For the tiny percentage of you who care what's happening over in the sandpit, here's today's news, in four parts.
Item: South African President Jacob Zuma -- the one with four or five wives, who takes showers to avoid getting HIV/AIDS -- has been on a mission to Libya to persuade Brother Gadhafi to stop fiddling while Tripoli burns. In other words, to go while the going's good. It is rumoured that Zuma offered Gadhafi asylum in Comrade Bob Mugabe's Zimbabwe, where he could join former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu in luxurious exile. Gadhafi's answer? "Hell no! I won't go!"
Item: Yemen is a country where houses are built tall, not wide, so the contents of the alleged toilets can run down the outside walls and dry in the hot desert sun. Civil war has been imminent for weeks, and looks more so today, as the off-again on-again truce between President Saleh and groups of desert tribesmen has gone off again.
Last week, fighting between members of the powerful Hashed tribe -- mounted on camels and armed with scimitars and muskets -- and Saleh's security forces widened to areas outside the capital. Saleh's elite Republican Guard is armed with machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, so the morning line makes the tribal types a long shot.
Item: Afghanistan's alleged president, Hamid Karzai -- krazai name, krazai guy! -- warned NATO-led forces in the armpit of the world that they risk being seen as an occupying force rather than an ally. Wow! Stop the presses!
The prez, wearing his trademark Afghan hat [what else? Ed.] despite 100-degree heat, said NATO's killing of civilians had to stop or he would take unspecified "action". Like leaving the country to join Gadhafi somewhere? Highly unlikely. Lifetime pct: .976
And finally: As Karzai spoke, so did Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harpoon, who called the Canucks' mission "in general a success" and proclaimed Afghanistan "no longer a threat to the world". Which begs the question of why the USA and a few other members of the coalition of the allegly willing are staying there after the Canadians leave.
Walt nominates Harper for the Brass Neck Award [or similar. Ed.]. How he can stand, clad in khakis and the new "Peter Mackay" model flak-catcher and lie to his troops -- 156 of whom have died in the Afghani dust and dirt -- mystifies me. And the Canadian soldiers know they're being lied to, yet they listen politely and refrain from booing or fragging their dear leader. Canadian politeness, I guess!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
156
Bombardier Karl Manning, RIPThe 156th Canadian to die in the Afghanistan war was Bombardier Karl Manning, of Chicoutimi, Québec. He was an artillery soldier and radar operator, who spent the better part of a nearly completed tour at a remote base amid the desolate hard scrub villages of western Panjwaii.
Panjwaii is just another Afghan sandpit, a stark, hostile place that for years was a Taliban sanctuary. The Canadian battle group, led by the 1st Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment -- the famous "Van Doos" -- pushed into the area last December.
Manning's body was discovered by fellow soldiers at the outpost in the Zangabad area on Friday. Brigadier-General Dean Milner, officer commanding, said "While an investigation is still ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding his death, foul play and enemy action have been ruled out."
That is the military way of saying Bombardier Manning took his own life. He was the fourth Canadian soldier serving in Afghanistan to do so. His reasons will likely never be known.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Racist jury convicted me, says Johnson
In "You doesn't have to call me Johnson", Walt told you about a Ugandan gentleman who can now expect to spend the rest of his life in a Canadian prison, by dint of having knowingly infected several women with the HIV/AIDS virus. Two of them died, thus Johnsan Aziga was convicted of two counts of murder in the first degree.
Contrary to the will of a significant portion of its citizenry, Canada has no death penalty. It doesn't even have "life means the rest of your natural life". The worst sentence you can get is life without parole for 25 years. Since Mr. Aziga is 54, that would make him -- let's see -- pretty close to 80 by the time he gets out, if he gets out.
However, the folks who run the Canadian justice system [Is dis a system? Mr. Natural], being Canadian, want to take no chances on Johnson being able to do it again. [At 80??!! Ed.] So they have applied to have Mr. A declared a dangerous offender, which means he could be held "at Her Majesty's pleasure", which means forever.
A trial is progressing, slowly. As Walt told you on May 10th, a shrink put the murderer's problems down to a complex related to his being shy about an undescended testicle. Johnson Aziga had a different explanation.
