Granatstein's Who Killed the Canadian Military? today on the bus. And I came across his question: how many Canadian MPs have military experience now, as opposed to the substantial number of MPs in Pearson's government who had World War I and World War II experience. (including good old 'Mike' Pearson himself, not to mention the odd war service of the Leader of the Opposition,

2005-02-18T15:53:00.000-05:00

Joel Fleming comes up with a rather good line about the Professoriat: Academia: Fighting the Man, and speaking Truth to Power... as soon as they get tenured.

2005-02-16T19:11:00.000-05:00

I came across Paul Wells's note on how old media has to struggle to maintain the attention of people in this modern age of ours. The example that he gave that particularly struck me was William Thorsell's fundraising to 'improve' the ROM. Now, don't get the wrong idea..I like the ROM and I'm glad its being expanded. But did they have to make it look like the Crystal entity from Star Trek: TNG was

2005-01-30T01:54:00.000-05:00

I was wandering around some MP's sites. (Not idly, I am weird but not that weird: trying to find some info about something Blair mentioned) Anyways, I came across Belinda Stronach's site (sigh, dear Belinda). And I ended up wondering..is it legal for someone to use the seal of Canada like that on a website, as she has done on the splash page? I would have thought that you had to be basically a

2005-01-29T20:04:00.000-05:00

Beer, is there anything it can't do?Classic story of man surviving through beer. 60 half litres of beer? That's one heck of a holiday, sir. I salute you with a can of Pilsener Urquell. Seen at the Corner.

2005-01-29T03:29:00.000-05:00

Goodfellas, you know...one of us... Got out to the National Capital Region Elite Blog Mafia meeting thing. We met up at Royal Oak II on Laurier Ave. Bruce, Blair and the delightful Shannon were already there. Keith and THE PHANTOM joined us later. Some amusing anecdotes were told and some html tips passed around. A good time seemed to have been had by all. Thanks to Shannon for setting it all up.

2005-01-21T17:02:00.000-05:00

James Lileks gets a Mini Mac (hiss!) and then gets a magazine he doesn't want: “Is it time to stop hating Castro?” I don’t know; is he dead yet? Do read the rest of it.

2005-01-19T21:12:00.000-05:00

The Ghost of Tom Joad... When I've attended university as a young full time student or as a somewhat less young part time student, I've always had a sort of 'out of place' feeling about it. As though I didn't belong, and that the professors would soon get rid of me. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that I was the son of a truck driver..surrounded by the sons and daughters of the elite

2005-01-06T18:52:00.000-05:00

As requested: Flight 93 Memorial Project. Flight 93 Memorial website. They deserve better than to be fodder for consirazoids.

2004-12-13T19:49:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been thinking a bit about the process of history, partly because I have to write an essay over the next month for my class at Carleton, partly because I'd been reading this. Plus, of course, there is the recent death of Pierre Berton. Anyways, a phrase came to my mind that one would not normally associate with history. It was from Training Day, a rather brutal film about police

2004-12-12T01:39:00.000-05:00

I'm usually a fan of Paul Wells', but on this particular instance, I have to raise a minor point of order: It doesn't really constitute 'paradiplomacy' when the regional leader is also the leader of half the federal Opposition. Edmund Stoiber {German Link} is the Minister-President of Bavaria, but he is also leader of the CSU, which is half of the conservative coalition which opposed current

2004-11-30T21:38:00.000-05:00

On Pierre Berton. Pierre Berton was a writer whose work helped to define what we think about our nation and its past. 'Professional' historians often deride his work as too accessible and not properly sourced. But, for all that, far more Canadians have bought and read his work than will have ever even heard the names of those Ph.D bearing scoffers. As a person who has spent some time studying

2004-11-16T19:05:00.000-05:00

I was listening to CBC Radio One's As it Happens this evening. (Not a normal listen for me: their rather tweedy leftish slant and their voices grate on me) They were interviewing a 'friend' of Margaret Hassan. This so called friend started out rather normally, talking about the unfortunate apparent killing of Ms. Hassan by terrorists of one stripe or another in Iraq. But I kept hearing jarring

2004-10-17T21:39:00.000-04:00

The CBC begins its series on "The Greatest Canadian" tonight. The part of it that I saw is a bit more than strange. Who decided that Bret Hart would make an appropriate advocate for this? The descriptions of Louis Riel as "the Che Guevara of the North" (Wendy Mesley) and "the Nelson Mandela of the Metis" (Murray McLauchlan) are more than a little much. Pretty classic CBC, I'd guess.

