The Space Shuttle Challenger Accident

I still remember where I was when I learned of this tragic accident. I was standing outside the Zellers at the Sherwood Park mall and they had a row of TVs in a display window and all were showing the explosion over and over again.

I stood there for what seemed like forever transfixed by the images flickering in front of me. When I got home from school I went into my bedroom and cried and cried.

For me this was my loss of innocence. My bedroom walls were plastered with posters of all things related to Space and Space exploration. I even had dreams of one day being an astronaut. I was enamored with the notion that mankind could do anything. If we could go to the moon then everything was possible as long as we had the will to do it.

This event harshly brought home the reality of what a fundamentally flawed species we are. It also led me to question the supremacy of Science and to open my mind to issues of faith and God.

The Edmonton Tornado

It was a hot sweltering day and I was listening to the radio when one of the announcers said there were reports of a tornado touching down in south Edmonton. The other announcer kind of laughed at that being something of a joke and the other guy said 'no, I think this is serious'.

I remember the clouds dancing in the sky, appearing out of nothingness, and being drawn up into the main formation. I remember the eerie quiet. Not even the birds were chirping. And I remember the bizarre yellow tinge to everything in the air.

After it had rolled through some friends and I hopped on our bikes and rode towards the industrial park it had flattened. We stopped and just gazed at the complete devastation that was everywhere. Buildings flattened and debris strewn about. There were cars flipped over, some on fire, and a number of bodies that had been covered with tarps by emergency personnel.

I was also alone at the time with my parents being in Saskatchewan. They heard on the news that Sherwood Park had been 'wiped out' and were frantically trying to get a hold of me but all the phone lines were down or overwhelmed by the number of callers.

For years afterwards every time there was a storm I would go outside and just stare up into the clouds looking for any similarity to what I saw that fateful day. I would also have nightmares. Nightmares which still occasionally occur to this day.

9/11

When I first heard that a plane had crashed into one of the towers I thought it was an accident similar to when a WWII bomber crashed into the Empire State Building. Then the second one hit and I knew it was no accident. When I heard that the Pentagon had been hit fear rushed through me. I glanced at downtown Calgary and wondered if this was 'it'.

Growing up I had lived with the knowledge that at a moments notice we could all be vapourized. With the end of the Cold War I had assumed we were safe.

This day was brutal because for the first time in my life I no longer felt isolated from all the crap that happens in the world. Every day you'd hear about horrors happening 'over there' but it always seemed far removed. On one level you knew it was horrible but you never really felt the horror in any tangible way. Now it was no longer just another news story. Our whole way of life was under attack.

I remember riding on the train downtown and there being complete silence. The train was full of people going home from work yet no one was talking. An entire train full of people and you could have heard a pin drop. Like myself, everyone on there was in a state of shock. When I got home Chris and I comforted each other, I called my parents, and I knew that from that point on things would be forever changed.

Last weekend I watched as a car and a truck parked in the corner of our alley, just behind my neighbors house. A bunch of people got out of the car and into the truck. The truck turned off it's lights. About 15 minutes later they got out of the truck and back into their car and then both vehicles drove off in opposite directions.

Just another drug deal going down in the neighborhood. In fact this has become a regular occurrence lately. This time I'd had enough and actually called the police. They told me they were 'busy' and would send a car by when they could. 30 minutes later when they finally arrived the druggies had long since gone.

I don't care what people do in their own homes however I'm tired of this crap happening behind my house. And anyone who thinks smoking up is a victimless crime is seriously deluded. Criminal gangs control the growing and distribution of this stuff - and pot is always just part of the inevitable mix of drugs being bought and sold.

All this drug activity is a large part of why my neighbors (whom I liked) moved. They were tired of their kids being exposed to this all the time. A few years ago the house across from me was raided and they found what at the time was Alberta's largest Meth operation - in addition to a number of automatic weapons, body armour, and even grenades. Last week, only a few blocks away from here police found a car packed with weapons. Home defense? I don't think so.

So what to do? Move to a 'better' neighborhood? It was only last week that someone was executed on their front step in Panorama Hills. So it seems that no part of the city is immune.

No, something has to dramatically change with the laws in this country. Enforcement's obviously not working - for every grow op the police bust there's hundreds others springing up. Complete decriminalization isn't the answer either - for one it'll never be endorsed by all political parties. So what's the solution?

This is what I think should happen...make it legal to own and grow a certain number of plants. Make this number something that would be reasonable for personal use, but not enough to encourage making an enterprise out of it. This will deny the gangs their status as the sole supplier of the product. Why would someone want to make a deal with some shady character on a street corner when they can just grow their own? Secondly, dramatically increase the penalties for exceeding the allotted amount - forfeiture of all property and a 10 year prison sentence for a first offence and life imprisonment for a second offence.

