Dick, you lucky B@$#&%!

Here is a ‘what-if’ for you. You and your wife build up a family business running a campground in a busy tourist trap in beautiful British Columbia. Day after day, you clean the garbage, maintain peace and good order within the campground boundaries. Collect stall rent, sell confectionery, small plastic toys for the kiddies and at the end of each day, thank your staff for putting in a hard days work.

Each month, you balance your books and calculate GST and PST. Use your payroll tables and pay your staff. You then remit the payroll taxes, and your portion of CPP, UIC. Pay your WCB, utilities, insurance and all expenses. If you are financed, you prepare a financial report and submit it to the account manager assigned to you by the bank. Each year you file your corporate and personal tax return. For all this hard work and responsibility, you feed your family and employ your neighbours. Sounds mundane but this is the life of the independent businessperson.

Years later a letter comes from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Which informs that you owe one million dollars in personal taxes. At that instant, your bowels vacate, and you excuse yourself from whatever you are doing. Your fight begins, when you recall that you have filed your taxes properly and conducted your business in accordance with proper business practices. You and your spouse find yourself in a fight with what is considered the most powerful government agency in Canada.

So if that were you, what would be your next move? Most folks would pick up the phone and engage in a conference call with your accountant and the CRA. Maybe you would fire off an email to your Member of Parliament pleading for help. Whatever your action, time would pass and you would find yourself facing interest charges from the ‘tax man’ causing you to liquidate your assets such as your home, business and savings. Sounds like a good start to a Roger Corman Drive-In horror flick.

In walks Conservative MP Dick Harris, who receives the call for help from former campground owner Irvin Leroux and Irvin’s wife Jill Moore. Yes, this story mimics real life, which was reported by the press on April 25th. (Tory MP compares taxman to terrorsts- Ottawa Citizen, April 2009) The details could be different, but the end result is the same.

According to the Irvin’s, the CRA have lost older records that would show that they do not owe one million dollars in back taxes. Since the CRA made a complete computer system change over the past six years, could this really have happened? Has something similar happened to other taxpayers? Does anyone even dare make a similar claim public?

In the process and passion of the handling of the plea, Dick Harris is quoted in correspondence with the Irvin’s as writing, “Hang in there, I am on your side and will keep fighting these bastards.”

Bastards you say! Oh but Dick does not stop there. He then equates the CRA with the terrorist organization Hezbollah. An organization that only two years earlier conservative MP Jason Kenney compared to the German Nazi Party under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. A year earlier MP Steven Fletcher used the descriptor ‘bastards’ when referring to Second World War Japanese soldiers. An act that caused considerable embarrassment for the Federal Conservatives, which sparked the opposition’s anger ultimately leading to a public apology. Should Dick not apologize?

Should Dick get away with calling the ‘taxman’ a bastard and a terrorist? Is not the onus on Dick to prove his statement true?

Lets just break this down and see where it goes. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “bastard” in part as being “something that is spurious, irregular, inferior, or of questionable origin” or “an offensive or disagreeable person.” Of course the standard definition is “an illegitimate child.” That would be hard to prove, but the first two don’t necessarily seem to be a real stretch.

Having established Dick’s first assertion as plausible, lets take a look at his latter. That equating the CRA to Hezbollah. Here is where I have to draw the line. Canada Revenue Agency has NO record of planting bombs or killing people. I believe Dick is offside at this one. But as far as causing terror in a persons life, I think a few Canadians may be able to step up to the witness box and testify that calls and letters from the CRA has “coerced funds from a bank account as a result of feeling terror” which according to Merriam-Webster fits a definition of a terrorist.

The real issue here is that the CRA is a public agency established by the people’s government. As a public agency they have the mandate of a servant. Servanthood implies a subservient position to those who are being served. This relationship should be in the best interest of all the citizens of Canada. This includes people whom are being sought after for outstanding taxes. It is also in the best interest of the citizenry to properly investigate cases where procedure or possible lost records may have caused an error detrimental to a taxpayer. To assume that the establishment is right and does not make errors is foolhardy. No entity is one hundred percent right, one hundred percent of the time.

I believe on the weight of probability that the Irvin’s deserve proper inquiry and their case should be carefully re-examined.

