Oui Monsieur, Tout Le Monde En Parle

So it was late, TSN had cut to commercial, I was pondering whether to head to bed, no I thought, I remembered that there was a wind storm in Montreal, my former home of some 8 years, so I surf over to Radio-Canada, the Telejournal was on. Great I'd catch up, I would see if the Big O blew over, I'd see how the Cokehead was doing vs. the Dragon Woman in the P.Q leadership race, I'd at least try to maintain some comprehension of la belle langue francais. There was a panel discussion, the anchor was talking to a leader of the Montreal Haitien community, and a council of First Nations leader. So at first I thought they must be gabbing about Michaelle Jean, the new Gov. General, boy was I wrong.
It seems that on the Radio-Canada talk show Tout Le Monde En Parle, one of Guy Lepage's guests was a relatively well known psychiatrist Pierre Mailloux, he has a radio show on CKAC, and he is like a guest psychologue on the hit Quebec reality show Loft Story. Anyway, the whole controversy, and the subject of this panel discussion was that Doc Mailloux had spouted racist and throughly outdated theories, concerning I.Q. and race. It seems that the good doctor, with studies in hand, old school shite like The Bell Curve et al. likes to believe that because of the artificiel selection due to slavery, Blacks and other minorities in America are disadvantaged intellectually.
The same old crap, so I on a quest for knowledge and vengence, scour the web, I read shite from the Aryanesque, white power, super race side, whom claim evidence of brain size and bell curve correlation to I.Q. scores across races and thus intelligence is genetic, and one race is thus intellectually superior to another....... I then in utter despear begin to read the more rational side of the argument, that state that I.Q. tests are quite often culturally biased, meant to test intelligence in the white middle class, and are not a true test of intelligence at all. Modern I.Q. testing has tried to systematically deal with racial and cultural bias, however, a child that was brought up in a house surrounded by books, and who recieves a good education, with well trained and ingaging teachers is undoubtable going to acheive higher marks on a standardized test then a child that has not been afforded the same intellectual advantages.
It would seem to me then that socio-economic factors and access to a high quality and ingaging education are the key to better I.Q. scores. Now, like Katrina in the US has shown there seems to be a disporportionate amount of Blacks that live in proverty when compared to whites and thus many black children may not recieve the same level of education, therefore when a crosscultural study on I.Q scores is done, it is almost certain that whites would recieve better scores. Now bigots and racists might have you believe that this may have something to do with the intelligence or drive or genetics or what have you of a certain race. This is crap, racism exists in North America and has marginalized Blacks, and Natives, forcing many to live in slums, and reserves, and this marginalization, and the socio-economic hardships that it has caused has a direct influence on the education, and crystallized knowledge that they might have acquired.
Therefore, Doc Mailloux, your argument all though perhaps statistically correct, are both scietifically erroenous, in relation to the genetics of intelligence, and socially insensitive. Instead of spouting nonsense about artificiel selection, and certain races being intellectually disadvantaged, why not address the bigger issues which are that Canada and the US are 2 of the wealthiest nations in the world, and yet we still seem to continually fail when dealing not only with poverty and a subpar education system, but to deal with the deep-seated racism that still exists in our culture.
Okay thats all I got, listen if through anything I have written I offended anyone I am sorry, I am not a psychologist, nor a sociologist, nothing I have said here can be claimed as absolute truths. I do not want to make it sound that all blacks or native people live in slums or reserves, or that they are all uneducated, or poor, I am simply trying to say that I believe that underlying socio-economic factors are more important to I.Q. scores then any genetic or race factor, again I am not an expert, I am just a guy with an opinion.

The Circus Is Back In Town

Gather round my friends the bigtop that is Parliament Hill, is now open for business. So what kinda of a summer has it been for our elected clowns, acrobates, and liontamers. Well the grossly mis-understood, and unfairly miligned leader off the opposition Mr Harpo the Clown spent much of his time off eating burgers, and flipping pancakes, all the while dressing up as a Village person/dominatrix, oh what lenghts he went to show his human side. As for the Master of Ceremony, the leader of the big show, the one and only Paul Martin, he spent much of his summer playing the great internationalist, blasting the ineffectual UN, and giving rousing yet some how empty speeches about Canada's commitment to the world. The bigtop's greatest acrobat the ever exciting, master of the left sided summersault Jacko Layton seems to have tragically fallen off a stage somewhere this summer, heres hoping that he can make a truimphant return now that the big show is back in town. As for the circus' great proud liontamer Gilles Duceppe, well it seems that his decision not to try and become the MC of le cirque politique Quebecios, may come back to haunt him and his trusted lions in the up coming election.

