Are we having fun yet?

A police officer was killed Friday as fans rioted at an Italian soccer game between Catania and Palermo, leading to the cancellation of all soccer matches in Italy's top two divisions on the weekend.


Fans clashed with police outside Catania's Angelo Massimino stadium after the soccer match between Palermo and Catania, in Sicily, Friday. The trouble started in the 58th minute of the game between the Sicilian rivals when the contest was temporarily suspended after tear gas, used by police to halt rioting outside Catania's Angelo Massimino stadium, drifted inside and filled the stadium.

Jesus, the worst thing that happened to me during a good ol' Canadian hockey game at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto was getting a beer spilt on me!

Your "one for the team" scribe;
Allan W Janssen

HEY YOU!

Let your faith guide you, just be careful of which direction!

Of course politics can be just as irrational as faith. Don't beleive me? GO HERE for an example of just how screwy some people can become about stuff they passionately beleive in.

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 (what the church doesn't want you to know!) www.God-101.com

Blah Blah!

Although I am neither Liberal nor Conservative to any great degree, (For example my political survey says I am 30% Conservative and 70% Liberal) I still vote Conservative in elections. However: I ran across this piece from a really right wing blog that was presenting; Great Speeches from the Right!

This is the way a certain web site was promoting it!

Great Speeches
Each week I will be featuring a great speech. While I love to cover micro political events, my goal is to address the macro philosophies that drive all these micro incidents that make up the daily headlines.

While I share with my fellow Conservative bloggers the need for coverage of daily Liberal insanities, I wish to dig deeper into the causes of this mental illness that so rampantly infects our society; and to remember our history that becomes too easily forgotten and distorted amongst all the noise and clatter.

O.K.- My speech about the great Liberal and Conservative CAUSES!

Blah blah blah blah, blah, blah! Bla blas bla bla..... oh yea, fuck you! Blah blah!

Your "blah, blah" scribe;
Allan W Janssen

More ways to bug a cat!

This is the way felines get even for; "Ways to bug a cat!"
Your "ways be a bug" scribe;
Allan W Janssen

Two for One Tuesday!

Yes, I KNOW it's not Tuesday, but "Two for one Thursday" just doesn't have the same ring to it!

Two developments to report this morning about things I commented on during the past few weeks. I'm sorry to say that although one of them is very good, the other one is very bad!

Let's get the bad news over with first. You remember I told you about a couple in British Columbia who had sextuplets after taking fertility pills?

I was concerned for the babies because not only would they have a terribly hard time surviving in the best of times, but they were also born of Jehovah's Witness parents and couldn't receive blood transfusions.

Well, my worst fears were realized. The B.C. government got court orders in the past week to seize three of the surviving sextuplets born in Vancouver earlier in January and ensure they got blood transfusions if necessary. Two of the sextuplets have already died.

The Father of the sextuplets said "[The mother] and I could not bear to be at the hospital when they were violating our little girl. We took our immense sadness and grief and tried to console each other in private."

The minister responsible for child care defended the government's intervention.

Tom Christensen, the minister of children and family services, said he would not comment directly on the case, but he explained that the government sometimes has to act. "So in the event that there is a child that is need of a medical treatment, and it appears that the child is not going to receive that medical treatment because a parent doesn't want the child to, then medical practitioners have an obligation to report that to the ministry."

"We will review the situation and if necessary, we would go to court to seek an order to have that medical care."

Lawyers representing the family of the sextuplets went to B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday filing an appeal.

The parents will be back in court later in February where they will argue against future seizures, and, according to their lawyer, demand an apology for what they call the province's outrageous and illegal handling of their case.

Here we have a family who avail themselves of modern medicine to conceive children but refuse to let the babies live through readily available medical procedures because their local Witchdoctor told them it was wrong!


(You wonder why I hate mainstream religion and sometimes wonder if maybe it's the Devil's work!)



The second bit of news was also caused by a combination of religion and misogynous males but the outcome was quite a bit cheerier!

This is the story of the girl who stabbed to death a man that was trying to rape her, and -She was charged with stabbing him!