In the mean time, if a member of parliament whom you have petitioned for help has in the course of his investigation formed an opinion that your adversaries are bunch of bastards, well, then so-be-it. An organization the size and scope of the CRA should be able to let such a comment roll off their backs.

I doubt the average citizen could get away with such a comment. Dick, you lucky B@$#&!

“How we deal with death is a reflection of how we view life.”

This statement came to mind when I recently read in the Edmonton Journal about a group of University of Alberta students who were invited to think out-of-the-box when challenged to develop a way of dealing with the death and burial of a human body. What came out of this session gave us all a peek into the new social value system that has been replacing traditional religious moral values over the past 100 years.

The proposed method that was immediately labelled ‘Green Graves’ appears to have been thought up with the goal of providing the ‘Earth’ with eco-friendly land reclamation and a method of preventing the populous from dying to take up valuable land.

It works in this way.

Your loved one is taken to its final resting place nude, wrapped in a shroud made up of a biodegradable material. Without embalming, it is placed into a container made up of biodegradable materials. Once inside, composting materials are placed into the container over the remains to promote faster decomposition.

The location of the burial is also part of this program. The encased burial package is taken to a location that is in need of reclamation. Locations such as oilsands, toxic industrial lands, and brownsites are chosen. The rapid decomposition of the remains would take only 12-18 years allowing for more bodies to be buried in the same spot. This is purported to have an added benefit of reducing the need for new cemeteries. The composting effect would have the worldly benefit of reclaiming the land, making such locations useful as a public park to be enjoyed within two generations. The public record of the burial would be marked using electronic GPS (Global Positioning Systems). In this way you could locate on Google maps the loved ones gravesite.

My gut reaction to this was one of repulsion. The whole imagery of turning human remains into a composting plot for the benefit of making a park appeared to be offering indignation to a human body. Further, whether you decide to bury a loved one in the traditional sense or even choose cremation, the process is usually handled with the sensitively required to help the surviving family and friends in their bereavement. It is the value placed on the person who has passed on that is reflected on how we deal with the burial rites and the persons remains.

For thousands of years the preparation of the dead has been conducted with great care. The belief in the sacredness of the human body has traditionally found expression in the care taken to prepare the deceased for burial. Further, the human body is so inescapably associated with the person that it is hard to think of a persons remains without associating the personality once alive. Therefore the reverence and care for the body grows out of a reverence and concern for the individual. With this in mind, the thought of treating human remains as a means to an end, such as land reclamation or an eco-friendly compost policy is in my opinion abhorrent.

This reverence for human remains is not just found in Christian tradition. All the major religions including Judaism, Islamism, Hinduism and far east religions such as Taoists to name just a few all hold reverence for the care and handling of human remains. In many rites, just the touching of the deceased by ‘unclean’ persons is an offence. The reverence in part, is a result of the three major religions teaching that ‘mankind’ was made in God’s image.

This ‘green’ procedure as suggested by these students is not really new. I found that a movement is afoot in the USA, and parts of Europe where this practice is seriously being looked at, and may even be currently practiced.

Cynthia Beal the author of “Be a tree, the Natural Burial Guide for Turning Yourself into a Forest” has written on this subject and is involved in her country in what she terms is the ‘Ultimate Back-to-the-land Movement.’

Fringe environmentalists have even suggested that the human remains should be rendered like other dead animals. This method would see the human remains crushed or boiled to separate the fat from the bone. The fat would then be used to make animal feed, wax or glue.

This lack of reverence for the remains of our fellow ‘man’ and how it is prepared suggests that society, as a whole, no longer considers humankind as being special in the grand scheme of things. It evens suggests that the New Age religion of environmentalism sees mankind as a burr on the backside of ‘Mother Earth.’ It could even be suggested that this form of Gaia worshipping falls well within Animism, placing personality traits to the planet earth, where the bodies put into these 'Green Graves' are the final ‘value’ offering to the goddess ‘Gaia.’ Many people who have been indoctrinated into ‘eco-worshipping’ circles do not see that they are actually practicing a religion that has now formalized their burial rites.