No Headline

Now I don't wanna sound insensitive to the plight of the people in the gulf coast of the United States, they are going through hell and need all the support that we can give them, but I am sick and tired of the 24 hour non- stop hurricane coverage. Has the world stopped, is there absolutely nothing else in the world worthy of public notice.

It is becoming less and less rebellious to bash the prez, maybe its too easy,I mean if the people in his own party have gotten to the point where its better to hide him in the mountains of Colorado, rather then photo op him in his home state of Texas... ya gotta start feeling bad for the guy. Could this have been a republican style intervention, what with all the back on the bottle rumours? If he is drinking again can you blame him, the shit is finally starting to hit the fan, the American people were slow, but are now finally seeing that Bush is a boob, something the rest of the world had seen almost as soon as he was first elected. This may be because of post sept/11 shock or the brilliant media manipulation of Rove, maybe it was the sight of Americans laying dead on American soul, or the embarrassment of the shocking socio-economic disparities that exist in the south, which all the world saw 24/7 for a month.
So this is good news if you are a left winger right? I mean the republicans are losing steam, they have failed to make the American people feel more secure, their great War president is proving to be nothing more then a sham. Three years from now there will be a Democrat as president, everything will be right in the world. Right, right, a Republican can't win the next presidential election can they?
The Democrat's where ever they are, are missing the boat, its time to sic the attack dogs on the Republicans, its time to act like a Republican, hit them when they are down and hit them hard. Bill Clinton, God love him, after all the mud that was thrown on him in his 8 years as president, should stand up with Hillary by his side and spit flames, be as vemenous and mean sprited as his former detractors. It is time for the Democratic party to grow some balls, to hell with co-operation in the time of war, that kinda of shit only castrates opposition, and turns off voters, the anti-American, liberal intellectual tag is only gonna stick even more, if the Democrats don't come up with their own anti-Republican, or conservative catch pharses. How about inept governance, um, cronic wasters, war mongers, out of touch, pork belly politics, insensitive to the needs of the other 95% of the American population, cheaters, liars...boobs.
If the Democrats do not take advantage of what looks now to be a President and party that are sick and ailing, if they can not break through to minorities, and the middle class, then they deserve to lose the next election. It just looks so easy, the time for dirty politics is now, nobody believes what the other side is saying right now anyway.
So I write all this, I rant and I rave, but why? Why am I a Canadian so sucked in by American politics. Is it the whole car wreck thing, is it the constent exposure, is it the fact that I can rant and rave with out the responsiblity of having to participate in the American electoral process, am I just sick, is it because the Canadian political scene is as dull as dish water, or do I just simply like to read myself write. I am not sure. Maybe somebody should send help, is there a cure for adiction to American politics, a pill maybe. Anyway thats all I have got today, lets hope for some nice weather in the gulf, and maybe some international or Canadian news that might ween me off my American politics kick.....

