That is the current euphemism for "douchebag that jumps in front of a train at rush hour". People, if you are going to kill yourselves by using the subway system, try to make sure you are remembered fondly and mourned by the population. The best way to ensure that is to track dive at noon on a Sunday, as opposed to 8:15 am on a Wednesdy. Have a little respect for the living, wouldja?

The word on the street from Mr. Right (who was unceremoniously dumped from the train due to the above, and forced to take a bus - my my the TTC is on a roll this week) is that while waiting on the platform for a bus, a man lit a cigarette. A TTC Special Constable (they get to compete in a "special" constable Olympics) came by and slapped the guy with a $115 fine for smoking on TTC property. Whoa! I think they're trying to make up for the money they're going to lose having to refund $4 to everyone for the strike on Monday. Okay, so there is a by-law prohibiting smoking on TTC property, and the "Special" Constable was within his right to hit the guy with a fine. No harm, no foul.

But Mr. Right also reported on the general attitude of TTC staff as they herded people to and from trains and buses. They tended to be very snippy. One female TTC employee snapped at a man who wasn't sure where to stand and wait for the bus. My response to her bitchiness would have been, "See, that attitude is why people spit on you." I swear they bring it on themselves sometimes. They are such utterly miserable people, I tend to wonder when one of them will just give it all up and have a "personal injury at track level."

I have decided that if the Palestinians and other extreme Islamic groups can create maps of the world that do not recognize Israel, then I can refer to Constantinople by its proper name.

On this date in 1453, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire.

The Pentagon has issued this special press release to members of the Cotillion.

Special Bulletin from the Pentagon

The Pentagon announced today the formation of a new 500-man elite fighting unit called

The United States Redneck Special Forces.



These Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, West Virginia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas boys will be dropped off into Iraq and have been given only the following facts about terrorists:

1. The season opened today.

2. There is no limit.

3. They taste like chicken.

4 They don't like beer, pickups, country music or Jesus.

5. They are DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for the death of Dale Earnhardt.

The Pentagon expects the problem in Iraq to be over by Friday.

I hope all my friends south of the border are having a good Memorial Day with their families, and remembering those who have fallen.

For the past few weeks I have been putting together a rather important project - one I hope you'll join me in.

As you may or may not know, I am a member of Soldiers Angels in the United States. I am currently on my second "deployment", as my first charge returned home safely before Christmas. For a couple of years now I have looked for a similar program which serves Canadian soldiers, and I have found nothing. I pitched the idea to the military, but got a very unenthusiastic response. So I decided to build one myself.

Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you Canadian Angels.



For the time being, this is a one-woman operation, but I know that will change within hours of this announcement. I am also planning to register it as a non-profit, and I have been in touch with the accountant. Please click on the picture above, and see what it's all about.

The main thing I need right now is help spreading the word to the Armed Forces. Due to the military's lack of interest, I can't quite figure a way to get the news out to those deployed (or to those about to be). Any assistance you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

I believe I shall have plenty of volunteer Angels, as I receive at least a dozen emails a week asking me if such a program exists for Canadian soldiers. For the first time I can say yes.

(Due to the importance of this post, it will remain at the top fr a while. Please scroll down for more of the RightGirl you've grown to love.)

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) isn't running today. The union has declared a wildcat strike. Therefore, RightGirl is all dressed up, with nowhere to go. I had considered walking to work, but it's too humid and smoggy. At best, I can work from home. At worst, I lose a vacation day.

The battle between Toronto Transit Commission union and management has been brewing for months on several issues including driver security, health premiums, job evaluations and shifting for employees who do track maintenance and cleaning for the TTC.

Union officials warned of a possible strike on the weekend, claiming management was not properly addressing the concerns of employees.

Maintenance workers reportedly instigated the strike, and other employees followed suit.

The maintenance staff are pissed off because their shifts are changing. And the drivers are angry because they feel their work is too dangerous. As always, I can't help but ask why they stay with jobs that make them so unhappy. Certainly there is other work out there?

The TTC wants 53 of 87 janitors and 53 of 91 subway track workers permanently moved to the night shift from day jobs as part of a cost-savings measure.

Another main issue in the dispute is the safety of fare collectors, who were told last week by Amalgamated Transit Union president Bob Kinnear not to engage in fare disputes because of a recent spike in assaults by passengers.

The union said it is looking for firm timelines for the installation of surveillance cameras and protective shields that have been promised.

Toronto Mayor David Miller, who called on the province's labour minister over the weekend for help in resolving the dispute, said he was "extremely disappointed" in the union leadership.

That comment from Miller is snort-worthy, given the fact that he's a huge NDP/union supporter.

Hey - while we're on the subject of unions, have you heard about CUPE? For shame.

Tweny-eight people were stabbed at the opening of a grand new Berlin railway station yesterday. The "youth" went on a rampage, stabbing indicriminately. And though no one was killed, it turns out that one of the first people to be attacked was HIV positive, which leaves the other 27 people at risk.

The "youth" was known to police and had a record of violent crimes. He was described as being from the "working class" neighborhood of Neukoelln. Working class? I came from a working class background, and I wanted to know what relevence the district had. So I looked it up, and found it in a non-related article. Actually, a few non-related articles.

From this one, about the building of mosques:

In Berlin, the first mosque was constructed in 1924.

Now there are some 30 Muslim places of worship in the German capital, mostly in Neukolln and Kreuzberg.

And this one, about Muslim students missing gym class:

Antje Henze is a sports teacher at a trade school in Berlin's heavily Muslim Neukolln district. Many of the girls in the school, which has an 80 percent Muslim population, wear head scarves, long skirts and body-covering long coats. Henze acknowledged her students are increasingly finding reasons to skip gym.

And this charming one about honor killings:

In Neukolln's largely immigrant Thomas Morus school, not far from the place where Hatun Surucu was murdered, students greeted news of her slaying with loud approval. Her brothers were hailed as local heroes.

These are the kind of "youths" in the "working class" district of Neukolln. What else is the media not telling us?

A frustrated judge has admitted he was unable to order the deportation of a brutal rapist because the foreign criminal had been granted leave in Britain indefinitely.

Now, I have leave to remain in Britain indefinitely. I am allowed to live and work there. But I am not a citizen, and as such I believed that I was not afforded the same rights as a citizen. But perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps I could have gone on a mosque-burning spree, but they wouldn't deport me since I had leave to remain. Heh. Does anyone else ever get that "If I knew then what I know now..." feeling?

But it gets worse. In a spectacular display of one department not having a clue what the other department is doing, this guy was granted his leave to remain while in prison on armed robbery charges! He had already broken the law of his host country while having only temporary leave, but was still granted indefinite leave.

Dirie from West Kensington, west London, has accumulated a string of convictions since his arrival in Britain in 1984 at the age of 18, the court was told.

