When I saw the video of Omar Khadr being interrogated at Guantanamo at first I was horrified. Then I felt like vomiting. How could a country that calls itself civilized allow the torturers at Guantanamo to do this to a Canadian child?
And remember that before the Canadian tool questioned him , the Guantanamo thugs had "softened him up" by subjecting him to their "frequent flyer" program. Moving him every three hours for 21 DAYS to deprive him of any chance for proper sleep. And placing him in isolation for weeks. That's the kind of stuff that can break a hardened adult criminal....and he was just a kid.
And don't forget either that before that ,they had tortured him in other more physical ways. Even though he was horribly wounded, blind in one eye, losing his sight in the other, riddled with shrapnel, and in agonizing pain.
I don't know what else to say that I haven't said before. This old post still stands.
As does the question. How hollowed out are we? And so does the post where I pointed out that he couldn't have killed that American soldier. Because he had been so seriously wounded by shrapnel from bombs dropped by U.S. warplanes, that all he could do was slump against a bush. Until they shot him in the back.
Oh boy did I get that one right. And so did Omar. " You don't care about me," he sobs in the video. How right he was. Almost NOBODY in Canada cared about him. My country should be better than that.
I strongly suspected that my driving test instructor was a homophobe. And in retrospect it probably wasn't a brilliant idea for Sébastien to give me a good luck hug and a kiss before the test began. The instructor's teeth were grinding so loudly I could hardly understand what he was saying. Grind, grind, left, grrrrright, grrrrrind, AAAARGH!!!! And the body language was brutal. Any further away from me and he would have been running beside the car. But maybe he was just scared out of his mind. Who can blame him? He did pass me. And it could have been worse. I could have been in Sicily.
When 26 year-old Danilo Giuffrida told doctors he was gay at his medical examination for military service, they passed the information to the transport ministry, who told him he must repeat his driving test or have his license withdrawn due to his "sexual identity disturbance."
Giuffrida agreed to re-take his test, passed it for a second time, but the ministry renewed his license for just one year rather than the usual 10 years because of his homosexuality.
You know I'm always amazed and disgusted by the sheer number of fake reasons the wretched homophobes come up with to put us down, and try to strip us of our humanity. But this one REALLY stumps me. Where on earth did they get the idea that gay people can't drive? Is it because we like to text our tricks as we drive so we know where we're going, or have a tendency to turn the music up loud, and operate the flashers like disco lights? Or is it because we are always rolling down the window and shouting: "Honk if you love Madonna!!!!!!!" And causing a cacophony on the highway..... or a riot? Or do they think that we might get so carried away by the sight of a hunky guy we might put our limp wrists on our cocks..... instead of on our stick shifts? Floor the accelerator when we cum. And cause a massive pileup? Or even worse..... a shockingly indecent public disturbance? Or is it NONE of the above? Is it simply that Italy is a crapatudinous and corrupt country with a homophobic yellow streak as wide as the Vatican? And Sicily is that Duce-bag country's stinky arm PIT? Mama Mia. Honk if you hate homophobia. I think I'm going with that one...
I was sorry to hear today that 108-year-old Olive Riley....the world's oldest blogger.... had taken her final hiatus. I never had a chance to read her blog, but I did stumble upon some of her YouTubes once and I thought they were cute.So I know I would have liked to read what she had to say. I'm afraid the way I'm going I probably won't get to live half as long as Olive. But I think what she was trying to say is it doesn't matter how long you live, it's how you live it that counts. And any person who can sit up in bed and sing a happy song as death closes in, is the kind of person I hope I can be when my time comes. You know one of the things I love about the internet is that it allows people of different generations to communicate. So older people can pass on the wisdom of a life lived to the young ....who think they know EVERYTHING....and remind them that life isn't a sprint. It's a marathon. And the young can tell the older ones about all their problems, and how they're sure that NOBODY has ever had it so bad. And the older ones can cheer them up...and have a chuckle ... say yes I know....believe me I do. But guess WHAT?