Mr. Klein You Sir Are A gAsshole

So yesterday I get a frenzied call from my mother: "How much gas have you got, there is a rumour flying around that gas is gonna go up to $2.86" umm I am all right i have about a half tank, put 10 in the other day... $2.86 that sounds a bit nuts i tell her, there is no way that the price of gas is gonna go up like $1.70 in a day.... i leave it at that, i zoom around the net i check gas buddies, a site that compares gas prices from town to town, station to station, nothing there gas is about $1.09 everywhere, so i check out the CBC, a story about how Rita might rise the price per barrel, but nothing about a drastic leap at the pumps that my mom forewarned. I continue to zoom around, until i stumbled across the story on how Ralph Klein is refusing to share his provinces windfall of oil profits with the rest of the country. Good old Ralph saying that the rest of the country is gimme gimme when times are good but never help out Alberta when times are bad, and heck the fed is getting millions from gas and Alberta in taxes and transfer payments. Okay sure, but Ralphie its the rest of the country thats making Alberta rich. Yes your province is blessed with rich oil fields, but without the drivers of the rest of the country blindly filling up at outrageously high pump prices, you sir would not be able to pocket and squirel away Alberta's windfall. As far as Canada not coming to the aid of Alberta when times are bad I seem to remember the feds offered millions of aid to Alberta cattle farmers during the whole mad cow scare...... so Ralphie if you want to excuse yourself from any kind of responsible involvement in the well being of Canada as a whole, build yourself a bubble, grow fat on oil profits, and then try to call Canada back in 20 years when the world either turns off of gas altogether or a real gas shortage begins, I am sure that the rest of the country would love to help out Alberta, considering how endlessly generous Alberta has been in the past.

Snooping Around

So I thought that in order to broaden my perspective I would spend the morning cruising the right side of the web. I am a lefty and proud of it, but if you only listen to the argument from one side you become nothing more then a shortsighted puppet without any true personal beliefs of your own. So I created a folder in my bookmarks called the bad guys, the usual suspects are in there Pat Robertson, Ann Coulter, Fox News, The Christian Broadcasting Network, the Free Republic, the NRA, and so on. Stirring stuff to be sure, but nothing prepared me for W.A.R. the White Aryan Resistance......I am a white middle class Canadian, I feel guilty for all the worlds shortcomings. So here I am on this site with hatefilled jokes and redneck propaganda, and I panic I feel like the CNN gps satellite is goona swoop down and expose me as racist, that the FBI and CSIS is gonna put me on some Redneck Militia watch list. So I had and internal struggle, do I add this to my bad guys list, or do scuttle off never again thinking about the horrible thing I discovered in the darkist reaches of the net. Finally, I decide if any one site belongs on my bad guys list it has got to be these fuckers right, now as to whether I will ever have the courage to look at the site again well thats another story.
All this brought be back to a discussion I had with my mom about what Bill O'Reilly said about how he wished Katrina had hit the UN, she thought that this kind of talk was nothing short of a hate crime, to which I said that I wasn't so sure, now the fire bombing of a Jewish school library in Montreal that is a hate crime, O'Reilly's rant was not directed at a specific group, but at an institution that he and his GOP handlers feel is obsolete, and unAmerican. So then what is the line where free speech (which is something I believe in and would support to the end) and a hate crime converge. Is a hate crime then religated to an action, 9/11, genocide, or library bombing, or can words which convey hate and in turn lead to action be considered a hate crime, I am not sure. That being said, and with what might be my first act of hate crime, I am gonna pull an O'Rielly and say that I wish that Katrina had hit the W.A.R. offices, and no I wouldn't help them out either.

Feeling Like I Have Nothing Left To Offer

So I spent the weekend cruising the web, trying in vain to find a story or opinion, anything that would stir my soul, anything that would enrage me enough to write a big fat scathing post about inpending demise of the species human. The first thing that caught my imagination was the Chirstian Right's adoption of the movie March of the Emperor, how the evanglists could draw parallels to their ideals of Intelligent Design, family values, and the endless march to Christ...... just didn't stick, bothered me a bit, puzzled me a little, made me shake my head, but really this debate is better left to the religious nut jobs, and their counterpart the unimaginative and rigid scientists. My opinion about the whole thing was waaaaaa? is this not a beautiful little nature documentry about the best dressed animals on the planet, why fudge the whole thing up with a 50 year old debate. Intelligent design can be taught in school in say a religion class, and well Darwin's theory of evolution in lets say biology, to pair the two off in highschool, is a waste of time, the kids are just waiting for the bell to ring in the first place.
The next thing that caught my eye was CNN terrorist/Bush admimistration playing cardesque depiction of the missing children that sat as a sidebar throughout the news coverage all weekend. Now don't veiw me as being insensitive, the fact that thousands of children have been displaced or orphaned by Katerina is a true tragedy, but I found it irkism that the names and faces of all those children were constantly broadcast for all the world to see, it makes me fear all the more for these unfortunate children.... first these children are being exploited by the press, and their faces, names and ages are now making it easier for more even ominous exploitation.
So finally today as I once again wandered through my favorite left leaning web sites and blogs, I stumble across the Bill O'Rielly story where old Bill says something to the effect that he wished that Katerina would have only hit the UN building, and that he would not have done anything to help. Repugnant, yes, scary, yes..... but I have come to the conclusion that O'Rielly is nothing more then a pawn in the GOP's media game, he is a talkinghead that livens up the GOP's talking points. Bill O'Reilly is to the right what Michael Moore is to the left. Both men were put on this planet to raise the ire of the people whom have opposite worldviews, and both men have profitted migthhy in those roles I might add.
So thats it, I haven't got much to add to the debate lately, maybe its a bad news week maybe I am tired of the whole thing, maybe I have lost all hope that anything good is gonna come from any of it, what ever it is, a penguin maybe, who knows.

