A Right Wing Email Repository

I recently came across a blog that answers a need on the internet. I know of no other website that attempts to gather together all the right wing forwarded emails in one place. (Although it also has a few left wing forwards!).

Myrightwingdad

The header on the site says

"Welcome to the Right-Wing Forward Museum

MyRightWingDad.net is a museum dedicated to following the course of American history through a unique lens -- the emails "Red-America" forwards worldwide. Take a look around the archive using the keywords below, and leave a comment or two.

This museum displays unedited, often offensive and untrue material with no endorsement intended by curators or contributors."

Scanning through all these forwards I learned a few things. First is that there are currently about 1575 (minus about 4 left wing forwards = 1571). That averages out to more than one right wing forward a day being archived, and from the steady rate, I assume that at least one right-wing forward is being generated every day. Apparently, so far only a very small sampling of the total body of work has been forwarded to me. I don't know whether I should be relieved, insulted, or scared. Second, I have not been getting the most racist themed emails. I also saw one email that gave me hope for the future, headed "If you only forward one email today, this has to be it!!!". So apparently some right wing dads are getting tired of hitting the forward button on the emails, and are limiting themselves to only one a day.

I have often used Snopes to debunk right wing emails, but lately it seems I am getting more right wing forwards in the form of "jokes". Snopes does not address the issue of "Tasteless Jokes" that incidentally insult/poke fun at liberals, environmentalists, educated people, "the government" etc. However, this blog also includes all the right wing humour, and lets readers make any comments that they like. (Often funnier than the original joke)

As a father and grandfather myself, I don't like the idea of this blog blaming Dads for the emails, but I can understand where they are coming from. I think us Dads tend to be more conservative than younger people, and many of us are fond of giving advice to our kids. For Dads who have discovered the "Forward" button, but have no interest in, or ability, to fact check, it's a very addictive combination.

Pictures: Copied from the right wing blogs.

Let's Do Something About Winter, For Next Time

In my opinion, the world is not perfect. I know, I may be accused of being a "cup half empty" kind of guy, but I can't help it. I have this habit of looking for ways to make things better. That means motorcycles, of course, and in this way I'm like a lot of other bikers. But it also includes toasters, garages, lawns, clothing, and, yes the entire universe.

It's fun for me to "improve" things. Recently I added a backrest to my motorcycle, and now I think I have a better bike. But I realize that with more money, time, skill, I could do even better. Ultimately I could create the perfect motorcycle. Well, maybe not me, but someone could.

But now I'm getting carried away, I need to stop and consider. I have added a backrest, but is that really what a motorcycle is all about? What exactly do I want from a motorcycle? If I proceeded logically, one improvement after another all for comfort, the final product may end up being a car. If so, why waste all that time when I could just get in the car, instead of riding the bike?

Let's look at something else that needs improvement even more than my motorcycle does. Yes, I'm talking about the weather. Instead of buying cold weather gear, heaters and windshields, I would much rather improve the weather, in other words no more rain, cold, or ice. Here are some ideas:

The weather changes from day to day, so if you want good weather, simply go out when the weather is good, stay in when it's bad. Although this works in three of our seasons, it still leaves a long gap in the winter with no riding. And it also makes pre-planned group rides more difficult at any time of year.

Second cure for the weather, move to some place with better weather. I did that, too. I moved from Baie Comeau (Latitude 49 Deg. North) to Kitchener (Latitude 43 Degrees North), which is almost as far south as you can get in Canada. This has resulted in much shorter winters, and winters which generally have warm spells from time to time. But still uncomfortable to ride in. The Pacific coast may have been a better choice, it's farther north, but has warmer weather. Unfortunately it also rains a lot there.

Third cure is to drive somewhere south. But then I have to deal with border crossings, health insurance, a big lake blocking my way, and still some cold weather right near my home. I suppose a truck with room for a motorcycle solves some of that, but there we are again, coming full circle.

Fourth cure, get a snowmobile, or cross country skis or whatever, and get out in the beautiful winter wonderland that does exist somewhere. This is easier to do as you get further north, and away from population centres. This appeals to some people. But I happen to know by now, it does not appeal as much to me as warmer weather. But it does have the advantage of no mosquitoes or black flies (or people) - always look on the bright side I say.

But the best way of all to deal with winter, is to eliminate the tilt of the Earth, which is what causes the seasonal pattern in the first place.

