The Lasso of Truth

Tales from the crypt

Missing from this report is the fact that the 4 accused are all African-American, themselves.  If this had been done by white people, the peals of "hate crime" would have been enough to wake the dead...

At one time, Burr Oak Cemetery was the only place black Chicagoans were sure they could bury their dead.

But on Wednesday, the historic African-American cemetery became the site of a horror story.

As many as 100 human bodies — someone’s grandfather, grandmother, father, son, daughter, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew cousin or friend — were removed from their graves and the plots resold.

The manager of Burr Oak Cemetery and three gravediggers were charged this morning, accused of scheming to dig up gravesites and resell them.

Disgraceful as this is -- and make no mistake, this is a despicable thing -- I'm always astounded when people characterize these things as a "crime against the dead".  They're dead.  They are beyond feeling or caring what happens to their bodies.  Otherwise, I'm sure that whole embalming thing, along with bloating and various carnivorous, many-legged critters would cause just a wee bit of discomfort, no?

This is a crime against their surviving families and simple human decency.  Let's just keep a grip on that.

In other words...

Asian men really do tend to be bad drivers and most news reports about drive-by shootings include the words "black male"...

What people call “stereotypes” are what scientists call “empirical generalizations,” and they are the foundation of scientific theory. That’s what scientists do; they make generalizations. Many stereotypes are empirical generalizations with a statistical basis and thus on average tend to be true. If they are not true, they wouldn’t be stereotypes.

Eco-cred is the new commodity

Only in marketing, would they define the erection of an enormous new billboard as "going green".

The only good thing to come out of 9/11

...was 19 dead Muslims.

Their holy man gets his rocks off on a 9-year-old girl but the one deserving of their fatal wrath is the guy who agreed to publish a book about it.

That's F%!*-ed up.

But can this judge really be from England..?

Mrs Justice Rafferty told them: 'If you choose to live in this country, you live by its rules.'

'There is no such thing as "a la carte citizenship" and, in your case, there is no such thing as "a la carte obedience" to the law.' 

I'm sure the PC police will set her straight in short order.

I'd laugh too

You're assuming these silly chumps can read.

Wedded bliss or narcissistic exercise?

I’m a simple gal.  Don’t laugh now, it really is true.  As such, my upcoming wedding should prove to be relatively simple; I am growing my own flowers, making my own cake and making the dresses for our 3 girls, who will comprise the female portion of the wedding party.  Other than that, most of the usual frills and silly, frivolous traditions are being shunned for a small, simple ceremony and a close dinner.

Like I said…simple.

I’m also the kind of gal who thinks that the poor, unassuming gent who had the courage and courtesy to ask me to marry him, should actually get a say in some of the planning of the day.

This apparently makes me rarest of all.

Most people are subtle about it.  The lady who handles the reservations at the banquet hall directs most questions straight to me, rather than to us…the ladies at the dress shop express surprise and confusion that I would like my fiance’s opinion on my dress…the florists I consulted (before deciding to do my own) invariably expected I would make a decision on flowers without consulting my partner.

I get it.  Really, I do.  Everyone has been imbued with the certainty that the wedding day is the bride’s day.  Apparently, the poor schlep who comprises the other half of the pair, is just another accessory to be incorporated into the taffeta landscape.

Doesn’t anyone notice something seriously wrong with that?

Mikey went tuxedo shopping with my son this week.  I made it very clear to him that I expected him to pick whatever his heart desired.  The only stipulation I had was that I did not want him to match tie or cummerbund with the accent color of my dress – because it’s pink and I think it looks ridiculous to put a grown man in anything pink.  It’s really a mercy, because I love him and do not see the need to humiliate him for the sake of color symmetry.

Sadly, this seemed to be a concession that simply could not be comprehended by the professionals in charge of supplying tuxedos to the poor unfortunate souls who are rarely permitted to have minds of their own.

Don’t you want to match her colors?  What do you mean you don’t need the tuxedo to match her dress?  Gasp!