Healthcare Smhealthcare.

Okay I am mad I am fuming. I was talking to my ex girlfriend on the phone last night. She is cool we are still tight, like best friends sans fun stuff, anyway she works at a hospital in Montreal, and yesterday while she was transferring a patient from one room to another she backed into 3 needles that were lying on the edge of a freshly made bed. My first response was sue the fuckers right.... then upon reflection, the realization that this is Canada, things don't go down like that. In the US you can sue Ronald Mac for millions cuz his coffee was hot, or recieve $230,000,000 from a drug company cuz an old man died from taking an arthitis pill.
What if the patient she was transferring was poked.... well I am sure then that this would have been national news, yet because my ex is a lowly employee, not even a nurse, well she comes in the next morning for bloodtests, only to be told to come back in 6 months for further tests..... waaaa!!! So this whole thing becomes another union mired, incident report cover up. Like I said I am mad I am fuming. My advise to everyone don't get sick.

The Diner Party Lists

I had a running gag the last place I worked with a co-worker. A song would come on the radio, or we would here a news flash, and I would say in an exaspirated voice, thats it so and so has made my list. This list was ever expanding, and gained a new member almost daily. But, today in the interest of fair and balanced jouurnalism, I decided to add a little ying to my ever growing yang.
Here are my infinately expandable list of people I would either shun, or share a drink with at the worlds largest diner party.

• People to Shun:
• Dick Cheney......not only does he seem like a vile human being, but that gut frightens me like no other.
• Simon Cowell......tight shirts and man boobs, nuf said.
• Brittany Spears......a fear thing again, I suspect the closer she is to you the nastier she gets, that and well what would you talk to her about.
• Jessica Simpson......staying with the pop princesses, she is as cute as a button, but God if she began to sing she would clear the whole room. Better not to provoke her.
• Karl Rove......this depends, if he is friendly drunk, what a guy to have on your side, if however you see him talking to the nieghbour whom you have been feuding with for years, run.
• Paul Martin......I assume he would be like talking to a grade ten chemistry teacher who stutters, just the impression I get.
• Michael Jackson......I was a young boy once, add to that the fact that I have even less desire to see him close up then miss Brittany.
• Tom Cruise......all the acting skills of a young William Shatner, but none of the charisma, and whats with the whole Scientology thing, I mean really.
• Condi Rice......remember in the 80's when Michael and Janet Jackson were rumoured to be the same person, I believe Condi and Mike Tyson are the same people. She will eat your children.
• Stephen Harper......ever had bad day and screamed at the bank machine, well the reponse you would recieve would be the same.

The list is ever expanding, and will be updated regularly, but it is not healthy to focus to much energy on the negiative, so at the same party.....