Pictures: Mary Ann sitting on the beach in winter, taken near Sept Iles in February 2007, on the Gulf of St Lawrence. This is a nice view of winter because there is no slush here.

Picture 2: Slush This is what we see a lot of of winter. Slush is cold, wet, heavy, dirty, and salty. Cars and trucks spray you with it. It's hard to walk in. And it may freeze solid when the temperature drops. It usually occurs on roads and sidewalks.

The Port Dover Chronicles

By The Lost Motorcyclist March 2011

I have been going down to Friday 13th in Port Dover for many years now, and one question keeps popping into my head. Why did all these other people decide to come here? I know why I did. Because of all the other crazy people. But it's actually quite easy for me, I live just 90 km away. In Port Dover I see licence plates from all over, even California! So today I came across a story on the Internet written in French by someone who lives in Quebec, which I will relate in English here. (the Google translation is too silly to get the actual meaning) The link to the original version is here

http://www.hdbikerz.com/forums/post.aspx?sid=714

He rides a Harley, no big surprise there.

"Thursday, October 12 a day like many others in my life. I get up as usual. That sounds like a song. I take my coffee as usual, I walk my dogs as usual, I read my emails as usual and the rest of the day goes on as usual. Chantal goes to work as usual, I am left alone as usual! Night falls as usual, anxiety grips me as usual, At one A.M., I am preparing to go to bed as usual, I turn on my computer to see if I have friend(s) as usual. There the usual stops!!!!!

On a biker site I rarely visit is an article that'll change my usual routine. What happens every Friday 13? A mega gathering of bikers in Port Dover. I never heard that name in my life. Where is it? How many km.? These are the first questions that crossed my mind, a simple mouse click here I am on the site. In two minutes and 30 seconds my decision is taken: I am going for sure, I have to see this! ! From a look at Map-Quest I am now informed that I have to knock off more than 800 km to Port Dover, That's nothing, I say to myself with an air of assurance. We are in autumn, nights are cool, but properly dressed it'll be alright, why worry. Here I go checking my stock. A quick inventory of what I need: camera, gum, chocolate bars, cloth to clean the bike, and a map. All this is already in my saddlebags. More importantly what am I going to wear to be comfortable? Voila: I'm dressed and ready. All that is left is to inform Chantal of my plan for this weekend. A phone call and I am knocked flat on my ass! "Where are you going? Are you crazy? Leaving in the middle of the night with this cold weather?" Queries fly at me, but my answer is clear and determined: Well yes I'm going, I just decided that about 45 minutes ago and nobody will make me change my mind!! Ok she says,, but at least wait until I get home from work. Of course, I will finished preparing and when you arrive I'll take off. I was completing my preparations, 2:30 Chantal arrives, I put on my suit, my balaclava, helmet and a big kiss and vroummmm the engine starts. We're off. A strange feeling comes over me, I'm alone with my bike on the road and I feel FREE. After a few stops for petrol and pee, and coffee to keep me warm, and having already encountered wind, rain and snow, I finally arrive in Port Dover and another strange feeling of satisfaction and inner peace, yes I did it. I did it, sometimes under the bewildered looks of people wondering who is this crazy guy wandering around by motorcycle when they are all wrapped up in their cars with the heater in the carpet! I get a certain pleasure from it of course. I love the bike, it is what keeps me going, what makes me push myself ahead, and sometimes nothing else. I met some wonderful people there. I lived full, beautiful emotions. I charged myself up with energy transmitted from these people I never would have met without this decision. A little crazy for sure. But I experienced this weekend some very special things that I have not the words to express. I had to do it, to live it in person, in order to know what I could feel on this trip! I cannot wait for the next one. Do it at least once in your life, you will surely not regret it."

OK so there is one answer. Now I wonder why the other 99,999 bikers went to Port Dover.

Picture: My own picture of Aug 13th, 2010 in Port Dover.

Finally, Going for a Motorcycle Ride

This morning, I found a good rider backrest pad for my luggage roll. It was at Wal-Mart for $15. I normally avoid Wal-Mart to spare Mary Ann's feelings, but this morning I wanted to take a walk for the exercise, and Wal-Mart was the right distance for me.

After walking home, I chopped the ice away from the garage door and fit the backrest on the bike. Soon after I decided to test out my new backrest, and for that I had to take the Vulcan out for the first ride of 2011. Although there is still a lot of snow, during my morning walk I noticed that the streets were mostly bare and dry, and the sun was out with a temperature of 0c. I usually try to go out for about an hour, on these early springtime rides, to recharge the battery and to get the engine hot.