How did we get here, where a perfectly mature gentleman, entering into a respectful partnership, with (presumably) an equally mature lady, is not permitted the simple pleasure of picking his own clothing for the day without fear of recrimination?

Am I the only woman in this place who is sane enough to recognize that sharing the day with the love of my life involves allowing him the dignity of a say in things?

Seriously.  I see these neurotic, self-centered control freaks who micro-manage every single detail and condescendingly over-ride their partners (when they bother to let them have a say, at all)…and then they wonder why they are divorced within 5 years.

Honestly ladies.  It’s not your day (singular).  It’s your day (plural)…you and him.  If you love him enough to share your life with him, you should love him enough to let him share in the most important day of both your lives.

I’m sure there are plenty of men out there who don’t really care about the color of the icing on the cake, but if the poor bugger is standing at the altar, drowning in a sea of ivory and peach, that is not a relationship where he is getting the consideration and respect of his wife-to-be.

Unless of course, it’s Rupaul.

They love to hate him

Really.  The Turd Blossom Garden simply must not be missed.

I am anxious to see the Obama version, and I even have some suggestions for suitable attractions:

Blindfolded Diplomatic Etiquette Obstacle Course

Bailout Roller Coaster (complete with seat restraints that never let you off)

Nuclear Armed Tyrant Whack-A-Mole (with Q-tip sized mallet)

There's not just criticism on offer here, at The Lasso.  We're just chock full of suggestions, too!

Must be a slow news day

Especially for a media that usually tends to be more hostile than deferential, to Catholic religious practice...

A senior New Brunswick Roman Catholic priest is demanding the Prime Minister's Office explain what happened to the sacramental communion wafer Stephen Harper was given at Roméo LeBlanc's funeral mass.

During communion at the solemn and dignified service held last Friday in Memramcook for the former governor general, the prime minister slipped the thin wafer that Catholics call "the host" into his jacket pocket.

In Catholic understanding, the host - once consecrated by a priest for the Eucharist - becomes the body and blood of Jesus Christ. It is crucial that the small wafer be consumed when it is received.

Monsignor Brian Henneberry, vicar general and chancellor in the Diocese of Saint John, wants to know whether the prime minister consumed the host and, if not, what happened to it.

If Harper accepted the host but did not consume it, "it's worse than a faux pas, it's a scandal from the Catholic point of view," he said.

Which leads one to wonder what the reaction would be had he chewed it up and spit it back out.

The Catholic Church really needs to get a grip, if this is what ruffles feathers over there.  As for demanding that the PM's office spend valuable time issuing a statement to address this concern...don't you think they just might have more important matters to address?

h/t

Paglia on Palin

Now that's a mud wrestling match that I'd pay plenty to watch, but alas...

Whether Palin has a national future or not will depend on her willingness to hit the books at some point and absorb more information about international history and politics than she has needed to know in her role as governor. She also needs a shrewder, cooler take on the mainstream media, with its preening bullies, cackling witches, twisted cynics and pompous windbags. The Northeastern media establishment is in decline, and everyone knows it. Palin should not have gotten into a slanging match with David Letterman or anyone else who has been obsessively defaming her or her family. Let surrogates do that stuff.

She also laments Palin's somewhat unpolished interactions with media and public.  That is a valid criticism if what you expect from a politician is business as usual.  For those of us looking for a breath of fresh air, unpolished is a welcome change.

h/t

I guess they didn't get the memo

Oh, the heresy...

Let other capitals go all weak-kneed when President Obama visits. Moscow has greeted Mr. Obama, who on Tuesday night concluded a two-day Russian-American summit meeting, as if he were just another dignitary passing through.

Crowds did not clamor for a glimpse of him. Headlines offered only glancing or flippant notice of his activities. Television programming was uninterrupted; devotees of the Russian Judge Judy had nothing to fear. Even many students and alumni of the Western-oriented business school where Mr. Obama gave the graduation address on Tuesday seemed merely respectful, but hardly enthralled.

