The Pessimist

Well, for the second time in a month, I'm doing the unusual -- I'm posting something personal on this site. Have you ever been disinherited? It is the atom-bomb of family relations. It is cruel, final and undo-able. You can't ask the question "why did you do this?" You can't complain. The prick is dead and he's not talking. You can only wonder why and curse into the ether. And that's how we find ourselves here. Cursing him out on the internet is the best I can do.

Angelo 1924 - 2005

Elsie 1920 - 2006

Angelo is the only rich relative I had; He's not even my relative really; he's an uncle-in-law. But he left my wife nothing, despite he and his wife being very close to her for over 40 years, just to spite me.

What horrible thing did I do to him to deserve this treatment? Here's the story. I did his tax return for a few years. I noticed that his investment income was rather low, because he had all of his money invested in 30 day bank notes, in his savings account and in his matress. I suggested that he could earn more with different investments. I wasn't suggesting commodities futures, or high growth equities, or anything risky like that. I suggested he could at least double his investment income if he put his money into 5-year GICs. He didn't want to. I suggested he really should. He didn't want to, though he couldn't/wouldn't tell me why. I insisted that he should. He told me he didn't want to talk to me anymore.

That was my sin. He couldn't deal with locking in his money. I suggested doing 5 years, with one fifth of his money maturing each year. He wouldn't hear of it. I guess he didn't trust the banks (the "Jews"). Or, he kept saying "What if I need my money in a hurry?". Like why, I said, in case you need to leave the country at a moment's notice, like if a world war broke out again and he had to flee? As best as I could figure, this was his rational for wanting to earn 1.5% on his entire life savings.

Also, he didn't want to pay taxes on the extra income. I hear this argument from old people from time to time. They seem immune to the logic that tax is a percent of the income. If you earn an extra dollar and pay 40 cents taxes, you still have 60 cent more than if you didn't earn the extra dollar. He couldn't be convinced. The man was a moron.

If he had followed my advice, he would have had an estate one third larger than he did. (That's the power of compound interest over 10 years. It could have been his for the cost of a phone call.) But instead, he gets mad at me and fucks over my wife.

But dear Angelo didn't just have a hate on for me. He and his wife Elsie spent decades of their life dropping relatives in and out of favour (mostly out). Angelo could hold a grudge like an Arab. Half of the family did something at some time to to get on their "never speak to again" list. I was never sure if Elsie was a moderating influence on these hate cycles, or if she was a corrosive catalyst that magnified these perceived slights and helped carry the grudges over the decades. Elsie spent the last 5 years of her life in a vegetative state, so her contribution can't really be known.

But Angelo was a total freak in so many ways. He was paranoid to a level that certainly constituted a mental illness. He was certain people were tapping his phone, sneaking into his apartment, following him when he moved around. He mistrusted all strangers -- particularly the ziki-boos (dark skinned people) and the Jews.

But for the half of the family that he (they?) hated, he used their wills for the final punishment. They had no children of their own, so they used their money to bludgeon the extended family:
- on the German side of the family: 4 relatives 1 inherited 3 did not.
- on the Italian side of the family: 7 brothers/sisters, dozens of nieces/nephews, about 1 third received something, but the distribution seemed designed for hurt.
Of my wife's siblings, 2 brothers received, 2 did not.
This seems designed to sew dissent to the survivors. Jealousy, guilt. How monstrous.

My mother-in-law (Angelo's sister-in-law) received nothing. My M-i-L fed that man several meals a week; during his wife's 5 year mental absence, she fed him 2 meals a day. He never bought groceries, never reciprocated in any way. "Inez, I'll take care of you" he'd say. It was easy to say: he was rich, she was poor. But in the end, he left her nothing.
For that, I hope that he and Elsie are receiving Satan's barbed penis up their asses every hour for all eternity.

Millions of Muslims heaved a giant sigh of relief today as the identity of the Virginia Tech mass murderer was announced. He was a Korean bastard -- a country with no Muslim population. So, Muslim extremists were not involved in this latest tragedy. Phew!

Of course, there shouldn't have been much worry. Muslim extremists aren't known for close quarters combat, unless the victim is their wife, or daughter or other female relative. Or perhaps a hog-tied hostage being decapitated. No, Muslim extremists are happiest when sowing death with roadside bombs, or suicide belts or RPGs.

The Virginia tragedy was very sad. I won't be mentioning gun control at this time. Everybody knows the U.S has none and wants none. Periodic travesties like this one can't budge their consitutional right to quick and easy access to deadly assault weapons. But with everyone so heavily armed in the States, what are the odds that nobody on the scene was packing heat and willing/able to take out this freak.

