Friday, December 22, 2006

Brazilian Blogging Break

Just a quick post to let you know that I will be off lounging on the beach up until Jan. 6th... so unless I happen by an internet cafe on my way to grab a mojito... posts will be few and far between.

Look forward to seeing you all again the 2007! Word on the street is that it's going to be a good one!

Thursday, December 21, 2006

We got it gooood

Just noticed this little news item in the Post today (National, not Washington):

According to Stats Can, our avg life expectancy is now 80 years... which is fab... especially compared to what it was in 1851, when it was 42.9 years ... which is what it is TODAY, in 2006, in Afghanistan.

(Other countries worth comparing: Namibia 43.9, USA 77.85, Iraq 68.7, Sudan 58.54 - Source: The World Factbook)

Slippery Slope: The Unification of Church & State

Republican Representative Virgil H. Goode Jr., of Virginia, is outraged at the election of the first Muslim congressperson to the House of Representatives. Apparently, Mr. Goode believes that Mr. Ellison (first Muslim congressperson in question) poses a "serious threat to the nation's traditional values". The thing that is really grating on Mr. Goode (gotta love that name btw!)is that, get this, Mr. Ellison want to use the Koran in his swearing in ceremony.

Something that I find extremely tricky, is reconciling America's "traditional values" of freedom, independence, the individual, and seperation of church and state narrative, with stuff like Congressman Goode's caring who uses what in their swearing in ceremony and "calling on Americans to wake up" or else there would "likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran."... I mean, wouldn't you just be embarassed to say those things in a life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and whatnot, society?

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Ode to Saskboy

Just felt like sharing a little blogger love today!

Whenever I'm having a particularly tough day, I keep randomly, by internet link accident, coming across more of Saskboy's brilliant pictures of those living skies... Just a few minutes of the aurora borealis and everything is back into perspective...

Monday, December 18, 2006

Pictoral Interlude IV

All that talk of pastoral lands has got me thinking about farming in Namibia.

Picture below: farmers on communal land in north western Namibia. This family was having a huge elephant problem - so we worked with them to build seperate water holes for elephants (near the river bed - where elephants migrate - so basically water pit stops off of elephant highways) and seperate water holes for their cattle.

Alberta & Quebec: Separated at Birth?

This summer, I had the opportunity to travel across Western Canada working on one of the Liberal leadership races. I am embarrassed to admit, that before this summer, I was a straight east-west Canadian, i.e. I've been to both the Atlantic and Pacific shores of Canada but had somehow managed to skip over the provinces that bind - the glue that holds us together.

Through my work, I met with Liberals from Selkirk, Man. to the Queen of Sask., to the foothills of the Rockies. It was quite an unforgettable experience, in particular those mind-blowing prairie skies.

Somewhere along the drive between Edmonton and Calgary, I had an epiphany. It was my 27th birthday. We had pulled over for a double double. I closed my eyes. And opened them again. And thought that if I had been blind-folded and plopped down somewhere on that good Alberta pastoral land - I could have sworn I was in a pasture outside of Magog, in Quebec's Eastern Townships. And that's when it hit me:

Alberta and Quebec have tons in common! They are like naughty adolescent twin brother and sister. Alberta is the boy: tough, strong, big on steak, and pick ups - going through the sort of football team stuff - Quebec is the girl: into hippy environment stuff, open liberal views, free love, laissez faire attitude.

Neither likes to be told what to do by the parent (i.e. Canada). Both demand respect and to be treated like adults and will do whatever they please - thank you very much.

But I think that both of them, like any teenager, have a deep down/hidden respect for a strong parent, who isn't a push over, who challenges them, who tells it like it is, who doesn't overtly pander to them, and who, no matter who they bring home or what they experiment with, will be there for them when the going gets tough.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

The View from Down Under

Came across this interesting post on the Lib leadership race, by a progressive Australian Group blog... (Also interestingly enough, the blog, titled: Larvatus prodeo, has a section for posts that fit under the category "Blame Canada")

I am all for international blog cooperation! Wonder if there is a way to say, link progressive blog groups in Australia with - something like - Prog Blogs in Canada?

Saturday, December 16, 2006

All I Really Want...

Disclaimer: This is my 100th post. So in honour of this momentous event, I’ve put on my naïve political blogger cap. I know the following is completely unrealistic – but I wanted to blog with a healthy dose of naïveté today… Why? Well, why not?

Despite the complexities of a minority government, the wheelings and dealings, the backroom politicking, today, I am going to talk about two issues that I think are so incredibly important that we shouldn’t be playing politics with them.

First, I’d like to given Stephen Harper’s Conservative Government credit because unlike their predecessors, they seem to sort of “get” what minority government is all about. Minority government is basically a special platform to campaign on until you win a majority. Once you win a majority, then you can really start to govern or run the show or what not.

I think that one of the reasons behind the fall of the Martin government is that they didn’t fully comprehend that they had a minority – which means in essence: Canadians were putting them on trial. The way things were run, smacked of a minority running around dressed up in majority clothing trying to act all majorityish. I know that my opinion is not a novel or innovative… but I wanted to put that paragraph in so that later I won’t be accused of not being able to give credit where credit is due and of being too politically biased.

