…when their LAV 3 rolled over a pressure-triggered “IED” while escorting a convoy in the Kandahar region of Afghanistan. Canada has had 2500 troops in Afghanistan since 2002. What takes this tragedy into the realm of irony is the explosion occurred while Canada was marking one of the worlds greatest military victories. Both events — the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the turning point of World War One at Vimy Ridge where Canadian soldiers broke the German line 90 years ago — are connected in a straight line by European hubris and imperialism from Sarajevo to Kandahar. From 64,000 Canadians dying in France to end WWOne to fifty-one Canadians dying in the desert of Afghanistan trying to recreate a country broken by Europe imperialism and neglect. What takes it back into tragedy again is Canadians are still dying over Europe’s refusal to take responsibility for its past.
By the second time America, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada forced Germany to surrender, Europe had been at war with itself for twelve of thirty years. Thanks to Europe’s seeming inability to stop killing themselves nearly 70 million young men and another 30 million civilians had been slaughtered in barely three decades. Most of Europe’s cities and villages had been laid to waste, farms had been turned into battlefields for tanks. In every major city government buildings and vital archives had been razed to the ground. The industrial heart of Europe had been destroyed including the road and rail network needed to move manufactured goods from factory to customers. So much effort had been placed into mutual annihilation over so long a period Europe was on the brink of total collapse, by VE Day in 1945 the destruction had been so complete large parts of Europe resembled the Afghanistan of today.
Like Europe in the past, Afghanistan is a region of tribes with a predisposition for war. Unlike Europe, however, the last 150 years of Afghanistan warfare have been the direct result of foreign interference. In the 19th century it was Britain, from 1975 until 1990 Afghanistan was the central battleground for the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, this was followed by ten years of civil war between American and Soviet backed forces which led directly to Afghanistan becoming the frontline for the “Global War on Terror” in 2001.
There have been two national Afghani governments in the past thirty-five years, one was a puppet for the Soviet Union, the other was the Taliban. One killed its citizens for conquest, the other out of lunacy, both were the result of Europe’s dysfunction.
The First World War started when Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo from a bullet fired on June 28, 1914, by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist dying from tuberculosis. There is no Second World War without the First, no Cold War without the Second, no Soviet invasion of Afghanistan without the Cold War, no Soviets means no Taliban. But those wars did happen, and that bullet is still killing today.
France, Spain and Germany have troops in Afghanistan, but refuse to use them. Instead their soldiers rarely, if ever, leave their fortified bases. These three NATO countries only just recently agreed to support Canadian troops — also operating under the NATO flag — if Canadians are overrun by the Taliban. But only if they’re given 48-hours to prepare themselves.
Canada has been asked by the first democratic government in Afghanistan’s history to help stabilize their fragile country and to bring to justice the criminals killing Afghani citizens. Canadians are not there to rebuild Afghanistan, the country has never had a national power-grid or system of roads and trains. Afghanistan, as the bastard child of Europe and the Cold War, never had the historical opportunity to build national railways and highways. Canada is in Afghanistan to help build a new country. Most of Europe, meanwhile, seem content to ignore the situation their governments created.
Even with all of the advantages of an educated people, a common ideology and culture, and American protection and financial support available after 1945, it still took four decades to repair Europe economically, nearly fifty years to repair it politically and only recently — after the Balkans War threatened to pull it all down again — has the framework been adopted in the European Union to ensure there is never a war inside Europe again.
Afghanistan can only count on two things at the moment: Canadian, British, Danish and American soldiers will continue to be there for at least another two years, and; the United States will provide the bulk of financial support for the foreseeable future. Beyond that the Afghani people are on their own against a fanatical enemy determined on reinstating a fascist government. Will Afghani women have the right to go to school, or will men be allowed to rape them or stone them to death over honour slights such as young women being outside without a male family member as an escort? That’s the line on which Canadian soldiers stand right now.
Along with the United Kingdom, America, New Zealand and Australia, Canadian soldiers liberated Europe from fascist extremism twice, then we protected Europe both from itself and the Soviet Union for the duration of the Cold War. Now these same countries and a few others have given the people of Afghanistan the same opportunity for a peaceful and democratic government as Europe was offered sixty years ago. The people of Afghanistan deserve more from The Powers which now rule the prosperous and peaceful Europe that was handed to them.
