states of things

http://library.thinkquest.org/18355/the_cuban_revolution_-_1959.html

With his eightieth birthday coming up, born in August 1926, in power since January 1 1959, Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz of Cuba, has been around through 10 different American Presidents equaling 13 terms.
I know how he GOT INTO POWER, but really, communism doesn't work?
Are we better off with fuel prices, taxes, wars, poverty?
What say you?

He "flies" through the air...

I was reminded of childhood dare devils the other day. Our's was Alan "Rocket" Crocket. This guy was a hero! We'd set up impossible jumps and he'd peddle his bike off into thin air...usually crashing after MAKING the jump. He came down a large dirt pile at the factory trying to clear 20 trash cans we gathered with his bike. He hit the last few and the handle bar went into his chest. As his folks got an ambulance, I re-arranged the cans..."you made it" I told him. What a hero! He once jumped out of a cherry tree we were raiding when the owner caught us...I bet it was 30 feet up! He was running before he hit the ground. We got caught, he didn't.
Rocket Crocket, I don't know what happened to him...but what I do know, is this: all the safety gear of today and balanced bikes with shocks and padding remain in his shadow, and will do forever.
Well done Rocket!!

summer daze

We hooked up with one of PJ's friends from the old days. Nice chap that Doug. After a meal at a foofy Joey Tomatoes in Chinook mall, I thought I'd like a cigar. I brought along one for Doug too. We picked up a half dozen Redstripe beer and sat along a small greenbelt under the trees to enjoy a cigar and a drink. Traffic whized past as we sat along the edge of the parking lot.
I had a thought: 3 white people having a beer on the grass under the shade of the trees. One (me) with his boots off. If we were NOT white...would you have clicked your tongue at "those people" drinking on the grass?
What if we were 3 First Nations people sitting there?
No one said a word to us or looked at us sideways...interesting.

PRIDE

SPCA visit upsets homeless dog-owner
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 9:04 AM AT
CBC News
A homeless woman in Halifax is accusing the SPCA of discrimination after getting a visit from an investigator about her dog.
Maureen Chapman says the investigator approached her and other homeless people last week and explained the definition of animal cruelty before handing out instructions on how to build a dog house.
Chapman, who has lived on the streets for seven years and calls her dog her family, says she was insulted.
"He always eats, but I don't always eat," Chapman told CBC News while taking a break from cleaning car windows near Halifax's busy Robie and Quinpool intersection.
"You can't just discriminate against people who live on the streets because you assume they aren't taking care of their dogs."
Dorothy Patterson, a worker with the Ark Outreach Centre in Halifax, says the homeless people who visit her centre take good care of their dogs, even going so far as to make visits to the veterinarian.
"We know that our youth get their dogs shots and are well looked after," Patterson said.
But Nova Scotia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals spokeswoman Judith Gass says her group receives complaints every summer about homeless people and their dogs.
Gass says it's the SPCA's mandate to investigate accusations of cruelty, and denies Chapman is being unfairly targeted.
"We wouldn't expect other people who are walking their dogs to have water and food with them at all times because they're probably just out for a short jaunt and are going back home where they're going to have plenty of water and food," Gass said.
It's unfair to keep a dog out in the sun all day without shelter, she added.
Gass says the SPCA's investigators will keep making the rounds this summer to make sure that dogs are not mistreated.

I know too many people earning $30+ K a year, live "nice" with lots of STUFF and still treat their "pets" like crap! Dogs left on decks in summer with insufficient water, walkies once the day...maybe, lousy diets consisting of CHOCOLATE and other crap we humans eat, "happily" sitting in a hot vehicle while we hang out in Walmart...
I'm willing to bet the above incident was just some cowards attempt of "getting rid of those people" in their clean city without actually speaking to them! (If any cowards are reading this, you suck! Love your neibour!)
Why do we continue to trash homeless humans any way we can? People in Halifax, were actually worried about the dog over the woman???? Get it right people.
Someone should call the SPCA about the acreage between here and my town about their 16 horses. They stand on grassless "pasture" and are fed once a day.
Those people have so many horses because "they love them".
Someone shoot me!

