Family History

Alas, brigands to a man, I am decended from. It's not quite surprising, though. My father's generation on both sides of teh family has made gret efforts to unravel the secrets, and here is what we know so far:

The Polish side of my family, through my dad's father, left Poland rather abruptly midway through the Russian Civil War. Apparently, they had made quite a profit helping smuggle Jews, intelligensia, and anyone else targetted by the NKVD or its predesessor from their side of the Russian border into Poland proper, and on to Europe proper. Obviously, this was not looked kindly upon by some of the worst torturers and butchers that the world has ever known. So, when a neighbor knocked in a panic one night, they rushed to the door. He explained as quickly as he could that said parties has politely questioned him at gunpoint as to his whereabouts. He had sent them two farms in the wrong direction, but they didn't have much time. They grabbed their ill gotten gains, the children, and loaded up the car. They dashed to the nearest port, and took off for the first place they saw: America. Now, between the ruination the Great Patriotic War brought and whatever means my great-grandfather used to dodge the secret police, the facts are shrouded in time. My dad grew up in Long Beach, CA, speaking Polish as a second language.

The French side of my family, through my mother's mother, was kicking it in the New World since the 1760's, maybe earlier. Parish records indicate that the first member of my family we can trace our lineage back to came over as a soldier in the service of the monarch. Essentially, from then up to the 1920s, my family was dirt-poor. As in, literally barely owning the dirt they lived in. However, all this rather abruptly changed in 1920s. My great-aunts and uncles recall tales of a 'Forbidden Barn' that smelt funny. My great-grandfather suddenly received a job in the local automobile licensing bureau, run by the local Liberal party member. Now, this may not seem odd...but it should, knowing the town numbered 200 odd souls. Suddenly, of a family of seventeen, all the girls under thirteen could afford to go to school. A few others were married off to an Irish family that shall remain nameless...and also basically runs the Montreal underground. My great-uncle Florian and a few others still repeat a a phrase that makes no sense without context whenever someone loses a game of cinq cent , the local version of bridge: "Awh, t'en va tu a CHICAGO!" For those of us who don't speak French, 'Looks like you're going to Chicago!'. Now, why would a hick from a place you can't find on a map say something like that? I mean, sure, they made regular trips down the St Lawrence weekly. And the year that Prohibition ended, somehow the local licensing place closed down.

Interesting the little facts that add up, isn't it?

Des

In Exile

After having my heart broken again, I find myself in self-imposed exile in Northern Quebec. Hard labour around the ancient family estate brings perspective, I find. It helps. I am, of course, headed to Texas in eleven days. Texas is my home away from home, filled with persons attempting to lure me to settle in such a place. It may, insh'Allah, one day become my home. I'm trying to track down jobs in Corrections there, and I hope I can get a work visa to turn into a green card there.

Des

Finally, a G20 Aftermath

After everything is said and done, I have only the following words to describe it: play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

And now, MTV is making heroes of these idiots. People bitching that they were marked as 'medics' and got arrested. Really? So, which organization were you with, Anarchists United Against Everything? Maybe EcoTerrorists Against Human Existence? Everyone on the show is either a scapegoat or professional protester. Hell, I have no problem with peaceful protesters. I have problems with people who support the violent ones.

People are complaining that they got arrested for 'nothing'. Really? Why were you at a riot?

One person actually said that staying home and having no one show up, or having a lot less lookey-lous, would prove that the massive police protest would be pointless. It's true. And then she got booed offstage, because people seem to thin that standing around waving signs that say 'shame' or yelling at police is a better way to get their message across.

Before I repost some of my forum spiels, I'm going to give people a piece of wage advice: If you don't want an ass kicking and an arrest on your jacket, DON'T GO TO A RIOT. Don't go to a G-series summit or any other places where there is a reasonable expectation of a riot. Don't go where people are being arrested with cars full of Molotov cocktails.

And here we go:

"It started out that the majority of police on the protests were actually 52, 31, Halton and Durham cops. For those outside the area, Halton and Durham are smaller suburbs of Toronto, 31 Division is the Finch Corridor, and 52 is Metro Toronto. It's pretty rare to hear anything besides the usual 'all cops are pigs and need to die' shit that you hear at most protests about them. They were the bike cops you saw early on, guiding the peaceful protesters along and stuff.

However, there were a number of rather hardline shops in town as well. Montreal PD, Surete de Quebec, Peel Region and the Mounties have a well-deserved reputation for getting rough when people don't listen. The SQ in particular has a bad habit of asking only once before they drop the hammer. They ask you disperse, and you don't, they won't ask again. And they're the ones who came out at Queen's Park and down Bloor.

I'm some limited way, I feel bad for the legitimate, peaceful protesters. I know that the majority of them didn't cause trouble. Onlookers and opportunists mixed into legitimate and peaceful gatherings soured a lot of them. A lot of people got upset when people got arrested for not obeying the police, and that soured more crowds, too.

You know there's going to be riot cops, riot cavalry, plainclothes, etc. When the police tell you to move, Goddamn well move!. Straight up, argue the legality of your protest in court. If you try to argue it to a nice cop, you're going to get arrested. If you argue with an SQ cop, you're going to be savagely beaten, then arrested. Once the Riot Act is on the table, GTFO. Hell, any sane person would book it in the opposite direction once you even sighted riot cavalry."