Ninety years ago the four Canadian Divisions, 100,000 Canadian soldiers, fought a pitched battle against Germany which no one thought Canada or anyone else could win. For months Allied troops had tried to take Vimy and failed. In a matter of days Canada took and held Vimy in a battle most historians believe to be the turning point against Germany. After the war the French government ceded the 250 acres around Vimy Ridge, where 10,000 Canadians were killed or wounded in that one tide-turning battle, to Canada. That soil, surrounded by France, is literally a sovereign piece of Canada. That’s what Canada, a foreign power willing to commit its soldiers to rescue Europeans from war and warlords, did for Europe. Twice. Just something to think aboot as French, German and Spanish soldiers play cards in Kabul while six more Canadian soldiers are put into the ground.
There are no legal restrictions on abortion in Canada. In most provinces it’s fully covered (free) under their health plans, so in some way The State is involved, but those governments literally have no Criminal Laws regarding abortions since 1988. Which makes Canada pretty unique.
This has nothing whatsoever to do with whether abortion is right or wrong, just or unjust, or against your religion of choice (pun). There were no stirring debates on the humanity of a fetus, or on the sanctity of a woman’s body in any Canadian legislature. It’s just that since the Supreme Court struck down the laws limiting abortion back in 1988 no Canadian politician or political party has ever dared to introduce a law restricting abortion. Well, one did, but that disappeared pretty quick. So now it’s almost like “Logan’s Run” around here — abortion is so legal it’s pretty much retroactive, so if you piss off your mom before you’re sixteen… zzzzaap. You never piss off your mother in Canada.
It wasn’t always like this. Abortion was banned in Canada in 1869, and it wasn’t until 100-years later when abortions for women whose health was in danger were made legal, but only if a three-doctor hospital committee agreed that her life was in danger. In all other cases abortion remained in the Criminal Code of Canada. The 1969 “Get The State Out Of The Bedroom” law also legalized homosexuality and contraception.
So “legal” hardly meant accessible. To receive access to an abortion a woman had to find a family doctor willing give her the pamphlets and who would then refer her to a specialist. The abortion then had to be approved by a Therapeutic Abortion Committee which had usually been taken over — at least partially — by Pro-life groups.
In 1988 the Canadian Supreme Court declared the entire abortion law to be unconstitutional, based on a woman’s right to security of the person, which is guaranteed under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982). “Forcing a woman, by threat of criminal sanction, to carry a fetus to term unless she meets certain criteria unrelated to her own priorities and aspirations… the [current] law asserts that the woman’s capacity to reproduce is to be subject, not to her own control, but to that of the state.”
The Supreme Court, much to the annoyance of Parliament, told the Canadian Government to come up with a new law. So in 1989 a Bill was passed by Parliament which threatened doctors with a two-year jail term if they approved an abortion when the woman’s health was not in danger. It was defeated in the Senate by a tie vote. The only attempt to create a law limiting abortions in Canada since then was introduced in 2006 by Liberal MP Paul Steckle. His Bill would have made abortion after the twentieth week of pregnancy a criminal act. It disappeared pretty freaking quick, all of which means Canada has had no abortion law whatsoever since 1988.
Of the four Federal political parties, the Bloq Quebecois and New Democratic Party are against any regulations on abortion. Officially both the Liberal Party of Canada and the Conservative Party of Canada have no official positions. Aboot 60 percent of the Liberals, and aboot 40 percent of the Conservatives like it just fine the way it is.
The Canadian public roughly breaks in thirds on abortion. A third want it just the way it is, a third want abortion stopped and a third want some limits. In 2005 an Environics poll asked “at what point in human development should the law protect human life,” 30% of respondents said “From conception on,” 19% said “After three months of pregnancy,” 11% said “After six months of pregnancy,” and 33% said “From the point of birth.” In April 2006 a Leger poll found 34% of respondents felt abortion to be “immoral.”
So Canada will never have an abortion law as long as our political parties risk losing such a significant number of votes. Or, the other way, we’ll never have an abortion law in Canada as long as the voters don’t make abortion a top priority. Which we haven’t since Canada stopped having an abortion law. I think there’s a Catch-22 in there somewhere.
One last thing… in 1989 the Supreme Court ruled that “the father” had no rights to prevent “the mother” from having an abortion. In Tremblay v. Daigle, Chantale Daigle’s ex-boyfriend had obtained a restraining order to prevent her from having an abortion. Eventually the Supreme Court ruled that only the woman/mother/female had the right to choose; the father had no legal rights in the termination of a pregnancy (or her decision to give birth). During the trial Daigle went to the United States for an abortion. I’m pretty sure there’s some irony in there. There are over 100,000 abortions performed in Canada every year.
