I Survived

Another trip down to the big T.O. come and gone and everyone is still alive. If you knew my brother-in-law you would know that that is an accomplishment in and of itself. My brother, the only family member I know knows this site address, already knows how I feel about our sister's husband, but for those just joining the party I'll fill you in; of all the people I may occasionally be forced to hang around but would rather not, he is #1 on my list. I can barely stand saying anything more then 'hi' to him so I usually just try and keep my mouth shut when he's around.

To put it mildly, my BiL is a control freak. No matter where he is or what he's doing he has to be the one in charge. As he technically works for his cousin (who even I'll admit is an even bigger control freak then him) he doesn't get to exercise much of that control when he's working so he saves it all up for his free time.

He's the kind of guy, that with 6 minutes left in the Ottawa/Toronto game, with me, my nephew and my niece all sitting in front of the TV watching it, will walk into the room, grab the remote from my hand (don't even try keeping it when he wants it or he'll whine like a wounded 2 year old) and put in the DVD he rented ("Christmas with the Kranks") without saying a word (it was 4-2 Ottawa at the time with a final score of 8-2, just FYI and because I like typing 8-2 Ottawa over Toronto). But that's just par for the course with him and the TV. I've had him start channel surfing after entering the room during the last 10 minutes of a movie I was watching, and not even looking for anything in particular.

He routinely yells at everyone in the car, my sister included, if they dare have a conversation while he's trying to talk, even if they started first. His constant excuse is that they are distracting him and will cause him to have an accident. No, Wayne, your terrible driving along with your constant need to fidget with the radio and fan controls are going to cause you to have an accident, not the two kids having a conversation in the back seat.

Even when we all drove back to Lab City a few years ago, me, my brother and his family and my sister and her family, plus one of my sister-in-laws friends with her two daughters, he bitched and complained the entire way, constantly telling the girls in the back seat to quiet down and/or pay attention to whatever sight he was pointing out (not that they or I cared about a what particular type of tree we were passing). This was all despite the fact that I was driving and they weren't bothering me in the least. In fact, for a bunch of 8 year old girls they couldn't have behaved any better. I still haven't quite forgiven everyone for sticking me with him for the full 12+ hour drive the Baie-Comeau. Someone still owes me big time for that one.

Of course, at least once every trip down I'll make some little stand on some issue or another. This week was when he was accusing my 14 year old nephew of nearly killing two pedestrians because he tossed a bit of snow at me while we were walking on the sidewalk in Port Perry ; apparently famous for being the location where much of "Welcome to Mooseport" was shot. Needless to say, we were actually standing about 4 feet apart, both of us were against the snowbank, he tossed the snow at my legs, and the couple he almost killed, were about 20 feet behind him and laughing and smiling at what they were seeing, just generally enjoying the classic winter scene. To hear Wayne retell the harrowing experience over dinner (although everyone present was also present earlier in the day), you'd have thought Zach was running down these two helpless seniors while wielding a pick axe made of ice. I calmly, and yes I can actually remain calm while talking to Wayne, mentioned the fact that Zach is not the first teenager to have thrown snow at someone, even in Port Perry, and no one, except him, not even the two who narrowly escaped with their lives, seemed to mind in the slightest. To that I got the normal "stay out of it" line that has become a mainstay of my trips to Toronto. Just to top off the night he got into an argument with his mother which just left him in an even happier mood than before.

I can tell you, if it wasn't for him I'd probably be running down to visit everyone every couple of weeks. Even with the snow we had last week it only takes 3 and a half hours to make it from my door to theirs. I just can't handle Wayne any more that once or twice a year, and even then in very small doses.

And Wayne, if you do manage to find this site and read this, I'm assuming none of this comes as a surprise to you and if it does, you just haven't been paying too much attention. Then again, that wouldn't be all that surprising for him.

Now, off to pack for my flight back to Lab City tomorrow. At least there I can rest and relax and since my parents have a TV in almost every room with a chair, I can finish whatever movie I start, unless of course Mom needs something from the grocery store right away.

