Still They Come

All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.
Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, Part 1, Section Eleven. Constance Garnett Translation (of course..)

At the time of this writing, the 'umble blog has over 116,000 hits, my G+ page has 1,268,461 hits, and a new blog that I have started recently entitled The Progress Impaired Cosmologist has the awesome number of 156 hits! People are not very interested in life, the universe, and everything...

Justin Trudeau whips out his cowboy...

The last posting of Sunday October 26, 2014 left me very depressed, in that the level of public discourse had reached all time lows in Canada. And then there was the realization, later, that as I contemplated posting again, that all my original intentions at the beginning of The Economy Of Media have been realized! Sun News Network is long gone, off the air, all my favorite members of the 'Harper Government' are dead or gone back to the rocks that they crawled out from under. And it looks like the young Justin Trudeau is going to peak last, and indeed be the next Canadian Prime Minister. And of course when that happens the economy and the budget will take care of itself, just like the young Justin said.

I have spent the rest time wisely, and the Oracle of Ottawa has learned many valuable and deep things. The main one being that the writing is never over, the work is never done, and if it is, death or something worse is soon to come. As the Oracle of Ottawa sat awe struck by the news that Albertan's voted in an NDP government, and the latest announcement of the bailing of yet another high profile minion of the 'Harper Government', the Oracle of Ottawa has come to realize the utter and extreme power of the blog, and the powerful concept of the quietly planted meme. It is not about the hits, it is about who reads.

The fact of the realization of the passing of Bill C-51 certainly frightened the Oracle of Ottawa, for about five seconds, until it quickly dawned upon the Oracle of Ottawa that you can have all the laws of the Universe on the books, but if you keep cutting all the security budgets, there is at the end of the last days of the 'Harper Government' not much chance that there will be anyone left to pay me a visit..., let alone monitor my awesome missives.

There will be many interesting issues that will be brought under the close scrutiny of the Oracle of Ottawa in this next wave, stay tuned to one of the "vehicles".  

Writing - The Million Page View Paradox

I hope that the essay will be useful for some, while harmful to none, and that my openness will be to everyone's liking.
Rene Descartes - Discourse on The Method, p. 4

It happened some time last Monday night or early Tuesday morning. The Oracle of Ottawa's page view counts on his Google + and his 'umble blog added up to over 1,000,000 views. It was another goal that I thought I had set impossibly high and would never be achieved. But yet again I over achieved without even really trying. Now I have to think of some other impossible thing to go for.

The Oracle of Ottawa hones up another one...

The Oracle of Ottawa has taken the summer off. Due to the ongoing implosion of the Canadian right wing revolution and the soon to end 'Harper Government' the Oracle of Ottawa felt that his work was done. And has taken great pleasure in the fact that his words have helped to put another nail into the coffin of the 'Harper Government'. The polling numbers are relentless and unchanging. The young Justin Trudeau will be the next Prime Minister of Canada, and it will be very well before the next set election date in 2015.

Yes indeed Dear Reader, the budget will indeed take care of itself, especially when you are going to legalize pot across Canada! The 'Harper Government' just can't even begin to deal with it. It is a joy to see the wingers twist. There are also very many other issues, too many to mention, that the conservatives are on the wrong side of history on. Rather then try to deal with it in rational manner, old Steve Harper is back up in northern Canada still hoping to find Franklin. You can't make this stuff up. The Oracle of Ottawa is pretty sure that Franklin and his company have been dead for very many years now. And besides they were not Canadians. If the Brits want look for him, well they should go ahead and knock themselves out. But so far in the last decade or two it has been a no show. Do you think there is information in that Dear Reader?

Now about that million page paradox. It was with great chagrin that the Oracle of Ottawa has slowly learned that one chippy comment on Google + would on average get ten times more hits then one of my highly crafted blog essays! How ignorant is that? You know Dear Reader how the Oracle of Ottawa feels about twitter and literature in 140 character batches. Yet I must come to the conclusion that the Oracle of Ottawa is just a total natural at it or that people are dumber than I thought in my wildest dreams.

Barry B. Powell - Homer For The Rest Of Us!

No one sings about glorious deeds performed in an imaginary war.
Barry B. Powell, Homer, The Iliad, p.25

For a very long time the Oracle of Ottawa has wanted to read the great works of Homer. At the time of this writing the Oracle of Ottawa has four different English translations of The Iliad; the Chapman, the Fitzgerald, the Lattimore and the Barry B. Powell. I know, how sick is that? The Oracle has made many attempts in his misspent youth at attacking the great work. But each time the Oracle was put off by the place names, the character names, and the nagging level of missing basic information of the setting of the great story. The Oracle of Ottawa came to the conclusion that to get through the Ilaid, and actually understand the times and all, you had to have at least an Honours Degree in Classical Studies.

Barry B. Powell at the Walls of Troy - Bona Fide!!!

 Another problem was that the Oracle always insisted on the best and most pure translation. Research at an actual old fashioned public library informed the Oracle of Ottawa that the works of Homer were always in something called dactylic hexameter. The works were sung by singers, until someone invented writing. Now from watching the movies, the Oracle of Ottawa roughly knows what Homeric Greek actually sounds like. But alas, the Oracle of Ottawa found none of the same music in the big three English translations.

