The more I read and listen the more I seem to be confused. There are ALL kinds of coverage about what Hollywood and TV personalities are doing. There is plenty of coverage about the various scandals that politicians step into, and we get all the cute coverage about guys pulling buses with their hair or drag queens losing their wigs.

What I really want to know is how crooked is the Afghan government, what are the real costs of the proposed health care program, why do we let the Chinese keep their currency well below par. CNN can fact check a SNL comedy sketch but can't spend a week giving us a complete breakdown of the health bill?

What is the true effect, as of now, of the stimulus package? What are the up side or down side of the US dollar being removed as the world's currency?

Nope we get more of Sarah or Lee. H'mm reminds me of the cake company with its name reversed. We get more of a bishop telling a congressman maybe he shouldn't go to communion. Or what is Oprah and Lou going to do after leaving their shows.

It seems that everything from the mass media to the internet that there is no longer a place to find facts. It's all opinion and much of it based on shaky information. I'm beginning to think that my mother's love for the National Enquire was well founded. At least with the National Enquire you know they are having fun and are not even thinking about being accurate. Even once in a while they hit a kernel of truth as with the Edward's affair.

I personally am hoping that the Mayans are right that 2112 is the end of an era. I just hope it is the end of an era that revels in misdirection, half truths. and deceit. With my luck instead of the cycle repeating back to phase one of the cycle the world probably does end. But until then I would really like to know what's going on and have the silly reporting stopped!
 

Finally after decades of ignoring health care Congress will begin the debate. What will happen is still anybody's guess. Hopefully the debate will be on honest issues and not the distortions that insurance industry have already used to smoke screen the truth.

How many more Americans are going to have to declare bankruptcy due to health costs not covered by their health insurance? How many Americans are going to have to be denied insurance because of a "pre-existent" condition" How many more Americans will have to lose their insurance because they lost their job? How many Americans, too poor to afford insurance, will continue to clod up the emergency rooms of hospitals before Congress passes a health plan that covers everyone?

Now MAYBE the real debate can begin!
 

Don't get me wrong I like Ophra. I think she has brought to our attention many issues that we may have missed. I also like it that when she made a mistake she owned up to it. What I can't understand is the 18 month good bye swan-song! Hey Lou Dobbs announces he's leaving the NIGHT he left!

Even Leno took a few years before he left the Tonight Show and he stayed because of contract obligations, but he also gave us info about his new show. I further dislike that her last day is 9/11. Yes I know she had no idea in 1986 that 9/11 would have a different meaning today, but what so big about staying around so it comes out to 25 years? Her new cable network is suppose to kick off in Jan of 2011 and it would make more sense for her to start her new program when the network goes on the air not nine months later. I realize that contract obligations were probably a big part of the decision, but lets be forth coming with it. Like I am not going to be renewing my contract so I can devote all my energies to the new network.

My grandmother once said that when one door closes another door opens. In this case Ophra has thrown open a new door and is taking eighteen months to close the other door behind her! So what's with all the tears? Of course this is bigger news item than everything else! How did the National Enquier miss this along with the New York Times? Could it be they both thought it wasn't much of a news event?
 

For the past few years the "conservative" talking heads have been led by Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and of course Rush Limbaugh. They give us their opinion on just about everything and we listen to them and all too many take their word as gospel!

Here are three guys who where college DROP OUTS and far too many Americans take their word over world recognized scientists, lawyers, and medical experts. They defend the constitution as a document as if it was derived from "God", even though God is not mentioned anywhere in the document. They defend the words "In God We trust" on coins as if the founding fathers would turn in their graves if the term was removed from coins. The fact is the decision that was made to put that slogan on America coins was made long after the founding fathers had passed on and they did their turning when the decision was made to put it on the coins! They debunk global warming, or the depletion of our natural resources. The debate on global warming is no longer if it is happening but how much can we do to slow it down!

Earlier I mentioned that for the past few decades the American education system has resulted in the dumbing down of the average American citizen and this is what you get as a result when talk show hosts with barely a high school education are giving more credit that individuals who have study issues and have a higher ability to understand complex problems.

I admit that they may represent the average American, but believe me I do not want the average American making decisions that will affect how I live. It is said that anyone can become President of the United States and the last President (Bush) was an excellent example of that statement and it was the scariest eight years the country has ever seen!

So the following individuals are making millions of dollars a year because millions of Americans can't think for themselves and need to listen to someone else express their uninformed viewpoints on a national scale. Talk about the blind leading the blind!

Sean Hannity graduated in 1980 from St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary high school, located in Uniondale, New York. Hannity dropped out of New York University and Adelphi University.

