“Die Fat or Get Tough” is the latest book by Steve Siebold regarding those who are overweight. Siebold contends “if you don’t want to die you’ve got to get mentally tough.” Are “fat” people the new societal scape-goats?

“Fat” people; male or female, black, white, pink, or blue, are an identifiable minority within our society. They aren’t children, or “fit” adults. Although there are “fat” children. But I’ll get to them later.

It’s so easy to point the finger at an identifiable group and say they are a drag on our society. They are an encumbrance or impediment to the progression of societal achievements. Their “mental toughness” isn’t effective enough to warrant getting “fit”. In short, they are inferior.

I have a question to ask then to Mr. Siebold. Historically, what have societies done to those they have deemed inferior? They are ostracized. They are segregated and misunderstood. They are hated.
Mr. Sielbold are you so blind that you don’t see people suffering?

• Fat people eat for pleasure; fit people eat for health.

What’s wrong people enjoying food? Is Mr. Siebold a robot?

• Fat people eat emotionally; fit people eat strategically.

“We are going to circle around the chairs and swoop in past the chandelier. Got it?” If people are eating emotionally, and they are becoming overweight, then isn’t logical to conclude that there is something wrong with their emotions not their bodies.

• Fat people expect weight loss without pain; fit people know everything has a price.

This point supports my previous point. Some emotions are extremely painful. If weight loss is painful, then why would you want to heap on more pain.

• Fat people associate with fat people; fit people associate with fit people.

This point supports my earlier point that inferior people are segregated by society. Africans associate with Africans, Chinese with Chinese, Jews with Jews. Accountants associate with accountants. So what?

• Fat people choose pleasure over discipline; fit people choose discipline over pleasure.

Really? I wonder what Mr. Siebold thinks about marching. In this point Mr. Siebold is indicating that “fit” people are better.

• Fat people believe 99% compliance is good; fit people believe 99% compliance is terrible.

What does this irrelevant generalization even mean?

• Fat people are obsessed with food; fit people are obsessed with success.

Here Mr. Siebold indicates that it is alright to be obsessed just as long as it is about the right things. What about other obsessions such as sex or greed?

• Fat people lie to themselves; fit people are brutally honest.

Really? I distinctly remember a certain group of people saying the cause of their crimes against humanity were because, “they were just following orders”. Now if that isn’t lying to yourself, I don’t know what is. These people were “fit” enough to hold positions of high military rank.

Mr. Siebold is so free from the ravages of intelligence and is horribly misdirected and unqualified to be writing anything about weight loss or obesity. Eventually, he will come to regret writing his book.

The village of Tweed, Ontario is in shock after a local Colonel, Russell Williams, Commander of Canadian Forces Base Trenton, was charged with murder.

In this photo, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay (centre), a member of the Conservative Cabinet, is pictured walking side-by-side in perfect lock step with Colonel Williams on the left.

To me it doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Civilians are recruited by the military to perform a specific function. Those Civilians operate under a specific set of societal morals and ethics. A moral conflict occurs when the military trains their personnel to kill which is the fundamental goal of basic military training. So does it really come as any surprise that military personnel are accused of murder? These individuals are trained to kill. That is the purpose of a soldier. To kill before they are killed. The hypocritical contradiction occurs when in the theatre of war they are expected to kill but in peace time they are expected to march.

Many personnel have killed themselves after returning from the theatre of war, not able to cope with the post-traumatic stress of their experiences. No wonder, the human mind cannot reconcile the two opposing views of death. It then comes as no surprise that a member of the military would act out instead of self-inflicting.

Wow! I haven’t written for a while due to the Christmas break and well; work, living, and family also tend be preventative to things being written rather than experienced.
What are the Steven Speilbergs and the George Lucas’ and Hollywood going to do with Canadian James Cameron?

Talk about one-up-manship. It is incredible how Mr. Cameron is able to breach the envelope for movie viewing. Yesterday, I went and saw “Avatar” in 3D. Never have I felt that I was almost inside the story. The methodology with which Mr. Cameron has used 3D is the next benchmark in visual entertainment.  The film critics complain that the story is too simple.  In viewing the film in 3D Digital, there is one moment where the too key characters are alone in the forest and all is quiet and this is in a completely full movie auditorium.  The imagery is so astounding that the imagery creates a moment of time where nothing else exists but that moment.  That is rare for so much patience to be shown in mega-budget movies.  If the plot where more complex that moment would be lost in attempting to construct the various plot intricacies rather than that special screen moment where the viewer is one with the imagery.

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A second criticism occurred after the film was viewed in the group I was in.  It came from an individual who is very familiar with the inside of a story, so I respected her opinion.   It was in reference to the animals on Pandora that they mostly had 2 sets of eyes and 3 sets of legs and therefore the Navi should also have 2 sets of eyes and 3 sets of limbs because of evolution and natural selection.  It would be my counter, and because this is fiction, that Pandora and the Navi evolutionary path would be different from our own and may not be incumbent upon natural selection.  According to the story, the Navi and the Pandora tree system  are symbiotic.  What if the evolutionary path on Pandora were different from our own where symbiotic creatures would be the ones to survive and surpass their rivals.  Therefore, the more symbiotic the species the more likely they were to survive.

