He'll Get to the Bottom of It . . . .

Finally, george bush has tackled something he may be able to handle.

Go here to find out how he plans to clean up Washington.

The question is: Can he handle it ? ? ? ?

Quel Surprise . . . .

From Reuters today:

Cheney found to have irregular heartbeat
Mon Nov 26, 2007 3:55pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney, who has a history of heart problems, was found to have an irregular heartbeat during a doctor's visit on Monday morning, his office said.

The bigger surprise here is that the cretin has a heart . . . .

Local Colour . . . .

Not much going on here, so how 'bout some local colour ?



In case you're wondering, yes, we're still in Florida . . . .

Good Riddance to Them All . . . .

This commentary from Joseph L. Galloway of McClatchy Newspapers is an excellent review and condemnation of bushco's last seven years:



Commentary: Good riddance to them all
Joseph L. Galloway | McClatchy Newspapers

November 21, 2007

There was little for the unindicted co-conspirators of the Bush administration to give thanks for this week as the clock winds down on the 14 months they have left in power.

With former White House press secretary Scott McClellan spilling the beans on who told him to lie to the American people and cover up the White House's responsibility for the criminal act of revealing the identity of a covert CIA officer, it clearly was time for some folks to begin drafting their requests for presidential pardons.

_______________


What we've witnessed and endured during seven long years of the Bush presidency is the inevitable consequence of bringing vicious and unprincipled but successful political campaigners — attack dogs — into top White House jobs.

_______________


We are a better people and this is a better country than that, and this is why, when it's weighed and judged, the Bush presidency will be found to have perverted not only our system but also the very principles on which our nation was founded.

We don’t rush into a war that has cost so many lives and so much national treasure, and has so damaged our standing in the world, based on a tissue of lies. But under the leadership of George W. Bush, that's what we did in Iraq.

We don’t stand idly by, backs turned and eyes closed, while in wartime our friends and political contributors loot the national treasury of billions of taxpayer dollars. But the Bush administration and a Republican-controlled Congress did just that.

We don’t send our soldiers and Marines into combat without enough of everything they need to fight, survive and win. But that's what this administration and its political operatives in charge of the Pentagon did.

We don’t turn the office of the attorney general and key parts of the Justice Department into a branch of a partisan political campaign — gutting offices charged with protecting the civil rights of minorities and directing the prosecution of those of a different political party — but this administration did.

We don’t declare war and then expect that the entire sacrifice will be borne by the half a percent of our population who wear uniforms. We don’t fight a long and costly war by cutting taxes on the wealthiest Americans and borrowing trillions of dollars to finance it from foreign competitors such as China. But this administration did.

We don’t prosecute a war to spread democracy by curtailing democracy and suspending the Bill of Rights at home. We cannot promote our principles abroad by denying the same principles — the right to a lawyer, the right to a fair trial, the right to be secure in our homes — to ourselves. But this administration did.

We don’t beat or torture confessions out of prisoners in violation of our laws and the laws of the civilized world. We don’t lock people up and hold them incommunicado for years without charges or trials. But this administration did and does.

We don’t applaud and cheer an administration and a Congress that make the rich vastly richer, the middle class less secure and the poor even poorer. But this administration has done just that, in violation of our principles and the principles of love, peace and charity that are engrained in the Christianity that these rogues and charlatans embrace so publicly but violate every day.

It will be a good day when they are gone, and good riddance to them all.

Well said, Mr. Galloway.

"Good riddance," and don't let the door hit you in the ass . . . .

In Honour of U.S. Thanksgiving Week . . . .

Enjoy your holiday . . . .

Final Timeline Update . . . .

Final Version!!

Timeline to date: 11/19/07:

• 7/25/05 Initial Meeting with immigration attorney
• 7/25/05 - 8/25/05 Assembling Draft Application Data (Tax returns, business records, verification of common law relationship, education records, addresses, birth certificates, letters of reference, etc.)
• 8/15/05 FBI fingerprint cards overnighted to FBI for clearance
  
• 8/25/05 Working meeting with immigration attorney
• 9/26/06 Finally finished gathering supporting documents
• 9/28/05 Application with documents sent off to Buffalo consulate
• 10/17/05 One partner's FBI fingerprints cleared and accepted
  