Puff the magic Drag-on

marÂIi·jua·na also mar·i·hua·na
1. The cannabis plant.
2. A preparation made from the dried flower clusters and leaves of the cannabis plant, usually smoked or eaten to induce euphoria.

I've been in chronic pain for more years than I can recall. If I had to guess, I'd say since I was 24 or so. I'm 42 today (by the Grace of God). I used to smoke a fair amount of pot for the "high". I drank every day in the 80's. Pot is an odd drug. In my mind, even today, I think it a "friendly" drug.
Cocaine, Heroin, Crack, MDA (Ecstasy), Speed and a host of other synthesized drugs, are not friendly! People are dying, even now as I type, for their "medicine". Yup I know, pot too...
In Vancouver, it is alledged that the Hells Angels control the drug business (watch me get a call now) at least the so called softer drug trade. Apparently "the Asians" control the bad drugs????. A pound of "good" B.C. pot will trade in the USA for a pound of Cocaine. Things have changed...
This is the bit where comments should fly...
I think I should be able to try marijuana, or medicinal pot, to see if:
A) I can function under the influence.
B) If my pain will mellow out.

Don't hear me wrong, if you're "on the pot", you shouldn't operate machinery or engage in any activity that may put you or others at risk while you are "mellow". You shouldn't sight in your AK-47 in the living room of the Condo while on the pipe...you won't get it accurate! Nor should you root through your wife's purse to find a few extra dollars because you're connection hasn't set up Interac yet. What if you took her choc-choc allowance?
So, a few questions arise:
Does medicinal pot get you "high"? If so, why call it medicinal? What separates it? Taxes?
If not, why bother? is THC what stops/masks pain?
What is the difference in THC content, one from the other?

Yesterday, I rode my bike on a nice 175 mile spin. I sat at the Morrin bridge campsite for 30 mins and watched 6 Pelicans playing in the river. It was quiet, it was nature. It would have been a fine time to conjure up a state of euphoria with some good ol' THC.
Thats old time thinking isn't it? Thats the "old man" trying to "get out" right? My back hurt like a bugger while I lay riverside...
I fully believe God can heal. He hasn't done so with me, and I've asked.
The doctors (I loathe pharmaceutical companies) are quick to give out a handful of muscle relaxants and other pills that mask the pain. Pot isn't available. I tell them to stick their "condo-in-the-Bahamas-perks" pills.
(Perhaps when Pharmaceutical giants get a cut from pot, they'll have a go at pushing it on MD's [no pun intended] ).
What say you? Pass the bong?

they're lovin' it..

I live in Albeefa, Canada. My diet is probably less than 20% meat. To each his own.


I wondered to myself, if these cows were envious of the luxurious home above their's. Perhaps they enjoy no stress freedom in the mire more than the "bill payers"...if only for a season.

MONEY MATTERS

THIS MAY GO BAD FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE...

..............AND IT DID

I got tagged

HIREATH tagged me!!!!
I'm to list 6 weird habits or quirks about myself...deep breath Spoke.

1) I think I became a photographer to insure that I'm rarely in front of the camera(s). I'm very self conscious and have never really liked how I've looked...

2) I've often longed to be a designer, clothing for women. But I've been too frightened to take the leap. I wish I had more cash to follow this through and use PJ as a test subject.

3) When I'm on my own, sometimes I cry for no reason...shhhhhh.

4) I crack my knuckles, ankles, neck, back and elbows. Don't quite know why. Always have done. Wish I wouldn't. I ache because of it...kindling-boned really.

5) My sense of humour is my best defense mechanism.

6) I often do things I don't want to do. I don't like to do them, but I do them anyway. I know the things I should do, but these are the things I don't do. No, I continue to do the things I wish I didn't do. One day, I hope to be able to do the things I should do and never again do the things I shouldn't do.

Don't know if the last one is a quirk or a habit...

Now, I tag "Meadow" and "The Pondering Pig"...

I should avoid news web pages...

