Sunday musings

There is a gentleman who writes a Sunday column in a local paper that recently has been blasted by a few "people" for his latest writing. He is a long retired man who has a variety of delightful views on people and events in his life.
Something like you and me.
An individual.
Well, this last week he wrote on how the latest crop of grandchildren in his life has turned his world upside down and turned a somewhat quiet life into a hectic shambles - at least for him that is. He indicated that he would exchange one for a "later" more polite model if possible. That being said, it was obvious the old tongue in cheek ploy was at work.
Well...... the heavens opened and a deluge of pathetic, self centered whiny twits wrote in and lambasted him for being a mean, spiteful ogre.
Bunch of damn fools.
Why can they not get a life and leave the world alone?
What is so wrong with people that they are always "so darn offended" by anything that they must bleat and blather about their hurt feelings anyway?
What is so lacking in their make up that they must attack anything that is a little bit different from their own twisted view of the world?
I repeat - bunch of damn fools.
Russia continues its creeping annexation of parts of the Ukraine and the world continues a deafening silence.
And the United Nations?
Deafening inaction.
Big surprise that.
Some provinces in Canada are threatening to ban imports of Russian vodka - bet you Mr. Putin cannot sleep at nights over that awesome response.
And Canada still is selling arms to Russia.
Sigh.
Two Venezuelans died from gunshot wounds during protests against socialist President Nicolas Maduro, witnesses and local media reports detailed this week, pushing the death toll from almost two months of anti-government protests to 33.
And of course many governments in South America blame the Americans for this.
Common sense seems to be on a vacation these days doesn't it?
Turkey's ban on Twitter ahead of bitterly contested elections brought a furious reaction at home and abroad, with users of the social networking service denouncing the move as a "digital coup" and the president expressing his disapproval. It seems that the President did not like comments critical of him and his government and decided to shut Twitter off.
Do you sometimes get the impression that many politicians are a step behind the events and operations of the real world? The days of running a country like in the "good old days" are fading and even hard line countries like North Korea (to name one) will one day have to radically change the way they operate or face possible violent change.
In the Canadian province of Alberta the Government Leader, a Ms. Redford resigned after mounting pressure and criticisms of her use of government airplanes to fly her and her family around many parts of the world at taxpayer expense. And to hear her explain, it seems that she thinks she was entitled to this as Premier and as a mother. She also seems to forget that she is the employee of the people and works for them and not the other way around.
You have heard the term "selfie"?
A photo one takes of themselves, usually with a cell phone and then post on the Interweb?
Well... over in Spain a 21-year-old from southern Spain died on Saturday after being electrocuted when he climbed on to a train to take a photo of himself with friends. It seems the poor fellow suffered the fatal blow when he touched a high-voltage wire on a train he and his friends had assumed was not electrified. The group had climbed on top of the parked train car at Andújar train station to take a picture of themselves when they suffered the severe electric shock.
For every action there is a consequence isn't there?
That missing Malaysia airplane?
Still not a trace but lordy the theories are wild and wacky and the media still are loving the story ad nauseum aren't they? As soon as the first scrap of debris is found and it will happen no doubt, just wait and see how many seconds it takes for the talking heads to latch onto some other new "breaking" item of global importance. Wanna bet it will be the story of a broken fingernail of some celebutante whose main skill level is showing their posterior in a bikini or some other worthwhile talent.
Arrgghhh....
I give you in contrast to people like that (names like perhaps Hilton, Bieber, Kardashian come to mind) the sad story that came from Afghanistan this week. A brave woman originally from Victoria, B.C. was murdered by evil, evil scum this week in the city of Kabul. Her crime? Well, she was helping women and young girls become educated and empowered to actually believe that they were the equals of men and not their property and toys.
That woman was and is a hero.
And those that killed her will rot in some hell of their own making if there is any justice in this world.
On to better things...
On the Sandwich Islands in Honolulu, the Great Hawaiian Rubber Duck Race will have taken place this Saturday at the Ala Wai.
This marks the seventh time that the 20,000 duckies have participated in this world famous event.

Lucky ducks.

Here on my Island, in the city of Nanaimo, a domesticated Emu somehow escaped its enclosure and to the delight of local media and citizens, roamed the city and woods nearby for a number of days. Indeed, there was even a website created to follow her exploits.

Ah, such is Island life!

Sometimes not knowing something can be a good thing.

To wit, as you know, I am ensnared on the 10,000 step slog that my better half has sentenced me to and as such, have a number of jaunt locations that I prefer. The other day as I briskly strode (stumbled, crawled) along the one walkway, I discovered to my horror a sign post listing the full length of the walk! What I thought (indeed was told by the Better Half) was a MINOR STROLL actually was a blasted 2.5 mile endurance marathon!

I will never be the same......

take care out there,

flatlander52