That being said, naïve cap back on, all I want this holiday season, is for our government, my Prime Minister, (whether I voted for him or not, he’s still MY Prime Minister) to rally all 308 MPs from the different parties and stop playing politics with the following two things. They are just too important and lives depend on them.

So here we go, my wish list:

1) Climate change - Can we please stop pointing fingers and saying he said, she said. I am no less guilty of adding fuel to the fire on this, but I am getting sick of all the debating. Can we please just get on with it a do SOMETHING? anything? I want to know, dear government, what I, me, small being that I am, can do to reduce my contribution to global warming. I want direction, guidance, on how to make my apartment more fuel-efficient. I travel on a lot on airplanes, so I want to off set the emissions that come forth bursting from the plane’s rear. Heck, I want to lead a zero emission life! And all I am hearing from Ottawa is a lot of hot air. Let’s just do something! Enough already.

Also, can we please stop debating the science on this? For the non-believers (I am keeping my fingers crossed that despite the PM’s comments on “so – called greenhouse gases”, he does actually understand that no one is debating whether they are in fact, greenhouse gases any more...), yes so non-believers, can’t you ask your questions – explain what tools, answers, etc you need, so that we can all move on this together? Can’t you pick up some Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, read Science magazine, or watch the Inconvenient Truth? I don’t know, do what ever it takes so that the government can get some answers to your questions and that we can just move on with it?

Next on the list:

2) Proper respect for the lives of our women and men in uniform - I think that when this happened, I wasn’t blogging yet so I didn’t have a chance to express my outrage. Now we have a Prime Minister who claims to be a friend of the military. The thing that I don’t get is, how on earth a “friend of the military”, could dishonour the lives of Canadian soldiers by not doing them the service of having a full public debate on their mission in Afghanistan? Is that too much to ask? Why weren’t our MPs given the chance to discuss, debate, question, and examine how long the lives of our troops are going to be in danger for?
This isn’t a statement on our mission in Afghanistan. It’s just that I am worried that we are playing politics with Canadian lives by rushing a vote without a proper debate on Canada’s involvement in a war torn country.

Okay so that was quite a rant. But those two things have been bugging me for quite some time. As I said, completely naïve to believe that you can’t play politics on absolutely every issue during the trying times of minority government. But if I could have just two things these holidays, they would be: real movement on the climate change file, and an open, public debate on Canada’s mission in Afghanistan... Is that too much to ask?

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Tony, Tony, Tony

An initial much-appreciated-for-his-frank-nature, White House Press Secretary, Tony Snow, seems to have landed himself in a bit of hot water with the press corps. Check out Dana Milbank's hilarious yet depressing Washington Sketch article in yesterday's Post.

Highlights of the article: "When Snow took over as White House press secretary earlier this year, reporters found it refreshing that he was willing to admit when he didn't know something. This has become rather less refreshing as Snow, while claiming access to Bush's sanctum sanctorum, continues to use the phrase -- more than 400 times so far in televised briefings and interviews. Sometimes, it seems more of a tic than a response; usually, it's a brushoff.

Why so many 'dunnos'? "Because I don't know all," Snow explained, knowingly."

Now, I know that not every press secretary can have prewritten and prepared and fictional scripted answers like C.G. Craig - but as you read the rest of the article, the amount of things that Snow doesn't know moves from comedic to down right unnerving.

- On another note - apologies for the lack of postings this week - following the leadership convention I have been completely, pardon the pun, snowed under with work...

Monday, December 11, 2006

DeLayed Reaction - Welcome to the Blogsphere

A quick shout out to my new blogging homeboy Tom DeLay. That's right - fresh from the heels of one of the hottest political scandals in recent history - DeLay's got a brand spanking new blog - not to be confused with tomdelay.blogspot.com.

I encourage you to check them out - they are both quite a tribute to the blogsphere.

Betting on Barack

Now I know that Mid Terms are just barely over, but apparently, Americans, just like the Liberals (gospel according to Macleans) love speculating about the next big political race.

So, here I am about to boldly go and declare - based on nothing more that watching Countdown with the sound off while bouncing up and down on the treadmill - that Barack Obama will win the Democratic presidential nomination. There you go, Ladies and Gentlemen, you heard it on this blog first. I am either bright enough or stupid enough to put my money on Barack this early in the game...

... I'm just hoping that by that time, the political winds of change will have blown through my home and native land and that I'll be able to watch Barack savoring the sweet taste of democratic nomination victory from above the 45th parallel...

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Pictoral Interlude III

To be honest, I am not too big on negative postings - or negative campaign ads for that matter (though I know that they can be effective)... So to mute the tone of the last post (though I don't think I was being negative, rather just expressing an opinion) but regardless...

Let's compare two genus species of elephants: the African elephant (very dangerous and a threat to farmers in some part of subsaharan Africa)...



