The Lasso of Truth

Dine with Shamu

I guess he just didn't want to be left out...

Suddenly, they saw a woman in the killer whale's jaws, her face bloody. The more than 20-foot-long orca circled round and round, turning her over and over, they said. [..]

Witnesses who watched the attack while eating at the "Dine with Shamu" show — a poolside buffet where trainers demonstrate their connection with the animals — told the Sentinel a female trainer was petting a killer whale when it grabbed her and plunged into the water.

And no dear, you are not the only one who laughed.  We both have a sick, morbid sense of humour.

Blog Note

I often blog from my office either before I start or on my lunchtime, but lately we've have been implementing some server changes that seem to be interfering with my Typepad access.  It's kind of stinky but they pay the rent and if I can't get in on their time, I'll have to adjust my blogging habit to post on my own time and set posts to auto publish.

If blogging is light while I figure things out, don't worry...I can't be shut up that easily ;)

Happy Birthday!

To my Dad...

Entitlement

It's not just for the locals, anymore...

Standing proudly with her arm draped over her 36in television, this is the Somali woman who must be given a council house even though she has no right to live in Britain.

Nimco Hassan Ibrahim - who lives with her four children on benefit handouts - was granted the right to the home by EU judges yesterday because she was once married to a Danish citizen who briefly worked in this country.

The landmark judgment means the 34-year-old migrant and her children will soon be packing up their impressive collection of furniture and electrical equipment when they are given a new house.

[..]

Speaking to the Daily Mail last night, Mrs Ibrahim said: 'I deserve to be given a proper house. This one is too small for all of us.

'I don't think it's fair that the council has put us up in temporary accommodation. It's not right that they have hounded us for four years. All these threats of eviction have made me feel very ill.

'The law says that I can get a better house so I'm looking forward to a better life.

'I have suffered psychological problems because of all this.

'To be honest, I was expecting the worst from the court and I'm relieved it has ended. Now I can enjoy my life.'

Bubble-wrap Parenting

I’ve had the kids out on the cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment, buried in the sand at the beach, climbing trees and waterfalls, wading for tadpoles, hacking through thick northern Ontario brush, dancing through the fountains of a public park and even *gasp*!Sitting in the front seat of my car.  When they ride their bike in front of the house, I don’t make them wear a helmet and I don’t pre-chew their popcorn for them at the movies.

I suppose, according to some useless twits, that makes me a bad parent…

Middle- class mothers have turned the countryside into a no-go zone for their children because they are worried about them getting dirty, according to research.

They are scared that day trips into the great outdoors could end with their children getting lost, hurt or muddy.

[..]

She said middle-class mothers were also obsessed about their children getting injured and dirty.

'I think with this group of people, their fear of danger is exaggerated,' she said. 'They are very scared of children not only being run over, but being stolen even when they were with them.

'There also seems to be an obsession about cleanliness. Perhaps because children are in expensive clothes, mud seems to be abhorrent.' The research adds fuel to claims that today's children are being 'mollycoddled'.

The Royal Society for the Arts study found children were being deprived of the freedom to develop, to manage and take risks  -  all part of growing up.

But my kids are all still alive and healthy, and should they ever get lost in the woods on their own, I'd feel sorry for the bears.

Update:  And right on cue.

Not in the good graces, it seems

A story that makes even this staunch atheist wonder if there isn't really a God...

The El Niño weather phenomenon appears to be taking sides as it parches leftist-ruled parts of South America and brings bounty to US farmers and corporations. One of the severest droughts in decades has given Venezuela's socialist president a political nightmare as hydro-electrical power dribbles to a standstill, unleashing blackouts, rationing and protests.

[..]

The crisis has extended to Paraguay, where another leftist leader, Fernando Lugo, ordered the presidential palace lights switched off. In Argentina and Brazil – also with leftist governments – torrential rain and high temperatures have blighted crops with insect and fungi attacks.

A suspicious soul could ask whether El Niño, a Pacific weather system that influences climate worldwide, is on Washington's payroll. Monsanto and Dow Chemical are enjoying booming pesticide and fungicide sales in Argentina as farmers battle to save soy harvests. But in the US Midwest, farmers expect record corn and soy crops.

...and if he doesn't have a really keen sense of humor.

h/t

Vroom, Vroom!

I hope to spend my day in the company of some very sexy Italians, today. 

 So, if you happen by and find a saucy brunette draped across whatever Mansory brought this year, be sure to say hello!

Super-pouty-face update:  Well, I am disappointed to report that Mr. Bugatti was a no show, as was Mansory.  The Maserati was as sexy as I expected but sadly, they wouldn't let me take it for a spin ;)

There was a great Shelby exhibit and a solid revival of the old muscle car feel, which is a trend near and dear to my heart.  So, after spending the day around all that heavy metal, following an in-home screening of the original Terminator movie (in all it's 70's car ugliness) the night before, I told Mikey what we really needed here was a set of cheesy fake mustaches and some camp...BEST MUSIC VIDEO EVER...