I'm not impressed with the media for portraying the professional protesters as heroes and great philanthropists, instead of zealots who use the media and the law to push their personal crusades. There's a civilian inquiry being pushed... but are they going to be told about proper riot tactics? People are complaining that the police didn't act fast enough, but then again, if they did swoop down and quash the window-smashers, it would have incited people with accusations of 'police brutality'.

Christ, they stocked the audience with more of those hyper-activist people who hate reason. Watching this is just getting me riled up.

Deschain

Day 2, first impressions and such.

Alright, so the local media is all up ins this, so I have some pretty fancy links for you now:

Organizations in Attendance. Note the wide variety of groups, from hardcore Marxists to unions to environmentalists to lunatics like the Zeitgeist Movement. hell, even Palestinian support groups are out there for some reason.

Global News Interactive Map. Shows the downtown zone. Look at how close the Eaton's Center (one of the largest malls in Canada) is to the security zone. If anything happens, police will have to fight their way there. As well, note that the area in front of Provincial Legislature (Queen's Park) is a protest zone. Not bright, folks.

Watching the news, I'm getting the impression that a lot of the protesters are young, impressionable kids. All they know is G20 R BAD, and when the bike police ride past, they scream about a police state and intimidation . I'm going to refer everyone back to my post on the subject of protesters. However, after the Battle of Seattle and the riots during the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, I am concerned. We have a lot of angry people and a bunch of colossal strategic fuckups. I really hope the riot cavalry is ready.

Deschain

G20 Briefing, Day 1

Alright, so a quick overview: As it stands, there are currently a lot of pissed off people in Toronto. The citizenry is pissed because the subway and light rail hubs are cut off, so they have to fight the traffic to get into town. The businesses are pissed because they're under threat, police had to deal with shots fired last night and angry people. The anarchists are just pissed at everything. I mean, all these 'peaceful protesters' are awful short tempered. Today, they seized Queen's Part, vandalized a war memorial, protested in the rain. Luckily, I think most of the lookey-lous and and softcore types were driven off by the shitty weather. There's plenty more of the same forecast.

Whoever planned the security zone should be fired. They didn't secure all the way to the lake, so you basically have this citadel in the middle of town that's under siege. To the northeast and northwest are universities well known for their far-left sentiments. A major shopping center -an obvious looting target- is well outside the security zone. All the thousands of security guards hired are NOT riot troops. They are luckless people offered 10$/hr to provide a visual deterrent. If things go all Seattle this week, they will turn tail or get badly beaten. This is a disaster in the makings.

Deschain

So, lately I've been expanding my social circle. It's a nice change. I don't really make new friends easily, and for the last couple of weeks I've been meeting people. It's been good. Sorry I haven't been around.

So, one of the things I've been noticing is the lack of middle ground up here on the gun issue. After a couple of drunk talks with a girl at a party, I found that she believes in comin' strapped. That is to say, she believes in the ownership and use of firearms in self defense when and where legal, which is a refreshing change from GUNZ R BAD. She had been in some rough relationships, and as a result of personal experience, she's come around. Sometimes, it's the hard lessons, unfortunately. But New Friend made her chops with me. We traded stories and drinks awhile, got to know each other. Good to meet new people with roughly the same ideals as me.

That aside, a lot of the people I met have more or less the same attitudes I did at 17. Capitalism bad, guns bad, drugs good, etc. Listening to some of that shit made me realize how spoonfed it all was. The Communists lost the economic Cold War, but they kicked the ever-loving shit out of us culturally. The shit they spouted when the G20 came up...well, needless to say about half of the people I met won't be getting no Christmas cards from me. It's all a part of the system. The education system is canted towards being liberal, and if you disagree with that viewpoint, well gee, you must not be learning because the course material says that if you don't embrace the liberal views, you must not be getting the rest fo the content either. But shit, that's how things roll. You separate the chaff from the wheat. So, new friends in. When I get a place and settle in, I'ma take her shooting. That might rub an old friend the wrong way, but shit. My new friend is a big girl, she can make her own decisions. I'm really quite glad I met her, I feel less awkward with her.

Speaking of which, turns out my old friend is all anti-gun, unreasonable fear, Brady-Campaign supportin' crazy. Which is unfortunate, because that really kills any potential for a lot of stuff. She freaked out when her brother brought home his very first target. Hell, she'd flip if I took New Friend shooting. But hey. Like I said, she's a grown woman, and Old Friend needs to cowboy the fuck up and accept that she can make decisions.

Couple of days from the G20, I'll give updates when things start going down. Keep your chins up and heads down, everyone.

Deschain

Getting Ready for a Ruckus

Well, both the G8 and G20 summits are coming to town soon. Which means a security lockdown you wouldn't believe, and a conflux of such raw capitalism that hippies from across the continent are drawn to attack it. And this year, we have the full spread. We have anarchists coming in fresh from firebombing in Ottawa , labour unions pissed off because the economy's gone to shit, Pro-Palestine activists angry because they were caught trying to beat Israeli soldiers to death...the whole gamut. There's a lot of potential for this to go wrong, but what can you do? The people have a right to protest (PEACEFULLY, may I note). But there's a lot of anger out there, and a lot of grumbling, inconvenienced people.

More to follow.

Des