I bet you've been wondering where the American on this blog has been (I know my Bro "ZZ Top" has complained...in person no less!).  Well kids, due to the election depression and my dirtbag employer, I haven't been up to posting.  Perhaps the frustration that's been building over the past few months will break the dam, but as it currently stands, there's one helluva leak that the Dutch-boy's finger won't contain for too much longer. Quite a few people who frequent this blog know me personnaly, or at least think they know me.  A few have met me in person, or worse yet, work side-by-side with me on a daily basis.  There are those (lucky?) few who have followed me from the original days on blogspot when I 1st got started in the blogosphere (remember when I was "pissed"? ).  I've had blog-mothers and blog-brothers over the years.  People have watched me go from depressed PTSD suffering  Disabled Army Veteran to Mr. Married Guy with a wonderful Wife and Son. Buffy should be proud to know that the blankets she made for us are international travelers, and used on a daily basis (and plan for an expenses-paid trip to Vegas for the ...

Canadian immigration officials have figured out that terrorists should not be allowed entry into my country. Now we just have to wait for the University of Toronto to figure it out. Ayers Turned Away From Canada By Immigration Officials Weather Underground founder and Barack Obama supporter William Ayers was not permitted to clear customs at a Toronto airport Sunday. William Ayers, the 1960s radical whose ties to President-elect Barack Obama caused trouble for his campaign, was turned away from Canada Sunday night as he tried to enter the country for a series of educational events. Jeffrey Kugler, the executive director for the Center for Urban Schooling at the University of Toronto, said Ayers was deemed not admissible after being pulled aside by Canadian immigration officials while trying to clear customs at the Toronto airport. Ayers had been invited to speak before the center. He was also scheduled to meet with the Toronto District School Board and do interviews with Canadian television and radio stations, Kugler said. Kugler said the center sent e-mails notifying guests who planned to attend Ayers' talk that he had been turned back. Kugler ...

I get a good laugh sometimes when I read stories that are deemed to be newsworthy - this latest one is no exception. I Triple-Dog Dare You: Indiana Boy Gets Tongue Stuck on Light Pole HAMMOND, Ind.  —  In a scene straight out of the movie "A Christmas Story," a 10-year-old Hammond boy got his tongue stuck to a metal light pole. Police say the unidentified fourth-grader was able to tell them that a friend dared him to lick the pole Wednesday night. Temperatures in Hammond were around 10 degrees at the time. By the time an ambulance arrived, the boy was able to yank his tongue off the frozen pole. Police say ambulance personnel explained to the boy's mother how to care for his bleeding tongue. The 1983 movie is set in a fictional city based on Hammond, the hometown of author Jean Shepherd. Across Canada, having the misfortune of sticking your tongue to a metal pole in winter is a right of passage of sorts. Children who decide to show that they are strong and fearless know that an adult will come with some warm water (and towels just in case) in order to save the day....Oh the memories!!

Khadr's fate in balance when Obama takes office The Associated Press TORONTO -- Calls for Omar Khadr's repatriation may well be answered in the new year as the incoming U.S. president moves to shutter Guantanamo Bay and pressures Prime Minister Stephen Harper to bring the Canadian citizen home, experts say. "I am absolutely convinced that Khadr is coming home," said Michael Byers, professor of international law at the University of British Columbia. "Not because Stephen Harper wants him to come home but because of the pressure from the Obama administration for Canada to provide this small degree of assistance with respect to their closing down of Guantanamo Bay." What seems most certain is that the isolated prison that has been home to Khadr for more than six years will close sometime in 2009. U.S. president-elect Obama Barack has pledged to do so in an effort to erase a blight on his country's legal and moral stature by putting an end to the widely denounced system of military justice. Whether that happens before Khadr, now 22, faces a war-crimes trial for allegedly killing an American special forces soldier in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old remains anyone's guess. If Obama does move quickly, the question becomes whether Khadr ...

Racehorses sold for meat as Que. race tracks close By Andy Blatchford, THE CANADIAN PRESS ST-ANDRE-D'ARGENTEUIL, Que. - Hoofing past the racehorse stalls along the hay-covered floors of his stable, one of Quebec's largest breeders is quick to boast that he's among champions. Yves Filion says he's had a lifelong passion for horse racing, but as Quebec's troubled industry plunges deeper into uncertainty, he wonders what the future holds for himself - and his trotters. A pending court case has led to the indefinite closure of Quebec's harness-racing tracks and, to brace for the financial fallout, the veteran horseman has already dispatched a pair of his prizewinner-producing mares. "I sent them to the abattoir," he said in an interview at his stable, Bayama Farms Inc., in St-Andre-D'Argenteuil, northwest of Montreal. The casualties included 11-year-old Pacific Terrific - the mother of Bayama standardbred racehorses Cherry Grove and Charming Ideal. "It's sad, but I didn't have a choice," he said. "If the industry looked good for the future I wouldn't have had to send them over there. I would have kept them." The Quebec government and its gaming commission, Loto-Quebec, are engaged in a legal battle with the private company that operates the province's four raceways. The company, Attractions Hippiques, ...

