the blog quebecois

Jean Chretien.

Jean Chretien.

We have a winnah!

I used to think that I couldn't hate a Canadian PM more than I hated Pierre Trudeau, but we have a winnah!

Jean Chretien!

They are the most generous, gregarious people on the planet.

I don't currently know a lot of them, but I knew a lot of them when I was in Bamako, Mali, in 1976-78.

A couple of anecdotes:

The Marines in charge of the Embassy security detail were horrified to learn that Canadian Thanksgiving was a full month before the American version.

Nevertheless they managed to scrounge up a fully-dressed bird for us. Semper Fi, guys.

What I remember the most about those filthy bastard Yanks:

The four-year-old son of the Canadian charge d'affaires drowned in his backyard pool.

The lights were burning long into the night in the US Embassy as they fought to keep their phone lines open to Quebec.

That's why I like Americans.

The BBC recently ran an article on phobias and invited readers to write in describing their own. No garden-variety fears of bugs or heights here:

Since I was little I have always had a fear of buttons - not buttons on clothes but loose ones that are either on the floor or if I am rummaging around in a drawer and come across one I freak out and can't even touch it. I have since met two other people that have the same phobia - at least I am not the only one.

Actually I can't tell if she's wearing a merkin or not. Wrong angle and all that.

Yahoo:

BERLIN (AFP) - Germany blasted British tabloid The Sun for printing what were billed to be pictures of Chancellor Angela Merkel changing into her bathing suit.

"You can assume that the chancellor of course has an interest in resting when she is on vacation, spending time with her husband, relaxing and not being constantly exposed to the voyeuristic gaze of lurking photographers," deputy government spokesman Thomas Steg told reporters when asked about the pictures.

"But she decided quickly not to take legal action. She said the public judgment here in Germany of the publication of these photographs in British media is so clear that it is enough for her."

The offending images, first published in the top-selling Sun on Monday, showed a woman from behind with her buttocks partly exposed with the headline "I'm Big in the Bumdestag" in a pun on the Bundestag lower house of parliament.

Of course, I would never publish such scandalous material on this fine blog. I'll bet Matt Drudge would, though. (Warning: NSFW.) Cheeky lad!

but what can a poor boy do
except to sing for a rock 'n' roll band
'cause in sleepy london town
there's just no place for a

rolling stones

Reuters:

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards suffered a concussion in Fiji, a band spokeswoman said on Saturday. Media reports said he had fallen from a coconut tree and was recovering in New Zealand.

Richards, 62, was treated locally and then flown to a hospital outside of Fiji as a precaution, Rolling Stones spokeswoman Fran Curtis said.

Curtis said Richards suffered a mild concussion earlier in the week. She said she did not know how it happened. He was still hospitalized on Saturday.

The New Zealand Sunday Star Times reported that Richards, who had been on vacation at a luxury resort in Fiji, was being treated in a hospital in Auckland and that he was mobile and had not had surgery.

It quoted Dr. Uzzal Kanti Dhar, of Suva Private Hospital in Fiji, where Richards was first treated, as saying, "I understand he climbed a coconut tree and fell from the tree and got injured."

. . . what's become of Cindy Sheehan:

SHE bounds along on all fours through long grass, panting with her tongue hanging out. When she reaches the tap she paws at the ground, drinks noisily with her jaws wide open and lets the water cascade over her head.

Up to this point, you think the young woman could be acting � but the moment she shakes her head and neck free of droplets, exactly like a dog when it emerges from a swim, you get a creepy sense that this is something beyond imitation. Then she barks.

Via Nealenews

On the shootings in Seattle, Steve H. comments:

I don't know why the left calls conservatives "chickenhawks" and claims we're afraid of Muslims because we don't all join the military. When you're in a war with Muslims, the military is the safest place to be, because the military is the thing Muslims are least likely to attack.

Toronto Star:

A few years later, when Michel was around 8 years old, I remember him complaining to my mother that my older brother and I both had more friends than he did. My mother told him that, unlike us, he had the greatest friend of all: he had Fidel.

Pierre Trudeau's witless spawn, Alexandre, waxes poetic about the old murderous creep:

He lives to learn and to put his knowledge in the service of the revolution. For Fidel, revolution is really a work of reason. In his view, revolution, when rigorously adopted, cannot fail to lead humanity towards ever greater justice, towards an ever more perfect social order.

Of course, that "perfect social order" requires the cracking of a few eggs:

Humberto Sori Marin was arrested in April of 1961 as a counterrevolutionary and his brother Mariano went to visit Castro, pleading clemency for his brother. If for no other reason, than for "for old times sake," pleaded Mariano, recalling when Fidel and Humberto had been Revolutionary comrades.

"Don't worry, Mariano," a smiling Castro said while slapping him affectionately on the back. "In the Sierra I learned to love your brother. Yes, he's in our custody, but completely safe from harm. Absolutely nothing will happen to him. Please give your mom and dad a big hug and big kiss from me and tell them to please calm down."

The next day Mariano collapsed at the sight of his brother, Humberto's, mangled corpse in a mass grave. Castro's firing squad had pumped over 20 shots into his brother's body that very dawn. Humberto Sori Marin's head was almost completely obliterated, his face unrecognizable.

Update: Some are wishing the tyrant many happy returns:

Oh did I mention I was in a Cuban hospital, not a Yankee one. I pity you Yanqui's your lack of healthcare, whereas we in Cuba get it for free......

