Most new jobs taken by migrants. And so?

The BBC reports that more than half of the jobs created since 1997 in the UK have been taken up by migrant workers. This won't be good news for the Government, who have enjoyed an immigration record that resembles a tragicomedy. This, however, is no big deal. There are still vacancies for Brits and if we have a look at the top 20 occupations (still by the BBC) the picture isn't bleak at all. Most new arrivals do jobs that many Brits frown upon, or wouldn't really want to do if benefits pay just fine.

These guys aren't really stealing your City jobs and the good-paying ones, are they? Those who are still young or of working age and complain might as well get into some education or training and get into those jobs where they won't face the migrants' competition. It's the "get going" stimulus. In extreme cases it is called "head extraction from backside" and it is a benefit to society.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7069779.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5273976.stm

Where's her brain?

One seriously wonders how Marois' neurons are wired, because despite being attacked from all sides and blatantly going against common sense she perseveres in her insanity, going head-on against Charest, claiming she isn't intolerant but a "democratic person" who wants to have that debate (on law 195).

Enough discussion on law 195. Pauline Marois is demonstrating a lack of commonsense and totalitarian apartheid-like tendencies that probably stem from some kind of frustration. If this is true, someone please send her some chocolate! She might have taken example from the wackos who showed up at the Bouchard-Taylor hearings suggesting only french-speakers should be entitled to free Quebec healthcare and other drivel.

This means she's going after the most unrecommendable bunch of voters there can be. This might win her a few seats but will be a catastrophe for a province that needs skilled immigration if it wants to survive at all.

StatsCan reports that the net outflow from Quebec is highest since the year of the sovereignty referendum. Please, someone in the PQ pop their head out, open their eyes and take the hint!

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2007/10/29/qc-quebecmigration1029.html

Pauline, take a piece of advice. The group you are brown-nosing to is not a voter platform one can be proud of, let alone court. If anything parties should unite to inculcate some intelligence into those heads reverberating with dull and sinister hollowness. Have you still got anyone whose IQ is above 1 supporting you?

Please think. It's something you haven't been doing for a few days.

Communism stems from skin boils

Marx had a chronic skin condition with known psychological effects. A condition that causes scarring, inflammation, discomfort and pain. This caused ample frustration that Marx vented in his correspondence. I suppose he developed communism so he could lash out at the bourgeoisie without people getting bored of his rantings.

It is official: Communism is the result of vented frustration caused by skin boils. No wonder it's unworkable. And you thought it had anything to do with improving the condition of mankind?

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL3067539420071030?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

Premier speaks, doesn't say enough.

In a somewhat unsurprising move Jean Charest intervened directly in the debate over reasonable accommodation, to salvage the salvageable bits of Quebec's reputation of tolerance and openness. The Bouchard-Taylor talking shop, better defined a circus by now, has been an unfathomable failure, providing a relief valve for many people's repressed bigotry, ignorance and hate of anything that's not like them. If anything, the commission's conclusion should be that the greatest problem aren't the immigrants but some Quebecers' heads.

For the sake of Quebec's reputation and everyone's mental health please pull the plug on that commission right now, or bring it to Montreal and then pull it.

Lashing out at law 195 comes a little late. As Premier he should have condemned such a proposal the very second Pauline Marois pulled it out of her backside. Rather than promoting a culture, this law creates a government-imposed one, with severe punishment (privation of rights) for those who do not accept it. Unless one comes from Cuba or North Korea I think anyone would shiver at the thought of such an aberration.

It sounds like the whole province is going nuts. Charest should know that there's no problem a cup of tea can't solve. However he mostly lashes out at the other parties for "fanning the flames". He's not completely wrong, but the letter becomes just another bit of fire and political machination. It's time to call a tea break in this acrimonious debate. Pull the BT commission, get rid of law 195 and just all shut up for a month, take the time to learn the lessons from this debacle and do some self-analysis. Then start over.

As a responsible Premier, Charest should have done just that. Instead, he produced just another half-baked invitation to be more polite and restrained.

PQ plus royaliste que le roi.

Some commonsense from those who are charged with overseeing French in Quebec: immigrants shouldn't be forced to learn French (CBC). Preserving a language can't be done through coercion and punitive laws. That's just a way to get the language hated and drive people away from Quebec. The PQ's dictatorial stance on this issue is unjustifiable, yet they still try to defend Bill 195 despite the failings in the French teaching system.

Personally I'd love to learn to speak French better, but I haven't got enough opportunities and time. Does this make me a bad student immigrant?

Come on, pequistes! The intelligent people in the province, all other political parties and even the language watchdog are against you. Plus royaliste que le roi, eh?

Viruses to cure cancer

Scientists have reported having engineered very potent viruses to target exclusively cancer cells and cause them to die (from the Globe and Mail). This is another demonstration of the power of biotechnology and the endless therapeutic opportunities it offers.

But I say tread carefully, for the world of viruses is very murky and they are darn smart and flexible beasts. Many of them can mutate very fast, so tight safety must be in place. Results are promising, but one shouldn't rush into human trials straight away, at least not before having ruled out the possibility of mutations that would make the virus deadly. Keep in mind it is a smallpox virus they're tinkering with. Some viruses can even act as carcinogenic agents themselves. There's a whole world out there and we've just peeked through a hole in the curtain.

Again, I will reiterate the essential role PR and communication play in science: this discovery could save lives, but it needs to be communicated and promoted openly and appropriately. Please spare us the company marketing of the sort we've seen with a completely different class of product, Gardasil.

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/10/26/cancer-virus.html

Iraqi insurgents clash. No US victims. Good!

That's some good news at last: the bad guys in Iraq shoot the crap out of eachother. About time it started. Groups linked to Al-Qaeda were set on by Sunni insurgents and got their backsides kicked. And reports have it that some insurgent groups are actually cooperating with US forces with fighting against Qaedists. (Source: Reuters).

This is another show of the dis-unity of the insurgence and the different souls of Iraqi anti-US fighting. I don't know what the Pentagon strategists are planning, I would recommend a nice "divide and rule" approach. Let the insurgents nail the Qaedists, then have the various rival groups fight until both are too exhausted to oppose any resistance to the US Army. Surely any of these groups, when taken separately, would gladly throw grenades at any vehicle bearing the US flag. Why not let them use those grenades on eachother while watching from a distance munching popcorn?

Once an insurgent always an insurgent, at least don't risk US men when ridding Iraq of that plague. Dividi et Impera: worked for the Romans, will work again.

