Tue 5 Sep 2006
Two U.S. fighter jets mistakenly fired on a Canadian platoon takingpart in a massive anti-Taliban operation west of Kandahar on Monday,killing one soldier and injuring dozens of others.
Last Updated Mon, 04 Sep 2006 12:20:41 EDT
CBC News
See Related Post Here.
And A CBC report here.
Mon 4 Sep 2006
It is possible that at the time I write this post, His wife does not yet know the fate of her husband.
I recently blogged about the death of “Harriet” the Galapagos Turtle in the Australia (S.Irwin owned) Zoo near Brisbane. Now, it seems, her master has also been brought home.
My Canadian/Australian family have had a lot of fun at Mr. Irwins’s expense (while loving every minute of it and buying Steve Irwin action dolls.) but in realty, his nutty behaviour was in part to raise awareness for the critters of the world. His Mega Zoo benefited too of course. In a way he is like the Jaques Cousteau of his generation. I will miss him. Crikey! What a riort.
He was killed in a freak accident in Cairns, police sources said.
It appeared that he was killed by a sting-ray barb that went through his chest, Queensland Police Inspector Russell Rhodes said.
He was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas filming an underwater documentary and that’s when it occurred.
Steve Irwin dead | The Courier-Mail
Sun 9 Jul 2006
In some ways, a blog is like a journal. I don’t mean the type of journal that gives us the word ‘journalism’ but rather the introspective, private kind.
In some ways, it sure is not. The whole point is to share what is written or posted, and to enter into a community of readers and writers. Thats great. It is also the real attraction but for me and others, it can be more. It can be more like a diary, a journal. What I have in mind here is the ability to go back in time and read what was written, see what was important and what the state of the writer in the world was. Here in this blog, this ability doesn’t really go far back. I started posting in January on this url but I had a blog before this one. Still, it is interesting, once in a while, to have a look back. I promise, I will not turn into a pillar of salt.
Here I review posts that have been marked political or current events.
29th January 2006
Where I comment on the prospect of Preston Manning become the next Canadian Ambassador to the USA, my (satirical) preference for Svend Robinson and my prediction that the former ambassador, Frank McKenna, would run for the Liberal leadership. NONE of these things happened but here is a quote:
It is as clear to me as it is to Frank McKenna that Canada needs a new man in Mordor. This Liberal big whig is in the running (perhaps) to be the next Lib chief. Who then?
Oh I know! Preston Manning! I can see this working, really I can, With the Tories in Ottawa and the #$@@%&%*)! in Washington, a plaid shirt wearin’, cattle brandin’, true believin Albertexian just might fit the bill. I can see the logic but still, this is not my choice. I disagree with him on most things but Preston is scholarly and thoughtful, faithful and clean living. Still he is not the man for the job.
February 2 2006
In which I cry out, !Dear Dods in Heaven! Why are the Americans always shooting at us! A quote:
Canadian diplomats take fire in Baghdad as hail of bullets riddles their car with out warning. American officials unrepentant. Related stories in Afghanistan and again in Iraq.
7 February 2006
Where I am motivated by the recent Chinatown parade and by the riots following the publication of cartoons including depictions of the prophet Mohammad.
Is one culture special enough to be exempted from this treatment?
Jews and Muslims do not eat pork. I eat pork and so do people I know. None of us are causing a riot. You don’t like depictions of your religious icon? Don’t draw them. You don’t like it when others draw them? Suck it up.
28th February 2006
The bombing of the Samara Mosque in Iraq. A bloody mess.
It is almost a habit for me to post on current events after they are current but so often, I am conflicted. This is a horrible event perpetrated by one sect to another yet the groups seem indistinguishable from each other.
12 March 2006 Viva La Revelucion! (On Sark)
I really liked this one. I had heard on the radio that the Island or Sark would forsake its feudal government and embrace a nascent form of Democracy.
What I did not know, and what I learned later, is that my good friend Kevin’s ancestors come from there.