Troy - Not just a 'story'...

 It was just after Christmas when the Oracle of Ottawa was out hunting for something awesome to read with his new Christmas book money, when he happened to spot a never before seen new translation of the Iliad by some guy called Barry B. Powell. The Oracle of Ottawa picked up the new hardcover book, without much hope, and marveled at the perfect cover illustration and design. The Oracle's interest was further peaked when he noticed that the book was published by Oxford University Press. Surely the Oxford University Press would not publish just any new translation of Homer.  

Thetis picks up new armor for Achilles...

 The Oracle of Ottawa cracked the book open and was floored at the perfect sparse double opening title page in perfect good taste, that actually matched the contents of the included work. The Oracle of Ottawa marveled at the detailed, but yet accessible, introduction by Barry B. Powell, that alone is worth the price of the hardcover. The Oracles little literary heart quickened. This is the stuff that the Oracle of Ottawa has always longed for. The maps, diagrams, and pictures. Especially that picture of the translator at the walls of Troy! How bona fide is that Dear Reader? And the fact that the translator had the same goal in translating the masterpiece that the Oracle of Ottawa has always dreamed of, to make the English translation take on the music of the ancient Homeric Greek.

The ultimate test Dear Reader is of course in the reading. The Oracle of Ottawa turned to Book I, and read the first line. The rage sing, O goddess, of Achilles, the son of Peleus... and no word of a lie, tears come to the Oracles eyes! This translation is the Bomb! This is the one. All the weird bits were very well noted at the bottom of the page and that doesn't bother the Oracle in the least. And yes, I read every damn one of them notes and was very grateful to the translator and his publisher at giving him the freedom to include them all.    

The book cost a little over thirty dollars in Canada, a mere pittance for something of such awesome quality. Again Dear Reader this was the one. The Oracle has finally put The Iliad under his belt, so to speak, but this is only the beginning. This was the translation that reached out and in and had the Oracle completely enthralled. Even reading carefully and slowly, not wanting it all to end, the Oracle had the great work wacked in less than seven days, with his copy full of underlines and notes. Something has gone off in the Oracle of Ottawa. This translation is a masterpiece. It captures the flavor of the music of the words of the Homeric Greek into our English. This is a great, great, feat.    

Alice Munro - Nobel Prize SHOCKER!!

Each person's willingness to contribute is contingent upon the contributions of the others.
John Rawls, A Theory Of Justice, p. 270

No matter how bad things seem to get, you just can't give up hope. While Canada is presently in the depths of the throes of the fascist 'Harper Government' and you can literally feel the Just Society of Canada being dismantled by the corporate over whores, things could change on a dime and give you a nickel in change. It pays to get up out of bed and seize the day. Today was one of those days.

Alice Munro - undisputed Queen of Canlit...

It was while watching the local lunch time news of the old vulgar CTV corporate television that the Oracle of Ottawa first heard the shocking, unbelievable news that Alice Munro, a university drop out from Wingham, Ontario won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature! (and the 1.2 million dollars that goes with it...) The Oracle of Ottawa can't describe the initial feeling as he heard the words. How could this have possibly happened? Alice Munro is certainly not New World Order approved. The Oracle of Ottawa has never seen a 250 book mountain display of an Alice Munro book at his local Chapters store. As far as the Oracle of Ottawa knows Alice Munro has never been a Heather Reisman pick. And the Oracle of Ottawa is pretty certain that the Bilderberg Group would never approve of Alice Munro's dangerous writings, that smack of the desire to at least attempt a dangerous social experiment or two.

Nobel Prize medal...

Adding to the Oracle of Ottawas shock is that he was convinced that this years winner was going to be Margaret Atwood, the unquestioned Queen of Canlit. Why only last night she appeared on Charlie Rose! She was a very close friend of all the Greats, especially Northrop Frye! She had just released Madd Adam the third book of some trilogy that the Oracle of Ottawa read about recently. (just in time for Christmas shopping....)  She was certainly New World Order approved, since the Oracle could not but help notice the multiple 250 copy book mountains that are presently at the entrance of all the Chapters outlets at the time of this writing. The media blitzt that Maggy has sustained in recent weeks truly impressed the Oracle of Ottawa. Surely it was all to coincide with her winning the 2013 Nobel. Surely it was all in the bag? 

 The great message of Alice Munro winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, is that no matter where you are in the world, no matter your social and or economic origin, no matter if you write in long hand on a pad on the dining room table while the kids are at school and your spouse is at work, you could, maybe, just maybe, just like Alice Munro, win the Nobel Prize in Literature! It sure as hell has given the Oracle of Ottawa a much required lift, and the memory of an unforgettable day. It will serve as an inspiration forever.

Big Ass Booty - Whats The Big Deal?

In the division of this "booty" an exceptionally large part goes to countries which do not always stand at the top of the list in the rapidity of the development of their productive forces.
Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, The Lenin Anthology, p.250

It has come as great shock, and all in, a bit of a downer, that one of the leading search words and phrases to my highly literate blog is that of Big Ass Booty. This was all accidentally caused by the creation of the blog post entitled Big Booty in Muskoka, which was about certain political goings on here in Canada. And due to that one stock image, it has become one of the Oracle of Ottawas top ten pieces. The Oracle of Ottawa had no idea that there was and exists such a world wide shortage of Big Ass Booty. Especially it seems in the Islamic World at the time of this writing. What is up with that?

