Catpaw – diary of an angry cat

On a rant again.

Went down to the St Lawrence Market today to get some fresh strawberries, raspberries etc. I like going down there. Its always interesting. I stopped to look at a store, just up the road that is a lot of fun – the Christmas Store. Oh stop moaning! It has some great stuff in it. Not just Christmas stuff.

But I didn’t stay long. Matter of fact I left without looking around for more than a few minutes.

THE MUSIC WAS EAR SPLITTING!

I said something to the clerk and she said “oh its so and so (an opera singer who I happen to like) and its always loud.”

okay… um… well… NO YOU HAVE THE STEREO UP SO HIGH MY EARS HURT!

I said no its the volume but she looked at me as though I was an alien spitting green slime on her sandals. It has nothing to do with the music or singer. I has everything to do with heavy handed, bone deaf idiots who control the volume. To aggravate things, they were pumping the music outside. Why??? WHY?????

That cave in the mountains is starting to look better and better. No neigbours, no music blaring.
Just me and my toy mice.

We went down to Woof Stock about 2 weeks ago. Bonnie, our scottie (rolling on the ground on the left) enjoyed herself immensely. She really is a social little soul. So many dogs to visit, so many people to love.

Woof Stock is a huge dog festival. The weather was beautiful. Tons of dogs and booths flogging doggie stuff galore!

oh my the doggie stuff .. I’m still agog over the dollars being spent. You can get doggie coats for both owner and dog, toys the average child would die for, dog treats, dog food, booties, blankets, beds, chewies, sitting services, grooming services, doggie scarves and bibs, doggie carriers, knapsacks and carriages. Well that just scratched the surface. We settled on some treats and dog food and a couple of extra scarves for her. The amount of money being spent! Holy COW!!!!!!!! I wish to have such disposable income.

It was fun. Lots of doggie socializing. I thought we were potty over our dog Bonnie but well, I feel a quite normal now.

SO… where is Meowstock!

Can’t you just see the kaos such and event would bring? 100′s of antisocial cats all in one location. You’d need a triage team on hand just to deal with the wounds inflicted on the owners who try to dress Fluffy up in a flying suit. What’s all this sit, stay nonsense? You’d get a lot of evil death ray looks from the few cats that hung around long enough to enjoy the massacre. On second thought maybe Meowstock isn’t such a good idea.

Oh the carnage!

I just raided the United Nations web site for Sustainable Development. I was curious about their goals and what they pretend to achieve. I can’t leave this story alone. I’m fascinated with their minimal grasp of reality.

Here is what their goals are (on paper at least):

• Integration of the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development in policy-making at international, regional and national levels;

• Wide-spread adoption of an integrated, cross-sectoral and broadly participatory approach to sustainable development;
• Measurable progress in the implementation of the goals and targets of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.

What more giggles? Here is what they are supposed to do achieve these goals:

• Facilitate intergovernmental negotiations, consensus-building and decision-making through the provision of substantive support to the work of the CSD and other related bodies;
• Provide technical assistance, expert advice and capacity building to support developing countries and countries with economies in transition in their efforts to achieve sustainable development;
• Facilitate inter-agency and inter-organizational cooperation, exchange and sharing of information, and catalyze joint activities and partnerships within the United Nations system and with other international organizations, governments and civil society groups in support of sustainable development;
• Promote and facilitate monitoring and evaluation of, and reporting on, the implementation of sustainable development at the national, regional and international levels;
• Undertake in-depth strategic analysis to provide policy advice to the USG/DESA, UN system and intergovernmental for focusing on cross-cutting and emerging sustainable development issues.

Let’s see –

• facilitate consensus building -hmmm… bulldozing 700,000 people out of their home? violently throwing farmers off their land? Yup that counts!
• adoption of an integrated, cross-sectoral and broadly participatory approach? – hmmm… Zimbabwe ruled by one of the most brutal dictators currently around. Oh yea.. that counts as participatory governmental experience.
• Provide technical assistance, expert advice? hmm… They are the proud owners of a completely destroyed infrastructure, 11,000% inflation and crumbling cities. Absolutely this counts as expertise.
• Measurable progress in the implementation of the goals and targets? hmmmm – complete destruction of a once vibrant society with a great deal of potential.