On the stand on Friday, he admitted he is guilty of aggravated sexual assault because he failed to telling the women he was HIV positive before having unsafe sex with them. But, he went on, he shouldn't have been convicted of murder because while he exposed them to HIV, he doesn't believe he was definitely the source of their infections.
Then Mr. Aziga, who is black, played his ace in the hole. The jury found him guilty of the two murder counts, he said, because -- unlike his girlfriends -- they were biased and racist.
In Canada? Say it ain't so, Johnson!
Footnote: Racism works in many ways. It is not unknown for black men to boast about how many white women they've been able to bed and impregnate. Keeping score on a racial basis, as it were. Or just getting even for the centuries of abuse and oppression that the evil whites have heaped on the poor, downtrodden blacks.
Contrary to the will of a significant portion of its citizenry, Canada has no death penalty. It doesn't even have "life means the rest of your natural life". The worst sentence you can get is life without parole for 25 years. Since Mr. Aziga is 54, that would make him -- let's see -- pretty close to 80 by the time he gets out, if he gets out.
However, the folks who run the Canadian justice system [Is dis a system? Mr. Natural], being Canadian, want to take no chances on Johnson being able to do it again. [At 80??!! Ed.] So they have applied to have Mr. A declared a dangerous offender, which means he could be held "at Her Majesty's pleasure", which means forever.
A trial is progressing, slowly. As Walt told you on May 10th, a shrink put the murderer's problems down to a complex related to his being shy about an undescended testicle. Johnson Aziga had a different explanation.
On the stand on Friday, he admitted he is guilty of aggravated sexual assault because he failed to telling the women he was HIV positive before having unsafe sex with them. But, he went on, he shouldn't have been convicted of murder because while he exposed them to HIV, he doesn't believe he was definitely the source of their infections.
Then Mr. Aziga, who is black, played his ace in the hole. The jury found him guilty of the two murder counts, he said, because -- unlike his girlfriends -- they were biased and racist.
In Canada? Say it ain't so, Johnson!
Footnote: Racism works in many ways. It is not unknown for black men to boast about how many white women they've been able to bed and impregnate. Keeping score on a racial basis, as it were. Or just getting even for the centuries of abuse and oppression that the evil whites have heaped on the poor, downtrodden blacks.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
"Spearchucker": more than just a racial slur
Those who think that people are pretty much the same the world over, even in darkest Africa, may find the following story interesting...or at least a bit unsettling. It's taken from the May 25th online edition of the Zimbabwean paper NewsDay. The names have not been changed to protect the innocent or the not-so-innocent.
A suspected thief from Magunje shocked the small rural village when he stabbed and killed a neighbourhood watch committee member with a spear before setting fire to his own father’s thatched hut, accusing his dad of snitching on him.
Jealous Tomase allegedly stabbed Wellington Beremauro in the stomach with a spear and, for good measure, struck him several times on the head with an iron bar, killing him instantly.
The state prosecutor alleges that on the fateful day, Beremauro and his colleagues, Never Chitsato and Pascal Zvikonyaniswa, were executing their duties as neighbourhood watch members when they went to Tomasi’s homestead, searching for stolen property. Upon seeing the local law enforcement agents, Tomasi allegedly took to his heels and disappeared for a while.
The neighbourhood watch team proceeded to conduct a search and recovered the stolen property which they took to Tomasi’s father’s homestead for recording. Unbeknownst to them, that was the very place in which Tomasi had sought refuge. He allegedly appeared from behind a kitchen, armed with two spears and an axe.
Tomasi allegedly threw the spear striking Beremauro in the stomach knocking him down. He allegedly proceeded to strike him several times with an iron bar.
As if that was not enough, Tomasi is also alleged to have set on fire his father’s huts, accusing him of selling him out to the neghbourhood watch team. He appeared before High Court judge Justice Samuel Kudya last Monday, facing a charge of murder. The state apparently decided to proceed only on the murder charge, as it seemed there'd already been enough arson around.
Tomasi pled not guilty but his efforts to defend himself were thwarted when his father Victor Tomasi, testified against him. The accused’s father said he personally witnessed Beremauro being speared in the stomach by his son. At that point dad ran away, returning later only to discover his huts had been torched. The trial continues this week.