Perhaps Mr. Cameron is trying to convey the message that in order to survive, humanity must become symbiotic with their environment because to take resources by force and without consquence means that a sustaining environment can no longer sustain life.
As as filmmaker, Mr. Cameron has eclipsed his previous benchmark of the 1997 film “Titanic”. Not so much by box office sales, because that has yet to be determined, but because of the shear risk and size of his projects. “Titanic” was revolutionary it that the studio stage being an exact replica of the fated 1912 White Star ocean liner, completely submersible. Not only that, but up until 1997, Titanic was the most expensive film ever made at $200 million and grossing box office sales of $1.8 billion worldwide.
It remains to be seen if box office sales of “Avatar” will surpass “Titanic”. If the 3D format becomes applicable to past film releases such as, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or Batman, the Lucas’s and Spielbergs will have Canadian James Cameron to thank for resurrecting their franchises.

What I find hilarious is the white media’s reaction to Pres. Barack Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  You blanche-faced neo-cons know who I mean.

I see you.  A white person has no concept of what it means to be successful as a Afro-American in the Western World.  Well Pres. Obama is only half-afro-american.  Nevertheless, it is very difficult for whites to to understand what it means to be in a black man’s shoes.

The level of success that Pres. Obama has achieved is unprecedented.  No person of colour has ever reached the level of power that he has achieved in human history.  He could spend his tenure righting wrongs that have occurred against blacks in the US.  Instead, he is focused on health care.  Albeit that a great number of uncovered citizens in the US are black.  Nevertheless, he hasn’t taken his opportunity to right past wrongs so far in his tenure.

Nobel created his prizes for foisting upon the world the bane of TNT or dynamite.  The awarding of the prize is in light of the expectations of Pres. Obama.  The right, the Republicans, want him to fail.  Whites have been wanting blacks to be under their heal for centuries.  They want him to fail but if he is successful then they will be afraid of him.

The Nobel committee chose him for the expectations of greatness.  It is a terrible onus on Obama.  If he fails, it will be “I told you so”.  If he succeeds, it will be, “We knew it all along.”

From some of the white media commentary, it is mostly white female journalists that have gotten the task of blasting Obama for receiving the award.  Why is he so undeserving?  To these journalists, I ask, “Have you become Prime Minister or President or your country?”  If they were black I very much doubt they would even be writing the article.  They would know what it’s like to accomplish success in a white world.

So is the dissent regarding the award a criticism of the Nobel Committee or racism?  Or is the dissent based on the world view that people are tired of war.  The war in Afghanistan has been going on for 8 years.  It’s a conflict that has no definitive resolution.

So is Pres. Obama deserving?  Of course he is.  The Peace Prize is an endorsement for actions.  Maybe he’ll win it again next year?

Having observed the debacle of the Champions League Group match between Standard Liege and Arsenal, I am wondering if the UEFA Champions League is a circus to promote top clubs. Case in point; the retraction of the suspension of Eduardo for having clearly dived vs Celtic placed him in the game. UEFA looked weak on this decision in conjunction with the refereeing. Gifting him a free-kick outside the eighteen yard box late in the game. The subsequent offside and hand ball behind the keeper by Arsenal was completely ignored by on-field officials. It was a disgrace in officiating. I wonder if Arsene Wenger will have much to say in regards to financial clout of his ownership cowing UEFA into allowing Eduardo to even play. Or for that matter, the sheer gift of allowing the tying goal.

Standard Liege are newcomers to the Champions League. What a rude lesson they have learned when going up against the financial football powerhouses of Europe.

Scene-Stealing Squirrel

Find more about the scene-stealing squirrel at The Telegraph

British born Jamie Hacking not only survives a spectacular high side during the 2007 season but makes a spectacular save during this 2009 season. Watching action like this only re-enforces why I love Motorcycle racing.

If embedding doesn’t work so here’s the link

This is a Star Wars episode that George Lucas definitely doesn’t want you to know about or even see. What can I say about this video but my extreme thanks to Daily Motion.com.  I thought that George Lucas had managed to completely bury this fiasco.  But who says the Wookiees can’t celebrate Christmas with Art Carney, Beatrice Arthur, Diahanne Carroll, and Harvey Korman.  Darth Vader as a little boy?  That’s nothing in comparison to this.

It is amazing what a concerted effort and a little ingenuity can do for the future and the future of humanity.  When you hear about the starving millions and then see what can be done like greening the desert, there is hope for us all..

A funny guy.  I remember him in Silent Movie with Mel Brooks and Marty Feldman.  The entire movie is silent of course however it displayed Dom’s talent that even in a risky venture such as a silent movie in modern times he could still be extremely funny.  He did many voices for cartoon characters in memorable films as “All Dogs Go To Heaven” and “An American Tail”.  My favourite character was Captain Chaos in Cannonball Run.  Working as an usher at the Hyland Theatre in Toronto, I got to see him over and over while the movie screened.  Da, Da,Daaaaa!