I forgot to put in my earplugs. That's because my last ride was back in November 2010, and I got out of the habit. I stopped at a mall parking lot, put in some spares (I always have spare earplugs), and I continued on to Stratford, using a route that had a minimum of wet roads. I did go through a bit of water at a roundabout, so I slowed down quite a lot for that. Roundabouts are very slippery at this time of year. The rest of the road to Stratford was dry.

A one hour ride at this temperature, and in the sun, does not require an electric vest. When I got back home, I was only starting to feel a bit cool. The main problem is that on a bike you are sitting still, which lets your metabolism slow down after about 40 minutes. When skiing, you are moving your body enough to generate some heat. Even when snowmobiling, you generate more heat than on a motorcycle, as steering the skis and leaning the snowmobile needs a lot of muscle activity compared to motorcycling.

So first ride over, lots of good riding days still left in 2011.

Picture: Just before the ride, with the backrest mounted on the luggage roll. Almost looks like it cost more than $15.

Bird Designs and Intelligent Designs

Last night I was at the monthly meeting of the Kitchener Waterloo Field Naturalists Club (KWFN). I am a member of the club mostly because of Mary Ann's interest in bird watching and nature. But I have to admit that I am not as highly interested in birding as she is. However last night three people from "Wild Ontario" did a presentation at the monthly meeting that even got my attention.

http://www.kwfn.ca/meetings.html
http://www.ourwildontario.ca/

They brought four live birds to the meeting, a Kestrel, a Broad Winged Hawk, a Great Horned Owl, and a Turkey Vulture. These birds had been rescued, but because of permanent injuries it was not possible to release them back into the wild. So the group has a public education program that uses the birds to teach people about nature. I certainly learned a few things from their talk, which seemed to be geared to hold the interest of anyone from five years old up, and I'm thinking even the most avid birders at the club meeting must have learned a few things too.

Some of the things I learned?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peregrine_Falcon
http://earthsky.org/biodiversity/fastest-bird

I was especially interested in the adaptations that give the birds advantages in finding food. For example, the Peregrine Falcon is the world's fastest living thing at 349 kilometers per hour.

Peregrines use their dive speed to catch flying birds. And no it is not considered "cheating" to achieve this speed in a 45 degree dive. In nature there is no cheating, there is only catching food or not being caught for food.

The Kestrel uses its ultraviolet vision to see vole tracks. I never heard about this before, but apparently this discovery was made in about 1995. The Kestrel can also hover in one place, which not many birds can do.

The Great Horned Owl has three dimensional hearing and binocular (or 3D) vision. Humans also have 3D vision (useful for going to movies like Drive Angry 3D), but many birds have eyes on each side of their head which give a wider field of view, but give up binocular vision to do it.

The Turkey Vulture has quite a few adaptations that allow it to feed on the intestines of dead animals. While the Owl has no sense of smell, and therefore can feed on skunk, the Turkey Vulture can smell ethyl mercaptan, a gas produced when bodies begin to decay. This ability has been used to test gas pipelines for leaks, as vultures will gather if the line leaks and ethyl mercaptan is being pumped through it.

This presentation was an extraordinary opportunity to observe close up some birds I would rarely be able to see in the wild. Staring face to face with a Great Horned Owl, guess who blinked first? I have to admit that standing outside in the cold hoping to see a Spotted Wood Thrush a hundred meters away is not as much fun for me as having these birds inches from me in a warm, well lit room. I am obviously not a natural at birding.

But during the talk, my mind was wandering a bit. I was also thinking about comments I have seen on the Internet about "Intelligent Design". I'm sure many Fundamentalists would consider these birds further proof that it would take God's own intelligence to design all these wondrous abilities. I see it as quite the opposite. If God designed these birds, I would give him an A+. If he produced the bible, that would be about a D-. Unlike studying the bible, when you are studying nature, the more you learn, the more impressed you have to be. And sooner or later, I hope this could result in humans starting to have more respect for the environment than for an old book.

Picture: A Turkey Vulture. This is not Socrates, the one-winged Vulture from the show, it is a picture from this site. Socrates lost a wing in a car accident 23 years ago, and was the original bird in the Ontario Wild program.

