THE FACE OF THE RIGHT

A gunman killed two people on Sunday in a Knoxville Tennessee Unitarian church. He wounded several others.

Jim D. Adkisson hid a .12 gauge shotgun in a guitar case and pulled it out to shoot during a rehearsal of the musical Annie. The killer cited, in a four-page letter, his hatred of liberals. He wrote that liberals were destroying the country and had prevented him from obtaining employment.In a search of Adkisson's home, there were several right-wing books, including Michael Savage’s book Liberalism is a Mental Disorder. Adkission killed 60-year-old Greg McKendry and 61-year-old Linda Kraeger who was visiting from another UU congregation. Eight people were wounded.

The sludge rises in this case. Underneath its hoity-toity facade, the conservative movement is made of those who are undereducated, illiterate, and just plain stupid. The conservatives attract the scholastic inept. An intelligent person would read budget analysis and realize that the right-wing Bush administration has cut off help to those disenfranchised. I am, as a liberal, an excellent researcher. When I marched against the invasion of Iraq, for example, before the war it was not because of a lack of patriotism or such sentimental rot but because I read the U.S. Army War College analysis of the possible consequences which would be costly both in terms of human life and finances.
Conservatives should confess that, as an ideology, their beliefs are a destructive menace to a strong America and a safe world.

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STEVE, WE LOVE YOU BUT...

is there a succession plan at Apple Inc.? In a recent eWeek article there was some concern about Mr. Jobs' health, specifically that he was looking awfully thin and pale at his last appearance. There was also mention that there was no second in command.

As a conscientious CEO, it is necessary for Mr. Jobs to have a clear hierarchy to succeed him should he again fall ill with cancer. According to news reports, there is no re-occurrence. Or it need not be sickness. Accidents in life do happen. An industry leader must show wise example to his or her employees by being prepared for known probabilities such as one's mortality.

Thus written, I hope Mr. Jobs enjoys good health and a long, creative life. Radio Free Canada sends him a wish to rest, and take a hot cup of virtual tea.

UPDATE: Mr. Jobs does not have cancer according to news reports. He has nutritional issues related to the surgery that excised the tumour.

Stay cool, we luv you mon.


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GOD ONLY KNOWS

being gay is natural. Homosexual and bisexual behaviour characterizes not only mammals other than humans but also birds and insects. In a recent article in the Scientific American, bisexuality ranges from beetles to bonobos.

However, try to inform this to the eejits that make up the dissenters to the Anglican Church's policy of ordaining a gay American bishop and female bishops. Several African, Asian, and other know-nothing congregations have threatened to leave the Anglican Church because homosexuality is "against the Bible". In the meantime the Right Reverend Gene Robinson, whose appointment caused the kerfuffle, is showing up at the once in a decade Lambeth conference in Canterbury despite the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' demand that Rev.Robinson not attend. Hmmm.... I wonder if Rev. Robisnon will bring the mister, having married his partner in June 2008. The Right Reverend John Bryson Chane (former blues drummer...daddy-o), of the Washington Cathedral in Washington D.C. no less, has threatened to bring his own constituents to crash the proceedings with as many gays and lesbians as he can find. Perhaps they will rename this the Lambda conference.

It seems to me that the protesters to gays in the Anglican Church can take what's left of their marbles and leave. They'll be gone but the over 1500 species that dance on both sides of the ballroom, from our cousin apes to the smallest church mouse, will still be at the party.

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IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS

I'd buy you a brain. Bare Naked Ladies front man Steven Page has been arrested for drugs in New York city, specifically cocaine and marijuana possession.

This is very stupid. BNL has been committed to several charities including those for the environment and for AIDS causes. Steven Page's arrest embarrasses the band which is a Canadian icon and an environmental ambassadorship.

Shame. Canada, and the world, is watching Mr. Page to see if he has a valid reason for his innocence or remorse for his guilt.


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DISNEY PACKS HEAT

Walt Disney World in Florida has shot down a proposal to have their employees bring handguns in their car. The National Rifle Association in Florida has passed a law in that state allowing people to take guns and secure them in their cars. The Magic Kingdom has fired a security guard, Edwin Sotomayor, for bringing a gun to work and leaving it in his car to protest the zero tolerance policy that Disney has mandated for its employees.

I think the CEOs of Disney are well within their rights to ban guns from theme park and administrative properties. Guns are a huge insurance liability and a potential source of immense tragedy. The nightmare scenario is of an employee who forgets to lock the car or of a car that is jacked and used to commit a crime either on the employer's property or at another location. Too, one never knows when an employee will go "postal" and seek to harm tourists or fellow employees. Businesses, especially in the entertainment industry, need to protect their clients and their workers. A ban on guns brought to work and left in a parked car is a sensible response for workplace safety.

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"GET THE DAMN...

....MAMMOGRAM...."

Molly Ivins

I am. My maternal grandmother died of breast cancer when my mother was age six. My mother had breast cancer but survived. Breast cancer worldwide, each year, claims 548,000 lives. Women aged 40 to 79 are encouraged to have a mammogram every two years.