This little island reminds me of the Peter Sellers movie “The Mouse who Roared†where the backwards inhabitants of a miniscule island kingdom stuck in the Middle Ages some how manage to steal the newest of the new Q-Bomb form the United States and thus become world powers.
I am sure the Bush Administration is sleeping easier at night knowing one more tyrannical regime has given way to the enlightenment of democracy. Sark Today, Iraq tomorrow… or the next day.
12 March 2006
In Which Luna the Killer Whale dies on the same day as former dictator Slobodan Milosovic. I mourn Luna.
19th June 2006
More Blokes for the Kiddies!
I post an article by Mary Ellen Lang of the CBC that promotes more male teachers in the classroom. I feel more and more deeply about this. I think it might turn into a thee for the blog in the future.
1 July 2006
A recent post to be sure. You can probably scroll down right now and read it. The young soldier is still a prisoner in Gaza. The Israeli government is still behaving in a way that will ensure the blood letting continues into the next generation.
Well, that is all. I have skipped a few but no more. I hope to have more Summer Blog Blog Summaries. We shal see. How about Puppie blogging next?
Sat 1 Jul 2006
Israel warns: Free Soldier or PM Dies
Middle East correspondent Martin Chulov
July 01, 2006
ISRAEL last night threatened to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh if Hamas militants did not release a captured Israeli soldier unharmed.
The unprecedented warning was delivered to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a letter as Israel debated a deal offered by Hamas to free Corporal Gilad Shalit.
It came as Israeli military officials readied a second invasion force for a huge offensive into Gaza.
Hamas’s Gaza-based political leaders, including Mr Haniyeh, had already gone into hiding.
But last night’s direct threat to kill Mr Haniyeh, a democratically elected head of state, sharply raised the stakes.
Above From www.theaustralian.news.com.au. Just click the link above to read the whole thing.
Is any one else getting this? There was a fundamental tenant of democratization that I believe was first expounded by Roosevelt after WWI: that democracies do not war on other democracies. It just seemed true. It proved true. Until now. It seems that Israel has decided to rain upon the people of Palestine a righteous fury so mighty that the fear of god will forever be burned into the minds of the children of Canaan.
On Morality
Religious folks argue against relative morality. They say “right is right and wrong is wrong and it says so right here in this book. Here look, right here.” Those who opt out of this game are not bound by bronze age legal custom and are free to see morality on a more holistic basis. They may say “that is not wrong under certain circumstances, we will have to see the whole picture. Hey, don’t hit me with that book!”
Here I am, an atheist, worried about moral relativism. It seems to give religious people the right to kill people. “We have the money, the water, the electricity and the fuel. We have the TV stations and the backing of a superpower. Not to mention we are the chosen people and this land is ours because G-d said so. It says so right here in this book. Here look, right here! It’s RIGHT because we said so! Now shut up and die.”
A task proven easier when you lock a whole people up in camps, make them the scapegoat for all your problems and treat them as subhuman.
Shame on this government and whatever inhumanity is behind the actions of the last decades. Shame on democracies that allow such company to keep the name.
Wed 28 Jun 2006
From the CBC
A new poll suggests the vast majority of Americans are unaware that Canada is the largest foreign supplier of crude oil to the U.S.
The Canadian American Business Council (CABC) — which represents some of the biggest private sector companies in both countries — said its survey of 1,000 Americans found that only four per cent of respondents thought Canada was the country that provided them with more oil than anyone else.
The survey also found that 41 per cent of Americans asked would support replacing oil from unstable areas of the world with oil from Canada “even if doing so resulted in higher prices for U.S. consumers.” “The findings suggest a foundation of American public support for meaningful initiatives to expand Canadian energy supplies to the U.S.,” said CABC chairman Randoph Dove in a statement.