T'was the weekend before Christmas ...

I'm off to visit my sister and niece and nephew (and I guess my brother-in-law too) for our traditional weekend-before-Christmas Christmas. And once again, in the truest tradition of wbC Christmases, the largest snow storm this winter is hitting the 401 between here and Whitby. It never fails.

Oh well, at least I have two nice new tires on the front of my car. I like to only change two at a time because A) I like to have two more mature tires on the car to share their wealth of experience with the new kids on the block, and B) each set of two tires costs about $400 and I didn't feel like shelling out $800 all at once just before Christmas. Besides, you just never know what Santa will drop off.

Now the only question is, do I leave early tomorrow so I can try to make it back for the Sens vs Leafs game on Saturday, or do I leave tomorrow night and just watch the game on TV. Decisions, decisions.

Some interesting numbers

No Oil for Pacifists has some interesting numbers to consider.

First on the state of the US economy. (It may be interesting to see what Krugman has to say about these, but then again he is one of those economists that has long since risen above the need for facts and numbers to prove their opinions.)

And then, just how do the numbers of Coalition servicemen and women add up to say, the number of murders in the state of California. While by no means an true comparison, it does help put the numbers into a little perspective.

What the numbers really show.

Michelle Malkin has an interesting breakdown of the actual numbers of dead in New Orleans, by race, from hurricane Katrina.

You'll be surprised at exactly what the numbers show. Let's just say I won't be expecting any public announcements from anyone with the last name Jackson, Sharpton or West to use this data.

Father knows best. Not in a Liberal world.

There is no more clear example as to the Conservative vs. Liberal viewpoints are than the case of the childcare tax credits that exploded over the weekend.

For those who might not know the details, the Conservative party has promised a $100/month credit for families for each child under the age of six. The Liberals (and NDP for that matter) want to put money into some form of federal daycare program.

This whole debate blew up this last weekend when Scott Reid, a top aide to Liberal Leader Paul Martin, made this comment on air:

"Don't give people 25 bucks a week to blow on beer and popcorn,"

To make it worse, John Duffy, another senior aide repeated a similar statement later in the day:

"'There is nothing to stop people from spending (the Tory cash allowance) on beer or popcorn or a coat or a car or anything,

Reid later withdrew his comments and issued an apology but the damage was done. Now this type of accidental comment is said all the time in the heat of a debate, but the very fact that Duffy would later try and defend it just goes to show how much contempt the Liberals hold for the average tax payer. The very idea that average Canadians should be allowed to make their own decisions when it comes to childcare is almost an insult to the people who drive the Liberal agenda. Instead, they believe a bloated government run bureaucracy should be put in charge of raising your children. After all, they know best don't they.

Conservatives, on the other hand, want to get the government out of areas they should not be involved, but at the same time understand that for many Canadians, childcare is an issue of tantamount importance.

If our government had a track record of well run federal programs I might be on board with the federal daycare program. The problem is, we don't. You'd be hard pressed to find one large scale program run by the feds that works efficiently and since this national daycare idea is more of a hasty measure put forward to try and buy votes to begin with, the odds of another gun registry like fiasco occurring is astronomically high. So, in my opinion, it only makes sense to give families with small children a little help in the form of credits so that they can decide what is best. In some cases that extra $100 a month might enable a parent to stay home full or part time, in others it may enable them to get professional help so that both parents can return to work. As each case is different it is best to let the individuals decide what to do, not some MP in Ottawa. And I'm sure some people will just blow the cash on beer and popcorn, but that is their choice, and is it truly any worse than some Liberal MPs spending taxpayer money on 5 star hotels and chardonnay.

See some CBC viewers responses in their Your View section. And as usual, the Captain has his views.

I'm tired and I wanna go home

so in other words, just another day at the office. Just felt like sharing.

Brownies to the Rescue

I saw this story a few days ago over at Michelle's. While it did manage to get me more than a little ticked off, I decided not to link to it because I didn't want to give the sender, or those who put him up to it any more publicity than they already had.

