In the immortal words of Max Webster
forget that fear of gravity

russian climbing - Google Video

Rubber Chicken Radio
The Blues, the Beats, Mongolian throat singing, sound poetry and peach brandy!
Look way down at the bottom of the link list for Rubber Chicken Radio and tune in now for a four hour broadcast as I guest star along with neighbour and poet Jesse Glass on magician, comedian and clown-prince of Tokyo Steve Marshall's internet radio program.

"I love a man in uniform"
Sez armchair general Stephen Harper, who is getting all gooey about the military in the current election. I agree that Canada should spend a little more money equiping our armed forces -- they need new helicopters and some icebreakers and more money in general, especially in the pay packets of the ranks. Harper, however wants to turn the Canadian Armed Forces into an occupying army in their own country for some reason

Vigilantes and vigilance

From the Times, December 22, 2005

Rail 'groper' chased to his
death
From Leo Lewis in Tokyo
"A commuter who allegedly groped a
college girl on a crowded train collapsed and died after being chased along a
platform by fellow passengers.
The 40-year-old office worker fled the train
when it pulled into a station after the student screamed and accused him of
groping her bottom and legs.
Four male passengers, including two off-duty
policemen, gave chase, bringing him to the ground as he tried to escape. He died
later in hospital from a heart attack."

This story was all over the Japanese press and made the BBC and the Times of London. I can only speculate as to why it didn't appear in certain publications. Can anyone tell me why this was not on a certain front page?

Christmas photo blogging
A brief sketch by my lovely and talented wife used to sign a Christmas card. Believe me, there is more than a passing resemblance.

We were very lucky that Kentaro recovered from the mumps in time for Christmas. He isn't fat, he just is just swollen in this shot. We called him "hampster cheeks" for about a week.

the wife and kiddies on Xmas day, 2005, outside the Mitsukoshi department store in Ginza, following a Xmas day performance of "The Little Match Girl" and "The Three Little Pigs"

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.....

A little nightmare for Christmas

A truly scary example of the President spying on citizens without a warrant

Jon Stewart was right, he is a dick

Regular readers know that while I live in Tokyo, I am Canadian right down to my Stanfields. I like my hockey, my Molson's, my maple syrup and Stompin' Tom Conners. Like many Canadians, I have mixed feelings about our neighbours to the South. Lately I'm starting to agree more and more with the Carolyn Parrish crowd, mainly because of the reaction south of the border to our Prime Minister's very reasonable comments on the state of affairs between Canada and the United States. The U.S. Ambassador felt compelled to shoot his mouth off and interfere with our election (not the first time this has happened, Paul Celluci did the same thing last time around) and now the rightwing pundits are starting in.

Tucker Carlson -- who incidently dresses like Pierre Berton without being anywhere near as cool as the late popular historian and author -- has apparently been taking way too much of whatever the hell it is that John Gibson is on. I'd like to extend a personal invitation to him to come up and visit the Great White North, where he will be very happy to learn we have low cost socialized health care, because if he gets anywhere near anyone who has read this pile of insulting crap, he's going to need it. I just ask my fellow citizens to save me a piece of him when they go all Dave Schultz on his preppy hide.


From Canadian Press

Last week, MSNBC host Tucker Carlson, a well-known conservative pundit, let loose with a string of anti-Canada rants.

''Anybody with any ambition at all, or intelligence, has left Canada and is now living in New York,'' he said.

''Canada is a sweet country. It is like your retarded cousin you see at Thanksgiving and sort of pat him on the head. You know, he's nice but you don't take him seriously. That's Canada.''

Carlson also said it's pointless to tell Canada to stop criticizing the United States.

''It only eggs them on. Canada is essentially a stalker, stalking the United States, right? Canada has little pictures of us in its bedroom, right?''

''It's unrequited love between Canada and the United States. We, meanwhile, don't even know Canada's name. We pay no attention at all,'' he said.

Clearly the man needs a swift mukluk in the hindquarters, the question is who to sic on him? Don Cherry? Stompin' Tom Conners? Rick Mercer? Rex Murphy? Post your suggestions and we'll have a contest.

I think the thing that drives these guys nuts when it come to the True North Strong and Free is that Canada is the country that U.S. liberals would like to see the U.S. resemble - clean, polite, free and safe with a strong economy, a falling public debt, a government that tries to help those that need it and unquestionably liberal social policies. Canada works and that drives guys like Neil Cavuto and Tucker Carlson crazy.

By all means drop the ignorant sissy-boy a line at Tucker@msnbc.com

Matt Drudge is full of it

Think Progress deflates Drudge's balloon of BS -- that both Clinton and Carter authorized no-warrant wiretaps and searches of Americans -- with the pinprick of truth.

