Goat Mountain in Winter

I finally made it up Goat Mountain in winter today.



It’s a lot easier in the summer but I wanted to try out my new clampons and ice axe. Not much visibility at the top but the clouds started to break on the way down.



Technically backcountry is closed due to snow but I was on Seymour last weekend and avalanche risk is low.

Barry Jennings’ Suspicious Death

Barry Jennings was a star 9/11 witness for 9/11 Truthers. Barry was in the third tower after it was evacuated and was trapped inside from an explosion from below them: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=kRaKHq2dfCI

His testimony confirms the fact that explosions were going off inside the third tower before it collapsed. The testimony isn’t really earth shattering because we can see the explosions going off. His death right before he was subpoenaed to testify in a reopened hearing is somewhat suspicious as Alex Jones declares: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=ris8OGSskCk

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Let’s not forget the other 9/11 eye witness to explosions going off in the Towers who died of another very mysterious suicide, Kenny Johannemann: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=yEuzU3LMgCA Kinda like Gary Webb and Danny Casolaro. Can you see the pattern?

When you think about all the suspicious deaths that surround CIA scandals we have to ask ourselves what happened. How did we wake up one day and find ourselves living in the Soviet Union? All the fear mongering about big brother has become materialized in the CIA.

The Canadian Budget is out of Control

What a circus. I don’t trust any of them. Least of all Michael Ignatieff. Never mind wolf in sheep’s clothing. He’s a devil and you don’t even need PhotoShop to see it.

Personally, I liked Reform. Balance the budget to save the social programs not eliminate them. They stood apart from Mulroney’s pork barrel politics then came full circle and merged with them just to get elected. I don’t trust Mulroney and I don’t trust Harper. Harper’s idol worship of Mulroney is a red flag.

Ignatieff is a devil. He supports torture and claims to support human rights by backing wars for oil. He’s not a used car salesman, he is a satanic spin doctor. Jack Layton is the used car salesman. The NDP is the only party other than the Green that seems to be opposed to the secret North American Union that is trying to throw out the constitution in favor of corporate rights. Just look at TIMLA.

Nevertheless, I can’t help but see Jack Layton as a spineless weasel. Truthers were all excited he was supporting the cause but he wasn’t. He would tell them in private he was but he refused to say so in public. He’s playing both sides. Libby Davies is the only one in that crew I trust. Nevertheless, I still trust the NDP more than the Conservatives and the Liberals are clearly on the bottom of the barrel as far as trust goes.

Although I’m not a fan of the carbon tax, especially when I see all the factory smoke pouring out into the air from the mountains, I think I trust the Green first, (I take that back. Green are totally out to lunch. They want to legalize very drug under the sun.) the Block Second, the NDP third, the Conservatives fourth and the Liberals bottom of the barrel.

Now lets talk about the budget circus. What an absolute joke. Here we have Harper committing not to run a deficit then showing how he came full circle and has gone on a Brain Mulroney spending spree. Remember why he did? Because all the other parties ganged up on him and were going to form their own coalition and become the government. Harper pulls a Brian Mulroney by canceling parliament to let everyone cool down then he creates a huge budget deficit just to appease the masses.

The reason the other parties ganged up on him was because he tried to abuse his power and screw them on the contribution thing. They got pissed enough to join forces and scared the life out of him. I supported a coalition under Stephen Dion but I do not support a coalition with Michael Ignatieff. In fact neither does Ignatieff. Ignatieff wants a coalition with Harper and that he has.

Like I said Ignatieff is satan. Pretending the invasion of Iraq had anything to do with human rights is absurd. Afghanistan is more subtle but the fact is the Americans were wooing the Taliban four months before 911 to win the Oil Pipeline contract and as soon as they give the pipeline contract to an Argentina firm we’re at war. The war in Afghanistan has nothing to do with human rights. Iggy is a liar.

So now that the dust has settled and the four ringed circus has been revealed all we are left with is gross fiscal irresponsibility. Everyone wants a hand out as the debt races out of control to the point where we will not be able to fund our medical or pensions. God help us.

Moya Greene double dipping at Tim Hortons

I thought the Union was joking about this: http://post-this.cupw.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/10581/la_id/1.htm

Moya Greene is a Director at Tim Hortons: http://www.timhortons.com/en/about/bio-Greene.html

Pure Religion

I’ve seen a lot of crazy things done in the name of religion and I’ve seen a lot of crazy things done in opposition to religion. I am an advocate for the freedom of religion. Despite the corruption that often exists in religion I do not believe outlawing religion is the answer. Nor do I believe forced religion is the answer either. The freedom of association means the right to affiliate and the right not to affiliate with any religion or political doctrine. Having said that I do not believe that religious freedom includes the right to oppress others.

I believe in what Paul describes as Pure Religion, which consists of visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked. I do not believe those are solely socialist values nor are they a Communist plot to overthrow the free world.

Paul said "Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not charity I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling symbol. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge: and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."

When asked who is my neighbour, Christ gave the parable of the Good Samaritan. Samaritans were hated at the time. They were half-breed nonbelievers. Yet Christ chose someone the people hated to be an example of how that hated nonbeliever was more religious than those who sat in the high places of the churches at the time.

Today I submit the parable of the Good Communist. Someone who doesn’t believe in God or religion but believes in the values of pure religion more than those who profess to do so. Our obsessed paranoia should not be with Godless Communism although at one time Stalin was a real threat. Our fear should be of hypocrisy and apathy.