Veils off, Carnival's gone!

Veiled voting is to be made illegal. I say it's about time! Having people vouching for each other's identities is ridiculous. While we achieve the ban on face covering, the Tories shouldn't forget leaving these women an option such as fingerprint or iris scan ID validation. They register once (on entry to Canada or at an Elections Canada office) and from then on they can validate their identity without having to show their face.

There has to be a thorough debate on how we value the vision of a person's face. Obviously it is an obvious and immediate sign of identity. An Italian 1932 law, never abolished, forbids the concealment of one's face in any way including masking in a public space unless on public occasions whereby such behavior is accepted or expected (e.g. Carnival). Its application to women wearing the Niqab always gains prominence in the media, but no-one modifies the law which stands since Fascist times.

I say ban face concealment within reason. One must be able to wrap himself in a scarf when it's chilly outside! Not being able to see someone's face when there's no need to conceal it creeps me out. If I go to the stadium I expect people to wear team masks and the like. When it's cold I expect people to be wrapped in scarves.

If I wouldn't go into a bank in a gorilla suit, why should anyone else be able to hide their face in public places? This kind of legislation should be coupled with reasonable police power to stop-and-verify.

Carnival is only once a year. It's not rocket science, folks. Let's get crackin'.

If discrimination doesn't pay let the market act!

Barbara Hall presents us in today's online Globe and Mail with a very interesting opinion on the nature of human rights and their importance. Despite agreeing with many of her points, I feel she places too much emphasis on legislation and not enough on the individual and the distinction between right and freedom.

While it is true that many episodes of intolerance stem from prejudice and stereotypes, the point Hall seems to be pursuing is the need for state legislation and its enforcement. I disagree. It is the duty of the State to promote a peaceful and cohese society through education and awareness campaigns, a.k.a information. It is not the duty of the State to dictate people's behavior. There is the justice system to deal with the infringement of people's rights such as harassment, racism, bullying and other kinds of physical, verbal or psychological violence.

A formal and legal hierarchy of rights is not the mistake Hall presents it as. It would merely be a statement that certain rights that everyone is entitled to override the freedoms that certain groups can claim. For instance demanding that the local school serve halal meals is a reasonable request, however there should be no imposition on the school to do so. Enrolment of the child in the school implied acceptance of the terms (i.e. the school doesnt serve halal), while prior to enrolment the parent can choose a school based on that criterion or choose to supply the child with a home-prepared lunch. This is an option that allows parents to prevent their children pigging out on unhealthy food in the school lunchroom.

The above is just an illustrative example of how the right of others to choose what to serve (and any other choices they may make) cannot be trumped by demands stemming from a privately held belief. Needless to say in a true choice system schools failing to meet customers' demands will see less enrolment from those particular groups.

Hall's further elucidation on equal treatment not resulting in equal opportunities contains a few fallacies as well. It is not true that a company's policy banning religious garments will deny opportunities to Muslim women who choose to wear headscarves. A company is a private institution, and as such has the right to impose any policy it wishes. Being employed by this company is a rational choice people make and implies acceptance of the rules. As much as employing a person is a decision which is entirely up to the boss. In a true free market system discriminatory bosses would exclude talented individuals from their company and ultimately be overwhelmed by more talented competition, or be boycotted by rights-conscious consumers.

In the public sector, in any case, equality must be strictly enforced because the State has no right to discriminate against those who pay taxes just like everyone else. This equality however cannot trump other people's rights and choices. This difficulty in balancing rights and freedoms is exactly why the public sector should be reduced as much as possible, leaving the maximum space for an efficient competitive market.

I am first in line saying that discrimination is evil and merit and equality should be valued. But I also believe the market is the best enforcer of equality because it drives uneconomic and unviable choices (such as discrimination) to open failure. If Quebec passes the ridiculous PQ law it will drive skilled immigrants to other provinces, thus draining skill from Quebec and leading the province to decline and the PQ to failure.

Human rights advocates, as Hall says, still have a long way to go before achieving the society they envision. However I propose their focus be on education and promotion of awareness rather than legislation. Let the market fail out the discriminators.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071026.wcomment1026/BNStory/National/home

It'll take longer, but don't give up!

As much as one can't spend his way out of trouble, there's no magic wand to fix any problem overnight. CBC reports Gen. Rick Hillier giving a longer timescale for building up an efficient Afghan army to protect the security of the most rebellious provinces and guaranteeing efficient government control over the whole territory.

This does not surprise me, although it will disappoint any optimists who still saw a successful end to the Afghanistan mission in the short term. The country has been torn by conflict for decades, and the transition from being a country at war to being a country at peace is usually difficult. Even in economic and social terms conflict is a powerful destroyer. A war society is likely to be founded on an individual's survival and present safety, with a more short-term focus. Long-term investment and faith in the future tend to be relegated to lower positions on the priority list. That's at least how I see it.

One of the duties of the mission (explicit or implied) was to begin helping people regain confidence in lasting absence of conflict and danger. Many of us, I suppose, would testify that for one to regain our lost trust is quite a difficult process. Imagine how hard it could be for an abstract notion such as "lack of conflict".

The loyalty structure of Afghan society, imho, doesn't help either. From my knowledge tribal and ethnic loyalties tend to be prioritized, possibly followed by local and individual ones. Rebuilding a functioning, present and trusted State in what decades of conflict and volatility turned into quite a civic wasteland will require decades, and training up an army is just the beginning.

Despite all difficulties, we have a duty towards the Afghans. We took up the call to come in and help them. Whatever defects some, and only some of them may display we cannot abandon them before being sure their country can run itself one way or another. Otherwise they'll once again be left alone in the face of greater dangerous power games.

The combat mission must end if this is the will of the Government and Parliament. However, I think Canada should not disengage from Afghanistan. Setting up a big military training centre in a safer area, beefing it up with training personnel and getting down to improving the throughput would be an excellent step in the right direction.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/10/25/hillier-afghan-mission.html?ref=rss

Throne Speech passes, Dion's time passes too.

With the Throne Speech passed and the Liberals scared of the election the Conservatives can now get all the legislation Canadians are positive about approved whether the Liberals want it or not. If Dion wants the government to fall on a bill then the Tories will be wise enough to push through these popular laws first and foremost, and fast if they don't want to allow the Liberals the time to regroup.