In this fragmented world if we didn't have the net how would we do that? So I'm happy to have blogging friends of all ages. I love them all. I just listen to the older ones a little more closely.
For example, Sébastien is always telling me that life is what you make of it. That we should just do our thing....ignore most of the bad shit ... and enjoy every day. And I believe him. But because he's just a few years older than I am that kind of stuff has a tendency to go in one ear and out the other. Because after all, unlike my young and dum friends, I DO know EVERYTHING !!! Duh. Wot ?
But now I heard it from the 108-year-old blogger I don't just believe it .... I'm CONVINCED.
Now that the One Million Dozen Wingnut March on Rideau Hall was such a monumental bust. And the polls have clearly shown that most Canadians think Dr Morgentaler deserves the Order of Canada. And the screeching gang of patriarchal supremacists has been humiliated in plain view.... and are howling like banshees because reality hurts. Isn't it time to take stock of the situation? And enjoy a little applause? Never before has a government recognised the work of the pro-choice activists and doctors of the twentieth century in such an official capacity. And in presenting a pro-choice pioneer with an award that celebrates those who have served the whole community, Canada is bravely hinting at the idea that safe, legal abortion has helped society as a whole. She's wrong about the government of course. If the miserable Cons had anything to do with the process Morgentaler would never have been given the award. But she's right about the message, and I sure love this part.... Unexpectedly, Canada has now even advanced the way we discuss the right to choose. The Order of Canada is given to those who exemplify the motto Desiderantes meliorem patriam - "They desire a better country". For good reasons, pro-choicers have always framed the abortion debate in terms of personal choice: the right of the individual woman. But what is interesting about Morgentaler's honour is the idea of community contained in the Order of Canada - making the point that fighting for a safe, legal procedure has saved the lives of thousands of Canadian women and provided a service from which all of society has benefited. ....Elevating Morgentaler as a high-profile defender of abortion rights underlines the oft-forgotten facts that the right to choose is not just the concern of women, and that 'feminism' isn't anti-men or unconcerned with men. It shows us instead that women's rights are human rights, and, as such, they affect us all. Exactly. Now will the anti-choice flying monkeys please go sulk in a corner...and bite their tails off... quietly.
While the rest of us take a bow. You know they'll be back for more punishment. And we still need to find out why our idiot MSM made such a mountain out of such a small wingnut hill. But right now I figure it's time to celebrate. Someone in Europe thinks we're great again. Aren't we awesome? Isn't VICTORY sweet?
Of all the scenes in all the movies I have ever seen one of the most powerful has to be the last few minutes of The Bridge on the River Kwai.
When crazy Colonel Nicholson leads the camp commander Colonel Seito towards the place where a young Canadian commando is waiting to blow up the bridge. All hell breaks out. Colonel Nicholson realizes he has made a terrible mistake. Everyone dies including the hunky William Holden.The bridge blows up. And the medical officer who has witnessed it all cries "Madness! ... Madness!"
So I thought it was kind of crazy when a well known American right-wing blogger compared Colonel Nicholson to John McCain. And got spanked by TBogg. ...What is arguably a serious qualification for president is McCain’s behavior, his steadfastness, for five years in a North Vietnamese prison camp. It has overtones of The Bridge on the River Kwai. Although not as overtly heroic as the film, McCain showed character traits under extreme pressure - dealing with torture, standing with his men, etc., - that demonstrate superior leadership capability. What befits a president more than that?
Was Simon talking about the crazy egomaniac I wondered...or the deluded collaborator?
Of course, the two do have a lot in common. They were both POWs. They both endured savage punishment bravely. They both played by the book.
But what Simon seems to have forgotten is that both men also suffered from a fatal delusion. Because of their captivity they lost touch with the war they were fighting.