I remember as a youth studying various religions in my own personal quest for my own religious identity. My conclusion then is the same as my conclusion now. Don Francisco’s Steeple song:

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=aZJFEeOS3TQ

I remember playing that song for a born again Christian I was staying with. Right after hearing the song he angrily said "Yeah well my wife is a bitch" and walked away. He had been through a messy divorce. I shook my head and said to myself, I think you missed the whole point of the song. I do not believe God wants people to be abused. I believe families are important and although betrayal and abuse are common, they shouldn’t be. I believe Don Francisco’s steeple song clearly defines what pure religion should be. Cheers.

Obama signs order to close Guantanamo bay

Closing Guantanamo bay is a good thing. It is public knowledge that the CIA tortures suspects there. Bush vetoed a bill banning CIA torture. That was shameful. Let me reiterate, this is not a matter of torturing known terrorists to save innocent lives. This is the practice of torturing people to obtain false confessions to the CIA’s false flag operations. There was nothing there to be proud of. Before you dare mention the word Taliban read up on Unocal.

One of my daughter’s little racist friends from Texas was complaining that Obama is closing Guantanamo bay and "destroying everything". This coming from a huckle berry red neck kid who is a professed racist and Bush lover and works for less than 6 dollars an hour in one of the wealthiest states. My response to that is the only thing good that came out of Texas was the Dixie Chicks and look at how they were mistreated. OK that’s an exaggeration. A friend's daughter’s husband came from Texas and he was a great guy but he was black. There remains a lot of uneducated huckle berry racists in Texas and that is shameful.

I don’t agree with Obama on abortion but that is one issue. There are many other issues that I do agree with him on. There are many things that Bush did that were down right evil. If anyone is the AntiChrist it was Bush not Obama. Bush’s corruption goes back three generations. His grandfather funded Hitler. His father was a director of the CIA and tied to the drugs for guns deals that sparked the Crack epidemic in the US and Bush left a legacy of corruption from excessive privatization in the Prisons, Military (Blackwater), Energy (Enron), not to mention the torture and the false flag events. Did someone say reopen 9/11? Oh yeah, many of us did.

Snowshoeing on Seymour

I went snowshoeing on Seymour Mountain today. I was happy to discover that the trail to 1st and 2nd pump was open for snowshoers. I went up last summer and was impressed with the view.



This is the view of Vancouver from the first peak called First Pump. It’s just past the Mystery Peak chair. Turns out the chairlifts don’t take you anywhere near the peak of Mount Seymour. To get to that peak you have to hike up or snowshoe up.

The trails were well packed and it was a bit icy so you didn’t really need the snowshoes except for the cleats to help you climb. I took the short cut up the face on First Pump. It looked fine from the bottom but there were some parts that were pretty icy and steep for snowshoes. Sliding down that face would not have been fun. It would have been perfect for crampons and an ice axe. Next on my to do list.

This is the view of 2nd Pump from 1st Pump.

And this is the view of Mount Seymour from 2nd Pump:



Personally I prefer the view of the back county. I like to dig in and have lunch surrounded by mountain peaks as far as the eye can see:

Now that’s what I’m talking about.

Professor Steven Jones and 9/11

Dr. Steven Jones was a professor at Brigham Young University. He published a paper and lectured about 9/11 discrepancies:
http://www.journalof911studies.com/volume/200609/WhyIndeedDidtheWorldTradeCenterBuildingsCompletelyCollapse.pdf
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=964034652002408586

He claimed to find Thermite in the 9/11 ruble which when looking at the evidence is no surprise. This claim created quite an outrage among 9/11 debunkers and spin doctors. I saw one Youtube video "debunking" those claims by providing a list of everyday items found in the Twin Towers that would account for the presence of all the items that compose Thermite. Yet even to someone as unlearned as I, some of the items weren’t so every day and some of those claims were just plain false. The passion of the cover up interests me.

Turns out at no surprise that BYU caved into political pressure and turned on Dr. Jones:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_E._Jones#WTC_destruction_controversy I don’t want to dive into the logical consequences of demonizing the extreme left while rationalizing the extreme right because in my opinion both extremes lead to the same place – dictatorship.

I simply want to emphasize the seriousness of the 9/11 inconsistencies and tie them to two historical facts: Operation Northwoods and Operation Gladio. We can argue the chemical composition of ruble until the cows come home. The photographs of the Thermite cuts in the load bearing beams of the Twin Towers speak for themselves.



A plane did not make those perfect cuts in the load bearing beams. Jet fuel does not burn as hot as they say it does and burned off at impact. Thermite however does burn insanely hot. Thermite would not only account for the diagonal cuts in the load bearing beams it would account for the melted cars found at the base of the twin towers, the hot spots seen in the 9/11 ruble from a NASA satellite and the extreme heat including red hot metal pulled out of the 9/11 rubble six weeks after the horrific event. http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=WrCWLpRc1yM

The question remains who planted the Thermite in the towers before the planes hit. That is a serious question that needs to be answered. Especially when we examine Operation Northwoods and Operation Gladio. If the CIA and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were willing to kill innocent Americans on American soil and blame it on Cuba to justify an invasion of Cuba then, why not now. Especially when they actually did it in Europe under the guise of Operation Gladio.

These are the best of times, they are the worst of times

As Charles Dickens once said these are the best of times, they are the worst of times. I am thrilled to see the changing of the guard for the protector of the United States constitution. One task that George Bush failed miserably at. I think Michael Moore said it well when he said George Bush’s last official duty should be offering himself a pardon for all the crimes he committed while in office.