When it's time for the Liberals to call it quits it will definitely be on a bill which appeals to Conservative principles, on which the Tories are confident of winning over people's minds. Overall the Liberals' credibility is rock bottom, as is their integrity. I feel sorry for Stephane Dion because he might have bought his party some time, but he is not likely to receive thank-you cards anytime soon. Nor is he likely to become Prime Minister as he so adamantly admitted wanting to during his flip-flop speech on the motion. Nor is he likely to be remembered in history books or be cited as a great politician.

Stephen Harper, on the other hand, will probably be quoted as one of the greatest political strategists of the decade. Proud to support him!

Don't let the Mafia into Canada, please !!!

The media were flooded with news of the arrest of several Italians in Montreal linked to the Mafia and to members of their clan in the USA. This is worrying. Organized racket is a danger to society, and it very sad for me, as an Italian, to see my own countrymen export this vile product. The massacre in Duisburg, Germany is yet another sign that the Mafia and its criminal traditions are still alive and well, and spreading their tentacles abroad.
Today's La Repubblica reports that charges have been filed against the mother and sister of disappeared police co-operator Sebastiano Mazzeo, who decided to speak about his clan's activities. Charges of, believe it or not, leading him to his killers by persuading him to come out of his hiding to meet them. Mafia mentality strips human beings of all human traits, and those brave enough to speak up are permanently in danger.

http://www.repubblica.it/2007/10/sezioni/cronaca/catania-omicido/catania-omicido/catania-omicido.html

Canada cannot allow this kind of activity to sink its roots into Canadian soil. This activity, as well as its perpetrators, have to be pushed out of the country's borders or into the jails.

The Government and investigators have, in today's world, plenty of other concerns. But please, no-one forget that the dark tentacles of the Mafia always slip through during a watcher's moment of distraction. Please keep up the guard, mark an Italian's word!

Don't bend the system, beef up intelligence.

The USA will have to rethink the way they tackle terrorism through the courts - Reuters (more or less). The recent events around the Holy Land case, where a charity was accused of being a fundraiser for Hamas should have us thinking about how much can we really bend a justice system for the sake of national security without abandoning the principle of due process and the rule of law.

Some of the defendants have other terrorist precedents, and it's a stain on their names and reputations, and hopefully their immigration records as well. However the fight against terrorism should be conducted from a high moral standpoint. Trial is, in the ideal case, rightful, public, with evidence, discussions, cross-examinations of witnesses and a jury's verdict. When one is arrested one must know on what charges, and within the rightful cautionary detention time know what the evidence is.

To me the idea of someone being arrested on the grounds of a weakly corroborated intelligence leak and held in custody without knowing what kind of case they're knitting around him is scary to say the least.

I'm leaning towards security certificates here. Although I applaud Harper's commitment to the security of Canadians, I do believe the certificate legislation is a step in the wrong direction. The answer to a heightened security threat is better intelligence services, beefed-up investigation units, efficient co-operation with foreign and international intelligence agencies. No-fly lists are fine, they are less of a media sensation than someone held in custody.

The security certificates are not a good prospect, for they are a dent in the rule of law, especially in the way they treat the right of access to evidence. My vision for a terror trial is the following: CIA reports someone is suspicious, Canadian intelligence and police hone in on the guy and follow him everywhere, collecting data and evidence. When there's enough material for a trial the guy's busted and brought to court.

I know this sounds idealistic, but first one creates special advocates, then special judges and special juries, and then we end up with a two-tier legal system. We shouldn't be going down this road. Instead, we should be beefing up Canadian intelligence services and Canadian police, to make sure Canada remains a beacon of the rule of law and the rule of right.

Note: this post probably won't go on BloggingTories.

More madness from QC nationalists

Who do quebecers vote for, seriously? Local Councillor Andre Drouin declared that Quebec shouldn't tolerate any kind of religious or cultural accommodation of immigrants, and advocated sovereignty as the only way to pull out of the Canadian Charter of Rights and enforce this astonishingly wrong vision of secularism. Now, secularism is not about intolerance. For instance France's secularism is commendable, as it bans every prominent display of faith.

People can believe whatever they want and not force it upon anyone or display it prominently. If I want to have lunch and my office colleague is fasting I don't mind. If my colleague wants me to fast too I mind, a lot. If someone else says my colleague has to eat lunch like everyone else, I mind even more. I do mind not seeing a person's face, if it were a Muslim woman I'd rather she wore a hijab rather than a full niqab (which is not a dress prescribed by Islam anyway). But I'm not the one ripping veils off faces.

Mr Drouin's kind of secularism is of the wrong kind. What's more, he brings the whole Quebec into disrepute, as are doing some of the Reasonable Accommodation Commission hearings. The guy should relax.

A little relaxation might also help him stick his head out of his, er, you get my drift.

Banning abortion for better demographics

Apparently two members of the Russian Duma (the lower house) introduced a bill to make abortion illegal. No Christian fundamentalism here, they claim it's just to counter the demographic crisis the country is facing. To an uneducated mind (or one of low IQ) the maths is simple: abolishing abortions in a country where there are more abortions than births is the one solution to a declining population that risks driving Russia to extinction.

Hmm, how come I'm not impressed by this reasoning? Restricting abortion requires firstly a strong family culture and a society that doesn't burden single parents. Russia lacks both. Most families are kept together by the women, sometimes the elderly ones, while it is not uncommon for men to just abandon their wives or fiancees when they are about to give birth or when the child is still very young. With life expectancy for males decreasing steadily due to several factors among which alcoholism, having children is not a matter of choice but a gamble for women, where the stake is their own future.

One might say that's fine, but abortions aren't about married couples. Fine then, what's the deal for a single parent in today's Russia? The State doesn't provide anything reasonable in terms of welfare, state schools are still going strong but the job market is weak, and in the most faraway parts of the country there's nothing to do but drink. Top universities are impossible to get into without either being a genius or being an able briber, and males get taken into the army as soon as they're 18. And we haven't addressed the parent's side yet. Try combining enough jobs to pay for living and bills and raising a kid in Russia, especially outside the metropolitan areas.

As usual, mediocre pseudo-politicians refuse to see the roots of the problem and just go the easy way. All at the expense of the vulnerable, whose voice is always the last one to be heard in countries where civic society stopped existing ages ago and is only now starting to form again.

Islamic cleric says "smokers = animals"

Malaysian islamic cleric says: Smokers are like animals, they "did not use their brains because they continued to let themselves be addicted to the habit".