“We don’t really understand why Obama is such a star,” said Kirill Zagorodnov, 25, one of the graduates. “It’s a question of trust, how he behaves, how he positions himself, that typical charisma, which in Russia is often parodied. Russians really are not accustomed to it. It is like he is trying to manipulate the public.”

And suddenly I have a lot more respect for Russians.  Perhaps Americans can learn a few things from them.

At least she wasn't dead

So much wrongness packed into one sentence...

A man drunk on mouthwash who performed oral sex on his unconscious sister in Rainbow Park was sentenced to jail-time served and three years probation Tuesday in Sarnia court.

Palin 2012

Soon, I'll be clearing space on the back of my van for a new bumper sticker because no matter how many conservative pundits rush to write her off, I think Sarah Palin is on the road to being just what America needs...

She is a dumb hick, a nobody from nowhere. She hunts moose with a chainsaw from the back of a snowmobile or something. Just listen to her resignation speech. It was not slick or polished or written by somebody else. She appeared to deliver it off the top of her head as if she were a real person.What a doofus!

Doesn’t she know that the highest form of political communication today is to exactly regurgitate a speech written for you by a speechwriter who has crafted, vetted and polled every phrase, line and word?

[..]

John Weaver, a former McCain aide, told Adam Nagourney of The New York Times that Sarah Palin now has little chance of ever becoming the party’s presidential nominee.

“Somebody has to explain to Republicans how this woman is going to expand her support base,” Weaver said. “Yes, she is the darling of a certain element of our party. But it remains to be seen — in fact, it remains rather doubtful she can grow beyond that.”

She is the “darling of a certain element” of Republicans? It seems to me that with the party collapsing to its most conservative core, that “certain element” could also be called the majority of the Republican Party.

And when Americans become thoroughly fed up with the slick cosmopolitan huckster, currently stinking up the place, this every-day-lady will be there to haul in the nets...

As Palin spoke, she and her husband Todd Palin loaded four news crews into two small fishing boats and headed into Bristol Bay from Dillingham.

The Palin family -- Todd's sister, mother and father, as well as nieces and at least two children, had picked the journalists up at the airport in Dillingham and shuttled them to Bristol Bay in old pickup trucks and SUVs.

On the bay, Sarah Palin showed how they spent time each summer hauling up pre-placed nets, emptying them of captured salmon, and tossing them back into the water.

Todd Palin was all smiles as he captained the fishing boat in Bristol Bay out to nets filled with Sockeye. 

He grew up commercial fishing these waters and Sarah Palin has been making the summer trip to Dillingham for many years. She joked that even though she's been helping her husband haul in fish for decades he still yells at her for doing it wrong. The governor and another hauler lifted the nets out of the water and pried the salmon out.

It was tough work. She wore rubber gloves, knee-high boots and waders.

Those of us who don't spend our days and nights at cocktail parties and "community activism" meetings, have an easier time identifying with a gal who can pull on a pair of rubber gloves for some real work, and isn't ashamed of tumbling around in a beat-up old pickup, rather than the $540 sneaker queen who thinks balancing motherhood and career requires a personal assistant.

I've never been a numbers person...

Just ask my grade 9 math teacher who, once she managed to drag me from my second period squatting spot in the cafeteria, forced me to repeat the course.

As such, I have no idea what these people are talking about...but it sounds interesting nonetheless...

In fact, last digits in a fair election don't tell us anything about the candidates, the make-up of the electorate or the context of the election. They are random noise in the sense that a fair vote count is as likely to end in 1 as it is to end in 2, 3, 4, or any other numeral. But that's exactly why they can serve as a litmus test for election fraud. For example, an election in which a majority of provincial vote counts ended in 5 would surely raise red flags.

Why would fraudulent numbers look any different? The reason is that humans are bad at making up numbers. Cognitive psychologists have found that study participants in lab experiments asked to write sequences of random digits will tend to select some digits more frequently than others.