Today however, Michelle has a much more encouraging follow up. Click on the link to All Things Conservative just to see how even a disgusting act like the one linked to above can be turned around when the Brownies get involved.

In the Land of Stupid Criminals ...

... Jessica Booth is Queen.

(h/t Protein Wisdom)

How can you tell when a Liberal's lying?

Hi lips are moving.

I know it an old joke but it's never seemed more fitting than this year. On the wake of the biggest scandal to hit the ruling Liberal government comes the new Stockscam (tm) (it's getting to the point where we will run out of prefixes for -scam before the Liberals are finally booted out of power).

While it was rumored that the odd activities involving income trusts just prior to Minister Goodale's latest announcement, may have been due to some insider knowledge, most of the major news organizations (in Canada at least) have reported receiving confirmation from industry insiders that they did indeed receive early warning about the new tax and credit levels.

The fact that the pre-announcement rumors were using the same language and phrases as the official policy announcement probably doesn't help Goodale's case that no leak occurred.

(h/t Captain's Quarters)

P.S. I'm not sure who is programming Blogger's spellcheck but it's either a Canadian with a sense of humour, or someone with an odd psychic ability. The three options for "Goodale" are: "Godless", "Godlike" and "Coddles". Any one of which could be used to describe the actions of the current manifestation of the Liberal Party.

Honestly, what purpose does the UN serve anymore?

When it's not ignoring genocides or naming such bastions of decency as Libya, Syria and Sudan to the Human Rights Commission (incidentally while voting out the United States) it seems the favorite pastime of the UN is Israel bashing.

If they're not passing non-binding resolution condemning Israel (thank goodness the US and usually Canada are there to prevent these from becoming actual resolutions) they're holding "Solidarity with the People of Palestine" days. What's even more telling is the fact that on the maps of the Palestine they happen to be using, Israel doesn't exist.

It always amazes me how the only true democracy in the Middle East can somehow be the target of so much open contempt while all the surrounding countries (not to mention all the communist countries other places in the world) routinely restrict the rights of their citizens far worst than anything Israel's ever done, with nary a word from the General Assembly. Oh and did I mention the suicide bombers that the Israelis have to deal with on a daily basis or the fact that almost every neighboring country has openly declared their intention to wipe Israel off the map at the earliest possible time.

It's time the worlds representational governments pull out of the UN and start their own international organization. Dictators need not apply.

Weekend Round Up

Just feeling a bit too tired to actually create separate posts for everything I have saved off from the past week so time again for a weekly round-up post.

1. The Daily Standard has a pretty good article panning Mary Mapes new book, Truth and Duty: The Press, The President, and the Privilege of Power.


2. Check out Unique Auction to see what has to be one of the oddest auction sites I have ever seen. Where else will you see a max bid of $720 for a brand new Nissan 350Z. (Of course by my quick calculations, a $5.16 winning bid for a XBox 360 would actually have cost you $147.16. But hey, that's still $400 cheaper than retail.)
   


3. While I can't think of anything that could ever happen to make me vote for the Liberals, I have to admit this blog is actually pretty good. (h/t Small Dead Animals)


4. Michelle Malkin has a great entry for the "What were they thinking?" files. It appears Moveon.org, in just another example of their 'ends justify the means' type logic, have been using a picture of soldiers in a food line to try and drive home just how different life is back at home vs. in the field. Now forgetting that at any given time thousands of US soldiers are deployed away from home, even in times of peace, they can't even recognize that the soldiers in the picture are British and not American. To make it even worse, when confronted with that fact, instead of pulling the ad, they instead photoshop the picture (badly) to try to hide the most obvious evidence of the nature of the soldiers.


5. Also from Michelle, her article over at JWR points out the painfully obvious, while the extreme left so often makes statements along the lines of Republican's requiring anger management (in this particular case she quotes Janeane Garofalo), it's almost universally the left who continually rant and rave and during 'peaceful' protests, destroy private property and throw molotov cocktails. Coincidentally, O'Reilly this week has had a couple of segments where he discussed the upcoming visit to a College campus by both Cindy Sheehan and Anne Coulter, both rather outspoken representatives of their respective sides. Which one do you think the College felt the need to call in the police to offer added security for.


