I had this blog festering in the back of my mind about what could have been and perhaps what could have not been.     From 1979-1989, The Soviet 40th army fought a war in Afghanistan that they could not win. During that time, Charlie Wilson, Democratic from Texas, started the largest covert operation in American history, supplying weapons to the Afghans.   Charlie Wilson The Afghans eventually took such a toll on the Soviets that they pulled out. It was the beginning of the end. 11 months later, the Berlin wall came down. The only thing that was wrong with this whole scenario was that the Americans screwed up the end game. Having seen the Soviets beaten, they forgot about Afghanistan and left behind a ruined country with little in... 04/05/2009

China has built a park to commemorate the U.S. airmen of the "Fighting Tigers".  The brain child of Claire L. Chennault, who was an adviser to Chang Kai-Shek, the Flying Tigers consisted of 3 squadrons of 20 aircraft each. The squadrons were made up of volunteers, (mercenaries, if you will), who allied with China to fight the attacking Japanese air force. Named for their distintive nose art, the Flying Tigers had spectacular success, downing 300 enemy aircraft while losing only 14.                                                             These "chits" were issued to the pilots and they read: "This foreign person has come to China to help in the war effort. Soldiers and civilians, one and all, should rescue, protect and provide medical assistance". 04/05/2009

This is worrying! Beer contains female hormones. Last month,Wits University and RAU scientists revealed that beer contains lots of phytoestrogens and that by drinking enough beer, men can turn into women! To test the theory, 100 men were given             8 pints of beer to drink within 1 hour.                          It was then observed that ALL the                                            test subjects:  Argued over nothing, and refused to apologize                                                even when they were obviously wrong!  They gained weight and talked excessively without making any sense.   They became overly emotional, and failed to think rationally. NO FURTHER TESTING WAS DEEMED NECESSARY! So warm your friends about the dangers of drinking too much beer. 03/29/2009

 Greg Gutfeld, host of the Fox television show, Red Eye, and his panel of "talking heads", recently had great fun at the expense of Canadian troops in Afghanistan. The remarks made, I won't get into here. Suffice to say, they caused outrage across Canada at a time when we were repatriating four more slain troops.                                     "Comedian" Doug Benson, part of the panel, quickly paid the price. His scheduled appearance at a Canadian comedy club was yanked. I guess, for good reason, this show is on at 3 A.M. 03/29/2009

 Ratan Tata, one of the wealthiest men on the planet, (reportedly, $50 Billion), unveiled the world's cheapest car, the NANO. The cost? $2,050 USD, including transportation charges and taxes. This is a "bare-bones" car. It has a 623 c.c. engine, (basically, a motorcycle), gets a zillion miles to the gallon and has a top speed of about 60 MPH. Granted, it's really basic. It has no air bags, no radio and no anti-lock brakes, but for commuting around town, it will suit about 90% of any population. It's certainly going to be popular in places like India and Mexico, but I have my doubts about the rest of North America. I guess once you add the air bags, anti-lock brakes and radio and after it's upgraded to meet out EPA standards, and after adding dealer mark-up and prep., the final cost for ... 03/29/2009

 A lot has been written recently that this guy has w-a-y too much on his plate right now and has taken on too much too soon. As he commented recently, " The President needs to be able to walk AND chew gum.                                                           My take? I don't think he has taken on too much. He's been handed a world-wide financial crisis, two major wars, a health and education system in chaos, major corporations on the brink of collapse and an energy crisis. What's he supposed to do? Pick and choose?                                                             This is not the first time in history this has happened. Lincoln was faced with passing the Homestead Act and the transcontinental railway, while trying to deal with the civil war. Rossevelt pretty much couldn't... 03/29/2009

    Two automobile companies had decided to hold a dragon boat race on the Missouri river. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race. On the big day, the Japanese team won by a mile. The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for this crushing defeat. A senior management team was formed to review the race and recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion was this: The Japanese team had 20 people rowing, 1 drumming and 1 steering. The American team had 2 people rowing, 5 drumming and 15 steering. Feeling a more in-depth study was needed, management hired a consulting company and paid them an enormous amount of money for a second opinion. They concluded, of course, that too many people were steering and not en... 03/28/2009