After he was led to cells, Dirie's victim said she was shocked to hear of his history. "He is here with the blessing of the authorities. Today it would not be surprising but this was over 20 years ago."

If anyone needs me, I'll be in Britain, righting a few wrongs...

ZULFINAN Baycinar died from a bullet in her back. Her husband's family went into mourning for the 27-year-old's "tragic suicide". She was very happy, they said; they can't imagine what got into her.

Who do they think they are fooling? Her husband wanted to take a second wife. She dared to fight the idea. And so she shot herself in the back? No, it is yet another honor killing from the Religion of Peace that so exalts and protects their women.

The increase in suicides follows a change in Turkish law a year ago to increase to life imprisonment the punishment for family members who carry out so-called honour killings.

This year 36 women are said to have attempted suicide in the region, more than all of last year.

"The general suicide rate in Turkey is actually low compared to the rest of the world, but the nature of these deaths is very different," Ms Erturk said. "Whereas worldwide there are about three to four times as many male suicides as female, in Batman, in Turkey, for instance, it is quite the reverse."

Until the laws changed, men who killed their female kin for reasons of honour or tradition were treated leniently. Often, a young brother, a minor, would own up to the murder and be let off with little more than a slap on the wrist.

Now the stakes are higher, women's groups believe that the errant women are being told: "Here's a gun or here's some poison, go and kill yourself so I don't have to go to prison for it." If they don't comply, they are killed anyway and declared to have committed suicide after a bout of depression.

It would seem a little odd, wouldn't it? After all, he's head of the Catholic Church. His job is to promote the word of God and convert people to Christianity. If he were to suddenly give equal footing to the Hindus, the Bhuddists, or the Shintoists, he would basically be saying that the Catholic Church has nothing special to offer, so why bother. Go be a Bhuddist.

The same goes for the British Monarch, as head of the Anglican Church.

A LEADING Anglican bishop has attacked the trend towards what he called a multi-faith mish-mash in ethnically diverse Britain, and said it was time to reassert the country's Christian identity.

Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali also questioned heir-to-the throne Prince Charles's desire to be seen as a defender of all faiths, not just Christianity, when he takes over as monarch.

Pakistani-born Nazir-Ali, whose family background is both Christian and Muslim, pitched into an emotive debate about national identity in a country deeply shocked last year when four British Islamic militants killed 52 people in attacks on London's transport system.

The bishop argued that the basis of British society, from the monarchy to its laws, was "Christian constitutionally".

"All our values come ultimately from the Bible," he told BBC radio.

I could see, if the monarch were simply that - a monarch, and not head of the Church - that they would want to give all of its subject equal treatment. However, Britain is a special case, because the king or queen is also head of the church, and therefore, must hold fast to the teachings of the church.

There are a few options Charles has as he contemplates being the next King of Britain. One, he could get over the multi-cult philosophy and do his job as head of the Church, and let the secular Prime Minister deal with the other faiths. Or, he could abdicate as head of the Church. He can seperate the monarchy from the Church of England. The latter option would spark outrage among adherants of the faith, the same as if the Pope were to choose politics over religion. The Church of England was founded by the monarchy - by Henry VIII, and for them to walk away from it would amount to the dissolution of the faith.

He [Nazir-Ali] has complained that the Church had come under increasing pressure to convert chapels in places such as prisons and hospitals into neutral venues that could be used by people of all faiths.

As the future titular head of the Church of England, Prince Charles has said he would like to be known as "Defender of Faith" rather than "Defender of the Faith."

Bishop Nazir-Ali took issue with the heir to the throne, saying: "The coronation service is such that whoever takes the oaths actually takes oaths to defend the Christian faith."

"You can't defend every faith because there are very serious differences among them," he added.

Hunger strike leaves terror suspect in poor health

Uh huh.

One of three terror suspects detained by Canadian immigration officials for nearly five years has developed breathing problems during a hunger strike to protest his living conditions, his supporters said Thursday.

Mahmoud Jaballah, one of the detainees being held on a national security certificate in Kingston, is in poor health, said his 19-year-old son, Ahmad Jaballah, who spoke with his father by phone Thursday morning.

"This morning they put him under the emergency unit," he said. "He had trouble breathing for about two hours. His health is just deteriorating."

Are we supposed to be upset by this? Let him starve himself to death - it will save us a trial. Does a Muslim still achive martyrdom for being a moron?

They're demanding proper access to a canteen, better protocol for visits, better food, unrestricted access to phones, and access to outdoor recreation facilities.

Ahmad Jaballah said his father and the other detainees intend to continue their hunger strike until their demands are met.

Newsflash Mahmoud: You are the prisoner. You do not get to make the rules or issue the demands. Canadian prisons spoil their inmates, so you can hardly get away with convincing us that you are hard done by. And why should a terror suspect have unfettered access to a telephone? That would be insanity.

What's the next demand? A plane ticket and four pounds of C-4? Let him starve.

Scientists have confirmed that the HIV virus really does come from chimpanzees.

Scientists long have known that nonhuman primates carry a relative of the AIDS virus, called SIV or simian immunodeficiency virus. But with one exception, it had been found only in captive chimpanzees, particularly a subspecies originating from West Africa.

It was not known how prevalent the virus was in chimps in the wild, or how genetically or geographically diverse it was, complicating efforts to pin down how it jumped from chimp to man.

Hahn's team tested chimp feces for SIV antibodies, finding them in a subspecies called Pan troglodytes troglodytes in southern Cameroon.

The team found some chimp communities with infection rates as high as 35 percent, while others had no infection at all. But every infected chimp had a genetic pattern that indicated a common ancestor, Hahn said.

There are three types of HIV-1, the strain of the human virus responsible for most of the worldwide epidemic. By genetic analysis, Hahn identified chimp communities near Cameroon's Sanaga River whose viral strains are most closely related to the most common of those HIV-1 subtypes.

Their theory is that the first human case was infected by a bite or a cut. But a bite isn't the horrible image going through my mind.

doc Russia sends a note to a retired Marine Colonel. He pulls no punches, and I agree wholehartedly with his sense of betrayal.

Know ye that the special trust and bond of brotherhood between Marines has forever been the essence of our esprit de corps.

Know ye that Marines always have and always will watch out for each other, every day from the day we first wear the eagle globe and anchor, until we have drawn our last breath, and our hearts lay forever still.

Know ye that it is a bond forged in in centuries of blood, sweat and tears wherever we have marched.

Read on...

Perriair. Remember it from Spaceballs? Well, now the Japanese can buy it. Yup. Canned air.

Now, 7-Eleven Japan is selling cans of O2 Supli in two scents — strong mint and grapefruit. O2 is available at 7-Eleven stores in major cities and by June will be on sale in 8,000 stores across Japan.

