Finally! A sane voice disputes 'terrorist' label

Thank you Mr. Mulcair for bring some perspective to the horrific events of last week's Ottawa shootings.

All terrorists are criminals but not all criminals are terrorists.

Since 9/11, we North Americans have taken to abusing the word 'Terrorist' (and 'hero'). Enough already!

Happy Birthday Zyg!

Hope you have a lovely, lovely day Zyg

Lots of Hugs and Kisses,

Grandfather ( A.G. )

Get out and vote!

Voting Day in Toronto

"The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy."

.... Charles de Montesquieu 

Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, 18 January 1689 – 10 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French lawyer, man of letters, and political philosopher who lived during the Age of Enlightenment. He is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers, which is implemented in many constitutions throughout the world. He did more than any other author to secure the place of the word despotism in the political lexicon, and may have been partly responsible for the popularization of the terms feudalism and Byzantine Empire.[citat

.... Wikipedia

Happy Birthday Pablo Picasso

Born on this day in 1881

"Thank you for bringing beauty to this world"

Are you listening Vatican?

Better late than never I guess.  Can we now hope that the Vatican will return the billions in gold it stole from Africa over the past few centuries?

Renee Zellweger as Michael Jackson

Did you learn nothing from the Michael Jackson transformation tragedy Ms. Zellweger?

Welcome back but quite frankly... "You lost us at 'hello'

Read more (if you wish) at CBC News

Man with gun shoots man with gun

Breaking news! "Man with gun shoots man with gun at War memorial that honours men with guns"

When will we EVER learn?

R.I.P. Mr Bradlee

Journalists and journalism owe you a debt of gratitude... Thank you Mr. Bradlee.

Afro-American Circus rocks!

Cool!

I just discovered the UNIVERSOUL CIRCUS. A North American Circus of Black performers almost exclusively. Cirque du Soleil, here is were you can find some great talent! Check out UNIVERSOUL CIRCUS here

"The UniverSoul Circus is a single ring circus founded and run since 1994 by Cedric Walker. It currently contains 75 performers and 12 acts. The circus is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Recruiting, training and production began in 1993. The first performance took place in 1994 in the parking lot of Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. The first season of operations brought formidable debt upon the organization. By 1997 the circus tour grew to 10 cities, 19 cities in 1999, 31 cities in 2000, and 32 cities in 2005. A tour of South Africa, the first international destination, was completed in 2001."

.... Source: Wilipedia

Tattoo folly

Tattoos scream LOOK AT ME! ... I'M SPECIAL! But "special" is in the heart, and head, and soul, not in the skin.

Happy Birthday eg. Michelle Ramsay and j. Gilles Boulais

Happy Birthday eg. Michelle Ramsay and Gilles Boulais

Teaching kids to kill

This is idiocy .... The military does not "build character " it teaches people (kids in this case) how to kill more effectively or support more effectively those who do the killing.

Michelangelo

Michelangelo - Study of Legs, 1524 to 1525, pen on paper 

Art Gallery of Ontario - today

"The promises of this world are, for the most part, vain phantoms; and to confide in one's self, and become something of worth and value is the best and safest course."

....Michelangelo

America is a divided society

Excellent story by Neil Macdonald about how strongly divided America is along class lines.

Here's an excerpt.....

"The bitter truth, more obvious by the year, is that law enforcement in the U.S. is actually the enforcement of the class system itself.

If you are poor, you understand that. If you are wealthy, you probably understand it, too, but in another way altogether.

For a member of the American underclass, a minor brush with authorities can turn into the kind of Kafkaesque despair that most Americans associate with places like Egypt or Russia or Iran."

Read the whole story on CBC

The dock

This morning at Clarke Beach Park-lifeguard station

Congrats to Malala and Kailash!

Congrats to Malala and Kailash on their well-deserved Nobel Prize 

Factory's parking lot

Commissioner and Cherry Streets -Toronto - after the rain

Happy Birthday Yo Yo Ma!

Yo Yo Ma, amazing cellist - Born Oct 7, 1955 - France

"Musicians should not play music. Music should play musicians."

... Henry Rollins, American musician, writer, journalist, actor, artist, and activist

Unborn children =1....Murderers=0

Read more on BBC

Nuit Blanche sucks!

Nuit Blanche - midnight - University and Queen St. - Toronto

What a waste of my time!

• A woman inside a office tower lobby rowing a canoe while surrounded by billowing sheets of plastic! 
• Another 'art installation' that was nothing more than blatant propoganda for an oil company!
• Another installation that consisted of a raised platform on which someone read poetry while surrounded by light tubes!

Nuit Blanche was nothing but an excuse for a street party complete with drunken 20 year olds, noise, bumper-to-bumper traffic and dozens of overpaid cops struggling vainly to control the crowd.

The lovely bridal party

Toronto - in the rain - bride and bride's maids pose for a photo

 "There is nothing nobler or more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends."

....Homer, 8th Century B.C., author of the Iliad and the Odyssey and perhaps the greatest of the Greek epic poets

"Send in the clowns.. There ought to be clowns"

Cirque du Soleil - Toronto

First attested in English 14th century, the word circus derives from Latin circus,^[1] which is the romanization of the Greek κίρκος (kirkos), itself a metathesis of the Homeric Greek κρίκος(krikos), meaning "circle" or "ring".^[2] 

In the book De Spectaculis early Christian writer Tertullian claimed that the first circus games were staged by the goddess Circe in honor of her father Helios, the Sun God. This claim accords well with the fact that many Roman games were indeed dedicated to the Sun God.

.... Wikipedia

The 9 most important days of my life

Mark Twain once said, "The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why."

Four of my five children

Two of my four grandchildren 

For me Mr. Twain, there were 9 days that "told me why".

For once I agree with Hitler

 

Toronto Star - Today

"Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it" ~Adolph Hitler