Mon 19 Jun 2006
Mary-Ellen Lang delights in being a mom, grandma, writer, teacher, gardener, and equestrian, usually in about that order. She has been teaching since 1972, and writing since 1980. Two of her three (award winning, Young Adult) novels are published in many languages in Europe, the USA and Canada.Before the movie started, a row of rowdy young teenage boys three rows in front of us was annoying everyone with their coltish antics. Why they were there, no one could imagine, but there they were. The movie started; the story quickly drew us in. It drew me in because it was pressing hard on all my mother buttons. A mother gorilla’s baby was killed. She rescued the infant Tarzan, who quickly grew into a spunky and brave little person despite rejection by the alpha male gorilla. Also, the art was fantastic and the dialogue was clever. It was not hard getting me to buy into Tarzan.
What fascinated me was the reaction of the kids three rows up. They got quieter and quieter. Slumped in their seats, they were spellbound. When the show was over, they stayed where they were, silent and still.
I’m sure they responded to the movie’s very powerful male situation and message. The struggle between the alpha male to do his job — to protect this family — and Tarzan, whose most basic need was to find out who he was and fit in somewhere, drove the plot, as conflicts always do, and engaged the boys.
For one thing, Disney’s Tarzan is decidedly masculine in its situations, action and themes. Finally, after years of little mermaids and princesses, the boys have a protagonist they can relate to. He beats his chest, roars and plunges off cliffs.
Starved for father figures
But I suspect that at a deeper level, the movie Tarzan speaks to boys about a gnawing problem so many of them face in today’s world, perhaps more than ever before. I suspect that legions of boys (and girls) are starved for male involvement and approval in their lives. A story centred around a powerful male’s stubborn refusal (or inability) to accept or acknowledge the young boy and the youngster’s desperate attempts to win his approval hits lots of kids where they live.
There are lots of reasons so many children lack a father figure in their lives. I’m sure you’ve heard them all many times. Apart from death, divorce, disappearance or disinterest, political correctness inhibits us now from even mentioning that a lack of men in the lives of children is serious and sad. We’re all supposed to hold hands and skip off to the wonderland of genderless equality.
Well, humbug.
I would like to suggest for one thing that most of the bad-boy behaviour we see in schools would be alleviated by positive connections to committed men. When a troubled boy is taken under the wing of a caring man who pays attention to and values him, the chances of that boy developing more healthy attitudes and behaviours increase dramatically.
In schools, boys and girls are in desperate need of men. There are lots of caring, nurturing, effective women teachers and they are worth their weight in gold. Schools would collapse overnight without them. Still, for lots of kids, a dose of masculine energy, style, outlook and inclination would be a more than welcome relief.
A life-changing influence
So many kids arrive at school poverty-stricken when it comes to parents. For those who lack a mother figure, there are lots of women who can meet this need on some level or another. Even a pat on the head and an inquiry into last night’s sleep may be appreciated by a young person. For those who do not get enough fathering in their lives (maybe dad isn’t there or maybe he’s too busy), the men they encounter in school can be a life-changing influence.
One of the best years one of my sons had in school was Grade 7. His life in school up to that time had been dismal and dominated by some very good, albeit female, teachers. (I can see I could get into trouble here). Anyway, he needed a man. Pure and simple. No disrespect intended, but another woman was not what I thought he needed. I went to the middle school to which he was headed with a shopping list. I wanted my son to have a good-humoured, no-nonsense, structured but flexible, wise, calm, high-energy and intelligent male teacher. Did they have one? They did.
My son blossomed in school that year. He desperately needed a man in his life and there was one, waiting at his desk every morning for the high-strung pubescent hordes to arrive. I will be eternally grateful.
Men who bring their confident, masculine enthusiasm for life to a school enrich kids in ways that only they can. Men who are willing to connect with children, to recognize, value and encourage them, are doing a necessary job. Men who choose, as does Tarzan, to commit everything they are to those who need them play a powerful role in the good order and health of society.
Good men who go into teaching can be assured they will be important in ways they cannot imagine and have a profound and lasting effect on generations of people.
Sun 12 Mar 2006
This is a post about a cetacean. Like Slobodan Milosovic, Luna was a killer by reputation. Also like Slobodan Milosovic, Luna died today. It is unfortunate for the victims of the Serbian dictator’s regime, that Slobo was not killed by being rung over by a tugboat and sliced to bits. A little keel hauling a-la Louise Arbour could do the world some good parenthetically speaking.