In the end, many will see this practice appealing. Public opinion has a way of being swayed in the media of pop culture. I just hope sacred tradition does not get pushed aside by over zealous eco-policy makers.

Feel comfortable in your skin

The changes in Alberta’s Healthcare system marks the first time since it’s inception that Albertans do not have to pay healthcare premiums. The only requirement to receive these benefits is that you must be a resident of Alberta with the intention of staying in the province for a period of no less than 183 days in a 12-month period. This came at a time when our economy began sinking and our government brought in a deficit budget.

The sensible thing to do is to either reinstate premiums or trim the fat off the system. In other words cut back on certain procedures that can be claimed against Alberta Health Care. As it turned out the fat was cut, and two of the procedures that took a hit were to chiropractic treatments and sex-change operations. The logic taken is that other available services are covered that a claimant can take to address symptoms that these two services previously addressed.

This week the Edmonton Journal quoted Kris Wells, of the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services as stating, "Ignorance is fuelling the decision. This is a case of sacrificing people's lives. This is a community that has higher rates of suicide, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, because there is so little understanding. Some members of this community report being born in the wrong body, and gender reassignment surgery helps to re-establish that congruency between their biological self and their emotional, inner sense of self .”

The person who is fuelling this recent liberal media hype is a fella by the name of Jamie-Lynn Garvin, who has been living as a woman for the past two years. He is currently on a waiting list for gender reassignment surgery. A surgery he will now have to pay for himself, as he was never approved for healthcare funding.

Let me just get this one out of the way right now… “A big pat on the back for our Minister of Health Ron Leipert!”

Of course, the argument the gay community cite for needing sex-change operations is that they were born in the wrong body. That a “gay-gene” exists that landed them in this situation, They further cite that ‘it is the operation that prevented them from committing suicide.’ They are happy now.

The Edmonton Journal story goes not to say, and I quote, “…as a man, Garvin was a jerk. But as a woman: ‘Wow, you’re the coolest person because you’re so happy.’” So Garvin is living proof that as a woman he is happy, but as a man he was an angry suicidal miserable woman stuck in a man’s body. Oh, wait! He has not had the operation yet!

According to this story, Garvin is now happy but just mad that Alberta won’t pay for the operation. Looks like all he needed was the hormone treatments to quell his misery, and that prescribed medicine is covered by Blue Cross. So, why should you and I pay for an operation that has proven to be unnecessary? Once again, thank you Mr. Leipert!

The onus of society to pay for unnecessary sex-change operations came in July of 1993, when the well respected journal “Science” published a study by Dean Hamer which claimed that there might be a gene for homosexuality. Research seemed to be on the verge of proving that homosexuality is innate, genetic and therefore unchangeable, a normal variant of human nature.

Soon afterward, the liberal media machine trumpeted his hypothesis as proven findings. Newsweek ran the cover story, "Gay Gene?" The Wall Street Journal announced, "Research Points Toward a Gay Gene...Normal Variation." Since these stories hit the newsstands, radio and the talk show circuits, studies have shown that there is no evidence for a “Gay Gene”

When Dean Hamer was asked by Scientific American if homosexuality was rooted solely in biology. He replied: "Absolutely not. From twin studies, we already know that half or more of the variability in sexual orientation is not inherited. Our studies try to pinpoint the genetic factors...not negate the psychosocial factors."

The choice a person makes towards choosing a sexual partner is based on chemistry and social stressors. Your eyes take in a sight, you start to feel kind of funny, and then the pursuit is on. The fact that a homosexual is attracted to someone with the same plumbing is unfortunate. But it is a condition that you either accept or, see a doctor for pharmaceutical or hormone treatment. Toss on a dress, and begin to feel good in your skin. But to ask society to pay to have sexual mutilation surgery is in my opinion, unacceptable.

Unfortunately, this story will not end here. Mr. Gavin will take ‘you and I’ to court under a human rights issue of discrimination. Just like a recent court case, in Ontario that caused that province to pay for sex-change operations, Alberta may see a reversal of Alberta Health’s policy. In the meantime, I have had my say, and I’ll just sit back and zip-it.