The company does not claim that there are any medical benefits of using oxygen-to-go products, but many believe that high levels of oxygen reduce stress and alleviate fatigue. 7-Eleven says the grapefruit and mint scents are also therapeutic.

Scented, canned air. And for six bucks a can, I would want to get money-scented.

Until now most oxygen products have only been available to athletes and mountain hikers, although oxygen bars have sprouted across the country in the last few years.

Wing, the first company to open one such bar in Japan, says many of its customers are in their late 40s, and often come more than once a week.

I wonder if the bars sell canned air only, or if they have draft, too.

Torontonians can go here to read the Canadian Angels piece Siri Agrell ran in the Saturday National Post. It was only run in the national edition, not the Toronto edition. Siri emailed it to me this afternoon.

Whew, what an evening. A podcast with Mike at PA Pundits (it should be up tomorrow), and interview on CHQR in Calgary, and a little hot girl-on-girl with Fiesty over in the Cotillion room. I'm a little weak and shaky right now. And I need a shower. See y'all tomorrow.

I will be on The World Tonight with Rob Breakenridge on CHQR in Calgary at 8:05pm Mountain Time tonight to talk about Canadian Angels.

It's been about a month since we took the recycling down to the bins in our building's parking garage, so there was lots to pack up and drag down. It's a job I seriously hate doing. I remember once, when I took stuff down, there were three bins, but none of them were marked (glass, paper, plastic), and they all seemed pretty jumbled up. So I just dumped my bagful into one of them. Along came one of the building superintendents, who started yelling at me in his broken English and telling me to seperate my trash. For fuck's sake! I am not a garbage collector, I work in a law office, and I make a ton of money. My time is worth more than the seperation of garbage is worth.

So it got me to thinking. What about all those uselss fuckers on welfare, or fresh out of prison? Is there any reason why the recycling plants can't be built closer to the dumps, so that a whole industry could be made out of sorting garbage for recycling? Surely ti would be a win-win situation? Get the poor working, get the garbage sorted, save the planet... and keep my superintendent off my ass.

It only took 7 hours. Seven hours without internet. I was ready to kill myself. But between Mr. Right and Arnie of Kathy Shaidle fame, I now have wireless in the house. And I'm blogging from bed. Thanks guys.

There are reports coming in that Ray Nagin has won the mayoral race in New Orleans. Just like my tender heart doesn't bleed for the unpaid Palestinians who democratically elected Hamas as their leaders, I will no longer weep for the Big Easy as it struggles to rebuild. You chose this, New Orleans. Now you have to live with your choices. Don't go looking to the rest of the country to bail you out of it.

Tonight I did something I haven't done in 20 years. I had a Shirley Temple with dinner at the Italian restaurant up the street. I was actually embarrassed to order it, but I had such a retro craving, I had to have one. Twenty years!!

As I slurped the sugary goodness up the straw, I thought about sex. Well, actually, I thought about abstinence. If almost every teenage girl is a hoochie little slut these days (and that's certainly what the media makes them out to be), then it's the kids that abstain that are the rebels. And if city life is a giant cocktail party, like Sex in the City taught us, than the girl with the Shirley Temple is the pioneer.

Either I was having deep thoughts, or I was just trying to give myself an excuse for ordering a Shirley Temple.

Then Mr. Right put his hands to his mouth and did a duck call. In the middle of the restaurant. I told him he was lucky Dick Cheney wasn't around.

Canada lost a soldier yesterday. Always sad. The deceased was a gunner. John Donovan has more here.

And Damian Brooks has more here. He's got the right idea.

I place more importance upon her service and her sacrifice than her gender, but nonetheless must note that Canada has suffered its first combat loss of a uniformed female soldier since WWII: Capt Nichola Kathleen Sarah Goddard, of the 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery.

The newspapers today have screaming headlines about how a woman was killed in combat. Where are the feminists, now? Just like there are no athiests in the foxhole, there are no women on the battlefield. She ceased being a woman on the day she first saw action. She became a soldier.

Someone lost their daughter, but Canada lost a soldier.

An inside source tells me there are FBI cars all over the place, blocking public access to the suburban site outside of Detroit where an excavation is going on to find the remains of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa.

Wow. For years I have won games of Trivial Pursuit because there is a system where almost every fifth question could be answered with the name Jimmy Hoffa, and you will be correct. Do you think Trivial Pursuit will add the new information? Best I take a note of this...

I'm in the middle of a large project right now - one I'll tell you about in a day or two - but in the meantime, check this out at Potfry.

2) I recently hit a young fawn with my new Hummer. The splatter of technicolor gore across my hood and windshield was amazing! I immediately stopped to call my Hummer Dealer to find out if deer spleen stains. Problem was, I couldn't hear the guy on the phone over the agonized mewling of the mangled fawn. Do you have any idea?

Go read the whole thing. Number 4 is spit-your-coke-all-over-the-screen funny.

As my most devoted readers (both of you) may know, my site went down yesterday for a few hours. Not to worry, it wasn't as bad as it seemed. Server crashed, no big deal. That's why I take modd altering drugs - so I can handle stuff like that.

Anyway, I'm back. And Mike at PA Pundits advises me that part two of my interview is up. I haven't listened to it yet, so now's your chance to get in there before me and catch me off-guard. I can't even remember what we talked about!

Allahpundit reports that Ayaan Hirsi Ali is moving to America.

AHA will start working for the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington. She’ll announce this tomorrow in The Hague. Last week AHA reached an agreement with the State Dept. about her security.

I wish her well. I think she can do a lot of good in the U.S., and I think she will feel safer. So far (no thanks to Louis Farrakhan and the ACLU) America is not nearly as Islamized as Europe. Her words and thoughts will have a wider audience, and she'll be able to have a somewhat more normal life. She'll still have security (probably from Secret Service), but she will have fewer restrictions on her movements.

I read a short article on Saturday in the National Post about how the tomb of John Paul II gets 15,000 visitors per day. The crowds that come to the Vatican to file past his final resting place are so large that Vatican security has set up a seperate queue just for them. These visits are on top of the five million people who crowded into St. Peter's Square for the vigil and funeral when John Paul died just over a year ago.

These numbers are amazing. And what's truly remarkable is that you never hear of tramplings, riots or deaths. After all, when you think of the pilgrims who travel to Mecca every year to throw rocks and worship a giant black cube (I laughed the first time I read about that ten years ago - I thought it was a joke), there are always mass riots and people trampled underfoot by the Religion of Peace.

But those crazy Catholics manage to stay alive. I guess they're just not worshipping properly.

To the gentleman who gave up his seat to me on the subway this morning, I just want to say thanks very much. A kind gesture goes a long way on a Monday morning.

The Da Vinci Code opens in theatres this week. Several of my Catholic blog friends have spent a lot of time and energy debunking the theories presented in Dan Brown's novel, and I understand why. It was a great read, and I bet a lot of people ate it right up.