I don’t want to rain on the parade. I’m thrilled with Obama’s inauguration and am filled with hope for a better day. Yet I remain overcome with sadness. Sadness for all the crimes committed that have been glossed over, denied, lied about and hidden. Sadness for all the death and murder that resulted in perpetuating those lies and sadness for them all to be swept under the carpet as Obama does the noble thing and reaches out to his political opponents. Indeed he is a better man than I am.

It was wonderful to see the masses attend the inauguration in Washington at the very spot Martin Luther King spoke at so many years ago. Oh happy day. Yet for me the sadness lingers. True Obama is speaking to a divided America but as he said not as divided as they were coming out of the civil war. Who on earth would want to reach out to someone who fought a war for the right to keep slaves?

Then there’s the story of a young man whose father never votes in elections and said he is going to make sure he votes in this election because he doesn’t want a black man to become president. That is so archaic it is embarrassing. The only way to stop a man like that is with the bullet or the ballot. The civil war stopped him with the bullet and today the ballot has risen supreme and stopped that kind of shameful insanity.

I like the commercial about hope: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BncNpB6IZ9I

Obama’s message was about choosing hope over fear:

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=6-zjho9SPgA

As my grief continues let’s look at some of the crimes committed that Michael Moore talked about. Election fraud. Excessive privatization resulting in excessive corruption in the privatized prisons, privatized military (Blackwater) and privatized Energy (Enron). Vetoing a bill stopping CIA torture. The long list of False Flag documentation within the CIA. Operation Northwoods. Operation Gladio. Those atrocities were history and should be remembered just as the holocaust is.

Then there was 9/11. We need to reopen 9/11. Extending the hand of fellowship to known murders is not the answer. A plane did not cause the thermite cuts in the load bearing beams of the twin towers. My sadness is for the atrocities that have been committed and are being glossed over in the name of peace at any price. The CIA is inherently corrupt. The death of Garry Webb and Danny Casolaro has not changed that. The CIA is a secret society whose purpose is murder to get gain.

http://video.google.ca/videosearch?hl=en&q=reopen+9/11&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa#

Inversion on the Mountains

Pretty awesome inversion in the mountains today. We were above the clouds and it was warmer on the mountain than in the city. It was 19 degrees Celsius today in the sunshine with over 300 cm base. Gotta love it. It was spring skiing conditions today. Two weeks ago it was snowing hard with wind and zero visibility. When the sun shines ya gotta seize the day.

You can see the towers in Vancouver peaking out of the clouds on the left while the sea of clouds goes all the way to the base of the mountains on Vancouver Island. Gotta love it. Cheers.

CUPW Out of Touch with Gaza

This is so typical. CUPW writes Harper calling for him to condemn Israel’s military action in Gaza but doesn’t say a word about Hamas firing rockets into Israel at will. It’s like their anti Semitic resolution against Israel following CUPE.

CUPW’s resolution is one step better than the CUPE resolution because it denounces terrorism but it is clear that their denouncing terrorism is only lip service. Justice goes both ways. I agree Israel shouldn’t be using white phosphorous on civilians and should not be shelling schools even if Hamas is hiding in them and using human shields but for Hamas to launch a campaign to send rockets into Israel after Israel pulled out of Gaza with the sole intent of destroying Israel politically is wrong.

Denouncing Israel’s military action without denouncing Hamas is wrong. It reminds me of CUPW's position on Cuba and how the former National President supported revolutionary Communism in Cuba. If that is not something from the twilight zone, I don’t know what is.

Unions are supposed to support human rights not oppress them. Lenin used the trade Union movement to get power and after the trade unions went on strike because he took over the party from the real labour leader he sent in the machine guns to fire on the striking trade unionists.

Michael Moore was right, Why are union leaders so stupid? http://www.michaelmoore.com/dogeatdogfilms/whyareu.html

The only consolation is that when CUPW over steps and comes out with a political recommendation the members vote the opposite.

Wyclef in Haiti

Wyclef was on 60 minutes last night as well. He was from the Fugees. Sang a remix of Bob Marley’s Woman no cry and everybody wants to be a cowboy. Wyclef is from Haiti just like the Canadian Governor General: http://www.gg.ca/gg/index_e.asp

Wyclef seems to be the real thing. Despite his fame and fortune he keeps going back to Haiti and helping the people there. He’s started up a nonprofit organization to help promote sports and education of the youth as well as provide hurricane relief. Wyclef has the right idea.

http://www.yele.org/

Oil Futures on 60 Minutes

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/08/60minutes/main4707770.shtml 60 minutes ran a very interesting program tonight on the cause of last years’ oil price explosion. Everyone was told that the price increase was a result of supply and demand. Yet the oil prices kept making record increases when world supply was up and world demand was down. If supply and demand was allowed to function the price of oil should have been dropping.

Instead record increases continues to push the price of oil off the charts. The reason was the demand went up from oil futures on Wall Street. Huge investment companies kept pushing oil futures predicting the price of oil would continue to increase. This kind of insider trading isn’t necessarily illegal but no one knows what really went on because of the deregulation of the futures market.

Enron wanted oil futures deregulated and Enron got it. Now the documented scandals within Enron have made that company bankrupt. AIG were heavy investors in oil futures and helped drive up the price of oil, which hurt the American economy. After doing that they received a huge bail out from taxpayers dollars. That is insane.