Taking the gloves off

This is a problem that seems to me can be easily solved with just one FedEx box.

They picked on our airplanes first...

#15, aside from being grotesquely excessive (as is typical in that part of the world), gets my hearty nomination for target-rich environment...

  Among the many features that make this airport stand out is a mosque large enough to take in thousands of people. Also notable, though not entirely uncommon in Saudi Arabia, is the Royal Terminal, which is designed to service the Royal Family and is outfitted with an elegant reception hall and a pressroom.  
h/t

Making the rest of them look bad

And where is Mr. Amnesty, now that we finally have an example of an immigrant who genuinely took the term "rehabilitation" to heart..?

The teenager, a gifted student, was pleading guilty to a string of muggings committed at 15 with an eclectic crew in Manhattan’s Chinatown. The judge, who remembered the pitfalls of Little Italy in the 1950s, urged him to use his sentence — three to nine years in a reformatory — as a chance to turn his life around.

“If you do that, I am here to stand behind you,” the judge, Michael A. Corriero, promised. The youth, Qing Hong Wu, vowed to change.

Mr. Wu kept his word. He was a model inmate, earning release after three years. He became the main support of his immigrant mother, studying and working his way up from data entry clerk to vice president for Internet technology at a national company.

But almost 15 years after his crimes, by applying for citizenship, Mr. Wu, 29, came to the attention of immigration authorities in a parallel law enforcement system that makes no allowances for rehabilitation. He was abruptly locked up in November as a “criminal alien,” subject to mandatory deportation to China — the nation he left at 5, when his family immigrated legally to the United States.

Now Judge Corriero, 67, retired from the bench, is trying to keep his side of the bargain.

It seems to me a few more of these would be a welcome change, in the long line of "humanitarian exceptions".  Which is also why I think it likely he will be deported post haste.

It must be a United Church

Trying to boost attendance levels...

A Ugandan pastor is showing gay pornography at church to try to garner support for a proposed law that would impose the death penalty for some gays.

Martin Ssempa showed the videos to some 100 adults during a church service Wednesday in Uganda's capital.

An echo of Reagan

In the halls where bright young minds are molded...

Rhode Island has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.

Central Falls is one of the poorest towns in the state. It looks like the pictures everyone's seen of Detroit or Flint. There are lots of boarded up windows, abandoned buildings, decrepit factories with broken windows, etc. It's an absolutely depressed community. According to Wikipedia, the median income in the town is $22k.

Teacher salaries at the high school average $72-78k. Apparently 50% of the students at the school are failing all of their classes, and the graduation rate is also under 50%. In an effort to turn the school around, the superintendent requested some changes be made whereby the school day would be slightly extended, teachers would perform some extra tutoring, etc.

The union balked and refused the terms, so now she is firing the entire teaching staff of the high school and replacing them. This is yet another example of unions digging their own graves by refusing to negotiate or accept reasonable terms. Sentiment is on the side of the superintendent, at least among the folks I have discussed the issue with.

I can think of a few more sectors where this kind of house cleaning should be done.

h/t

The House that Tolerance Built

This weekend, while I was busy sprinkling Valentine's cupcakes with kiddies, real bloggers were donning hip waders and slogging into the festering slop pit of the Toronto Islamic community (and their version of "outreach").

Hey Arnie...put on a burqa next time.  Apparently it contravenes Islamic law to search under those ;)

Holiday Monday Pinup

Mikey's been begging me to post a fancy one of me, as my coupe de grace in this pinup war.  I told him that after the luscious Bianca, it would be kind of like putting the trash next to the limo.  But he assures me that Bianca is trashy enough to keep me good company...

I do however, have it on good authority that I am "one of the hottest wives ever".  Is that including Jenna Jameson?

You don't get away that easily!

While I slacked off yesterday, Jay was still taking shots across the bow, with a welder.  That's pretty cool, I have to admit.  BCF has been doing a good job of keeping score and Kathy is making it very tough to beat. 

I was all stoked to send out the nukes tomorrow, for Valentine's, but I can't let another day go by without bringing out a few of the big guns, to hold my own...

The whole PINUP collection (including a few of your's truly) can be found HERE.

    The whole PINUP collection (including a few of your's truly) can be found HERE.

I guess it's all about context

Some would say that trivializing the deliberate murders of thousands of innocent people -- by equating them with the procrastination or apathy of someone who doesn't bother to make provisions for their own health -- would be somewhat in bad taste.

