Fresh Air

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Originally uploaded by AmericaninCanada.

I need some fresh air. I woke up pretty pukey this morning. The stress has gotten to me. I didn't sleep well last night either.

So I took Ginny Grace down to the corner store to get some milk for her and she got to wear her snow suit again which she's starting to get used to (but still doesn't like...and they kind of have a "Hammer" pants look to them).

She'll probably grow up, look at this picture when she's an older teen and remark "Look at my thighs" or something ridiculous...but it's just the pants.

She's starting to go to one nap a day now, which makes the morning oh so fun (*sarcasm)

Man I am grungy...I need a shower and a shave.

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

The world seems awfully quiet today...well if you aren't Dick Cheney. He had a big boom in his ears.

The blogosphere seems to be unnaturally quiet as if celebrating a day of silence for some secret observance no one cared share with me.

My daughter is not sharing your silent meditation however. Nope. She's running through the house enjoying the echo of the new floors and half-empty rooms. For her there's no stress, no bills, no cynicism. Her laughter and excitement is free of the jaded sides of her parental units.

It seems a perfect night to sit and wash my soul down by the river with a helping of Neil Young (maybe that's what you all are doing?)

Blisters In The Snow

I had to shovel the driveway again...it has aggravated my blisters (no I didn't wear gloves...I know...I'm stupid). But here's some pictures...I like to squick Zilla out and she begged to see them...so blame her





They're very hurty

Tuesday Twenty

I promised to do a random music list...so here's a Tuesday Twenty- the first twenty songs on my random iTunes list:

1. Just Kiss Me - Harry Connick Jr.
2. Electrolite - R.E.M.
3. Let's Face The Music and Dance - Frank Sinatra
4. Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
5. Someday Never Comes - Creedence Clearwater Revival
6. Hells Bells (Live) - AC/DC
7. Blister In The Sun - Violent Femmes
8. Nightswimming - R.E.M.
9. Ain't It A Kick In The Head - Dean Martin
10. Yellow Submarine - The Beatles
11. Once - Pearl Jam
12. The Ocean - Led Zeppelin
13. King of Pain - The Police
14. Pretend - Bellevue
15. All You Need Is Love - The Beatles
16. Take A Bow - JoJo's Circus Soundtrack
17. Come Hell Or High Water - Prize Fighter
18. Century - Live
19. As Long As It Matters - Gin Blossoms
20. Goin' To Chicago Blues - Count Basie

Interesting that it would pull out a song each from my cousins and also a song from JoJo's Circus...interesting.

Under The Gun

I feel under the gun big time. Shell's project is over in less than 2 weeks and I'm scrambling to find some gainful employment...I might have something...I'll know more in a week probably...won't be the most happy or happening gig but it will pay...we'll see

The stress though is pretty unpretty.
As such I've just been throwing myself into lost space with tons of music playing and hiding when the wife comes home. Though we have some 24 in about 10 minutes...our date night with Jack Bauer.

But mostly I just feel like pounding on my desk. In such a mood I've turned my back on my indie slowcore that I've been in and now am just pumping up the volume. This is GG's favorite non-JoJo song House of Pain's "Jump Around" which she's allowed to listen to until she can understand the lyrics...then it's bye bye. Anyway...

Pack it up, pack it in
Let me begin
I came to win
Battle me that's a sin
I won't tear the sack up
Punk you'd better back up
Try and play the role and the whole crew will act up
Get up, stand up, come on!
Come on, throw your hands up
If you've got the feeling jump across the ceiling
Muggs is a funk fest, someone's talking junk
Yo, I'll bust em in the eye
And then I'll take the punks home
Feel it, funk it
Amps it are junking
And I got more rhymes than there's cops that are dunking
Donuts shop
Sure 'nuff I got props from the kids on the Hill
Plus my mom and my pops

Yeah...kick ass.
I warn you though I'm in the mood for one freaky ecletic mix-CD...does anyone think "Highway to Hell" and "Ave Maria" are sort of bad stacked on one another?

If you think so you might want to drop me a note and tell me to skip you when I send out a CD...cuz it's possible I could go in that direction.

My arm still hurts and I can't play air guitar OR air drums even...good thing some slow REM just came on my iTunes.

Gonna have to post a random 20 song list when I fire my machine back up later.

I'm Oscar Wilde...Without The Gay

Zilla challenged me...sort of...

You are Oscar Wilde Charming and Witty. You are incredibly popular because of your wry and satirical sense of humor. You are also incredibly talented at writing, and pushing the conventional boundaries of your society. Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Why I'm Not Watching

I'm not watching the Oscars. Nope. There are some reasons.
See I used to be all about the Oscars. I love movies and thus the Oscars was always the big night...bigger than the Superbowl even.
But the way my life is formed now, I don't get out to the movies like I used to. I mean I used to see everything! There was a string of years where I saw all the nominated films. That always made watching the awards shows even better.
But now, I'm lucky if I get out to see the really big must sees much less the arthouse and December releases that get the buzz.
I did manage to see a few films last year, sneaking out on a Saturday or two. Like I did see "An Inconvenient Truth" and I'm not a crunchy uber-environmentalist, but I found the movie compelling. I saw "Clerk II" because I'm a Kevin Smith fan (though it was strangely overlooked by the Academy...hmm....)
Looking at the nominees list here's the films I saw that received at least one nomination in something (to show you how lame my moviegoing year was):

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (kind of disappointed me)
The Black Dahlia (one of those movies where I liked to the book too much to be fair...Josh Hartnett is better in Lucky Number Slevin which I saw too)
United 93 (amazing and powerful...Paul Greengrass is a fabulous director)
Superman Returns (cuz I'm a total fanboy...though frankly I found Kevin Spacey, someone I love, somewhat distracting)
Poseidon (I don't even know why I saw that...horrid...felt like I spent 2 hours in purgatory but with popcorn)


I do want to see both Eastwood Films (Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima) and of course the Scorsese film (Departed)...can you tell I mostly enjoy movies for directors?