But you can't believe everything you read. No matter how good it is. Did I enjoy Da Vinci Code? Yes, I did. Bloody thing kept me up till 3 in the morning. I wasn't going to sleep till I finished it. But did I believe it? No. It's a novel. A bit of fantasy, escapism. For centuries people have tried to find the Holy Grail, and this was just yet another take on the mystery. It wasn't the be-all and end-all.

Sadly, some people truly believe it. One of my friends from Montreal truly believes that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, and she conceived a child. I truly believe that friend is an idiot who spent $40 on a hardcover book that washed away two thousand years of religion in 454 pages. But then again, at one point, she wanted to be a Klingon. Some people just can't be helped.

So for those out there who believe in the theory presented in the Da Vinci Code: you are idiots. It's a novel, a work of fiction. It's not meant to be believed. Even Tom Hanks says so.

And for those of you who spent precious time trying to debunk the myth: don't bother. These people who believe it were never really Catholics to begin with. Let them believe in the Hollywood movie and Dan Brown's book. And then we can point and laugh at them the way we do the Scientologists.

He writes the most mundane stuff, and yet I can't stop reading it. His words paint pictures, clear and true. Normally, I really wouldn't care about the weather in DC. But when Jeff writes it, it's important.

I don't "do" Mother's Day. Hallmark gets not one penny out of me for one of their most popular marketing tools. In the past, when I worked retail, I always volunteered to work Mother's Day, to give the other kids a chance to do whatever it is they do on that flowers-and-guilt day.

For those of you that don't already know, I am an orphan. Both my parents died when I was in my teens. In fact, today is one of those rare Mother's Days that I actually reflect on. Today is the 15th anniversary of the day my mother succumbed to lung cancer. Seeing as she died when I was 14, she has now been out of my life longer than she was in it. I feel a little sadness at that, though not as much as you might expect.

May 14th, 1991 began the way it normally did. I had ceased going to school, due to the burdens of the hospital shifts. We had been there late the night before, so I was sleeping late. The phone woke me around 10am. It was my cousin Joan calling from the hospital. She was doing the day shift. "Come now."

I couldn't find Dad when I went downstairs, but he had left a note. "Going for groceries, then stopping at John's". I called John's house. Spoke to his wife. Told her not to even let Dad get out of the car, but to come back to the house right away. He made it home within 20 minutes of my call. I was dressed and ready to go. Dad had to stop and pee first. I yelled at him that he could pee when she was dead. Hurry up.

When we got to the hospital, we had just missed her. "You had to fucking pee, didn't you?" My mother was gone. Where she had lain there was a horrifying skeletal mess, with open eyes and mouth wide like something out of Munsch. Her face was covered in a light black fuzz from the massive amounts of morphine that had been pumping through her veins for the last four months. I turned and walked out of the room. Waited for Dad in the hall.

When he came out, his eyes were dry. As were mine. We were just relieved it was over. Dad didn't cry till after the funeral. I didn't cry for two years. But that day, there were more important things to do than cry. Mainly, we needed to go shopping. We picked up my best friend, a tiny girl I had known since infancy. She had a very special job to do that day. She would be the dress fitter for my mother. You see, my mother died weighing just 47 pounds. My friend was small, about the same height as Mom, and weighed no more than 75. She would have to do.

May 14th, 1991. The day my mother died. Happy Mother's Day.

But things are looking up. This May 14th is my first Bug-aversary. It's the first anniversary of the day I adopted my sweet, happy, dopey little chihuahua. He's a close to motherhood as I'm ever going to be. So I have taken back the date.

Happy Bug-Day, little dude. I love you.

At the bakery, on the back of a pack of birthday cake candles:

Caution: Flammable

Carrie L. Lukas is no Kate O'Beirne. Lukas's Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex and Feminism failed in its aims to reach out to the moderate feminist and persuade her that not all traditional values are part of the "patriarchy". Compared to Kate O'Beirne's Women Who Make the World Worse(which was excellent), Lukas shouldn't have bothered at all.

We'll start with the obvious annoying fact this this book was not professionally edited. Lukas attributes the editing to her brother Dan and her husband Aaron ("the best editor and friend I could hope for"). I hope for her sake he's a better friend than an editor. There are spelling and grammatical mistakes throughout (I suppose those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, but I at least don't pretend this blog has an editor). I am currently reading Oriana Fallaci's direct translation of her book The Force of Reason. I know that english is not Fallaci's first language, and I am willing to accept a certain amount of errors in her work. But Lukas does not have this excuse. She holds a bachelor's from Princeton and a master's from Harvard's Kennedy School of Business. I'm willing to bet that her bachelor's degree wasn't in English. On of the first rules of writing is "If you can't spell, it won't sell." Looks like Ms. Lukas needs to go back to the basics. And as for Regnery Publishing, they should know better, as well.

Now let's move on to the ever important chapter on abortion. I admit that I am quite middle-of-the-road when it comes to abortion (I used to call myself pro-choice, but that term has such negative connotations thanks to the feminazis, that now I just deem myself "unconvinced"). Virtually any book like this one is meant to persuade women one way or another about whether or not a fetus is a person, whether or not abortion is safe, and whether or not it should be lauded as the number one option for unplanned pregnancies. Since Lukas's book is written from a more traditional perspective, it's obvious that she wishes to persuade women that abortion is not the best option. She fails miserably. Remember, I am one of the unconvinced she should be appealing to, and I remain less convinced of abortion's wrongness than I was going into the book. In fact, I now think it is probably the option I would most likely choose for myself.

If she's trying to convince me that I shouldn't have an abortion, she should really think about the way she uses her statistics. On page 130, she points out that (using CDC stats) giving birth is 10 times more likely to kill me than having an abortion is. Ten times!! Why would anyone every give birth??

On page 127, she has a stats box about how reversing Roe v. Wade would affect abortion in the 50 states. It shows that in 21 states, access would be restricted. In 9 states the outlook is uncertain. Wow. Perhaps had these stats been written out in paragraph form, it might not have been so striking. But to see them all lined up like that, it would make almost any unconvinced woman nervous. Tip to Carrie: The box probably shouldn't have gone in.

She dedicates about a page to Health of the Mother, but it's hard to pay much attention when you've already read the statistic that you're ten times more likely to die in childbirth. Without using a mental health issue as a get out of jail free card, I would simply point out that stat to my doctor. Any pregnancy risks the mother's health. Let's just end the species now.

For the most part, I agree with much of what Lukas writes. It's the standard "don't-rush-into-sex-too-quickly-there-is-nothing-wrong-with-staying-home-and-looking-after-the-kids" that I would expect from any such book. But all in all, the above complaints served to leave such a bad taste in my mouth that the book was unenjoyable. Not to mention a bit on the dull side. She wasn't telling me anything I didn't already know (except that death in childbirth thing), and she wasn't particularly witty or original in her delivery.