...and the Indian elephant (very tame and great for manual labour and doubling up as sacred animal for blessing people before entering into Hindu temple)

HARPOCRISY

This just in from the guy busy defending your human rights last week - oh wait, I'm sorry - the guy busy trying to revoke rights from us last week... unfrickenbelieveable:

STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER ON INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

December 10, 2006
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today made the following statement to mark International Human Rights Day, which commemorates the 58th anniversary of the United Nations' adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

“Canada’s New Government is committed to the promotion and protection of human rights both at home and abroad. We will continue to stand up for human rights and take principled positions on important issues to ensure that freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law – values that define our country – are enjoyed around the world.

"This anniversary is an important opportunity to focus the international community's attention on the need for universal acceptance of human rights and to recognize those whose ambition and livelihood it is to achieve this..."

Getting the Message "Right"

Based on a dinner conversation with a Democrat political operative, I came across this report by George Soros' Open Society Institute.

Random fact: "right wing" think tanks tend to spend 25 - 30% of their budget on "message development, public education, and government/media relations" while, "left wing" think tanks spend the vast majority of their (usually considerably smaller) resources on research and policy development... interesting... very interesting...

Friday, December 08, 2006

Holidaying it Up at the Canadian Embassy

It's the holiday season and I'm am due back at the Canadian Embassy for another round of celebrating North American cross border cooperation! Well, hmmm, not me exactly, more like the guy who invited me was ... (not exactly sure how they do up their Embassy reception list...)

Now, if I was a Conservative/Reform/Alliance supporter - I'd feel it was my duty to report back to the Canadian taxpayer and say how the Father of the GST felt inclined to spent your tax dollars greasing the wheel of CAN-US trade relations (with an open bar, these delicious cheese artichoke thingies, and of course - mini sandwiches chocked full of Alberta beef)... I, however, am inclined to take a more open view of things, and appreciate the more subtle art of diplomacy and recognize that reception can actually do miracles in promoting CAN-US relations.

There was an interesting mix of US government officials and business reps(that I guess have a business interests in Canada) as well as Canadian Embassy staff and other random guests (this blogger being one of them).

Conversation ranged from: "what is a nation?" (are there different connotations or underpinnings of the meaning "nation" in French than in English?), to the importance (or lack there of) of dual citizenship.

The keynote speaker raised the three main areas of CAN and US collaboration. And to the backdrop of classical Christmassy music - his number one issue was not what I expected... Climate Change! Combating terrorism came in only 3rd on the list...

Could this be an indication of a changing CAN-US dialogue post a newly elected Democrat House and Senate? Or was "combating terrorism" last on the list for emphasis? A sort of crescendo towards the end of a paragraph? I don't know.

All that to say, that since my last, July 4th visit at the Embassy, when Alberta's leaders and trade ambassadors were highly prominent, this reception (held in the main hall - instead of on the roof deck) - held a slightly different tone... Felt to me like the cold December wind that buffeted the building last night, also brought with it a whiff of changing times...

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Missing Italy

Maybe it's just this fab Italian wine that I'm sampling tonight or overhearing some Italian today at work, but what ever it is, it's got me missing my days at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, Italy.

Nostalgic pictures below:



The view from the top of the FAO lunch room.



Ancient swimming pool at the Villa Adriana (about 30 mins outside Roma).

Monday, December 04, 2006

Convention Photo Diary

Still at a bit of a loss for words to describe the convention, so please find below a chronological photo account of the convention...

... one of the fun parts of the week - I was "outed" to Paul Wells at the Iggy hospitality suite on Thursday night. That night, Wells' predicted a Micheal victory and a Dion loss. He said that he just didn't feel it "coming together for us"... hee hee hee... The Saturday morning after the 1st ballot and the two votes ahead in 3rd place - ran into him again and ask him if he wanted to revise his prediction... he hemmed and hawed... Again, Sat night at the victory party - Wells reversed his prediction and claimed it was predicated on him not wanting to jinx the race - well said...told him I'd blog it...

... another highlight - communing with my fellow bloggers at the Bloggers Only room (was graciously let in by Tribe). Nice to put names to faces. (However, started to feel v lame when people started to talk about hits on their blogs per day. I am thrilled when I get 30!)

Now without, further ado, the pics:



Dion enters the hospitality suite Thursday night at the Place d'Armes Hotel - Now known as Place Dion :-)



Friday scene - Dion Liberal Red



Dryden delivers the best speech of his campaign. Just goes to show that hockey players know how to rally. They can be losing 3 -0 in the last 3 minutes of the 3rd period and they play their hearts out. What a man!



The tide sways Dion Liberal green

And again for the final ballot - tous ensemble!

And finally Calgary Grit has a hilarious - Top 10 signs you were at the Lib leadership convention this weekend.

Gotta Love Him!

Dion's first question in the House is on women's rights and cuts to Status of Women Canada.

...how much are you willing to bet the Harper wasn't expecting that one?

Hey, maybe Progressive Bloggers can get M. Dion to write his own "5 things Feminism has done for me"?

Searching for the Words

Just wanted to say, that after 4 days of slogging and sleepless nights and a tremendously moving victory (check out Scott Tribe's description of my reaction)... I am still looking for the words to describe it all... will post soon.