Christmas

Christmas is so commercial these days. But this isn't a blog about that. I personally enjoy getting gifts, and love wrapping presents, the Christmas Tree, lights on houses, the food. I love every Christmas tradition practically. What I enjoy more though is the quality time spent with family. But Christmas is definitely not about the gifts.

When did the Christmas wishlist become a list of demands? This year, I never gave anyone a list. If they bought a gift, it was something they felt I would like, and therefore, I appreciate it and cherish the thought even more. It is always better when it is unexpected.

Another thing that bothers me is how Christmas is getting censored these days. Happy Holidays, ugh my Christmas spirit diminishes when I hear that phrase. I am all for being polite, and not offending someone, but if they don't celebrate Christmas, don't ruin it for those who do. Christmas is a Christian holiday. If you are not Christian, you are technically not included. What if I was offended by another religions holiday? What would happen then? So please, check the political correctness and grow some thicker skin. Having Christ in a name of a CHRISTIAN holiday is not an attack on your beliefs, or non-belief.

Now, I have finished my rant on Happy Holidays.

Merry Christmas to All, and have a blessed New Year!

Amos13

Jonas Brothers vs The Beatles

I cannot understand this for the life of me, but when did the Jonas Brothers become synonomous with the talent of The Beatles? There is a big difference that seems to be ignored, The Beatles were actually musicians with ACTUAL talent.

On one side, we have a Disney fabricated band with no talent, and on the other, well...we have The Beatles, one of the greatest bands that have ever been. The Beatles delivered the voice of a generation, and there has never been, nor will there be another band that is as big. The Beatles still inspire countless people with their words, lyrics, and actions. No artist has ever had the clout that John Lennon obtained, even though Bono tries dearly, funny stuff. No band has had more of their songs covered. But I digress.

The Beatles were able to cross multiple genres, The White Album, and revolutionize the album process, see Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Beatles Catalog is now estimated to be worth over a billion dollars. There is no way that the Jonas Brothers will ever reach that number.

Didn't Oasis say they were bigger than The Beatles? Oh and Weezer? Both were successful bands to some extent, but no where near The Beatles. The only band in my opinion that is on the same level as The Beatles is The Rolling Stones. If my iPod consisted of only The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Cream, and Eric Clapton, I'd probably be okay with that.

That was my rant. Music industry, please get some real talent. No more Kanye, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Lil Wayne, Brittany Spears, Flo Rida, or Green Day. Get back to:

• Led Zeppelin
• Cream
• CCR
• Rush
• Queen
• The Police
• The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
• Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
• Deep Purple
• The Clash
• The Who
• The Allman Brothers Band
• Johnny Cash and more

Don't get me wrong, there are some incredible bands these days, those being Death Cab For Cutie, JET, Jack Johnson, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sam Roberts, and The Strokes are some excellent examples. However, only once the Jonas Brothers start to influence a nation/ the world with their actions and beliefs, they will never come close to The Beatles.

Yours truly,

Amos13

Winter Wonderland

Talk about snow. It is hard to believe that the day before, my front yard had maybe a light dusting of snow.

After a day in which roughly 30 cm of snow fell, it is truly a winter wonderland out there. Nothing wonderful about it though. It took me 40 minutes to get 3 kilometers. And when I was driving home from work last night (about 1:45 AM) I spent ~60 minutes pushing and digging my car out of the snow, which was 30 metres away from my goal, the driveway.

So now, the banks on the side of my driveway are about as high as my car, and I will be parking it until further notice. Ugh, back to the dreaded experience of ETS for a month. Wish me luck

Music Selection for the Week

I don't know about you, but I would one day love to have a collection of old vinyl records. They are just so neat. Nothing beats the way they sound. Sure the "quality of sound" is worse than a CD, but a CD just doesn't have that same mood swaying power that a good record does. So for my selection this week, I picked some oldies that were on records.

Back in the USSR - The Beatles

Toad - Cream

Carry On - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Man in Black - Johnny Cash

Babe I'm Going to Leave You - Led Zeppelin

Anyway You Look At It - The Rolling Stones

Happy Jack - The Who

The Old Man Down The Road - John Fogerty

Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles

Cheers!

Amos13

Afghanistan

Afghanistan. The longest war in Canadian history, and soon to be America's (in March 2010). That is right, longer than The Vietnam War. We went into Afghanistan after 9/11 to rid the Taliban from the country because they supported, and harboured Al-qaeda terrorists.

The Taliban are the group the USA supported during the USSR's campaign, also called the Soviet's Vietnam, they were under the name, the mujahideen. The US provided weapons to the mujahideen so that they could destroy Soviet helicopters, and cause the USSR to fail in Afghanistan. The Soviets were in Afghanistan for 10 years before their retreat.

We have been in Afghanistan since February 2002, with a scheduled end date in 2011, 9 years. The US has been in Afghanistan, and Obama just recently said that he will end the Afghan War in 3 years, so 2012 the end of his first term. Ten years. Ten years, and what will be accomplished? So far in 7 years, we have toppled the Taliban from power, and tried to establish peace, and stability in a region that has known war for over 40 years of a brutal civil war. It is absolutely wonderful what our troops have been doing over there, striving towards a self-sustaining country.

Afghanistan has started to earn the title of "Obama's Vietnam" The thing is, it has been the whole time. The Taliban will fight until Sharia Law is in place, and they are once again in power. The war cannot be won just in Afghanistan. The Taliban do not respect borders, they just travel into Pakistan, in an extremely mountainous region.

The United States is increasing their total troops in the country to approximately 100,000, about a 30,000 more soldiers. This bears a strong resemblance to 1965 when President Johnson ordered an additional 20,000 troops to Vietnam. With no results to show for the following years, he did not attempt a second term. Would the same happen to Obama, probably not. In another case, the South Vietnam (Saigon) government was extremely corrupt, and backed by the US. Afghanistan, and mainly, President Hamid Karzai, who was a Taliban supporter in the '90s, but broke away because of the corruption they had. As many of you know, Karzai rigged the recent Afghan election in his favour. Why should we support an extremely corrupt government? Give the people the freedoms of our society and everything will do itself right? Wrong. A form of society implanted on another does not usually work. For real change to happen, it has to come from within the society for them to truly hang on to it.

The Afghan War is estimated to cost Canada $18 billion dollars by 2011, our pull out date. The States however, has spent $233 billion up to this point. Has it been well spent? What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know.

Until Next Time,

Amos 13