I kind of want to see Children of Men and Babel as well...

Last night I did manage to finally watch all of Munich which is completely underrated.

I did tune in to see Ellen's opening monologue because I have a soft spot for Ellen DeGeneres. I happen to think she's one of the funniest comedians, and without a doubt has always been my favorite female comic. She did a good job I think, she was definitely nervous though.

The other reason I'm not watching the show though is because Shell bought me some good headphones for my computer and so now I can listen to my iTunes when everyone goes to bed and so I'm just obsessed with my headphones right now.

I don't really have a rooting interest in the Oscars this year either. I mean how scary is it that Peter O'Toole is nominated against Will Smith, Ryan Gosling, and Leo DiCaprio...whose combined ages is probably just about O'Toole's? I hope he wins because the fact that he never won for My Favorite Year, not to mention Lawrence of Arabia...that's just shocking and sad.
I also hope Kate Winslet wins because she's just gorgeous and a fabulous actress who is always overlooked (I think) as one of the best of her generation.

Maybe next year I can get my movie groove back...

Done...almost

father and daughter team
Originally uploaded by AmericaninCanada.

Today Shell and her Dad finished the last room (the master bedroom)!! There's still some trim paint to be done but we finally have our floors done.

They actually ran into a huge problem with this floor that required help from me- which should tell you how big a problem it was...

What happened was that when Shell pulled up the broadloom she found that a layer of tile had been glued down, but just on the outer edges...which meant that the floor was essentially uneven. [Notice it below?]



So with chisels and mallets they set about trying to take the tile up. But it was old tile and was REALLY glued down. So they had to call in the big guns. I have no mechanical or other fix-it skills...but I got muscle and some ass to put behind it.

With large tile scraper in hand I plowed under the old time, chipping it away in small and large chunks. But then...the pain.

Firstly I started to get some severe bilsterage on my hands...it was at that point I thought "hey, gloves would be a good idea". And back to work I went.

Then a big chunk of the tile flew up and hit me in the eye...it was at that point I thought "hey, in addition to the gloves, some safety glasses would be a great idea as well".

So once gloved and goggled I managed to help them remove the nasty tile and they set about to do the floor. However in addition to my 3 blisters (and though Zilla asked for photographic proof, they unfortunately do not take a good picture...) I also strained a muscle in my arm, most likely from the amount of force I was applying and from occasionally hitting the subfloor and sticking. So for the better part of the afternoon I couldn't really move my thumb all that well and I had little strength in my left arm. How embarrassing to have to ask your wife to button your pants for you because you couldn't use one of your thumbs...

Ah well...it was all for a good cause, and it's already feeling much better after a few ibuprofen and some rest...I can actually type again which I was having a hard time doing this afternoon because my left thumb is my spacebar thumb...now you have waaaaaay too much information about me...and you thought that at the 'my wife buttoning my pants bit"

Blatant Marketing Ploys

I'm fairly certain that hell has indeed frozen over.

Why?
Because my brother-in-law Tim actually has a blog now. He's over there in the links. Give him a visit. He's very funny. Not quite as funny as Dick Cheney shooting an old guy in the face, but who can be THAT funny...really? (plus he's got Maple Leaf news on his blog...how cool is that?

They (Tim and Les) also have their new gallery enterprise all websited now which you can visit at The Galloping Goat.
So give it a visit as well and maybe buy something. They've got some really cool stuff.

Why I Am The Way I Am

Some people wonder why I see the world the way I do...I think *this* example of what I was inculcated with in my childhood will make it all clear...possibly my favorite sketch ever.

.

Crunchy Raw Unboned Real Dead Frog...that pretty much sunk me right there.

Making Lemonade

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Originally uploaded by AmericaninCanada.

I've always wondered about the expression 'making lemonade from lemons'...I mean what else are you gonna do with lemons??

The phrase popped into my head today as I was driving through the country to drop some stuff off at my father-in-law's shop. His place is in St. Jacobs which is sort of the center of Mennonites in Ontario. It's still a place where there's a lane on the roads for a horse and buggy. In fact there was a horse and buggy chugging along the Sawmill Road just as I passed this sight as well. These guys had mini-parachutes and were skiing as the wind pulled them along.

When you stop to think about it, here we were, me in my combustion engine, the Mennonite farmer with his horse powered carriage, and these guys on wind powered ski...the evolution of transportation in one hundred yards of each other. Had I been more attuned to what was happening I'd have snapped the van AND the carriage in this shot as well...alas I'm a bit slow on the uptake.

But these guys weren't. There was a pretty fierce wind going today so these cats were moving at a fair rate of speed.

Philosophy in Tights

Before I begin, let me state clearly for the record, that I spent a good portion of my meaningful brain time today pouring over Chapter 5 of Andrew Sullivan's "The Conservative Soul", which is a deeply spiritual, moving, thought-provoking, philosophically challenging and meaningful chapters of a book I've ever read...so please keep that in mind when I relate the following...ok?