I wouldn't even rate this book worthy of being borrowed from a friend or the library, despite the cover model wearing pearls.

Jody from In Spite of Everything has created a beautiful post about United 93, which brings together many of us in the Cotillion. We can't call it a "carnival". It's not appropriate. But yet, at the same time, it is a type of celebration. It's a celebration of the heroism of the ordinary man. We don't see enough of that these days.

But more than anything, it's a reminder to those who have too quickly put the carnage out of their minds and gone back to a September 10th world. It's for the people who have gone out of their way to embrace those who seek to end our lives, as so many lives ended that sunny Tuesday morning. The ladies of the Cotillion do not wish to forget that day and become like the automatons who cry for the killer and blame the dead.

Please don't forget. Go read Jody's post.

Muslim Columnist: "United 93 Incites Rage, Vengeance":

"Fiza Najeeb in the Poly Post of California State Polytechnic University of Pomona (...) asserts that it is movies like 'United 93' that make people have a low opinion of Muslims. It doesn't seem to occur to her that the movie is generally accurate in its portrayal of the hijackers, and that maybe people have a low opinion of Muslims because there are Muslims who do things like that."

Nice fisking of a low-level twit.

(Posted by K)

Denmark: Imam behind Mohammad Cartoon Mania leaving the country:

Imam Ahmed Abu Laban said he felt humiliated since the cartoon controversy, which led to riots around the world, and that he would return to Gaza with his family, the daily reported. "I am being viewed as a simple terrorist," he was quoted as saying.

Funny about that!

Hugh at Jihad Watch notes the word "humiliated" and elaborates:

The "humiliation" and "resentment" that so many Muslims are said to feel in the West cannot conceivably be lessened, for what is meant is not what is usually meant. Those who feel this "resentment" and "humiliation" are mad not becuase they are ill-treated, for they have been treated with fantastic generosity, especially in Denmark. What is meant is that Muslims should rule, Muslims should dominate. And any sign that this, the right and natural order of things, is not being observed is "humiliating" and "enraging" for Muslims.

(Posted by K)

Kathy again, asking: Does politics really matter?

I'm talking about grassroots, electoral politics: seats in the House and party platforms and backroom deals. Maybe it's cuz I'm a Watergate baby, not to mention a former teenage anarchist, or maybe I'm just too temperamentally touchy, but I've never been able to place much faith in politicians. "Meet the new boss/same as the old boss".

Look at the GOP south of the border: huge deficits, leaky borders. These are "conservatives"? The deep disillusionment among US right wingers is palpable.

And will our Tories really be any different? With an entrenched (mostly left-leaning) bureaucracy in place, does it really matter who is in power?

Increasingly I find myself more concerned about culture than politics. 8-year-old girls in PORN STAR t-shirts, singing along to raunchy rap on the car radio. Kids (and not a few adults) tethered to PS2 for hours on end. Non-stop remakes of 70s movies instead of making original films -- an increasingly self-referential pop culture that quotes itself incestuously. ("High" culture does it too). People who drive one block to the 7-11. The fact that Hugh Hefner STILL isn't dead.

If we conservatives change, or at least challenge, the culture first, then won't policy follow, not the other way around? Where should we concentrate our energies?

Discuss.

Hi, Kathy Shaidle here, of RelapsedCatholic.com. I'll be your substitute blogger today, so sit up straight and open your copy of The Rage & the Pride to page 8...

I'll be guest posting here for a few days, but I just got the password and need an hour or two to get my act together. Chat quietly amongst yerselves for a bit. Like: what the hell was up with American Idol last night?!

Scroll down for update.

How do we win a game if we are the only team playing by the rules? Our players are in regulation uniform, playbook in hand. They know what they are and are not permitted to do. If they break or bend a rule, the rest of the team or even the hometown fans in the stands call them on it, and they are punished. But like Alice trying to play croquet with the Queen of Hearts, our team can never get ahead if the other team has permission to change the rules.

And then the Lord he called for one more card,
but he drew the diamond eight,
And the Devil said to the son of God,
"I believe you've got it straight,
So deal me one for the time has come
to see who'll be the king of this place,
But as he spoke, from beneath his cloak,
he slipped another ace...

Ten thousand souls was the opening bid,
and it soon went up to fifty-nine,
but the Lord didn't see what the Devil did,
and he said "that suits me fine",
"I'll raise you high to hundred and five,
and forever put an end to your sins",
But the Devil let out a mighty shout, "My hand wins!!"

And I said "Lord, oh Lord, you let him win,
The sun is down and the night is riding in,
That train is dead on time, many souls are on the line,
Oh Lord, don't let him win..."

I felt the bile rising in the back of my throat when I read this.

A large man dressed in military fatigues, boots and cap approaches from behind and covers her mouth with his left hand. In his right hand, he clutches a large knife with a black handle and an 8in blade. He proceeds to cut her throat from the middle, slicing from side to side.

Her cries - "Ah, ah, ah" - can be heard above the "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) intoned by the holder of the mobile phone.

Even then, there is no quick release for Bahjat. Her executioner suddenly stands up, his job only half done. A second man in a dark T-shirt and camouflage trousers places his right khaki boot on her abdomen and pushes down hard eight times, forcing a rush of blood from her wounds as she moves her head from right to left.

Only now does the executioner return to finish the task. He hacks off her head and drops it to the ground, then picks it up again and perches it on her bare chest so that it faces the film-maker in a grotesque parody of one of her pieces to camera.

The voice of one of the Arab world's most highly regarded and outspoken journalists has been silenced. She was 30. [emphasis mine]

The enemy we deal with are not human. Their "god" is the devil. And the devil doesn't play by the rules. Some days, when I read stories like this one, I want to just give up and cover myself in a chador. Let them have me, I don't care. I'm tired of fighting. No one can win a game with corrupted rules. We'll all be under their damn boots soon enough.

But I can't give up. I don't know why. I just can't. Maybe it's faith. Maybe stubborness. Most likely it's spite - I don't want to let the bad guys win. I want to hurt and humiliate them on the field, as they've done to us. I no longer want to play like Alice. But how can we, as a civilized people, reconcile ourselves to what has to be done? Our holy books teach love and tolerance, not hate and murder. If we are to get to Heaven, we must turn the other cheek, and allow ourselves to be murdered, our churches co-opted, our history to be destroyed. Is it worth it to have a handful of us forsake the chance of Heaven in order to guarantee safety and religious freedom for future generations? Does it qualify as "just war"? I can't see how it wouldn't.

I spoke to my cousin-in-law today. A very religious Evangelical. She is one of the most giving, accepting people I have ever known, but even she has had enough. She said that every night in her prayers, she asks God for an answer for what must be done to stop the evil. The Muslims must be stopped. She has two young children. I can see why she is anxious. I told her that if he answers, could she call and let me know? I'm pretty anxious myself.

