National Treasure or Blame It On America

When the NDP were in power they sure made a mistake when they decided that potatoes was where the money was resulting the infamy that is now know as SPUDCO. If they were smart, which we all know they are not, they would have brokered a deal and acquired Tim Hortons. THAT is where the money is. That is why the Americans brokered a deal and now own it so logically when snagged up in the traffic jams caused by the drive through lines just blame the USA. That is much more politically correct, these days anyway, in Canada, than blaming the poor addicted slobs fouling the air with smog as they burn half a tank of gas waiting in line to get their morning or afternoon or on the way home hit of which by the way I have never been a part of. I go inside. I get the warm fuzzies just thinking about it. Dang! I sure wish I knew what they put in there so I could reproduce it perfectly. It is not the grounds because I have bought those, put it through my expensive coffee maker and it is not the same even if I go all out and make it a double double. Funny, every Canadian probably knows what a double double is. For my American friends, if you ever find yourself hijacked and your life depends on proving that you are a Canadian and you are asked what a double double is the answer is: double cream, double sugar. Repeat that. Say out loud: "For the life of me, Double Cream, Double sugar." Good. That knowledge may one day save you life.

For those of you who have been here today keep in mind that she does not like the smell of coffee brewing, let alone drink the stuff unless it is a Mocha Frappuccino. Now, I do have to admit that is a wonderful invention but it is more like a dessert than anything although I have seen the odd person come rolling into work carrying one even in the winter. I have also seen that same lovely person turn a tad manic searching for the nearest MF (Mocha Frappuccino) dispensing facility (Starbucks) and end up going way out of her way to get her shaking hands on one instead of stopping at the Timmy's we just passed and substituting it for a perfectly good Ice Cappuccino from Tims for half the price. Now she would probably try to get you to believe that the difference is like apples and oranges, I would say that it is more like raisins and prunes.

I love you Timmy.

The Parole Board Is Insane

Let us work together to get the law changed here in Canada so that people like Harold Schmeltzer will never be allowed out of jail to hurt or kill another soul again and in order that the victims families can have the peace of knowing that. It is outrageous that he got parole. He will re offend. Life should be life. Please follow the link to Kimmieslaw and sign the petition.

They Are Smoking Monkeys

Conversation In A Dream

"They are smoking monkeys."

"What do you mean? Do you mean that they are on fire? I don't see any smoke wafting off of them!"

"No, no no! Don't you see? You can dress up a monkey, give it a cigar and try as hard as you can but the monkey will still be a monkey. Just because it is all dressed up and is smoking a cigar does not make the monkey a person. You can not make it so."

"But the monkey, I am sure never thought it was a person."

" So and who really knows what a monkey thinks?"

"Argh, They obviously are people and not monkeys and not only that, are not smoking!"

"You are missing the point. A person may think that they are a Christian or a Muslim or a good Jew and be anything but. They are nothing even close, no matter how they package themselves and let me till you sometimes the package is not fooling anybody. They are obviously smoking monkeys."

"Of all bad men religious bad men are the worst"

C. S Lewis

My dream response to reading: A Mighty Heart The Brave Life And Death Of My Husband, Danny Pearl

Mariane Pearl
with
Sarah Crichton

I have not seen the movie and I don't know if I can. I opted to read the book. I cried often reading this book and could read only small portions at a time. It saddens me to no end that there are people in the world so deceived and so full of hate and who do it all in the name of God. The thing is, God is good. It is people who have gone wrong, some so very, very wrong.

Trav Can Continue To Be A Canadian

Just in case the questions were driving you crazy and you really wanted to know the answers here they are. Well done Trav! You passed the test and it was the hard version! Honorable mention goes to Mo. You answered like most true Canadians would.

Section One: Questions about Canada

1. Who are the Aboriginal peoples of Canada? The First Nations, the Inuit and the Metis

2. Who were the United European Loyalists? During and after the American Revolution, thousands of people left the United States and became known as United European Loyalists.

3. When did settlers from France first establish communities on the St. Lawrence River? 1600's

4..What did the government do to make immigration to western Canada much easier? Built a railway across the prairies to the west coast.

5. Which four provinces first formed Confederation? Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

6. When did the British North American Act come into effect? 1867

7. Why is the Constitution Act, 1982 important in Canadian history? Prior to this time any changes to the constitution had to be approved by the British Parliament. This act gave Canada the power to change our constitution ourselves.

