Sure, it was occasionallyinteresting to see just how whack JSOW -- I mean Michale was in the morning and I especially enjoyed Kick completely trashing him.

What Joshua and I were saying is that we don't appreciate the name calling from ANYONE. We certainly didn't enjoy any part of it. It takes two to tango and all that.

Beg pardon, but trollery is name calling? Really? How is trollery not calling a spade a spade?

Armageddon - PRiSM (1979)

Written by PRiSM co-founder, guitarist Lindsay Mitchell. In fact, Lindsay was intended to be PRiSM's lead vocalist but he decided he wasn't right for the job. He found Ron Tabak singing in a club in Vancouver and the rest is rock and roll magic and history!

Armageddon - PRiSM (1979)

Spaceship Superstar - PRiSM (1977)

It's a tune written by Bryan Adams and Mutt Lange from the So Happy It Hurts album ...

Kick Ass

I've Been Looking For You

Bryan's So Happy It Hurts tour is making a stop in Kitchener next month - I'll file a full report! :)

I Ain't Worth Shit Without You - Bryan Adams (2021)

Jim's comments on this tune, from his website:

Contrary to conventional wisdom, women are by far the stronger sex. Men, for the most part, are helpless, hopeless, and pathetically ill-equipped to navigate the complex ups-and-downs of relationships. We might think we're in charge, we might think we have the situation under control, but we don't. Women rule the world (and that's a good thing).

Well said! :)

They all feature the brilliant vocals of Ron Tabak, RIP, who would have celebrated his 69th birthday today and this one is a personal favourite ...

Open Soul Surgery - PRiSM (1977)

Here are two tunes written by Jim Valance and Steven Tyler for Aerosmith!

Deuces Are Wild

Rag Doll

Fits Ya Good - Parallel 49 (Bryan Adams cover)

Heaven

Up until just recently, P49 has been just a phenomenal recording project but, this past summer, they played their first live shows to rave reviews up in Northern Ontario around Thunder Bay with many more to come! They are one very tight band, as you will hear ...

Lonely Nights - Parallel 49 (Bryan Adams cover)

Jim and Bryan were asked to write a song for Blue Oyster Cult and this was it. It was declined. Humph. Declined by others as well. Bryan didn't even think it was really a song for him. As Jim put it, 'Run to You' was now officially an orphan. But, not for long!

Welcome everyone to a special edition of the CW Sunday Night Music Festival and Dance Party!

Last night was a special night of recognition north of the 49th parallel as two of our extraordinary songwriters were recognized and officially inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Jim Vallance has been writing songs since he was a teen and member of a Vancouver band called Sunshyne before joining a project as drummer and songwriter that would become PRiSM. Touring in a band wasn't Jim's idea of fun so he stuck primarily to songwriting, teaming up with Bryan Adams, among others, to write some of our favourite songs of all time.

So, huge congratulations to Jim and Bryan on being added, at long last, to the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Tonight I'd like to play a few of their songs and I hope some of them may be your own personal favourites!

Here is the first big hit for Jim and Bryan ...
Cuts Like a Knife

Isn't this a better Weigantia without the trolls?

Sure, it was occasionallyinteresting to see just how whack JSOW -- I mean Michale was in the morning and I especially enjoyed Kick completely trashing him.

But that crap dominated Weigantia, leaving insufficient oxygen to address other topics. You know, like CW's column. I'm convinced that without trollery we'll attract new participants down here and that will enrich the conversations (and at least my experience.)

Which I highly doubt. I'm becoming more optimistic about holding the House, with a pickup of 2 or 3 seats in the Senate probable...Fuck off, Manchinema!

In fact, it may not be happening at all as the admin who was planning it has taken a leave of absence these last few months to deal with some personal issues. But I will keep you posted on any details I learn.

We'll talk more about it, in any event! :)

Oh, really?

I'm jazzed! 25 September 2023? That gives me time to finish dealing with my medical issues and plan a road trip up the Left Coast. We gotta talk some more about this! I just poked around Google without success -- do you have link for the event handy?

Of course, that view of mine requires that there not be such a monumental failure of imagination, from all corners.

How do you see this conflict ending? There doesnt' seem to be one in sight ...

We can't let go of Trump until he is HELD ACCOUNTABLE and safely locked away in jail. This is important for the FUTURE as a DETERRENT and a CHECK on any others following in his footsteps, I.E. DESANTIS. It seems like 50 years later, the lessons of Watergate and Nixon have to be either relearned by Republicans all over again or imposed on them.

As a long-time observer of US politics and even as a great fan of the idea and promise of America, I have a real hard time imagining that any of that will actually happen.