Tonight I totally got my inner-fanboy geekdom charged while watching the episode "Justice" of Smallville.
It's the episode that aired (and I missed) while we were flying down to the States. It involves, essentially, the unspoken creation of the Justice League with Green Arrow, Cyborg, Flash, and Aquaman teaming up with Clark. It also has references to Lex starting the Legion of Doom.
Yes I'm a completely Justice League (old school) geek. I actually never really read comic books as a kid, but I loved the Superfriends cartoon especially the years they battled the LoD. Yes, this is why I'm a 38 year-old loser...because there are moments when I'm completely 14 again.

However, you try to digest the following passage from Conservative Soul and tell me you wouldn't need some mindless play:

"This is what time is....it is the universe in which practical life has to occur. One thing leads to another, and every moment presents us with choices of how to act and what to do. Yes, there are constraints; the historically contingent pattern you are born into; the genetic lottery; the hazards of physical life. But in the end, practical life does not relent in offering every individual a constant array of choices, trivial and profound, that she has to make. Even not making a decision is a decision."

Sullivan spends a great amount of time in this chapter on his intellectual hero, Oakeshott, and I have to confess there are times Oakeshott goes right over my head. But I think I pluck enough of it out to understand the idea of 'the conservatism of doubt'. After all it is that 'conservatism of doubt' that I believe infuses the Constitution to which I basically have pledged my life to study. Where Sullivan and Oakeshott make the grandest point is in critiquing both the secular and religious fundamentalism that imperils truly free societies. Both the religious (what Sullivan calls "Christianism", the sort of James Dobson-Pat Robertson brand of fundamentalist evangelicalism) and secular (Marxism as the prime example) are both 'fundamentalist' in nature because they believe (preach, portend) some type on inevitable, pre-determined outcome. To the religious fundamentalist it is the End of Days, or final judgment of some kind where good ultimately prevails over evil; to the secular fundamentalist it is the inevitable progress of a society to its pure state (for Marx through the struggle of the working classes).

If one strips away the veneer of religious or political themes, the two ideas are clearly the same- both posit an endgame where the right side is triumphant.

I've read so much in the last year that critizes the 'neo-conservative' ideology, namely that it sets up a black and white world. Of course it does, and it is perhaps the greatest weakness of the Bush Administation that it does. Ask yourself how many times you've heard (or maybe even felt yourself) the derision at Bush's 'you're with us or against us' speech.

But then look deeply at say the environmental activist who says "If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem". Where is there a difference in the rhetoric? None.

The 'fundamentalist' mindset is "there is only one answer and this is it" and thus, if you don't accept it you obviously are flawed.

What Sullivan argues is that a conservative (a true conservative in the small 'c' broader philosophical definition) believes the answers are unknowable, and what is more, that it is ultimately okay that the answers are unknowable. The true conservative does not say one should not seek the answers, only that the journey is more important than the destination. [Conservatism meets Buddhism, perhaps]

To the fundamentalist, the journey doesn't matter in so long as it ultimately arrives at the destination- thus ends justify means. On the surface this doesn't sound like the religious fundamentalism you might have pictured in your mind because their doctrine concerns itself, it seems, with nothing BUT the means. However the means are actually just points of control. Control is needed because the individual is otherwise doomed, because they are powerless in the battle between good and evil (God and the Devil, or in the case of the secular fundamentalist greed and charity, dystopia and utopia, commerce and art etc.)

I am philosiphically a pragmatist. Pragmatism is often passed off as a milquetoast response to harsh decisions, but this is a false impression. What the pragmatist sees is that absolutism is the devil's plaything. A pragmatist does NOT believe there is no 'truth' only that the 'truth' is unknowable and completely subjective. Pragmatism is a search for empiricism and practicality. Unlike the fundamentalist who is only concerned with a pre-determined outcome whose means are largely irrelevant, the pragmatist believes that both the means AND the end are important and that both require choices that involve value judgments based on the sum of knowledge to that given point.

Whereas the fundamentalist sees the human mind as an agent of potential downfall that must be controlled lest 'sin' or 'doubt' creep in, the pragmatist sees the human mind as the ultimate salvation through its constant synthesis of time, history, evidence, and expermient. It is not exactly the Hegelian model of thesis, antithesis and synthesis, because I think a pragmatist would reject the idea of antithesis as a necessary ingredient. Antithesis to the pragmatist would likely be viewed as a possible (if not probable) result of empiricism.

So see...I did have stuff on my mind that did not involve the Justice League...though now I'm thinking that the very idea of the Justice League and the Legion of Doom as its natural antagonist isn't very much a fundamentalist worldview...hmm...

I should probably sleep now huh?

Writer Mom

It is with great pleasure and immense affection that I share the following film with everyone.
I've only known Ange for 6 months or so, but in that time she's captured a special place in my heart. From nearly the first it felt like we'd known each other forever, and the more we talked, the more we discovered that we are very probably long lost siblings that fate was just unwilling to join in one family...and insurance rates probably are happy for that fact as well.
She offers continual inspiration to both Shell and I as new parents. If the following video even helps to capture an ounce of her warmth and humanity, then my work here is done.

Angie...I hope you have a wonderful birthday and you spend as much time in the sort of warm embrace that you give the rest of us on a daily basis.

This is for you:

Gunman kills 2 clowns in Colombian circus

Ok...so I know this is a tragic story...and I don't know what it says about me, but seriously...the headline just screams for comedy doesn't it??