A Cross to bear

Determination and simple honesty is the best way to describe one fictional character made famous by Hollywood‘s, “Forest Gump". Many remember that character by his 'gumpisms’ like “Stupid is as Stupid Does,” and “Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you are going to get” In the motion picture “Forest Gump”, the main character becomes famous worldwide when one day he decides to “just start run ‘in.”

Gump runs for three years steady, and in that time becomes famous with people waiting for him to enter their towns, villages and cities. When asked why he started his marathon, he simply states, “I just started run ‘in.” The truth behind what motivated Gump is that he just made a decision, and “..it felt right, … the run ‘in.”

In the summer of 2004 a man by the name of Arthur Blessitt could be seen dragging a 12 foot by 6 foot crucifix along the highways of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. You may remember seeing him followed by his wife in a minivan and thinking, “Why would a man do that?” That summer Arthur Blessitt carried that cross traversing four provinces. But what you may not know is that Mr. Blessitt has bore that cross traversing many countries covering 61,319 km, over the past 40 years.

As a pastor of a small Hollywood church from the early 1960’s, Blessett counselled a cross section of marginal types including hippies, drug dealers, and prostitutes. One evening, according to Blessitt, he was compelled to take the cross off the wall of his building and carry the cross on foot and in doing so identify the message of Christ’s sacrifice on the highways and road-sides. He was commissioned to take the Easter message where the people are. Like the character Gump, he simply and honestly obeyed.

But the most interesting part of this is that Blessitt witnessed throughout the world by re-enacting Jesus’ journey up to Golgotha, the place where the Romans hung and ultimately killed Christ on the cross. In doing so, Blessitt took the opportunity of sharing his faith with all cultures in 315 countries. Fifty-two of these countries were at war at the time. Further, he was arrested and put into jail 24 times. He was threatened before a firing squad in Nicaragua and stoned and beaten in Morocco.

You would think that the resistance to the message of the Cross was the strongest in countries dominated by Muslims, Hindus or Jews. But he found that was not the case.

The worst reception towards Blessitt’s “Cross to Bear” came from the USA. A Country that professes to being founded on Christian teaching and law. In Los Angeles he was choked by the LAPD, threatened with a pistol in Orlando Florida and in Indiana the Cross faced the threat of burning. Even in Canada and Australia he found resistance to his mission. In Montreal he was bluntly turned away by church leaders when he tried to find a secure place to store the cross overnight. In Australia he tried to have the cross secured overnight in a church and after being bluntly turned away and told to leave, the cross found refuge in a local tavern.

It seems that as we approach the Easter weekend, Blessitt’s experiences show that the message of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross is too much to bear for many in what were former Christian nations.

In stark contrast, the year was 1988 when American fighter jets bombed the home of Libya’s professed Islamic Socialist leader Muammar al-Gaddafi in an attempt to kill him and his family. Arthur Blessitt had found that his Crucifix bearing journey had taken him to the border of that country. Blessitt, even though an American Christian, entered the soil of an enemy country.

His arrival had been announced to Gaddafi and he was stopped by authorities and given a note. It stated, "To Whom it May Concern: The Permanent Mission of the Socialist Peoples Libyan Arab Jamahiriya to the United Nations attests that Arthur Blessitt is known to this Mission and that he is proceeding on a journey on foot around the world. Thus we hope that he would be provided with all possible help, and facilities."

During his journey across Libya carrying the symbol of Christian faith, Blessitt did not want for anything. He was fed, housed and protected. His mission was respected. When he had carried the Cross from one end of Libya to the other, he was picked up and flown 960 km to meet Gaddafi at the Tubruk Air force Base.

We live in a country where the majority live in comfort. We want for nothing, except objects of excess. We mock at religious freedoms, point fingers at people of faith. We fight to remove religious symbols from lawns of churches, public buildings and schools under the guise of ‘personal offense’. We do this because we are free to express our distain.

In a nation founded on Christian principals, we work to strip our foundation of the very fabric that has guaranteed the freedoms that allow us to chip away at the footings of a moral society. Men like Blessitt are very few and far between. Many may not agree or understand his faith in a Saviour that 40 years earlier put him on a lifelong mission. But his journey tells us something about who we are as a society.

We are people in need of ethical and moral grounding. This Easter, remember that over 2000 years ago, Jesus was beaten, scourged, mocked and hung from a wooden cross by the very people He came to save, you and I.