Glenn Beck graduated from Sehome High School locted in Bellingham, Washington in 1982. In 1996, while working for a New Haven-area radio station, Beck was admitted to Yale University through a special program for non-traditional students. One of his recommendations for admittance came from Senator Joe Lieberman. Beck took one theology class, "Early Christology," and then dropped out.

Rush Limbaugh graduated from Cape Central High School located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, in 1969. His father and mother wanted him to attend college, so he enrolled at Southeast Missouri State University. He dropped out after two semesters and one summer; according to his mother, "he flunked everything", even a modern ballroom dancing class.

I don't know about you but I don't want Joe the Plumber or Palin the Rogue running the country. I want the very best individuals available to be the President of these United States!
 

For those who do not live in western Canada the Pineapple Express is a weather pattern that brings warm weather when it is suppose to be bringing snow. For the past few days the Express has been here in Alberta. Yesterday the temperature hit 63 F, that was 10 degrees higher than the old record!

I feel sorry for the rabbits. It must be hard on them. Here they are almost totally white and the ground is as dark as it can be! Even a blind hawk can see them and I expect we will see lot of coyotes next spring, but not to many rabbits.

The golfers are enjoying the warm weather and what is really surprising is that the mountains got a bang load of snow yesterday (20"). The ski slopes are open so you can golf in the morning, take a 3 hour drive and ski in the late afternoon. Good to see the snow stayed in the mountains. This should help BC in hosting the Olympics, if they can keep the roads open to the sites of the various events!

Just goes to show you that we can say or do what we want, but Mother Nature has a way of doing what she wants when she wants. We can debate all we want about global warming and we can try to do things to affect it one way or the other, but in the end we are still not smart enough to stop or start events that are determined on a global scale.

All we can do is give them cute names like the Pineapple Express!

 

In Canada there are two sports that kept Canadians busy during the winter. Most people know that hockey is one of the favorites. The other is a sport called curling. The sport began in Scotland and came to Canada in the 1800's. Canada was a natural for the sport and it rapidly became a favorite pastime for the farmers that lived on the prairies. It still is as every small town in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta have their own ice and curling rink. In the beginning they were all outdoors and used natural ice. Today every town seems to have their own "ice palace".

This is a sport that my wife loves. The game is played on a sheet of ice that is 180 feet long and at the end of the ice is a target like a bulls eye, which are placed at both ends of the ice. A team has four members called the lead, second, third, and the skip. Most teams use the name of the skip at the team's name, but not always as sometimes the "skip" will throw third. The skip is the individual that has the most experience in "reading" the ice. Each member "throws" 2 "rocks" each. The rock or stone, is made of granite, and weigh about 40 pounds each. The players actually slides the rock down the sheet of ice and tries to put it where his/her skip has indicated.

The game is a combination of shuffle board, chess, and billiards. After all eight rocks have been delivered the one closes to the center of the bulls eye scores a point for that particular team. If the second rock from the same team is closer they get a second point and on it goes. If a team scores an "eight ender" they get their name in the record book just like a hole-in-one in golf.

Beginning in early December the Canadians will host an event that is called the Roar of the Rings in Edmonton, Alberta. Here eight men and women's teams will compete to decide who will represent Canada at the 2010 Olympics. Way back in April I bought my wife tickets for all the games. Well the tickets never arrived until today. The look on her face was well worth the cost and it doesn't start for another three weeks!

One of her favorite teams came from a town not far from where I was a school administrator and for some reason we have never met them. Then last spring we were on our way to get my mother and as we drove through Grand Forks. North Dakota we saw the signs for the World Championships that were being held there. We stopped to watch and there before us was the Canadian team and the rink she liked curling against the French. After the game she went down and met all the players, their autographs and a couple of photos. We traveled over 800 miles to see a team that plays out of a community located 10 miles from us! She was thrilled!

We will kept you up dated on how her favorite team is doing at the playoffs which start on December 6th
 

I appreciate the 999 times various readers have checked into this blog since we started earlier this year. The next reader will push that number to an even 1,000. Thank all of you who have shared your impressions with me on the items that I have put on this site. I have heard from many who agree and have really enjoyed those who have not seen things the same way as I.

When I was young many of the things I believed in were considered on the left side of liberals. As the years have passed my beliefs have remained fairly constant, but now I am known more as a moderate liberal. Funny how that works. As a youth social security and unemployment insurance and medicare were considered socialist ideas, but today I see Republicans defending medicare and warning seniors that the new health proposals will negatively affect medicare.