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) -- Two clowns were shot and killed by an unidentified gunman during their performance at a traveling circus in the eastern Colombian town of Cucuta, police said Wednesday.
The gunman burst into the Circo del Sol de Cali on Monday night and shot the clowns in front of an audience of 20 to 50 people, local police chief Jose Humberto Henao told Reuters.
One of the clowns was killed instantly, and the second died the next day in hospital.
"The killings had nothing to do with the show the victims were performing at the time of the incident," Henao said in a telephone interview. "We are investigating the motive."
With an entrance fee of under 50 cents, Circo del Sol de Cali attracts mostly poor Colombians. It pitched its tents in Cucuta, near the border with Venezuela, earlier this month.
"The clowns came out to give their show, and then this guy came out shooting them," one audience member told local television. "It was terrible."

See the line that gets me is 'the second died the next day in the hospital"...I don't know why, but just the mental image of a clown in ICU...

Yes I'm going to hell I know...my apologies to any of you who are offended by my callousness...

I should probably turn up in Jamokers blog now:

People who mock clown murders are Jamokes

Duck Head

Duck Head
Originally uploaded by AmericaninCanada.

So a few weeks ago, GG found out that I could stick this ducky on my head and it would stay there...now this has become her bathtime ritual...I'll be glad when she can bathe herself...then I won't have to look like a duckhead.

News War

In my continuing dialog with Patrick, I recommended to him the current Frontline series on the Press vs the White House and liberty in the age of the war on terror.
It might be on the surface somewhat detached from your daily existence, but I think the debate goes to the heart of where freedom clashes with security, and what the current administration is doing in response.
You can view most (if not all) of the series (and it is quite lengthy) online at PBS.org
If you have some time I recommend it highly.

[edited to add] Here's about 9 minutes of the first part via someone on You Tube:

Every Epic Needs TWO Trailers

[note: for some reason after it posted, it suddenly became unavailable...hopefully it's just a glitch and it will come back up soon...check back later - Ron] Yes yes, I can't leave well enough alone...but this is so much fun...hee (also I had some much good stuff left over on the cutting room floor)

To Whet Your Appetite

and to change from such a serious topic....

Here's a very special 'trailer' for a very special coming attraction...mark your calendars...

Are you excited??

The Puzzle of North Korea and Iran

There's an interesting article in today's New York Times that deserves some attention, and some discussion.
In the wake of the tentative deal with North Korea to suspend its nuclear program, the question many are asking is 'why not Iran?'
In his essay, David Sanger takes apart the dilemma (the puzzle, in his words) of how to deal with Iran.

Deciding on the Enemy Worth Talking To
By DAVID E. SANGER
WASHINGTON
WHEN it comes to finding a way to disarm your enemies, here is a puzzle: How do you decide which dictatorial, nuke-building regimes to negotiate with, and which to freeze out, sanction or intimidate with a couple of aircraft carriers?

That, in a nutshell, is a looming question raised by last week’s long-delayed deal with North Korea. Even while hardliners and conservatives were assailing the administration last week for “selling out” to Kim Jong Il, some in the administration were wondering whether there are lessons here for dealing with Iran.

The deal Mr. Bush approved requires North Korea to stop producing plutonium, seal its giant nuclear facility at Yongbyon and — after a negotiation yet to happen — take apart the nuclear complex. Over the next 60 days, the North also has to invite back the inspectors it threw out of the country four years ago — and declare where it has hidden the rest of its nuclear materials and facilities.

That would seem hard enough for the hermit nation, but the next part could be even harder: In return for concessions no one is yet talking about, the North would give up its nuclear arsenal.

Many hardened North Korea watchers say it will never happen. After all, that arsenal, estimated by American intelligence agencies at six to a dozen weapons or the fuel for them, is the only source of power for the isolated, bankrupt Hermit Kingdom.

But here’s the curious part: Mr. Bush’s aides worked out this “first step” in one-on-one talks in Berlin of the kind the White House refused to hold a few years back, while North Korea was still busily producing nuclear fuel to make its next generation of weapons. Those are exactly the steps Mr. Bush refuses to take with Tehran.

Let's take the first part of this essay and strip it down a little.
The first issue is the fallacy that all foreign policy is the same. This is something that is difficult to get into the minds of a mostly detached public. There are a number of factors that differentiate North Korea from Iran. North Korea is a completely closed society, Iran (while being pushed in a theocratic direction by ruling mullahs) is to a larger extent an 'open' society. North Korea is impoverished and has no real means of a self-sustaining economy, while Iran sits on large oil reserves. North Korea borders China with which it has tenuous relations, while Iran borders Russia with which it has fairly good relations (relatively speaking). All these factors would make dealing with the regimes a different scenario. Toss in the fact that the US is engaging in a military occupation on Iran's doorstep, the larger conflict with the world of Islam, and the economic ties Iran has with many of the allies of the U.S. and the differences are even greater.

On Wednesday, even while celebrating the North Korean deal, Mr. Bush repeated his bottom line on opening talks with Tehran: They must stop enriching uranium first.

So what explains the difference? Why talk to one brutal regime that imprisons its dissidents in gulags, while refusing all kinds of advice — from Republicans, the Iraq Study Group, and others — to start talking to Iran?

Inside the White House, the logic goes this way: North Korea’s nuclear program is already “mature,” a delicate way of saying that, thanks to years of failed efforts of administrations that go back three decades, the country has joined the eight other nations known to have nuclear weapons. Insisting on suspending fuel production, one senior administration official said recently, would not gain the United States any leverage.