So what can we make of Iran's election results?

Much, it would seem.

I'm fine with just assuming that any information coming from Iranian officialdom is false or custom-tailored to meet their own ends.  The head-cracking in the streets leaves me in little doubt as to how much the Iranian government values the principles of democracy.

I must be old

Because I remember a time (not so long ago, I thought) when Bizarro World was the alternate universe in comic books.

Now the topsy-turvey logic and inverted moral sensibilities of this anti-world have made their way into the basic premise of these once-glorious epic fairy tales...

President Obama Is The Greatest Hero Of All
As his many comic book appearances have demonstrated, there's no end to our current president's ability to save the world from any genre of threat. Amazing Spider-Manhas him fighting supervillains, Youngbloodshows him carrying massive laserguns to shoot renegade soldiers taking over the White House, Draftedgives us an alien-invasion-battlin' Barack and Barack The Barbarian brings everything back down to sword and sorcery basics.

I lost all hope for the superhero industry, when they decided to shoot Captain America on the steps of the courthouse, on his way to lobby the Senate.

Wacko for Jacko

As the grotesque and bizarre sideshow that is the Michael Jackson grief-fest carries on, I was exposed to a disturbing display of my own, last week, as I attended to daily errands.

I was in line at the TD Bank and noticed that each of the tellers was wearing a Fedora.  Each Fedora was different but I thought it unlikely that 5 colleagues, men and women, had all managed to wear a Fedora on the same day, by sheer coincidence alone.

That was when I noticed the lilting tones of “The Way You Make Me Feel”, streaming from the PA, overhead.

Then, just to erase any doubt I had that this entire branch filled with supposedly educated professionals had lost their collective minds, I overheard one of the tellers informing a curious customer that they were employing these ridiculous get-ups as a form of “tribute” to the late, great King of Pop.

!

Part of me wondered if this was an official TD Bank organizational initiative, or if the madness was confined to this one sad branch.  At any rate, I almost couldn’t resist the temptation to walk up to the counter at my turn and ask the teller if next May 10th, they were all going to dress up as clowns, to pay tribute to John Wayne Gacy.

I'm such a bitch that way.

Nazdrave!

I know it sounds cynical, but from my extensive experience with Bulgarians, as well as the time I spent living there, I find it somewhat surprising that any politician would win on a platform of anti-corruption.

From my impression, it was considered to simply be the way of life there.  To a man, I've never met a single Bulgarian who wasn't on the take -- even with friends and family.  I had always considered it the result of being forced to live under the communist system, where lying and stealing was the only way to get ahead.

Maybe...just maybe...they're starting to learn their lesson.

But I still wouldn't go back.

My not-so-evil twin?

I know I said I was in D.C. recently...

I also know I mysteriously and conspicuously disappeared for a couple of days near the end of last week, offering lame excuses about sunburn and kids...

But I swear...honestly...

It wasn't me...

 

But I sure like this gal's spirit!

h/t via heads up from Tex.

Fourth of July Pinup

Happy national birthday, to my American friends.  I apologize for being late a day but yesterday I was busy baking my chest to an alarming shade of crimson, on the beach with a gaggle of children.  Oh, the joys of being a redhead...freckles and third degree sunburn...

Many thanks to missred who helpfully identified my mystery tree.  I am pleased to discover that the Mimosa tree can be hardy into the frigid zone 5 of my homeland which auspiciously, is just hostile enough to pare back it's pervasive growth habit.  Now all I have to do is find one...and then a place to plant it...

I see you've all kept yourselves occupied while I was busy.  Just can't stay out of trouble, eh?  This should be interesting.  Sarah Palin is definitely a polarizing figure but after a healthy dose of The Great Uniter^TM, maybe a little polarization would be good for American politics, for a change...

I don't have links to share today.  You should be out hovering around the barbecue anyway.  I'm going to go dig up the yard some more...there are still a couple of patches of that pesky grass that could be replaced with stone or garden.  The neighbors complain that I make them look bad.