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSKLR9878820071022?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

This is so stupid I will not bother commenting at length. This person lacks the basic neurons to spot the fact that addiction is not just a rational process. Also, quitting smoking is hard, as many have noticed.

He goes on to say "People who do not want to think are like animals". Just like the crowds of gullible sheep that go hear your and your like's rantings and take them as pure gold. Just like you, Mr Nik Aziz.

I'm tempted to light one up right now. So much for an anti-smoking campaign!

GOP candidates debate: who's more conservative?

Reuters reports Republican candidates battling eachother, trying to determine who's the most conservative and who's got the best conservative track record. I don't know what you people think, but I find this utterly childish. It'd be fine if they debated how conservative policies would be applied, thus sieving out the crazy ideas that can't be trumpeted as election material.

First they woo the religious right, then they lash out at eachother. Hasn't the GOP grown tired of being headed for a loss? Don't they want to put up a good fight? Most importantly, since Karl Rove seems to have quit the scene, haven't the candidates got brains working in their PR departments telling them this is a mistake after another?

Good Lord, their feet will soon lack flesh to shoot into. Or am I not getting something? Polls aside, I would be giving the Democrats higher odds anytime.

Paedo should rot in jail

Alleged paedophile Chris Neil is not under charges in British Columbia, his home province. Well he should be. His crimes are heinous and as far as I know Canada should have a law permitting people to be prosecuted for such crimes committed abroad. And if it doesn't, it's about time it got one.
Overall this man should do his time in jail in every country where he committed his abuses. Surely spending the rest of his life in Thai, Vietnamese and Cambodian jails will be a deterrent for other similar perverts, and they'll think twice before engaging in their twisted fantasies.
And just in case he was still alive when he comes out of the last south Asian jail, there should be some good restraining orders waiting for him at home.
If this man is the one Interpol was looking for, he doesn't deserve to ever get out of jail!

TMI, J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling declares that the headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore is gay. Nothing wrong with that. But did we need this kind of information? Rowling is intelligent enough to understand that speculation brings popularity and readership, why she needed to break it out is beyond my comprehension. Moreover, although Harry Potter is a mass phenomenon a lot of kids read it. He's not a real person, why couldn't Rowling just keep the speculation growing?

To avoid misunderstandings, I don't care if Dumbledore leans the other way or Severus Snape has a dark fetish. I just feel at times we are bombarded with Too Much Information.

Wooing radical Christians won't do GOP any good

Reuters reports Giuliani courting the religious right in the USA, just like Romney. Although this could be a good strategy to win votes in an upcoming election, it is doubtlessly a shot in the foot if long-term voter support is sought.

OK, so Giuliani got a lukewarm reception because those present couldn't face the fact he is for abortion rights, while Romney keeps getting bad looks because of his Mormon faith. It looks like the Republican candidates are trying to woo the nastiest and, among their ranks, dumbest people in the country. Despite the presence of intellectual people in the religious right galaxy it is beyond question that many of the nasties are probably unable to spot their brain from cow dung.

Although I recognize everyone's right to base their vote on whatever characteristic they deem of value in the candidate, I also advocate candidates shaping public opinion instead of just following. The extremes of the religious right's ideology do the country no good and will never do. If we followed their ideas we'd be living in caves. Fine with debating deeply rooted moral values, fine with disagreeing on them. But for Christ's sake sometimes the debate resembles two deaf men shouting at each other. Having these people's heads stuck in their backsides (here's the cause of the narrow vision or lack thereof) is of no help either. Many of them would gladly tread on universally cherished freedoms and rights. R.I.P America the land of freedoms if the religious right gets real power.

This courting of people who would love to impale anyone who differs from them leaves the centre ground open for the Democrats to conquer and secure. By the time Republicans awake to a series of defeats everywhere except their much-coveted Bible Belt it will be too late to recapture the centre.

I say the Republican candidates should take that stain on America's freedoms that is the religious right and try to wash it off by bringing it slowly towards accepting the notion of freedom and individual rights. These preachers should try to conquer people's minds rather than force their ideology on others through the government. And candidates should come across as strong and determined leaders rather than cihuahuas on a leash held by lobbies.

They should do it for the sake of their party's future.

Parti Quebecois gone bananas

Outrageous, discriminatory, nuts as a squirrel's dinner: defining the recent Parti Quebecois proposal to create basically two tiers of citizenship requires no big effort.

Understandably, the PQ platform consists mainly of defending the French language and getting Quebec as close to independence from anglophone Canada. What makes their agenda unacceptable for anyone with a pinch of salt in their head is their aim to cut through people's rights with a chainsaw. From Laws 101 and 104 (if I remember correctly), which all but ban the right to choose an anglophone education, now the PQ goes to the lengths of creating a Quebec citizenship and barring non-francophones from any kind of political participation, including the tabling of petitions at the National Assembly.

Firstly, there is no such thing as a provincial citizenship: either you are a Canadian or not. If Quebec wants its citizenship then it has to leave the Federation, and it doesn't seem likely.
Secondly, if they are so heavy on Quebec values then equality must be among them. What they are proposing goes against their own platform, since discriminating on the basis of language is a form of racism.
Thirdly, if the PQ is so aiming to avoid the formation of ghettos and separate communities among immigrants by demanding they assimilate Quebec culture, proposing this nonsense law creates a government-sanctioned ghetto: non-francos denied every political right in their own country.

Although I doubt this will ever pass, it is a stain on the PQ and, thanks to the media attention, on the reputation of Quebec and Canada as a whole. In a country that prides itself of its multiculturalism, open-mindedness and excellent immigration record the existence of such proposals is an unacceptable offence. Pauline Marois offends me, decent Quebecers, Canada and anyone who places any kind of value on equality and rights. I hope she gets a nasty rash.

This reeks of racism, and I would be curious to see how well it would go down with Canadian and international courts and human rights watchdogs. I'd love to see the PQ investigated for this, it can't be legal!

I have a proposal. If the Federation applied the same rule for English anyone without a good knowledge of English would be denied election to the Parliament in Ottawa. This would rid us of Stephane Dion overnight. Who would we laugh at, then?

On mores and wasted wages

The BBC reports that protests in Bolivia involve the trashing of bars and brothels. The accusation: they sell alcohol to minors and distract the males of the community (not surprising).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7049155.stm

Am I the only one to be amused at the irony of all this? With our civilized societies having to frequently face underage drinking (and related health and safety problems) and overt prostitution, those we deem to be our own backyard (and bit*h) can sometimes show a little more mores, albeit not when it comes to protecting property.