Venus of Willendorf

One of the second close search phrases to this blog is Big Ass Chinese Booty. But the Oracle of Ottawa reflecting on his long past experience knows that there is no such thing. China is a no booty empire, every straight man in the Western World knows that, don't they? But as a public service, the Oracle of Ottawa has done some easy and elementary research into the origins of big ass booty. The results of course are most interesting and educational.

China -The no booty empire...

The Mother of all big ass booty is the Venus of Willendorf. It was found in the village of Willendorf around 1908, which is in Austria and now resides in a natural history museum in Austria. It is of no surprise to the Oracle of Ottawa that all German speaking peoples love their big ass booty. This preoccupation with big ass booty has been going on for the longest time. It is estimated that the age of the Venus of Willendorf is between 22,000 to 24,000 years old! Yes indeed, the white Aryan peoples have had a very long obsession with their booty. And it seems that in the modern world of today that all the other peoples are desperately attempting to catch up with us. No doubt having discovered via the internet of the satanic empires just what the hell they have been missing.

Of course the origin of this attraction is of course the psychoanalytic concept of the Mother Goddess which represents motherhood, fertility, creation (i.e. yours..) and the endless bounty of the earth, especially those peoples that live in the north and western parts of it. Ironically this was all discovered and was deeply researched and written up by another German speaking dude by the name of Carl Jung. He identified big ass booty as one of the most important archetypes known to all reasonable fun loving men. Das gut...

In closing the Oracle of Ottawa must admit that after a long and most fun search there is no such thing as big ass Chinese booty. In Asia if you want big ass booty you must go to Japan (ironic isn't it?) or the Philippines.
And that footage is easy as hell to find. The Oracle of Ottawa has included a clip that he somewhat enjoyed in passing. And when you finally get it out of your system for a little while you might want to explore my other blog posts. But be careful, you might learn something....

Frankenstein - The Best Modern Edition

The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, Volume I, Chapter IV

Frankenstein is simply one of the most enduring archetype tales of Western Civilization. The Oracle of Ottawa has come to it a number of times in his lifetime. The first time as a child, when I read it in Classics Illustrated, No. 26. At that time the Oracle of Ottawa enjoyed it as a story of a crazy doctor that patched together his very own home made man. How twisted weird is that? And just a hell of a good story. Later on in life the Oracle of Ottawa read the actual novel, and still took it as a great ghost story, and began to ponder the utter intricate detail, and its ability to draw you in. The third time the Oracle of Ottawa, much older and wiser now, came upon the Belknap Harvard annotated edition in hard cover. Now the Oracle of Ottawa realizes that it is all more than just a superficial story. It is all so much deeper than that.

Belknap - Harvard edition

The Annotated Frankenstein is a masterpiece of American printing. It warms the Oracle's soul that Americans still print books in the actual United States of America, right down to the silk like end papers! The margins are as wide as Texas, and the annotations are very scholarly and deep. Which will provide many searches on Wikipedia, that will take you to post graduate depth in no time. Just follow the links. And best of all it is cheap! Or in a more sophisticated phrase; represents excellent value. This is the most definitive edition, that balances content perfectly with artistic craft and beauty. And all that detail, will still bring the goose bumps to you just like the first time you read it when you were a little kid. Well actually with all the background thrown in, it actually makes the book even more scary!

Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's Monster

 As the Oracle of Ottawa came to Frankenstein for the third time in his life, he realized that this is much more than a scary story. It is a masterpiece, a damming indictment of a system that the author observed being born in her lifetime, but as of yet, did not have a name for. It is the story of a mere mortal of a man that thought he could cheat God so to speak. He would use all the methods that had recently been discovered, and combine them in his own selfish way that would create something greater than the sum of its parts. But as you have no doubt noticed in earlier readings he did not ponder the effects of his creation on the greater common good, and, of course, the results were monstrous.

On top of the text of Frankenstein, there is included a ton of fascinating information. The Oracle of Ottawa found the chronology just fascinating. And I won't give anything away. But the editors did miss one or two interesting dates. For example, in 1776, was the publication date of Adam Smiths Wealth of Nations! And in 1818 the first edition of Frankenstein was published, the same year as the birth of Karl Marx...              

Herman Melville - The Meaning Of The Whale

We live in a world that has got along without us for billions of years, and could still get along without us, in fact still may.
Northrop Frye, On Education, p.148

It has been many years ago now, that the Oracle of Ottawa has read Moby Dick by Herman Melville. The Oracle found it a deep, dark, masterpiece that goes very deeply into many of the remotest recesses of the human mind. The best edition to read is the one that was illustrated  by Rockwell Kent. Today if you can discover a first edition of Moby Dick in the orange or slate blue cloth, it would be worth about $60,000 to $100,000.00 dollars! Which is all pretty ironic because it was all but a busted flush in Melville's lifetime. It is widely known that poor old Herman only made $556.37 from the American edition in his lifetime and the book never sold out its first 3000 copies in his lifetime. It was the same with Karl Marx with Das Kapital, and it was the same with Henry David Thoreau and Walden. The nut of the story is don't expect anyone to get it while you are still alive, normal people are such a drag aren't they?