Happy 5th of July.  Normal blogging will resume tomorrow.  See you then.

Canada Day Pinup

~ Gerry Nicholls takes up the cause of the true revolutionary and savior of society -- the Entrepreneur.  It is a worthy cause but as long as we continue to tell our children the story of Robin Hood as a heroic tale, capitalism will always continue to be the villain.

~ Along those lines, when big business isn't busy apologizing for their success, they are out buying the public's good will with apologetic offerings.  Big mistake.

~ Rick Moran offers a wealth of analysis on the coup -- not coup -- in Honduras.  Am I the only person who thinks we should just build a really tall electric fence along the southern border of the U.S. and never let anything pass again?

~ Better yet, perhaps we should just line up a team of coffee tables, to take care of any pesky revolutionary interlopers.

~ And because bashing Sarah Palin apparently never goes out of style, the intellectual giants at Vanity Fair make a pitch for honorable mention in the contest for most condescending headline..."It Came From Wasilla".  I dare them to say it to her face, though...

~ Lastly...I've had a lot of friends in the world of body modification and even though I was surrounded by it, I never got the appeal.  To be fair, I have had my own c-cup-size argument with Mother Nature, but it seems to me that anything that causes "over-the-top inflammation and swelling" as the purpose of the procedure is probably, in many ways, bad for you.

Welcome, to the newest kitten-eating Conservative

Once again, the Toronto Star farms out a hit piece on the new Ontario Conservative leader, Tim Hudak.  Only this time, they take a ribbing in the comments from readers who, like me, are sick to death of the bitchy old buzz words being trotted out any time someone slightly more conservative than Chairman Mao dares to show his face on the Canadian political landscape.

Congratulations to Tim Hudak for winning the leadership.  Now let's hope he can win the election.  Personally, I like the prospect of a Mike-lite.  Actually...I'm more apt to cheer for Mike-heavy, if he's of a mind to get things back on track in this province.

Previous Hudak hits from the "red" Star.

A fitting tribute

"who amongst us can honestly say that they have never slept with a 12-year-old boy after sharing some alcohol and pornography in the company of a chimpanzee?"

A thoroughly repugnant individual who so magnificently squandered opportunities that the rest of us can only dream of.

Oh, my aching feet...

Well, it just goes to show that things rarely go as planned.  If I thought I was going to have time to blog or even breathe in amongst the tightly packed schedule we had this weekend, I was sorely mistaken!

Our trip was fabulous but not relaxing.  A 10 hour drive through the middle of the night on Friday, followed by a full day of walking up and down the National Mall area on Saturday and an early morning jaunt to the Smithsonian Annex at Dulles, before heading home another 10 hours, on Sunday...We're both thoroughly exhausted but we managed to see just about everything we wanted to.  Albeit too briefly.  Another, longer, trip must be planned in the future.

One thing is for sure though, I love this city.  It is absolutely beautiful.  Every building is immense and impressive.  Every spare space is filled with greenery...it's all so lush and exotic looking.  Of course, me being the lame dork that I am, I was pointing out or questioning each and every breed of shrub, tree and flower I could.  Mikey so patiently humored me but I'm sure at some point he considered the possibility that at some point during the day, I was heading up into one of the Magnolia trees for a bark sample.  But one thing is nagging at me and perhaps one of my kind readers can help me with it:

Does anyone know what kind of tree this is?  It's gorgeous and absolutely everywhere, along the highways and on people's lawns, and it looks something like a cross between a Sumac and a Gooseberry tree, but I cannot identify it...

 

Anyone who can help will win my undying gratitude...and likely my consternation when I discover that I have no hope in hell of growing one this far north!

The first time I saw the White House, I stood at the iron fence at the south side and weeped like a little girl.  Not this time, though.  For reasons I could not fathom, this was as far as they were letting anyone get, to the Chosen One's place of residence...