2004-10-17T19:45:00.000-04:00

Blackfive gives us the 411 on a stellar action by the PPCLI, reported by Peter Worthington. The parts about the French officer are particularly interesting. But I think Blackfive may be reading more into that than is really there. My feeling is that the French officer was just reacting without looking into what the Canadians found. Good work on the part of the Patricias involved. Victoria

2004-10-09T11:55:00.000-04:00

Through a military history list-serv (H-War), I came across this interesting story of how the American Army does the occupation 'thing'. This has to be the nicest army of Occupation in history...Despite the insurgency and everything that goes with it, the US forces try their best to do what needs to be done, without bruising Iraqi feelings unnecessarily: The clearing team goes in and comes out

2004-09-27T15:00:00.000-04:00

Christopher Hitchens seems to be the man of the hour lately. This quote is an example: "However bad the American Empire has been, it is not as bad as this. It is not the Taliban, and anybody - any movement - that cannot see the difference has lost all moral bearings" (see more of Hitchen's interview by Johann Hari)I'd seen him this weekend on Tim Russert's show on CNBC talking with Andrew

2004-09-26T22:53:00.000-04:00

Colonel Pat Strogan of the PPCLI, and late of Afghanistan fame, sounds off about the current state of the Canadian Forces. Some interesting thoughts there, though I'd tend to disagree with the Colonel on his view of the current Iraq war. I am a bit surprised that he'd be so frank in dissing the 'Mandarins' running defence policy. Perhaps he just doesn't want to be a general, or doesn't care....

2004-09-24T22:48:00.000-04:00

On campus, and around town lately, I've found that I see a lot of shirts and paraphenalia that displays the face of the late Argentinian Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Che , of course, was best known for his role in the Cuban revolution. Less well known for his murderous ways after the revolution. And who died trying to foment a Communist insurrection in Bolivia. Lately, especially amongst young hipsters

2004-09-07T22:57:00.000-04:00

Perusing John's site yesterday, I came across this rather interesting bit.. Which led me to this enlightening piece by Major General L. Mackenzie (ret.). While looking around the Canadian Forces College site, I found this gem Funny how the "Interweb" can lead you around. .

2004-09-05T22:42:00.000-04:00

The terrorist hostage taking in North Ossetia provokes some interesting thought. The Command Post and other sites (of particular merit is Logic and Sanity, whose webmaster has done an amazing job of making available Russian sources in English) have some useful information on the attack and its aftermath. However, I see that many are focussing rather too closely on the Al-Queda aspect. That part

2004-07-20T21:35:00.000-04:00

July 20: Anniversary of the Officers' Plot. Today is the 60th anniversary of the attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler by a group of German officers. A small bomb, hidden in a briefcase, was placed in the main conference room at Hitler's Rastenburg command base. The bomb was placed by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. Staffenberg and his fellow plotters had decided to reclaim the honour of

2004-07-07T11:41:00.000-04:00

There's a reason why John Kerry chose Senator Edwards to be his Vice Presidential running mate instead of Dick Gephardt. If he'd chosen Gephardt there would have been two Dicks in the Presidential race. Three if you count Dick Cheney. Snap!

2004-07-01T13:57:00.000-04:00

Happy Dominion Day! Today is Canada's 137th Anniversary of um, sort of independence. Celebrate! But don't forget those who sacrificed to make this free, strong nation what it is.

2004-06-28T23:23:00.000-04:00

Feel free to panic now. The minority aspect of it is interesting. All depends on whose assistance the Prime Minister chooses to call on to get those things done that he wishes to get done. Mr. Layton and M. Duceppe now become rather more important than they had been. Which may or may not be good for the country, since Mr. Layton represents our socialist friends, and M.Duceppe has as his fondest

2004-06-28T20:56:00.000-04:00

Ok, kids, lets not panic. No reasonable person expected Stephen Harper to do well in Atlantic Canada; to many in the East, he is the bogeyman who is going to take all their candy away. Ontario will be the breakthrough. Take a deep breath and wait for 9:30 EST.

2004-06-23T16:40:00.000-04:00

Andrew Coyne drops a bot mot bomb: "...particular individuals, from Cheryl Gallant to Ralph Klein, who apparently lack the motor skills to close their mouths when a microphone is placed in front of them." My only question is this: isn't this basically a textbook definition of a politician? (Do read the rest of it)

2004-04-21T23:26:00.000-04:00

"Canada being mad at you is like Mr. Rogers throwing a brick through your window." -Jon Stewart on tonight's Daily Show.