The big corporations push for deregulation to circumvent and hide from public accountability. When they get it, their corruption is unrestricted and destroys whatever it touches. They literally rape and clear cut the economy. Then they have the audacity to claim that everyone who opposes excessive deregulation is a Socialist.

What we are looking at in North America is not a war between Democracy and Communism. What we see is a war between Democracy and Corruption. Corrupt corporations driven by greed push for deregulation so they can make more money through exploitation and dishonesty in business.

Public accountability means protecting the public interest and the constitution. It is the ultimate oxymoron for the big corporations to claim that preventing criminal corruption in business is a socialist conspiracy. They are the ones eroding the constitution and removing individual liberty. http://finiansworld.blogspot.com/2008/10/executive-order-11110.html

Philistine and the Philistines

On a historical point of order I will point out that although Israel was not the original inhabitants of the Gaza strip, neither were the Palestinians. The original inhabitants of the Gaza strip were the Philistines. Remember the story of David and Goliath? Goliath was a giant fighting for the Philistines and David knocked him out with a slingshot and cut his head off with his own sword.

It is interesting but strange to note that the name Palestine is derived from the term Philistine. The Philistines were not Jewish or Muslim, they were uncircumcised and they were not religious. I’m not sure why Arab Muslims would want to name themselves after uncircumcised unbelievers.

Circumcision was a token of the covenant Abraham made with God and Muslims do practice that law. Surely there is an Arabic word for covenant that would better portray the fact that Muslims seek to follow God and be an example for the world to follow. Somehow the world just doesn’t see terrorism as godly.

Not to say that Israel has fulfilled her destiny of being an example to the world either. My point is that although Arabs have a right to live in Gaza, Arabs were not in Gaza before the Jews. Historically the Jews were in Judea before the Arabs and do have a valid claim on that land. Therefor Hamas’ campaign to drive Israel out of Judea is wrong.

Interesting to note that although the Philistines inhabited the five main cities in Gaza, the land was at the time owned by Egypt. Instead of having Gaza form an independent country, perhaps the land should be given to Egypt and the Palestinians could continue to live there as guests or immigrants. Just a thought.

Israel uses White Phosphorous on Gaza

Dude, I saw these shells being used at night in Gaza on the Israel Defense Force web site: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5447590.ece
I was wondering what kind of shell exploded like fireworks. It appears that they are white phosphorous. Not good: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5470047.ece

"In the border village of Khouza, local witnesses said Israeli forces fired phosphorous shells at a row of houses, setting them on fire. One woman died and at least 100 others were injured in that attack, health officials said. The Israeli military denied the attack took place. "

http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/abc/home/contentposting.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&showbyline=True&date=true&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20090111%2fisrael_gaza_090111

This is why we need foreign observers to determine who is lying. On this issue it clearly appears that Israel is lying. That does not make terrorism right or Hamas’ campaign to start shit as soon as Israel pulled out of Gaza right but it does mean that the use of white phosphorous on civilians should stop.

Abraham’s Sacrifice

Not to offend every Christian, Muslim and Jew out there, but I do have a problem with the story of Abraham. Abraham is the great patriarch of the Holy Land. He is the great grandfather of the Jews and the Palestinians. Both hold him up as a model of righteousness and obedience.

To the Muslims, the Dome of the Rock is very sacred. It looks fantastic. It is supposed to be the place where Abraham offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice. To the Jews, that spot is also sacred. Muslims own the land and they believe that is where they are supposed to rebuild their temple. Thus the wailing wall at the foot of the site.

I find the whole story of Abraham’s sacrifice very problematic. The story goes that Abraham was a righteous man and God wanted to test Abraham so he could reward him. Abraham really wanted to have children but his wife was barren. God promised to bless Abraham with children, which He did and was a miracle.

God wanted to bless Abraham further. He wanted to make Abraham a father of many nations and make his descendants a holy people. Abraham’s worthiness was tested. God commanded Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a human sacrifice to God. Abraham was obedient to God’s command. He took his son to a mountain, brought wood for an alter and was about to kill his son with a knife and offer him up to God as a human sacrifice. Right before he killed his son, God sent an Angel to stop him and reward him for his faithfulness and I’m like WTF?

Now I realize the story is supposed to be symbolic of God’s sacrifice of His son. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son… Some accounts claim Isaac was an adult at the time and a willing participant asking to have his hands bound. My point is that I see this very fundamental story as completely problematic.

I do not see it was symbolic of God offering His son for the sins of the world. The atonement and the crucifixion was different. It served a purpose. Murder is wrong and human sacrifice is wrong. Saying that it’s OK as long as God commands it is very problematic. That’s what mass murders do when they hear voices.

There is another account on an old Egyptian papyrus claiming that Abraham’s earthly father was evil. The story claims that when Abraham was in Egypt his father tried to offer him as a sacrifice to a false god. Right before Abraham’s father was about to kill him, an Angel of the Lord came down and stopped him, saving Abraham’s life.

The story is given to demonstrate how evil Abraham’s father was and how hard a test it was for God to command Abraham to do exactly what his father tried to do to him and I’m like WTF? Here we have two identical stories. One is good the other is bad. The only difference between the two stories is that one sacrifice was to a false God and the other sacrifice was to a true God. Yet in my opinion, there is no difference between the two. Both are bad. No offense to father Abraham or all the Jews, Christians and Muslims out there.