Why is it, that pop psychology tries to teach us that we, within ourselves, are able to "bounce back" from bad or negative issues we face in our daily, yearly lives, all on our own? If we could , why do we continue to face negative issues in the first place? We'd simply rid ourselves of them. I don't believe we can save ourselves...or others for that matter.
I think of issues that have been tagged "diseases", which in my mind sets people up to be able to remove personal blame/accountability/choices from their personal situation. (A guy that invaded someone's home for a bit of crack money got caught and killed the homeowner. We never say he was a person that decided to murder, we say he was a cocaine addict. The blame moves over to the inanimate drug.) I've had many friends that call themselves "alcoholic", "workaholic", addicted to smoking, over eating etc. and lay blame upon the "action" rather than on their choice to abide in that particular lifestyle. It's quite a comfortable way to avoid accountability I venture to say. " It's not MY fault."
Looking at Porn? Tell someone, move the computer or don't go in the book shop. Don't blame the Porn. Porn, like many "isms" or "addictions" is a Sin, not a disease! Of course, this may not be as broadly brushed as it all sounds, many diseases occur BECAUSE of our choices to sin. Cigarettes don't cause cancer...SMOKING them does! Beer won't rot my liver, soaking it in it will.But what of people or Societies and Governments running to aid or continue to fund "victim's" poor choices? If you are stuck in a drunken rut to the point where you can't work, our Governments will come to your financial/aid aid.You can continue to be a drunk if you like.
You're not a victim of drink. If anything, you've become a victim of Government funded/kickbacked money making businesses.
When I was younger, I CHOSE to drink daily to the point of utter impairment. No one held me accountable, ever. I picked violent fights in and out of the bar and had a reputation of a drunken madman. Zero accountability! The local R.C.M.P. in North Vancouver BC knew me well, charged me never. (Often in cells overnight "for my safety"). Zero accountability. Comments like " it's ok, he's hammered" from friends, would get me off the hook from dealing with many stupid and dangerous or rude situations. Never being held accountable for my lousy actions, many of which were bloody shameful I tell you, gave me license, or so I thought, to carry on.
Pop psyche would tell you that I suffered (other people suffered, really) from alcoholism. I call bullshit! I made a choice.
I CHOSE to drink to excess, ingest drugs and act violently, irrationally and unpredictably. I CHOSE to lie, cheat and steal from anyone, anywhere, anytime. As dad often said, prison may do (them) well. (Another topic altogether really.)
Looking back, I often wonder if being held accountable for my choices and actions would have helped others (and me) out of many undesirable situations.
Proper counseling could do a load of people a load of good, providing the couselor didn't keep you in counseling for years on end, never guiding you into "wellness" thru Jesus. (did you hear my Bible thump?). Perhaps successful counseling might look like this:
"What's up Lance?"
" I'm an obnoxious drunk."
"Why?"
"So I can get away with anything I like. It's a brilliant excuse for my selfish insecurities and affords me access to calm my lusts."
"Stop it. Jesus loves you. What more do you want?"
" I want to feel good all the time."
" That's an irrational expectation and impossible to attain while on this planet."
" Oh."
" Be a man, face the fact that you can't cope, you need someone stronger than you think you are."
"Hmmmmmm?"
If someone had the guts to "call a spade a spade" in my life, I believe things would have been different.
Don't get me wrong, I love life. I regret very little (all is workable in our lives, nothing is EVER wasted in God's economy). I don't "need" your encouragement. Although its nice sometimes I guess.
I'm on a roll here, can't wait for your comments!
I have a Courier I deal with daily. This Courier is horrible at his job. I've actually told him several times over the years, nicely, believe or not. Nothing changed. I called his supervisor and she told me that he responds best to positive affirmation. What a load! He sucks at his job so I'm supposed to somehow affirm him? I told her it may be better to drag him in, tell him about all the complaints they've received from his customers and get him some decent training? Offer the guy a bit of the ol' truth for a change. He'd grow, you'd help him out. She didn't buy it.
You may know I'm a football (soccer) nut. One of the finest football players for France's National team was sent off the pitch near the end of the Final game for the World Cup after being held accountable for a stupid headbutt he gave to an opponent. His opponent "said something negative" and he reacted. Two things I see here: 1) sticks and stones... 2) he was held accountable for his actions. I say well done on the Official's part in all of that! I'm sad the Cup went to Italy, but what you gonna do?
Many people around here refuse to take a stand caring for our resources or planet, they've chosen to believe (lying, profiting) politicians that can't be held responsible because they're rarely held accountable. If the people would take a moment to look around and think, the obvious would be noticed. We're raping the planet and it can't take it much longer. But reducing and recycling costs something. Why put out extra if no-one expects you to? No one cares if you burn all your waste on your farm...tires, shingles,plastics,garbage,dead animals. You won't be punished for spraying your fields with deadly toxins...they're all doing it.
(Side note- Every year, pea fields are desicated around here.The fields are sprayed with poisonous chemicals so the weeds die. This way the farmer can harvest without nuisance weeds.The peas, that were killed too, apparently are only for feed...hmmmm. I don't like the sounds of this practice. To be fair, I'm not a farmer...)
I'm just venting I guess. Working life out. My blog is about stuff I notice. When I notice stuff, I tend to go off and shout it from the rooftops so to speak. Now it's your turn.