2004-04-20T22:36:00.000-04:00

Yet another poll: and I'm not ashamed to admit that I tailored my answers to make sure that I got this result. :: how jedi are you? ::(What?-ed.) Say what again, motherfucker! I dare you!Seen at Frozen in Montreal.

2004-04-19T21:24:00.000-04:00

"Somebody who is sending suicide bombers to kill innocent Israelis is a legitimate target for the government of Israel[...]" -Gideon Meir, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesthing.Probably the most concise and sensible expression of why Rantisi had to die, and Yassin as well. As long as Hamas thinks that suicide bombers is the way to go, their leaders deserve whatever they get. In a way, the attacks

2004-04-18T16:16:00.000-04:00

Where books are burned, in the end people will be burned too.-Heinrich Heine.

2004-04-17T13:58:00.000-04:00

So, what are you reading? 1. Grab the nearest book. 2. Open the book to page 23. 3. Find the fifth sentence. 4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions. In the previous November, at the so-called Hossbach conference, both generals had reacted with scepticism and concern when Hitler informed them about his immediate expansionist intentions (directed in the

2004-03-14T15:35:00.000-05:00

Again with the quizzes: I smell, I'm mean, I live in a trash can and Ireally don't like people. So just go away andleave me alone. Your Oscar the Grouch! What Sesame Street Character Are You? brought to you by Quizilla Are you ever going to do anything but quizzes?-ed. Shut up before I shut you up, ed.! yes, sir, sorry, sir.-ed.

2004-03-06T22:19:00.000-05:00

More quiz insanity:Magister Mundi sum! "I am the Master of the Universe!" You are full of yourself, but you're so cool youprobably deserve to be. Rock on. Which Weird Latin Phrase Are You? brought to you by Quizilla I knew it. Found at Jennifer's

2004-03-01T14:33:00.000-05:00

Well, the Prime Minister would like to send Canadian Troops to Haiti to help evacuate Canadians there and stabilize things. I have one question for the Prime Minister: What troops? Update: It was announced today that 450 soldiers from the 2nd battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment will be sent to Haiti. If I'm not mistaken, this was the last batallion really available, since the rest of 2

2004-02-27T13:42:00.000-05:00

Quelle Surprise! Apparently I AM Canada. At least according to the Country Quiz: You're Canada! People make fun of you a lot, but they're stupid because you've got a much better life than they do. In fact, they're probably just jealous. You believe in crazy things like human rights and health care and not dying in the streets, and you end up securing these rights for yourself and

2004-02-14T22:13:00.000-05:00

To borrow a term from John, here's some Gun Porn, of a sort. Some pictures of your author with a KAR98K (Czech manufacture) and a Squires-Bingham M22 (Which is a .22LR made to look like a M-16). Old pictures, but some fun there.... Further to that, here are the pictures (Click for full size):

2004-02-07T12:15:00.000-05:00

The Dictionary of Canadian Biography, or the DCB as we Canadian history types call it, is on line now. Well sort of, so far you can only look at people who were active or died before 1920. But its a start. I took the time to look at one of the more interesting characters of early Canadian politics: Thomas D'Arcy McGee. D'Arcy McGee is best known now as one of the few Canadian political figures

2003-12-07T23:47:00.000-05:00

Today is Pearl Harbor Day. As a student of history, I find that the parallels between the Japanese attack on the U.S. Naval Base in Hawaii and the Al-Queda attack on the United States are worth some examination. However, I don't find the most facile parallel interesting: that they were both surprise attacks which roused the United States to a righteous rage which enabled them to smite their

2003-11-30T21:49:00.000-05:00

Alright, tonight on History Television, they are playing Interview with a Vampire. Can someone explain that shit to me? I'm sure its a fine film and all, but its not History.

2003-11-17T17:59:00.000-05:00

Another gratuitous pussy shot: Psycho as a very young kitten. And already showing the pugnaciousness which helped get her the name.

2003-11-02T21:37:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite lines from Band of Brothers: Private Webster: Say hello to Ford and General Fucking Motors! You have Horses! What were you thinking? You ignorant, servile scum.

2003-10-26T15:27:00.000-05:00

Some pictures today. Here is a shot of our cat, Psycho-Kitty. This one is a picture that was supposed to just be a shot of St Paul's University here in Ottawa, but it turned out to be more about a fast car. Enjoy.