Until 1922 diabetes was treated through starvation diets and exercise. Right up until January 22, 1922, having diabetes ruthlessly and inevitably meant blindness, renal failure, heart attacks, strokes, leg amputations and/or a reduced life expectancy.
But on January 23, 1922, Frederick Banting and Charles Best, two Canadian doctors, started human trials using insulin — a naturally occurring hormone that converts sugar into energy — in an effort to find a treatment for the debilitating disease. The first human injected with insulin — taken from the pancreas of dogs — was 14-year old Leonard Thompson*, whose prospects for survival into his 20’s were slim, none and “I’m sorry Mrs. Thompson, your son has passed away.”
But the boys health improved almost immediately, and so did every other diabetic they injected. With insulin reintroduced to their blood stream, diabetics could control their blood sugar level for the first time. Insulin is not a cure, but Banting and Best’s discovery has saved the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world and improved the quality of life for each and every one of them.
Diabetes is still an evil little bastard of a disease, afflicting 177 million individuals worldwide. It is a Top Five Killer in most countries — usually just behind heart disease and cancer — and is the leading cause of adult blindness, kidney disease, heart attack, stroke and non-traumatic amputations. According to Health Canada “Diabetes is a lifelong condition where either your body does not produce enough insulin, or your body cannot use the insulin it produces. Your body needs insulin to change the sugar from food into energy.”
A relatively recent Health Canada report revealed that “in 1999/2000, 5.1% of Canadians (1,196,370) aged 20 and over were living with diagnosed diabetes”. The death rate among Canadian adults with diabetes, according to the same study, was 1,393 per 100,000. Diabetics, according to the Florida-based Defeat Diabetes Foundation, are 65% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease.
Banting and Best could have made themselves rich through their discovery by seeking a patent for the life-saving serum. Instead, they sold the rights for insulin to the University of Toronto for $1, ensuring that insulin could be cheaply manufactured for decades.
Banting was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1923, but did not accept the award until 1925 because Charles Best, his friend and colleague, was not recognized by the Nobel Committee for the work he had performed. The Prize was the first for a Canadian.
“Of the 130 children treated with insulin,” Banting said during his speech to the Nobel Committee, “120 are still living, while of the 164 who did not receive insulin, there are 152 dead. Of the 120 still living, 40% have either not increased or have actually decreased their insulin. Dr. [Elliot] Joslin believes that if the 60% who have had to increase their insulin had received similar treatment, they too would have been able to reduce their insulin.”
Banting split his share of the Nobel Award money with Best, and went one to be knighted in 1934. Soon afterwards he went on to create the world’s first G-suit to help pilots cope with high-speed flight. This led to his appointment in 1939 as the chairman of the National Research Council’s Committee on Aviation Medical Research. He died on Feb. 21, 1941 after his plane crashed in Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland. Banting was 49 years old.
Charles Best went on to pursue graduate studies and became a professor of physiology at the University of Toronto. He died on March 31, 1978.
November 14, Banting’s birthday, is now recognized as World Diabetes Day. Each year the Canadian Diabetes Association celebrates November 6 as Sir Frederick Banting Day.
The Canadian Diabetes Association estimates that over 2.2 million Canadians live with the disease and roughly one third of that amount are undiagnosed. Symptoms of diabetes include excessive thirst, frequent urination, blurry vision and unexplained weight loss. Without treatment, high sugar levels can damage blood vessels, which sometimes leads to blindness, amputation, renal failure, heart attacks and strokes.
*Leonard Thompson died thirteen years later due to complications from diabetes.
1) Iran And Britain: Everything that has happened until now has been aboot Iran trying to humiliate Britain and, by extension, the United States. Everyday brought at least two statements, one from the Good Cop — “Of course we will release them, as soon as Britain apologizes for their years of imperialism and hatred of Islam.” And one from the Bad Cop — “The British infidels who trespassed against us will be tried in court and will be dealt with according to the customs of Persia… by the way ‘300’, while a special effects marvel, was still a hateful representation of Everything Persian.” Every “diplomatic” note has been used as a prod in the side of the British people and every broadcast of the hostages eating, apologizing and smoking Iranian cigarettes has been an attempt to make Tony Blair’s blood pressure shoot up. This is what Fascist governments like the Islamic Republic of Iran do for kicks. Read Kamangir’s blog for up to the minute news reports from Iran, including translations from the Government news services. They’re fascinating.