There are all sorts of excuses to avoid the exam with the main complaint that having one's knockers pressed between two x-ray plates is as much fun and just as painful as watching Auntie Myrtle's slide show of her precious Fifi dog's teeth cleaning. Well, a mammogram is the only time I am glad that I will never grace the centrefold of Playboy unless someone does a few rounds of heavy duty Photoshop. I like being in line with my 3 to 4 size jeans. However, there is no cover for any shape or cup to forgo this vital test.

The date for my mammogram is August 6, 2008. I'll post the results. Until then, ta tas!

This has been a Radio Free Canada public service announcement.

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VERDICT

The building remains intact. I arrived to the townhouse this evening heavily sedated with a grande Calm tea from Starbucks and my blood sugar somewhere around my toes. I was a little woozy. Shouldn't have had the caffeine rush of Ceylon and China tea blend with a twist of Madagascar vanilla at breakfast. Phantasms of architectural ruin haunted me during the day with thoughts of the wall crumbled and my kitchen in ruins.

I feared for my Corelle dishes which the company now does not manufacture. They are a beige colour with petite blue flowers circling the edge. Very lovely. The white Pottery Barn dishes that I own I could have set quite cheerfully in the slab's path. The set was a gift from my relative and that, with the Fiesta ware of searing red and orange (again Pottery Barn) which was another gift from same relative, could have been "an unfortunate accident" if I had the cojones to do away with the lot. Oops.

There is not anything more depressing than brightly tinted dinnerware for a night-owl with sombre literary preferences. Our choice of dinnerware show the personality differences between my relative and me. She is urban professional to the tips of her manicured fingernails and likes the hues of sunny climes. I, in contrast, am a struggling neo-Victorian gothic writer whose favourite ankle length dress is a dark Aesthetic indigo sprinkled with early Spring morning blue forget-me-nots or a pair of army green khaki pants from Value Village where I shop not due to any lack of funds but it is the only place on the island I can find thus far that carries a size 3 or 4 trousers. They're comfortable in their slim fit and so am I.

I am also very, very much less frenetic in my imagination than I was before my arrival to the townhouse.

My fears were not realized. The plates are without damage. The house is what it is , simply a way-stop. I did not stay for the excision of the concrete with the consideration it would be better not to have my youngest in the line of danger. The only scars that remain are exposed boards where the concrete had a precarious hitch. There are no prises for the contest and I am an extremely less anxious writer.

I suppose I should offer some consolation prises. These are:

1. My unfailing devotion and eternal friendship. You can't cash it at a bank but it's there forever.

2. A promise not to blog Britney Spears or Paris Hilton or whatever media created bimbo next arrives on the tabloid scene.

3. A promise to blog off the liberal mainstream. I don't know about you, but I think everyone has heard about "climate change".

4. A friendly Public Service Announcement from yours dearly at least once a year.

5. To keep my sense of humour even when I read and comment on the most difficult subjects.

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN MY LIFE

This is a slab of concrete that fell from a wall at my rented townhouse. This was a privacy partition
that dropped off the wall a few feet from where we live. There is one close to us that hasn't fallen yet and we can't use our front door to go in or out for fear of dislodging the nearby slab which weighs about 1000 pounds. The owners were warned a year ago that this was a problem but did nothing.

Luckily, no one was hurt. The man that lives near the dropped slab usually sits outside on his porch. The load hit and flipped over the fence. It rained and our neighbour was inside.

Okay, here's the deal. The staff at the complex is coming today at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. This big baby is on a wall held by nothing but a few nails. They are taking this off with a crane that they will situate on the roof. Winners who bet on the wall, the roof, or the fence going out will have a chance to be the guest columnist for one of my blogs free. There's a 30% chance the concrete slab will take out some building structure.


The rules are nothing smutty (keep it G to PG rated, please) and relevant to the topic on each blog. One is a political blog,Radio Free Canada and the other is a blog about the writing trade, The Writer's Home.

Furthermore, all considered prises are null and void if there is death or major injury to the workers, bystanders, writer of the contest, or any of her family or friends during the take down of the wall.

Place your bets in my in-box.

Anne

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WE REMEMBER

A memorial has been set up for four Mounties that were slain in the line of duty.
The

memorial in Mayerthorpe, Alberta for constables Brock Myrol, Peter Schiemann, Anthony Gordon and Leo Johnston has generated controversy from some family members that did not approve of the statues.

I respect the families that feel grief at the memorial. The government should have listened to all those concerned in the decision. However, it is also a time to honour once again those that have died in the line of duty in their capacities as police, firefighters, and emergency personnel.

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IT'S NOT THAT HARD, EH?

Google did not have a logo for Canada Day this year despite it being British Columbia's 150th birthday and Quebec's 400th (girlfriends. you don't look a day over sixty, just like her Maj the Queen).

Google, instead of creating an apology, had some whinging PR shill explain that it rotates logos.

How difficult would it be to make a logo? The graphic that you see on your screen took me about 25 minutes tops in GIMP. Cheese off, you hosers.

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