plague

The following information came from this FRONTLINE webpage.

100 million: The number of people who shop at Wal-Mart's 3400 American stores every week.

50 million: The amount of square footage Wal-Mart plans to add this year, including 50-55 new Wal-Mart stores, 220-230 new Supercenters, 35-40 new Sam's Club and 130-140 new international stores.

1.2 million: The number of Wal-Mart associates in the U.S. Any full- or part-time Wal-Mart employee, up to and including the CEO, is considered an "associate," in Wal-Mart parlance. Internationally, Wal-Mart employs an additional 330,000 associates.

600,000: The number of new employees Wal-Mart hires each year. The company's turnover rate is 44 percent -- close to the retail industry average.

1979: The year Wal-Mart's sales first top $1 billion.

$256 billion : Wal-Mart's sales in 2003. In the words of Wal-Mart CFO Tom Schoewe, Wal-Mart's sales are equal to "one IBM, one Hewlett Packard, one Dell computer, one Microsoft and one Cisco System -- and oh, by the way, after that we got $2 billion left over."

35: The number of Wal-Mart Supercenters in China.

$15 billion: The amount of Chinese products Wal-Mart estimates it imports each year; others suggest the number may be higher.

$120 billion: The U.S. trade deficit with China in 2003.

8 percent: The amount of total U.S. retail sales, excluding automobiles, accounted for by Wal-Mart.

$9.98: The average full-time hourly wage for a Wal-Mart employee. The average full-time hourly wage in metro areas (defined as areas with a population of 50,000 or more) is $10.38. In some urban areas it is higher: $11.03 in Chicago, $11.08 in San Francisco, and $11.20 in Austin.

A final statistic for you: 20% of every consumer transaction made in the United States of America is between (us) and Walmart Inc. I wonder how that would increase if you factored in global purchases?
Why is there poverty/hungry children in America?
Spoke hasn't been in a Walmart for quite some time. I don't know if I will ever go in again. I don't NEED most of what they sell...including Mcdonald's death-diet.
To each his own, I simply ask that you think about it first, before you throw your money on their pile.

crap!

Some stuff I noticed in the last month?? The fine art of "turf diving". During world cup, I'm sad to have witnesses these million dollar men crying like children ( Christian Ronaldo) and diving to get the official's call in their favour. I was surprised at the England-Portugal outcome. I was amazed at the Brasil-France outcome.
The beautiful game seems to have become rank with cheats, divers, babies and swayed officials. What should I expect...its not about the game really is it?
But in my book, the prize must be awarded to the Italian National Team. Cheats and scoundrels!
Don't take my word for it...look at the charges laid against AC MILAN, JUVENTUS, INTER MILAN and FIORENTINA from the Italian series A. Apparently, it's thought many matches were fixed, and officials were bought. Top of the league you know. Nothing is sacred!
See you in 2010.

2010?

I suppose I mustn't grumble, England should have done better. However, the Argentinian ref seemed to be on a personal crusade against the Three Lions as he called the game. Imagine giving a red card to Rooney for a "shove" that wouldn't even have gotten a cat off of a couch... Hats off to Beckham too. He walked off in pain and tears (which must have been difficult) to make way for a fitter player to come on. You won't see him in 2010 on the squad. Well done lads, you raised my blood pressure a few times, and I loved the Liverpool connection. Calgary Heargraves was brilliant too. Still, I don't like penalty kicks deciding an outcome, but as I said, it's a bit more maddening when the official is blatently against you. Come on Brazil!