There is an old saying that what goes around comes around and I find that to be basically true only the second time around extra baggage seems to be attached making the original view a little more or less moderate than current views.

This blog was established to share my thoughts on a variety of topics and for the most part that is what we have tried to do and would like to thank the 999 who have taken time out of their day and peeked in.
 

It is beginning to be sad to watch how the US is tearing itself apart and how quickly we forget.

It was a year ago that American's decided that the eight years of Bush's administration had to go! It really didn't matter who the Democrats put up for president. He or she would win! Now the individual that did get elected had/has a silver spoon for a tongue. He said that America needed to change. It had to show more compassion to its poor, it had to change the way it did business, and it had to have a way to put all American's on equal footing so that the dream of America could flourish.

Now that he is doing exactly what he said he would do he has become the symbol of "evil" for many.

There now appears to be a religious war going on right here in the United States. On the one side is the ultra right Christians that take the Bible literally. That evolution is theory of the devil, that if you don't believe in the christian god you need to be converted, ignored, or worse, destroyed.

I see no difference from this group of religious frantically believers than those operating in the Middle East. Both are willing to put to death those who do not believe. All we have to do is look at the witches of Salem and more recently the assassinations of doctors who preform abortions. Then there is the attempts to put religious doctrine in public schools' science courses. Creation as a science principle?? Give me a break. If you want to use that to explain how life developed on the planet you might as well say Life began 5 seconds ago and everything you think and believe was put in your mind by God!

Not only did the current president inherit a ton of problems caused by the previous administration's actions he also inherited major issues that the previous administration ignored for eight.
years. If the US was a car the current president got a car whose engine needs to be overhauled, the roof leaks, all four tires need to be replaced, the windshield has major cracks, and the gas tank has a hole in it. Only someone who loves cars and his country would even try to refinish it.

Half this country understands that what he is trying to do is to improve the situation and the other half unfortunately either does not understand or blinded by a misguided religious belief. The sad part is that they have discovered that if they use the modern means of communication to tell a mistruth long enough and loud enough people begin to believe them. Talk about people taking a page from Hitler's tactics. The end result is that the US is tearing itself apart and the vultures are hovering.


 

When I was young the push for Christmas always started right after American Thanksgiving. The Macy's parade was the introduction to Santa Claus and the start of Christmas sales. Today it seems like we go from Halloween right into the push for Christmas and Thanksgiving seems to be an after thought. In Canada where they celebrate thanksgiving in early October I guess it makes a little more sense. I do like the idea of the Christmas spirit being extended but it seems to be an extension of the commercial aspects of Christmas rather than the spirit. Like the new movie the "Christmas Carol" being release two weeks BEFORE Thanksgiving! Give me a break!

Well the weather here in northern Alberta has been really mild, in the mid 50's low 60's and to take advantage of it we decided to put up our outdoor Christmas lights today! So one job done and I didn't freeze any fingers. Now all we have to do is wait for the snow! Like many places northern Alberta has a "if you don't like the weather wait a minute" type of weather, but going from a t-shirt day to a snow parka day within twenty-four hours is a bit much even for northern Alberta!

Lights look nice and they will be even better with some snow and you know what? I can feel the Christmas spirit stirring!
 

Have you ever wondered what a tattoo might look like when the individual turns 80? What does a wrinkled tattoo really look like? I don't really think I want to know.

This brings me to the question why in the world does a person decide to get a tattoo. Are they an art lover? Do they want to impress someone? Do they really think long term?

Now I understand the use of tattoos in primitive societies. They were used as a sign of adulthood and a way for individuals to identify themselves with a certain clan or tribe, or to mark an accomplishment. I can understand why street gangs still use them as identification, but for the life of me I can not understand why a normal intelligent individual would want to have a tattoo.

I am actually glad that a lot of criminals decide to get a tattoo. I can't think of a better way for the police to be able to identify an individual committing a crime.

I really admire the art work on most of the tattoos that women have. I make sure to admire the tattoos where ever they are exposed on their bodies. I figure they must want me to look at the art work regardless where it is and so far I have never been slapped for saying nice tattoo.

The shame is that whenever I see a tattoo it reminds me of the German Doctor that had them tanned during World War II and made lamp shades out of the results.

I just figure that if someone is going to poke holes in me I should get something more out of it, like maybe a H1N1 vaccination. But that just me and I still will enjoy seeing butterflies, bluebirds and tiny wonder women showing up on interesting parts of the human body.

I think a good investment in a few years will be in tattoo removal equipment.

Then there is body piercing another ancient custom that needs to be put to rest but that's tomorrow's topic.