So Luna was a mischievous rake who would bust up sailboats and cheekily encase the souls of dead Indian Chiefs from the nearby First Nations Communities but he was cute and a mammal and available as a plush toy, so we shall mourn.
Slobo, not so much.
Sun 12 Mar 2006
This month on the independent isle of Sark in the English Channel, what was once the world’s only surviving feudal system has been dragged into the 21st century by the European Convention on Human Rights. It seems that the island’s 600 or so residents were not all ready to throw off the velvet yoke of rural privilege for the dirty, pedestrian tedium that democracy will bring:
Since the 1560s when a group of colonists settled there from another small, obscure self-governing island in the Channel, the Island has been officially owned by the Queen but not part of the UK. It has been ruled, since then, by the holder of the Signeurie, essentially the Lord of the Manor.
There are no cars. The island is very small and from a recent radio show, those on it seen to have rural, upper class English accents.
This little island reminds me of the Peter Sellers movie “The Mouse who Roared” where the backwards inhabitants of a miniscule island kingdom stuck in the Middle Ages some how manage to steal the newest of the new Q-Bomb form the United States and thus become world powers.
I am sure the Bush Administration is sleeping easier at night knowing one more tyrannical regime has given way to the enlightenment of democracy. Sark Today, Iraq tomorrow… or the next day.
Tue 28 Feb 2006
Sunni militants blew up a sacred site in Iraq last week bringing Iraq even closer to being the world’s leading exporter of rubble, hopelessness and futility.
It is almost a habit for me to post on current events after they are current but so often, I am conflicted. This is a horrible event perpetrated by one sect to another yet the groups seem indistinguishable from each other. From another perspective, this bombing is the result of events perpetrated by the United States, so they share perhaps the lion’s share of the blame.
I am reminded of some of what I have heard Gwynne Dyer say and write: that the object of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and further attacks on the Saudis, the Spanish, the British and those longsuffering victims in Iraq is not to vanquish an enemy. It is not to exact justice or revenge. It is not to encourage others to do the same and it is not for religious outrage against the realities of modern life in the West.
No, the motive behind these attacks it this: to provoke the United States and her allies into such an unmeasured, irrational response that it would enrage Muslim society so much that they would overthrow the pragmatic (or brutal) dictatorships of the Arab world and embrace the religious right.
This has proved true in the first instance. The US did fall for the bait and they did exactly as Usama’s script would have them do. The US did attack impulsively and without plan or object. While it is true that Afghanistan was a measured rational response with a clear goal: remove the Taliban and Bin Laden’s ability to strike. What of Iraq? The American invasion of Iraq was what the Whahabbis were looking for. This was the response that would get them a Taliban with a difference. A Taliban with oil, roads, a population. The fanatics may not have had the immediate success they were hoping for.
But they may yet get Iraq
Wed 22 Feb 2006
Today in Victoria BC, Provincial Foxy Finance Minister Carole Taylor released the details of the BC 2006 Provincial Budget.
“The focus of the budget is children, there’s 421 million dollars over four years including 72 million to add more social workers and front line staff.” CKNW
The budget is notable for two serious things and some other things that are not so serious.
Bad press about useless youth and child services = more money and focus on such like. Serious.
Province turning a corner on a localised recession and so this is the first real ’spendie’ budget (possibly on the backs of the down-trodden, who am I to say.) Serious.
In the not-so-serious catagory. “Baby needs a new pair of shoes”. In keeping with tradition, the Finance Minister sports a new pair of shoes on budget day. Usually loafers, brogues and oxfords on the dour feet of the folically challenged get passing mention on budget day. -But Baby!- $600 Gucci pumps complete with the horse bit logo. Bling Bling!
So guess what the radio news focused on? Shoes, legs, related topics. Then the Speaker of the house says ‘Baby’ he better not be talking about any one present in the Legislature. So sure we in BC have a FMILF with gams from here to Revelstoke but the children! The Children!
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