  Here's the guy; George Galloway, British Member of Parliament from Scotland, and in my opinion, an absolute nut-case. This guy is on record as one of the biggest supporters of terrorism on the planet. (There's lots on this guy on Google, so I won't get into detail here.) The irony of the whole thing is, this guy was scheduled to give a series of speeches in Canada, starting with one at the Metropolitan United Church. He has lots of supporters among fringe groups and anti-Israelis groups. Personally, I couldn't give a rat's ass one way or the other. What offends me is someone coming over here to deliberately spread their venom regardless of the cause. At the eleventh hour, Canada pulled the pin on this guys entry visa. Good on ya' Canada!   03/28/2009

Ha! You saw the heading and you looked! I confess, I like cats. I've always been a dog person, but for the last few years I've had cats. Actually, I have two; I had to take them as a pair because they are siblings, and besides, they keep each other company. The big male "Tigre" lays on my desk  with his paw on my arm while I work on the computer. He follows the curser on the screen and amuses himself like that for hours. The female, "Mitts" is squirrley and fetches like a dog. She will  only fetch rolled-up wax paper. Not tin foil or ordinary paper-just wax paper. I don't know where she picked that up from. But she'll do that all night long-it's a routine now. Both of them come like dogs when I whistle; I've never seen cats like this, and the bonus is... unlike dogs, I don't have to fol... 03/28/2009

 My morning routine does not include canned shaving cream. Years ago, I actually owned a strop and a straight-razor, but did away with that as my hand got                     less steady.        I did however, keep the mug and brush. There's something aesthetically pleasing about lathering up with English shaving soap and a badger-hair brush. I do this morning ritual because it gives me time to think and plan my day and reflect, and besides, everything is so time-geared these days...I just like my little "time-out". These days, a good brush and English soap can only be found in specialty shops. A good one of these can range in price from $40 to $600, depending on the bristle and make of the handle, but it will last for ages. I've had mine for 35 years.     03/22/2009

Well, Bush came to Calgary, Alberta the other day, (apparently, the only city who would have him), to give a paid lecture. The security for this event supposedly cost way more than he was earning for the talk. But, he just had to get on the speaking circuit. You know, you would have thought that a guy that had a couple of really expensive wars on his watch, a failed economy and a whole lot of mis-steps, would want to lie low for a while and maybe work on his presidential library. No, he's as arrogant as ever. And now, I understand, we're going to get Condaleeza Rice next!              That's sure to be a treat! 03/22/2009

I was at an investment seminar the other night, and the guy running it made an interesting point. With press, T.V. and radio, we are bombarded with 9,000 negative items about the economy-EVERY DAY!  Coincidentally, I couldn't quite wrap my head around why I was looking longingly at the bridge. Was I finally getting over my acrophobia? No...as it turns out, all the negative press was getting to me! Nothing is good! Everything is crap! I normally go away in the winter- I didn't go this year; I'm watching pennies. That coupled with an unusually long winter and all this doom and gloom, I have just about had it. Then, a ray of hope; a couple actually. Our Prime Minister came out on T.V. and said, we're going to recover reasonably quickly, things aren't as bad as we thought. Obama reiterated ... 03/22/2009

The Iditarod, an 1100 mile race of endurance in Alaska, is run every year across one of the harshest environments on the planet.         The stars of this show of course are not the humans-it's the dogs! It has been estimated that a typical "mush" dog will burn 10,000 calories a day, while a Tour de France rider weighing three times as much will burn off 6,000!  Sadly, this year, five of these sled dogs                                                                                     died during the brutal race. THEY JUST WON'T QUIT! 03/22/2009

 A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo, and when the herd is hunted, it's the slowest and weakest ones that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the whole herd because the regular killing of the weakest members keeps the rest of the herd improving.  In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Now, we know that excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. (Not unlike slow buffaloes). In this way, regular consumption of alcohol eliminates the weaker cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. And that, my friends, is why I always               feel smarter after a few drinks. Anyways, that's my story, and I'm sticki... 03/22/2009

