Showing posts with label american. Show all posts
Showing posts with label american. Show all posts

Thursday 24 March 2011

It's time to play

Guess The Nationality!






American?
Swiss ?
Spanish ?
French?
Brazilian?
Italian?

Scroll down for answer...































Surprise! POLISH!



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Thursday 30 December 2010

Home of the brave

As I sat in DFW waiting for my boarding call from American Airlines, I noticed a young man--kid, really, nearby dressed in full army uniform (sandy-coloured, camouflage wear). It's not something I often see in Canada. Moments later, the P.A. announced "We invite our first-class passengers to board Flight #XXXX".

After a couple of minutes of glancing around taking in the scene while avoiding eye contact with anyone else taking in the scene, the following message came: "We now invite our AAdvantage clients to come forward for boarding as well as any of our military in uniform". At that point, a thought started formulating in my mind. By the time I heard "Passengers with seating in Zone A are now asked to...", the thought was complete:

We greatly respect our brave, patriotic young citizens who put themselves in harm's way risking life and limb so that we can continue to enjoy all the freedoms we hold so dear...but not as much as we respect large sums of money.


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Monday 4 January 2010

The Rush to the hospital

HONOLULU – Conservative talk radio show host Rush Limbaugh said Friday tests showed nothing was wrong with his heart after he was hospitalized with chest pains.

Limbaugh, 58, was released from The Queen's Medical Center two days after he was rushed there during a vacation. Doctors said he did not have a heart attack or heart disease.

"The pain was real, and they don't know what caused it," Limbaugh said, adding his best guess was he had a spasm in an artery.

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As it turns out, someone was able to get a copy of one of Rush's x-rays and it's been circulating around the web. It just goes to show that these days it's hard to cover up anything and when something is uncovered, it spreads like wildfire. Despite assurances that the cause of the chest pain was of unknown origin, I think the x-ray speaks for itself...



For God's sake, Rush--chew it up a bit before swallowing. You don't have to prove you have a big mouth.


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Sunday 17 May 2009

Strange creatures

I'm at this moment watching the Toronto Blue Jays beating up on the Chicago White Sox. "Doc" Halladay has just struck out his eighth batter trying to improve his record to 9 and 1 and for the team to extend their American League East lead. Last week, Doc beat the Yankees and his (Doc's) most excellent student of last year, A.J. Burnett. A.J. left the Jays at the end of last season after a terrific (I believe) 18-win season for a contract of about $80 million with New York.

But I'm not here to talk about Doc or the Jays or Burnett for that matter. A few minutes ago, I noticed something a bit strange and amusing. I've seen it many tmes but never really thought about it. If you've watched any baseball, you've probably seen it, too. A pitch was tossed into the dirt and immediately after the catcher caught it, he extended his glove back so that the umpire can take the ball. The umpire raised the ball toward his eyes and examined it. The thing is, every time they do that, they always discard the ball. I mean always. And yet, they consistently go through the ritual of having a look at it before doing so. Why bother? Why not cut out the middle man and have the catcher toss the ball aside? I guess it gives the umpire an air of superiority and power that only he can make the decision as to the fate of the ball. In reality, the decision is made the moment the ball hits the ground.

I'm thinking the gesture the umpire makes is sort of like the other useless habit many people have--the disgusting habit of examining the itsy bitsy piece of foreign material they pick out of any one of various orifices like the corner of their eye, their ear, or worst of all, their nose. Funny creatures, humans.

Wednesday 12 November 2008

Whose side is God on?

I stopped on a religious channel where an American soldier was recounting his experiences in Iraq. Several times he explained how he kept asking God to show that He was on his side. It seemed bizarre and incongruent that a believer should call on God while he is directing his tank to bombard the hell out of people across the river.

It made me think of the old expression "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition". Certainly anyone uttering this phrase sees the irony in it. Was the soldier's tale any different? How different was his situation from the enemy combatants possibly shouting "Allah is great!"?

I can understand a person defending his life with deadly force if he were in immediate danger. I cannot comprehend someone going half way around the world with the express purpose of killing people and then invoking God's name for his protection or even His help in killing other human beings.