8. When did the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms become part of the Canadian Constitution? 1982

9. Name two fundamental freedoms protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights And Freedoms. Freedom of thought, the right to live and work anywhere in Canada, protection against discrimination,the right to a fair trial.

10. Where does the name "Canada" come from? Thanks to the CBC every Canadian with a television can answer this question. It is a Huron-Iroquois word that means village. In asking some Aboriginal people what the area was called he was told Kanata. In reality the two Aboriginal peoples were pointing out a village.

O Kanada, My Village

I phoned Immigration Canada to see if I could find out the status of my citizen application. I was told that an envelope was mailed that very day that would inform me to appear before the judge on March 25, provincial court. It is time to cram. Even though I turned 55 in February, I may have to write the test. Here are some sample questions. Let us see how well you do. Pencils ready? Proceed!

Section One: Questions about Canada

1. Who are the Aboriginal peoples of Canada?

2. Who were the United European Loyalists?

3. When did settlers from France first establish communities on the St. Lawrence River?

4..What did the government do to make immigration to western Canada much easier?

5. Which four provinces first formed Confederation?

6. When did the British North American Act come into effect?

7. Why is the Constitution Act, 1982 important in Canadian history?

8. When did the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms become part of the Canadian Constitution?

9. Name two fundamental freedoms protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights And Freedoms.

10. Where does the name "Canada" come from?

Submit your answers and I will grade them. This will help me study. I am hoping that the test will be multiple choice. If it is...I will be fine. If it is not... Lets say, I had better study hard! Some of the questions are easy on the sample test but probably more than half of them the average Canadian would have trouble answering unless you happen to be in grade five. No cheating. This is not an open book exam.

Foul, Foul and Triple Foul

The Blog Herald states that the are probably Fifty Million Blogs in existence. Maybe that is why so many journalists are feeling threatened. Maybe that is why the people at Times On line wrote the article that they did. They do seem to have it out for bloggers.

The authors of this article, surmise that most bloggers are motivated by narcissism, and of self aggrandizing motives. We are all seekers of adulation. Not their words but definitely implied! They seem to be very hard on the mommy bloggers in particular by making them out to be ahem bad mommies who put their blogging before their children. That is what I came away with.

Perhaps it is the mainly the BIG blogs that have gained their disdain, you know, the blogs that are making money. They seem to have a lack of understanding that the people who are making the money have worked hard, have talent and are sometimes journalists themselves. They avoid the fact that the types of blogs out in blog land are as diverse as the people themselves are. They do not mention: political blogs, photographic blogs, cooking blogs, sports blogs, fitness blogs, humor blogs, religious blogs and blogs designed to help others through traumatic times. I could go on and on.

They make it sound as if you can not make a real friend through blogs. I know for a fact that this is not true. Many of us have got to hug the friends that we have made, not virtual hugs but real bona fide hugs, real people that have become real friends.

Worst of all,while I believe that everybody is entitled to their opinions, I do have a problem with the unethical manner that the authors have gone to in expressing them. They did not interview Don Mills Diva yet they make it sound as if they did. They did not ask her if they could use her material. I wonder how many of the other so called interviews have been lifted. This is very unprofessional and misleading.

I will not allow this type of article make me feel ashamed of my humble little blog. I will write on. Hopefully I will improve my writing skills. To all the other humble bloggers: "Write on! You can and you count." To the people at Times On Line, I say "Fifty Million people is a lot of people. Does that not tell you something? Maybe you should get a blog and learn blog ethics. Learn to use your link button. Ask permission for goodness sake!"

Follow the story from Lucy's blog to Don Mills Diva to the Times On Line article about the dangers of blogging.

Trouble! Trouble! Boil and Bubble!

Some of my blogging friends may notice that a link that was listed as one of my favorite sites a popular health blog is now missing and some of you may notice that when you visit there I am no longer around. My rant was not appreciated and it was suggested that maybe I should leave. To say that I was told off is putting it mildly. I was not quite kicked out so I guess I could have stayed but I have disagreed at other times with some of the articles posted and some of the things that a few of the people have said. It all sort of hit a boiling point although I think I really wasn't quite boiling. I would call it more a slow simmer.. My mistake was in saying so. I decided to take up this persons suggestion and I hit the delete button. I didn't think that I had come across to hard. My rant is now gone from the site because when I deleted my account I totally disappeared from the site. All that remains is the punch that I got on the nose so to speak.

