"saying 'It's their culture' ... It's like saying the culture of Massachusetts is burning witches."

This is a VERY excellent article. I would stand up and applaud it but I think I would get quizzical looks from my co-workers.

 

 (facebookers click through to my blog for the link, as always) 

Here comes the Gore. Here comes the Gore.

Its almost like I told ya so or something...

(Facebookers click through to my blog)

Shooting Back

...and this.

25 Years murder-free in "Guntown USA"

Check it out here. 

 

 

No Virginia, apparently there isn't a Santa Claus

I am ashamed to say that my first reaction to the Virginia Tech massacre was annoyance (when walking past a tv that said school shootings - I didnt know the magnitude of carnage at that point) and following that an almost blase resignation. It isn't that I'm callous. It's that after living in a world that has shown me the Montreal massacre, 9/11, Columbine, Dawson College, the Eaton Centre gun fight, the beheading of Daniel Pearl and countless other atrocities It'll take quite a bit to shock me now. And frankly I'm a bit pissed off at that in itself, but it's a whole other story - and this blog isn't meant to be the centre of Cicerocathartic psycholanalysis.

But, given my personality, my brain won't let go of these things. It starts to see them as problems to be solved (yes I'm from Mars. let others be from Venus). But with these events the same things keeps coming back to mind.

• Why have we let ourselves become such sheep?
• What is wrong with us. We only let the wolves carry guns?
• and most importantly, and this is the controversial one,: Why. Don't. I. Own. and. Carry. A. Gun?

Now look. I'm a smart guy. I KNOW all the macro problems with what I just said. And those reasons all make sense. More guns in the hands of civilians should be an insane thought in a country like Canada. People get in rages. They will kill their enemies. Violence could go up 10 times as much. Most illegal guns are stolen from the houses of people that bought them legally, I hear. Canada is so lucky and so peaceful because we don't have the right to bear arms. Right.

But...

Why don't *I* own a gun?

I'm a responsible citizen. I have never in my life been mad enough to kill. (and if I was, I wouldn't need a gun.) I have no incentive to kill anyone. I fear prison AND hell. I'm a member of a professional organization. I have had military firearms training since the age of 12 because of my involvement with the Army Cadets of Canada and the Reserve Armed Forces of Canada. I've been entrusted with the care, maintenance and cleaning (oh the damn cleaning!) of Lee Enfield, FN C1A1 and M-16s (which basically means I know the primary methods of person killing from 1914-2007). I am damn sure I can be trusted with a small pistol. I trust myself with one more than most policemen I've ever met.

Now. The truth is that I'm not going to go get a gun. Why? The odds of me needing one are small (though the phrase "better to have a gun and not need one than to need a gun and not have one" come to mind) and the social tension I would deal with by having one probably isn't worth it to me: "a single white guy in his 30s who lives alone - with a gun? Watch out for THAT paranoid maniac!" So ok, as a result of peer pressure and in deference to our peaceful free and democratic society, I promise to colour inside the lines. But that's just me. And frankly I can't help but feel that I'm being kind of stupid in making that decision.

But what if I had a daughter? or a son actually - but especially a daughter. And she was university age. Going to those classes. Going on the subway. Going god knows where else.

If I had a daughter today, in a world that had shown me the Montreal massacre, 9/11, Columbine, Dawson College, the Eaton Centre gun fight, the beheading of Daniel Pearl and countless other atrocities she might just be getting a small present from her dad. Maybe I wouldn't - again because I fear your reactions more than anything, dear readers. But maybe I would. Because I know I couldn't protect her from everything. But I should at least be able to help her defend herself from becoming a defenseless sheep caught in the teeth of whatever savage pathetic wolf should happen to come across her on the path of her life. I know you'll say it opens her up to an increased chance of injury from her own gun - but with proper training and storage (including not telling people about it) I think that is a very tiny (highly overblown) and reasonable risk to take. After all I'm gonna let her drive a car on the highway and I'd be far more worried about that.

I'm betting a lot of dads are having such thoughts this week. And looking into purchases.

And I don't blame them.

Not one tiny little bit.

Yeah Yeah I Know

 

 

She's going back to Magna. You can quit emailing me the news.

 

Am I surprised? Nope.

• Liberals voted down her party reform proposals.
• Social life all over the tabloids.
• Martha Hall Findlay in Dion's inner circle.
• Liberals not likely to form government in the very near future.
• Magna and Onyx bidding for Chrysler.

 

I look forward to the new Magna-Chrysler line of Racehorse Powered Flying Cars (with Frickin' Laser Beams!) fueled by Frank's Energy Drink. 