(Wait, wait, it gets better! Really!)

(CBC News) A teenage girl sentenced to death in Iran was released from jail Wednesday, much to the relief of a Canadian woman who fought 10 months to free her.

Vancouver singer Nazanin Afshin-Jam, who was once crowned Miss World Canada, said she is ecstatic that 19-year-old Nazanin Fatehi has been freed.










(Former Miss Canada Nazanin Afshin-Jam, at the Miss World contest.)

Fatehi was sent to death row a year ago after she confessed to stabbing and killing one of three men who tried to rape her and her 16-year-old niece. The attack happened in a park near Tehran in 2005, when Fatehi was just 17.






In early January, an Iranian court overturned the death sentence and ruled that Fatehi was acting in self-defence.

She was exonerated from the charge of murder, but the court ruled she must pay compensation to the family of the man she stabbed in exchange for the pardon.

She was released on bail while her lawyers appeal the compensation!

Your "good new, bad news" scribe;
Allan W Janssen

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 (what the church doesn't want you to know!) www.God-101.com

To Hell With Star Charts! Go That Way!

O.K. boys and girls, it’s Science Quiz time!

Here is the problem! We have decided that we are going to take the next big step and travel to some of the nearest stars.

You, as navigator, have the Encyclopedia Galactica, and you open a hologram of the Milky Way Galaxy to aid in navigation.

(That’s our Galaxy, so if you didn’t know that right away you might as well stop right now and go count chickens or something!)

So far, this is pretty simple! We have these millions of stars floating around in a giant pinwheel that is slowly turning. BUT! Where are these stars in real time?

(click to enlarge)
Do we place them according to how we see them? No!

This would mean that the nearest star(s), the binary system of Alpha Proxima and Alpha Centauri would be shown where they were about 4.2 years ago since that is how long it took the light to get here!

Other stars could be in positions they were in - 50 – a hundred – a thousand - or even - 50 thousand years ago.

The problem is that if we want to go to some system (Alpha Centauri) we can’t aim for the spot we see it at, and we also can’t aim for where it is now, since we have to “lead” the shot just like a bullet.

So, the time it takes to get there will determine the point in space we aim for.

Or, we could play God and pretend that distance doesn’t matter!

Instead, you place all the stars exactly where they are at this precise moment in time, plus their speed and direction of travel in regard to the Galaxy as a whole.

This is something that would have to be done one star at a time for the more than a hundred million stars in the Galaxy!

OK. Then when we have all the stars placed where they actually are at this moment, and we then adjust for each destination.

But, this still doesn’t give us an accurate picture of what the Galaxy really looks like from the sky here on Earth! (Terra) No matter where in the Galaxy you observe it from, the view will always be different because of the slow speed of light! (300,000 km a second!)

See my point, said the father to his son? It's all relative!

Your "Dr. Who" scribe;
Allan W Janssen

On a side note here, travelling faster than the speed of light is certainly possible! The further an object is from us the faster it recedes until you get an object so many billions of light years away that it's recession speed is greater than light.

The problem with this is that it then disappears from our view - or maybe even from our universe entirely! (Comments Welcome)!

I don't care what religion it is! It's still a dagger!

Quebec can be a little draconian at times with their stupid language laws, distinct society, and separatism, etc. etc.

No one has been able to figure out yet if it is because they are a minority in Canada, or just plain because they are French!

In Montreal, a cosmopolitan sort of town, a dispute erupted after a gym's windows were obscured to block the view of exercising women from the Hasidic Jewish synagogue across the street and pools have been asked for gender-specific swim times to accommodate religious groups.

Men were banned from prenatal classes at a Montreal community centre to accommodate Muslim, Sikh and Hindu women, and a city police publication came under fire for suggesting female officers should defer to male colleagues when dealing with men from certain religions.

However, one little town in Quebec seems to have all its marbles as this piece sent by Dene Moore of Canada Press shows!

HEROUXVILLE, QUE. -- A sign at the entrance of this rural Quebec town says: Herouxville welcomes you.

Unless, that is, you plan on stoning a woman to death, sending your kids to school with a kirpan or covering your face other than on Halloween.