And far away in some recess
The Lord and the Devil are now playing chess,
The Devil still cheats and wins more souls,
And as for the Lord, well, he's just doing his best...

We've got to win.

UPDATE: From Something... And Half of Something

The Jawa Report can reveal that the Times and Halal Jabar, the author of the article, are victims of a hoax. The video actually shows the gruesome murder of a Nepalese man by the Army of Ansar al-Sunna in Iraq from August of 2004. The man was one of 12 victims executed by the terrorist organization--the other 11 were shot (original story, video, and images of 12 Nepalese murdered in Iraq here).

Still, it doesn't change the fact that Atwar Bahja is dead, it justs adds another gruesome murder to the list of murders by the followers of the Prophet of Doom.

When I was very young, maybe two or three, I lived in a Greek neighborhood in the east of Montreal. One of the churches - it may have been St. Francis of Assissi, but I was too young to remember - had a small enclave of nuns. There were five or six of them, all over 60. They were sweet little old ladies, and were always very friendly to anyone who approached them. Although I was not raised in the Church, I knew (somehow) what nuns were, and that they worked for God. I was fascinated by them. Whenever I saw one of them, with their grey (or was it light blue?) veils, checking the ripeness of oranges at the corner grocery, their gold crosses shining against their plain street dresses of wool, I would always say hello. And from some mystical pocket I was never able to locate, a butterscotch candy was always produced for me. Sometimes I would see these ladies at the church bazaars where I picked up some awesome swag - when I was five, I got my first hat with a veil, a patent leather clutch, and kid gloves - all for about $5, ideal for playing dress-up with the other girls. These women of God were as much a part of my childhood and my neighborhood as the bakery or the park at the end of the street. They were part of the scenery - a part I enjoyed.

When I was just turning six, my mother and I were walking to the Woolworths, and I saw a young woman wearing a pearl grey veil. Her skin was olive, and I assumed she was Greek. It was interesting to see a younger woman dressed as a nun. But she had a young boy with her - a toddler. I approached her to say hello, just as I did with all the nuns. This lady was shy. I said hi, and asked her who's child that was with her. Her eyes darted to my mother, and back to me. In broken english, she said This my son.

My young brow furrowed. Like I said, I was hardly a theological scholar, but something wasn't ringing true to me. "But," I sputtered, "nuns don't have babies!" Out of the mouths of babes.

And there you have it, the start of my multi-culti education. The woman was not a nun, and the veil was not a veil - it was a hijab. We moved shortly thereafter. My father said something about the neighborhood going... there, wherever "there" was. But I never forgot my un-nun, and as the months and years past, I saw more and more un-nuns every day. It was the 1980's influx from the Middle East, post Tehran takeover by the Mullahs. And it was the start of the Muslim infiltration of Canada. It was the start of the days of political correctness, of multiculturalism, of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms...

It was the beginning. I miss the nuns.

Every morning, as I stand on the subway platform, I am faced with a poster for the return of the musical Hair. Yes, the age of Aquarius is upon us once more, as our boys (and now girls) head off to Iraq - and the hippies of the sixties get to relive their Vietnam-draft-dodging flashbacks. The tagline for the poster is Hair - Now More Than Ever! You don't need to be a sociology major to figure out that the granola gang is using their tried and true opus to pooh-pooh America, George Bush, and war in general.

Many thoughts have come to me as I stare at this ugly psychadelic poster each morning. The one that bothers me most is that these geniuses of the left, these arty pseudo-intellectuals, these professors and opinionists, these Atwoods and Zimmerman-Dylans have not had an original thought in nearly 40 years. Are we to base our "values" and our foreign and domestic policy on people who have, over the last 15 years, staged two more Woodstock's, produced Oliver Stone movies about the deaths of JFK and Jim Morrison, who now burn flags instead of bras, and who feel fit to comment on the state of the world via a musical that is simply unwatchable to any mind not altered by pharmaceuticals? Are we to value the opinions of a whole generation of people who never left their teens, only now they call it mid-life crisis?

In all of American history, I do not think there has ever been a generation more selfish and spoiled than that of the baby boomers. The first age to have color TV and two cars in the drive, they have always felt that all the world was theirs for the taking. They wanted to buy it a Coke and teach it to sing. Sally Struthers wailed about starving children, and grew fatter every day. The UN grew to epic proportions, and Unicef ran guns to children. They protest that they want no war for oil, and every man and woman of the generation has a gas guzzler. To them, John Lennon is still alive, and communism is a great idea, just not in my backyard. They are the richest generation, yet they cost us a fortune in healthcare and social security.

I've wondered who continues to swallow their nonsense, year after year, crisis after crisis, when it occured to me: they do. There are more of them than there are of us. As the previous generation - the one that fought and lived through WWII and Korea - dies off, and this current generation in which I find myself establishes itself and gets on its feet, the Baby Boomers carry on with their hippy house party as if four decades have not passed. They are still banning the bomb.

But there is hope. They cannot live forever. The age of Aquarius must end. We must simply be patient. Soon, there will be a time when Hair will no longer be on the playbill. A new age cometh.

I don't mean the guys on the ground, ducking Osama's gunmen. I mean the honchos who get to stay here in Canada, comfortable with their families, and make decisions that affect the lives of our young men and women. I get a lot of emails from average Canadians looking to support our troops by sending them letters, cards and packages. Although I am an active member of Soldiers Angels and Angels'n'Camouflage in the US, there are no mass programs to rival them here in Canada. Military brass views the development of such programs with ennui, as I found out from speaking to them. I figured that not enough people really cared, and this saddened me. But on Saturday, on the front page of the National Post, I saw several paragraphs of hope.

Columnist Siri Agrell writes of the tradition in the United States of personal and corporate donations to the men and women who serve their country. Project Valour-IT, which this site helped raise funds for, is mentioned as well.

From bikes to batteries and backpacks, Americans are flooding military hospitals and bases with gifts for soldiers -- tokens of appreciation or tools to help them reintegrate their lives post-Iraq.

Big name brands such as Office Depot and Wal-Mart have gotten involved, donating gifts to soldiers' children.

This week, in what could be the beginning of a similar trend here, Hyundai Canada presented a brand new Santa Fe mini-SUV to Master Corporal Paul Franklin, who lost both of his legs after a suicide attack in Kandahar. The car is outfitted with hand controls so that Master Cpl. Franklin can operate it himself.