Nicholas Cage can Make Love AND War

I was going to make the usual statement about spoilers, but this is a movie that simply cannot be spoiled. You know people are going to be shot, right? And there are going to be fast cars driven over the speed limit. In one of the most egregious speeding episodes, a speed limit sign of only 15 MPH is clearly visible, meaning there would be a very hefty fine for the speed they were driving (est. 150 mph)

Sometimes there is so much going on at the same time, you might miss some of it. For example, where Nicholas is shooting about 10 bad guys storming his motel room to death, and he is simultaneously making love to a hooker in 3D, you might not notice he is also chugging a bottle of Jack Daniels. I mean how is it possible to spoil a movie with scenes like that.

Normally I don't go out to such movies because Mary Ann dislikes them far more than she dislikes science fiction movies. But this afternoon I had a random blood test that told me I needed more exercise or I would be at high risk for diabetes, so I wanted to take a very long walk, much longer than Mary Ann could do. I decided to see a movie with my walk, and of course I would pick one that crammed in everything that Mary Ann does not like. To start with, it is R rated. It has guns, car chases, nudity, violence, and bad language. It has no socially redeeming features at all. Water is wasted, paper is not recycled, and I believe I even saw some styrofoam plates being used during the Infant Sacrifice scene. It would be impossible for Mary Ann to hate it any more even if it had also featured a cameo by Ben Stiller eating Chilean Sea Bass.

My only objection to the movie was the inference that Hell really existed. Five years ago I would not have cared at all, but that was before I discovered that so many religious people really believe in it. Although I don't like Satanic cults, I also don't like Christian fundamentalist cults, and even Muslim death cults. I guess I don't like any cults. The only way to tell that the cult featured in this movie was truly Satanic, was not so much that they sacrificed babies, but the way they sang a hymn in church. At first I thought they were deliberately singing it off key to avoid paying royalties to the songwriters, but then I realized there were no royalties on Christian hymns, it was sung off key to signify they were worshipping the devil.

If I had to describe the movie as a xxx meets yyy meets zzz, I would say Terminator I meets Dukes of Hazzard meets Macbeth. Instead of the General Lee (the Duke's car) they had a Dodge Charger. The Accountant (who was tracking down Nicholas) wanted to find out what kind of car Nick was driving.  I thought it was kind of strange that he asked what kind of engine it had, but not what colour it was, and I still can't figure out that one. Anyway, the Charger gets scrapped, and they find a Chevelle SS. That was the second thing in movie that I have a problem with. I just never did like the Chevelles. Couldn't they drive a nice little 1967 Toyota 2000GT like they did in James Bond "You Only Live Twice"? Of course not, as this movie was a celebration of good old fashioned American excess. Big cars, booze, guns, naked women, and religious cults.

I am going to award a special mention of thanks, in that no negative image of bikers were presented in this movie. The only biker I saw riding in the movie did not crash, which must be an all-time movie first. Especially so, in that some of the cars around him did crash.

Are Dictatorships Better than Democracy?

We are not supposed to call conservatives Nazis, despite some troubling warning signs. Conservatives who support torture, and wars of aggression, and military occupation of foreign territory, are not helping their "Nazi-Free" image at all.

But there is always an uncomfortable feeling deep down among some liberals that the conservatives secretly also would be in favour of dictatorship and genocide, if only it were "politically correct".

A commentary in the Financial Post on February 4, 2011 by Lawrence Solomon gives us a little taste of the reasons conservatives might favour dictatorships, as he argues the case for Hosni Mubarak who has ruled Egypt for over 40 years.

The article by Solomon is titled: "Egypt’s reformer", and "Mubarak can boast of economic, social and civil rights reforms that could go by the board under democracy".

http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/02/04/lawrence-solomon-egypts-reformer/

I'm looking at Solomon's article, to find out why a Financial Post writer is unashamedly plugging for dictatorship.

"Next to just about any other Arab leader in the world today, the man is a teddy bear. During the Mubarak regime’s 30-year rule, Egypt has fought no war with any neighbouring country.

Well true enough, Egypt is a dictatorship that fought no wars against neighbours during Hosni Mubarak's time. But neither has the USA, though, and it is a full fledged democracy. However, Solomon has a point, if you include wars against non neighbouring countries, Egypt appears more peaceful than the USA.

"Neither did Mubarak invade communities within his country at odds with his regime. He returned to the Coptic [Christian] Orthodox Church more than half of the 1,500 acres of land that the state had seized in 1952 for the benefit of Islamic institutions and indicated an intention to have the rest returned."

