Jesus VS Nazis

Check out this awesome webcomic over here.

Opening line. Jesus sees meteors destroying a city and says to himself, "My father needs to learn how to communicate."

Worth the 10 minutes, trust me.

Racism II

Inspired by the comments over Racism I, here is Part II.

Lots of people say that they see it everywhere in the territory. When you see it, now you know what to do. Write it up as a completely blind item, and post it on your blog. Let's see how far this goes.

There is a particular restaurant, in an unnamed location in this territory of 85 per cent Inuit people, where one of the staff members only waits on white people.

It is unbelievable, this person is in the position where they get to pick their own tables, and without fail, only white folks are at their table.

I don't know if it is a perception over tips, attitudes or just plain old bigotry, but that is what happens.

A person who decides who they will wait on, based only on their ethnic make-up, that is racist. And yes, I've seen it with my own eyes, too many times.

Here's to the new boss

just like the old boss:



The old Kamotiq was ugly.... this one looks like new ugly.

Check out Nunatsiaq News today here for the full story.

Maybe I'm being too harsh, and should wait to see it before making judgement.... but it looks damn ugly to me.

Free Sarah Palin

Campbell Brown is one of the bright spots over at CNN, and she came off maternity leave just in time for the end of primary season.

SHe is so damn natural on camera, and asks shark like questions with a big smile on her face... the real killers do it grinning.

She had this to say last night, about the subject of Sarah Palin ducking reporters.

For the record, before she was named as VP nominee, I twice tried to get Gov. Palin to talk with us over here at that TV network, over her government suing the US Fish and Wildlife Dept over the polar bear listing.

She didn't answer my calls then, now, she answers no ones.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Frankly I have had it, and I know a lot of other women out there who are with me on this. I have had enough of the sexist treatment of Sarah Palin. It has to end.

She was in New York on Tuesday meeting with world leaders at the U.N. And what did the McCain campaign do?

They tried to ban reporters from covering those meetings. And they did ban reporters from asking Gov. Palin any questions.

I call upon the McCain campaign to stop treating Sarah Palin like she is a delicate flower who will wilt at any moment.

This woman is from Alaska for crying out loud. She is strong, she is tough, she is confident. And you claim she is ready to be one heartbeat away from the presidency. If that is the case, then end this chauvinistic treatment of her now. Allow her to show her stuff. Watch Brown call on the McCain campaign to 'Free Sarah Palin' »

Allow her to face down those pesky reporters just like Barack Obama did today, just like John McCain did today. Just like Joe Biden has done on numerous occasions. Let her have a real news conference with real questions.

By treating Sarah Palin differently from other candidates in this race, you are not showing her the respect she deserves.

Free Sarah Palin.

Free her from the chauvinistic chains you are binding her with.

Sexism in this campaign must come to an end. Sarah Palin has as much a right to be a real candidate in this race as the men do.

Racism I

From now on, when I see an instance of racism, I plan to tell you about it. Sadly, for Iqaluit, I don't think that Racism I will be the only one, just one in a series of ugly vignettes, and they are all true.

Here is the first one:

An Inuit woman gets into a cab, that already has another passenger. That is the way the cabs work here BTW, anyone can get into anyone elses cab. Think small buses, that go where you want them to.

She forgets her bank card, and tells the driver, "Can we go back to get it, you can charge me for the extra stop."

The driver obliges, because, you know, people forget their bank cards and he wants to get paid. The white woman who was already in the cab was not as kind.

They get to the bank, and she starts by saying, "You know, she is going to run off. She'll never pay you." When she comes back, money in hand, she is still going on, "Wow, what a surprise, you are going to get paid."

Making a determination that someone is not going to pay your cabbie, based on nothing but the ethnicity of the person who is supposed to pay, that is racism.

I don't know if that makes her a racist, but that is a racist statement.

Tonight, on our show

Tune in at 6 pm Eastern to see the Prime Minister's Visit to Iqaluit, and why he wouldn't answer my question. I'm more dangerous than I thought.

Plus, you know, all the actual news surrounding the visit. Tune in early, I am the lead item.

Random Vacation Highlights III

My son is The Cat Whisperer.

After picking up my partner and the baby in Ottawa, we make our way to my parent's place, where the baby discovers the kitty.

I sent Elwood to live with my family before the baby was born, for his safety and the baby's. The baby had never met the cat.

He sees Elwood, looks at us, and cracks up laughing. The cat, obviously indignant, meows at the baby. The baby thinks is the funniest thing ever and meows back at the cat.

The baby never tires of this routine, and spent two weeks pursuing the poor kitty wherever he went. The cat -- to his credit and my surprise -- never once tried to take a piece out of the little guy. My friends have labelled Elwood as "untrustworthy", but he did a lot to shed that reputation with Irniq.