2) Yushchenko Dissolves Ukrainian Parliament : Russia has been trying to screw with Ukraine since the “Orange Revolution” which tossed the Russia friendly government out and brought in the government of Victor Yushchenko, the guy Russia fed poison. Russia has been trying to regain its pride since 1989. Embarrassing Russia by voting to separate from the MotherLand did the Baltic States, Georgia and Ukraine no favours within the Russian political hierarchy. Yushchenko claims the pro-Russian Prime Minister is usurping too much power and Parliament is fighting back claiming Yushchenko has no mandate to tell them what to do. Both parties are planning massive street protests and the general consensus is the situation will be resolved in the street. Last year Russia turned off the gas to Georgia, this year it’s aboot Ukraine… Russia is a failed state grasping for its former glory by fucking with its former, and now successful, colonies. A good way to stop this from happening might be for the European Union to start negotiations with Ukraine over membership. But that would involve the EU growing a set of balls, something which — at this point — would seem to require genetic engineering.
3) Somalia Gets Worse: Honestly, did you ever think you’d read “Somalia gets worse“? There is some support for the “Islamic militia’s” because, once again, desperate people mistake making the trains run on time for peace and security. Of course Islamic Fascists would stop the trains entirely, but you get the point. The Islamic militia is making its last stand in a series of attacks in and around Mogadishu. Somali and Ethiopian troops are fighting back along with some occasional and extremely clandestine support from the American Air Force. An estimated 380 Somali’s have died in this latest fighting with another 500 injured.
1) Nuclear Iran Closer Than Thought : Since January of this year Iran has added 1000 centrifuges to its uranium enrichment program. It previously had 370+ centrifuges in its program which, according to a CIA report to Congress just a few days ago, would have given the Iranian government enough uranium for a bomb by 2015. With the additional 1000 units the estimate is now two years. Whoops. Iran has also recently said that it will have 3000 centrifuges by May… of this year. These units aren’t operational, yet, but they will be soon. This spending spree by Iran will triple their uranium capacity. Here’s the Thing aboot That… the uranium produced by these centrifuges is completely wrong for the types of reactors Iran is building for their “domestic power initiative”. The Iranian Government is trying to speed up the process because it knows they are being isolated by the “Rational Resolute”… you can read all aboot it here: “Iran vs. America In ‘The Marketing War’: Where Being The Victim Is Victory.”
2) British Diplomacy In Action: Once a British diplomat says “we regret how this situation is being perceived” you know it’s just aboot over. No one beats the British in Diplomacy. Don’t forget, they invented the English language. Iran is now promising not to show any more broadcasts of the hostages… but they did it once more just to prove that Persian Logic is supreme.
3) Tsunami Hits Solomon Islands: Initial reports say eighteen people have been killed after an 8.1 earthquake just to the North-East of Australia. The numbers will go way up. The Solomon Islands have a really interesting history we could learn from… if you can find “Collapse” by Jared Diamond pick it up. It looks at how successful civilizations manage to kill themselves off through nine easy to follow steps… he looks at the Vikings in Greenland; modern Montana; the Polynesians and a few others. Fascinating book. Setting up societies in an environmentally insanely-unstable region, like a line of volcanic islands in the Southern Pacific, is on his list somewhere.
1) Supreme Court Rules On Carbon Emissions: For several years the American Government has been saying that the Environmental Protection Agency did not have the authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate the Carbon Emissions from new cars. Today the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, disagreed. Which means Global Warming has been cured and now it’s cool to use your hair dryer as a cooking element. This will be seen as a rebuke of the environmental policies of G.W. Bush, but really it doesn’t mean a whole lot for the environment in the short term… “short term” being the next thirty years. The EPA position was they did not have the authority to interfere with other federal environmental initiatives and also that there was no direct causal link between carbon emissions and pollution… basically that carbon emissions was too broad a term and could mean anything. Like breathing. They had other arguments as well, but the Supreme Court shot them all down. Within the Clean Air Act, the majority decision said, “air pollution” has a sweeping enough definition which includes carbon emissions. So instead of the EPA dismissing carbon emissions out of hand, they must offer scientific proof as to why those emissions should be disqualified from the “Air Pollutants List”. Which means the Supreme Court is not demanding carbon emissions be automatically added to the list of pollutants, just that the EPA must provide proof one way or the other.