2003-10-24T23:06:00.000-04:00

Steven Den Beste strikes to the heart of the matter on Canada et al. in Afghanistan. The fundamental truth is there: there is no strategic interest there for the Western powers. And our involvement there, however laudable, is a negative effort at its basic level. In other words, we put about a third of the combat power of the Canadian Army into a place we fundamentally don't care about. in order

2003-10-23T00:00:00.000-04:00

Reuters strikes again! "...impoverished Atlantic province" Yeesh! Hey Reuters, ever been to like Africa or something? I hope Damian hasn't seen this.

2003-10-19T22:22:00.000-04:00

One of those strange ironies of life: Ernest Hemingway's son dies in a Miami jail of heart failure, some years after having had a sex change operation and becoming Gloria Hemingway. Ay caramba! Spotted on this blog.

2003-10-11T20:22:00.000-04:00

General Schoomaker, the US Army Chief of Staff paraphrases George Orwell, and inter alia the Silent Running motto: 'As I told our NCOs yesterday, “Americans sleep safely in their beds at night because American Soldiers stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do them harm.”' Schoomaker's full speech is at Jen Martinez. Seen at Argghhh!!!

2003-10-07T22:50:00.000-04:00

The California recall is today. I've been wondering for some time why this election has fascinated people so. (including me) And it just occurred to me today...It is outside the normal way of things in US elections. Most American elections are pretty bland affairs, all things being equal. You have two parties, they run two safe conventional candidates and one or the other wins... The wide-open,

2003-09-20T23:12:00.000-04:00

The Twin Otter will fly anywhere, especially when flown by some Canadian lunatic. To the South Pole, Again!

2003-08-27T21:19:00.000-04:00

The Immigration and Refugee Board, or at least one of its members, may actually have a clue about terrorism. "We do not live in a vacuum," one IRB member ruled. "We realize that the current climate is one of heightened concerns when it comes to the issue of terrorism and security in this particular time, and if the Federal Court wishes to slap my hand for this they can feel free. "The 'Western

2003-08-23T00:01:00.000-04:00

Yet another joint law enforcement thing..the PSAT (Public Security and Anti Terrorism unit). Now if I were one of these conspiracy minded folk, I'd be putting on the tinfoil hat about now. But what is with all these acronyms coming out of nowhere dealing with terrorism and such. And this PSAT unit seems to have done a good job dealing with these 19 guys, (and that number has shadows to chill

2003-08-21T14:25:00.000-04:00

TBS not making movies anymore: Woo-Hoo! TBS making more reality TV: Doh!

2003-08-21T13:56:00.000-04:00

"Phish Bassist Arrested: Allegedly Found in Secluded Area with 9 Year old" Not all that funny a story. But this line makes it worth the read: "The Hell's Angels, who detained Gordon for police, were not, the sources say, gentle with sensitive areas of the rock star's body." Ow.

2003-08-17T21:35:00.000-04:00

ColbyCosh.com had some interesting things to say about INSETs which are some kind of joint thing that the RCMP are doing to deal with external threats operating on Canadian soil. Another useful point is why don't we have some way of coordinating all these federal agencies in terms of what they are doing to deal with terrorism? After all, there is Customs and Immigration (part of Canada Customs

2003-08-16T19:45:00.000-04:00

Steven Den Beste has some darned interesting things to say on the power outage. Go already, read.

2003-08-15T18:40:00.000-04:00

So, the great blackout of 2003. It was kind of an odd experience. (I was tempted to post some lousy pictures that I took another time that turned out black, but I respect YOU, the faithful readers, more than that. All 2 of you.) The power went off while I was still at work, seemed like your normal power cut that we get there on occasion. I kept working, since I was using hand tools anyways..and I

2003-07-26T10:23:00.000-04:00

Here is those pictures that were promised below. This is sort of a photoblog of my commute to work. I get out the door and this is what I see: A short distance into my trip and I look right and see this: A few metres further on, a better look at Frank Clair Stadium across the canal. This is where the Ottawa Renegades of the CFL play: Two kilometres further along and I cross Billings Bridge

2003-07-23T20:46:00.000-04:00

The deaths of the distasteful sons of Hussein are a postive step in this whole war thing. The only shadow upon the acheivement is that it was not possible to take them alive. There are two basic reasons for this. One is simply that they might well have had useful information, such as the location of their dear old dad. The other is that their deaths may well lend them, in the eyes of those

2003-07-18T05:10:00.000-04:00

I missed Blair's speech to the U.S. Congress. Check out the transcript. This passage really spoke to me: Anywhere, anytime ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, not dictatorship; the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police. Amen, brother Tony, amen.

2003-07-06T03:12:00.000-04:00

Whew, been a while since I posted anything. I'll be posting again shortly. And I promise some pics...of what, I have no idea, but there will be pictures. Like this one of my computer. Woo!