On another note, the news of members of the new advisory panel on Afghanistan getting stupidly high wages (close to a grand a day) beggars belief. This is an unacceptable waste of money, considering also that these people likely have another job and another wage. With the course for Afghanistan mostly determined, what is the purpose of this panel? Possibly the purpose is to come up with the conclusion that Canada can't withdraw anytime soon. This is the harsh reality, despite the Liberals advocating the "run" tactic. But with such wages, I doubt the outcome could be different anyway.

Liberals are done with

Dion ordered his party to let the Throne Speech pass, signifying his downfall. His performance was dismally uninspiring. Following that, his statements such as "I want to become Prime Minister" and "it worked for [Harper], it will work for me", used to justify the Liberal's abstention just testify to his weakness and ultimate political ineptness.

Come on, I'm no politician and I know all too well that such phrases would make me the country's laughing stock. Poor Dion.

The Liberals want to bring the government down on a confidence issue, as my friend Tim aptly remarked, so that they can choose what the election will be fought about. This means the Conservative government now has the chance to bring in the legislation Canadians want and the Liberals can't stomach but can't vote down lest they completely lose people's trust.

The wall is broken, now send the right troops through the breach: the bills that the CPC and the people of Canada feel strongly positive about. Once those are through, go for the bills calling on Conservative principles but don't have such a broad approval, bills that should trigger an election, on issues the CPC can really shape public opinion on.

From today the Liberals will only get hammered more and more. Bring it on.

Father of DNA loses his marbles

James Watson has come out with scandalous assertions that black people are less intelligent than whites. He's not new to scandal, having at some point said that if genetic analysis revealed the homosexual nature of the soon-to-be-born baby the mother should have the right to abort, among others.

If this guy ever claimed to have discovered DNA on his own I would know he stole someone else's notes. Intelligence comes from nurture, and predisposition to have more white matter than others is just a small added bonus. Same goes for other character traits such as music skills or political leaning. This kind of nonsense reeks of prejudice and ignorance, and if he knew half of what we expect him to know he would be the first in line advocating racial equality.

Thank God Watson isn't a graduate of my alma mater, UCL, otherwise I would be very ashamed to share something with this man. On the other hand, he might be the proof that in old age we tend to lose our marbles.

Throne speech - some big gambles

A very good Throne speech, with points on arctic sovereignty, continuing the effort in Afghanistan, watching over the use of aid, a strong focus on federalism, fostering Canadian unity through free trade and government funding for healthcare and social services.

Visual identification of voters - Harper got quite a rap on the topic, why did he bring it up again?
The focus on the middle class is a core Tory value, but the concern about rising higher education costs and affordable housing left me quite bewildered, especially the former.
One single crime bill is a daring move, possibly trying to cash in on the momentum if the Liberals vote in favor of the speech - those measures would die off if introduced one by one. However Harper here is really rolling the dice. The mention of youth crime will definitely anger the Liberals.
Security certificates are another big hot potato and I disagree that such measures should be introduced, terrorism can't be fought by lowering ourselves to that level.
Kyoto is dead and no amount of wishful thinking can bring it back, but the cuts envisioned by the speech are a commendable target. If the Liberals criticize the speech for ditching Kyoto, in the face of more ambitious targets and the introduction of real measures to tackle climate change, such as the free trade in emissions, they will shoot themselves in the foot.
The water strategy will have to take into account the contribution of the USA to the pollution of the Great Lakes, which isn't a small problem!
As for the product quality and safety standards, I say "About blipping time!". No-one advocates the health&safety madness the UK has, but jeez there has to be some benchmark high enough, and safeguards for consumer safety.

So much focus on First Nations. Is this really the courting of ethnic voters?

The debate will be interesting, Harper is playing with fire imho. The speech is very Conservative, and it really testifies for Harper's political and ideological integrity. Whether this will win him an election is another matter.

Greens make me laugh

A good morning laugh is the right start for the day, and today was Liz May's turn. She self-righteously proclaims that Canadians want to oust Harper and that they want a leader who keeps his promises. The Green party then goes on to unveil their humongous policy document, which can be summarized in just a few words: the Government will take over your lives and you will have to like it.

As per textbook statist behavior, not only the Greens allege that the Government needs to take over everything and tell people how to live and how to behave (anyone disagreeing make some noise!) but they also arrogantly assume they can read people's minds or impose their own ideology.

FYI Liz, polls show the Tories on the rise, and the fact that a minority government has managed to function for nearly two years is a sign of democracy. As a matter of fact, this Government did get things done. You say "I have faith in democracy". I have it too, and I happen to admire Harper for ensuring real democracy, where a really heterogenous majority agrees policy.

This is democracy, and people will realize it. But keep the comments coming, Liz, I need morning laughs.

Leave Casey alone

Whatever we might think of Stephen Harper, his behavior over the Bill Casey matter hasn't been very appropriate. The news of Casey's CPC riding association wanting to field him as a Conservative candidate further fuels the debate about Harper being a controlling person.

Rebels have always existed and will always exist. Their integrity frequently goes unappreciated. As the Leader of the Party, Harper had the right to take action against a rebel, which can also include not allowing him to stand in his riding as a Tory. However, Harper didn't need to keep hammering it in.

Now that the local association is rebelling as a whole, Harper has a tough choice. Backing down would imply weakness and scarce control of the party, not good on the eve of a delicate Throne Speech debate and several important bills coming through Parliament. The alternative would be to say openly that Casey should run as an independent if he is confident of winning the riding, leaving the choice of Conservative candidate (or lack thereof) entirely to the riding association.

As many have remarked, Harper should have been smarter.

Kyoto flop is not a stop to greening

Greenhouse gas emissions stay stable and well above Kyoto targets - Globe and Mail.

Like we needed reminding. Action on Kyoto is commendable, but hoping to fulfil all obligations is synonymous with wishful thinking at best. What parties should do at this point is recognize the mistakes that were made and make sure action is taken to right what can be put right.

The looming flop of Kyoto will have to make it into the Throne Speech now, at least the acknowledgment part. It would be unwise, however, to write off environmental commitments at once. Harper should send out both a realistic and a positive message, recognizing that Canada will fall short of its Kyoto targets but at the same time has learned from the mistakes and is set to contribute to reducing its emissions and general pollution.

Liberals: pragmatism required

Finally some good news, the Liberals might let the Throne Speech through if it's not too right-wing. As I hear it, this is a big white flag flying from the Liberals' headquarters.