Iran, they argue, is different. It has no weapons — at least not yet. The Americans’ objective is to prevent the Iranians from following the North Korean model, and to avoid waking up some day to news of the Iranian equivalent of North Korea’s nuclear detonation, which took place last October.

And of course the final straw- North Korea possessing deployable weaponry limits military options. The problem with this reality is, of course, that Iran sees how the game is played as well. They understand that having a weapon protects them from military strikes, and therefore dragging out any sort of complex negotiations until the 'eureka' moment is what Iran would hope to do IF they believe no pre-emptive action is possible. Thus the US continued presence in Iraq weakens Americas hand to solve the Iran situation diplomatically.

But President Bush worries, his aides say, that to negotiate with Iran while it is still enriching uranium would be to open up Washington to blackmail. “Think about it,” said one senior administration official. “While we’re talking, the clock ticks. The Iranians can drag this out for years. But while the talks are on, no one is willing to invoke real sanctions” — or threaten, even vaguely, that if the issue isn’t settled soon Mr. Bush or the Israelis might consider “disabling” Iran’s facilities from the air.

Here's the administration's short-sightedness- Washington is already opened up to blackmail because it failed to rein in North Korea before it had weapons AND it has no position to force China or Russia to back a crackdown on Iran.

This results in the American conundrum, made worse by Iran’s ability to cause trouble in Iraq, a problem the administration has been loudly declaring is getting worse. “When you can’t bomb, and you won’t negotiate, you end up in a third box — acquiescing to bad things happening,” said Robert Gallucci, the dean of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, who was the main American interlocutor with North Korea in the Clinton administration.

“Many will say, ‘What about sanctions?’ ” Mr. Gallucci added. But that “often turns out to be acquiescing,” especially if countries like Russia, one of Iran’s biggest trading partners, decline to turn the screws.

Of course, what Mr. Bush is facing now is the worst of all those bad choices. With no negotiations underway with Iran, the country has defied the United Nations and is continuing to enrich uranium (though it appears to have run into technical troubles that have slowed its progress). While the Security Council has imposed some mild sanctions, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice concedes that trying to escalate those punishments by passing more Security Council resolutions is probably ineffective. The Russians and the Chinese have made clear they simply won’t go along much farther.

That leaves Mr. Bush with the choice of hinting at military action — an option his new secretary of defense, Robert Gates, has all but dismissed. “For the umpteenth time we are not looking for an excuse to go to war with Iran,” he declared the other day, out of exasperation.

So, instead, Mr. Bush has chosen to exert more financial pressure against European banks and others who do business with Iran, in hopes of squeezing the country so hard that it decides its leaders have to go.

R. Nicholas Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, argued in a speech in Washington on Wednesday that the squeeze is working — in ways it could not in North Korea — because Iran is “not a monolithic system, there are many voices, many different points of view.” Mr. Bush mused happily the other day about the troubles that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Holocaust-questioning president of Iran, is facing from elements of Iranian society that want jobs and visas.

It is possible that the third party economic squeeze is working to defray some of Ahmadinejad's power, but political change in Iran is virtually impossible given the control of the political system by the mullahs. Ahmadinejad's rise to power came as a direct result of the mullahs disqualification of moderate candidates running for office. Ahmadinejad does face a difficult domestic crisis if Iran is pushed to the fore of Middle East policy concerns (right now, despite the danger, Iran is still seen to be behind the dismal Iraq policy and the Palestinian crisis- thus it is in Ahmadinejad's best interest to stoke discord in Iraq and the Middle East peace process- not to mention Lebanon- as long as he keeps his hand relatively hidden). He is aided in this by the failure of the Bush administration in Iraq and the loss of US prestige abroad. For all those unilateralists who think American can go it alone, Iran is a prime example of how intelligence disasters like Iraq, and losing the moral high ground among allies, makes a tense situation nearly intractable.

What may really be going on here, says Robert S. Litwak, the author of “Regime Change,” is that, “Iran is seen as the more dynamic threat” than North Korea. “That means the administration felt it could defer the core issue of disarmament” in the case of the North; it does not feel that it has that luxury with the Iranians, even if they are years from an actual weapon.

But the ultimate lesson of the North Korea case may be that even after sanctions, even after mutual threats, at some point both sides have to take the leap toward negotiations.

The Iranians keep sending hints they are ready to do so; on Friday evening, in response to questions, a senior administration official who is at the center of Iran policymaking (but would not agree to be quoted on the record) insisted that “it is not us refusing to talk to the Iranians, but they are refusing to come back” under the conditions the United States and Europe established.

North Korea is also a reminder that those conditions can change. Just a year or two ago the deal reached last week would have been rejected by administration hardliners as rewarding bad behavior — and perpetuating one of the world’s most repressive governments. That is still the view of many of the advisers Mr. Bush once relied on.

In the last two years of his administration, he has confronted reality in the coldest corner of East Asia. The question now is whether that foreshadows a similar shift as he confronts the dangers of the hottest corner of the Middle East.

I am less sanguine about the possibility of rapid change in policy on the part of Iran toward the West, short of dramatic political change in Teheran.

This is why we cannot look at individual foreign policy actions in a vacuum. Decisions are interrelated and compound upon one another. This is why the failure in Iraq (from the shoddy intelligence to Abu Ghraib and back again) matters. It is why we cannot sit idly while Don Rumsfeld says "stuff happens". The word is accountability...one way or another, it becomes blowback.

