I agree that if someone is a recipient of our highest award in the country and they prove themselves morally unfit of that honor they should not have it. However, if Mr. Fonyo Jr.’s award is being stripped due to his criminal convictions, shouldn’t Mr. Conrad Black also be stripped of his Order of Canada? He’s currently halfway through a 6.5 year sentence in a US Federal prison in Florida for millions of dollars of corporate fraud.

From the Governor General’s website:

According to the Article 3 of the Policy and Procedure for Termination of Appointment to the Order Of Canada, a revocation is considered when:

a) the person has been convicted of a criminal offence; or

b) the conduct of the person

(i) constitutes a significant departure from generally-recognized standards of public behaviour which is seen to undermine the credibility, integrity or relevance of the Order, or detracts from the original grounds upon which the appointment was based; or

(ii) has been subject to official sanction, such as a fine or a reprimand, by an adjudicating body, professional association or other organization.

I do believe that being convicted of fraud, paying a $125,000 fine, 78 months in prison, and $6.1million dollars in reparations to Hollinger International (the company he siphoned the money from) counts for all points of consideration listed above. Strip his Order of Canada too!

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In these clips, David Letterman makes some very good points about the USA’s invasion of Iraq, and boils it down to what it’s all really about. Oil. It’s definately worth watching the whole thing.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWOGMKQ1aHo
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_LO-BuhxW0

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A paradigm shift isn’t happening overnight, either – but it’s slowly entering Western conciousness. SUVs are being dumped for a fraction of their purchase price by status climbers who realized they can’t afford to fill up the tank daily on these monstrosities any more. Some people are still driving them around, so these prices haven’t hit the pocket books of those with abundant finances yet.

A few more bicycles are on the road now. I’ve not taken the public transportation recently, but I’ll bet the busses are starting to gain new riders as well. This happened last price jump, and it wasn’t this high. It was the test run I think. Push the market value up, get people used to the idea, lower it a bit to regain consumer confidence, then slowly raise it again. It’s like sitting in a pot of water and slowly raising the temperature – eventually the water’s boiling fatally but it was done gradually enough that nobody noticed.

The solution however, is right in front of our noses – and people are starting to consider it. Walk, or ride a bicycle! It works in Europe. Too many people will hop in their cars to drive < 5km to the store for a loaf of bread. That’s easily walkable in 15 minutes, or five on a bicycle – and you’d get some exercise at the same time. I’ve done it in the rain, I’ve done it in a blizzard – I don’t own a car and never have.

However, most of us car-free bicycle riders are still being looked at as the crazy ones. That’s OK. We know you’ll come around eventually if the pricing trends continue. Think of it this way – prices for produce and consumer items will rise due to increased transportation costs – so high gas prices affect drivers twice as much as cyclists. Just some food for thought.

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Some nations enjoy government sponsored health-care, which I dare say is a very noble undertaking in a capitalist society. It is far more humanitarian to decree that all shall have free access to doctors and surgeons than to charge them for these services. It is a very alarming thing indeed that in other countries health care providers would rather let another human being suffer or die over money. What a selfish and foolish concept – applying monetary value to saving a fellow being’s life!

My point is that to say “all forms of government sponsored social services are evil” is a reckless and fatal attitude to hold. However, blind faith and dependence on these services leaves the average soul in a weakened position. One has access to the social infrastructure, but only if one subscribes to it’s cultural values. Fall out of line and you risk arrest, or denial of these same services. Essentially it is a self-supporting codependent relationship.

Children raised to trust government because it does some good might fall into the trap of accepting that all that a government does is good. And why not? We live in a democratic society, do we not? We voted for these people, as a majority, so they have our best interests in mind, don’t they?

History tells us no, at least not always. One merely has to look at the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany last century to see that. What started as a campaign of social reform and rejuvenation for a battered country was steered drastically into World War II. It was done through propaganda and the government’s realization that they could influence and orchestrate cultural changes for their own ends. By the time it was realized at large that something very evil was going on – the Nazi’s had a stranglehold on popular culture, and the strength to shut down distention.

Counter culture can serve as a check of sorts, against the masses being led astray. It questions the authority of the government and it’s actions, and the wisdom of doing something just because everyone else is. It promotes a civilization’s people to look within their own selves and find meaning, instead of chasing the neatly packaged goals set out before them. Furthermore, as long as you can find individuals living by their own terms, freely, perhaps it can be gaged that not all is lost.

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I don’t pretend to justify Saddam’s actions, however I do believe what the US has done to Iraq by far exceeds them in terms of bloodshed, disruption and inhumanity. It all leaves me with one question: When is Dubyah’s trial?

As a final note, Saddam wasn’t all the demon the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ would have you believe. During his tenure he introduced a Western-Style legal system instead of Islamic Law, increased Women’s freedoms as well as giving them high-level government and industry positions. These things are generally unheard of in Arabic nations.

I wasn’t there, and do not deign to know all the facts. I’m sure History will be the judge of it all, although it’s the victor who writes the books so we may never hear all sides.

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Supposing the US did not attempt to invade other countries and gain control/influence over their oil supplies and the result of not doing so would be that the general populace would have to ease their reliance on the automobile.

How many more people do you suppose would be supportive of an invasion of Iraq given that scenario?

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Yep, George Dubyah’s still at it. In the same news conference that he states they’ve killed (martyrized) an Al-Qaeda leader but that things will continue on pretty much the same. So which is it George? Have you dealt a blow to Al-Qaeda, or has nothing changed? If the violence continues on just as it has, have you actually accomplished anything with this man’s death?

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Such a great example of how well these politicians earn our tax dollars, eh?

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And, oh the arguments are just getting started on this one. I try my best to keep an open mind, and embrace Canada’s multiculturalism as much as I can, and I must say that I agree with some of the comments on CBC’s web-forum asking the Muslim religious leaders here to be more forthcoming in terms of publicly denouncing the extremist sects within their communities. If these terrorist suspects had been another religion I’m relatively certain we’d be hearing some priest on the news assuring people that it’s not their religion at fault.

The world is on edge right now because it’s changing. Perhaps it’s been going on for a long time, but with the rise of the Information Age, there’s a global consciousness that did not exist before – and now we’re aware of the changes. To quote Tommy Lee Jones’ character (agent ‘K’) in the movie Men In Black

“A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it.”

Silence from the community that these extremists are an offshoot from is bound to be perceived as acceptance of their beliefs, at least to the public at large. Right or wrong, it’s a part of Western fabric to be suspicious of middle-eastern descendants. It’s about time we started to address that and educated people of the difference between Muslim and terrorist. Unfortunately for those of the Muslim faith, Western society is not going to do this on it’s own – they’re going to have to step up to the plate and help a little, or they will continue to be painted with the same brush because Western eyes (in general) cannot tell the difference.

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That’s right, I voted for what I believed in. I gave my buck-seventy-five without hesitation. They only got 5% in my riding, but that’s a start. I voted Green last election, and I’ll vote Green next election.

As it turns out, Conservative candidate John Baird won the Ottawa-Nepean West riding with 40%, followed fairly closely at 35% by Liberal candidate Lee Farnworth.

Oh, and feel free to borrow the image above… Just give me a link back for credit if you do. I think I’ll come up with some other nice badges of similar ilk.

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As a final note – it seems I was pretty much right with my predictions, with the exception of the Green Party getting a seat. I must admit I added that as optimism and did not want to jinx things out of paranoia.

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