2) Guantanamo Detainees Denied Appeal: Today the Supreme Court also decided not to hear the appeals cases of detainees in Guantanamo Bay until after they’ve had their Military Hearings. Which should be anytime now… nope, not now… maybe now… nope. Now? Nope.
3) Iraqi’s Killed: There were a bunch of car bombs over the weekend. 81 American soldiers died during the month of March. Several orphans were created in at least two countries. Now? Nope. How aboot now? Nope.
1) Britain v. Iran: Tom Clark reported this story. Tom’s a bit of an enigma. He was chosen a long time ago to be Lloyd’s replacement as anchor — he’s got the voice anyway, but Lloyd won’t freaking retire. So Tom has been shuttled around inside the CTV News Department for years and now, surely for longevity reasons, CTV has made him their Washington Correspondent. But he has never been a very good reporter… anyway, he reported on this story using the same source I did, “according to ABC News“. There was an extra interview (it’s not clear whether it was from stock footage or done today because Tom wasn’t shown with the person) that had this interesting observation: “saving face to country’s like Iran is incredibly important”. Then there was a quick quote from the Pool Camera in the White House media centre: “by calling them “hostages” and not “captives” we’re not trying to increase tensions as a means to start a war with Iran.” Again, that was not a response to one of Tom’s questions. Reporters from Canada, especially the TV people, rarely get to ask White House Spokespeople questions and since Tom’s a bit of a dipstick and the CBC’s Neil MacDonald is still convinced 9/11 was a plot hatched by Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney back in the Gerald Ford administration, the chances of them getting Face Time with the Important Spokespeople is slim, none and no.
2) RCMP Moves To Kabul: There’s a series of scandals going on right now involving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police which I plan on writing aboot soon. The Force has been broken for over a generation now, and this ‘scandal of the moment‘ involves millions of dollars missing or not in the pension fund. So, after watching the RCMP take a shit kicking in The Press for a week, the government thought it’d be a good idea to create a “feel-good RCMP moment“. So Canada is sending another 12 RCMP officers to Afghanistan to train the Afghan police department. This brings the number up to 36 officers.
3) Arrest Warrant Issued For Lafleur: There is now an international manhunt underway for a 66-year old advertising executive from Montreal accused of pilfering millions of dollars in government money earmarked for advertising the Goodness of Government, then passing hundreds of thousands of dollars back into the Liberal Party of Canada… which was the ruling party at the time and the ones handing out the advertising money. So you can see why there’s some interest in finding this guy. Jean Lafleur, former head of Lafleur Communication Marketing, is facing thirty-six counts of fraud. Since his apartment hasn’t been used lately and his drivers licence expired a couple of years ago there’s a pretty good chance he has left the country. There’s still $40 Million unaccounted for in a scheme created by the Liberal Party in response to their completely inept handling of the last Quebec referendum. The scheme/strategy for convincing Quebec to stay in Canada was based around the Government of Canada buying ad space at “events” in Quebec and putting up huge “CANADA DOESN’T SUCK” banners. There was no oversight and the money, a lot of money, got spread around to Liberal Friendly Marketing and Advertising Firms. A lot of that money then got donated back to the Liberal Party. Lafleur, for example, hired his entire immediate family and paid them $2.8 million in salaries. His own salary went from $108,000 to $2.5 Million over two years. Lafleaur then “encouraged” his employees to “donate” money to the Liberal Party, which he then reimbursed with the money he received from the advertising contracts. No one in the Liberal Party Leadership knew anything aboot any of this. Ahem… [awkward silence]. Cough.
If you find a broken link, or the YouTube stuff isn’t loading
properly, let me know and I’ll find an alternative…
I’m Canadian, it’s what we do. Off the ice.
“American Woman”; ‘American Woman‘ (1970) [Live In Toronto 2003] Burton Cummings wants you to feel his emo.