A suspected thief from Magunje shocked the small rural village when he stabbed and killed a neighbourhood watch committee member with a spear before setting fire to his own father’s thatched hut, accusing his dad of snitching on him.
Jealous Tomase allegedly stabbed Wellington Beremauro in the stomach with a spear and, for good measure, struck him several times on the head with an iron bar, killing him instantly.
The state prosecutor alleges that on the fateful day, Beremauro and his colleagues, Never Chitsato and Pascal Zvikonyaniswa, were executing their duties as neighbourhood watch members when they went to Tomasi’s homestead, searching for stolen property. Upon seeing the local law enforcement agents, Tomasi allegedly took to his heels and disappeared for a while.
The neighbourhood watch team proceeded to conduct a search and recovered the stolen property which they took to Tomasi’s father’s homestead for recording. Unbeknownst to them, that was the very place in which Tomasi had sought refuge. He allegedly appeared from behind a kitchen, armed with two spears and an axe.
Tomasi allegedly threw the spear striking Beremauro in the stomach knocking him down. He allegedly proceeded to strike him several times with an iron bar.
As if that was not enough, Tomasi is also alleged to have set on fire his father’s huts, accusing him of selling him out to the neghbourhood watch team. He appeared before High Court judge Justice Samuel Kudya last Monday, facing a charge of murder. The state apparently decided to proceed only on the murder charge, as it seemed there'd already been enough arson around.
Tomasi pled not guilty but his efforts to defend himself were thwarted when his father Victor Tomasi, testified against him. The accused’s father said he personally witnessed Beremauro being speared in the stomach by his son. At that point dad ran away, returning later only to discover his huts had been torched. The trial continues this week.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Mainstream thinking on abortion
For years now -- make that decades -- the lamestream media have been telling us that the majority of modern, progressive people are "pro-choice". That means, we are told, that it's up to a pregnant woman to decide for herself if she wants to keep her child or kill it. That's not the way the media present it, of course, but that's what it means to be "pro-choice".
Thus, the past week saw considerable consternation in the ranks of the pro-abortion lobbyists and other progressive and right-thinking wimmin. The cause of the consternation? The release of the Gallup Poll's annual Values and Beliefs Survey. Hard as the sisters find it to believe, 72% of Americans believe that abortion should be illegal under most circumstances.
The Gallup figures show that 49% of Americans label themselves "pro-choice" while 45% are "pro-life". As the first graph shows, those figures have see-sawed back and forth, but still been roughly even, for several years. For most of 2009-10, the "pro-life" numbers were slightly higher, with a reversal occurring late last year.
However, the more significant graph -- and the most disturbing to the baby-killers -- is the second one. It shows clearly that most Americans do not favour abortion. 51% of those surveyed said that abortion is "morally wrong". Only 39% said that what is euphemistically called "the procedure" is "morally acceptable".
One could infer that many of those polled want to have it both ways. Perhaps they see no contradiction in supporting a woman's "right to choose" while at the same time saying they would not make that choice -- to abort an unwanted child -- for themselves.
The third graph deals with the legality of abortion. 72% said that abortion should be illegal either in all (22%) or in some (50%) circumstances. If you do the math, those figures must include at least some of the 49% who identified themselves as "pro-choice".
The fourth question tried to be more specific. What do you understand by "some circumstances", it asked. 61% of responders said it should be only a few (as opposed to "most") circumstances. The results indicate clear and growing support for measures to end the current policy of unrestricted legal abortion on demand.
The Gallup figures show that American opinion on the morality and legality of abortion remains sharply divided. But -- and this is the most important conclusion to be drawn -- those who think that abortion is wrong are not just a handful of right-wing religious fanatics. Being pro-life is just as much a mainstream American viewpoint as the evil opposite.
Thus, the past week saw considerable consternation in the ranks of the pro-abortion lobbyists and other progressive and right-thinking wimmin. The cause of the consternation? The release of the Gallup Poll's annual Values and Beliefs Survey. Hard as the sisters find it to believe, 72% of Americans believe that abortion should be illegal under most circumstances.
The Gallup figures show that 49% of Americans label themselves "pro-choice" while 45% are "pro-life". As the first graph shows, those figures have see-sawed back and forth, but still been roughly even, for several years. For most of 2009-10, the "pro-life" numbers were slightly higher, with a reversal occurring late last year.