  FEATURED PROPERTY OF THE WEEK!  With no heir, the late Herbert Blagrave,          left his fortune to a Trust and since most of that money is tied up in the village of Linkenbolt, the whole place  is for sale-lock, stock and barrel. The entire English village consists of 22 houses and cottages, two blacksmiths and a cricket pitch.                                           List price:  $31-$35 million (U.S.D.) Nestled in the rolling countryside, the village boasts a manor house, an old rectory and clock tower and is part of a 2,000 acre estate. Villagers, who rent their properties would prefer to stay on after the sale; "If that's O.K. with you Guv'" When the new "Lord of the manor" is in place,                              the villagers thought...                  ...it would be nice ... 03/22/2009

 It's probably very good advice to not take anything activists say at face value- regardless of the cause. Comments made by a lot of these nut-cases is better taken with a grain of salt. Environmentalists however, are a whole different ball game. When dealing with these folks, extra vigilance is needed.  A recent story reported a "mutant" fish with two jaws that was found in Lake Athabasca. The environmentalists immediately jumped on this as "proof" that the Alberta Tar Sands was doing irrepairable damage to the environment. (This story was featured prominently in newspapers, world-wide.) Later, a world renowned expert on fish explained that what was going here was natural. The fish is a Golden Eye. They have a very rough tongue with tooth-like growths on the top surface. When they die ... 03/22/2009

It has finally happened! And it took a comedian to do it. Someone finally aimed a finger directly at an individual and pointed out his utter stupidity and sheer arrogance!                  This is Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money on CNBC...                                                                                     ...and this is Jon Stewart.                                                   Using video-tape proof, Stewart nailed Cramer on one of his ridiculous pieces of advice to investors, advising them to buy Bear Stearns, just days before it collapsed, and then lying about how wrong he was!  Then came Stewart's step-by-step analysis of how Wall Street and the T.V. business "journalists" are in bed together; the latter pretending to be reliable advisers to investors all the whil... 03/22/2009

 After spending 13 years in prison after being convicted of strangling her toddler, Tammy Marquardt was finally released, and it turns out, she was probably innocent from the start! In 1995, she was convicted mainly on evidence supplied by a world-renowned child pathologist-Dr. Charles Smith.   This is the guy here. Once a world-renowned pathologist, a coroner's review in 2007 found that Dr. Charles Smith made many questionable conclusions of foul play which resulted in several criminal convictions. In the inquiry that followed, it was found that Smith's testimony had sent many wrongfully accused to prison, and that he had "woefully inadequate" training. In one case, evidence that had been "missing" , and eventually resulted in an acquital, was found in an envelope on Dr. Smith's desk, ... 03/22/2009

Among the professions experiencing a growth in work volume, besides bankruptcy lawyers and trustees, are the linguists and lexicographers. It seem this new recession is creating some new words.    "OBAMANOMICS"             an obvious reaction to             "Reaganomics", which reflect Obama's bottom up prosperity, replacing "trickle-down" economics. "SOCIAL NOT-WORKING"Surfing Internet                                    sites instead of working. "ZOMBIE BANKS" Banks that still operate with a negative net-worth                thanks to government bailouts.                                                                  And all this time I thought bailouts                                                                       had to do with boats and water. "BRICKOR MORTIS" Paralysis in ... 03/21/2009

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Berlin. In order to increase sales, she decides to allow her customers, most of whom are unemployed alcoholics, to buy now and pay later. Word gets around and as a result, customers flood into Heidi's bar! Taking advantage of her customers' freedom from immediate payment constraints, Heidi increases her prices, and her volume increases dramatically! A young go-getter at the local bank recognizes these debts as valuable future assets and increases Heidi's borrowing limit. He sees no reason for concern since he has the debts of the alcoholics as collateral.  At the bank's corporate head office, experts transform these customer assets into DRINKBONDS, ALKYBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then traded on the world market. It should be pointed out ... 03/17/2009