Wheels come off Liberal campaign and the return of the mongoose
I guess it's only fair to include a 'gotcha' picture from the Liberal campaign to balance yesterday's shot of a terrified child with Stephen Harper. Note the flat rear tire. The accompanying story of Paul Martin's prarie sojourn leads me to believe things will not be happy on the campaign plane tonight.
In other election news, our favorite cousin is once again a candidate. Back in the olden days, when we were both students for the first time, I was his campaign manager when he ran unsuccessfully for student union president under the slogan "Brent Wood - He's a mongoose, not a wombat." It is a sterling tribute to Brent's personal loyalty that he didn't beat me to death with a stratocaster and drop my body in the Elora Gorge for that slogan alone. If you are in his riding (Peterborough) be sure to vote early and vote often for him.

Most deaths in war since WWII

but since they aren't Americans I guess it doesn't matter, so go back to your cheetos and Bill O'Rielly

responsible speech
First Stephen Harper chides Paul Martin for saying mean things about the United States and how they need to listen to the rest of the world on global warming and live up their word on trade agreements - notably softwood lumber. "Bad PM" said Harper, "naughty PM, grandstanding by saying bad things about the United States screwing us and the rest of the planet." Then he saw some poll numbers or something and now we get this: "Harper considers cutting trade with U.S."

Canadian blogs, eh!

I've been looking around for the Canadian equivilent of Eschaton, Kos etc. etc. and found these fine progressive mass appeal blogs

Peace Order and Good Government, eh

Canadian Cynic

The Green Knight

The Canadian Lemming

Headaches and coffee


more later

Be afraid, be very afraid

More election new from the Great White North. Apparently the Liberals are trying to make it all about what an intolerant, Yankee-kowtowing, feeble minded git Stephen Harper is and so are the Tories. Meanwhile Jack Layton is proudly annoucing that he would throw straight into the crapper any and all ethics and values his party may have ever stood for if it means a chance to get hold of the one of the reins in a minority government. He claims the NDP and the Tories could work together. Kind of like the mouse proclaiming he can work with the cat if it means getting rid of the dog. For more see this and this and this

Today's quiz - What's your world view?


And I always thought I was a romantic idealist

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You scored as Materialist. Materialism stresses the essence of fundamental particles. Everything that exists is purely physical matter and there is no special force that holds life together. You believe that anything can be explained by breaking it up into its pieces. i.e. the big picture can be understood by its smaller elements. Materialist 94% Existentialist 88% Postmodernist 75% Modernist 63% Idealist 63% Cultural Creative 56% Romanticist 19% Fundamentalist 6% What is Your World View? (updated) created with QuizFarm.com

What if Ernest Hemmingway had been Clement Clarke Moore?

(stolen without permission from the New Yorker)

A Visit from Saint Nicholas (In the Ernest Hemingway Manner)
by James Thurber
Issue of 1927-12-24
Posted 2003-12-15


This classic New Yorker holiday story, from 1927, appears in the anthology “Christmas at The New Yorker,” which was published by Random House. (And I stole it.)



It was the night before Christmas. The house was very quiet. No creatures were stirring in the house. There weren’t even any mice stirring. The stockings had been hung carefully by the chimney. The children hoped that Saint Nicholas would come and fill them.

The children were in their beds. Their beds were in the room next to ours. Mamma and I were in our beds. Mamma wore a kerchief. I had my cap on. I could hear the children moving. We didn’t move. We wanted the children to think we were asleep.

“Father,” the children said.

There was no answer. He’s there, all right, they thought.

“Father,” they said, and banged on their beds.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“We have visions of sugarplums,” the children said.

“Go to sleep,” said mamma.

“We can’t sleep,” said the children. They stopped talking, but I could hear them moving. They made sounds.

“Can you sleep?” asked the children.

“No,” I said.

“You ought to sleep.”

“I know. I ought to sleep.”

“Can we have some sugarplums?”

“You can’t have any sugarplums,” said mamma.

“We just asked you.”

There was a long silence. I could hear the children moving again.

“Is Saint Nicholas asleep?” asked the children.

“No,” mamma said. “Be quiet.”

“What the hell would he be asleep tonight for?” I asked.

“He might be,” the children said.

“He isn’t,” I said.

“Let’s try to sleep,” said mamma.

The house became quiet once more. I could hear the rustling noises the children made when they moved in their beds.

Out on the lawn a clatter arose. I got out of bed and went to the window. I opened the shutters; then I threw up the sash. The moon shone on the snow. The moon gave the lustre of mid-day to objects in the snow. There was a miniature sleigh in the snow, and eight tiny reindeer. A little man was driving them. He was lively and quick. He whistled and shouted at the reindeer and called them by their names. Their names were Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and Blitzen.

He told them to dash away to the top of the porch, and then he told them to dash away to the top of the wall. They did. The sleigh was full of toys.

“Who is it?” mamma asked.

“Some guy,” I said. “A little guy.”

I pulled my head in out of the window and listened. I heard the reindeer on the roof. I could hear their hoofs pawing and prancing on the roof. “Shut the window,” said mamma. I stood still and listened.

“What do you hear?”

