Obama betrays the UK

Spotted in one of those articles about Wikileaks in the Tellytubbygraph:

US agrees to tell Russia Britain's nuclear secrets

I mentioned this to Mrs S, who pointed out: "Didn't they send the Rosenbergs to the Electric Chair for something like that?"

Erm, aren't the UK and the USA supposed to be allies or something? This doesn't sound like the act of an ally. What the hell does the boy president think he's playing at?

So, this religion of peace thing....

You know, what with suras in the Al'Quran forbidding the murder of innocents or suicide, I don't think there's really a paradise for Islamist suicide bombers. Just a one way ticket to hell.

Boom! Don't pass 'Go', don't collect 72 virgins (Or raisins), no milk or honey. Simply straight on down to burn for eternity. In kit form.

It's just a pity they wantonly kill so many other poor SOB's of all creeds and colours. It's all so bloody pointless, and only gives the powers that be more excuse to crack down on everyone.

I don't get it

A Muslim suicide bomber was killed by his own devices in Stockholm today. Now I have to declare an interest here. I have family and my wife has friends who actually live in the city.

I don't get it. Why bomb Stockholm? The Swedes are a pleasant lot, and are neck and neck with the Canadians in a politeness arms race. If there was a politeness Olympics, Sweden and Canada would be neck and neck for most of the Gold medals with a tie breaker based on tolerance and hospitality. So the cartoonist who once drew a funny cartoon of a religious leader lives there, so what? Their forces are committed to pulling out of Afghanistan in 2014, even if there are only a grand total of 500 odd actually there. It's hardly a US style 'surge' is it?

You might as well set the Vatican on fire because one Catholic gave you bad service in a department store. It's the disproportionate nature of the act that gets me. In addition, the problem with these acts of indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets is that they give politicians the excuse to keep troops in the area under dispute. If the bombings stopped, there would be no reason for the troops to stay in the 'stan. So, no reason for bombings. Or am I being terribly naive here? Mind you, as my e-friend Umm Yasmin rightly points out, it's Muslims who bear the brunt of the crazies. It's just the sheer pointlessness of it all that scrolls my knurd.

As for the 'domination' of one religiuous creed over all, to expect everyone to share your belief system isn't simply unrealistic, it's insane. Then, as God pointed out to me last week over our customary beer and fishing session, that's religious types for you. "Nothing to do with me." He said.

The wrong targets

I've been watching reports and footage of the student protests (riots?) in London, UK with a furrowed brow. Why the Cenotaph? Why Churchills statue? The Treasury and the Law Courts I can understand, but it seems to me that the protests lost legitimacy when they strayed off target. In other words, it's a massive public relations FAIL.

Smashing things up like a toddler having a tantrum doesn't work. All it does is increase Police overtime and cost the poor bloody taxpayer money they don't have any more.

Prince Charles' Roller will be fixed. Paint will be cleaned off monuments, public buildings repaired, flags replaced. Students in the riots will get injured by the Police. The injured protesters will whine pitifully to the press about 'Police Brutality' (The bunch of jessies). It's so predictable.

As for 'take from the rich'? The 'Rich' (as always) will do what people with money always do, quietly shift their assets away, further impoverishing the country, costing ordinary people livelihoods and their children's futures. What's the point of having money in a place where there's no money to be made? Britain will become, as I reluctantly have characters in other writings vouchsafe; "A wretched little poverty trap".

9/11 24 hour Blog Silence

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RIP Mike Edwards

Ex cellist with the Electric Light Orchestra. Playing on this under appreciated track from 'On the third day', one of my favourite instrumentals.


Killed by a rolling hay bale. I don't know whether to laugh or cry that such an excellent musician is no longer with us. Ave Mike. God rest you. Or Buddha. Whatever.

Experience

Watching the developments from the other side of the pond, I'm sorely tempted to wince sympathetically for my poor compatriot souls stuck in the UK. On the other hand, I'm also desperately trying not to be smug and say 'told you so'. Having got rid of one set of incompetent control freaks, the British electorate have just gone and taken on another. When are you guys over there going to get tired of the same old same old and wake up a bit?

Being a gentleman of some life experience, I would like to offer a few axiomatic phrases, which may have some bearing on the situation.

1. Banning stuff is not the answer.
2. Don't like other people's personal habits like drinking, smoking, or eating meat or dressing differently? Get over it. Sometimes you have to just accept that's how things are.
3. Don't like what's happening in your street? - Political and /or Religious dogma is not the answer. They're often the source of the bloody problem.
4. Getting out and actually discussing things with friends and neighbours and applying your own non-violent solutions works better than lawyers or other third parties.
5. Victims are simply that and rarely anything more until they grow a pair and engage with the world instead of hiding from it.
   