• 10/25/05 Other partner's FBI fingerprints re-sent for clearance (Initial set illegible)
• 11/7/05 AOR issued by Buffalo consulate (Yay!)
• 2/2/06 Other partner's FBI fingerprints re-sent again (2nd set also illegible)
• 3/13/06 Other partner's FBI fingerprints finally cleared and accepted (Yay!)
• 11/15/06 Buffalo Consulate transferred our file to the New York City consulate
  
• 5/22/07 New York City office issues initial assessment, medicals requested
• 7/17/07 Medicals completed and received in Ottawa
• 10/23/07 Request for passports received from New York City consulate
• 10/29/07 Passports and photos overnighted to New York City consulate for Permanent Resident visa issuance
• 11/5/07 Permanent Resident visas issued by New York City consulate. (2 days short of being a 2 year process from AOR to PR visa) Landing must be made by 6/21/08

All future date displays will be in the Day/Month/Year format.

How very Canadian . . . .

Almost Forgot . . . .

We've been so excited about our immigration news, it has slipped our minds to introduce you to two other couples in similar circumstances. Chasing the Maple Leaf - Teri and Gaby - two women from Miami who are just now initiating the US to Canada immigration process & Newly Canadian - Doug and Dixon - two men from Wisconsin who have already completed the process and are now on Vancouver Island.

Welcome to "the family", Gang!

They're Here, Get the U-Haul Packed . . . .

As of this afternoon, we have in our possession two Permanent Resident of Canada visas! Hip, hip, hooray!


They were issued on November 5, 2007. This is two days less than two years after our application for Permanent Resident status was acknowledged by the Canadian Consulate in Buffalo, NY. Who says it's easy to immigrate to Canada?

The title of this post is a bit misleading. We are not planning on packing the U-Haul until probably April of 2008. The thought of driving across the North American continent in winter is not appealing to either of us. (The Four-Footed Child would probably not have a problem with it, however. She's rather looking forward to barking at antelope and buffalo.) Also, we're not taking everything we own at this time. Number One, there's no place to put everything in our tiny strata (condo) in Vancouver. Number Two: It's going to be a LONG time 'til anyone relieves us of our home in Florida with the real estate market the way it is. Therefore, we'll be traveling back and forth between the two homes for awhile.

Eventually, though, it'll be "all Vancouver, all the time."

Looking forward to that . . . .

When Disapproval Doesn't Mean Anything . . . .

And yet we have a democratic-led Congress that won't stand up to the cretin . . . .

Anniversary . . . .

Today is the 2nd anniversary of the CIC receiving our Application for Permanent Residence in Canada.



Now we are just days from receiving our visas for Permanent Resident status.

Life is good . . . .

eCAS Update . . . .

The Citizenship and Immigration Canada website has been notoriously behind-the-times when it comes to posting residency application status info online.

For the hell of it, I checked it today and it is just now showing that our medical reports have been received in Ottawa. We happen to know, via FEDEX tracking, that they have been there since July 17, 2007. Prior to this "update" the last info on the site was that our file had been transferred to the New York City office on November 16, 2006.

It appears that government bureaucracy and "efficiency" will be one thing that is not different between the US and Canada . . . .

How Very christian of Them . . . .

From Reuters today:

Kansas church liable in Marine funeral protest
Wed Oct 31, 2007 4:33pm EDT

By John Hurdle

BALTIMORE (Reuters) - A jury on Wednesday ordered a Kansas church to pay $2.9 million in compensatory damages to relatives of a gay U.S. Marine after church members cheered his death at his funeral.

_______________


The soldier's death was God's punishment on America for tolerating homosexuality, the church's members said.

Good on that jury, eh?

Hit 'em where it hurts: The collection plate . . . .

Update here. Even more good news!

Damn! And So Close, Too ! ! ! !

From AlterNet today:

Rumsfeld Flees France, Fearing Arrest
By , IPS News - Posted on October 29, 2007

Former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld fled France today fearing arrest over charges of "ordering and authorizing" torture of detainees at both the American-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the U.S. military's detainment facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, unconfirmed reports coming from Paris suggest.

U.S. embassy officials whisked Rumsfeld away yesterday from a breakfast meeting in Paris organized by the Foreign Policy magazine after human rights groups filed a criminal complaint against the man who spearheaded President George W. Bush's "war on terror" for six years.

Under international law, authorities in France are obliged to open an investigation when a complaint is made while the alleged torturer is on French soil.