Herman Melville

As with all classics of English literature, Moby Dick goes down a lot easier if you know your Bible and have a good grounding in the rudimentary facts of the classics. The Oracle of Ottawa would just like to touch briefly on some points that he found passing weird. Many of the characters have Biblical names, this is all real important, and the Oracle of Ottawa suspects that some of these names could have Islamic references, it is very surprising that no one has went there yet, so to speak. The theology is grounded in the Old Testament, and possibly the early Prophet. Moby Dick is the gayest, queerist, raging fag novel in all of American literature. Note that there are no women characters, or any mention of the feminine at all through out the greatest American novel. But this is very important to what the novel and especially what the whale is all about.

Moby Dick - Americas gayest novel...

Another aid that will help the modern reader get the most out of Moby Dick is a copy DSM IV. You will soon discover that he majority of the characters of Moby Dick are lightly touched to outright certifiable! How long do you think the character Ahab would last in modern society? If you read right through to the end you will be very well versed in the symptoms of all the major obsessive disorders. And if you are very perceptive you will soon realize that the whole book is about the pursuit of raw naked power. You can delve deeper into this by reading Arthur Schopenhauer in his Will And Idea. It all can't be helped really.

The whale is the ultimate homo erotic phallic symbol. The monster beast that plows the deeps. Just about what America has always been about isn't it? The whale is the symbol of raw naked power and the joys that come with it. Domination, degradation and humiliation. Moby Dick, the ultimate representation of the real American experience. Any questions?

Whispers in the Loggia - A Blogging Algorithm

It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.
Deuteronomy, 31:8, NRSV

Is it truly possible to start a blog on a very esoteric subject and have any hope of seeing it grow to a one man media monster? Is it possible to build a huge global blog readership with just word of mouth, without marketing? Is it really true that if you post most every day and keep your nose to the grindstone, say eight or nine years, that you will be having about 2500 page views every five minutes? Well folks, the answer to those questions is a resounding yes indeed!

The Vatican is boring?

 And as per usual and per course, the Oracle of Ottawa will provide a reference. The Oracle of Ottawa is usually not very impressed with the majority of blogs that he checks out. The level of literacy and the lack of lyrical music of the words being in the right order, as Northrop Frye would say, is all but appalling indeed. And with the hyped demise of the codex book, the Oracle of Ottawa has become very despondent about the future of literacy on more than occasion, and that is just recently.      

The example of a monster blog, 26 million views at the time of this writing, is called Whispers in the Loggia, written singlehandedly by one Rocco Palmo. Who has become so recently notable, that he has his own article on Wikipedia!( A loggia is a roofed open gallery.) The Oracle of Ottawa has to admit that is a brilliant name. And the blog is a brilliant design of utter sparse simplicity, that is somewhat reminiscent of the early Catholic Church of Paul and the other many and assorted Apostles. Why the youngster even has the brass and utter balls to ditch the comments option!    

Of course, there is really no power in writing a blog...

" Hello? Mr. Palmo? This is the Vatican, media Curia calling in the hope that we can entice you to travel to Rome, so we can kiss your bum for the required amount of time so that we can implement our new policy of becoming media friendly... Yes, yes, of course, first class Air Italia, can we expect the honour of your presence? Wonderful..."

Really blogging is a waste of time and won't lead any where, won't it?  

More Than A Thousand Clicks

Sorry. We almost had our hands on it - but they double-crossed us once again. Politicians. Shit on them. Good luck Bubba. It's every man for himself now.
Hunter S. Thompson, Better Than Sex, p. 83

The Oracle of Ottawa tracks his readership. Yes he does. Writing this blog has been, at times, a lot like being married to a French girl, just like talking to yourself! The hog is in the tunnel and both ends are closed up. No ribs on the table any time soon. But lately, and becoming more often, several readers are flattering the hell out of the Oracle of Ottawa by searching for this blog with the search words "Oracle of Ottawa  and Hunter S. Thompson"! At first I thought it was my young niece, one of the few of my personal circle who knows the author of this gibberish. But she does not live in the United States or Australia! If you were hoping that this will keep the Oracle of Ottawa going, well you bastards, you got it!

Hunter S. Thompson - The Great Doctor....

With the coming of Bill-C30 in Canada, the Oracle of Ottawa contemplated, but only for a moment, shutting down this blog, before the cops and or CSIS come to my secure bunker and kick down the door. But, fuck it, I am going to pound this gibberish out until they carry me away! If I can't gonzo the creeps that I am paying for to take this country apart, what kind of society am I living in?

Gonzo! I'm bringing it back....

Who would have thought after the 1970's were in and done that it would all pop up again? And who in their wildest dreams thought that it would all pop up in of all places Canada? But hey Bubba! It is all coming down here in Canada. The Oracle of Ottawa finds it difficult to believe that no one at the Prime Ministers Office of the 'Harper Government' ever read the works of the great Doctor! You would think that the lessons were learned and all the jail time was served. But you would be wrong on all counts. We have a scandal that is going to blow in the next weeks, that will give Watergate a total run for its money.   

