Go Directly to Jail - or Out! (As the Case May Be)

How interesting to observe California's Governor Arnie S, with an overload of criminals in jails, is about to release many to make room for the others. It is difficult not to ponder how this will happen. Will they all draw straws? Will those with minimal sentences get first choice? First in, first out? Canada's P.M. should learn from this. His "tough on crime" policy is already creating heavy debts by building new facilities in preparation for the Apocalypse. However, crimes are diminishing as fear of retribution grips us. Well done Mr. Harper! When do we get our money back?

I is for Ignatieff

Following the Liberal Party's 150 year Brains Trust Conference last weekend, Michael Ignatieff, leader of the Liberal Opposition party, was questioned on CBC yesterday. In his responses, he not only avoided answering the questions, all politicians do that - but he all too often, used "me, myself and I" as his subject. It was embarrassing. There he was emerging from a festival of ideas, implying that the party revolved around him! He should have been pulling the party together with we, us, even all Canadians, not I, me, my. That style may be difficult for one with the aristocratic background he has, not to mention the intellectual monogram he has been weaving for several decades.  If he has such little sensitivity or political acumen, I hope the Libs stop asking me to donate to his cause! The old Liberal Party was more astute - and thus, often in power. Gawd knows what the back-room boys are doing to bring Iggy's attention to his shortcomings. Meanwhile, the P.M. must be smiling all the way to the next election, reassured that his luck has changed after his prorogation drop in popularity.

Come and Go

Seems more Canadians are now supportive of same-sex marriage. That's realistic since it inhibits reproduction in an already overpopulated world. Alas, most religions frown upon birth control of any kind. Indeed, the Roman and Anglican churches are (excuse the pun) proposing a merger to survive; while Libyan president, Colonel Gaddafi, reassures the Moslem world that they can achieve a World Islamic Republic by the power of their loins (that is my interpretation) without another Crusade!

Good old reliable Tom Malthus claimed we reproduce geometrically, while the potential for food production increases only mathematically, i.e. nature will take over and keep the balance with internicine wars, pestilence and several other nasties the Bible foresees. Interestingly, Malthus was an ordained member of the Christian clergy!

What chance does common sense have to prevail against religion and ignorance? I would bet against it.

Esperanto Returning?

Is language as we know, or knew, it disappearing? Will sign language, with those cute stick figures, return?
Acronyms proliferate. Synonyms get twisted. We can e-mail, tweet, twitter, Multiply, Facebook, text (while driving, of course). Who has time to read, or even write, "in the old-fashioned way."

Everything is loaded. Downloaded, uploaded. I was told recently, that they were downloading my update! Who they are remains a mystery but I do hope they know what they're doing. Got any IEDs? Improvised Explosive Device. Goodness, 25 letters. Bomb is only four, so all that fuss to reduce it to three letters, IED. Bomb, of course, is such an ugly word. What about LOL! Take care; it can mean Lots Of Laughs or Lots Of Love. There's a time bomb, sorry an IED, waiting to go off. "Darling Phyllis, I love you. LOL, Fred." If Fred's confession of love ends with Lots of Laughs, be prepared  for the worst, Fred!

Politicians are into everything these days, including bafflegab language. Check the following and find three Stephen Harper wouldn't use to support his government's military actions.
Hero; Support our allies; providing security; insurgency; Canadian forces; NATO air strikes; guerilla warfare; winning; accord; friendly fire; coalition, partners; freedom fighters; Osama Bin Laden.

So, where are we going? Postal services are under threat since snail-mail is dying and the alternatives don't bring any cash to Canada Post. Bank tellers are history. Do-it-yourself banking is great for the shareholders but will increase unemployment. As for our education systems, it was never easy to be a teacher...TBC...(that's "to be continued" for the acronym-challenged among you!)

Teacher - Teacher

Iraq is still having difficulty determining its election results. The USA has, for some years now, been training Iraq how to become democratic. So far they haven't learned a lot - from the USA, at least. Perhaps the Iraqis should be guided by the same principles which decided the outcome of the Bush/Gore election of 2000. They need to nominate an Iraqi Supreme Court! Such a move, along with a decision to allow Iraqi corporations to finance political nominees, would help them emulate their "military advisors".

It's the first day of spring. Keep smiling!

Ooh, La, La!

