Last Post

As much fun as I've had blogging over the last year, I've decided to pack it in.  I appreciate all the loyal reader(s) who were interested in my perspective.  I'll likely keep blogging every once in a while at the Marturia blog.

 

Thanks for the memories.

Somalia pushes back against Islamists

The Ethiopian backed Somali government is regaining control of their country and pushing back the Union of Islamic Courts which has overrun the country last year.  The Somali Prime Minister has offered amnesty to the Islamic fighters if they turn in their weapons, and has called for peace keepers.  Let's hope that peace can be brought permanently to that region.

Crime fighting

Here is a summary of what is happening with the Conservatives crime fighting bills currently stalled in Ottawa. 

• The opposition is stalling on the age of consent bill (raising it from an unacceptable 14 to 16).
• The opposition is stalling on mandatory minimum sentances
• The opposition is stalling on cracking down on drug driving
• The opposition is stalling on a bill to crack down on people convicted of three serious offenses

What is wrong with these people?  These are solid ideas, even if the bills need fine tuning. 

 

But I'm sure that the Cs don't mind - they can list these things in the next election campaign and point out how rediculous the other parties are.   You have to love politics.

Christmas in Africa

"We do not know where to escape, we are already suffering from floods, hunger and disease," Abdale Haji Ali told AP from Jowhar. "We are awaiting death." - CTV

 

It looks like there will be war between Somalia and Ethiopia, which is being described as either Islam fighting the infidels or a war to curb the influence of Al Queda.  And where is the UN?  What can they do?  What are they good for?

 

Absolutely nothing.

Former President Ford has died

Who knows if Ronald Reagan would have been elected in 1980 if Ford had defeated Carter in 1976.  Anyway, here is an interesting timeline of his life (interesting fact: his real name not Gerald Ford).

belated Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a great time with family and loved ones over the holiday.

miracles do happen

according to CNN: -- The U.N. Security Council votes unanimously to impose sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program.

Canadian politics

Say it ain't so! Harper has gone green , which is good politics but questionable policy. But It is a good move, so I'll cut him some slack.

From what I've seen, the preponderance of evidence suggests this is a real and a serious problem," he said in a National Post interview yesterday. "As you know, the science has evolved several times even in the last couple of decades, but all the evidence suggests that we should take the problem seriously and start to try and act on it."

This is a new, reinvented, election-ready Stephen Harper. The skeptics and scientists who insist, with some evidence, that severe weather is not a greenhouse- gas-generated planetary scourge have lost a swayable, sympathetic political leader.

The last of the man-made climate change holdouts in the Canadian Parliament has gone green, a shift underlined by a Canadian Press report yesterday that Environment Minister Rona Ambrose will soon be replaced by the more moderate and measured Jim Prentice of Calgary.

The Tories have also renewed and renamed the national homelessness program, and are planning on announcing a $200 million plan for renewable fuel. Gee, might there be an election in the near future?

As for the Liberals, former PM Jean Chretien is back in the loop apparently, offering advice and such. Dion is doing an admirable job reaching out to almost everyone in the party and giving them important things to do. So it should be fun when they don't all say the same things, and when they overshadow the relatively unknown and uncharismatic Dion. He still looks like a soft spoken university professor to me.