Reporting

It is nice to be back in a country where a piece of shit rag like the Korea Times is not the norm. Well, outside of Fox News that is. However, there are other problems related to the media.

THE NEWS now, at least in Canada, is all about Colonel Russell Williams. The piece of shit makes me wish Canada had the death penalty because he is the poster boy for using it.

The reporting of the case has been, in my view, excessive. Yes, it is an important story. It needs to be told. The amount of detail however is not necessary. Seriously, the news HAS to show the pictures of Williams dressing in the lingerie of his victims? really? They have to drone on and on and on about everything? You would think there is no other news story in Canada except this.

It reminds me of the stupidity that went on during the Homolka trial. The media actually wanted to get a hold of the tapes that were made of the girls being raped and murdered. What the hell?!?? Why?!?!? They actually went to court to try and force the release of the tapes! That is fucking twisted.

The last thing the family of the victims needs is to have things like that handed over to the media and circulated. Why in the hell would anyone want to watch the rape and murder of the girls? Other than for some twisted sexual fetish?

Reporting the news doesn't mean that every salacious detail has to be exposed. While the lingerie photos aren't as bad as trying to get the tapes it still isn't necessary to reporting the story. Considering that Williams plead guilty to the charges it isn't as if any of the evidence is being disputed or even needs to be presented. Yet the media feels the need to air it all because the sensational nature of it will get ratings. It isn't that they are reporting the story it is how they are doing it or over doing it. Then again, I never had a high opinion of the media and how they operate.

Being Blunt

"I am just being blunt" is an over used, and often inappropriately used term. I had a friend who used to go around saying that she was very blunt with people. Apologists often say the reason Koreans say nasty things is because they are a blunt people. Often "being blunt" is just an excuse for being a nasty bitch.

Being blunt doesn't mean that you have to be nasty or cruel. Nor does it mean that you are so stupid you don't know when it is not appropriate. It is supposed to mean a person is frank, direct, to the point. They tell it like it is. You can do that without being deliberately cruel.

The friend who prided herself on her bluntness could be pretty cruel, whether to strangers or friends. Case in point, when one of my Uncles died (I lost a few family members while I was in Korea) ... her idea of being blunt and comforting was to say "Well, they were old. You should expect it." Yes, she actually said that to me, and on more than one occasion. When talking about concerns over my mothers health she would make comments like that. "She is getting older you know." And if you got upset at her she would hide behind "just being blunt" and then get indignant with you.

I have seen Koreans walk up to people they don't know and say things like "You are a fat pig." or "You are ugly." and apologists slough it off as them being blunt. I mentioned in a previous post about the Korean walking up to a black guy and saying "You are black. You are a nigger." That was sloughed off by apologists as just being blunt.

It isn't being blunt, it is being an twat. It is trying to hide the fact that you are just bitchy and rude behind the mantle of being blunt. It is just an excuse some people use for being assholes.

There is a lot to be said for being blunt. I prefer people to be direct. However, there is such a thing as compassion and appropriateness. I have been referred to by friends (some of who consider themselves to be blunt) as being politely blunt. Well, I would rather be politely blunt than an asshole.

Christmas Craziness

One of the things I did not miss while I was living in South Korea was the deluge of ads, carols, and commercialism that comes before Christmas. It used to be that right after Halloween the craziness started. You couldn't go anywhere without seeing Christmas stuff for sale and hearing carols. Usually the switch over would start Halloween night and the stuff would be there on display the next day.

I went to CostCo with my Sister-in-law the first of the month. It was my first ever visit to a non-Korea CostCo. What really stuck in my mind though was the plethora of Christmas crap that was already out. There was more Christmas crap (lights, wreaths, cards, stockings, etc) out than Halloween stuff!!! The first of October? What the hell??!?!?

Chilean Mine Rescue

Damn. They are getting ready to send the rescue capsule, with rescuer, down to the Miner's. Instead of delays things continue to happen sooner. I almost typed thank god things continue sooner and if you knew me you wouldn't expect that.

I can't imagine what the miner's and their families are going through. I just can't fathom what it would be like to be trapped underground for this long ... expecting it to last longer. I think I would go mad. While I like to think of myself as a strong person, I think that would have broken me.

Then to hear that the miner's are all volunteering to be the last one up ... it makes me believe in the goodness of mankind. Once again, I would find it hard to believe I would volunteer to be last. While I would HOPE that I would do something like that I find it hard to believe that I wouldn't be volunteering to be 1st. I would want out of there.