In my opinion, blind obedience to a true god is no better than blind obedience to a false god. It all becomes problematic when we view this life as a test. We are sent here to do whatever God asks us to do because obedience is good and the rebellious will be cast out. Using that founding premise of this life being a test, is what the polygamists use to convince people God wants them to take more than one wife. God wants me to marry that young girl. God wants me to marry that other man’s wife.

Polyandry is the logical extreme and I do not see any difference between that and the doctrine of spiritual wifery many early Mormons were excommunicated for teaching.

Now back to the story of Abraham. Since some claim we all must be tried even as Abraham as God will at some point ask us to give up whatever is most important to us to test our obedience to Him, we have to be careful and practice a little common sense to develop some discernment so we can tell the difference between a true prophet and a false prophet as well as the difference between a true god and a false god.

I contend that the purpose of this life is to come to know God. If God is good and if God is love and if God is the perfection of every good attribute then in so developing those qualities we will find peace in this life and a fullness of joy in the next.

After all the golden rule is the simple but pinnacle doctrine. Treat others the way you want to be treated because how we treat others is how we will be treated after this life. This leads us to my fundamental problem with polygamy. If you don’t want your wife to commit adultery, don’t do it yourself. To me polygamy is like committing adultery and then bringing the woman you had an affair with home to live in your house.

How would you feel if your wife had an affair or married more than one man? Can you not see the sorrow polygamy causes your wife? The golden rule states that you will one day feel her sorrow. Such is life.

The only rationalization for polygamy I can find is if there is a shortage of women. Yet we are told from census records that was not why it was practiced.

My understanding of why polygamy was practiced was to give woman who would not have the chance of becoming mothers, the chance to have children. That is my understanding of the escape clause in the warning given against the unauthorized practice of plural marriage in the book of Mormon yet John A. Widtsoe disagrees:

http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/Why.htm

Polygamy challenged in Canada

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1151644

Much has been said about the recent arrest of a leader of the polygamy compound in B.C. and we await the trial and the court’s ruling. Some editorials caution the reason the police haven’t made arrests in these compounds before is because many were worried they would lose the court case and give the sect a legal president to continue and expand. Now, push has come to shove and the law is being tested in Canada.

Some say that the Crown should have laid charges of sexual exploitation not of polygamy as those would have been easier to prove and easier to enforce. The matter was taken to the US Supreme Court long ago when the original Mormon Church tested the law. The US Supreme Court concluded that a state could make a law banning polygamy. To my understanding it also left the door open for a State to allow polygamy as well. Nevertheless, the state said no polygamy and the Supreme Court upheld that law. As a result the original Mormon Church eventually stopped the practice.

Break aways exist in any religion. To claim that Warren Jeffs or Winston Blackmore are Mormons is like claiming Anglicans or Presbyterians are Catholics. Just because they broke away from the church does not mean they are still affiliated with it.

Nevertheless there are without question doctrinal similarities over polygamy. Mormons do believe in polygamy. That was clearly a biblical practice. Mormons defied the law to challenge it in court but lost. Since they believe in honoring and sustaining the law they stopped the practice but that doesn’t mean they stopped believing in the practice. Bruce R. McConkie states in Mormon Doctrine that when the Savior comes again there is no doubt that holy practice will be restored.

Now there are discrepancies on the definition of that holy practice. What Abraham and Jacob did was very different than the typical over 40 year old man marrying multiple child brides of 14 years of age. Why is it so many of these guys are obese? Jeff Warrens was an exception. He was scrawny but clearly had that deranged look about him which was evident in his dishonesty: http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/bustupinbountiful/

Even Winston Blackmore, despite his used car salesman eloquence, when you look at his face he has that deranged twist look. Not as bad as Warren Jeffs but it is certainly there. Even the Mormons teach "We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. Hence many are called but few are chosen."

When I look at Warren Jeffs or Winston Blackmore I don’t see the image of Christ in their countenance. It’s more obvious with Warren Jeffs but there is still something not quite right about Winston Blackmore. Gordon B. Hinkley, Thomas S. Monson, Ezra Taft Benson, I can see the image of Christ in their countenance. Those are good men. Not perfect but noble and good.

Mind you they aren’t polygamists either although they do believe in the doctrine. With all this talk of the Da Vinci code and the speculation that Christ was married, they didn’t even speculate on what if Christ was a polygamist. If he was, I’d have to say it would have been more like Abraham and Jacob not like Jeffs or Blackmore. Nevertheless, I still see it as very problematic and there does appear to be similarities between Winston Blackmore and Brigham Young.

Polygamists claim that polygamy is their religious right to which I reply no it is not. If I create a religion that believes in smoking crack, I cannot smoke crack as my religious right. I contend that Mormonism isn’t polygamy. I contend that Mormonism is Christianity, which is as Paul describes, visiting the sick, feeding the hungry clothing the naked. Polygamy may well be a doctrine of Mormonism but it does not define Mormonism. Mormonism is so much more than that. The book of Mormon clearly denounces the unauthorized practice of polygamy. Yet that in itself opens Pandora’s box.

Polygamy wasn’t practiced because there was a shortage of men. Not when you look at the census statistics. Polygamy wasn’t practiced just to raise more children. If there are the same number of men and woman, five men marrying five women can have just as many children as one man marrying five woman. Polygamy was practiced because it was a commandment of God, which creates two more dilemmas.

One is distinguishing between a false prophet and a true prophet. The other is what kind of God would command a man to marry some else’s wife? The same one that would command human sacrifice? That leads us to the ultimate dilemma, which we’ll deal with next.

