Unfortunate Accident?

Whooee! When three more Canadian soldiers died yesterday after being targeted by Taliban in a successful enemy operation of planting an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) inside an area deemed to be secure, it was no accident.

I was watchin' CTV NewsWorld when they had a clip of our top general in charge of Canadian operations in Afghanistan. Brigadier General Tim Grant said:

"This is an unfortunate accident."

At first, I thought maybe Grant misspoke and would correct his slip of the tongue. No. He reiterated the "unfortunate accident" phrase twice in the clip.

It's an accident when somebody falls off a ladder.
It's an accident when a tree blows down and squashes somebody.
It's an accident when a 3 year-old pisses his pants.

It ain't an accident when an enemy plants a bomb and blows up 3 soldiers.

How in the hell can something like that be called an accident? How can it be called an accident by the top general in charge of Canadian operations?

Most folks would define "accident" a lot like this:

• - a mishap; especially one causing injury or death
• - anything that happens by chance without an apparent cause (wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)

When the enemy is successful in killing Canadian troops in exactly the manner that they plan, it is in no way an accident. This wasn't a mishap or something that happened without an apparent cause.

If the top commander doesn't know the difference between an unfortunate accident and a successful enemy operation that results in the death of three of those in his command, what sort of operation is Dennis O'Connor running?

JimBobby
(h/t - Dave at the Galloping Beaver)

Cerberus' Poster Contest - The Ballad of Stevie Harpie

Whooee! Ol' Cerb's got a contest goin'.

Here's my entry--

Motorized "sport" is anti-Earth - Cons true colours ain't green

Whooee! I see a lotta Canajun boogers are postin' up boog stories on the Conservatives sponsorship of a NASCAR racecar. I left a bigass comment over at Steve V's Far and Wide boog. I'm recyclin' that comment here.

You don't get converts by preachin' to the choir. NASCAR is big down in Merka with Red State Republicans. Canajuns, not so much. Green Canajuns, not at all.

Unlike the marginally enlightened bunch at the Indy 500, NASCAR has not embraced the concept or practice of using alternate fuels. That don't matter much since ethanol or E85 ain't really a solution or even a step in the right direction. Incredibly, 2007 is the first season for NASCAR to adopt unleaded gasoline.

The average NASCAR vehicle gets between 2 and 5 miles per US gallon. The average NASCAR weekend race emits 20-40 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Dozens of these events are being held every weekend 10 months of the year, mostly (but hardly exclusively) in the southern Merkan states.

The CPC is glorifying the waste of precious fossil fuel and endorsing the needless emission of tonnes of GHG's. At the same time, they're adopting the Merkan mentality that NASCAR is a popular "sport" that can be capitalized upon.

Those who really care about Mother Earth, don't go ga-ga over powerful gas-guzzlers racin' around a track for no other reason than sheer spectacle.

Motorized "sport" is anti-Earth.

That goes fer recreational ATV's, dirt bikes, Sunday drives in the family Hummer, speedboat races, lawn mower races and every other non-productive waste of fossil fuel.

The CPC showin' its true colours has opened the door for those really concerned about the environment. Now, the others parties can sponsor environmentally-friendly recreational activities and events.

If this don't blow up in Harpoon's face (even without the Bourque connection), then the opposition will have missed a golden opportunity to showcase who cares about green stuff and who gives lip service while they pour cash into GHG bad boys NASCAR.

I'm lookin' fer party endorsements and sponsorship of things like canoe races, sailboat races, solar-powered car races, footraces, bike races, swimmin' races, rowin' races. Maybe even chicken chariot races.

Almost anything'd be better than sponsorin' NASCAR, sez I.

JimBobby

Separatist Harper Winning by Losing

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, ol' JB's cobblin' this boog story up from a comment I made over to Red Tory's fine boog. When it comes to yammerin' gabfests in the comments departments, ol' RT's got one o' the best boogs in Canada, sez I.

Today, Red's boogin' about CTV's Davey Akin's very good question about the Atlantic Accord troublems-- "So what do you mean when you see you would prefer to continue talks? What is there to talk about if your finance minister says there can be no 'side deals'?"

Over to Red's comments, I sed Harpoon's an AlienAlbert separatist or at least a firewaller. Con's like walls. Lookit over in Palestine an' down on the Mex border. Wall-builders like it when regions is fightin'. That makes it all the more likely they'll wanna put up a wall.

I reckon Harpoon's more than just a firewaller. I figger he's an out'n'out separatist.

Unity, interprovincial harmony and good federal-provincial relations stand in the way of separatism. Federalism's failure is separatism's success. If Harper was a federalist, he'd be in trouble. As a separatist, he's doin' everything right.

A disfunctional federal parliament works in the separatists' favour, too. Up til recently, I been mainly thinkin' Harper's sabotaged parliament to show that minority don't work and we oughta give him a majority instead. Now, I ain't so sure that's the endgame he's got in mind.

Even a poor federal showing on the green file works in the separatists' favour. When eco-concerned folks see the provinces doin' more fer ol' Mother Earth than the anti-Earther feds, they'll push fer more provincial power.

I'm startin' to think he's playin' fer an outcome like King Steve of Alberta's New Monarchy. He must realize by now that he'll never win over a majority of Canajuns. Absolute power will only come when his loyal subjects place the crown on his head ... after the split-up of Canada he's engineerin' right now.

Confederation = Canada
Con Federation = Post-Canada tribal fiefdoms and a couple new US States.

JimBobby

Harper vs. Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I seen somethin' in the news today that set my blood a-boilin'. The Harper gummint's doin' its dangedest to put the kibosh on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. (a tip o' the headress to Shmohawk )

Now, Canada's a member of the UN Human Rights Council. There's 47 member nations on that there council. Canada and Russia are the only ones tryin' to kill the deal. Worse yet, the HarpoonTossers is tryin' to drum up support fer their regressive stand among badass human rights abusers around the world.

Here's the AP story ---

OTTAWA -- Amnesty International is accusing Canada of stalling a United Nations negotiation on the rights of indigenous peoples. The human rights group says Canada has been obstructionist and exploitive in its efforts to block discussion on the issue.

It notes that Canada and Russia were the only two members of the 47-country Human Rights Council to vote against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in June 2006.

Amnesty says that since the Conservative government came to power in January 2006, it has been lobbying the UN General Assembly to vote against the declaration, which the previous Liberal government helped draft.

The group contends Ottawa has been encouraging abusive states in Africa, Asia and Latin America to oppose the declaration.

The Tories fear the declaration could run counter to the Constitution, defence laws and existing land deals.

Phil Fontaine, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, sent a letter to Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice last month, complaining that Canada's position "seriously undermines indigenous peoples' human rights.''

The federal government claims it is seeking "the broadest possible agreement.'' But Amnesty says that statement flies in the face of 68 states that recently endorsed the declaration and a "growing list'' of experts, prominent leaders and human-rights bodies that support it.

Conservative aboriginal policies have been criticized since the government scrapped the $5-billion Kelowna Accord, reached under the previous Liberal government. The deal was intended to improve native education, housing and economic conditions.

Shmohawk called 'em weasels. I reckon that's generous.

JimBobby