_______________


"Rumsfeld must be feeling how Saddam Hussein felt when U.S. forces were hunting him down," activist Tanguy Richard said. "He may never end up being hanged like his old friend, but he must learn that in the civilized world, war crime doesn't pay."

One can only hope the rest of bushco gets the same treatment:

No place to run and hide from world justice . . . .

Sunday Morning War Worship . . . .

The MSM is at it again. Ratchet up the War Machine and watch the ratings soar.

When are we gonna put a stop to this crap?

As Carl Levin says at the end: "Lotsa luck!"





How much longer 'til we're out of here?

Counting the days, counting the days . . . .

Timeline Update 10/29/07 . . . .

Okay, here's our Timeline to date: 10/29/07:

• 7/25/05 Initial Meeting with immigration attorney
• 7/25/05 - 8/25/05 Assembling Draft Application Data (Tax returns, business records, verification of common law relationship, education records, addresses, birth certificates, letters of reference, etc.)
• 8/15/05 FBI fingerprint cards overnighted to FBI for clearance
  
• 8/25/05 Working meeting with immigration attorney
• 9/26/06 Finally finished gathering supporting documents
• 9/28/05 Application with documents sent off to Buffalo consulate
• 10/17/05 One partner's FBI fingerprints cleared and accepted
  
• 10/25/05 Other partner's FBI fingerprints re-sent for clearance (Initial set illegible)
• 11/7/05 AOR issued by Buffalo consulate (Yay!)
• 2//2/06 Other partner's FBI fingerprints re-sent again (2nd set also illegible)
• 3/13/06 Other partner's FBI fingerprints finally cleared and accepted (Yay!)
• 11/15/06 Buffalo Consulate transferred our file to the New York City consulate
  
• 5/22/07 New York City office issues initial assessment, medicals requested
• 7/17/07 Medicals completed and received in Ottawa
• 10/23/07 Request for passports received from New York City consulate
• 10/29/07 Passports and photos overnighted to New York City consulate for Permanent Resident visa issuance
  

Further updates as they are received . . . . Hopefully SOON!!

Guessing Time's Over . . . .

Niko, Gito and MSEH have correctly guessed "what we got". Good job, Folks.

Our attorney's office advised us yesterday that they had received the request for our passports from the New York Consulate. Once we get them to New York, the visas will be issued and returned to us with a date to land by.

Yippee!!!

We flew the Maple Leaf over Jolly Bay today to commemorate the occasion.

I am updating our Timeline as we speak. Looks like a two + year process is about to conclude.

'Bout damn time . . . .

Guess What We Got ? ? ? ?

Put your guesses in "Comments".


Results posted on Sunday - or sooner if anyone "wins" . . . .

Gay Worms - Fact or Fiction ? ? ? ?

From the Globe and Mail:

The making of a gay worm
JULIE STEENHUYSEN - Reuters
October 25, 2007 at 9:47 PM EDT

CHICAGO — Altering a gene in the brain of female worms changed their sexual orientation, U.S. researchers said on Thursday, making female worms attracted to other females.

The study reinforces the notion that sexual orientation is hard-wired in the brain, said Erik Jorgensen, scientific director of the Brain Institute at the University of Utah.

"They look like girls, but act and think like boys," Utah researcher Jamie White, who worked on the study published in the journal Current Biology, said in a statement.

Researchers in Dr. Jorgensen's lab switched on a gene in female worms that makes the body develop male structures, but they only activated the gene in the brain.

As a result, the female worms still had female bodies, but they behaved like males.

"It suggests sexual behaviour is encoded in our genes" and not caused by extra nerve cells specific to males or females, Dr. Jorgensen said in a telephone interview.

Now if we could just get that gene zapped in Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matthew McConaughey we'd be doin' great . . . .

October Observations . . . .

These shots were taken periodically today.

There are some things I will miss about Florida when we leave . . . .


I think you can see why . . . .

From today's Vancouver Sun:

Vancouver named top gay-friendly travel destination in Canada
Title based on survey of U.S. tourists

BY BRUCE CONSTANTINEAU - Vancouver Sun
Wednesday, October 24, 2007

VANCOUVER - Vancouver has been recognized as the No. 1 gay leisure travel destination in Canada for the second straight year, according to a survey of U.S. gay and lesbian travelers.


No surprise to us.

Gotta Love It . . . .