The town council of Herouxville, a sleepy town dominated by a towering Roman Catholic church, has adopted a declaration of "norms" that it says would-be immigrants should be aware of before they settle in this town. Among them, it is forbidden to stone women or burn them with acid.

Children cannot carry weapons to school. That includes ceremonial religious daggers such as kirpans, even though the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Sikhs can carry kirpans in schools.

However, children can swim in a pool with other children -- boys and girls alike -- because they can't be segregated.

And for the record, female police officers in Herouxville, 165 kilometres northwest of Montreal, can arrest male suspects. Also part of the declaration is that women can drive, dance and make decisions on their own.

"We're telling people who we are," said Andre Drouin, one of six town councillors and the driving force behind the declaration passed this month.

The small town has only one immigrant family and wants more!

But Drouin said the declaration, which was posted on the town's website and sent to the provincial and federal immigration ministers, is the result of a number of recent culture clashes across the country.

I would love to live in a progressive little town like Herouxville except for one thing! They would probably want me to learn French!

Your "Damn the P.C." scribe;
Allan W Janssen

Mild, Isn't It? (With apologies to Mad magazine)

Bush and Buddies Inc. might not believe in Global Warming, but 500 scientists and officials are meeting in Paris this week to present a report on how fast it's happening!

The report by the International Governmental Panel on Climate Change, to be released Friday, could influence what many governments and businesses do to fight global warming!

It will be watched closely in the United States, so you closely watch here this weekend for any developments!

Your "sizzling" scribe;
Allan W Janssen

(P.S. If you own any seaside property......MOVE!!!!)

Dodgers and Deserters Deserted by Canada!!

Matt Lowell is a young guy from Michigan with a problem!

He is one of thirteen men who have deserted from the Army in protest of the Iraq war and applied for refugee protection in Canada, Ottawa says. So far, all the claims have been rejected!

Lowell, a quiet Michigan native who arrived in London by accident, just received the Immigration and Refugee Board's decision on his case.

Eight pages long, it can be summed up in one word: NO!


Things have changed in Canada with the election of a Conservative government and draft dodgers and deserters are not as welcome as they were under the old Liberals. (F.Y.I. - The Liberals are the Canadian Democrats and Conservatives are the Republicans. The big difference is that both Canadian Parties are ideologically more centrist than their U.S. counterparts.)

"I told my mom they said no and I don't know what to do now," said Lowell, 22, standing in the kitchen of a modest east-end home where he rents a room with money from welfare.

"I'm so sick of running."

During the first of three times he went AWOL from his duty station in Fort Lewis, Wash., Lowell stumbled upon the Forest City.

He'd driven home to Michigan before crossing into Canada, Toronto-bound. He stopped in London that night in September 2003 and rented a motel room.

In the morning, Lowell realized he liked what he saw. "I woke up and thought, this is pretty nice. Not too big, not too small."

He stayed about six months, doing odd jobs, before his mom convinced him to return to Fort Lewis, about 320 kilometres south of Vancouver.

Lowell would leave twice more -- facing the prospect of military prison time for desertion -- and returned to London 15 months ago.

That's when he applied for refugee protection, like high-profile Iraq war resister Jeremy Hinzman.

Also like Hinzman, his application would be denied.

In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the gung-ho 17-year-old had signed up for the U.S. army with one goal.

"I wanted to go to Afghanistan and take down Osama bin Laden," Lowell said. "I was so proud . . . when I signed up."

He arrived in Fort Lewis in July 2002, showing natural acumen with weapons, earning praise from his squad leaders and awaiting his call to Afghanistan.

Then, things changed.

In March 2003, the U.S. government turned its sights on Saddam Hussein. The young soldier was now bound for a war not in Afghanistan, but Iraq.

Though his enthusiasm didn't waver at first, a short visit home changed that.

"Everybody was watching the news and that's when I started hearing they still haven't found the weapons of mass destruction and they're bombing the hell out of Iraq," Lowell said.

"I felt it was the wrong war."

When showing up drunk to drills wasn't enough to get kicked out, Lowell simply left three times -- the second time just two days before he was to leave for Iraq.