For John McCain ,the U.S. Navy pilot, the closest he got to Vietnam was a few thousand feet. He didn't see the bodies of the men, women and children. He didn't hear the screams...he didn't smell the charred flesh.
He didn't feel the pain and the disillusionment of the grunts on the ground. Doing drugs. Fragging their superiors. Fighting a war they knew they couldn't win.
And then when he became a prisoner he lost touch with the war altogether for five long years. In the loneliness of his prison cell he still believed the war could be won.
"Like a lot of Vietnam veterans, I believed and still believe that the war was winnable," he said. "I do not believe that it was winnable at an acceptable cost in the short or probably even the long term using the strategy of attrition which we employed there to such tragic results. I do believe that had we taken the war to the North and made full, consistent use of air power in the North, we ultimately would have prevailed."
Even though it might have triggered the World War Three.
And he still believes in Total War. Still believes that any war can be won with a bit more effort ...and a lot more bombs.
Hmmm.... I think Roger Simon should have thought that one out a bit more.
Or at the very least watched the end of the movie...
Madness.
John McCain may be a decent enough guy...for a Republican.
I think I have written more posts about Omar Khadr than any other blogger in Canada. I warned that a country that did nothing to stop a Canadian child being tortured wasn't much of a real country...and certainly not the Canada I love. Nobody ever picked up on them. Even by my humble standards the reaction was minimal. The only thing that kept me going was my hatred of injustice, and my faith that one day the horror of what was done to that child soldier would sicken us all. As surely now it must. A day after a report revealed Canadian officials knew of Omar Khadr's harsh treatment by the U.S. military, Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday repeated vows to leave the case in U.S. hands. Canada "frankly has no real alternative" to the U.S. legal process, he went on to say.
The issue is not, as Mr. Harper implies, that Canada's justice system lacks the legal tools to deal with Mr. Khadr. It is that, by Canadian notions of fair process, the U.S. case against Mr. Khadr would unravel.
The answer is to do as Australia did with one of its nationals jailed at Guantanamo: Help arrange a plea bargain with the United States and Mr. Khadr and his lawyers that would address legitimate security concerns while giving him an opportunity to rehabilitate himself at home. Rehabilitated...not jailed in a monstrous place like Guantanamo. Just like it says in Article Six of the U.N. Protocol on Child Soldiers...that we signed. States Parties shall, when necessary, accord to such persons all appropriate assistance for their physical and psychological recovery and their social reintegration.
But what more can I say about the psychopathic monster and Pentagon stooge Stephen Harper? Except that he is unfit to be Prime Minister...and is destroying the reputation of this country all over the world. Or what more can I say about the former Liberal government that knew Khadr was being tortured...but didn't lift a finger to stop it ? Except that like the foul Cons they can never be forgiven. Or for that matter what can I say about most Canadians who didn't give a shit about Omar's fate because they are too racist ....or hated his family so much? Huh? Except that I am thankful I am not one of them. All I can say or do is point out once again that he couldn't have done what the Pentagon torturers said he did. Once we knew what really happened.
So there are NO excuses.
As the horror and the shame goes on.
And a U.S. Navy officer has to tell Canadians what it means to be the last country to have a citizen at that infamous U.S. Navy base. "It's absolutely shameful … notwithstanding all that we know now about Omar Khadr's treatment in Guantanamo Bay, about his arguably torture and at the very least inhumane and degrading treatment at the hands of U.S. authorities," Is Canada a real country?
With Stephen Harper as Prime Minister? Don't make me laugh...
No Gay Pride parade season would be complete without some mouthbreathing homophobe plucking its feathers out and screeching "Why do THEY have one when WE don't have a Straight Pride parade?" Waaaaaah !!!!!!! Well guess what? Now they got one. And don't you just LOVE what the "new reggae/dancehall sensation" Jango Fresh has to say? The Straight pride parade is a great idea because when a song like "Hit them hard" by my label mate Stapler can be banned just because it stresses the importance of a male and a female in every family, it is a sign that heterosexuals need to wake up. The Straight Pride Parade is a chance for Heterosexuals to gather together and proudly embrace their sexuality. Hmmm..... I thought they already did. Every day of the year. But then until I read that story .... and I love reggae music..... I'd never heard of Jango Fresh.