Fencing and police, scattered across the grass, making sure the "common folk" kept their distance.  We never bothered to trek around to the other side to see if we could get closer, because the police had either side cordoned off for a full block and frankly, if they were going to make it that difficult, I wasn't going to build a blister for it.  Nothing like making the White House an "open" and "welcoming" place for "the people".  Welcome to the age of Obama.

It was perfect weather and a near perfect day.  My eternal gratitude is owed to the lovely young man who asked me for ID at the restaurant where we had dinner...if I could tell you how many years it's been since I was asked that...Perhaps he was just being kind.  It was certainly much better than Mikey getting asked, by the gentleman behind the counter at the Air and Space Museum, if he remembered the moon landing...from 2 years before he was born...

And now that I've filled you in on our trip, I suppose the time has come for me to catch up on what you've been up to while we were gone.  It's nice to see that at least you didn't burn the place down yet!

ROAD TRIP!

 

Mikey called my office the other day and asked me to pack up and take him on an adventure this weekend -- just the two of us and the road.

I was surprised because I am usually the spontaneous one but when my sweetie asks for a weekend getaway, to see some sights and reconnect a little, how can I resist?

So, off we go...We blew a wad of Airmiles to ensure our trip is relatively cost-free (GAWD I love Airmiles!) Mikey wants to see The Smithsonian and I have my sights set on the Library of Congress and the Capitol Building...and of course, Abe.

Blogging will be light but I plan to poke in periodically over the weekend, to share whatever strikes my fancy.

Wish us luck for the 9 hour drive, and anyone who's going to be in D.C. and wants to buy a coffee for a couple of Canadian neocons, just drop a note and we'll set a date!

As the votes roll in

Mikey loves Monte Solberg and Monte likes Tim Hudak who, if he wins the Ontario PC leadership race (and then the election) will toss the Ontario Human Rights Commission out on it's ass...

As an Albertan I don't have a dog in this fight, but as a Canadian and a conservative I certainly want to see a real conservative leader become the next Premier of Ontario.

I know Tim Hudak, and I like him. He is young, energetic and principled, but he also has lots of experience. Clearly he also has good instincts.

[..]

Good for Tim Hudak for having the courage to tackle the issue.

In taking his stand he shows that he understands that you can win the public over, even on a controversial issue, if its clear that your sense of justice motivates you to right that wrong.

In fact I think what history shows is that taking on a tough issue can actually unify the severely normal people who make up the great silent majority. Ronald Reagan made it an art form.

Besides sticking your neck out to fix problems is what real leaders do.

I've been saying it for years that the fatal flaw of the Conservative movement, is the instinct to lurch to the center in order to avoid alienating the wishy-washy middle of the roaders.  Those mushy-middlers would be snowed under by the avalanche of votes from the disenfranchised normal people who have spent years ignoring elections because there is no one to vote for, who would suddenly come out in droves for a candidate who had the courage to actually purport Conservative values.

Just ask Mike Harris.  Or as Monte points out, Ronald Reagan.

It's all about perspective

But if your motivation is to suck up to an oppressive religious dictatorship, rather than show common cause with a struggle for democracy, I'm sure it was very good...

Unlike most of my comrades in the Zionist-neocon plot to take over the world, I did not think the Obamic statement on Iran was good. I didn’t even think it was good enough. Not good enough for our “international community” president to invoke the international community, again, speaking of “tired strategies”--or is that a tactic?--and wave its outrage like a white handkerchief at the Iranian regime; not good enough to deplore the “threats, the beatings and imprisonments,” as though they’ve been taking place in the vacuum “of the last few days” rather than playing out over the last few decades; not good enough to look at scenes of mayhem and murder and say, “The Iranian people are trying to have a debate about their future.”

Obama 2016

Whosoever doubts that Michelle aims to succeed where Hillary failed..?