That said, your view on the Ukraine conflict is in a pretty small minority among citizens of free nations.

My view on the Ukraine conflict is that it could have and should have been avoided. I shudder to think of what Ukraine's future will be if this conflict goes on much longer.

Okay, then ... I'll get that package posted off to you next week!

As for our Vancouver date, I am seriously considering a trip there next September 25th. There will be a big gathering in celebration of what would have been Ron Tabak's 70th birthday, the late, great and original lead vocalist of PRiSM!

Facebook can be fickle, or so I've heard. That said, your view on the Ukraine conflict is in a pretty small minority among citizens of free nations. That doesn't necessarily mean you ought to give it up, but it's a fact worth acknowledging. Maybe you'll turn out to have been right, but if so it'll be a very, very, very long time before anyone who disagrees with you would be willing to admit it.

But Ukraine is IMPORTANT for both Western and European security. It MUST NOT be allowed to lose under any circumstances short of nuclear war itself.

I don't know what the future holds for Ukraine. But, I think the longer this war drags on and the longer the world is distracted by it and from the more existential global crises, the worse off Ukraine and the rest of us will be.

How do you see this war ending?

There are ways of controlling a country without military invasion, such as influencing or rigging elections, giving or withdrawing financial support, control of supply lines, the threat of invasion....

Are any of these likely to work again in Ukraine in the foreseeable future?

Okay it seems I should clarify my understanding of the word SUPERPOWER -- hint: there's only one nowadays and it's initials are USA.

Basically a country has to have nukes AND has to have the ability to project power across the globe. The US is the ONLY country with a navy and air force that can accomplish that and is the only one likely to exist for at least decades to come.

"Control of Ukraine would..."

Shirley you no longer think Russia has a prayer of conquering Ukraine, right?

2.) Russia without Ukraine is just another middle ranked nation. Russia with control of all of Ukraine has the potential to become a superpower again with all that implies.

"No.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine will ever be a superpower, as you ignore demographics and the inevitable shift away from fossil fields."

I understand your reasoning, but I have to say I just disagree with it. I didn't ignore either demographics or the amount of oil a country has. The population of a country can also be either a help or a burden. A lot of other factors must also be taken into account, including most importantly both geography and a favorable location, as well as technology, infrastructure, scientific development, etc.

The United States is a superpower because of its size, but also because of its location between two oceans, abundance of deep water ports along the entire eastern seaboard and Gulf of Mexico, large internal navigable rivers, and abundance of fertile farmland, coal and iron ore deposits near each other and the Great Lakes, etc.

Saudi Arabia has lots of oil but no arable land. Japan at one time could have been a superpower, but just missed when it went into economic stagnation, and became saddled with its "peace" constitution regarding military power. Indonesia has a large population, but is scattered among too many islands. Nigeria has a huge population, but is more of a burden rather than a help. Brazil and Argentina could be a superpower if they were combined into one nation, but they are located too far away from where the action is, being equally distant from both North American and Europe.

Therefore the only other single nation states capable of being superpowers besides the United States are India, China, and some new version of the old Soviet Union. But even they all have big negative factors that hinder that. China for instance, is easily hemmed in along its coastline by hostile rival powers. India too has to contend with a nuclear armed Pakistan as a hostile neighbor right next door. Though it could still launce a very big navy given its access to the Indian Ocean.

Control of Ukraine would bring 40 million people back into the empire, secure the southern border, project power back into the Mediterranean thru the Black Sea, and add something like 40 percent to Russia's farmland.

Sorry to hear that but knowing/having Ukrainian sentiment I'm not surprised, as I was pissed at you myself for a moment. I'm still working on my response to your Mearsheimer School of Thought. (2:07:15) Yup, I watch the long videos.

You made me dive into the weeds because I care about Ukraine and I care about you,
too. I've been fashioning my response for months now but it's still too wordy and things are changing on the ground. But it's coming...

And no, food seal the Cannabis if convenient, pad nicely and mail! No legal issues...and the second round of red wine/sidewalk cafe/Vancouver will also be on me. Or I can send you some of California's Finest in return, as I have no idea what you poor devils smoke out there.

2.) Russia without Ukraine is just another middle ranked nation. Russia with control of all of Ukraine has the potential to become a superpower again with all that implies.

No.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine will ever be a superpower, as you ignore demographics and the inevitable shift away from fossil fields.

DEMOGRAPHICS

Most of the developed world's birthrates are below replacement levels and it's especially bad in the former East Block. Russia and Ukraine have been losing population for decades.