He twice returned to Fort Lewis, once voluntarily and once under military order. He was facing jail time for desertion when he left for good in November 2005. He's been in London since.

The recent immigration board decision likely means Lowell could be shipped back to the U.S. within the next year.

His punishment for desertion, the board's decision reads, wouldn't amount to persecution or . . . cruel and unusual punishment -- factors that can lead to successful refugee claims in Canada.

Times change and one of the best indicators of that is that the numbers have changed from the Vietnam era till now. Back then it was in the tens of thousands, while today is just the "Unlucky 13!"

Let's hope that doesn't change!

Your "at the front" scribe;
Allan W Janssen

ICE!

Since it is almost February, watch out for ice on the roads as these two videos will show you! (Not available in California or Florida!)

This 3150 m long tunnel in Russia is the longest in-city tunnel of Europe. There is a river running over it and water leaks at some points. When the temperature reaches -38 degrees like it did this winter, the road freezes and the result is the attached video taken during a single day with the tunnel camera.


Home video of cars sliding and crashing on an icy hill in Portland!


Your "go get em" scribe;
Allan W Janssen

BLOW ME!

You might remember a while back when I was talking about a scam the Indians had of holding the Government hostage over land claims and that so far they have extracted hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation.

You ain't seen nothin' yet, folks!

The latest news (Thanks to our fine feathered Friends!) is that a 300 million dollar project to build a giant "Wind Farm" along the shore of Lake Huron has been cancelled!

One of the main reasons it fell through is - Here it comes! Are you ready? There is a Native Reserve just upwind from the site and......

The Indians want compensation for THEIR WIND! Really! The Chief stood there with a straight face and said; "The wind blows from our land to yours, it's OUR WIND!" (This goes to show once again what I keep saying; "Tell people something enough times, with enough conviction, and they will believe just about anything!"

I wasn't sure whether to put the news here, or to include it in my Sunday Morning Funnies column!

I swear to God that I'm not making this up!

(P.S. If they were downwind, maybe we could charge them to breathe! On s serious note this was not the only issue that caused the cancellation. Epcor Utilities Inc. said there were also problems with the municipal approval process and setback requirements but these are not nearly as much fun to write about!)

Your "Me know how! Want to know when?" Scribe;
Allan W Janssen

"Hanoi Jane" on the loose again!

Jane Fonda set her sights on Baghdad and didn't wear a veil or Burka!

Jane stood in front of tens of thousands of protesters this weekend and brought back memories of Anti-Vietnam rallies 35 years ago! The woman once known as "Hanoi Jane" is lashing out at the "mean spirited" and "vengeful" Bush administration.

It was her first appearance on an anti-war podium in 34 years and she was joined by a Hollywood contingent of Sean Penn, Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins!

(I'm sorry! Every time I hear "Jane Fonda" all I can think about is Barbarella in that "Orgasmatron" machine! Or that thing she did with the guy with the wings! Or when she joined hands with..................! Well, you get the idea!)

Meanwhile, in Washington about 100,000 people demonstrated while Sun Media (Canada) Foreign Affairs columnist Eric Margolis reported that;

"The contemptuous, neo-totalitarian impulses of the Republicans Far-Right, led by Dick Cheney and a cabal of pro-war neo-conservatives, are the prime exponents of an Imperial Presidency!

(Gee, he doesn't beat around the Bush, does he? -Pun intended-)

This looks as if it could become a major constitutional crisis between the Executive and Legislative branches of the Government.

Margolis went on to say that Bush's last term marks the zenith of the long growth of the Imperial Presidency, and the decline of Congressional authority.

The 9/11 attacks and a docile Republican majority, dominated by Southern Rustics and Holy-Rollers, turned Congress into a rubber stamp for Bush's policies.

Most members of Congress have demonstrated political cowardice, moral failure and gross dereliction of their duty to defend the constitution, their nations laws,and citizens' rights!

Yea, Eric doesn't really mince words when he has something to say!

As a matter of fact this is how he ended up his rant!