Nevertheless, there are without question many men in the Mormon church who are secretly cheering on Blackmore. If he wins then that could very well hasten the millennial day for all Mormon men who are coveting the time when they too will be able to live the polygamy dream. Not.

Israel’s Mistakes in Gaza

As I’ve said, it is my opinion that the world should unite against Hamas and any terrorist organization whose sole intent is to commit genocide by wiping any group of people off the face of the earth: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45627 Nevertheless, I have also said that Israel has a tendency of getting carried away and I will cite what I see as several mistakes Israel has made the Gaza 2009 conflict.

Media ban. I can understand how they don’t want the media to get in the way of a military action. The media can be injured as well as release Intel before it should be released from a strategic war perspective.

However, censorship of the media during any war is also a concern for the people who want to know what is going on behind closed doors. Both sides are capable of lying in this dispute. It was very helpful to have the media show pictures of crazy woman running to were a bomb warning was given to die for the cause and pretend to be an innocent martyr. That was just plain deranged. It is also helpful to have the media there to find out if Israel is getting carried away.

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The use of white phosphorous: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5470047.ece

Allegations have been made that Israel has been using shells with white phosphorous on civilians, which causes serious burns. Israel denies this but medical reports have come in of victims with strange burns. It has been proposed that Israel has been using the phosphorous as a smoke screen not on civilians. Having the media there could confirm those reports.

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However, the photo above clearly shows blue shells marked M825A1, an American made white phosphorous ammunition. Is that what the Americans sold Sadam to use on Iran and then hang him for using? Couldn’t be.

Killing UN drivers:

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Canadians+Gaza/1157777/story.html

Come on now that is outrageous. I know the Americans are known for friendly fire during war because they simply like to blow shit up, but this is not the first time Israel has hit UN. Remember the Canadian at a peacekeeping post on the border in Lebanon? We expect better from Israel.

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Three schools have been hit with Israeli shells. Israel claims that Hamas was firing from one of the schools, which is entirely likely. These wackos will use children as human shields to protect themselves but also to increase civilian deaths and somehow blame that on Israel.

In any good guy versus bad guy drama, when the good guy chases the bad guy, the bad guy always grabs a woman or child as a hostage and says stop or I’ll shoot. The good guy then hesitates and waits for his opportunity to take out the bad guy while saving the hostage at the same time. The good guy doesn’t say oh yeah and then shoot the bad guy and the hostage. It just doesn’t work that way.

If the bad guy runs into a school full of children the good guy doesn’t blow the whole school up and say well we got the bad guy and it certainly doesn’t blow up three schools and say well we did get the bad guy hiding out in one of the schools. That is outrageous. Not to excuse the bad guy at all. I’m just saying that Israel needs to demonstrate a little compassion for all human life. Oh is that the impossible dream? My bad. Watch out for the next famine. Go go go Joseph. (Jacob had more than one child as well) Even Joseph and Judah used to fight with each other. Cheers.

The War in Gaza

Like I said there has been many new developments and lots to comment on. The first is the obvious. Hamas were firing rockets into Israel from Gaza non stop. Israel asked them to stop and they did not. Israel warned them if they didn’t stop they would kick their ass and they did not stop. Playing the victim after that is somewhat pathetic.

However, like I said, Israel has a history of getting carried away and we are beginning to see the same pattern repeat itself. The Province ran a heart wrenching article about a father who lost his sons during the recent Israeli shelling in Gaza. First I must genuinely say I am truly sorry for his loss. No words can describe the grief or replace that loss. Nevertheless, in his sorrow I would ask him and all the Palestinians to open their eyes and see the same thing from the other side.

Losing a child is a horrible thing. Losing a child in an act of war is heart wrenching. Yet I would ask of him the same thing I would ask of the Hamas who have been firing rockets into Israel indiscriminately for so long. If you realize losing a child is such a horrible thing, why would you fire rockets at Israel trying to make them feel that sorrow? All human life has value whether they be Muslim, Jew, Christian, Buddhist or Atheist and Allah has declared thou shalt not kill.

You cannot throw rocks at a lion every day and then play the victim when the lion turns around and eats your family. You were the one throwing rocks at a lion and Judah is a lion’s whelp. Now I am in no way condoning civilian deaths in times of war. I abhor it. Even though it is historically common. Germany bombed London civilians on a regular basis during the war. That is why everyone hid in the underground during air raids. The Americans nuked two Japanese cities of civilians. That was outrageous.

Personally I think intentionally targeting civilians during war is horrible. My concept of war is two armies going head to head on the battle field. Unfortunately that is rarely the case. Nevertheless, crying because Hamas is fighting with "home made rockets" while Israel is fighting with tanks and planes is ridiculous. Why were you firing home made rockets at the tanks and planes? Israel was pulling out and giving you more autonomy.

If Hamas refuses to stop firing rockets at Israel, Israel has a right to drive them back and create a buffer zone to push them out of range. However, Gaza being so small makes that task problematic. The obvious solution is stop firing rockets.

Lebanon steps up the plate and fires rockets at Israel. I see that as a support for Gaza not an instigation of violence. However, in so doing they must face the consequences and be ready for an Israeli counter attack. Firing rockets at Israel during a war is an act of war. Mind you it’s nice to see Lebanon fire rockets at someone else for a change. Usually they are firing them at each other. The Lebanese Muslims seem to have a problem with the democratic will of the Lebanese Christians and visa versa.

Now Israel claims it is bombing tunnels the Hamas use to smuggle in rockets from Egypt. Well that’s fair enough. Bombing tunnels terrorists use to smuggle weapons is fare game. However, Israel has made in my opinion three mistakes and I will address those next.