However, the more significant graph -- and the most disturbing to the baby-killers -- is the second one. It shows clearly that most Americans do not favour abortion. 51% of those surveyed said that abortion is "morally wrong". Only 39% said that what is euphemistically called "the procedure" is "morally acceptable".
One could infer that many of those polled want to have it both ways. Perhaps they see no contradiction in supporting a woman's "right to choose" while at the same time saying they would not make that choice -- to abort an unwanted child -- for themselves.
The third graph deals with the legality of abortion. 72% said that abortion should be illegal either in all (22%) or in some (50%) circumstances. If you do the math, those figures must include at least some of the 49% who identified themselves as "pro-choice".
The fourth question tried to be more specific. What do you understand by "some circumstances", it asked. 61% of responders said it should be only a few (as opposed to "most") circumstances. The results indicate clear and growing support for measures to end the current policy of unrestricted legal abortion on demand.
The Gallup figures show that American opinion on the morality and legality of abortion remains sharply divided. But -- and this is the most important conclusion to be drawn -- those who think that abortion is wrong are not just a handful of right-wing religious fanatics. Being pro-life is just as much a mainstream American viewpoint as the evil opposite.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Sports of choice
Agent 46 sends along the following interesting observation...
1 The sport of choice for the urban poor is BASKETBALL.
2 The sport of choice for maintenance level employees is BOWLING.
3 The sport of choice for front-line workers is FOOTBALL.
4 The sport of choice for supervisors is BASEBALL.
5 The sport of choice for middle management is TENNIS.
And...
6 The sport of choice for corporate executives and officers is GOLF.
AMAZING CONCLUSION: The higher you go in the corporate structure, the smaller your balls become.
COROLLARY: There are probably a lot of people in our nation's capital playing marbles.
1 The sport of choice for the urban poor is BASKETBALL.
2 The sport of choice for maintenance level employees is BOWLING.
3 The sport of choice for front-line workers is FOOTBALL.
4 The sport of choice for supervisors is BASEBALL.
5 The sport of choice for middle management is TENNIS.
And...
6 The sport of choice for corporate executives and officers is GOLF.
AMAZING CONCLUSION: The higher you go in the corporate structure, the smaller your balls become.
COROLLARY: There are probably a lot of people in our nation's capital playing marbles.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Reform of the reform? Whatever for?
Our man in Rome [the other man! Ed.] weighs in with some comments on Pope Benedict XVI's plan to somehow merge the traditional Latin Tridentine Mass with the Novus Ordo "new mass", which the Holy Father himself called a "fabricated, banal, on-the-spot product".
John Vennari, editor of Catholic Family News, makes the excellent point that what is urgently needed in today's Catholic Church is not a "reform of the reform", but a return to the Mass of All Time, which by decree of Pope St. Pius V could not and cannot be changed.
In an e-mail to Agent 3, Mr. Vennari called Kurt Cardinal Koch’s announcement that the Pope's Motu Proprio is part of a long-term plan to merge both the old and new Mass "lunacy"!
On May 15th, John was privileged to attend a Pontifical High Mass celebrated at St. Peter's according to the "extraordinary" (Tridentine) rite. He made a short (six-minute) video which you can see on here.
Why anyone but a Protestant would feel moved to replace the beauty of the Latin Mass and sacred music with the dumbed-down guitar-picking "kumbayas" of the modern era is beyond me.
John Vennari, editor of Catholic Family News, makes the excellent point that what is urgently needed in today's Catholic Church is not a "reform of the reform", but a return to the Mass of All Time, which by decree of Pope St. Pius V could not and cannot be changed.
In an e-mail to Agent 3, Mr. Vennari called Kurt Cardinal Koch’s announcement that the Pope's Motu Proprio is part of a long-term plan to merge both the old and new Mass "lunacy"!
On May 15th, John was privileged to attend a Pontifical High Mass celebrated at St. Peter's according to the "extraordinary" (Tridentine) rite. He made a short (six-minute) video which you can see on here.
Why anyone but a Protestant would feel moved to replace the beauty of the Latin Mass and sacred music with the dumbed-down guitar-picking "kumbayas" of the modern era is beyond me.
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