These Friends Of Mine

I did a little redesign to our blog friends chat room These Friends Of Mine, so check it out...

Let me know if there's some stuff you think would be a good addition to the links or the sidebar as a whole...send me feedback! I like feedback.

Plus remember the room is always open and stop by regularly...I tend to fire it up whenever I log on...and if you should want to start a chat about anything at anytime feel free.

Note To Self

...next time when having wood flooring installed in baby's room, and leaving baby's room mostly void of any items that might otherwise dull an echo...it might be wise to remember that said baby might enjoy hearing the sound of her own voice echoing off the various surfaces in the room...repeatedly...for hours...during sleep time... [also a related second note to self: be glad said baby has not yet learned to sing and therefore doesn't know the words to "Freebird" otherwise it would be like living in that apartment at the Beach again with that annoying drunk redneck downstairs who just couldn't help himself but to get liquored up on some Pabst and do the entire Skynard oeuvre until 4am (or the cops showed)...]

Misquoting Lincoln

Patrick and I have been engaging in a civil and intelligent (at least I hope people would find it) debate on Iraq and related political topics.

As you might expect, Patrick and I are quite different on many philosophical points (but after all what would you expect from a die-hard Cardinals fan (Patrick) and a die-hard Cubs fan (me)!!!

You might also know that I have a deep amount of respect for Patrick and his service to our country. As the son of a veteran I am profoundly grateful to our servicemen and servicewomen for their sacrifice.

Politically on many things we disagree, but to be able to disagree and still co-exist is the beauty of democracy.

There is one thing that Patrick has posted that is factually incorrect and I've commented to him about it, and it's easy to have made the mistake with as much as the alleged quote has been bandied about and I thought I should also post it here for those who haven't seen it, or have seen the misquote (or heard it) because it is a serious mistake and it is being used on one side of the political divide and as an historian (and especially someone who is an avowed Lincoln-ite) I can't let go unchecked.

Certain members of the GOP have been tossing around a quote from Abraham Lincoln...it was once again referenced on the floor of the House the other day during the debate on the non-binding resolution (it was also used in the 2006 campaign in Pennsylvania by a Republican candidate against Jack Murtha. Here is the supposed quote:

Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs, and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged.

The problem is...Lincoln never said such a thing. The 'quote' in fact, comes from an article in Insight magazine by a conservative writer, J. Michael Waller from 2003. Waller later admitted the 'mistake' blaming the copyeditor for puting quotation marks around the sentence (though how Lincoln's name came to be attributed to it in the piece is specious). As someone who proudly owns a book of the collected words of Lincoln let me personally attest to the fact it's not something Lincoln ever uttered. If you don't take my word for it you can check with Thomas Schwartz the noted Lincoln scholar...he'll tell you the same thing.

A great breakdown of the debacle can be found at FactCheck.org which goes into some scholarly depth to trace the roots of the insidious remark and where Lincoln actually stood in regards to war time responses.

Also if anyone cares to debate Lincoln's temporary suspension of Habeus Corpus I'm game...*chirp chirp*..yeah probably only for historical geeks like me).

[as an aside to my wife should she read this: See honey, this is why I'm unhinged when all my books are boxed up...I'd be throwing out some serious Lincoln quotes right now if I had my books out...]

Reno Photos (For Zilla)

...this time with before and after picture...

Today was the baby's room...

Before:

And after:

*I am asked to remind you that that painting of the baseboards has not be redone therefore these are 'unfinished' photos...(such disclaimers are needed when dealing with a perfectionist like my wife)

YES!!!!

Upper level, side of the stage....but who cares....woohoo!!!

One Minute To Go

got my ticketmaster window open....will Ron and Shell get shut out of our dream concert?? stay tuned

For Patrick, and others who inquired

vegas101
Originally uploaded by AmericaninCanada.

Here's the photo in question, one of the toasts I obtained for Patrick when he was trapped in Afghanistan...My friend Anji (top right) and pals drinking a Warp Corp Breach

which has:

Light rum, Bacardi Select, Captain Morgan, Bacardi
Limon, Fris Vodka, Blue Curacao, Bacardi 151,
cranberry, pineapple, Ruby Red Grapefruit, guava,
orange juice, sour mix, and grenadine....served with dry ice crystals (hence the straws)

[unlisted of course is the name and phone number of the nearest rehab center which once completing this I'd assume you must immediately report]

Hello, Room Service? Send Up A Larger Room!

I have to sneak video of her these days because she just hams it up if she sees the red light...

Cold Busted

Cold Busted
Originally uploaded by AmericaninCanada.

The problem with renovations, which are done to make your living space better, is that you in reality take a few steps back...the house is a mess. Stuff is where it shouldn't. And when you have a toddler, stuff that isn't where it should is a goldmine...for the toddler...a harrowing experience for you the parent.

There is lots of good news today though.

One big piece of news I can't divulge but let's just say it was great news to hear.

A second piece of news is that Mike and Laura had their baby this morning- little Tory Elizabeth Patterson (hurray for more babies!!!!)

Another piece of news is that we're slowing down on the move...hoping to get a better idea of Shell's project situation before we make the big move. It doesn't change the things happening at the house but honestly...stuff was moving way too fast for me and with all I've been through lately I was sort of out of control.

I had a better night sleep last night which was really pleasant.

Although just now moving some stuff from Gracie's room I wrenched my back...yipes.

What Is Love?

It's 1am and I'm writing this because I'm pondering what love is...

