I have run this You Tube video before but with everyone getting into the ‘combat rock’ mode I thought I would highlight this video again. Yeah, I know the Canadians soldiers aren’t dancing in the video which is because Canadians rarely dance…trust me on this – I know (and that is why all three of my deceased husbands were immgrants). Some days, I swear the most defining characteristic of being born Canadian is that practically everyone has two left feet.
Lyrical Highlight: Born in Pushistan, trained in Pakistan Got my weapons from I-ran, Now I am a member of the Taliban Ak-47 for thee, Allah got the bullets for me.
I have said it before and no doubt I will say it again. No one does refugee like the Palestinians. Ma’an News:
Al-Arish – Ma’an – Egyptian security forces said 60 new and stolen cars en route to Gaza were seized by officers south of the border on Tuesday.
The cars, mostly BMW and Toyotas, were being dismantled and prepared for transport through a specially-made tunnel in Rafah’s Al-Duhnieh area, police said.
A Roman Catholic priest in Connecticut was charged Tuesday with stealing $1.3 million US in church money over seven years to use for male escorts, expensive clothing, and luxury hotels and restaurants.
A Catholic priest who actually pays for sex with adult male escorts rather than diddling the altar boys. Positively remarkable and almost reformed…
Foreign Policy magazine has posted highlights of Freedom House’s annual report with a listing of the 20 least free countries in the world. North Korea ranks #1 and none of the big fat nasty places mentioned are a surprise per say. Well, except - I did think Somalia should rank higher than #5 and while I never thought Libya would be an easy place to live-in, I am kind of surprised to see Libya trumped a bigger hell-hole than Somalia.
Now, if I could just get my head around the idea that it is more desirable to be citizen of Somalia rather than a Libya. It just doesn’t quite pass my inner sniff test. Zimbabwe did not even make the list or rate a dishonorable mention. What’s up with that? In fact, it looks like the entirety of Central and South American is no longer deserving of a mention among the worst of the worse…which is either a cause for celebration or someone(s) possesses really poor world geography skills.
Depending on your geopolitics – China holds either one or two spots on the list. Once as Tibet (China 9), and then again, as China (12). I don’t mean to give the impression I am suddenly going soft on commies but I have real doubts China 2010 rates a place in the top 20.
While the dictators/despots of Africa earn 5 dishonorable mentions 4 FSU satellites are given rather prominent positions on the list. Is this an appropriate time to interject and just say a small prayer of thanksgiving for the fact some of my ancestors all got the hell of out Belarus (10) – alive and in one piece. Egad, would it ever suck to be me in Belarus now.
Guess who didn’t make the list or a mention? Israel, which doesn’t surprise me in the least but Israel’s omission has probably made the world’s collective mouth gasp in horror for such a glaring and obvious omission. The Saudis and the Syrians make the list, and the Saudis’ 16th spot beats the Syrian’s 17th which is probably the only time in the last 100 years that a Saudis have beaten anyone other than a slave or a woman. Again from this region, I am rather surprised to see not the slightest nod Yemen’s way. Speaking of misses, Iran does not clock in anywhere. No doubt Neda and thousands of other Iranians would probably be rather startled by that fact as well – well they would; if they weren’t already dead.
This is one of those posts which really is a marker for myself rather than of important for the wider world.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is the spiritual adviser of the Israeli political party representing Sephardi Judaism in the Knesset. Eli Yishai may be the public leader of Shas in the Knesset but he gets his direction and policies and talking points from the Rabbi. Last week Rabbi Yosef issued a religious decision surprising for a semi-secular like myself for its progressive compassion. Ynet News:
In an unprecedented halachic ruling, Shas’ spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has allowed a woman pregnant by artificial insemination to marry a man who is not the father of the developing child. M., a 44-year old religious woman, decided to get pregnant through a sperm bank because she feared she would not be able to conceive if she waited any longer.