Wonderful! Hyundai should be commended for their gift, and they can be reached at

Ph. (780)478-7669
Fx. (780)473-2437
Toll Free: 1 800 661-2050
sales@northstarhyundai.com

But what about you and I? How do we give back to those who serve and defend this country? Well, as yet, there is still nothing in place beyond a lame ass message board, and the option to send postcards (no sealed mail) to random soldiers. There is no Soldiers Angels, despite efforts of people like me, and people like 14-year-old Auriele Diotte of Pickering:

Chris Diotte, whose 14-year-old daughter, Auriele, ran a letter writing campaign from her Pickering school this year, said their family plans to continue with the program on their own.

"I don't think we even asked [for any help]," she said.

The family paid to establish a Web site for the Canadian Armed Forces Encouragement Day, when school children write letters to military personnel.

Next year, the Diottes are hoping Canada Post will set up a program similar to Santa's Mailbox, where Canadians can simply drop a letter addressed to a Canadian soldier, and it will make its way overseas.

"My husband has e-mailed them but I don't know if he heard back," she said.

For now, the family is swallowing the cost themselves and relying on the kindness and skills of their friends to keep the program alive.

As for Auriele, she is the brains of the operation, but is not involved in its financing, her mother joked. "She doesn't even get an allowance."

I really do not understand the apathy of our military brass. Nor the socialistic attitude they have.

Capt. Veronica van Diepen, public affairs officer at Canadian Forces Base Edmonton, said part of the problem with soldiers accepting gifts from the public is "where do you draw the line?"

Capt. van Diepen added that it is "wonderful" that Canadians want to demonstrate their support, but that the armed forces do not want certain soldiers to benefit to the exclusion of others.

"It's about where you make the distinctions," she said. "We have to decide whether or not it's desirable overall."

"Do you accept things for one wounded soldier and not another? How do you decide who's deserving?" Capt. van Diepen said.

Is she serious? This isn't kindergarten, where every child has to be included in the game. It's fucking war. And if the emails I get are any indication, there will be more than enough love and gratitude to go around. Twelve years of Liberal government conditioned us to sneer at those in uniform, but we could get away with it at the time; things were peaceful. Now that our security isn't so guaranteed after all, more and more average Joes are realizing that we're lucky to have brave individuals standing up for real Canadian values - not the quasi-socialist Marxist crap we've been spoon-fed for so long. Real values like freedom, democracy, liberty and safety. And gratitude. And appreciation.

I have tried via the military to create a real program of thanks, and I have gotten nowhere. Neither have the Diottes. So now it's time to start involving the politicians. Contact your MP, Rick Hillier, or the Governor General. Canadians care about thier armed forces, we're just not allowed to show it.

It's census time in Canada again. I think they do this about every four or five years. I missed the last one, because I was living overseas. But I vaguely remember doing one circa 1996 or so. Give or take. I also remember questions like What is your religious denomination? and What is your gross household income? What is your sexual orientation? How do you classify your nationality?

These types of questions are conspicuously absent from this year's questionnaire. In fact, it isn't a questionnaire at all. You list your name and date of birth. What are your relationships to others living in your home? And that's it. There is actually no pertinent information requested. I have a feeling that the politically correct police have stripped it of anything useful, lest it offend people to have to answer questions about themselves.

I'm not going to bother filling out the form this year. It serves no purpose to my government to know my name, address, and date of birth, since they already have this information.

Go visit PA Pundits for the first half of my interview with Mike Williams. I sound much better than I thought I would.

As I stood in line at the bank today, I noted the woman in front of me, with her hijab on, pushing a baby stroller. On the back of the stroller hung a Winne the Pooh & Piglet diaper bag.

Uh huh.

I've met Monte a few times. Shared a few laughs. Gave him a quilt (long story). But now, I love the guy. Love love love him. Here's why:

His [Jack Layton's] comments followed an Ottawa visit by Cindy Sheehan, who has become an outspoken anti-war campaigner after the death of her son Casey in Iraq. She used a Parliament Hill news conference yesterday to urge Canada to offer sanctuary to U.S. deserters.

When Casey expressed his misgivings about fighting in Iraq before his deployment, Sheehan offered to drive him to Canada. He was in Iraq five days before being killed in April 2004.

Responding to Sheehan's pitch yesterday, Immigration Minister Monte Solberg told reporters: "If Mrs. Sheehan has a bone to pick with the U.S. administration about the war in Iraq she should take that to Washington. It'll be Canadians who decide Canadian immigration policy."

Is there a word stronger than love?

The Religion of Peace is actually the Religion of Inept Leadership. They talk a good game, sound pretty scary, but...

The footage, from outtakes of a Zarqawi video that was made public April 25, shows the leader of the Al-Qaida in Iraq insurgent group apparently unable to clear a jam of his M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, a machine gun used by U.S. troops. Another man touches the gun's hot barrel after it has been fired, and recoils in pain.

"He's wearing his black uniform and his New Balance tennis shoes as he moves to this white pickup," said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a U.S. military official. "And his close associates around him . . . do things like grab the hot barrel of the machine gun and burn themselves. It makes you wonder."

I think I'll sleep a little better tonight, knowing that the apocolypse isn't quite as close as it seemed.

Earlier today, Must Control Fist of Death sent me a link to Iowahawk that really couldn't have segued any better...

I'm letting the guys at PA Pundits take my virginity. No, really.

You see, I've never done it before. This will be my first time. And the big night is tonight. I have a bottle of wine waiting at home. I'm really nervous. I guess everyone is nervous their first time...

I'm getting podcasted.

Check their site over the next little while for an interview with yours truly.

Zacarias Moussaoui: Mixed emotions over his life sentence. Unless they keep him in solitary till the day he dies, I feel he may pose a risk to public security by preaching radicalism inside the prison environment. More criminals who follow Islam is not a good idea, especially if they are taught by such a celebrity asshole.

Currently Reading: The Force of Reason by Oriana Fallaci. I sat on the subway, book in hand this morning, pondering something that I was rather surprised hadn't occured to me before. Islam has a long history of violence, dating back to its founder, who was a very wicked man indeed. Is it possible that, given the pillaging throughout the centuries, true Islam is the violent side we saw on September 11th, but that the "hijackers of the faith" are not the extremists: they are the peaceful Muslims who live down the street? They are the corrupters. They are the ones who are not practicing true Islam. If that is the case, I commend them and encourage them to continue to peacefully rebel against the violence in the Koran. In this case, corruption of the faith is exactly what's called for.

Mission Impossible 3: I don't think I'll be seeing any Tom Cruise movies anytime soon. His behavior regarding the Comedy Network has been childish and reprehensible. And I'm so bored of "TomKat". The movie, however, will be a hit, even without my $12. It will appeal to the lowest common denominator, much the way RV took in more money than United 93.

Mother Sheehan: The dumb cunt has come north of the 49th parallel. Hasn't she been arrested a few too many times to get permission to cross the border? Oh well, we have no border security anyway, and half the border guards want to see an end to the war because they're Middle Eastern, so it stands to reason they would have let the dingbat in. She's going to grace the cities of Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver with her very own brand of shmaltz, and the peacniks are going to lap it up. They'll probably proclaim an official Cindy Day in Toronto for her. Oh, how I would sincerely love to cross paths with her...