Watergate was just a freak'in break in. Robogate, that recently discovered scandal in Canada, is way worse, if you can even conceive of that! On the last Federal Election day in Canada the 'Harper Government' and / or its minions, had robo dialers located in Alberta, owned by some company called Rack9, calling thousands of people all over Ontario, posing as an official of Elections Canada, telling voters that their polling stations had been changed and / or moved! There were over fifty seats decided in Ontario by less than five percent of the popular vote! The 'Harper Government' stole the last election! We presently have a totally illegitimate "majority" government in power! Richard Nixon is roaring with laughter from the deepest circle of Hell.

Gods speed you poor fools!!

Loved In Sri Lanka?

If the language of art is not accessible to ordinary language and ordinary experience, how can it be accessible to ordinary people?
Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, p. 131

Sri Lanka is very far away from the Oracle of Ottawa's secured bunker. Actually it is as about as far away from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada as you could possibly get and still be on Earth. Why the Oracle of Ottawa, who is not a geographical slouch, had to go to Wikipedia and look it up! And with the quick reminder, Sri Lanka used to be part of the British Empire, of course. Why they are a Commonwealth Country just like Canada. And therefore many people speak English, still, to this very day. But the Oracle of Ottawa is very impressed and surprised that some one way out in the Indian Ocean would even know what hockey was!

From Ottawa to Sri Lanka, The Empire still holds?

 Words carry. Shit gets around, especially today. It is most flattering to the Oracle of Ottawa that someone half way around the Earth would come to this humble blog of pure gibberish and spike the hell out it! Perhaps like a butterfly flapping it's wings somewhere, the words of the Oracle of Ottawa will alter the matrix of our present space-time continuum, to set off  that one in a trillion chance chain of events that would result in social justice for all, wherever they are in the world.  But then the Oracle of Ottawa worries about screwing up all the innocent butterfly's.

Like Karl Marx, the Oracle of Ottawa worries about altering the universe with his jottings. It is like William Golding who continued to receive letters all his life from all over the world from readers that got messages from his work that he never considered in his wildest dreams! I wonder what Wittgenstein would have thought about that?

uniball VISION RT pen - Shop And Tell

Things that have a common quality ever quickly seek their kind. 
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, IX, 9

There is nothing worse than trying to write with a poorly made Dollar Store pen from China. They are a real bargain, but they sure as hell are no deal. The Oracle of Ottawa doesn't just write this humble blog. He writes a journal every day, in the good old fashioned way, with a fine quality writing instrument. I have been doing this every day for decades without any gaps. The motivation has a lot to do with that old Greek guy that once said, about 2,500 years ago, that an unexamined life is not worth living. Obsessive compulsion should be practised by more of us.

uni ball - A lot of high technology for less than a dollar!

Recently my usual office supply store where I used to get my day pens started going out of retail business in Ottawa. Therefore I had to find a new supplier. Ironically quality showed up in a most unlikely place. While in a Dollarama waiting for the wife to complete her shopping I decided to scan the stationary  aisles and I came across uni ball pens! At first I thought that they were Chinese knock offs! But upon turning the package over I spotted the ACMI seal! And reading on in the very fine small print I discovered that the uni ball VISION RT pens, (three for two dollars, plus tax), conformed to ASTM D-4236! In other words this stuff is the ultimate in quality! And what it is made of won't kill you if you get it on your skin or your little kid or dog chews into it!

The Oracle of Ottawa loaded up! I got two three packs of the black VISION RT's and the multi color pack containing one blue, red and green pen, again for two dollars! But the test is in the writing and the comfort and the quality of the line. And most of all the the durability. You will not be disappointed! These sixty six cent pens write as nice as an expensive luxury pen. I was quite simply astounded at the quality of the line. And the line seems to be very long indeed! The pen will not run in your pocket or on an airplane. And they are certified for secure document signing that can't be altered. These pens are imported from Japan by Sanford! A Rubbermaid company, that has made the list of America's most loved companies more than once. Gee, I wonder why? 

Here is another review buy another contented camper. Real quality is not marketed, it is discovered! Good durable stuff does not always have to be expensive. You just have to be a good shopper.

Another Ignorant Paradox Of This Blog

Hell is other people.
Jean-Paul Sarte, No Exit, Garcin, Act I, Scene V

The Oracle of Ottawa is not using the above epigraph in jest, I really cannot stand the great majority of people that I come across. The Oracle of Ottawa does not do "lunch", or Facebook, and would never be caught dead "networking"! The Oracle of Ottawa does carry a cell phone, but it is always turned off, I don't want to speak to you or anybody else. If you wanted to be my "mentor" I would quickly tell you to kiss my fucking ass! I would rather drop dead then suck up to anybody for favor or any kind of information. To the Oracle of Ottawa cultivation is something that happens on a farm or in a garden.

Hell really is other people...

This blog is now way over two hundred posts, and it has been very weird, all the posts that I thought would get a ton of hits and comments barely ever got a view! Imagine my chagrin. All the people pieces that I have done, I have done out of rage and utter offense, mere throw-aways, to make me feel better, and then to be forgotten. I never in my wildest dreams thought that those posts would make up my top ten posts! Now that is really ignorant! What does one do now? Re-evaluate his position and sell out for the adsense money? The Oracle of Ottawa does not see that happening any time in the near or distant future. I am rather starting to build a defense that it is all a random process beyond my control.