An election right now is the last thing the Liberals want, having suffered very painful by-election losses, seeing their party torn apart, an unreliable leader and Jean Chretien lashing out at Paul Martin in a memoir book. The Conservatives are on the rise and the Quebec nationalists are declining. An election call right now would probably yield a stronger Conservative Party, although probably no overall majority.

Stephen Harper has been grabbing the centre ground in these months, keeping loyal to core Conservative values. Of course this Throne Speech will not be too right-wing: one wouldn't want to scare away hard-earned support and get an election all in one go.

Mr Dion, just say you'll vote for a moderate Throne Speech you'd expect from a Conservative Government you don't have any chance of bringing down without shooting yourself in the foot. Show some pragmatism at last, it might pay off more than blind obstruction.

Nicaraguan insanity

The BBC runs an interesting reportage on the insane abortion law in Nicaragua, where such practice is banned outright regardless of the situation. Claimed as a great victory by anti-abortion campaigners, who happen to be very prominent and devout Catholics (surprise surprise), it has apparently led to tens of avoidable deaths. The stories of girls raped aged 11 and 13 (and pregnant both times) are quite telling, considering that they had to keep the baby from the first attack.

In case people don't realize, 11 is sixth grade age, approximately the time when your school maths starts getting interesting, when children are discovering that middle school is more fun than primary. I will not go into the physiology here because people know what I mean.

So this great victory for pseudo-devotion now has 11-year-old mothers, scares women out of choosing their own health over their death (in cases where this applies) and punishes doctors who want to save a woman's life.

OK, I am a Tory, and I believe that abortion can't be a lifestyle choice and can't be provided just on the basis of a future mother's whim, let alone provided as a lifestyle choice through the public health system. But for God's sake here we are talking about children having their innocence ripped out of their souls, women being crucufied for the sake of blind bigotry, lives being ruined and spreading bereavement.

Instead of preaching this kind of cow-dung some people should concentrate on sticking their heads out of their butt-holes and facing the true ugliness of some parts of this world, and the ways we can make sure its effects are mitigated. Over-zealous pro-life laws are a condiment we'd all rather not have on our religion.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7041048.stm

As as aside, this kind of nonsense also applies, apparently, in Chile and El Salvador. Although the current Nicaraguan President is from the left-wing Sandinista front, the legislative body is not controlled by that faction and therefore this law can't be undone.

A funny video for a rainy day

This is a hilarious video I came across while shamelessly procrastinating. Save it for a rainy day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckiNT26elxk&NR=1

Advice for China: never say never

The Commies are at it again: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7043942.stm

So China will never copy the Western style of democracy, huh. Why does that ring a bell for everyone with a faint knowledge of history? Someone else said, many decades ago, that his country's system will bury American capitalism. That country was the same Soviet Union which imploded without honour or dignity in 1991, and Communism has thankfully been receding ever since.

True economic progress is achieved only with a sustained drive towards individual freedom, otherwise the benefits of growth are not shared by the general population. The current Congress is set to change the Constitution to include provisions for avoiding pollution and preventing a widening gap between the rich and the poor, the former getting richer and the latter stuck in a rut.

Pardon me, wasn't Communism made exactly to serve that purpose? Clearly something has gone terribly wrong if they haven't managed to solve that problem in over 50 years. If the Communists wasnt to stay in power they'd better start reforming their system radically, rather than clinging to an ideology that has been confined to the dustbin long ago. How about private ownership of land for starters? How about limiting the power of local officials? How about taking some duties away from the central authority? There's no need for a multi-party democracy if you don't want one, but this comes at the expense of the State shedding off its influence on people's choices.

I'm sure that in my lifetime I will see either the red flag go down or Marx and Mao turning in their graves one more time seeing how far their societies have strayed from their perverted ideologies. I'll keep a good champagne bottle chilling in the fridge for that occasion.

Never say never, comrade.

Girl married aged three. Personal freedom, Kabul-style.

La Repubblica, and Italian newspaper, reports a fact from Afghanistan: a three year old girl has been "promised" to her cousin (7 years old), all done with a ceremony with both families present and stuff like that. The official marriage should take place when the girl is about 14.
http://www.repubblica.it/2006/05/gallerie/esteri/kabul-sposa-bimba/1.html

This kind of stuff is shocking. Leaving aside the obvious fact that they are relatives, what kind of people would arrange so bindingly their children's future, leaving them no choice when they grow up? Where is the culture of individual freedom? Where is respect for choices? If that is good parenting for these people then I weep for the country. If civilization ever came into Kabul (and it did) it left that wasteland long ago.

When your children grow up they might decide to follow a different path, to discover new things. This kind of culture condemns the future generations to a life of idleness, bound to their current culture without any chances of helping to develop it and make the country progress. I bet a hundred bucks to your loonie that kids are on the way as soon as the girl is legal.

No wonder these countries have lagged behind the rest of the world for ages, and will continue to do so. And we want to bring them democracy? Good luck doing that!

A primary that's not even an election

Tomorrow (Sunday) Italians will be asked to vote for their preferred leader of the newly-created and already much-speculated-about Democratic Party. Contrast this with Berlusconi's anointment of his close advisor Brambilla to lead a new grassroots organization and you get the picture of how Italian politics is at a crossroads.

But wait! The outcome of this election has been clear to all ever since the DP was conceived. All the other candidates state for some reason that they aren't running against the soon-to-be-crowned Veltroni, they are running FOR him, to make his candidature stronger.

This makes me cringe. Okay you want people to choose the leader, and then everyone else runs just to support Prodi's dauphin, with manifestos that don't differ for most part. There are, thankfully, some exceptions, both manifesto and personality-wise. The principle, however, remains the same: you export a democratic tool and bend it for the usual party politics we've seen for decades.

Moreover, while the newly founded DP claims to be the voice of change, the party of new faces and whatnot the average age of the founding council is over 60, its leader awaiting coronation is a mayor and has been a party apparatchik for years and everyone's complaining that it's just the usual populist feat.

Elections and primaries are about competing visions, about competition. America has this tradition stemming from its society and history. You can't export a system without having the social, historical and intellectual bases that led to it, stated Tocqueville in his "Democracy in America". True as ever today.

I really hope someone different from Veltroni wins, to signal a definitive switch from party orders to people power. But the usual Italian resignation to fate and the mentality of "it's been decided anyway" will surely prevail again, making this new DP just a new character the same old soap opera we've seen in Italian politics for years.