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Canada Doesn’t Allow Multiple Marriages…
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…but there’s this one community in southern British Columbia where you can marry as many people as you like. It’s a large “C” Cult made up of American Mormon Fundamentalists who moved here because Utah, and America, made polygamy illegal and the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City said “okay, sure, like, whatever.” Since the community (Cult) was “outed” a few years ago as being a haven for polygamy the citizens of British Columbia and the rest of Canada have been wondering “WTF? How come no one’s been arrested? Why are they allowed to marry as many people as they want, and I’m stuck with this deadbeat loser who can’t even put a new Goddamn bag in the milk jug?!?” Since then it has been reported — several times over the past several years — that the Cult’s primary belief is the Husband is God’s messenger on Earth and women must obey His every whim and desire. So how can a progressive country like Canada — what with our laws and women’s rights and free Lithium and such stuff — allow something like this to continue?
Most people think it has something to do with The Government being afraid the case might go to the Supreme Court as a Charter Challenge because they’d lose over Freedom of Religion issues, thereby making Polygamy all out legal. But that’s not why nothing has been done to free those women from the Cult. The problem is… ready? The problem is it’s illegal in Canada to be married to more than one person at a time. The State that is Canada decides who gets married to whom based on you and your loved one going to the Court House and signing a piece of paper. Bango wango, you’re married. Show up tomorrow with another significant other and, wango bango, they say “nope, not a fucking chance, you’ve already got one”.
Bountiful, British Columbia is the home of a Cult based on Mormon philosophies, one of which is that Men get to marry as many women as they want including, sometimes, cousins and other close relatives. These girls/women then become slaves for the rest of their lives… not “virtual slaves”, real ones. They get an elementary education, if their fathers want them to, then they’re sold or bartered off inside the Bountiful Community or across the American border to other Fundamentalist Mormon communities. Girls as young as 14-years old are given as gifts to men ten, twenty or thirty years older than the young girls. And it’s ‘legal’ because no one shows up at the Court House to sign any papers and these girls have been Trained to not talk to any Outsiders. There can be no polygamy in Canada because Canada doesn’t recognize your marriage to your second, tenth, twelfth or fiftieth wife. Kind of Orwellian, isn’t it? Polygamists live in Canada but Polygamy is Illegal in Canada, therefore there are no Polygamists.
There you are. Maybe not so convoluted after all. There’s also a large Chapter of this Cult in America that has warehouses of guns, ammo, a huge fortified compound and a desperate belief their leader is the Messiah — not “a” Messiah, “the” Messiah. Good times. This is a PDF of a petition to get the governments of British Columbia and Canada to save the young girls from a lifetime of sexual abuse and slavery… print it off, sign it, pass it around and mail it in.
1) Political Peace In Northern Ireland: And ‘The Book’ said “the crazed homicidal psychopath shall lay down his pride so that he may share power with the bloodthirsty rapist and killer of children and all shall be at Peace in Northern Ireland (re: the country which has raised itself from ashes to charred embers to some semblance of non-burned remains through willpower and a lack of ammunition).” Ian Paisley — as evil a fucking monster of an Evangelical Fundamentalist Christian there ever was — sat down in the same room as Gerry Adams — the proud leader of the political wing of a blood crazed Catholic terrorist organization which never had any qualms aboot killing unarmed citizens — and signed a piece of paper which had on it (written in the blood of many an Irish man woman and child) plans for the two to share power in an Irish Parliament. This only two months before a deadline imposed by the Blair Government. Way to go boys, Peace Cigars all the way around. Fifty years of blown up and assassinated Irish People celebrated by staying dead.
Four things aboot “that fuck” being in the same room as “the other fuck” to stop a civil war which had no purpose:
1) The last bomb set off by the (Real) IRA was in August, 2001, and injures seven people in West London. The last Irish Americans funding the IRA or The Real IRA stop their support for either side a month later, which happens to be September 11, 2001. 9-11, also made it impossible to keep pretending to rationalize, or pretending to believe the rationalizations, for that level of violence. The IRA finally agreed to a complete “decommissioning” in October, 2001. Funny how arguments stop when the two parties are exposed for being complete ignorant assholes.
2) Canada played a large enough, but behind the scenes, role in the Good Friday Accords and the decommishioning that we’ll probably get a footnote in the history books. In 1997 retired Canadian General John de Chastelaine was appointed as the chair of the body to oversee decommissioning.
3) These Accords and Peaceful things happened under Tony Blair’s Prime Ministership so he should get a few footnotes as well. But lets not forget the other side of Britain’s involvement.
4) Almost 4000 people were slaughtered and over 36,000 injured so these two “Proud Irishmen” could sit at a table and proclaim their dual victory and consequent taking over of the Irish Parliament. Awesome. Good job. Fanatical interpretations of religion once again saved us all from having to live peaceful lives without having shit blow up in our faces.
