Is our world mad, mad, mad? You bet!

It's been one of those normal days! Conflict and confusion without end. Amen.

President Obama tells us we must all encourage education, especially in technology. So, today, some splendid young woman was the first to get a degree in...Biology? Wrong! Battlefields of yore? Wrong again! BS without end? Meme chose! The academic subject is The Beatles! Seems the city of Liverpool sponsored her.

The Montreal Gazette also advised me in health club etiquettte; don't spit in the water fountain, while the Middle East continues to fall apart in a hurry.

Apparently, even voters lie when phoned by pollsters, so what is their real purpose, if any? I refer to both pollsters and the polled.

Will there be an election soon? Who cares? When do our MPs work, and at what? Who knows!
They scream at each other when Parliament is in session, to impress the voters. What they do interim remains one of the great mysteries of Canada.  They left for Christmas on December 16th, 2010. They start yelling again on January 31st, 2011.

Michael Ignatieff's been taking drama lessons; "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Stephen remains hidden in the washroom while Jack is searching for a hair restorer. As for Ms. May, she is totally preoccupied with finding a famous name she can contest when/if the great day comes and she meets the same fate she did when she "battled" PeterMcKay last time. That woman loves a fight. Win or lose! If she won one, she would look better.

You people have a great day and try to keep a smile on your face. I know it ain't easy. But this brought a laugh - a sign we could put on the front door of Parliament perhaps?

                      ________________________________                       
                               
                               OUT TO LUNCH
                   IF NOT BACK BY 5 P.M.
                THEN OUT TO DINNER TOO
               __________________________

Happy Phew! Year

Well, may I first wish a Happy New Year to all three of our readers!

In Friday's Montreal Gazette column, Mark Abley printed a United States Parish Hall weekly programme : Monday: Alcoholics Anonymous; Tuesday: Abused Spouses; Wednesday: Eating disorders; Thursday: Say No to Drugs; Friday: Teen Suicide Watch; Saturday: Soup Kitchen; Sunday Sermon: America's Joyous Future. The future can't get much better than that!

To lower the bar a tad, have you noticed the people of Somalia described as "pirates"? For some time, boats from all over the globe have been robbing the seas around Somalia of their livelihood, i.e. fish. Secondly, those same countries have been disposing of nuclear, and other, wastes in the waters around the Somali beaches. When their fishermen got a little upset and finally started to grab anything, or anyone, they could and hold them to ransom as a last desperate attempt to halt this travesty, the United Nations, and many other nations, censured Somalia for this "crime" of piracy. How would you react if the USA started dumping their garbage into Canada? More than they already do, I mean. NIMB! (Not In My Backyard!)

Finally, our experts have looked into our trust of professionals. Most categories are in decline except for Canadian soldiers. They have improved in our trust level by 11%. Pharmacists are down 25%; airline pilots down 19%. Accountants, at 47%, are still more trusted than church leaders, and national politicians, at 25% trust, are only ahead of car salespeople by 5%. Accountants more reliable than politicians, you say? Perhaps if the conscientious Auditor-General Sheila Fraser became Prime Minister and Amazon.ca ran the civil service, maybe...just maybe...we could have a trustworthy and efficient democracy!

All Clear!

"Let me be clear...;" "It's clear to everyone...;" "There's a clear explanation...;" When anyone in the political world uses the word "clear" what follows they hope, is probably unclear to everyone. "Clear" is a favourite word of Stephen Harper among others. The Liberal Party leader prefers, "It's as simple as that!" Each implies that if we don't find what they say to be "clear" or "simple", we are not too bright. Just like the courtiers in The Emperor's New Clothes?

As they used to say in WWII, is that "All Clear"?

Esperanto Returning?

Is language as we know, or knew, it disappearing? Will sign language, with those cute stick figures, return?
Acronyms proliferate. Synonyms get twisted. We can e-mail, tweet, twitter, Multiply, Facebook, text (while driving, of course). Who has time to read, or even write, "in the old-fashioned way."

Everything is loaded. Downloaded, uploaded. I was told recently, that they were downloading my update! Who they are remains a mystery but I do hope they know what they're doing. Got any IEDs? Improvised Explosive Device. Goodness, 25 letters. Bomb is only four, so all that fuss to reduce it to three letters, IED. Bomb, of course, is such an ugly word. What about LOL! Take care; it can mean Lots Of Laughs or Lots Of Love. There's a time bomb, sorry an IED, waiting to go off. "Darling Phyllis, I love you. LOL, Fred." If Fred's confession of love ends with Lots of Laughs, be prepared  for the worst, Fred!

Politicians are into everything these days, including bafflegab language. Check the following and find three Stephen Harper wouldn't use to support his government's military actions.
Hero; Support our allies; providing security; insurgency; Canadian forces; NATO air strikes; guerilla warfare; winning; accord; friendly fire; coalition, partners; freedom fighters; Osama Bin Laden.

So, where are we going? Postal services are under threat since snail-mail is dying and the alternatives don't bring any cash to Canada Post. Bank tellers are history. Do-it-yourself banking is great for the shareholders but will increase unemployment. As for our education systems, it was never easy to be a teacher...TBC...(that's "to be continued" for the acronym-challenged among you!)