However, since Hamas does not want autonomy, it only wants to destroy Israel: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45627

Perhaps the world should unite against Hamas and stop them from firing rockets so peace can exist.

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Local and World News

What a flurry of activity. There has been tons of news about the Gaza offensive. A lot needs to be said there. Polygamy is finally being challenged legally in BC and the weather is wrecking havoc on the roads with all the snow, rain, flooding and mudslides. I’ll dive in when I get back from work. My Internet has been down. Life goes on so it does. Cheers.

Hollyburn Ridge

Climbed Hollyburn ridge again today. Zero visibility at the top but it was good to get the heart pumping and go for a climb in the snow. It started snowing pretty heavy on the way up the summit with a strong wind at my back. Kinda like that old Irish saying. It was easier to climb with the wind at your back so it was.

Had a late start cause there was over 30 cm of fresh snow and I really didn’t feel up to breaking the trail again. There were tons of cars there and the path was very well traveled by noon making it munch easier to climb. Rocky mountain high. My escape from the dark and dreary city.

The Dark Side of Israel and Palestine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSPZjdEtfS4

Every person and every country has good and bad. Me mother always used to say "'There is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us, that it ill behooves any of us to talk about the rest of us." However, the truth will set us free. Being honest about our weaknesses will help us over come them. Rage and denial never heals anything.

The politically incorrect stereotype is that Jews are misers with money. They say the same about us Scots. Most people who are good with money are. Unfortunately I’m only part Scottish. I’m not very good with money.

There is however, there is a line between being good with money and being dishonest in business. When I went to Israel many years ago I was but a wee lad. It was before credit cards were common and well before direct debit. I had money in a bank account and my parents would wire me my money along my travels around the world. Wiring money into Egypt was easy. Wiring money into Israel was not.

For some obscure reason Israel was one of the few countries the bank would not wire money to from Canada. I had no idea why. Well we persisted as I had run out of funds. I was working on a kibbutz to pay my room and board but needed money to move on so to speak. Each week I’d have a day off and phone the bank in Jerusalem. I would ask is my money there yet and they would say no. This went on week after week and I began to get frustrated.

Finally I did all my homework and had all the numbers ready to quote. I made the weekly call asking for my money and got the same answer sorry it’s not here. Then I said Oh really. Well this is the date it was sent from Canada and this is the date you received it and this is the transaction number. There was silence then the response. Oh yes, hear it is. It’s been waiting here for you all along. Why haven’t you come to pick it up? Instead of raging on her for lying to me I simply said fine, I’ll be right there and picked it up.

I’m not sure if the banking industry in Israel is well known for it’s honesty in business. Don’t get me started on Larry Sliverstein. In my opinion that man is a devil. Nothing more, nothing less.
Israel got some bad press not long ago when their president had to step down over sexual harassment allegations. I’m not aware of the merits of the case. Sexual harassment could be a sarcastic comment, a slap on the ass or outright stalking and extortion. However, some allegations are false as well.

Like I said I don’t know about the merits of the case but I do know there is good and bad in everyone. We need to be honest about our mistakes or we will never over come them.
I will liken Palestine to Ireland. The IRA had good and bad. In the beginning Michael Collins helped raise up an army to fight for freedom. However, the first day I arrived in Dublin many years ago, the IRA had kidnapped a dentist and sent his fingers to his family in the mail with the ransom note. That was down right deranged. There was nothing noble or good in that.

Likewise, nobody likes to see the Palestinians oppressed. However the world view on terrorism is not very tolerant. In Ireland the IRA would gain public support when they hit military outlets and lose public support when they hit civilian targets. It was that simple.

Likewise when Palestinians endorse and support terrorism the world’s knee jerk reaction is kick their ass. Throwing candies in the air and celebrating when civilians die in terrorist attacks is just plain deranged.

I met a good man who was a Muslim Palestinian living in Palestine. He lived on what was called the Oasis of Peace. A multicultural community based on the freedom of religion where Jews and Palestinians coexisted in peace. He explained to me the problematic nature of the conflict.
Israel is by definition is a Jewish state. Although he lived in Israel he could never get an Israeli passport because he was a Palestinian. If he was allowed to become an Israeli citizen he would have to serve in the army which would be very problematic for both. That is why Israel avoids that problem by not making Palestinians citizens of Israel.

Although it solves the military service problem it creates other problems about democracy, autonomy and citizenship. The whole concept of Israel being a Jewish state was very strange for me. I understand what they are trying to accomplish but I’m used to a constitution or Charter of Rights where human rights and religious freedom is guaranteed. South of the 49 they get pretty outraged over taxation without representation. Don’t Palestinians working in Israel pay taxes?

Could Israel become a multicultural society were human rights and religious freedom is guaranteed by a constitution? Internationally I think the concept of forming a Muslim sate is just as problematic as forming a Jewish, Christian or a Buddhist state. How can Israel govern the land when nonJews cannot become citizens and serve in government? How can Israel let nonJews become citizens without creating a dilemma over military service? These questions I don’t know the answer to. All I know is forming a Muslim state is just as problematic as forming a Jewish state.

