© Bud: A Night of Micro-Thoughts

What Is Bud Talking About?

When looking at Gauguin's pictures of Tahitian voluptuousness conjures up feeling a dread of our past colonial rapaciousness, and maybe even early sex tourism, is that not what Orwell meant when he said, "When you begin to police and censor your own thoughts continuously, then Big Brother has finally won."


Joe Clark's Last Day

Well, it got a blurb on the CTV news, but not much else. There were the obligatory congratulations for his services to Canada. The trained seals in the Liberal backbenches were allowed to roundly applaud this deeply-flawed politician, who never really threatened them anyway. However, notice that Martin never mentions the man's name in his speeches. Martin recognizes poison bait when he sees it. You see, Joe is the ultimate traitor. He posed as a Progressive Conservative, yet was really a secret Liberal--in some attitudes closer to the NDP. The Red Tory banner was convenient for him. Mulroney took that banner away from him and made it his new multicultural flag. "May I introduce my new Quebec friends, Lucien Bouchard, and ...." Yes, we remember Mulroney. "Let's roll the dice," he said, and it came up snake eyes. That is how it is going to come up for Joe Clark as well.


Where Have all the Morons Gone?

Where have all the morons gone? To the network investigative reports programs, of course. Remember when you tuned into Dateline, or 20/20 Primetime and found some American or international story that made your knowledge base wider. It exposed corruption and sham and made us little more atuned to reality. Now Dateline likes to feature two hour stories of true crime. Sorry, but A&E has that beat covered. Now, we have Barbara Wawa interviewing the likes of Madonna--both them past their due date. Maybe someone should inform Barbara that there is a program called Entertainment Tonight that does this schtick better. When they do a Brittany story they show some T&A. Get with the program, Barbara, or move aside. So, repelled by how superficial this program has become, the nerds channel surf till they find Larry King on CNN. "We shall be redeemed," they chant in rapture. Larry is a man who has interviewed Kissinger, Nixon, and all the political hot boys. But lo and behold, Larry's guest tonight is Michael Jackson's lawyer. Not Waco Jacko himself, but some paid flack for him. "And tomorrow," Larry would beam out at the end of his program, "We will have Joan Collins as our special guest." Say goodnight, Larry.



"We Want to get to the Bottom of this Mess"

"We want to get to the bottom of this mess," Martin told us. Of course, he was only talking about their current scandal. The Canadian people wanted to know how all these billion dollar fiascos could keep happening. Some were not fiascos; they were outright fraud. So, what is his message of renewal to the Canadian people? "Stephen Harper is scary. Even Joe thinks so." There is no repentance for any of the Liberal sins committed in the past by Chretien and himself. The Liberal strategy is demonize your opponent--when you are the root of what is wrong. How this message plays out to the masses will also tell us where all the morons went.


Country

Waylon Jennings is gone. Country had already starting its slow decline into mediocrity when he departed. The equivalent of the "pop factory" was taking over Nashville. Jennings saw that hard-hitting songs that extended past the prescribed three minutes of musical blandness were taboo. So he de-camped to Austin, Texas, and joined up with Kristofferson, Nelson and other mavericks. His songs were the essence of the best of male attitudes. He drove that message home with a specatular band. I am glad that Willy and Kris are still going and that they have given up that demon weed. Yep!


The War on Drugs

Last year, in the never-ending War of Drugs, America managed to edge out Russia as the country with the most people under lock and key. If their prisons are like ours, overrun with drug use, then the cons can continue their druggie pleasures and introduce themselves to other more exotic, if permanent pleasures. "We sure fixed up that pothead. Ya, he's now a junkie. Couldn't care less about weed." Another success story in the war.


Decriminalization: It "Sends the Right Message"

I posted late--or my techie did--so now I can contirm that the marijuana decriminalization bill is dead. It seemed that other bills were more important to pass. (Svend's C-250?) So uni kids, you are left to believe that this would pass if . . . It didn't and you are unaware of this. If you can muster the energy, you might just vote Liberal in thanks.


Nigeria, Christians, and the Naira

It seems that Christian militia attacked a Central Nigerian town. Initial reports are 600 Muslims dead. Two days later the CTV "crawl" mentions Muslim rampages in the north. Initial reports have around 600 Christians killed and 12 of their churches burned down. Wait for the full-fledged civil war for the next report. The Christians' attack might have been payback for the "beauty pageant" massacre of Christians. It could have deeper roots. We will probably never know. One thing is for sure though. The attempts to force Sharia law on non-believers will lead to more of these communal slaughters. This in the Nigeria that was supposed to be on a par with South Africa by year 2000 because of its vast oil wealth. Today it is a classic Third World country. There are government notices in U.S. airports advising Americans not to go to Nigeria, and that even its international airport is unsafe. [And we keep receiving emails with offers of money from Nigerians -- if only we send them some. Hogwash! NJC]

Bud--Jeez, I have had some fun experiences in international airports, but the idea of being kidnapped in one just would not compute. Back in the 80's a buddy of mine who had worked in Nigeria told me he could not buy food or drinks on the Nigerian Air flight to Paris with the national currency, the naira. The stewardess kept saying, "Please pay in real currency, not naira."


Legalized Gambling; Can Drugs be Next?

I have watched two personal friends get economically weakened. These women could live for another 20 years or more but they are throwing their old age savings away to the slots or high-stakes bingo. I suppose it is the ultimate gamble; how long will I live? We all play that one. The gambler just plays the odds for keeps, which most of us won't. We see the odds, and we don't like them. The gambler says, "Seven come eleven, kiss me, Lady Luck." Heaven or hell rides on that throw of the die. As a professional gambling buddy of mine once said, "When you gamble for a living you exist in a "feast or famine environment". And Bob was a professional. Imagine the amateur's chances.

© Bud --gambling -- one of the few vices I don't embrace<br>