Jango Mango YES...
But Jango Fresh NEVAH. Was it a fruit or a vegetable I wondered. A greased cucumber....or a nasty little hot pepper ? And now that I have heard about him for all the wrong reasons, I'm wondering what Straight Pride songs he will...um... sing?
Fat Pussy, Gun Goes Off, or How to Rob a Bank? I'm hoping for Bad as Me. Because after listening to his shitty songs I gotta say that even the cat in heat at the end of the street sings better than Jango does. But what do you expect from these pathetic homophobes? The campaign against Murder Music is a fantastic success.
These bigots thought they could get away with calling for gay people to be hacked or shot or burned to death. Now some have surrendered. And the others are DESPERATE. They're running out of concert halls. They're running out of BLING. The poor bumbaclaats. What a sad TING. On the other hand... there is ONE thing about this Straight Pride Parade that really excites me. Apart from the rumoured appearances of the Jesse Helms Quartet from Hell, and The Flagellators ... the Mullah band from Saudi Arabia. And that is the thought that surely....if there is ANY justice.... the Grand Marshalls of this Procession of Losers will just HAVE to be.... Wait for it.... The homophobe Zombies of Jamaica !!!
Wow. Wouldn't that be something?The best float EVAH. You know if that happens....and it doesn't rain or hail on the parade. Which I am fervently praying for.... and for which I'm prepared to sacrifice to the Weather God an entire BBQ chicken. I can only hope my gay brothers in Brooklyn remember the poor gay people of Jamaica. Fill their supersoakers with ice cold water ....or liquid manure. And show their appreciation...
Today is the day our neighbours in the United States celebrate their Independence Day. And this year it's not the happiest of holidays. According to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, close to 70 percent say that if the signers of the Declaration of Independence could see America today they would be disappointed, while just under 30 percent say the founding fathers would be happy with the country 232 years later.
And who can blame them? It sickens me to see what eight years of Bush and Cheney have done to that great country, the noble ideals of its founders, and its reputation all over the world. So I can only imagine how they feel.
Like so many others I hate their government with a passion. But I could never hate the country or its people.
As I explained to a reader who e-mailed me recently, my grandfather taught me to love Americans. He trained in the U.S. to become a carrier pilot during the Second World War. His views about that country remained anchored in the optimism of the post war years. And he never lost faith that it could once again be an awesome force for good. Even though in his last years he came to hate George Bush almost as much as I did.
And on our travels together we never did find that elusive drugstore where you could get malt sodas. What happened to them anyway?
As for the beauty and excitement of the country I think I learned to love it...... without even seeing it..... through the beat writings of the brilliant French Canadian American Jack Kerouac.
When I read On the Road I always feel I'm in that car with Jack and his beloved Dean Moriarty, Neal Cassady. Screaming down the highway with America in all its wonderful jazzy optimistic craziness whizzing by in a blur. Go Go Go !!!
So I thought it might be neat on Independence Day to run this video. Where Jack meets Woody Allen's Manhattan...
I would have changed some of the pictures in that video. And included one of a convertible racing down a lonely desert road in the night, leaving a trail of pot smoke behind it. With Jack and I in the back seat.... me playing the guitar and Jack beating a bongo drum.
I know. You can't have EVERYTHING. But you know what I mean? A journey is a journey with its mountains and its valleys. And until it's over you can always cling to the hope that tomorrow will be better.
The good news is I really think that's about to happen. A powerful wind of change is sweeping across the United States. Out of crisis and depression can come a new beginning.