Ganja is not cool - do something about it then!

An enlightening article by the BBC on the use of cannabis among Britain's young: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7042881.stm

Moms giving skunk to their kids so they don't go buy from street dealers, lots of under 16's smoking the crap, people growing it on their balconies, you name it, they got it all! Now police chiefs say some parents are complacent and they should be doing more to deliver the message that doing Mary-Jane is not cool. Duh!

What else do you expect when you declassify cannabis from class B to class C? When a kid can take his parents to court for assault when they kick him out of bed and make him go to school? First you take all power away from parents and enforcement officers, then you realize you have a problem. Didn't see that one coming!

Ganja is a drug. It blows your neurons. It makes you idle. It destroys your willpower and ambition. It makes your head fuzzy. It destroys your worthy friendships. It makes you behave weirdly. It makes you waste money. Why can't people understand this, and keep rambling on about how it's not too bad and how it's better than having a cocaine problem et cetera?

If the point is zero tolerance then act accordingly. Reclassify the drug. Jail those who sell it. Hammer in the message that if you smoke skunk you won't get anywhere. Don't just sit idle and watch as the country's young plunge into smokey oblivion.

The Dutch have an apparent tradition of not being able to form a government for a couple of months after elections or resignations. Too stoned to negotiate? Do we want the same fate?

Toronto gun crime - get society back on track

Rising gun assasinations in Toronto are balanced by an increased clearance rate - Globe and Mail

Statistics is a good way to lie since its inception, but this one will not fool anyone. The aim of any city authority and any government is to prevent homicides from happening, not just uncovering the culprits.

Normal people don't go around with loaded guns shooting their peers. Normal people resolve disputes peacefully, they use the justice system, they sometimes give each other a punch in the face. To take a gun and aim it at another person is a voluntary act of senseless violence that stems from a lack of civilization. Be it a gang execution or an act of madness at the end of a heated dispute, it is the ultimate disrespect of the value of a human life.

So a big thumbs up for Toronto investigators for bringing culprits before Themis, but thumbs-down go to everyone involved in forging the bonds of a civic society that doesn't inculcate the principle of the sacredness of life into people's heads stronglynough.

While Toronto is swayed by gun murder, England experiences killings by youngsters and regular "just for laughs" stabbings. It all started when Government started meddling with parenting and the school system, making everything lenient and shielding everyone from the utter reality of failure or wrong. When everything started to be easy and guaranteed, when one couldn't be brought back on track for good, when responsibility became an opinable concept.

Whatever goes on in Toronto, it better get back on track, or we will have to get ready for more tears and gunshots. Gun murder is a symptom of society breakdown, one way or another. Do something about it before the situation gets too hard to fix.

Tax cuts - but where's the money?

Dion wants to propose a big tax cut for businesses. Lower taxes are a driving force behind a healthy economy and a guarantee of a less interventionist State. I'm all for that.

But wait, where will the money come from? One can't cut net tax revenue without decreasing expenditure. Will the liberals take out a huge mortgage on Canada to be paid by future generations? Or will they give with one hand and take with the other uder the cover of some stealth scheme?

Promises are good, show us the plan now.

Why Al?

Al Gore jointly with the IPCC won the Nobel Peace Prize? Why?

The IPCC is a sound organization which produces scholarly research and brings together people of high intellect. These guys know what they are doing, and as such deserve this Nobel fully.

Al Gore is a politician, and an unsuccessful one to begin with. Secondly, this Nobel awarded to him comes in the midst of reports about serious faults in the pseudo-gospel he preaches to the masses about climate change. He has taken climate change and made it into a good publicity tool.

I don't question his noble aims, but please spare me the insult of putting him on the same level as the scholars and intellectuals who sit on the IPCC.

The Bloc in agony?

The Bloc Quebecois is running out of steam, as is blind Quebec nationalism at last.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071011.duceppe11/BNStory/National/home

While Mr Duceppe might relish in the knowledge that only his party is truly Quebecois, one seriously asks oneself the question of whether people actually care. To add to his ill-concealed xenophobia he garnishes his anti-Conservative and anti-Ottawa rants with slammings of multiculturalism, immigrants, English language and anything else he can think of, citing Quebec culture as ever so special as to not be manageable by some federal party that wasn't truly Quebecois.

Quebec is different from the rest of Canada, as is Ontario from Nunavut or PEI from Alberta, however speaking French more than the rest of the country seems to be a valid excuse for Mr Duceppe to lambast the Federation and claim even more protection for French in the province.

This kind of ill-aimed vitriol is a symptom of a deep ideological crisis within the Bloc. As always a party on its way into oblivion resorts to last-minute populism, trying to stir up the most mediocre feelings of those still foolable by harsh talk and gratuitious abuse. Conservatism will bury nationalism under the banner of freedom, common sense and tolerance. Forward!

Juggle your potatoes better next time, John Tory!

So John Tory lost in Ontario. Big deal. He made an amazing lot of mistakes, and had he won he'd have known it was due solely to his opponents' sins. The Conservatives might thank John Tory though. He ensured that several lessons are learned by the party and its local affiliates in one go, rather than spreading the learning process over more polls like butter over a Canada-shaped toast.

Tory's gaffes and venturing into hot topics were not helpful. In the rest of the world the Liberal parties are masters in the art of bringing their opponents down. I doubt Canada is an exception. As stated in much more depth on other BloggingTories blogs, one need not hide his opinions. However, the hottest potatoes should be dropped first, and let to cool down. Closer to election time it is time to juggle more everyday concerns.

Keeping with the potato metaphor, if one juggles cooler potatoes one doesn't burn his hands. Other candidates take note.

Recognise the plight of the Armenians!

Rice urges the Foreign Affairs Committee not to trouble relations with Turkey by ditching a Bill to recognize the genocide of Armenians by the Turks at the beginning of the last century. Earlier this week Turkey arrogantly stated that such a Bill would cause friction in bilateral relations between them and the US.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7038095.stm

Bend it as you like, what happened was not a war or an insurgency or whatever the Turks want us to believe. People were forced out of their homes, made to walk barefooted for hundreds of miles with nails in their feet and summarily killed merely because of their ethnicity (and possibly religion).

Not that the Turks were new to this kind of atrocity, just think of the massacres that occurred in Greece before it became free from the Turkish yoke. Just like then, they refuse to acknowledge any of their faults.