“Reindeer,” I said. I shut the window and walked about. It was cold. Mamma sat up in the bed and looked at me.

“How would they get on the roof?” mamma asked.

“They fly.”

“Get into bed. You’ll catch cold.”

Mamma lay down in bed. I didn’t get into bed. I kept walking around.

“What do you mean, they fly?” asked mamma.

“Just fly is all.”

Mamma turned away toward the wall. She didn’t say anything.

I went out into the room where the chimney was. The little man came down the chimney and stepped into the room. He was dressed all in fur. His clothes were covered with ashes and soot from the chimney. On his back was a pack like a peddler’s pack. There were toys in it. His cheeks and nose were red and he had dimples. His eyes twinkled. His mouth was little, like a bow, and his beard was very white. Between his teeth was a stumpy pipe. The smoke from the pipe encircled his head in a wreath. He laughed and his belly shook. It shook like a bowl of red jelly. I laughed. He winked his eye, then he gave a twist to his head. He didn’t say anything.

He turned to the chimney and filled the stockings and turned away from the chimney. Laying his finger aside his nose, he gave a nod. Then he went up the chimney. I went to the chimney and looked up. I saw him get into his sleigh. He whistled at his team and the team flew away. The team flew as lightly as thistledown. The driver called out, “Merry Christmas and good night.” I went back to bed.

“What was it?” asked mamma. “Saint Nicholas?” She smiled.

“Yeah,” I said.

She sighed and turned in the bed.

“I saw him,” I said.

“Sure.”

“I did see him.”

“Sure you saw him.” She turned farther toward the wall.

“Father,” said the children.

“There you go,” mamma said. “You and your flying reindeer.”

“Go to sleep,” I said.

“Can we see Saint Nicholas when he comes?” the children asked.

“You got to be asleep,” I said. “You got to be asleep when he comes. You can’t see him unless you’re unconscious.”

“Father knows,” mamma said.

I pulled the covers over my mouth. It was warm under the covers. As I went to sleep I wondered if mamma was right.

Merry Fitzmas Conrad Black!

All I want for Christmas is Conrad Black's head on a pike outside the U.S. Justice Department. I love Patrick Fitzgerald. I want to bear his children.

The dumbest thing I've heard anyone say all week
President George W. Bush on Monday:
"I made a tough decision. And knowing what I know today, I'd make the decision again," Bush said. "Removing Saddam Hussein makes this world a better place and America a safer country."

So, knowing that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction, had no ties to Al-Qaida or 9/11, posed no threat to his neighbors or the United States, that U.S. troops would face a hostile populace and dedicated and deadly guerrilla resistance, that he would completely divide the American public, destroy his nation's reputation abroad, ruin the country's finances, inspire a generation of terrorists and that accomplishing all this would cost more than 30,000 civilian lives and 2,200 U.S. soldiers lives George W. Bush would still invade Iraq.

Someone please explain to me how this doesn't make him the stupidest or evilest (or maybe both) man on the planet.

Meddlesome Yankees

Aren't ambassadors supposed to stay out of domestic politics in the countries they are stationed in? And is it just me or does U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins look like Monty Burns? The Liberals ought to send the White House a cheque for all this help in the election, because by bashing Martin for his remarks at the Montreal conference on global warming, Wilkins has probably assured his re-election.

Government vs. Press
This guy is teaching journalism? Let me guess, he hold the Heritage Foundation chair in bending over and taking it.

He briefly bemoans the fact that the Bush regime is bribing journalists to spin stories and paying Iraqi newspapers to print propaganda and then says:

"But the government is not acting in a vacuum. It is reacting to a media environment marked by enormous hostility. Skepticism is healthy, but too many journalists practice reporting informed by a pessimistic cynicism. This corrosive attitude is damaging the news industry; newspaper circulation and TV news viewership continue to decline."



Athenae at First Draft rightfully tears the "professor of journamalism" a new one.

Which historical general are you?
I apparently think like

Julius Caesar You scored 50 Wisdom, 69 Tactics, 46 Guts, and 43 Ruthlessness!

Roman military and political leader. He was instrumental in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. His conquest of Gallia Comata extended the Roman world all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, introducing Roman influence into what has become modern France, an accomplishment of which direct consequences are visible to this day. In 55 BC Caesar launched the first Roman invasion of Britain. Caesar fought and won a civil war which left him undisputed master of the Roman world, and began extensive reforms of Roman society and government. He was proclaimed dictator for life, and heavily centralized the already faltering government of the weak Republic. Caesar's friend Marcus Brutus conspired with others to assassinate Caesar in hopes of saving the Republic. The dramatic assassination on the Ides of March was the catalyst for a second set of civil wars, which marked the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire under Caesar's grand-nephew and adopted son Octavian, later known as Caesar Augustus. Caesar's military campaigns are known in detail from his own written Commentaries (Commentarii), and many details of his life are recorded by later historians such as Suetonius, Plutarch, and Cassius Dio.

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