In my previous incarnation I recall getting into a prolonged comments discussion regarding problem neighbourhoods with someone who seemed to want nothing more than be a victim. They simply wouldn't accept that if they decided to switch off the idiot box and get out of the house once in a while, their life might become, well, better. They might have even made some surprising new friends, but perhaps that is what they were afraid of.

The world, if you believe the lamestream media, is a big, bad and vewy fwightening place for poor ickle bunnies. I say it's amazing how kind people can be if you ask them politely and treat them as fellow human beings. Speaking as one who has had to deal with groups of angry people (Often at me) and survived, I won't say the experience isn't scary, but then, so is motorcycling, free fall parachuting and bungee jumping.

People who talk and don't let themselves get socially isolated or marginalised don't do things like this. World Weary calls him 'scum', but without knowing more about the guys background I'm not so sure. I will say that he should have been shot down like a mad dog in the street because that is what he had become, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Especially as Gadget reminds everyone, the only armed Police response is probably miles away and so tied up in 'elf 'n safetee and procedures that they would have been less than useful.

In Canada, the RCMP and Provincial Police are routinely armed. This I support. I say a properly trained and armed officer on the spot could probably have prevented the Cumbrian massacre by either shooting the man or forcing him to put down his gun. Similarly, proper enforcement of the handgun regulations and a sharp word could have prevented the Dunblane massacre. I also say Capital punishment for the crime of murder is also a good idea because it prevents a second offence. How many murderers have killed after serving a jail term? The answers might surprise you. Just a thought.

Britannia justicia est mortuus

Well I knew this situation was coming back in 2005, which is one of the reasons Mrs S and I are abandoning HMS UK, but to see someone banged up for breaching an arbitrary ban whilst more serious offenders go free is still a bit of a shock to the system. This isn't just about smoking, it's about the simple liberty to run your own life. There's a collection for Mr Hogan over at Old Holborns blog. Help if you can.

Update: Not only can someone be prosecuted for allowing people to smoke on their premises, you can apparently be prosecuted for publicly disagreeing with the legislation. The phrases 'heavy handed' and 'completely over the top' seem to be quite apposite.

Drinking will probably be next.

Correction: It's to be freedom of religious conscience. It's a wonder his grace hasn't made mention of it in this weeks postings.

As an aside, I mentioned the aforementioned to a work buddy who quipped that I should have applied for political asylum, as I would have had my Canadian Citizenship by now had I done so. Not with my luck.

Family and friends

This morning over breakfast, Mrs S and I were discussing our next move. Firstly it has to be to a bigger place. We need three bedrooms and have a property in mind which will come available in December. We think we've found it, and have opened negotiations prior to moving in.

There have been recent alarums and diversions caused by the sudden illness of my Mother in Law with a TIA, which is a precursor to a full blown stroke or Cerebro-Vascular Accident. The word is that Mrs S's mother has semi clogged carotid arteries and will be put on medication to reduce the risk of 'the big one' which should postpone the inevitable for another four or five years. The consensus of familial opinion is that instead of uprooting all our established expatriate lives and dashing back to blighty to pander to Mother in law's ever whim, we should 'time share' her between our place here on Vancouver Island, the USA, and France. This should work out as each sister and their families getting the duty of caring for only four months out of every twelve. Mother in Law would get to rent out the very nice apartment in which she lives, which should more than adequately supplement her pension, thus paying for extra groceries and health insurance, whilst allowing her to have company in the fading twilight of her years.

These discussions tweaked my own conscience, so I dialled England and spent a few minutes exchanging gossip with my own mother. I received news that an old and good friend had died, as had one of his sons. Ma Sticker didn't give me much in the way of details, but I feel sorry for my old friends wife and remaining son, as I knew the family quite well. Recent years have been a rough ride for them what with one thing and another. My own condolences have been sent, but those always leave me feeling a bit hollow as you're never quite sure what to say.

For our part, we're looking at what we want to do next, as Mrs S and I reckon we've earned a couple of weeks vacation. Although having said that, I still have MSS to complete, and need to get those out of the way first. 'Stepdad' when finished will be published via Lulu.com or similar. I'm not going to fuss about with mainstream agents and publishers, because although they do help you with marketing, I'm going to offer that work to a couple of young graduates I know from VIU on a commission only basis to see what they can do with it. There's also a friend who seems to be good at that sort of thing, and I'll be taking some serious marketing advice from him.