• People I'd Share a Drink With:
• Karl Rove......the first person to have made both lists, if you can beat you feuding neighbour to the bar you are in like Flynn.
• Bill Clinton......Bill was the Man in the late 90's, just imagine the stories he could tell once you loosened him up with a few drinks.
• George Bush......ever question your own intellect, Georgie would definately be an ego boost, that and I am sure he would love a drink.
• Kurt Vonnegut......with the deaths of Hunter S. Thompson, and William S. Bourroughs, there just aren't many crotchity old men of literature left.
• The Dalai Lama......not sure if he drinks, but if there is one person in the world who constantly puts a smile on my face its that guy.
• Fidel Castro......anybody that stands up to the man like he has for so long makes my list.
• Nelson Mandela......a real hero.
• Bill Gates......the world's richest geek, get him drunk, shake him upside down, collect what falls out of his pockets, live happily ever after.
• Tony Blair......just to ask "What were you thinking man?"
• Colin Farrell......Bill Clinton and I wanna know where are the ladies at.
• Uma Thurman......the name Uma falls from my lips like a light spring breeze.....
• Salma Hayek......the most stunning creature on the planet, made even the monobrow sexy in Frida

I could go on and on and I will, because the world is full of nutjobs and heros, and I am detrimined to shun or drink with any and all of them.

Politicians Behaving Badly

Brian Mulroney, father of Canadian Idol guy Ben Mulroney, and of ya Canadian Prime minister from 1984-1992 (heady times, Mc Hammer, the Yuppy, the GST, Free trade, Meech Lake, the wall falls down, Wham!) has gone off. The Secret Mulroney Tapes, a Peter C. Newman Joint....... well Peter gave us a taste the other day and well....... old Brian has his say. From the Globe and Mail:
"By the time history is done looking at this," says Mr. Mulroney in a moment of self-praise, "and you look at my achievements as opposed to any others, certainly no one will be in Sir John A.'s league -- but my nose will be a little ahead of most in terms of achievements. Nobody has achievements like this, Peter. I can say that to you objectively. You cannot name a Canadian prime minister who has done as many significant things as I did, because there are none."
This this is Mulroney reigned in, he continues to go off from blaming Trudeau for the failure of the Meech Lake accord, to his feeling of betrayal with lucien Bouchard, that Kim Cambell was a vain bitch, who spent to much time with her Russian boyfriend then trying to run a competant campaign, on and on, and the language, Mulroney drops more F-bombs then a room full of drunken college boys....nuts.
Congradualations Brian you are the inagrual winner of the crazypinkocanuck award for politicians behaving badly, here's hoping it helps you boost your self-esteem.

The opening Rant

So I decided that it might be fun to have my own blog. Christ everyone is doing it. I am by no means technically savvy enough to offer the patrons of this world wide web anything, other then what I think and feel at any giving moment. So what do I think and feel right now, well where to begin, this being my first rant, and what with the whole Katrina mess, where better to start but with the first ever crazypinkocanuck look at what I think is wrong with everyones favorite superpower punching bag The US of A.
In no particular order.
1. The US media. The media in the US are as driven by polls and market research as the politicians that they serve and protect. Sure now we see guys like Anderson Cooper from CNN, ranting and raving about FEMA's inadequate response, even Fox (which I keep track of only to see how the darkside is thinking, know thyn enemy, that and well the Simpsons) is now asking "serious" questions about the government response. The whole republican notion that the American media is liberal, is false, this administrations greatest victory was its castration of the main stream media. Checks and balances exist not in TVland, but on the internet where content is not driven by demographics and corporate sponsorship.
2. The American political system.Huh. The rules and institutions that make up the worlds greatest democracy are as hard to fathom as oh lets say cricket, and I read Jon Stewarts Democracy twice. The failures of Katrina have as much to do with an archiac system of government, then say a vacation happy President, or even an unqualified FEMA director. When local, state and Federal levels of government can not work together in times of crisis, because of redtape and partisian politics, its time to rethink things me thinks.
3. A superpower sans world view. The US's aversion to the UN frightens me. The war in Iraq is of course the most stunning example of this, the coalition of the willing, you are with us or against, and bring it on. All this false bravado, is nothing more then a superpower losing its mojo.
4. Karl Rove. Here is a man whom has never been elected to any post in the federal government, he has no fear of any voter agnst, or recall, or impeachment and yet it is he and Cheney that are running the country. Karl Rove is like the cartoon devil that sits on Georgie's shoulder....... where is the angel.
I could go on and on, and hey thats what a rant is all about, but seeing that this is the first rant, I shouldn't step on to many toes. Not only that but I am not really sure if I can even get this whole blog thing off the ground. If all goes well and I am not as technically inept as I fear, please comment, good bad and ugly, doesn't matter to me.