Water Water everywhere and not a thought to think

Lorne Gunter is a skeptic. Here he uses an elaborate analogy to point out that the amount of CO2 in the air is very tiny and therefore CO2 doesn't contribute to greenhouse gasses. As he writes:

"Out of our model atmosphere of 2,400 litres of water, just about a shot glassful is carbon dioxide put their by humans. And of that miniscule amount, Canada's contribution is just 2% --about 1 ml."

K. For once I'm going to do the global warming believers a favor. Just to show you how fair I am, I'm gonna tell you how to handle this one. Everyone go and buy some really poisonous snake. No really. And I don't care which one. Buyers choice. You like Indian food, buy a cobra. Kill Bill fan? Black mamba is the way to go. Hell, it doesnt even have to be a snake. Lots of scorpions and spiders will do the job just fine.

The next time someone makes this argument I want you to reach into the cage that you have conveniently been carrying with you and carefully brandish your new pet at the skeptic. Ask the skeptic if he would like to pet the pet. Thrust it menacingly in his face. When they object look at them incredulously and say,

"don't be absurd! Your bloodsteam is equivalent to 3 two litre bottles of coke! And this snake's venom is just a teeny tiny teensy weensy droplet of liquid. How could it ever cause your heart to stop, your nervous system to shake, your throat to constrict and make your last moments of life on this planet a veritable buffet of agonising sensations before it sucks you down down down into the inky inky darkness of the beyond? Don't be so gullible. PET MY SNAKE YOU COWARD!!!"

Maybe then he'll get the idea that even if he turns out to be right, It was hardly a self-evident truism.

Point-Counterpoint on Global Warming continues

This is called "How to Speak to a Global Warming Skeptic", which I, admittedly, am. I'm going to be reading this top to bottom.  In the meantime I post it here.

and a bit more climate change heresy

What could it hurt  to follow the links in this link?  hmmm... ;-)

Those of you who read Paul Wells (which is to say most of you) have already seen this..

... but anyway. I was going to blog about this at some point but Joan Tintor beat me to it and did it better. Check it out. (Hint: Its called "The Apology-Lawsuit Party"... and its about the current state of the Federal Liberals.)

The question no one is allowed to ask about the 15 British sailors...

... Why were they such WIMPS?

 

Now, I'm not saying I'm any better. However!

 

I watched British soldiers on the news admitting to being in Iranian waters and calmly pointing it out on a map on the wall. When they had been told they were being released, one of them actually said "thank you for your foregiveness".

 

What ever happened to "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!!  I WON'T TELL YOU ANYTHING!!! I DIE FOR MY QUEEN AND COUNTRY, AAAAAIEEEEEE!!!!"  You'd think that, as a soldier, before he did a powerpoint presentation, that soldier would be gallant enough to at least get himself a black eye, eh. But nooo.... and the word from the official sources is that they behaved exactly as they should have from beginning to end."

 

Ah well. If you ever needed a demonstration of the difference between real life and the movies, you just got it.  Also, I don't care what official sources say - among the troops, I am fairly certain that her Majesty's Royal Navy is about to experience some intense mockery by her Majesty's Land and Air Forces.

 

 

What's so bad about a chocolate Jesus?

There's been a bit of a kafuffle recently about the sculpture, "My Sweet Lord". It is a piece of art that depicts Jesus naked in crucifiction pose - made of chocolate .

This morning as I was channel surfing some religious folks were decrying this. On the news, CNN asked the artist if he would do the same thing about Mohammed. His answer was No. Because Islam isn't his religion and he doesn't feel the need to explore that relationship in his heart. But we all know that answer is incomplete. We know that neither you nor I nor he would want to make a chocolate Mohammed sculpture. Or a Mohammed anything. Why? Because fundamentalist muslims have a bad habit of committing arbitrary murders when offended. I don't want to die for my art. It ain't important enough to me.

BUT That doesn't make them RIGHT. That makes them disgusting savages. The lesson the Catholics seem to be taking on this is - you won't offend muslims don't dare offend us - is a shameful one. An easy moral lesson is - two wrongs don't make a right.

(Besides dudes that ship has sailed. I can get a Jesus Bobblehead doll at the mall. and this isn't exactly Piss Christ)

This is thoroughly innocuous. A guy made a Jesus out of Chocolate in time for Easter. Hmm...what could he possibly be saying? This isn't even necessarily an anti-Christian art piece. We eat the body of Christ. We eat chocolate at easter. The thing is actually a pretty neat statement as art statements go.

Quit looking for reasons to get offended where there aren't any. Enough.

Stick a fork in Trotsky. He's Done.

Slate rejects the romanticized version of Leon Trotsky and exposes him as the actual totalitarian mass murderer he was. They call him the Bin Laden of Communism. Refreshingly honest - and from a New York lefty rag like Slate!!!

 

Hopefully next month they can put Che Guevera up against the wall and shoot him.

 

Err...was that last comment in bad taste? ;-)