Outrageous

As a regular reader of Time magazine, I enjoy excellent articles about current events and am able to gain a certain amount of insight that you don't get from just watching the news...especially if you watch Fox News.

My respect for Time has been shaken a little with the latest issue, however. While I am no fan of the Iraq insurgency, it's clear that some Iraqis do support it and I expect that thousands of others are either neutral or possess an equal hatred for the US presence. With this in mind, I have to question the wisdom of this cover for the magazine:



It's strikes me as unecessarily provocative to publish the type of image. I'm sure in the west we're all very happy that Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi is in heaven with his 72 virgins now, but painting his face with a blood red X on an international magazine is unlikely to calm the stormy seas of emotion in the Middle East.

The cover calls to mind the wanted posters of outlaws in the wild west and I don't think that was a coincidence. But who has history romanticized, the sheriffs who printed the posters or the men contained within?



We know Iraq is an angry place and, while the US forces have experienced some success with the removal of al-Zarqawi, the media is unlikely helping to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis with a magazine cover that is the equivalent of putting a head on a pike in the city square.

Surely, the editors of time remember how those Danish cartoons went over? Well, wait til they get a load of this.

When Animals Attack

If I didn't warn you before, gentle reader, I should now. While I intend to devote this space to important issues and observations regarding music, technology, and current events, I will occasionally pander to the lowest common denominator. Today's entry is one of those times.

I recently came into possession of some shocking photos of what appears to be the goings-on at an illegal dog fighting ring. While it is not clear from these images where the dog fights take place or who might be involved, I bring them to your attention in the sincere hope that perhaps someone will recognize the poor animals or the background in these photos and be able to alert the authorities.

While dogs are unquestionably man's best friend, we seem determined to abuse their trust and loyalty by forcing them to fight, often to the death, for our amusement. In this particular case, it appears this was a handicap match - in which a single animal is forced to fight 2 or more opponents. It is a grisly and disturbing sight.

I caution you to navigate away from this page immediately if you find cruelty to animals particularly troubling. Perhaps you will find something less troubling at this site.

If you are still reading then I present, with no further editorializing, these grim photos of animals locked in mortal combat.

Here we see the beginning of the fight. Note the fear in the poor animal's eyes as she is mauled by a larger number of opponents:



Now the outnumbered animal begins to succumb:



Now the valiant animal is completely overwhelmed. The cruelty of Nature revealed in this starkest of horrors:



What can you do to prevent this outrage? Go here to find out.

Daniel in the Lion's Den Redux

As a person of faith, I have been tempted in the past to invoke God in all sorts of situations. Whether in fear (dear Jesus, please don't let Bazil Bell beat the shit out of me) or anger (I hate you God! It's because of you dad won't buy me an acid wash jean jacket). Almost everytime, God in all three persons appeared to show an omnipresent apathy to all of my entreaties. It's because of this that I am not inclined to taunt God to dare strike me dead or expect him to get me out of a self-inflicted jam.

Unfortunately, this is a lesson that Yevheniy Kirilyuk will not live to learn the hard way. He showed a lot of balls when he climbed into the lion's den and expected God to intervene, but apparently female lions are not impressed with a man's balls and one promptly hoisted him on his own pitard by severing his carotid artery.

They are now saying he was suicidal and that may be true. I wonder though if there was a moment where he said, "Aw, shit. God is not going to save me."

No, free will strikes again. The God of the Old Testament is a jealous God and I think part of that jealousy manifests itself in an unwillingness to do the bidding of idiots. With any luck, Daniel will remind Yevheniy of this in heaven and point out that he didn't actually throw himself into the lion's den all those years ago. Maybe that's the crucial difference. En shalah.

Canadian Home Grown

Talk about troubling...

A lot of Canadians want a place on the world stage that befits our perceived status. I still recall the shock and dismay I felt when I found out that Canada barely made it into the G7. Despite our geographical riches, we were the little guy on the world stage.

Fast forward a bunch of years and the modern hallmark of importance is whether you're a target for Islamic extremists. Sure I feel safe because I don't live anywhere near a realistic terrorist target, but at least now my country is one!

Born and raised Canadian, a group of men still manage to hate the West enough to plan to blow up something in Toronto.

Welcome to the big time, Canada.

Meanwhile, think-tank folks have thrown down the gauntlet saying the CN Tower can't be toppled. Did you hear that, radicals? Your work on the WTS was horribly impressive, but just try to bring down our CN Tower! Betcha can't!

Hello, World.

It's about time I got around to this. I have so many interesting opinions and observations. I have a few e-pinions, too.

Basically, I plan to use this space to post about whatever occurs to me.

Now to get to bloggin' -- big time!