Perhaps some would gleam and suggest we form a Communist state to which I shudder. Lenin outlawed religion. In my opinion that is not a solution. It violates democracy and human rights. So what we have now is a dilemma and a mess but clearly the Oasis of Peace is a model to start from: http://nswas.org/

Israel’s Double Edge Sword

They say the truth is a double edge sword. I suppose that could have a few meanings. One meaning could be that it can cut others but if your not careful with it you can cut yourself. Israel, like everyone else, has been subject to the pride cycle. When we look at the rise and fall of Rome we see that pride (and corruption) cometh before the fall.

Dictators rise and fall. Oppression never lasts forever. Natural justice yearns for freedom. At one point in time, Israel were slaves in Egypt. Then came Moses who led his people on a long journey to freedom. Then came Jeremiah who warned Zedekiah about pride. They threw Jeremiah in prison for predicting Jerusalem would fall. Then God used Israel’s enemies to teach them a lesson.

Nebecanezzar conquered Israel and the survivors were carried away captive into Babylon. The pride cycle shows us that no matter how big and bad we think we are, any one of us can fall. Even the mighty Goliath. Recognizing the existence of a higher power can sometimes help us retain a certain amount of humility and avoid the trap of pride. Yet often religion is exploited and simply feeds the pride cycle.

Some refer to Jews as God’s chosen people. However when you look at history that’s kind of like referring to the luck of the Irish. The potato famine, British occupation, the Northern Ireland conflict, if that’s luck then God help them. Personally I prefer the term covenanted people. Moses made a covenant with God to serve Him and God promised to help Moses if Moses kept his covenant. It was the same covenant God made with Abraham and renewed with Isaac and Jacob. After making that covenant Abraham and everyone who renewed that covenant became known as Israel which means God preserves. Yes Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did have other children who also have a claim on the land as well.

Moses warned the people that God did not give them the promised land because of their righteousness. He gave them the land because of the former inhabitant’s wickedness. Not the Palestinians. Before the Palestinians lived there. Those people were really bad. History also demonstrates that although Palestinians do have a right to live in Palestine they were not the first inhabitants of all that land. In most of the land, Israel was there before them. That is a historical fact.
My point is that Jews do not have exclusive claim on all the land in Palestine and neither do the Palestinians. The God of Israel, the Great Architect of the Universe, the Grand Geometrician, Allah Himself has decreed, "Thou shalt not vex the stranger that sojourneth with thee."

I have no doubt that Israel will one day be puffed up in pride and all the armies of the world will gather to destroy her and keep Jerusalem under siege for three and a half years. Nevertheless, right now Gaza is bombing Israel and refuses to stop. Israel has a right to create a buffer zone to put them out of range of the Hamas rockets. That is just.

Israeli ground troops enter Gaza

Before I dive in and make the post about the good and bad side of Israel I’m going to comment on today’s news of Israeli troops entering Gaza: http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/abc/home/contentposting.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&showbyline=True&date=true&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20090103%2fisrael_gaza_090103

Israel pulled out of Gaza in an attempt to let Gaza have more autonomy. When it did that Hamas stepped up it’s campaign to continuously send rockets into Israel indiscriminately. True there were not a high number of casualties from the rocket attacks because their aim sucked. They would just fire them into civilian areas randomly. This created a continual sense of chaos and fear for Israelis in southern Israel because they would have to idea when or where a rocket would hit next. I’ve discussed the build up and the air strikes. Today the troops move in.

"According to Israeli defense officials, 10,000 troops had gathered at the edge of Gaza, including tanks and special operations units.

‘We will do all that is necessary to provide a different reality for southern Israel, which has been under constant attacks for the past eight years,’ Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told Channel 2 TV.

According to CTV News correspondent Janis Mackey Frayer, the troops have entered the northern part of Gaza, backed by tanks and combat helicopters. She said they may attempt to secure an area along the border that is a known hotspot from which militants fire rockets.

‘The buffer zone between Israel and Gaza at the border has been widened on the Gaza side,’ Mackey Frayer told Newsnet. ‘Every time the army has made it a little bit wider to push back the potential for these rocket squads to be able to fire rockets. So what they're going to try to do is contain at least part of this area.’

She added that ‘the Israeli political establishment has been very clear in saying that they do not want to reoccupy the Gaza Strip’."

So there you have it. It cannot be any more simple than that. They are creating a buffer zone. Since Hamas refuses to stop launching rockets at them they are pushing them back out of range so that their rockets will not be able to hit them. There is nothing more simple and straight forward than that.

Don’t worry. I’m going to discuss Israel’s dark side next. Every person and every country has good and bad. I do not agree with everything Israel does. It’s just that this time the situation cannot be any clearer. On this occasion, I agree with them.

January Meteor Shower

http://spaceweather.com/meteors/quadrantids/quadrantids.html?PHPSESSID=qm2r47uv3mdfve28k0o18pi7q5

Well the first meteor shower of the year is set for just before dawn January 3 2009. So get up early this Saturday and check it out. It’s brief but abundant. They expect about 100 an hour. Let’s hope it’s not cloudy. I was gonna get a photo of the sun rising over the mountains on Hollyburn Ridge today but there was zero visibility. Watch around the North Star Saturday morning before dawn if it’s clear. Cheers.

New Year’s Eve in Paris

http://www.france24.com/en/20090101-almost-450-cars-torched-new-years-eve-france-paris-police-crime-security
Well Paris maintained their tradition of burning cars on New Year’s eve. In fact the totals were up 30% from last year. Last year they torched 878 on New Years eve and this year they torched over a thousand. If that is not deranged, I don’t know what is. Obviously it’s not everyone who does it. Just a group of empowered thugs with no regard for anyone else. Lawlessness is nothing to brag about.