Be One with Trojans

Anyone that owns or operates a computer on the internet, which now is reported to number more than ten million, have all experienced computer spyware or viruses in some form.

Spyware is that annoying digital infection that is collected by people as they travel that wonderful information highway known as the Internet. Viruses such as phishers, Spyware, Malware and Trojans install themselves inside your computer and wait. They wait for the ideal time to jump out and unleash their devilish deeds.

They ‘phish’ for personal information which is collected without the computer user’s consent or knowledge. Each keystroke, website visited, online banking transaction, purchasing habits and viewing habits are collected and transmitted back to the criminal where it can be used or sold for the sole benefit of the uber-geek. Computers with microphones and webcams can be remotely activated and used as surveillance devices sending video and audio of the unsuspecting keyboardist. It gives one pause if you are using a laptop in the bathroom.

For the most part if you have anti-virus and anti-spyware software installed you are protected.

But this type of protection is only good against the less sophisticated criminal. It is the network of the computer savvy backed by organizations or governments that no amount of commercial protection can help.

Last week two Canadian organizations including the Canada's Information Warfare Monitor uncovered the most sinister International Spyware operation ever to be unleashed on the masses. Computer servers from China have been ‘phishing’ in high profile computers systems in countries worldwide. After a 10-month investigation by Canadian Intelligence it has been revealed that at least 1,295 infected computers leaked stolen documents from embassies, ministries and government offices in 103 countries. The first specific targets of this cyber-spy network were held by the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan exile centers in India, Brussels, London and New York.

Apparently these cyber-spies were looking to the Dalai Lama for the secrets of Annica, Dukka and Anatta. It’s a bit ironic since these teachings essential tell the Buddhist that nothing found in the physical world, which is always in flux, can bring lasting deep satisfaction, leaving you without a permanent self. I guess this bunch just wanted to be One with Trojans.

This form of Malware is remarkable. It’s proliferation, in computer jargon, has not been merely "phishing" for random consumers' information, but "whaling" in computers real-time monitoring capacities. It makes you wonder what secrets are behind the walls in the offices of the Dalai Lama.


What is even stranger about this event is that our Canadians cyper-slueths followed the digital footprint back to China using the huge but humble “Google” search engine. Once they discovered the “code” of what has now been coined as the “Tracking Ghost Net” a “Cyber Espionage Network” it was as simple as entering it into Google. Google then revealed one of the cyber-spy network's control servers in Beijing, then a few pages down another, and then another. It appeared that most of the traces led them to China.

Further Investigation revealed evidence that the majority of the control computer servers were located in China. The interface to controlling the infected hosts on these servers in China was written in Chinese. And the remote Trojan favoured by the attackers is a Trojan coded by Chinese hackers.

When the story broke, China’s communist government incredulously responded saying it was absolutely impossible for anyone from China to be involved. It was explained that Beijing could not be involved because China "strictly forbids any cyber crime"!

Oh, Okay, I guess that covers it. Nobody in China breaks the law, because the ‘Man’ says they must be good! Why didn’t we think of that? Write some laws forbidding particular behaviour and all is well. Considering that murders and rapes occur in China like the rest of the world and based on what they tell us, the only law in the books in China must be directed against cyber-crime alone. There is nothing like being caught with your pants down.

This denial is even more inconceivable because without that closed societies help, the cyber espionage coming from China is still active. As a matter of fact, the discovery of this infection is only the beginning of the case. They have since discovered that a NATO computer was monitored by the spies for half a day, and found computers of the Indian embassy in Washington were infiltrated.

One must give pause when it was discovered this computer infection has taken control of email-servers around the world and not just in Tibet. It was reported in one case, a woman working for a group making Internet contacts between Tibetan exiles and Chinese citizens were stopped by Chinese Intelligence Officers on her way back to Tibet and shown transcripts of her online conversations.

Even though Canadian Intelligence have not suggested that the Chinese government is behind these cyber-attacks, the conspiracy crowd will no doubt have a field day. In the mean time keep your computers updated and for goodness sake put some cloths on when your sitting behind the keyboard twittering in Facebook, nobody wants to see that.