Best Headline:

It was 10 years ago today...
...That Vancouver opened its doors to the world with Expo 86, the six-month fair that transformed the city and put British Columbia on the world stage. Here's a look at some of the people, places and things that made the exposition memorable - and a snapshot of where they are now.

I've taken a screen capture, just in case they figure out that their math is all wrong. But, the article has been up for two days - why would they bother now?

Have you ever had one of those days where everything goes really, really weird? Not all bad, just...weird. Today, I am champion of the short bus. No doubt about it, watch for me at the next Special Olympics.

My day began as all days do: frantically getting ready for work. Just when I thought I was ready to bolt out the door and catch the subway, I remembered I had a dentist appointment. I could have slept for another hour. Idiot. Anyway, I passed the hour, went to the dentist's office, and announced myself. Blank stare from the receptionist. Are you sure you don't have me in your calendar? Very sure. Your appointment is not for another two weeks - in the evening. WTF?? Timmy!

I head downtown to work. Do a little banking, but the system is on the fritz - maybe the deposit will go in today, maybe not. You know, I just love playing that kind of roulette when the cell phone company is threatening to cut my service thanks to the $700 bill I racked up in DC. But I digress (did a lot of that today).

Between the bank and work, I stopped at Starbucks. Part of the morning routine. What I don't normally do every morning though is leave my effing wallet on the counter when I leave! Did not notice this till after lunch... Timmy!

Walk into work, arch-nemesis meets me at the door. With an apology. Let's start over. Like I said: not all bad, just very weird.

Check my calendar - apparently I was looking at my boss's calendar yesterday, because he had the dentist appointment this morning!!! Timmy!

Notice missing wallet. Call Starbucks. Yes, they have it. So I run down to get it (and buy a chai latte) when the manager informs me that they'd been trying to contact me all day, and called my credit card company to try to contact me themselves. Fuck.

Get back upstairs, call Mastercard. Yup, they cancelled the card for security. Timmy!

I won't even go through the to and fro I had with FedEx on another matter, but suffice it to say, I lost that battle. And the tracking number. Timmy!

Then my "buddies" Galapagan and Nom_de show up to start the shiznit. Okay, fine. I was getting death threats on Sunday - these two guys are hardly going to ruffle my feathers compared to a fatwa. Whatever. In the end, everyone's getting along. Weird. But plotting a DDOS attack just ain't polite. Really. Time for a little finishing school. No way to treat a lady... or me.

I am going to hide in my fucking bed with the covers pulled up, and try again tomorrow. It can't possibly be this screwed up two days in a row, can it?

Oh, but the federal budget was good. Not even weird - just good.

[Edited May 3, 12:14 PM: Nom_de has left a note in the comments saying that he is not responsible for planning the DDOS attack against yours truly. I accept him at his word. - RG]

Right-wing bloggers that support the war have been called chickenhawks for a while, and I can honestly say the term doesn't bother me in the slightest. In fact a chickenhawk, when the term is applied to a bird, is one that attacks small prey, especially chickens. Which I do. I am a dangerous pest. And I will continue to prey on the left and annoy them until they either give in, or move to France (which are similar outcomes).

I have joined the 101st Fighting Keyboardists, or KeeBees as we are known. We are chickenhawks, and we eat the chickens of the left for lunch.

Well, this May Day has brought the great Mexican protest across America, as illegals petition for the right to be treated as... legals. I was very amused at lunch today, as I was glancing occasionally up at CNN while my friend, sitting across from me, chewed. My favorite headline was "Protests not expected to harm economy". Heh. But isn't that what they were striking for? Didn't they want to prove how very important they are to the economy, by suddenly ceasing to work and shop? I guess they're not as important as they thought they were.

Which gave me an idea. There are millions of Americans in the border states and all throughout the country who do not want amnesty for illegal immigrants. Many of them are second and third generation Americans themselves, and they appreciate how their forbears went through legal channels to make a life for the family in the land of promise. What if all these Americans decided that the best way to make their point about banning illegals was to take a day off work? Not shop. Not go to school. From Maine to California, and all the flyover states, too. What if Iowa shut down? And all the hard working Americans in Texas, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Florida and all the other states just stayed home? No need for lavish headline grabbing marches - just stay home.

The silicon valley would be closed for the day. No one would be on hand to fix Google's server troubles. No one could bank. The markets would suffer, but what would it matter - there would be no traders or brokers in the office anyway. Would the price of oil go up or down internationally? Who would know? Since the newscasters would be at home watching reruns. No live American TV. No baseball, football or hockey - even if not all the players are citizens, there would be no one to unlock the arenas and stadiums, and no one to announce the games. No popcorn. No beer.

Grocery stores would be closed, but chances are you'd be able to get a bite to eat at the local 7-11, since it's mostly staffed by non-Americans. Unless you live in Wyoming. Then you'd have nothing. There would be no farming done that day. Very little shipping. The trains wouldn't run. There would be no domestic flights - the only airlines who would be able to operate would be Air Canada, British Airways, and other international carriers. Oh wait - no! There would be no air traffic controllers.

And the riots! With no police to stop the looting and destruction, no fire service to but out the looters' blazes, no National Guard to bring things under control. Babies would be born at home, since the hospitals would be closed. People would die without medical attention. Even if help were out there, do we know for sure that the phones would be working to call for assistance? There would be no bulletins warning of danger, since the radio stations would be mostly off the air.

But don't worry - the Mexicans will still be working. So the oranges will get picked that day.

An email from a reader:

Hello,

I saw your blog regarding Canadians not receiving mail etc. and there being a lack of "support" groups out there for Canadian Troops. I've been searching the net for such sites myself and I can't say I have found any either.

My crafting friends and I are taking on a new initiative for the month of May. We will be making postcards to send to Canadian Soldiers stationed in Afghanistan wishing them a Happy Canada day. We've contacted our crafting friends from coast to coast and are hoping to have a minimum of 1 post card for each solider. We're really hoping this project takes off.

Cindy

A follow up from Cindy:

I can keep you posted on the project. Many Craft businesses that have craft spaces are setting up "workshop" times that people can come in and make postcards (in the hopes of increasing the number of postcards made).

We're all forwarding our postcards to one lady who will put them all in one package and send it to the Belleville to be mailed overseas. I'll keep you up to date! The deadline is May 31st.

I believe one lady is also writing a newspaper article about the project so when I get an update, I'll forward you the link.

Bless her heart! Not to mention it sounds like lots of fun - a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon with some girlfriends or something. And I'm sure our troops in Afghanistan will really appreciate knowing that people back home care about them so much.

You are truly a good person, Cindy.