2) Aussie In Guantanamo Bay: An Australian man being held in Guantanamo Bay for trying to hook up with the Taliban. David Hicks, became the first person in over 60 years to face an American military tribunal. His lawyer was hilarious. The Americans have let several detainees go back to their country of “origin” so the lawyer listed almost every nationality to be sent “home”… he must have listed twenty countries. Then he said something like “what makes an Australian passport different so that an Australian can’t come home?” Thing was he didn’t mention Canada in that list… because there’s a Canadian in that same Jail who won’t be coming home anytime soon either. Hicks is one of only four detainees to actually be charged (to date), the Canadian is one of the others. The appearance was the first in what will be several… basically it was a pseudo voir dire. He did, however, plead guilty. Dave will probably be back in AussieLand in time for that holiday they have down there that involves getting drunk and beating up Dingoroo Bearawallies or whatever the fuck those things are called… I think the holiday is “TuesWedThursFriSatur Day”.
3) Britons Held In Tehran: Kamangir has got a lot of recent information regarding this from media reports in Iran and from Iranian bloggers working in secret from inside Iran. Basically Iran fucked up in a huge way. Britain’s navy has satellite images and GPS data proving its ships were well within Iraqi waters doing work for the United Nations. And now Iran is desperate to find a way out of this that doesn’t involve them looking like complete tools. The soldiers will not be harmed and will be released in a month or so, but Iran is falling apart. Russia has backed out of the nuclear reactor deal, the UN is getting serious with the sanctions, the American military has more nukes parked three minutes off the coast of Iran than Europe currently has in its arsenal, and now Iran kidnaps 15 British soldiers for reasons that remain mystifying which means Europe will be hard-pressed to support anything Iran does from here on, and the American Democrats have lost an incredible amount of leverage regarding troop redeployment in Iraq. Despite what a lot of people are saying, things are not going well for the Islamic Revolutionary Republic of Iran. If you really want to know what’s happening on the ground in Iran read Kamangir‘s site daily.
1) Heart Stents Unnecessary: Ends up taking a few pills everyday for five years is better for you than having a piece of steel jammed into your artery. The New England Journal of Medicine has published the results of a study which claims non-emergency stents (a coiled piece of mesh put into your artery) do not work better than pills in keeping people alive. Also, the thing aboot the pills is you can eventually stop taking them while the stent is forever. They interviewed some Doctor Dude who claimed the study was so much bullshit, but he looked a little like David Lee Roth and probably needs the stent-operations to support his “rocker lifestyle”. Heart surgery, in America, is big business. So are medications.
2) Alberto Gonzales Interview: The President of the United States gets to decide who his Federal Prosecutors are, he fired eight of them for reasons which appear a little… juiced. But that pesky Constitution says that’s what he gets to do. The Congress, trying desperately to prove they still exist, are using this as a pretext to punish GWB a little. Alberto was on NBC trying to do some explaining… . In Canada the Prime Minister gets to chose judges from lists put together by provincial councils, but he can ignore them and just pick judges at whim. It’s a thing we’re working on fixing.
3) Pat Tillman Cover-Up: Nine American military officers misled and liedaboot how Army Ranger Pat Tillman died in Afghanistan, including four Generals. But there was no criminal negligence in Tillman’s death. Tillman, a former NFL crazy person, was killed by his own troops in a case of mistaken identity. At least that’s what today’s report concludes. There have been a lot of questions since Tillman was killed, mostly asked by his parents and mostly unanswered by the American military. The Americans were looking for heroes to pin their PR Battle on and they found two in Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman. One was rescued by Special Forces in a scripted propaganda movie from the doctors who saved her life, and the other was shot dead by his fellow soldiers who thought he was firing on them. Who — the fuck — is in charge of this cluster fuck?
1) Sunni’s Turning On Insurgents: Violence in Baghdad is down 25% over the past two months from previous months. But it’s starting to spread outside of the capital. Apparently the American government is now in negotiations with Sunni “tribal leaders” aboot getting their support against insurgents, and the talks are going pretty well. The Americans are also starting to “negotiate” with other Arab States regarding the creation of a Palestinian State, which is unprecedented because the talks don’t involve Israel. This is a huge step, especially for this particular President. Five American soldiers died in Iraq over the weekend, four of them in a single attack
2) War Funding Veto Coming: The American Congress and Senate are finally getting the votes necessary to send War Funding Bills to the President which include set dates for withdrawals and troop redeployment, but not nearly enough votes to make them Veto Proof. So they will be vetoed. One random Republican Senator (Chuck Hegal), in an interview in Esquire Magazine, made a veiled threat aimed at the President: “veto and be impeached”. This was quickly followed by a message from the President: “know your fucking role.”