So step on the gas Neal !!! Beat the drum harder Jack !!! Go Go Go !!!! The rising sun is painting the mountains pink. San Francisco can't be far away. A new day is screaming to be born. Love beckons. And hope is just around the corner.
To all my family, friends, and readers in America the soon to be beautiful again.
Happy Fourth of July !!! ---------------------------------------------------------- P.S. Hey neighbours ...yet another practically DIVINE OMEN that things are about to get better. The rotten racist and foul homophobe Jesse Helms croaked today.
I'm still catching up with what went on in Canada while I was away in Scotland. So it wasn't until today that I found out what happened to the nasty little Con Pierre "Pee Wee" Poilievre. How he shat on Stephen Harper's little party. By making derogatory comments about native people on the day Great Angry Leader was hoping to score bogus brownie points ...by apologizing to them. And then Pee Wee had to rise in the House of Commons and make a tearful apology. "On a day when the House and all Canadians were celebrating a new beginning, I made remarks that were hurtful and wrong. I accept responsibility for them and I apologize." Sob. Sob. What a sad spectacle. I WANT the video !!! And to think that just a few weeks before this idiot incident he was attacking the Ontario government for funding sex reassignment surgery. Now he's probably looking for an operation himself...a brain transplant and a couple of bazoongas ....so people don't recognize him anymore. I guess Stephen King Con Harper must be REALLY mad with him. And who can blame him? It's kinda like what another little bugger did during this football game....
Except that he was BRILLIANT. While Pee Wee stole the ball from his own keeper...and scored in his own goal. What a dummy. No wonder he's been sidelined. But what I want to know is.... now that he has shown everyone what a pathetic little Con nerd he is....
Instead of just Pee Wee Dum Dum.
Can we also call him Pierre the Penis?
I thought so. Quick!!!! Put a rubber on it before it shoots its mouth off again !!!
It couldn't happen to a nicer prick. Muahahahaha...
I couldn't help but chuckle today when I read that Dr Henry Morgentaler had told reporters he deserved the Order of Canada. I interviewed him once for my university rag, and I found him charming, brave, but VERY blunt.
One that almost killed him. When a Quebec Superior court threw out the verdict of one jury after the other, and sent him to jail ....where he had a heart attack.
And then there is the moral dimension of his struggle. Everyone knows what Henry Morgentaler has done for Canadian women. What many don't know is how he was motivated by the horror of his Holocaust experience, to spare children from the horror of being unwanted and unloved. "Well-loved children grow into adults who do not build concentration camps, do not rape and do not murder..." So the award is a nobrainer. And the only thing that disappoints me is that he didn't get it sooner. But what on earth is Thomas Collins, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toronto, clucking about so loudly?
Canada's highest honour has been debased. Henry Morgentaler has been awarded the Order of Canada. We are all diminished. What nonsense. First of all, I don't think that a representative of the Catholic Church has the right to call anything or anyone "debased." Not after his Church has been forced to cough up more than $2 billion in damages...and counting... for pervert crimes against children. And what is the Archbishop blabbing about when he says we are ALL diminished? The last time I checked 91% of Canadians supported some form of abortion rights. Now look.... as I've pointed out several times.... I don't think that any Church or any man has the right to tell a woman what to do with her body. Because the whole idea that they do have that right stems from the barbarian ignorance of ancient and hairy desert dwellers. Who believed that women were only incubators to hatch their sperm. But the Archbishop is free to expound these wanker theories.... in his Church. Or the nearest insane asylum. On the other hand if he is going to stick his patriarchal purpleness into Canadian politics. And make incendiary comments like this one: No person may presume to judge the soul of Henry Morgentaler, but it cannot be denied that the effect of his life's work has been a deadly assault upon the most helpless amongst us. Shouldn't he at least pay taxes? That bling around his neck should be worth SOMETHING.
Oh yeah These crazy fanatics can scream like banshees. Ooga Booga. But their opinions should be ignored.
Because the only people debased and diminished are themselves. Hell is for haters.