6. The liberals' creed, by Robert Alt. (Does anyone else think he needs a haircut or at least a better picture?)


7. The BBC, oddly enough, has a story about a recent speech by Malaysian PM, Mahathir Mohamad, delivered to a summit by international Muslim leaders. In it he states, amongst other things that:

   This tiny [Jewish] community has become a world power. We cannot fight them through brawn alone. We must use our brains as well,"

   According to Minister it was meant to help enlighten his fellow Muslim leaders into their need to move away from violence. I sure the crowd, who gave this speech a standing ovation btw, managed to grasp that subtlety and it's just almost every other nation around the world (including Germany for crying out loud) that saw it as an attempt to continue the build up of animosity towards Israel. Me, I always thought the terms "cannot fight them through brawn alone" and "use our brains as well" implied the expansion of a policy through new means, while fully supporting the use of the old.


8. A Democrat who actually still supports the war and says their has been many major accomplishments made there? Who is this Joe Lieberman guy anyways? I guess while he was out of the country, on his fourth visit to Iraq, he must have missed the Murtha memo that everything is going to hell and the US is on the verge of defeat.
   


9. Just a few quick snapshots over at Iraq the Model of one of those small accomplishments that never seem to make the news over here. A Baghdad amusement park set up with the help of the coalition forces. Don't hold your breath waiting to see picture of this on the front page of the NYT.


10. And finally, a little link just for fun.

Oh well, I guess it's back to Soduku for me.

Just when you thought they couldn't get any lower...

... they go an make a movie like this (h/t LGF). The five minute ovation it received at the Turin Film Festival just speaks volumes of the same crowd that tripped all over themselves to give awards and praise to Fahrenheit 9/11, despite the fact it's obvious mishandlings of the truth (to put it mildly) made it such an blatant piece of propaganda that even Leni Riefenstahl would be proud (sorry to haul out the Nazi references so early but "if the shoe fits...").

To save some time I'll just cross post my comment from the above LGF post:

Anti-war protestors and 'artists' just love to share their views and opinions of what those who can no longer speak for themselves 'thought'. Because they can't fathom the idea that people can see things beyond themselves that they consider worth of the ultimate sacrifice they like to pretend that the dead, if given the opportunity, would join their side.

One big problem with this line of thought, as the mudville gazette pointed out, is that when you talk to people who should, by the left's logic, share their distaste for the war, namely the seriously wounded soldiers who have been forced to return from Iraq, it's actually pretty hard to find one with a negative opinion of their mission. But then again, when has anyone on that side ever let fact get in the way of a good opinion.

Strangely enough, the idea of the willing sacrifice is a pretty routine plot device used in all sorts of movies or shows. You see parents giving their life for their child, one sibling for another, or even a strangers sacrificing themselves all the time. Yet none of these are ever portrayed as negative and I doubt you will see too many movies where a mother who died saving their child will come back from the grave to bitch about it.

So basically, I guess this is just another declaration from the caring left that the lives of 27,000,000 Iraqis just weren't worth it and we should have just left well enough alone and allowed Saddam and his boys have their way. A man, they seem to forget, who was responsible for an average of somewhere between 2,000 - 3500 Iraqi deaths/month the entire time he was in power.

Can they honestly say that the vast majority of the 2,000 American soldiers who gave their lives over the past two years wouldn't be proud that their sacrifice saved potentially hundreds of thousands of lives? Or do Iraqi lives not count?

Updated:
I just watched it on Scream and it was worse than I thought, and I had some pretty low expectations. Let's just say subtlety is not one of Dante's strong suits. Even removing all the political garbage (it presents every single left wing talking point over the last 6 years as fact), it's just not well acted or written.

This getting a standing ovation is truly the sign that the Bush Derangement Sufferers have finally lost what little grasp on reality that they had. I dare just one person to watch it and find any redeeming qualities (with the exception that every scene at least appeared to be in focus).