I'm awake at 1am because I had a terrible argument with my wife tonight (choosing Valentine's Day as the perfect day to have one of those everyday marriage arguments...because I'm just class like that).

The details are our own, but it left us both feeling lousy, and since it was mostly my fault, me especially. And after such emotion I can never sleep- even with medicinal aid.

Now we of course patched things up quickly, forgave each other and so on and I guess that is in itself the idea of love. Forgiveness.

There's a shallow love, a surface love if you will that it quite easy to possess. It's more lustful that loveful, but it can turn into love.

Friendship is love as well. An open heart is easy prey for the love of friends, but at the extreme ends of it, it still has outs, and we can never really walk in the shoes of our friends as much as we care for them and love them.

But THE love, the love of a spouse or partner requires all of those loves but ultimately it requires forgiveness. Without forgiveness I'm not quite sure love can exist.

See basically we are human, and therefore selfish, creatures. We act and react in often reflexive unthinking ways and we cause pain. Humans are good pain creators. We detroy lots of stuff but we create pain like nobody's business...especially when detroying lots of stuff.

Without forgiveness though, we've really got nothing to fall back on. No hope.

Which is why when she forgives me...I think I need to learn to forgive myself too and love me a little...

But not too much...I can get fresh...

Snow Angel

Snow Angel
Originally uploaded by AmericaninCanada.

Sure I send my wife a sweet valentine post and email...

and she sends me a 'please shovel the driveway so I can park the van when I come home'....

ahh love...

*and I promised myself I wouldn't cry

Actually she sent me some really lovely cards and emails...THEN she hit me up for the shovel (which is better than being hit by a shovel I suppose)...

It's very cold outside. It's like -17C and the snow is as high as a sheltie's eye.

Willow loves the snow- that's how you can tell she's Canadian. She loves to flop around in it and dig her face in it, eat snowballs, catch snowballs...in short- she's NUTS!

Apparently the garbage men took a snow day because our garbage is still sitting out. Now the question is: did the recycling dudes also take a snow day? I can't tell because no one within eye of my house has their blue bins out (I think honestly we're the only people on the block that recycle)...they generally come at like 6am and as usual I forgot last night was Tuesday and did not take our blue bin to the curb (or in this case the snow bank standing in for the curb)



So, I can either a) hope they didn't come and take the stuff out there for tomorrow morning or b) take the stuff out there and then they DID come and have to drag it all back to the house

I think I'll opt for c) do nothing and stay warm...

mmmm....warm.....

My Funny Valentine

The Mrs.
Originally uploaded by AmericaninCanada.

Even though the world seems to weigh upon me most days...or at least that's how I make it sound when I whine about it on my blog. The fact is that I'm a damn lucky man.

The bulk of the luck is because of the woman who married me.

She's funny, smart, beautiful and has a heart of absolute gold and trust me she has infinite patience because look who she's married to...

I don't care what the scientists say...to me...she makes the stars shine and the whole world go 'round.

Upon Further Review

...and with the separate confirmation from Zilla and Fineartist...I hereby declare that this week BLOWS!!!

Apparently it has something to do with something else and stars and whatnot...I don't know...but I do know...it BLOWS!!!

I'd give anything for a piece of good news...cuz other than Eli coming into the world the last few days have been pretty icky.

Wow

If you haven't seen the film Cheryl posted on her blog do so now...
It is one brilliant and powerful piece of filmmaking.

Gunman kills 5 at Utah mall

Gunman kills 5 at Utah mall, police say - CNN.com

I can't tell you how many times in my life I've been to Trolley Square Mall...

It's by no means the biggest or busiest anymore in Salt Lake, but's it the closest mall to the U so lots of students go there.

It is a very 'winding' sort of place, and kind of small. Once they opened the big Fred Meyer story nearby I mostly stopped going to that mall because FM had everything anyway.

Any crime like this is horrible, but knowing Salt Lake as I do (and loving it as I do) I know the community is really going to take this hard. It's one of the safest medium sized cities I've ever lived in. You can walk downtown on a Saturday night at midnight and NOT fear for your life...

I've been hit hard by a number of things lately and this just tops me off...I'm done.

Hey, Houdini Died That Way!

I'm Calling Mommy
Originally uploaded by AmericaninCanada.

Back in the day whenever someone was being rowdy, I could always be relied upon to put the kaibosh on it with a deft "Hey...stop that...Houdini died that way"...it would either draw laughs or blank stares either of which was fine by me.

See that's my kind of humor. The off the cuff stuff.

As we were leaving the realtor's office Sunday, Shell put on her coat and reached into her pockets to get her mitts and pulled out a $5 bill in each hand.

"hey, look I've got a $5 bill in each pocket...what could be better than that"

without skipping a beat of course I said...

"more pockets?!?"

Rob the realtor and Shelley laughed for 10 minutes....I think they gave me 9 minutes too much credit but I appreciated working a good room.

Zilla emailed me tonight and challenged me to a renovation-photo-blog-off...and since I'm not about to slink away from a duel I'll play Hamilton to her Burr (hey wait...Hamilton didn't make out so well in that!) Here's a relatively nice photo of the new flooring:





Also as you've probably read elsewhere, this has been a stressful day since Ginny Grace decided to star in a play called "Fistful of Poop". I can handle blood and guts, I can be puked on, I can even change messy diapers and I've got no truck with gross stuff like that...but when the fruit of your loins tries to hand you a baseball sized wad of poop...well there's just no way NOT to run for the nearest saloon and drown out your sorrows.