This whole writing thing has been very enlightening. Like Hunter S. Thompson always said in many of his letters; "If you want to really understand something, just start writing about it"! Hey! Come to think about it, the great Doctor spent a very great amount of his life avoiding most people...



Hell is everyone but you...

On The Eve Of A New Tomorrow

When one is deprived of ones liberty, one is right in blaming not so much the man who puts the shackles on as the one who had the power to prevent him, but did not use it. 
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I, 69

There is nothing the Oracle of Ottawa loves to do more on any given Sunday than take a nice long drive up the valley to his home stomp'in grounds of his mis-spent youth in Arnprior and while on the way, listen to Rex Murphy's Cross Country Checkup on the CBC Radio One. The calls that Rex fielded today were some of the best I have heard on any call in talk radio show in recent memory. There is some thing real going on here. This has been the weirdest Federal Election campaign that I can remember. It has been chock full of incredibly eerie "omens" right from the start. And as the campaign progressed they started getting more ominous. Last Thursday's wind storm put the Fear into me of the winds of change that are blowing through Canadian political landscape. You can just feel the momentousness of it all hanging in the very air.

Something in the Canadian psyche just clicked (or snapped) and you could feel that a very large decision on this countries future had been subconsciously and irrevocably made en-masse. You could compare it to a paradigm shift in a major science... This is truly reflected in two momentis and unforeseen events. The first is the engagement of the youth and first time voters. The second was the realization that Jack Layton would make a pretty great improvement as Prime Minister! I did not see this rise in the NDP in the least. But if I wake up Tuesday morning and either Jack Layton or Micheal Iggnatief is Prime Minister of Canada, I will be a very happy camper indeed.

All of these blog posts are written "off the cuff". I first start with a title, than the quote, and finally the moving media at the end. Then I write the text. Just enough to seperate the ads! I learned this from my very first employer in Pembroke Ontario, when I had my paper route with the Pembroke Observer. Just when Lord Thompson of Fleet had just taken over....Yes, that was a long time ago....

Well tonight just as I pounded in the name of the post, there was a breaking news flash on CBC News World... Pretty weird I thought, late Sunday night, and the President of the United States? I thought for a second that Barrack had found another birth certificate or something! And the ratings of clipping the Trumpsters Nuts was so high, I can understand how these things can escalate... But when I heard that bin Laden had cashed his cheque ! Great God Thundering Jesus Bolts!! This President knows who to send out on errands!

All I want to do now is to get to my polling station first thing tomorrow morning and do the dirty for my man David McGuinty, beat it home to the fortified bunker, pull the blinds, and try to quell the tremors! And wonder, what the hell do you do with bin Laden's body? The first suggestion was to wrap it in pig skin deposit it a large glass tube of vinegar and display it at the Smithsonian... But I am sure the present administration will over rule the Republicans on this one... I strongly suspect that his remains will be cremated and his ashes spread out in several well documented, but undisclosed locations. The same procedure that the State of Israel employed with the remains of Adolph Eichmann... And then I hope around Wednesday things start to settle down....

A fitting tune for the events of the last few days..... works don't it??

The Price of Gas and Perrier

Gifts blind the eyes.
The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs, Third Edition, p. 301

Easter Monday is the start of the "driving season". This is a seasonal trade for commodity speculators. That is, a trade that starts and stops at a begin date and ends at an end date (Labor Day) most every year. Or so they hope. Again, the price of gas is governed by a market. It consists of  a futures price and a spot price. The movement in the price is the war between what people think it will be worth in the future and what the people who have to buy and or supply gas pay for it today...Got that?

A couple of local gas bar owners hoping to generate some free buzz and advertising out on Ogilvie Road here in Ottawa decided to lower the price of gas from about $1.30 a litre down to about $1.11 a litre. Well of course Easter Monday is always a slow news day. So as soon as the local vulgar media got wind of it, it was all camera crews and talking heads to cover the banner story.. Would you believe that there was a line up down the length of Ogilvie Road! It took the poor trots and other pathetic skidmarks over an hour and a half to save less then $20.00! All driving the biggest and shiniest new SUV's and full sized sedans! And fighting for the next free pump! Ironically it was all middle easterners and tory red necks! What I still can't understand is that if they love capitalism so much why are they screaming for government intervention when THEY have to pay more? It is the one great mystery of the Right Wing I could never understand....

Actually, gas in Canada and the United States is a bargain. Actually it is cheaper than water! Right now a litre of gas costs about $1.30 a litre. A 750 ml bottle of Perrier water costs between $1.29 - $1.99! so lets calculate the 1000ml price of Perrier water....$1.72 - $2.65 a litre or 1000 milli litre's (ml)...Why gas is only half the cost of the high - end regular price of Perrier water! We could do this again using the Star-Bucks price for a $5.00 150ml serving of a Latte coffee, but you would feel stupid and get very angry.... And you guys in the European Union stop laughing so hard, you might pop something.

Of course if you want even cheaper gas, just stop buying it for a while...you know, Capitalism, supply and demand, it will work. Won't it?

Some youngsters today do get it....