Apparently, some would not...

Geddit?!  Why are we wasting all this money on fighting bloodthirsty jihadis, when we can put a doctor and a rectal thermometer in every household?!

Making it pay for you

I get the feeling these days, that the jihadis of Gitmoare on pace to launch their own thespian academy, what with all the manufactured grief and over-the-top melodramatics being catalogued through their human rights lawyers.

While at least one enterprising jihadi is making the dream a reality, passing off the fiction as theatrical documentary.

But I can't help but wonder if this isn't just a little small time for the world-wide movement.  After all, Maher Arar made $10 million bucks with production, as will Omar Khadr, if the bleeding hearts get their way.

It's time to smoke this thing!

Jay says "Not every pinup is nearly naked."  I completely agree...

 
Let's see who can top that  ;)

Missred opts for vintage fur.  Mikey likes it.

The curse of lowered expectations

It’s a refrain that became familiar, in the wake of Monica Lewinski and her blue dress.  The concept that somehow, a man can be forgiven for lying and cheating on his wife if he is perceived to have done a good job otherwise.  Like it was somehow possible for a person to be morally bankrupt in their personal life, but still be trusted to be a pillar of integrity in his business life.

Or worse, that somehow, doing a few really good things, makes it ok to act like a slobbering animal.

A caller into the radio this morning, compared Adam Giambroni’s predicament to JFK, who he claimed did so many good things as President, but cheated on his wife all the time – and that this did not diminish his greatness.

To which I must ask…

On a personal level, would you forgive your wife sleeping around with all the neighbours, if she made a really good pot roast and kept a tidy house?

So why forgive it from a guy who is in charge of spending nearly half your paycheck?

Seems a wee bit strange to me.

Put the suspect in a military uniform...

And suddenly the Good Canadian Virtue of Mercy^TM goes out the window...

As of late Tuesday, more than 2,000 people had joined the Facebook group “Russell Williams Should Get the Death Penalty.” While the air force colonel and former top commander at CFB Trenton is accused and has not been convicted of any crime, the online community is already comparing him to infamous American serial killers Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer.

Not that I object to bringing back the death penalty, for this kind of crime, if he's found guilty.  But for the sake of comparison, I wonder how many people who have signed on to this, made the same call for, say, Omar Khadr.

Just wondering.

How about suggestions then?

Sayeth the Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism...

Terrorists are not 100-feet tall.

'Tis true.  But they are invariably Muslim.  how about we just start with that for now, hmmm?

Work to rule, you say?

Wouldn't that be nice if they actually did?!  Since I'm pretty sure, the rules don't include being allowed to sleep on the job or abandon your post for an unscheduled coffee break.

I wouldn't begrudge a dude a coffee break, except I spent plenty of years using transit -- holding on for dear life while the bus driver played whack-a-mole with his break pedal, waiting for what seemed like forever, in sub-zero temperatures while the bus ambled along at whatever schedule struck the driver as right for his mood, and occasionally getting passed by when they didn't feel like stopping - not to mention getting stranded by wildcat strikes and the occasional summertime-long-weekend-Friday-sick-day.  Riders are fed up and they're not willing to give the benefit of the doubt to a horde of jerks who take a mile with every inch.

An inside joke...

For those of us who live in the halo of Canada's Greatest City ^TM...

Imagine my surprise, when I heard the affair was with a woman!

I brought a weapon to this war!

This is what happens when I don't read my email!  I was invited to the War of the Poses, and I almost missed it!  Giddyup!

Apparently Jay started it.  Then you just know that BCF called it on!  Kathy leapt in with a very nicepic, then the volley continued.

What kept you?

It's nice to see the MSM finally catching up with me.

h/t

Please let the door hit you...

He spent a lot of time and made a hefty profit, spying on behalf of an oppressive government to help subvert a democratic movement.  Now, he shows up on our doorstep, to take advantage of the freedom he helped deny to others -- in the catch-all of Canadian asylum.

Stars fade - wouldn't you rather have a rock?

Barack Obama's presidency, distilled down to a few words...

"the biggest celebrity on the planet"

Like Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton.

And a picture of Mao in every living room...

But what I want to know is, are there any of these on the walls?

Because that would be alarming.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Liberal

Personally, I think Danny Williams should be entitled to do whatever he wants with his own money and his own health care.  What, that we should all be so fortunate as to have the choice.

But one thing's for sure...I certainly hope I don't ever again, have to hear the "Americanized Health Care" sneer that Liberals are so fond of using, like it's a dirty word.  After all, if it sucked so bad down there, he wouldn't be blowing wads of cash to use it when it's free at home...right?

The Grim Reaper wears fur?

Mikey suspects it may be Basement Cat, steelin thur sols.

It's a solid theory, I think.