I do wonder how one person can kill 30. One can, of course, never know how one might react in a situation like this. I'm certainly just as likely to have voided my bladder and my bowels and dived under my desk too. But, you'd think that when a gunman enters a (class)room filled with people and opens fire, that somebody, or preferably several somebodies, would have jumped the bastard. Yes, you might get shot, or you might die. But, you're trapped in a room and are quite likely be shot or die anyway.

Before 9/11, it was conventional wisdom to sit on your hands and keep your eyes down during a hijacking and hope everything turns out ok. I don't think that would happen now. With the number of school shootings in the recent past, shouldn't the fight back approach be tried now. It is now police protocol in Ontario (and perhaps elsewhere), to charge in and kill the gunman, rather than cordon of the area and wait for the gunman to kill themselves, as was done in Columbine.

I wonder what The Worst Case Scenario would recommend?

KABUL (Apr 14, 2007)

U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops backed by aircraft clashed with suspected Taliban insurgents in volatile southern Afghanistan, leaving more than 35 rebels dead, the coalition said yesterday.

Well, isn't that good news. Just two days after I wished to 100 Taliban dead, the U.S provides 35. That's a very good start.

Two more Canadians were killed by roadside bombs, the day after 6 were killed by a huge bomb in a single incident the day before - the worst one day loss for Canadians since the Korean war.

Is this the forewarned Taliban spring offensive? or as the Canadian brass claims just a desperate last gasp at relevance?

I feel I need to clarify some of the statements in my prior post, where I indicated that I'd be happy if 100 Taliban could be killed. I'd still be happy. But I'm not referring to any sort of Nazi tactics. It was typical for the Nazis to respond to a killing of one of their soldiers by the Resistance by entering a town, rounding up a few dozen civilians and executing them.

I'd like to see the Taliban mowed down in a stand-up fight. But the Taliban scum cowards aren't likely to try that approach because they are so out-gunned. But they might, and if they do, I would be ecstatic to see them die in large numbers. A toast to the brave Canadians fighting a war against barbarism.

If a few civilian human-shields get killed in the process there must be no hand-wringing or second guessing. If a vehicle runs a check point and gets it occupants killed, well that's tough. They should know better and the Canadians must protect themselves.

If the troops want to strap a mullah to the undercarriage of their LAV, well I'm all in favour of that too. Perhaps then the Islamo-fascists might then rethink their preaching incitement and hatred.

I was greatly saddened today to hear about 6 Canadian soldier being killed in Afghanistan by a road side bomb. I extend my deepest condolences to their family and friends, and those who serve with them.

This is an extreme tragedy and it serves to underline the reason that the Taliban needs to be routed. They should not be negotiated with; they should not be allowed to hide in and operate from Pakistan.

Do not tie our soldiers hands; give them all the tools they need to do the job. Maximum force should be used to ensure their safety at all times. If 600 Taliban can be killed in response to this attack, then I support that action 100 per cent. If a bunker-buster bomb lands on a Taliban encampment in Pakistan, then our good ally Musharaf should follow up by bayonetting the survivors. Supporters of the Taliban should be imprisoned or killed with impunity.

Our soldiers are doing a good job in Afghanistan. These losses are a sad day.

I don't normally do personal stuff here, but this morning I woke to find Mr. Hide -- a yellow tang -- lying on the bottom of his tank with x's over his eyes.

He was fine yesterday, but now he is gone. This fish was a survivor. He was my only fish for the last 10 years, after the great die-off of '95. People kept asking me "Is that fish still alive?!" and all agreeing "I didn't know fish lived that long."

But it looks like Mr. Hide was the first victim of global warming. I put my finger in the water and it felt warm. With the thermometer I confirmed that the water was a full 5 degrees c higher than it should have been. The heater, however, was still on -- heat source malfunction!

That's what killed him. The only question left is - was the heat increase caused by man, or was it a natural phenomenon? I was away earlier this week and there was a thunderstorm that knocked out the power. The fish-sitter reported to me that she was unable to get the tank light to come back on. Did she touch the thermostat by mistake? Or did the ancient heater just lose its ability to regulate itself? Could I have seen this coming? Oh, why oh why wasn't I more dilligent in checking the water temperature. Shouldn't I have invested in a temperature alarm?

Oh well. Get the shovel.

Mr. Hide - Rest in Peace