What happened was genocide. The Turks were trying to extirpate and possibly destroy the first Christian nation in history. If that's not genocide, I only wonder what is. With its claims to EU membership and modernisation, Turkey still fails to come to terms with its own history or its internal contradictions.

Do the EU countries want such behavior to go unnoticed at the negotiations table?
Do the US want to condone the denial and falsification of history?
Do we want to submit to the whim of hypocritical rulers who shut themselves in a closet of darkness, blindness, ignorance and deafness?
Do we want to bend our morals and integrity to suit a country that never ceased being, deep in its heart, Islamist and revisionist?

Armenians all over the world are crying out for justice and fairness, to have their plight recognized, to have the memory of their lost kin enshrined alongside those of the millions of innocent victims of blind hate and murderous madness.

If Turkey wants to be modern it has to recognize its past mistakes and learn from them. Otherwise a dangerous precedent will be set that will destroy the EU's moral stance and integrity.

Rice is spitting on the memory of all genocide victims. Excellent foreign policy tactic, Condi.

Northwest Passage belongs to Canada and USA

Somehow the opening up of the Northwest Passage seems to be heating up the tempers in the US and Canada. Reason: they can't agree on who controls the route. To make matters worse, other countries are pushing their claims to rights of exploitation of the route for shipping.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7033498.stm

A basic look at the map shows very clearly that only Canada and the US can claim those waters, with an option for Denmark in case ships want to sail close to Greenland. A ship would enter the Arctic through the US-controlled part of the Bering Strait, sail along the Alaskan coast and then enter Canadian waters, exiting in Atlantic Canada.

I'm not a geographer nor a lawyer, but claims by other countries to that route seem ludicrous to say the least. If I discover Russia is one of the claimants I will laugh: they claim half of the Arctic seabed for themselves and want free rein in the Northwest Passage as well!

If that route will need maintenance of any sort (icebreakers or other routine operations) then it will only be fair for a joint US-Canadian venture to charge fees for the route's use. If there's no maintenance then standard territorial water rules should apply. Ultimately if you don't want a ship in your territorial waters why should you let it in through that Arctic backdoor?

Proportional Representation sucks. Full stop.

This matter has been debated ad nauseam on Canadian blogs, but it deserves unlimited mention due to its importance. The introduction of proportional representation in Ontario, to any extent, is wrong. Politics is never a one-man game, however the relationship between a representative and his/her constituents is a sacred bond that PR severs.

First off, PR puts all the political power in the hands of the party apparatchiks, who reward obedience to their whim by assigning candidates to higher positions on the list. Parties demand a degree of ideological consistency among their members and candidates, but PR is the starting point of dictatorships within the various parties that fight the elections. If progress is driven by the difference of opinions and debate, the connection between PR and the degradation of politics is plainly evident.

Secondly voters have the right to know who they are voting for. They have the right to quiz the candidate and make their decision based on the candidate's merits. PR takes the candidate's individuality away in favour of a general and frequently insipid platform, designed to address some major issues, leaving local issues to sort themselves out somehow.

Which leads me to the third argument against PR. A representative is the voice of the people that vote for him/her. Many local issues need a hand (or a reminder) from the central authority to be addressed, such as road by-passes to ease congestion. With the current system, a local candidate has to be aware of local issues and bring them to the attention of the institution he will belong to if elected. In a proportional system it is unrealistic to expect tens of candidates from the same party to agree on a list of local priorities since they probably won't feel any attachment to any particular district anyway.

Italian politics has been marred by PR since its inception, making it a mediocre political system that reeks so much you can smell it a mile away. Ten years of first-past-the-post didn't help either, since smaller parties didn't just vanish. Instead, they formed coalitions with larger parties and demanded to have candidates fielded in safe districts in exchange for their support.

PR culture is like a cancer: you can't cure it. Don't let this kind of junk into Canadian politics, or the consequences will be felt by our descendants as well.

Propriety Police - God save us from such stupidity

While the US are realizing that spreading democracy isn't just about Election Days, Starbucks and rock music, the party most governments prefer to deal with in Palestine (Fatah) sends out a new kind of police, the "Propriety Police". These guys are charged with the amazingly vital task of ensuring that improper behavior does not occur during Ramadan, such as smoking, eating before sunset and social interaction between young men and young women.

Right, is this the kind of behavior we expect from the moderate party we deal with? We froze all funding to the Hamas nutters because we deemed them radicals and terrorists who didn't recognize Israel, but Fatah is no better deal. Having tasted the rampant radicalism in certain segments of society, they are keen to monkey those whom they earlier despised. Rounding up to the lowest common denominator is, as usual, the easy way out.

What hope can there be for a society where a blatant denial of rights and freedoms by a government is at best greeted with enthusiasm and at worst just frowned upon? If I want a sandwich I should be free to get it at any time, be it day or night, from someone who is willing to sell it to me.

Be it Propriety Police, a National Committee for the Prevention of Nose-Picking or any other nonsense it has no place in a society on the way to progress. Bland attitudes to such patronizing behavior are a symptom of complacency and gullibility.

Considering the kind of ranting they hear all the time from their local radical leaders the hopes for progress in what used to be one of the Middle East's most promising pseudo-democracies look bleak. If they are visible at all.

Today is Thanksgiving Day. Among the thanks we raise to the Almighty, thank Him for the precious right to think and decide for ourselves that Canada and other real democracies grant us.

Just leave the people alone!

Gordon Brown just called off a general election that was much speculated about, in Italy the right has been asking for an election every day since they lost their majority, Ukraine sees its fifth poll in three years and Pakistan held an election, but the results can't be published until a court ruling.

What the hell is wrong with political leaders? Democracy isn't about voting every morning, it is about accountability, transparency, working for the general population rather than one's own clique, being empowered by the people rather than by God's grace or birthright. Ten elections a year do not make a better democracy, and people know it all too well.

Elections are laborious, stressful for everyone, distracting for both the institutions and the citizens (bombarded with electoral propaganda) and divert attention from the real issues that the government, whatever colour it may be, needs to address.

There are set rules for the game. Once in four years people say who their representative in Parliament should be. Until Parliament can sustain a Government, these must be able to work for the implementation of their agendas. Once the situation is in gridlock the voice goes back to the population. Playing with polls is just being cheeky while pretending to be democratic.

Can't politicians just get on with their job? They are elected to rule or oppose, not to bicker endlessly. Early election speculation based on positive polls is a blatant abuse of people's right to vote.