However immediately after her insemination she met a 50-year old widower and the two quickly decided to wed, after the latter accepted responsibility for the child. The couple immediately ran into trouble: According to the Jewish halacha, a pregnant woman is not allowed to marry any man who is not the father for 24 months after the birth. The ruling preserves the unborn child’s rights. Rabbis explain that if the woman becomes pregnant again within the two years that follow the birth, the mother may stop producing milk for the baby.
The couple appealed to the local rabbinate, but was forbidden to marry. They then turned to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who ruled that the mother may use milk substitutes to feed her child if she conceives again in the coming years. Attorney Zuriel Bublil, who helped the couple with their appeal, was pleased with the result. “This is an unprecedented ruling that will help women coming to the end of their fertility,” he said.
I won’t get into all the details but for a single Jewish religious woman to go to a sperm bank to be inseminated is remarkable in of itself but to have Rabbi Yosef rule such as; is positively earth shattering. Some days, I really think I lost out on the tradition lottery.
The Christians are threatening boycotting/divestment of Israel, again. This really grows wearisome, and after two millenniums of Christian prosecution; I really wish they’d get a new song and prey-book. This time, it is the Methodists…which are different from the United Church, World Counsel of Churches, and I don’t know how many other Christian churches – but more importantly – I don’t much care. However, I do have a proposal. Let’s ban the Methodists from visiting Israel, their missionaries/priests can be deported and their assets seized. They want justice, I say – payback is a bitch.
I went to see her Majesty. The Last Amazon and I were late to the party as we only walked over to Church and King Streets an hour before her Majesty’s arrival and found out we weren’t the only ones going to welcome the Queen. Then the Last Amazon and her friends met up to attend the Gay Pride parade…as the word went out to go out and make a stand against the hatemongers…apparently, Yisrael was out in full force.
The fall-out from the G20 Summit, much like the protests against the police conduct, have yet to end in Toronto. As more time goes by a clearer picture emerges of the so-called ‘thugs’ detained by Police. Toronto Star.
A TTC fare collector spent a “terrifying” 36 hours in custody after being arrested in uniform on his way to work during Saturday’s G20 summit protests. Benjamin Elroy Yau, 37, said he was walking along College St. to the Queen’s Park subway station before his 6 p.m. shift when two police officers “tackled” him to the ground and yelled at him to stop resisting arrest.
“I told them I wasn’t resisting arrest, that I was on my way to work. I was in full uniform with TTC shirt, pants, full ID, my employee card, everything,” Yau said on Wednesday. “They said, ‘Really? Well, you’re a prisoner today.’ ”Moments before, another man had run into him but kept going, Yau said, adding that man was also arrested. There was no protest in sight and not many people in the street, he said. Berating Yau and swearing at him for being an “embarrassment” to the TTC, officers dragged him half a block in handcuffs and shackles and threw him into a paddy wagon, he said.
After a TTC supervisor arrived to vouch for him, he thought he’d be released but was sent to the Eastern Ave. detention centre instead. “I was petrified, I was shocked. I was essentially arrested for going to work,” said Yau, who is still traumatized by the experience. “It was just martial law. I had no rights.”
It’s Canada Day, and even though I liked Dominion Day a great deal more; I still love living in this country. Like a number of Canadians I have had some choices about where I wanted to live and I still chose Canada. I love living in a place where there are four seasons and I do love living in a country where I can look out my big bay living windows of my 19th century flat and see literally the faces of the entire world walk on by.
I like living in a country where water, food, and relatively clean air are in abundance. I love living in a place wherein the ‘authorities’ get shifty with a citizens charter rights – most sane people get absolutely tanked with outraged. This is a good thing. I love the fact our holidays are for the most part sacred and rarely are we allowed to legally pick and chose which day we will celebrate them on. This has given me a mid-week break with enough time to sew two dresses, see a movie with my daughter and lose myself in Patrick O’Brian’s world – all before I have to go back to work tomorrow.
If I had one wish for my country (other than lower taxes) it would be this; peace, order and good government was the order of the day no matter which group of stiffs is running the government.