"He decreed that churches and mosques should enjoy equal legal rights"

Under Hosni Mubarak, Egypt apparently has more rights for Christian Churches than the Christians in the USA want to give Muslim Mosques. In case you did not know, I am referring to the story of the mosque at ground zero. If Barack Obama was a dictator, he would also have gone against the Christian majority and permitted the Muslims equality to build a mosque at ground zero. But because the USA has no dictatorship, the majority (Christians) can get away with being unfair to a minority (Muslims). Truly one of the bad characteristics of democracies, that we need to be mindful of. Score another point for the dictator.

If you want to look this up, be aware the proposed "mosque" is not actually at ground zero, but within a few blocks. Here is the Wikipedia entry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park51

"Unlike Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Yemen, Libya, and Iraq, Egypt under Mubarak has not sponsored terrorism."

How many times must I explain that terrorism is not as bad as everyone says it is. Compared to having a Hellfire missile launched into your home, most terrorist bombs are like teddy bears. Furthermore, if America was invaded and occupied by any foreign power, terrorism would become popular in the USA. Think of the nice American terrorism in the movie "Red Dawn".

Next Solomon gets to the heart of the pro-dictatorship argument, keeping the the Muslim religious fanatics in check. He has polls showing most Egyptian Muslims want Sharia law. And here is an interesting statistic:

"Mubarak officially banned female genital mutilation in 2007 — Egypt had had the world’s second-highest rate at 97% — leading to an immediate drop in the rate to 91% in just one year, according to the World Health Organization."

What I find especially interesting is that in 2007, 97% of Egyptian women had their genitals mutilated. Given that somewhere between 5 and 18 percent of Egyptians are Christian, that implies that the Muslims are mutilating some Christian women.

I wonder if this mutilation nonsense is really that important to us. Do we complain because 99.9% of Israeli men have their genitals mutilated? As for the "drop" from 97% to 91%, who cares? Both numbers are probably wrong anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if the exact same number of genital mutilations took place before and after the ban, but afterwards they were not reported as much. Come to think of it, given that the mutilations were banned, I'm actually a little surprised that 91% were still reported.

The ban was declared by Mubarak after this incident (from Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_cutting

"A 12-year-old Egyptian girl, Badour Shaker, died in June 2007 during or soon after a circumcision, prompting the Egyptian Health Ministry to ban the practice. She died from an overdose of anaesthesia. The girl's mother, Zeinab Abdel Ghani, paid the equivalent of US$9.00 (£4.60 pounds sterling, €6.82 euro) to a female doctor, in an illegal clinic in the southern town of Maghagh, for the operation. The mother stated that the doctor tried to give her $3,000 to withdraw a lawsuit, but she refused."

Notice that the girl actually died from the anaesthesia, which of course would not have been required if there was no mutilation. And according to all the anti-Muslim propaganda, no anaesthetic is ever used. Many people die each year in the USA from anaesthesia, so how about we have a ban on girls in the USA getting breast implants under anaesthesia? Even though it would save lives, the ban could only be imposed under a dictatorship, right? So by this logic, a dictatorship is actually superior to democracy.

"In the USA, 467 medical malpractice payments were made due to anaesthesia related malpractice in 2002, and $338,190 was the average payment" (slightly reworded)

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/a/anesthesia_complications/stats.htm

The real shock here is that the Egyptian woman was only offered $3,000 in compensation, compared to an average of $338,190 in the USA.

I found a nasty propaganda web page that presents these issues in the most horrifying way. But ironically, they claim to be "advancing democracy in the Middle East", not promoting dictatorships like Solomon is. Well, somebody has to be mistaken, so I'll let the anti mutilation people debate among themselves whether democracy is the cure or the disease.
http://www.middle-east-info.org/league/egypt/egypt.htm

But here is some free advice: If conservatives want to distance themselves from Hitler, they should not be arguing for dictatorship, or torture, or invasion of other countries, or genocide. Because if anyone is arguing in favour of these planks in Hitler's platform, they should expect to be compared to Hitler.

Picture: I took it from a website promoting cosmetic surgery, this woman was apparently a nicely done job. (we don't like to call our stuff mutilation even when it is truly messed up) http://cosmeticsurgeryhospital.org/cosmetic-surgery-news/cosmetic-surgery-no-fairy-tale.php