With the holiday season approaching much faster than I am ready for it is a busy time in our household. Reading daily news reports has been put on the back burner for other events such as wrapping, baking, and of course Christmas shopping. I have managed to find one story though that was perfect for the season.. Edmonton cop directs traffic to the beat By Bob Weber, THE CANADIAN PRESS EDMONTON - The mall parking lot is packed with Christmas shoppers, cars are backed up four deep at the entrance and the temperatures are all the way down to -30. But none of the drivers are scowling. For there, directing traffic to the beat of some soulful Christmas tunes playing behind him, is Const. Ron Smithman, Edmonton's dancing cop. "Inside me, when I'm directing traffic, there's a beat whether the music's playing or not, and I get doing some fancy moves," said Smithman as he kept the lines moving Saturday at Edmonton's Kingsway Mall. He high-kicks, spins around, runs back and forth across the intersection and gestures energetically with his white-gloved hands as if he were swinging a tennis racket. Sweating despite the -30 temperature, he's the hardest-workin' man in traffic biz. "I lose three to five ...

There are many differences I find fascinating between our respective countries that have very little to do with politics. Some well known differences are of course hockey vs. baseball (although in all honesty lacrosse is Canada's national sport), beaver vs. eagle, Tim Hortons vs. Starbucks and we can't forget Molson Canadian vs. Budlight! There are smaller differences though which I find everyday...such as being able to buy beer at the gas station (NOT allowed in Canada), cigarettes that go for less than $5 a pack (an average of $10 in Canada), being to WV I found it odd that slot machines were behind closed doors in a bar, and finally housing costs.. Nov. home sales hit 8-year low amid falling prices CTV.ca News Staff Canadian home sale activity plummeted to its lowest levels in nearly eight years last month, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported Monday. November marked the second consecutive month of steep decline in the number of houses sold across the country. The number of properties sold by the Multiple Listing Service real estate co-operative in November fell sharply by 12.3 per cent since October. Seasonally adjusted numbers show MLS sold just 27,743 residential units last month, that's MLS's worst performance since January ...

...Even Fox News picked this story up. Canadian Man Builds Himself Robot Girlfriend Thursday, December 11, 2008 A Canadian man, apparently unable to find the perfect woman, has done the next best thing — he's built himself one. Le Trung, a 33-year-old software engineer who lives with his parents in Brampton, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto, says he's spent about $20,000 so far on Aiko, a 5-foot-tall female android with clear skin, a slim if shapely figure and a wonderful disposition. "She can recognize faces, she can identify medication, she can even butter your toast," Le Trung tells the Toronto Globe and Mail. Not only that, but Aiko speaks — in both English and, for some reason, Japanese. (Le Trung has a Vietnamese name.) She can also read. "Aiko is what happens when science meets beauty," Le Trung tells the Sun of London. "Aiko doesn't need holidays, food or rest, and will work almost 24 hours a day. She is the perfect woman." She still can't walk, however. That will take a lot more work and, Le Trung tells the Globe and Mail, a new round of funding. He hopes to create and sell more pretty female robots in the future. But, ahem, is there more than ...

Americans have already had their historic moment by voting in Obama as president - now its our turn! Harper hangs on as PM, shuts Parliament By Bruce Cheadle, THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper has won a stay of political execution - at least until January. Harper convinced Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean to suspend Parliament on Thursday, delaying a non-confidence vote scheduled for Monday that would have brought down his beleaguered minority Conservative government. The House of Commons has gone dark until Jan. 26, when Harper will return and present a federal budget the next day - followed by a confidence vote. "Today's decision will give us an opportunity - I'm talking about all the parties - to focus on the economy and work together," the prime minister said outside the front door of Rideau Hall. The decision also sets up the prospect of a fierce battle with the opposition coalition for public support over the coming weeks. Jean agreed to Harper's unprecedented request after a face-to-face meeting at the vice-regal residence that lasted more than two hours. Rather than parliamentary tradition, Harper pointed to public opinion polls as the source of government's ongoing legitimacy in the face of a stated absence of confidence in the ...

Dion to Gov Gen: Liberals can form government By Bruce Cheadle, THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA - The extraordinary prospect of Canada changing governments without an election is a big step closer to reality. The fractious Liberals agreed Monday to support a tentative deal with the NDP - backed by the Bloc Quebecois - to form a coalition government with Stephane Dion as interim prime minister. Dion quickly let it be known that he is sending a letter to Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean advising that he has the confidence of the House of Commons to form government should the Conservatives fall. The opposition plans to vote down the minority Tories in a scheduled confidence vote next Monday. It will then be up to Jean to decide whether to call an election or let the Liberals try to govern. The opposition parties say they have lost confidence in the government because there was no economic stimulus package in last week's fiscal update. Their deal includes a multibillion-dollar stimulus package for the troubled economy, including support for the auto and forestry sectors. The Governor General is on a state visit to Europe, but a spokeswoman said she is following the events closely and is ready to return if needed. Should Prime ...