3) Britons Held In Tehran: Go see Kamangir. His site’s one of the very best for this stuff and he speaks the language… I’m just a dancing monkey. Albeit one whose blog recently won an award and whose blog hits have quadrupled in three weeks, but a monkey nonetheless. See? I just scratched myself in a rude place.
1) Quebec Election: Canada has fundamentally changed tonight because Quebec finally decided the quest for sovereignty is dead. Quebec has only had two political parties since the 1960’s when the Union Nationale had their spectacular flameout. Those two political parties had one issue: the Parti Quebecois (PQ) wanted to take Quebec out of Canada and create a new country while the Quebec Liberal Party didn’t. The PQ is, mostly, a Left of (Canadian) Centre party with financially conservative tendencies, while the Liberals are further Right with larger government tendencies. The problem has been that with only two parties and one issue Quebec has gone 45 years with no place to put their vote regarding social issues. If you were a federalist and disliked the Liberal spending sprees you held your nose, voted PQ and hoped they lost the referendum. But tonight that changed, and with that change the chances of Quebec separating anytime soon are zero, zilch and none.
2) Quebec Election: This is how it works… the hardcore supporters of Quebec As A Nation only add up to aboot 20% of the Quebec population. The PQ won Provincial elections because people didn’t like the policies of the Liberal Party, not because they wanted separation. The referendums we’ve had in Quebec were close only because the questions were so vague and the PQ lied to the voters aboot their intentions. So with a third party, The Action Democratique de Quebec (ADQ), all those non-separatist people who voted PQ because they never liked the Liberals have a place to put their vote now. And because the ADQ is a “right wing” (for Canada) party, this means it will be finally possible to have an actual honest-to-God Left Wing Party as its bookend. The Quebec Green Party made huge gains in Quebec, although not quite enough to get anyone elected. So now all of those Lefty Types who were voting PQ because the Liberals are too “right wing” (for a Canadian Lefty) now have an alternative on that end of the Political Spectrum. This leaves the PQ with their hardcore supporters, who will never again have a majority large enough to govern Quebec.
3) Quebec Election: This is unbelievably huge. Even the BBC covered it. Quebec is now a full-on member of Canada. Somewhere Charles DeGaulle can go fuck himself.
1) Quebec Election: So what does this mean for Canada? It means the Conservative Party of Canada did in a year what the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) couldn’t in thirty: create the conditions necessary to bring Quebec into the Constitution (the LPC is not directly related to the Quebec Liberal Party). The LPC, for thirty years, gave in to every demand made on them by the PQ and the separatist blackmail. The result? A 1995 referendum on Quebec sovereignty that the Good Guys won by less than 1%. We were within a few thousand votes of splitting apart. So the Conservative government, which has been governing with a minority for over a year now, did the opposite. Marginalize the separatists, prove to Quebec that Federalism works, support the Quebec Liberal Party but at the same time show Mario Dumont, the leader of the ADQ, some Love and give him some street cred.
2) Quebec Election: Not only has Stephen Harper, our Conservative Prime Minister, broken the back of the separatists, he has set himself up for huge gains among the Quebec Federal Electorate by showing that it’s okay for Quebecers — by voting for the ADQ — to vote “Other”… as in “Other Than The PQ Or Liberals”. It’s a brilliant piece of political maneuvering and a “seismic shift in Canadian politics”. Quebec is now comfortable within the Canadian framework and the Liberal Party of Canada has been exposed for having spent thirty years spreading fear among the Quebec and Canadian electorate for their own gain. Now there are no knives at the throat during any negotiations between Canada and Quebec. Fucking Amazing.
3) Lottery Fraud: Four per cent of lottery winnings over $50,000 have been going to Ontario Retailers (the people who sell and check the tickets), which is a statistical impossibility. A report came out today accusing the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Agency (run by the Ontario Government) of turning a blind eye and being complicit in $100 million in fraud. The government says it’s taking the report seriously.
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I’m Canadian, it’s what we do. Off the ice.
cultural sn:afu 