Although Obama's job-approval ratings have soared, the first lady -- a Harvard-educated lawyer -- wasn't satisfied with coasting. She is hiring a full-time speechwriter and has instructed her staff to think "strategically" so that every event has a purpose and a message. She doesn't want to simply go to events and hug struggling military families, she said; she wants to show progress.

[..]

Obama tasked Rogers with ensuring that every social event has a populist component, as she did last week when Duke Ellington High School students attended workshops with jazz greats. Rogers said that the Obamas want to convey that coming to the White House is "just a home visit." That's why, she said, the first lady hugs so many people who walk through the doors. "You try to take the fear out of just the mere awe of walking through the gates."

[..]

They're all focused on raising the stakes. "It isn't just about hugging," Sher said. "Whatever she talks about will bring press and interest, but it's important that she's not just talking [but] actually moving forward on those issues."

Yes she can!

And what does the beleaguered American taxpayer think about funding her 8 year campaign, I wonder?

Not all the Decepticons are in Congress

I am a huge sucker for Michael Bay action flicks and I was looking forward to the mindless flash and crash of the newest Transformers movie (really, I know).  After this review though, I just can't convince myself it's worth it.

But no matter how you feel about cheesy action flicks, you've got to appreciate this bit...

As far as all the noise about ”jive-talking” ‘bots Skids and Mudflap being some sort of “racist” characterization, that’s simply absurd. Both are completely over-the-top in the satiric department. Like the flamboyant gay man we see everywhere today or Randy Quaid’s portrayal of a redneck Southerner in the “Vacation” movies, there’s not a hint of a mean-spirit anywhere in sight. Is Wednesday “Innoculate Blacks From Satire Day?” You see, I’m all confused, because last week’s uproar from part of the gay community over “Bruno” fell on a Wednesday, too. Anyway, CAIR must be happy. That leaves them the six other days.

Open door and open wallets

On top of giving immigrantsa place of refuge, access to opportunity and privileged access to social services, we also provide people with no income and no assets, loans for up to $10,000 each..?

The immigration department now provides up to $10,000 for transportation and medical costs to refugees who are sponsored by churches or community groups.

The money is handed out with the understanding it will be repaid when the refugees start working.

But apparently, even this is not considered generous enough...

The newcomers have a hard time making ends meet and shouldn't be saddled with repaying the loans, said Janet Dench of the Canadian Council for Refugees.

"We would like the federal government to absorb the costs of these loans," she said.

"Refugee families start their life in Canada with a debt of up to $10,000 that they must repay with interest.

"These loans are holding them hostage when they are just starting out."

The council estimates it will cost about $38 million to cover the loans and $15 million yearly to pay for new arrivals.

Yet, having been born hereand paid taxes here my entire life, I was still expected to pay back every penny of my student loans, with interest.

At $10,000 per head, for travel and medical expenses, wouldn't it be cheaper for the immigration department to run their own airline and medical facility, just to cut out the middle man?

See?  Instead of just bitching about how things are, we're all about solutions here at The Lasso!

Iran and the illusion of democracy

An election is about choice and this revolution in Iran is about the perception that choice was denied by nefarious vote-rigging.

But as much as I’d love to see Ahmadinejad get tossed from the highest building, the “choice” that was supposedly denied in Iran, was one of another candidate who still made it through the religious vetting process of the Mullahs.

It’s not democracy when they stack the ticket from the outset, so it cannot be democracy denied when they rig the result.

I feel for the unfortunate souls getting their heads cracked in the streets of Iran, but this fight is on the wrong front if what they truly want is a free and democratic process.  If you’re going to get shot in the street, it might as well be to overturn the entire system – not just for the sake of a recount in the current corrupt one.

Happy Father's Day!

To my own wonderful father who, despite many challenging days, never followed through on that whole "eating their young" thing.

AND

To my sweet, loving Mikey, who voluntarily doubled his compliment of mouths to feed, just to be with me...and never tried too hard to run away.

You are both fantastic fathers.  My children are enormously blessed to have not one, but two fine examples to follow.

Thank you.