One thing that is bothering me so much lately has to do with the policies of the American health insurance system that is leaving so many people out in the cold. People have an impossible task of getting insured when they have any pre-existing conditions and if they can get somebody to cover them their premiums are out of reach. Many people are having to decide whether to buy medications or to buy food and they are the lucky ones. Anything that points the system into even further erosion and lack of compassion raises my dander.

One article I read, a while back, had to do with doctors maybe being able to fire their patients if they did not make the life style changes that they had suggested and that maybe insurance companies should not have to cover people for their self inflicted conditions. I just wonder who is going to make all these decisions for these people. I am not saying that the person who wrote it advocates this practice. The position of the writer was not very clear. Many people who responded thought that this is a good idea and would cause people to take better care of themselves. I think that Big Brother would be watching you even more than he already does. It also has the potential to leave most people without insurance or care unless you have truck loads of money. To me all the American system is concerned with is money. It all boils down to that. Again my opinion only. Please note that I am talking about the system and not the care givers.

Another thing that bugged me was a comment by one of the readers about how Americans should tough up and stash away an emergency fund. Apparently this person had done that and was covered for a coronary he had when uninsured. He figured people with cable shouldn't whine. He did say that maybe he was being a little Polyannish. WHAT! All we have to do is get rid of our cable? Who would have thunk it? If it were all that simple the cable companies would be doomed.

Some of the articles tend to over simplify things by stating that most of our ailments are totally curable by following some very rigid dietary and exercise regimes and that most health problems are caused by not doing so and that most people could be off their medications if they did so. I feel note this is my personal feeling and maybe others don't feel this way and that is O.K. that sometimes the site was being a little judgmental. Sometimes people can get somewhat extreme. This tends to cause some people to go over to the legalistic side of things. Legalism can be found just about anywhere. Legalists loose their ability to have real compassion for others.

More and more people who are joining are trying to sell something. They do not directly advertise but do try to lure you to their sites where they would be happy to sell you something. I know...it is a free world. I don't have a problem with people expressing their opinions or trying to sell something. I am upset that on an open forum I would get attacked if I expressed a mildly negative opinion. To say anything but THE SITE IS SIMPLY AMAZING pushes the wrong button and if you do that you get accused of being an uncaring person.

I have been reading some blogs and talking to some of the blogers in the States who are going through horrible times regarding their lack of health care funding. It makes me cry. It breaks my heart. For all the things that we have been going through we have not had to suffer this worry and stress to any large extent on top of everything else. I can't imagine having to go through that.

Maybe I am being over sensitive over some of these articles and comments. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. Maybe what I wrote was misunderstood. Maybe I should have been more careful in how I expressed my opinion. To my friends that enjoy the site, I am not trying to get you to leave. There is a lot of good there. Most of the people are wonderful. The lady who created the site is amazing. I do not wish her any harm and hope she prospers in the pursuit of her dreams. I probably need to learn to spit out the hay. Hay by it's very nature is hard to swallow. I should know that by now. I should simply spit it out and move on to the green grass. I am writing this so you know where I am coming from and I hope that my rant over there has not offended any of my friends.

I wish good health to you all and hope that you still visit me here.

Just a little note to Fluffy because from my comments on her site she has come to the conclusion that Canadians have fur and the raising of my dander will probably keep the myth going, I sure hope she does not now think that we eat grass too. Hahaha! She cracks me up. Hahaha!

Help Protect

I came across this link while visiting AdamsWife (also known as Eve) blog site. I admire this lady behind Moms For Modesty because instead of just complaining she has endeavored to try to do something about the fashion industry's bent on designing and selling clothing that turn little girls and teens into sexual objects. I have heard many moms who are frustrated when shopping for their daughters. We have all seen the results of this trend when we walk down the street. The thing that I find the saddest is that the fashion industry is targeting children...little girls...younger and younger! Where will they stop? Follow the link on my side bar under "links I love" and check out what she hopes for and what she believes. If you agree sign her petition.