In 2008 American voter will hopefully censure those legislators who voted for this faked, totally unnecessary war, and approved the Bush Administrations growing use of torture, kidnapping and secret prisons.

Never in my memory, has the U. S. Congress brought so much shame on itself nor sunk so low! It is precisely Congress's duty to stop a President and Vice-President who have lost touch with reality, violated the constitution, and are taking America over a cliff.

Congress must end it's timidity and demand that Bush and Cheney, who have gone dangerously astray, cease and desist!

I imagine he would have been even more direct if he was American, but coming from a Canadian, what can I say?

That's what Friends are for!

Your "Go get em" Scribe;
Allan W Janssen

Touche`

I am going to give you a statement, and you tell me who said it, and what it's about! O.K?...............O.K.!

Sometimes I wonder as to why ********nists keep arguing, even after they have failed to make a case.

After awhile, I've noticed on these newsgroups, that ********nists will repeat the same arguments over and over even though they had already been logically refuted several times!

Now after reading that, you would think they are talking about "Creationists" and that sure would be the logical assumption.

However, if you go HERE! you will find that things are not always what they seem!!! (Read the rest of the article as well. It's so funny I should have put it in the "Sunday Morning Funnies" section.)

This article is taken from a site called "Talk Origins" and is basically Pro-Creation and Intelligent Design! (Found at Talk Origins and also down the left side of this page under "Things Worth a Read." For better or worse!)

(Just so you know what's - going on - going in - Gunga Din!)

Now I have to say here that I believe in Intelligent Design to the point where I will put my faith in a "FIRST CAUSE," but that's as far as I will go.

There is absolutely NO evidence that I can see of any Celestial God interfering with things since!

Besides that, a God that was capable of creating this Universe would be so far removed from us that any attempt to explain or comprehend IT would be utterly futile. (I imagine it would be about the same as an Ant trying to explain why we humans play the "Stock Market," or conduct experiments on a Cyclotron!)

There is also a site here that is written by disciples of Michael Behe.

Overwhelming Evidence doesn't seem overwhelmingly rabid, maybe even rather thoughtful, but I haven't read all that much of it yet!

Your "Just the facts" Scribe;
Allan W Janssen

Sunday Morning Funnies!

My daughter turned sixteen in the fall and like most kids that age she thinks she knows everything!

According to the results of these high school tests for sixteen year olds she may be right.

Q: Name the four seasons.
A: Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.

Q: Explain the process by which water can be made safe to drink.
A: Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists.

Q: How is dew formed?
A: The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.

Q: What causes the tides in the oceans?
A: The tides are a fight between the Earth and the Moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight.

Q: What guarantees may a mortgage company insist on?
A: If you are buying a house, they will insist you are well endowed.

Q: In a democratic society, how important are elections?
A: Very important. Sex can only happen when a male gets an election.

Q: What happens to your body as you age?
A: When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.

Q: What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?
A: He says goodbye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery.

Q: Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A: Premature death.

Q: What is artificial insemination?
A: When the farmer does it to the bull instead of the cow.

Q: How can you delay milk turning sour?
A: Keep it in the cow. [He got an A]

Q: How are the main parts of the body categorized? (e.g. abdomen)
A: The body is consisted into three parts - the brainium, the borax, the abdominal cavity. The branium contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels, A,E,I,O and U.

Q: What is the Fibula?
A: A small lie.

Q: What does "varicose" mean?
A: Nearby.

Q: What is the most common form of birth control?
A: Most people prevent contraception by wearing a condominium.

Q: What is a terminal illness?
A: When you are sick at the airport

Q: Give an example of a fungus. What is a characteristic feature?
A: Mushrooms. They always grow in damp places and they look like umbrellas.

Q: What does the word "benign" mean?
A: Benign is what you will be after you be eight.

Q: What is a turbine?
A: Something an Arab or Sheik wears on his head

Q: Give the meaning of the term "Cesarean Section."
A: The Cesarean section is a district in Rome.

Q: O.K. then! What is a seizure?
A: A Roman emperor.

Your "Hail Caesar" Scribe;
Allan W Janssen