The Angel of Darkness

Vancouver Harbour

If You Blog in Many Places Does That Indicate Split Personalities or Just Multi-tasking abilities?

What do you think? I don’t know, what do you think? Beats me, I bet you can just do more than two things at once, right? Wait, let me ask what’s her name…hey – what do you think? What? Oh – she’s sleeping – let’s see if the other guy’s around…and so on…the question becomes concentric as well as eccentric…sigh.

Zap-a-cat & read the writing on Facebook’s wall

Vigilantes purportedly writing from Camrose, Alberta named 4 under-aged children who allegedly broke into a home there recently and nuked a family pet over the holidays. These self-appointed sherriffs did their name-calling and justice-seeking on Facebook’s hallowed walls, not pausing to wait for proof, or the wheels of Canadian justice to grind however slowly or legally that may have been. In actuality, all these cyber-space graffiti artists had going for them was hearsay evidence and third-hand repeatings of what may or may not have happened; on plainer terms, gossip.

As abhorent as the original act done here is, and don’t get me wrong – 1) I am an animal lover and, 2) I also realize fully the ramifications attached to the pre-teen cruelty that appears to have been done to this innocent, ie. a history of this type of behaviour could certainly indicate a precursor for more serious criminal activity and needs to be addressed as such. However, the fact remains, naming under-aged suspects is not only illegal in Canada, it is also amoral.  When the so-called ordinary citizen decides to take matters into his own hands, or allows his child to do likewise, and starts issuing death threats and other obscene pieces of rhetoric in a public forum such as Facebook, the moral fabric of a civilized society begins to unravel rather more quickly than one would think possible.

 I believe if we are to preserve any sense of decency at all in this world, it has to start in the home, with parents or care-givers who are willing to take the time to discuss these types of issues with their children, not take the easy, knee-jerk reaction of the vigilante. Is this any easy road? Not at all, but in the long run, what kind of people do we want to grow – people that can think for themselves, judge for themselves, react sensibly and rationally for themselves – or, people that will always know exactly how to lock and load in any situation, no questions asked. Put up and shut up. If that sounds ideal, start considering living under any of the world’s dictatorships;that’s how they’re run. Of course, that means at any time, you might be on the wrong end of the lock and load procedure.  Give it some thought.  I believe North America is better than that but until we start showing the kids that we are, and that we expect the same from them…nuked kitties might be the least of our worries.

What’s worse? Kids nuking cat? vigilante facebookers? or a crying Pres. candidate?

So Hilary boo-hoo’s a bit and everyone seems to be in a flap – what’s that about? She’s cold – she’s unfeeling; she cries – she’s weak; she stands by her man, she’s a push-over; had she left him? no doubt about it, an unforgiving bitch…

Ah the life of the American politician. How you folks get anyone to sign up for that ticket is a magical mystery tour for sure, unless of course, the candidate’s a boob and how often does that happen? Oh right – let’s not revisit that tired tune.

Complete non-sequiter: – about the kids in Alberta who microwaved the cat recently? Bad acts for sure. But is it alright to post their names (ages 1 to 15 and in Canada it’s illegal to name them) and start death threats, before all the facts are in? Vigilante justice is just wrong, especially small-town stuff on big-time Facebook’s walls. The proverbial shit is about to hit more than Facebook’s walls. Yeah, I think you can count on it.

Do dyslexic insomniacs lay awake at night and wonder if there is a dog?

Alright, alright – it’s an old joke but it still knocks me out. Colour me easily amused at this hour when sleep eludes me; the wee hours when I start pondering the meaning of it all, re-reading Anne Sexton and Victor Frankl and skimming some Jung, Sartre and Camus for good or bad measure (no wonder I can’t sleep). I find myself missing the Aurora Borealis, usually dancing the skies here on the lip of the Arctic Circle fairly often, but they have been avoiding me for far too long. Native legend has it that they dance souls to the Great Creator when someone dies; a pretty sentiment but one I’m not sure I ascribe to. My spirit’s somewhat fickle and agnostic at best, and particularly antsy late at night. The fire’s burning low, as is my energy level. I think I will tuck my blogging fingers away for tonight and give my lazy mind a rest. Enter Morpheus, I entreat thee.

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“Do you know why I stopped you ma ám?”

The whoop of the siren, check the rear- view and what a surprise! For whom the lights flash? They flash for you! A cop younger than some of the shoes I own pulls me over and so help me hannah but my insurance’s expired, as is my ownership and my plates…how did that happen? For a nano-second, he suspects I stole my beater, but why would I? Why would anyone steal an ancient Topaz with a dead pigeon on the aerial? (no – not a real one, it’s an in-joke, but you can get a visual, can’t you?) What to do? What to do? Aha – pull rank. Get all smarmy and play the one card that might work. Mention that so and so is going to get such giggle out of this cause he’s a member (code, for  ‘cop’ ). Well, well – it was as if a switch were thrown. Not only did my car not get towed - I only got a warning and missed out on over $1,000 in fines! Phew! I remedied said crimes immediately but sheesh, feeling like a criminal for even that few minutes was hairy.

Greetings from the lip of the Arctic Circle

       Okay, so maybe Edmonton, Alberta’s not quite that far north – tell my chattering teeth; the deck thermometer is registering very much sub-zero temps. and there’s a wind-chill! Lot of Christmassy snow still hanging around – very pretty but makes Spring seem a long way off. Throw another log on the fire and curl up with a good book, or get back to writing the great Canadian novel, eh? Half-watching the Iowa primaries and trying not to fear the upcoming American election; is there anyone to vote for? Everybody seems so interchangeable…heavy sigh. Maybe I’ve just been too long up. Wonder if this blogging thing will turn out to be a hoot or a hassle. Hmm.