Democracy Fail

The most violent, mean and malignant passions of the human breast, the Furies of private interest. 
Karl Marx, Das Kapital, Buch I, AUTHOR'S PREFACES. To The First Edition

In an obvious moment of stress I was going to entitle this post " Capitalism Fail ", but after starting, I realized that capitalism has worked perfectly over the last few days. Lets start in Libya. Did you see it on TV? The United Nations resolution for a no fly zone, that in twenty four hours won't be required anyway? The British delay and under the table deal for future contracts and an offshore torture spot has been all sealed up. Great job! Perfect, save for tripping over the guy from the US State Department... Why, that pretty little Tory fella whats his name, will have the spot of honor at the next Bilderberg Group piss up this year for sure! Several spooks from MI what-ever will be on the New Years Honors List for freak'in sure.

You knew it was up for the nuts when they released the "ninjas" (SAS)  and they turned up, and were captured, by the opposition forces, who at that time were not looking for American green cards and offshore bank accounts, if they would only sell out the cause. What the SAS was really doing was protecting, Lord Pigfuckers junk bond portfolio at the behest of the Bilderberg Group! Wait for it. Screw Democracy! Were talking real and easy money here.   

Old Mo-mar is laughing with Satan right now as he is being informed by number 1 son that the "funds " from Israel  were just received in the Ghadafi Family Trust, somewhere in the Caymans.....

Now lets go to Japan. All the government organizations performed perfectly. All the warnings went out in Japanese and English. The NHK choppers were in the air and got a ton of important footage out to the world and in to the archives for future study. What really screwed up here? Got it in one! The capitalist entity by the name of Tokyo Electric Power Company. Capitalism worked perfectly. Use the freakin reactors way past the limits. If anything goes wrong, dump off to the government. If they squawk, remind them that an election can come at any moment, and ya need money to win elections right? Too big too fail, too rotten to live.

Let's leave the last word to the Doctor...

Letter to Justice David Watt

A true anarchist is the only man who can afford to relax in this world; his vision is clear and true, his aims are simple, and his appetites are tiny compared to the various packs of jackals who make up the opposition.
Hunter S. Thompson, The Proud Highway, Letter to Paul Semonin, November 15, 1964, p. 468

Your Honour:

Those that can, do and serve, those that can't, bitch and teach. I was greatly taken aback by the Kirk Makin article about you in the Globe & Mail on Friday March 11, 2011, page A7. Although I am only a mere citizen, it disturbs me greatly when a free-hold tenant of a seat on Her Majesty's High Bench is "jumped" in the national newspaper of Canada. And one can only imagine the effect and shock that this would have on one while reading the paper on the way in to the office! Not to mention the effect on ones family and good name.

Justice

 After reading your new style of writing, and observing that Mr. Makin  compares you to Elmore Leonard is Sir, in my most humble opinion, the basest defamation! It is my strong belief that you are much better than Elmore Leonard.

Exhibit 1:

Tung Duong and Dung Ton fell out over money owed and product misappropriated in their business ventures in drugs, prostitution and money lending. -R v Yumnu. October 2010

Exhibit 2:

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert  when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like " I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive..." Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, p. 3

When I read your "New Style" text I could immediately see the rhythm, and the music! It gonged me immediately, and hence this letter. Hunter S. Thompson slaved half of his life, sometimes suffering insanity and dire poverty to achieve that music and beat in words. And you just turned it on? Frighteningly impressive!

Exhibit 3:

Explosions damage and destroy things. Sometimes, their victims are people. Like here. -R v Endbridge Gas Distribution and Precision Utility Ltd. January, 2011 

Exhibit 4:

His eyes were full of craziness now, unable to focus. He seemed on the verge of some awful psychic orgasm...Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, p. 60

As for the two cited academics, rest assured, that there will be no appointments to any bench in this lifetime.You Sir have the makings of a great writer. After you have completed your statement of claim, may I suggest an anthology of your new style judgements, illustrated by Ralph Steadman?

                                                                                                     Most Respectfully;
                                                                                                       Oracleofottawa

A little inspiration.....

Crisis in the Circle

Wise men lay up knowledge; but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.
Proverbs 10:14

The talking heads move and utter meaningless sounds. The papers contain words, but no longer relate a message. The vibes that usually resonate to the primeval mass of the Canadian Shield are muted and frighteningly are lately sometimes silent. The old sweats in the Tim Horton's are talking about children and the snow. The Oracle of Ottawa is alarmed. Something is wrong, the ever droning background buzz of the political beast has become all but silent. Has Jack Layton caused the clam to close, by identifying the young jihadists in the Prime Ministers Office? Has the pressure of suppression become so high that it is all about to blow?

There is only one solution. I must confer with the wise man. To Arnprior we must go to seek the real beat and blat of the condition of the Conservative Bund. Yes, having called first, my grand old Dad has agreed to allow me a brief audience on two conditions; (1) Medium coffee, double cream, (2) No big words. Done and done... The trip is about a half an hour and is always relaxing. Five minutes past the Carleton Place exit lay the Canada as it looked more or less before any of us Gringo's got here. The rock cuts tell their story of eons of geologic time and appear to mock you in their proud and silent insolence. You are but an evolutionary joke and our scarring of the environment is a mere cosmic ball scratch followed by a disappointing fart.