Back in May of this year, the UN commission for Sustainable Development chose its new chairman. Yes folks the geniuses opted for Zimbabwe as their new leader. Don’t you just want to wallow in the irony of this choice? The nation that has virtually starved its own people to death through its crackpot farm land seizures, complete ineptitude in managing existing farms and industries and to top off this stellar list of accomplishments, bulldozed thousand of homes (which resulted in over 700,00 homeless people), is now in charge of Sustainable Development.

This is a country where the life expectancy is 30 years. Jobless rate is hovering around 70%, food aid is required despite having some great farmland, inflation hit 1,042.9% in April of last year and is estimated to be around 11,000% this month alone.

The UN’s own Humanitarian Chief Jan Egeland stated in 2005 that Zimbabwe was in a “meltdown” and spoke of the criminal behaviour of the Zimbabwean government.

So to reward the Zimbabwean government for its complete lack of business sense, concern for its own people and plundering of the economy – the UN has opted to award them with a plum job overseeing SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT!

CHRIST! This group of idiots and misfits can’t even sustain the price of toilet paper. Last year a single sheet of two ply toilet paper would set you back $417 Zimbabwean dollars. Don’t ask how much an entire roll would cost. The mind shutters. Its enough to make you constipated for life. (Facts came from a NY times article in May 2006). Let me put it to you in simpler terms, each sheet of toilet paper costs .83 British Pounds or $1.77 Canadian. Lets say there is 300 sheets per roll (really don’t know how many sheets there are… never had a reason to count them):

I think it would be cheaper to use the Zimbabwean currency.

God help the countries this group is supposed to help. Looks like Mugabe and his cronies are going to have to buy bigger belts.

On a more positive note – Zimbabwe does not hold the record for the worst inflation in history. That honour still goes the Weimar Republic in Germany in 1923. So I guess on that basis alone they qualify as experts in sustaining development.

When the Iraq invasion began – years ago now – I was in the UK. The protests against UK involvement were enormous. Shortly after that I was in Barcelona the day after the Madrid train bombing and was lucky enough to see the protests there. I wish to hell they had succeeded. Soldiers were sent and now many of those men and women have died far from home. Their families alone after the deaths. If only we could wave a magic wand and return time so different decisions could be made.

Here in Canada, our soldiers are dieing in Afghanistan. While they are doing a job we sent them to do, the idiots here in Toronto are busy making sure their politically correct little lives are on display. There was a debate here in town over the display of yellow ribbons, to show the troops we are thinking of them. The politically correct brigade wanted the ribbons removed because it was felt it was an overt display of support for the war. They lost this battle. Reason prevailed and the ribbons will remain. Supporting the men and women far from home is not the same as supporting a war. Mature people can separate out the two.

This originally started out as a rant about the war etc. But it became a bit maudlin. And a bit confusing. I guess it all stems from my own sense of not knowing what I believe. I can’t resolve my own conflicts about the men and women dieing in Afghanistan (I never agreed with the invasion of Iraq – ill conceived and smelt of Bush’s lust to prove what macho cowboy he is.) and the Taliban.

It did turn out to be a beautiful day to wander about the city. Alas, this poor cat was stuck inside all day fixing a computer. I shouldn’t complain, I mean I get paid to do it and it’s fun and all. But what a great day. A nice gentle breeze is blowing, the smog is all gone, temp is moderate. Sigh… I should have been born rich rather than cute.

Long weekend! Canada Day this week and I’ll be celebrating by going to a bbq and a Canada vs Chile soccer game. Yes indeed, this cat has a ticket for the FIFA under 20 World Cup opening game. Might be going to two other games on the 2nd, but I have to wait and see if I have to work. Hopefully the weather will be as nice as today. Think I’ll take my camera so I can get some good crowd shots.

I’ve been following Toronto FC (soccer). Went to the home opener and it was fun. 8 of the 18 players who suited up for the opener are now gone. It takes awhile to settle into a good team, and it took a fair bit of tinkering on the coaches part. For a brand new club TFC isn’t doing bad! If we were in the Western league, we would have made it to the playoffs for sure. The games are ususally sellouts.

I’ll let you know about the game on Sunday when I get home.