This should satisfy the demands from both the left and the right. Will this sensible compromise ever occur? Sadly no. The status quo of drive by shootings, fires from faulty grow op equipment consuming entire neighborhoods, homes being broken into and the residents beaten etc. is apparently much more preferable to the powers that be.

Anyone know where I can get a handgun?

At the recent White House correspondent's dinner President Obama cracked a joke that the Jonas Brothers who were in attendance should stay away from his daughters or he would unleash death from above in the form of Predator drones.

It's reassuring that the man in charge of the worlds largest arsenal happens to think that death is so funny.

In fact this is the same President who since taking office has authorized the increased use of these killing automatons - by a factor of four no less. This year alone there's been an estimated 2000 casualties in Pakistan with between 30 to 40% of those victims being innocent bystanders.

Strangely enough I guess those pimple faced soldiers operating out of their bunkers in the Nevada desert have trouble identifying friend from foe from 50,000 ft in the air. I can just imagine the conversations...."Let's git those sum bitches! Boo-Ya!"

Oh well, all those innocent people killed are what ya call 'collateral damage'. Besides based on recent payouts to victims in Afghanistan their lives are worth a less than a Benjamin. So who cares if a bunch of Godless savages 'over there' get wiped out.

It's not like the continued slaughter will motivate them to try and kill Americans at home in retaliation. Oops, that was precisely the reason behind the failed Times Square bomb attack. Oh, but I forgot the official mantra that they hate us for our 'freedom'.

Of course unlike Bush's gaffe about not being able to find weapons of mass destruction, the mainstream media hasn't deemed this story newsworthy. I guess they don't want to let some inconvenient truths in the way of their fawning adoration of Obama. Let's face it, Obama could be found running a puppy mill out of the White House and the press would leave it alone. After all, he's better than Bush right? RIGHT?!?!?

"You'll never see it coming." Ha! The guy is a frickin riot!

"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss..."

It is with complete and utter revulsion that I watched the footage recently leaked by whistleblowers in the US military depicting the wanton murder of civilians and journalists in Iraq during 2007.

If anything positive can be said, it's that now the Pentagon can no longer hide behind their bullshit mantra that the reason they and their allies are 'over there' is to spread 'freedom'.

War always should be the absolute last resort for any nation. Sadly for the US it always remains on the table and is frequently the first option they resort to. War is not about doing the right thing, it is not about duty, it is not about honour, it is simply about aggression against the many driven by the greed of the few.

This footage shows what happens when our youth, seduced by the promise of a better life or a misplaced sense of loyalty, end up fighting in some God forsaken place overseas - more often than not, it is innocent people who end up being cannon fodder.

The ONLY time our men and women serving should ever be placed in harms way is when our nation is directly attacked. The last time this occurred was in 1812. Every war fought since then has been fought for a lie.

Support our troops by demanding they come home now!

"Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object." - Abraham Lincoln

"...the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger." - Herman Goering

Chris asked me what I thought about her so here's my thoughts.

She seems very media savvy and her statements likely are crafted to elicit a strong reaction from people. Sadly the usual left-wing simpletons are happy to oblige and in doing so boost publicity for her. After all there's no such thing as bad publicity. In fact if it wasn't for these protestors kicking up a stink I probably never would have heard of her.

The focus of this speaking tour was to point out the pervasiveness and stupidity of political correctness in our society. But instead it has transformed into a debate about free speech when she was threatened by the University of Western Ontario with possible criminal charges depending on what she said.

"I have discovered that Canada's approach to free speech, and that is speech they like," Coulter said Thursday. "It's not free speech if they are going to say, 'Yes, you can have free speech as long as you don't say X, Y, Z.''

Say what you want about Ann Coulter, but she's bang on with that quote. It's pretty telling that someone like her can come to our country and say the vilest things about Muslims, homosexuals, Blacks etc. and while not welcomed with open arms at least be allowed to express her views, yet someone like George Galloway is banned from entering the country because God help you if you are even remotely critical of Israel.

In April of 2008 Darren Coupal, who had previously been convicted for drunk driving and had a suspended license, left a bar drunk, got behind the wheel, and ended up plowing into a family. He killed the mother and severely injured her disabled son and then fled the scene before being apprehended.

His sentence? 5 years.

Previous to that in December of 2007, Daniel Tschetter was drunk while driving his cement truck and plowed into a car stopped at an intersection killing all five people including a toddler.

His sentence? 5.5 years. In addition, this piece of shit is appealing his sentence because he considers it to harsh.

Contrast that to the sentence for Montreal financial advisor Earl Jones who received 11 years for ripping off the wealthy. I guess we know where the priorities of our courts are at.

It makes me sick to my stomach that in Canada a person's life is basically only worth a year or two. Where's the deterrent? Where's the punishment? Where's the justice? More importantly what's it going to take to change? Maybe we need a return to vigilantism. More likely we need these judges to start losing their own children and spouses in these senseless, horrific acts of death and destruction.

Conflict arises

Innocent indiscretions

Much to dwell upon