He probably isn't recuperating in this one.

From an otherwise fawning piece on the US Minority House Leader, Nancy Pelosi, in Time:

Pelosi carries a chip on her shoulder, believing that fellow Democrats and media elites have constantly underestimated her political ability, dating back to her unsuccessful effort to become head of the Democratic National Committee in 1985, when she was called an "airhead" by a labor-union official.

Well, maybe, but I prefer columnist Zev Chafets' description of her: "Ralph Nader in a pantsuit."

My first born has a name that no one else has, he is a first, Abeus ( Abe E us ) it is a strong name, and as for getting along with other children his age, there is not a doubt in my mind he has friends. He gets along with other children, and is not picked on because of his name.

This is one of my favorites. It has everything, nice and compact. It's got a bad name, which sounds like a combination or fragment of a normal one, spelled strangely, and emphasized poorly.

Plus, it has a mother who insists the child is unique, and then insists in a rather desperate tone that he isn't a total social outcast, spurned by humanity and destined to live in a sewer in the bowels of Gotham City because of the badly spelled, poorly emphasized bad, bad name. Really, she acts like having friends is something you believe in, as an act of faith, as opposed to something you witness with your own eyes.

All this, and there's a good bet the kid's no more than 10, so she's presumably watching him with her own eyes a good deal. Is she rationalizing the time the kids locked Abeus in the composting toilet as a friendly hazing incident?

(Reader Tom points out, and I can't believe I missed it, that Abeus is an anagram of "abuse.")

I spent way too much time today reading this site. It's by a woman who harvests awful names that people are thinking of naming their kids off pregnancy-related bulletin boards and then makes snarky fun of them. I love it. *

* It might be pointed out that someone named "gnotalex" has little room to laugh at other people's names.

In my defence, I would like to note that at least it is the traditional spelling and not some new-fangled abomination like "gnotylex" or "knnnotalexx."

Jack La Lanne, the 92-year-old fitness guru/nutrition cultist/freak of nature, lists on his biography page these, among other, accomplishments:

1974 Age 60: Swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf, for a second time handcuffed, shackled and towing a 1,000-pound boat.

1975 Age 61: Swam the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, underwater, for a second time handcuffed, shackled and towing a 1,000-pound boat.

1976 Age 62: Commemorating the "Spirit of '76", swam 1 mile in Long Beach Harbor, handcuffed, shackled and towing 13 boats (representing the 13 original colonies) containing 76 people.

1979 Age 65: Towed 65 boats filled with 6,500-pounds of Lousiana Pacific wood pulp while handcuffed and shackled in Lake Ashinoko, near Tokyo, Japan.

1980 Age 66: Towed 10 boats in North Miami, Florida filled with 77 people for over a mile in less than 1 hour.

1984 Age 70: Handcuffed, shackled and fighting strong winds and currents, towed 70 boats with 70 people from the Queen's Way Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary for 1 ½ miles.

Jack, maybe it's not too late to turn your talents toward your true vocation: As a tugboat. Somewhere out there is a Port Authority that needs your services.

Via grow-a-brain

Wired:

Jhannet Sejas, 19, pleaded guilty last week in Arlington County General District Court to one misdemeanor count of filming a motion picture in a movie house owned by Regal Cinemas. The statute, like the 37 others nationwide sponsored by the motion picture industry, deems filmgoers guilty for filming a "portion" or a "portion thereof" of a movie.

I have no firm position on the legality or lack of same in videotaping movies in theatres. I do feel strongly, though, that naming a child "Jhannet" should result in a felony charge against her parents.

It reminds me of a woman I knew who was named Julia, one of the prettiest, I think, female names. Unfortunately her numerologist had convinced her that she needed to add a "U" and an "H" to it to make it "numerologically correct." So, where do you add "uh" to "Julia"?

Julia-UH, that's where.

Needless to say, the wedding was off.

Social Security Online:

For reasons likely to puzzle baby name experts around the world, American parents have become infatuated by names, particularly for their sons, that rhyme with the word “maiden.” These names for boys include: Jayden (No. 18); Aiden (No. 27); Aidan (No. 54); Jaden (No. 76); Caden (No. 92); Kaden (No. 98); Ayden (No.102); Braden (No.156); Cayden (No.175); Jaiden (No.191); Kaiden (No. 220); Aden (No. 264); Caiden (No. 286); Braeden (No. 325); Braydon (No. 361); Jaydon (No. 415); Jadon (No. 423); Braiden (No. 529); Zayden (No. 588); Jaeden (No. 593); Aydan (No. 598); Bradyn (No. 629); Kadin (No. 657); Jadyn (No. 696); Kaeden (No. 701); Jaydin (No. 757); Braedon (No. 805); Aidyn (No. 818); Haiden (No. 820); Jaidyn (No. 841); Kadyn (No. 878); Jaydan (No. 887); Raiden (No. 931); and Adin (No. 983).

National Post:

Helena Guergis is rejecting allegations, made by the Liberals in the House of Commons, that her husband, former MP Rahim Jaffer, used her government car and chauffeur and was allowed to use her parliamentary office to conduct his private business.

"I have never used the truck for personal use nor has Rahim," Ms. Guergis said in an e-mailed statement. All ministers are allowed the use of a car and a driver. Ms. Guergis's vehicle was a light truck, a blue sports-utility vehicle.

I'm sorry. Got nuttin' tonight. Nuttin'.