Aren't the French wonderful? Their slogan in 1789, "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite" has been sustained to this day.
So many past presidents of France have been a little promiscuous and les citoyens didn't get all excited, as long as he did the job.
Today the world is all agog, even atwitter, as the Sarkozys each enjoy a little slap and tickle with another. France stays calm.
If he doesn't mind and she doesn't mind, it sounds like a good marriage! Vive La France! They are only living up to their revolutionary ideals. Liberty, Equality, Brother (and Sister) hood.

Make Up Your Mind

The contentious issue obliging Muslim women to cover their faces is unending. However, there seems a logical way to resolve this enigmatic dilemma.

Canada has soldiers dying in Afghanistan, partly to allow women to have a choice. Must they wear the hijab, niqab, burqa, etc., if they choose not to? According to the Taliban - yes! Female newcomers to Canada should at least have a similar free choice not to wear these garments. May we assume, therefore, that parents and mullahs will honour that choice? The 2007 death of a 16-year-old Ontario girl (confessed to by her father) for ignoring this demand is not a part of Canadian culture. Nor should it ever become such.
TRIAL SET in PARVEZ KILLING

If immigrant women to Canada do not have this choice, they may as well remain where they are now!

For What It's Worth

Remember 1967? Wonderful Expo '67 in Montreal? Elsewhere in the world, it was quite different. The Vietnam War was raging and civilians, as well as the military, were being slaughtered. War was being preached by politicians of all stripes. Peace was being preached by singing groups. Remember "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield? Google, read and/or listen to the lyrics. They have a ring to them.
There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware...

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind.

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away....

This song was issued in 1967. The world hasn't changed much. Reading the facts about wars today in Iraq, Afghanistan: their justification, phoney forecasts, who is winning and when it will be over is a duplication of the patter from Washington in that period. It took a while but eventually the people rebelled. The USA withdrew and Vietnam survived. Some neighbours, Cambodia and Laos in particular, had to suffer accordingly.

We, the people, are still subject to the culture of fear with which we are constantly showered. Care to guess where and when the above picture was taken??? I'll post the answer in a couple of days.

Pros and Cons

Prorogation at least relieved us, temporarily, from The Ottawa Circus every weekday afternoon! It's a pretty poor circus, as circuses go - no lions but lots of clowns.

The Ontario ex-Tory who was stopped by a police officer last September and charged with: careless driving, cocaine possession, above legal blood-alcohol level and driving 43 KPH above the speed limit was sentenced to a $500 fine for...careless driving! The other three charges were dropped. His luck held out since his spouse is a minister of Stephen Harper's government. "Good luck!" I say to him. However, if everything was above-board and no hocus-pocus was involved, the Ontario police and legislators must be doing a frightfully poor job.

Hope Springs Eternal

This blog promised critical and "hopeful" notes. Not easy to find tales of hope, these days. However, things are looking up!

Yann Martel, in April, 2007, decided to start a dialogue with Stephen Harper. He promised to send him a letter and a suitable book, of an improving nature, every two weeks while the PM remained in office. That continues...and you can read all about it on this website: http://www.whatisstephenharperreading.ca/

Recently, Martel received compliments on his award-winning book, "Life of Pi", handwritten, from...Barack Obama. Yes, that one! Now, Martel has published a book of his letters which accompanied the books he sent to the Prime Minister. In last Saturday's Globe & Mail, Bruce Meyer's review is worth reading.
Excellent!!!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-what-is-stephen-harper-reading-by-yann-martel/article1491383/

We may hope that Mr. Harper will soon have MORE time to devote to all those gifts. Thank you, Yann.

I was reassured, my hopes refreshed, by Martel's musing, "There will always be more books one would like to read than one will have time to read."
  

Who Needs Parliamentary Reform?

Maybe Canada does! In the 2008 election the Bloc Que. received 1.3 million votes and won 50 Parliamentary seats. The Green Party received close to 1 million votes and won...0 (zero!) seats.

To stress the point, the lists below compare seats received, according to the system of First Past The Post, i.e. "winner takes all fantasyland" with what would happen if "Rep by Pop" (remember that expression in Canadian history?) were used instead.
                             FPTP            Rep by Pop
Conservative          143                 117
Liberal                     76                   81
NDP                          37                  57
Bloc                          50                  28
Greens                       0                   23
Not hard to imagine why voters are hesitant to turn out on election days, is it? Their votes don't count. They are not represented. Why bother? This has to change!