When we went to the Wildlife Park, the baby started making his cat noises at the cougar, and the ducks, and anything else with fur or feathers. As far as he knows, all animals speak cat.

Random Vacation Highlights II

After the wedding I flew to Ottawa to pick up my partner and the baby, then on to Halifax to get home before my parents did. My flight out of Vancouver was at 7 am.

I was at the wedding reception until past 12 and at the after party until about 3:30 am. My wake-up call was at 5 am.

My cell phone started ringing at 5 am (thanks to my partner not having faith in my ability to wake up after a long night of boozing). Then my wake-up call comes in at 5:05 am. Then at ten after, my Dad shows up at the door, you know, just to make sure.

I was on that plane, and I recommend flying very drunk to anyone who:

A - Doesn't get mad when they drink
B - Has such a "great" support system of people who doubt you, so that you actually get on the plane
C - Isn't the one flying the plane.

I remember security in Vancouver, and going outside for a smoke in Calgary. Aside from that, it is just blurs and sleep. I have never slept so well on a plane.

Fly drunk, you'll thank me.

Random Vacation Highlights I

My brother got married in the botanical gardens in Vancouver, and I was the best man. It was a small wedding under a tent in the gaudy showiness of nature.

In the middle of the ceremony, a group of 7 Canada Geese landed in the pond next to the tent, with very loud honking. Everyone goes silent for a second.

My brother deadpans in a loud clear voice "Damn it, they wern't supposed to come until AFTER the vows."

Big laugh all around.

Maybe it is the snow outside my window

but this cartoon made me laugh my ass off:

I'm just sayin'

Pot Edward Island II

I'm back from vacation, with lots of stories to tell about how I covered more of this country by air in the last two weeks than anyone should.

Sadly (or happily, depending on your point of view) I have a ton of work to catch up on, but I did want to show you this from the National Post, where the guy who wrote the Pot Edward Island article tries to defend himself.... funny stuff:

The author of an article in a Boston newspaper that claimed Prince Edward Island was a marijuana paradise has fired back at Canadians who derided his story as wildly inaccurate.

Alan Earls, a reporter for the Boston Phoenix weekly, had described P. E. I. as "Pot Edward Island," and claimed among other things that it has become a haven for dope growers fuelled by cheap Quebec electricity.

In reality, P. E. I. gets most of its power from New Brunswick, and Denis Morin, and RCMP spokesman quoted in the article about the seizure of increasing amounts of marijuana in the province later said that the figures were "quite minor in the scale of things for P. E. I. and Canada."

In a response to his critics in Monday's edition of the newspaper, Mr. Earls said they were motivated by "anger that a dumb American would have the audacity to find fault with anything Canadian (it is tough, I'll admit), let alone anything having to do with Canada's garden spot, P. E. I."

Fuck you too.

EDITED TO ADD:

I found his full response on the website of the self-agrandizing rag he writes for. I feel compelled, in the interest of fairness, to share it all.... which is more accurate or fair than this hack was:

ALAN R. EARLES RESPONDS
Prince Edward Island is probably the nicest place I’ve ever visited. There, I’ve said it. Unfortunately, when I’ve traveled there (twice, in 2006 and 2008), I have also discovered that, despite the fact that it looks like paradise, it has problems just like other places. In particular, the provincial newspapers have had quite a few stories about local pot growers. So, I got interested and wrote an article for the Phoenix about this aspect of PEI that is not well known to outsiders and which, in fact, probably should worry islanders.

Folks up north nailed me on a couple of reporting errors — like my statement that PEI imports “cheap” electricity from Quebec (it actually comes from New Brunswick). I was also told repeatedly by Canadian critics that I had named the wrong person as director of the PEI Federation of Agriculture. After re-checking my facts, however, I found that I was indeed right and my friends in Canada were wrong: the holder of the title is in fact Mike Nabuurs (though I did miss the last two consonants on his name in my piece — sorry Mike!).

The article was not meant to suggest that PEI has become a giant exporter of pot or a major narcotics haven north of the border. Rather, the point was to contrast an ongoing and seemingly worsening situation with PEI’s image as a clean, peaceful, and serene destination. That this situation could worsen or could impact the larger picture of drug trafficking in New England and in the Maritimes seems implicit. The minor factual errors in the story do not undercut the accuracy of this message.

The errors weren't "minor", they were throughout the entire story, and most of the premise. He tries to sound like the "cheap" electricity comes from New Brunswick, when in fact, it just isn't cheap.

See that Colbertesque truthiness at work. Say you got the name wrong, not the entire idea of the cheap electricity.

From the tortured prose in the original, and the slick ass covering in the response, this clown is the sort of guy I warn people about... the reporter with the story already written in their head before they even talk to anyone.

Now, on to my vacation stories.