Upon arrival the wife an I are escorted to the Privy Council Chamber of the Ottawa Valley, the back room off the kitchen. Greetings and niceties are exchanged. It is Roll up The Rim To Win time in Canada. My august Dad fix's me in his sights and asks; "Do you feel lucky son?"
" Well Dad, I haven't got that horse shoe up my arse surgically removed yet" I cockingly reply...
" Whats on your mind boy?" Which means cut to it or else....
" Well Dad, I was wondering.. Cheryl Gallant, how much is she going to win by in the next election?"
"She ain't! She's up for the jump!" 
 It doesn't happen often, but I was lost for words, I scanned the room to make sure I was in the right house... 
 " You mean to say she won't win?"  I asked in my hopefully canceled mental stagger...
" The coffee circle at the Arnprior Mall has officially written her off.."
It is all but official now. the talking about politics goes on so long at the mall that new dentures start biting worse then a pinched larded arse in over stout Spandex..
"Well..who is going to replace her?, Who will you vote for?" I ask in now unfeigned shock...
" The NDP ran a nice candidate last time, I might part the heavens and give them a shot." he replied.
" Holy shit Dad! You have just made a huge leap in your political, sociological and  ideological awareness!"
 " Time to go boy... I just heard some big words..." he said sternly...
 "Damn!!"

It is dark and black as oil thirty seconds outside of town. I am going over it all again and again in my mind. Yet I still can't reconcile the words to the message I have just received. This doesn't match the media view at all. Nothing makes sense, the whole world is going nuts...It's gonna be a wild year!    

A tune from my miss spent but much enjoyed youth.....

No Format

The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.
Karl Marx, "Theses on Feuerbach" (1845), Thesis 11, Marx Engels Selected Works,(MESW), Volume I, p. 15

What a run! Forty posts and the only problem is not starting, but stopping. I learned a few good tricks from a great writer and I'll share them with you later, possibly post one hundred... or not. When Karl Marx was writing notes in the British Library Reading Room (seat A1, I believe...) did he write out a format? I believe not.. If you can get a copy of the Grundrisse you can see that he was looking for signposts in the fog and six hundred pages later he started making them out.. The format boat will leave without me..

Fine Tea Rose, Bred by Roman Soldiers...

How are we to get the world we want? Are you satisfied with the way things are? I certainly am not. I feel that all the gains of my grandfather and my father are being quickly eroded away. Do you feel better off now than ten years ago? Didn't think so... It started as a lark about the Bilderberg Group, but the more I discover the more I am convinced our former way of life is under a very patient and very well financed attack. The future will be a cross between Brave New World and The Hand Maidens Tale... your daughters will carry " Baby Ports" not passports.. Wait for it. Maggy Atwood is Welsh and when they write or sing it behooves one to pay attention.

Today's German Lesson; Sing along with Rammstein, Nighty night.....

You are all powerful

To form a safe and satisfactory judgement of the proper remedy, it is absolutely necessary that we should be well acquainted with the extent and malignity of the disease.
Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers, No. 21

Why is it that when you open any introductory economics text-book you can discover that the biggest part of the economy is the total purchases of  private households, but when you ask anyone what the biggest part of the economy is you always hear " the government" ?

Why do people put up with  the abuse they get at airports? My traveling days are long over. I will just not submit myself to meat inspection just to fly. Nor will I allow an invasion of privacy by getting the whatever-its-called quick boarding card. I am just puked when the Canadian Minister of Transport spews about how this is so important for my security, and yours! You can rest assured that the good minister does not fly like you...
While your your getting your junk patted down and the second titty rub, the good minister is already boarded and enjoying his second Bloody Mary, non-alcoholic of course.

How the Transport Minister Flies...

Karl Marx often went on about how the workers would only get a fair shake when they owned the means of production. Hmmm. Ponder this; the Bank of Nova Scotia has 77,210 employees as of 2010. The bank has 612 million common shares. There are only 259 major shareholders!? Institutions own over 56% of the outstanding common stock. For  the employees to give everybody a shock at a future annual shareholders meeting, how many shares would each employee have to own? This is a "Cadillac" case. Can you think of a company that has a very large number of well payed employees and a very undervalued stock? Interesting isn't it? 

My friend Karl Marx has come by to tuck you in....

As your lawyer I advise…

 You'd be surprised at the things people will do in order to get their names or pictures in the paper.
Hunter S. Thompson, The Proud Highway, Letter to Judy Stellings, November 18, 1956, p. 30

that you keep on your present course of action. Only posting to your blog when you have refined each piece and continue to slowly get this blog to the look you want.

My Doctor told me...

“ Right… Well I am reading like a sponge and I have hit on a good patch, no hurry here… I am trying Windows Live writer but I am not too happy with it. I don’t know anyone who writes or blogs and it seems very hard to find the things that I want… “
“ And I can’t control the line function with Live Writer for some reason and the Blogger editor can’t justify properly.. Screwed coming and going… Got some great ideas though if I could just get control of the medium…..”

As your lawyer I advise that you stick with it…try different formats and get angry! Only write about it if it is fun…

“ Well, alright, if you really think so..”

[ I can neither confirm nor deny that this gifted bit of narrative took place… EDITOR ]