2003-05-31T15:08:00.000-04:00

New note on Victoria Day...I ran across a calendar printed in Quebec..where it is called Dollard Day. The name refers to Dollard des Ormeaux The link is to a site that basically follows the heroic legend (in French, sorry). As an interesting side note, I recently saw the statue of Dollard in Montreal. It was covered by sk8ers, lounging after a hard afternoon of insolence and skateboarding.

2003-05-24T16:22:00.000-04:00

I was reading today's Citizen. Today's edition has a column. by Barbara Yaffe on the subject of meat eating and the recent case of BSE ("Mad Cow Disease") in Alberta. Its mostly the usual drivel about how animals suffer in the meat system. What I have always wondered though is what would happen if these people got their way. After all, if no one were eating meat or drinking milk, etc...the

2003-05-19T18:39:00.000-04:00

Today is Victoria Day here in Canada. A rather strangely colonial holiday that we celebrate. Queen Victoria was, of course, the monarch when Canada became a country in 1867 and we've continued celebrating her birthday as a holiday ever since. In English parts of Canada ( I mean English-English, not English speaking), there are usually fireworks and so forth on Canada Day{oops, I meant Victoria

2003-05-14T16:52:00.000-04:00

"It's Cheaper to Send Someone to Penn State Than to State Pen!" Interesting commentary on the state of affairs in California. Check it out at The Irascible Professor. Link from the Invisible Adjunct. When a society spends so much more on its tools of coercion than it does on its tools of nurturing..that is a society in decline. And don't feel smug about Canada being different...the neo-cons

2003-05-12T19:36:00.000-04:00

I've been reading a most interesting article on exam writing..and essay questions in particular. Take a look, courtesy of John Cowan via the Invisible Adjunct. (Look in the comments to that post)

2003-05-12T13:12:00.000-04:00

I will be adding links to some more blogs that amuse me shortly.

2003-05-11T06:57:00.000-04:00

I hate Noam Chomsky. (Courtesy of Meryl) Been reading some John Ralston Saul. Profound thoughts on Canada and its weltanschaunng. "All of us, it can't be denied, are victimized from time to time. But this is quite different from believing ourselves to be victims all the time." From "Reflections of a Siamese Twin: Canada at the End of the Twentieth Century." He particularly looks at the whole "

2003-05-08T14:12:00.000-04:00

Victor Hanson Davis (one of my favorite historians..read his Carnage and Culture. Now!, read it now!) has some interesting things to say on Europe and the United States in the aftermath of Operation Iraqi Freedom. There is a realignment in world politics that has been a long time in the making..probably since the mid 1980s or so. Ever since the Soviet Union revealed itself for the paper dragon

2003-05-06T06:55:00.000-04:00

So, I can just imagine this dialogue between Hussein father and son on the 18th of March: Saddam: Qusay, drop by the ATM and get us some shopping money. The Americans are coming by, and things might get hectic. Qusay: Sure, Dad, how much? Saddam: Well, could be a while before we get a chance to go to the bank again. Get a billion dollars. Qusay: No problem, Dad. News link courtesy of Judith by

2003-05-06T06:36:00.000-04:00

Well, comments are finally working. I guess I should do some posts so that people can actually have something to comment on. I got this 6 am, been up all night, got rained on kind of thing going on. If I weren't such a goy, I could write a blues song about it. Yeah, I know April showers bring May flowers..but that just means hay fever and such, so I'm not exactly thrilled at that prospect. I'm

2003-04-27T17:42:00.000-04:00

A fine sunny Sunday..so instead of labouring in the dank confines of my gym, I went for a bicycle ride. 25 kilometres along the Ottawa river and the Rideau Canal . Here's a view of one of the paths I was on.

2003-04-24T01:30:00.000-04:00

Lately, I've been out of sorts...just getting angry over everything and nothing. I've picked fights with people in cyberspace, while being nice to people that I'd like to wail on in the RealWorld. Sort of a 'despite all my rage, I'm still trapped like a rat in cage' thing. (Apologies to the Smashing Pumpkins) Ah well, life goes on..in its own dysfunctional way. Funny to see the reactions of

2003-04-17T19:31:00.000-04:00

First post. I don't know where I'll go with this..but sometimes the most interesting journeys start out that way. I've been reading a lot of the war blogs and some associated blogs..and I thought perhaps it might help me, if no one else, to get my own thoughts on the screen. LinktoComments('<$BlogItemNumber$>') ">Comment