Seriously, I've have given anything for a gallon of the jar of moonshine Mr. Andrews kept in his basement...the sort of homemade brew that would make you blind or dead. Either would have been better than chasing down a 17-month old, wielding diaper remainders.

Once I'd brought the chaos under control, thoroughly decontaminating the child, brushing her teeth (TWICE!) and restoring waste products to their appropriate bins I was, as Cheryl the Brit might say "nackered" (or is it 'knackered').

But dude nothing could prepare me for the evil stares from the dogs who were expecting me to throw the baby out in the snow...it's what THEY'D have gotten for such a disturbance.

I'm fairly certain I overheard them later planning a protest...knowing Dixie it will be a snore-in which is really nothing for than a Tuesday for her.

Tonight as I walked from my bed to the bathroom I stumbled, stubbed, or otherwise tripped upon 2 dogs toys, the cup GG was drinking out of before bed, and the hose from my wifes air-compressor and nail gun.

Why can't ALL these people learn to put their toys away?!?!

Do you see my golf bag lying around? No, it's neatly installed in its corner downstairs where no one can step on it- besides they'd snap a shaft on my 4-iron and THEN where'd I be? I'll tell you where...in the woods next spring trying to either muscle up on a 5-iron, or hood a 3-iron neither of which to be honest is something I'll probably be able to control doing...and what does THAT mean??

Dead woodland creatures. Innocent bystanders. And maybe the windshield of the idiot famer who parks his thresher 15 yards from the fairway like his wooden post and wire fence is going to somewhere create an invisible protective shield from my viscious slice and projectile Top Flight 2000 balata missile...yeah Farmer Timmy that's my ball, sorry it hit you in the head as you were enjoying your tobacco pinch and a Horton's double double.

Sigh where was I??

I don't know. Except that no one should challenge anyone to anything past midnight on a school night...

Houdini died that way.

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

...at least I hope so...

We'll be trying to get our two little old tickets on Saturday morning to see my band...the band I love above all others- The Police, reuniting after all these years. They're playing Toronto on July 22, I'm sure they'll sell out in 3 minutes so it's like throwing a pebble in the ocean and hitting another pebble in the ocean...or some other analogy that makes more sense.

I had tickets in 83 to see them with REM and couldn't go...I've never recovered...

Other than Van Morrison who I love and have never seen live I think I've seen just about everyone else I want to who is alive and touring...I've seen Sting a couple of times and of course he does a few Police numbers (more the second time I saw than the first) but it's just not the same. Not the same as seeing Stewart Copeland wailing away on the skins, and Andy Summers (ok so Andy just usually stands there)...

Talk To The Hands

100_7331
Originally uploaded by AmericaninCanada.

Well we're back up and running...

Whew...what a weekend.

Just after I signed off Friday and I took the computer down and moved it out of the room, I got a phone call from the tutoring company for which I've applied to work. They emailed me a contract and I've got to print it out and fax it back to them with my id and stuff but there's a good chance I could have a couple hours a week tutoring- not much but a start...I've got to run around tomorrow and get stuff copied and faxed off and then I'll likely have to wait to hear back, but keep your fingers crossed.

Bright and early Saturday morning Shell's Dad and uncle showed up with a truck load of power tools and the three of them went about laying the flooring in the office and the hallway. I fetched coffee, food, and beverages. I was a snack-wrangler...whatever.

Gracie was really put out by the noise (and Uncle Larry...she's shy) and plus she's teething like an alligator...when they teethe...

So yeah...we've got two rooms left yet to do, the master bedroom and GG's room. Plus the baseboards have to yet be reattached and paint touch ups...there are a few pictures on my flickr but its not exactly show quality pictures...those might have to wait until all the rooms are done and stuff.

Today we went to Oshawa to look at some properties- 3 to be exact.

For townhouse/condos they were pretty nice, one of them was incredibly roomy but needed a lot of work. The other two were smaller but one needed NO work and the other just some touches here and there.

Basically our goal is to make enough profit off this place to pay off our debt and be in the black. Have enough space for the next few years and another baby or two, finish my school stuff so I'm on my career path, and then we can move back into something larger and back to the west end. So we're looking for something cheaper than this place and with little or no work needed...if we could get the first place cheap enough we'd be willing to put some money into the fix ups but it would have to be cheap enough that hiring out the work wouldn't put up back in the red. So there's a fine line to walk.

After spending all day with a really cool real estate agent, we head back toward home but stopped off to see Maria, Andrew, Eric and Laila. We hadn't been able to see them since before Christmas so we still had Xmas presents for the kids...Xmas in Feb? Plus we had Laila's bday present (Shelley made her a sock monkey and she looooooooved it...she kissed and hugged it like crazy...so cute.) Gracie and Laila played together quite nicely, except when at one point Laila leaned in to see what Gracie was doing and Gracie put her hand on Laila's head and pushed her head out of the way...it was kind of bad (but also kind of funny) and after all it's what she does to the dogs when they get in her face too so she can't be blamed for being rude....can she?

After the long two days it was nice to sit and relax and have a chat with friends again without the sound of saws and mallets.

So the house is in shambles and we're all exhausted...but we're sort of moving in the right direction...at least I think so.

Riding The Storm Out

Well my pretties...the weekend of flooring has come and my home office is closing temporarily...don't know for how long...hopefully by Sunday I can be back but one never knows...

So I guess I'll have to turn off Kal-El now...

Kal-El: Ron...will I....dream??
Ron: Yes Kal-El...yo