This is critical to nation's wellbeing because young workers consume (buy homes and have kids) while mature workers consume less and create more savings (capital.) Retirees are neither generating much consumption and certainly no more capital and are a drag on the first two groups. This is why China will likely collapse within a decade. (8:08)

FOSSIL FUELS

Russia is presently a gas station with nuclear missiles. 40% of its GDP is (was) fossil fuels. Even though retaining what it has now in Ukraine (yeah, right) would give it theoretical control of substantial oil and gas reserves recently discovered in Eastern Ukraine and in the Sea of Azov.

...without Western technology they cannot extract it, period. And right now they are starting to have to cap wells because they have no way to sell it (too much capacity to Europe and not enough to India and China.) It turns out that capping effectively destroys the well. Without the war Russia likely reached peak production in 2019, along with our planet as a whole.

Climate change is the death knell of fossil fuels and Vlad's Folly accelerated this movement. So fossil fuels will become less and less important, leaving agriculture as Russia's future strong point.

"I just lost a facebook frient over Ukraine. Imagine that."

That's terrible. I am very sorry about that.

But Ukraine is IMPORTANT for both Western and European security. It MUST NOT be allowed to lose under any circumstances short of nuclear war itself.

1.) Ukraine is THE EXAMPLE of WESTEN support for DEMOCRACY and FREEDOM and UNITED NATIONS support for INTERNATIONAL ORDER, the RULE OF LAW, and and TERRITORAL INTEGRITY, INDEPENDENCE and SELF DETERMINATION of nations. Let one country run over another weaker, smaller neighbor... I.E. Iraq vs Kuwait, Russia vs Ukraine, China vs Taiwan (in the latter two examples, dictatorships vs democracies) and all hell breaks loose or collapses.

2.) Russia without Ukraine is just another middle ranked nation. Russia with control of all of Ukraine has the potential to become a superpower again with all that implies.

"... ought to get a lot more attention, especially in light of the bunch of empty classified folders recovered in the raid, no?"

EXACTLY!! Which is why this is so RELEVANT to the NUMBER 4 question I posed ABOVE.

"Trump, Trump, Trump ...

My God, don't you guys ever get enough of him!!!"

YES, that's why we voted him out of office! HEH!

But seriously though:

1.) We can't let go of Trump until he is HELD ACCOUNTABLE and safely locked away in jail. This is important for the FUTURE as a DETERRENT and a CHECK on any others following in his footsteps, I.E. DESANTIS. It seems like 50 years later, the lessons of Watergate and Nixon have to be either relearned by Republicans all over again or imposed on them.

2.) AND prevented from doing any more continuing DAMAGE by him and his allies in the Republican Party. He and his MINIONS constitute an ONGOING threat to DEMOCRACY itself in USA. The struggle won't be over until they are defeated at the ballot box, perhaps more than once.

3.) With Trump embracing QANON and threatening violence by his supporters if he is even merely indicted for a crime, there is still a very real danger that an event even more WORSE Jan. 6th could take place yet AGAIN. This will KEEP TRUMP in the NEWS through 2023, and maybe 2024, until TRUMP'S STATUS IS RESOLVED regarding ANOTHER ELECTION RUN for President.

4.) FINALLY, the question of exactly WHAT TRUMP SHARED WITH WHOM on the classified documents needs to be ANSWERED. Remember, these documents INCLUDED the IDENTITY of HUMAN AGENTS in other countries AND the NUCLEAR CAPABILITY of at lest one nation, possibly Israel. Was any of this shared with PUTIN and RUSSIA, with SAUDI ARABIA, did CHINA get anything from the spy sent into MAR-A-LAGO?

With these clowns ...and keybumps of cocaine! will someday seem like the good old days. You laugh, but when #CorruptDonnie was in office I found myself missing Dubya's considered statesmanship...

Good God. Well, geopolitically speaking, my guy - that would be Biden - ain't much better. :(

I won't get into any trouble, will I, if I send the package to you?

My God, don't you guys ever get enough of him!!!

And when he got caught in this lie, the Republicans decided they had heard enough and yanked almost a million dollars in ad money from Majewski's race. So finally we know that there actually are depths to which Republicans still won't stoop.

I trust your not implying that there is now a "floor" beneath which no Repug will go. This was a one-off abandonment of what would have been a waste of Repug resources.

With these clowns ...and keybumps of cocaine! will someday seem like the good old days. You laugh, but when #CorruptDonnie was in office I found myself missing Dubya's considered statesmanship...

While I am not among the few humans that have the frame of reference to get inside his mind, ...maybe they were looking for Hillary's emails can't be a good sign.

If you're the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying, "It's declassified," even by thinking about it because you're sending it to Mar-a-Lago or wherever you're sending it.