Those guys have huge brass balls. I knew they had big ones to do the job they do but damn they must be the size of basketballs.

Here's hoping that everything goes smoothly and they are soon back on the surface in the arms of their loved ones.

As an aside ... here is hoping CBC News World starts covering it more completely soon so I don't have to watch CNN's coverage. I don't know how much more of their inane babbling mixed in with comments about American Pride in the rescue I can take. (Yes, they actually started making it about America ... as you can tell I tend to watch non-American centric news like CBC and the BBC.)

What the ... rights of women?!?!?!?

I recently read an article about a video made by the the Quebec Federation of Women. They made this video to protest Canada having troops in Afghanistan. Instead they managed to insult our soldiers and their parents and basically make themselves look like morons.

The stupid bitches (and I had to force myself to tone down what I was going to say. I was going to call them a bunch of stupid c***s with no censoring.) had an actress in the video playing the role of a mother whose child died in Afghanistan say

"If I had known in my life that I would be making cannon fodder, I may not have had children,"

as she held an AK-47.

They have since removed that section of the video and apologized. It left me asking the question though ... if it had been a comment denigrating women would they accept an apology? Of course not.

They had to hire an actress? You think the fact that no mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan (odds are no mother of a soldier) would ever appear and say that would give these idiots a clue to how insulting and wrong this was.

Ok, this left me asking more than just one question. One of the biggest questions is what the hell does the war in Afghanistan have to do with the rights of women in Quebec?!?!

The Quebec Federation of women was started in 1966 to fight for women's rights in Quebec. Considering that until the early 70's women weren't allowed to own property in Quebec it was a necessary movement.

According to Alexa Condrati, the head moron of this group

“Our mandate is to defend women’s rights, and we have to do that in whatever political climate we’re in,”

This year they joined a movement to boycott Israel. What does this have to do with women's rights in Quebec? In Canada? In Israel? How is their latest stupidity supporting Women's rights in Afghanistan let alone Quebec?

What political climate is this ditz talking about? Is their some wellspring of anti-women sentiment being espoused by Canadians that I missed hearing about? Is the Canadian army being used in some was to repress women's rights in Canada? Hell, in Afghanistan?

Maybe Condrati is having acid flashbacks and thinks she is still running Quebec Solidaire? What a bunch of ignorant fucking whack jobs.

What the ... nachoes

I want to have chili cheese nachos tomorrow night for the hockey game. Since I already have chili and cheese the hardest part was done. It should have been easy to just pick up some nachos and be good to go. Should being the operative word.

What the hell?!?!? I would never have thought it would be that hard to get normal corn nacho chips at Sobey's or any other big grocery store but it was insane. They had umpteen varieties of nachos but none of them your basic regular nacho. They bite size, multigrain, multi flavour. Someone please explain to me why the fuck I would need salsa "flavoured" nacho chips when one normally dips the fucking things in salsa?!?!?!?!?

I started to feel like Denis Leary trying to get a cup of coffee flavoured coffee. All I wanted was regular flavoured and shaped nachoes. In the end, after 5+ minutes of searching 2 shelves, I ended up with Old Dutch Restaurant Round style but at least they are regular flavour.

I had less trouble getting nachos in South Korea! Indian brand nachos were at every Home Plus and a few other places. There was no other choice but them however they were nachos not the crap multi flavour crap Tostitoes and others put out.

What the ... PC Bullshit?

I am not a fan of baseball but a recent headline caught my eye.

It turns out that when the Cincinnati Reds won the National League title last Tuesday they celebrated with victory cigars. Oh the humanity!!!

This was seen on TV and some "people", 7 supposedly, who have nothing better to do in life called up and reported the Reds for violating the No Smoking law.

I don't smoke cigarettes but I do like the occasional cigar. Smoking Nazis like the ass hats who called and complained about the victory cigars irk me. It is like the morons who whined about Scotty Lago celebrating his Olympic win or the way the US media whined about the Canadian Women's Hockey team celebrating their gold medal win.

So now the Health Department has to conduct a private visit or two to make sure there are no more incidents. If there are the fine is a whopping $100 for the 1st offence.

How much money will be wasted on the "investigation" that could end up with a $100 fine at the most? All because some puritanical pieces of shit got their panties in a bunch seeing the Reds smoke a victory cigar. Ain't Political correctness fun?