Pundits sum up 2003

Dec. 31 - There's some good links over at Jack's Newswatch from Canadian columnists some year-end summations.

Rosie di Manno of the Toronto Star has Out with the crass, the cretinous declaring that 2003 was the year of living stupidly. She reminded us of things we'd much rather forget.

Gillian Cosgrove of the National Post writes about The dubious, devious and dumb of 2003. Note the reminder at the top of the page reminding us that as of January 24, only paid subscribers will be able to read the subscriber-challenged NP online.

Nice lead up to Mark Steyn's column in the Jerusalem Post (it may require quick registeration, and the paper is well worth the time.) He has some thoughts about predictions: The great, the good, the wrong.

The editorial in today's Calgary Sun (limited link life alert) has High Hopes but it's mostly because 2003, which they describe as "reeling from crisis to crisis," has finally ended.

Those those crisis had another common thread and Walter Robinson isn't happy that Some of our leaders are missing.

Posted by: Debbye at 06:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 185 words, total size 2 kb.

Bam earthquake update

Dec. 29 - Everybody wants to help victims of the Iranian earthquake. The article describes efforts being made in Toronto and encourages people to contribute to the Red Cross:

Last night a spokesman for the local Iranian community said an umbrella organization called the Bam Iran Earthquake Relief Committee has been formed in an effort to coordinate the fundraising efforts of over 25 Iranian-Canadian organizations.

Another article notes that concerns about the government and black marketeers have altered fundraisers strategies:

Mistrust of the Iranian government is "widespread through the Iranian diaspora across the world," said Sam Norouzi, a member of a Montreal coalition working to bring relief to people in the southern Iranian community of Bam, destroyed Friday in a strong earthquake.

Donated supplies shipped by families were sold through the black market during an earthquake in the early 1990s, he said.

This time, many members of the Iranian community in Canada are funnelling their money via the Canadian Red Cross to avoid a repeat of the situation.

Never give up hope! A young girl pulled alive from rubble. The article also notes that 3 men pronounced dead stirred in their shrouds.

According to this Fox report, a provincial government spokesman said that 25,000 bodies have been recovered. Aftershocks continue to tumble the few remaining walls and compares the city of Bam to a moonscape.

Posted by: Debbye at 06:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 227 words, total size 2 kb.

Ouch

Dec. 27 - I've been trying to resist the temptation, but I just can't. Go here and think "South Park:"

Canadian Ambassador: "We've already apologized for Bryan Adams. In fact, we've apologized a number of times."

Are they prophets or what?

Posted by: Debbye at 10:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 43 words, total size 1 kb.

Reconstruction Contracts in Iraq

Dec. 27 - This should provide plenty of ammunition for those who already think Canada is an amoral nation of free-loaders: U.S. policy on Iraq reconstruction bids is not justified, Canadians say.

A strong majority of Canadians feel the United States is not justified in refusing Iraq reconstruction contracts to companies from Canada and the other countries that did not support its war effort there, a new poll suggests.

Seven in 10 Canadians - 71 per cent - believe that Canada should not be excluded from bidding on projects to rebuild the Middle Eastern country, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos-Reid for The Globe and Mail and CTV.

Residents of Quebec are the most adamant, with four out of five of those polled agreeing that the United States was not justified in making this decision.

Almost as many British Columbians - 77 per cent - offered the same opinion, as did 69 per cent of Atlantic Canadians.

Obviously, I don't know how truly accurate this poll is, nor how maniupulative the questions. But we have the interpretation of the poll from the good old Globe and Mail, ever the revisionists:

Companies from countries including Canada, Germany and France - critics of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq - were told that they need not apply for any of the $18.6-billion (U.S.) worth of new contracts being awarded to rebuild the country.

Critics? More like obstructionists. More like used a corrupted oil-for-food program to help Saddam and his bloody regime get around UN sanctions in exchange for lucrative oil contracts despite the costs to the Iraqi people the program was supposed to protect.

More like Oil. For. Palaces. Tatoo that and wear it with all the shame it deserves.

More like acted as a go-between for Saddam and North Korea for the illegal purchase of missiles. (Hey there UNSC member Syria, how much is oil costing you now that the illegal pipeline is turned off?)

More like sold Saddam weapons and plastic shredders to use against Iraqis and keep him in power.

More like supplied Saddam with enough money to keep his torturers and police state apparati in clover.

More like sent military experts to advise Saddam on his military planning.

Tell me: as Canada did not support the Iraq War, just what justifies Canadian bids on those contracts?

Canada's PM Chretien travelled to UNSC member Mexico to enlist their support against regime change in Iraq. (Read the article, it may stimulate a few memory cells.)

Chretien (who is also connected by marriage to a family that controls majority interest in France's TotalFinaElf) collaborated with the countries of the Axis of Weasels, Syria and Saddam Hussein to maintain the pretenses of the oil for food program all the while circumventing the stipulation that the proceeds be used to purchase food, medical supplies, and those things needed to keep the electrical and water supplies functional.

The UN took a 2.2% cut to help foster the illusion. Kofi Annan personally signed off on all expenditures under that program, yet the proponents, including PM Martin, of the "international community" have the balls to proclaim themselves best suited to conduct a trial of Saddam in the international court dominated by frigging Belgium?

A change in faces in the Cabinet does not reflect a change in policy, PM Martin, except to the deliberately delusional. It's still the same Canadian Parliment, a majority of which voted not to support the US and only reluctantly, and with much prodding from the Canadian Alliance, voiced lukewarm support that Saddam had been removed as more mass graves were uncovered.

PM Martin, in the name of Canada, is whining that Canadians want a) US tax dollars and b) to turn Saddam, the man Chretien and Parliament tried desparately to keep in power, over to an international court run by the very people who collaborated with Canada's former PM Chretien to keep Saddam in power with the approval of the Canadian Parliament.

Weasels they were, and weasels they remain.

Yet Chretien, in the name of Canada, had ordered Canadian ships in the Persian Gulf not to detain Saddam or any members of his family if they were caught fleeing Iraq despite a truckload of reports from international human rights organizations that accused them of torture and murder.

That is all way, way beyond "criticism."

Canada wants better relations with the US? On the surface, the Martin government will get it. But if Canadians want better relationships with Americans, which would mean restoring trust, it keeps getting more elusive. The US electoral system and our separation of powers guarantees that the will of the American people will be heard in Washington DC, and no elected official forgets that.

Like it or not, this poll is guaranteed to earn contempt from Americans, because the perception will be that when it comes to lucrative contracts paid for by US taxpayers, 71% of the "morally superior" Canadians are eager to hop aboard the gravy train.

Furthermore, too many Americans know that when it comes to self-defense, Canada is too freaking cheap to spend money on her own defense capabilities so US forces will have to babysit provide security for any Canadian contractors in Iraq.

How can Canadians convince Americans that they are worth it? I live here, and even I can't be persuaded that US soldiers should risk their lives to defend greedy Canadian contractors.

Damned right I want that money to go to countries like Bulgaria and Thailand. Bulgarian and Thai soldiers were killed today, and I am grateful for their sacrifices and to their people. We share something with them we don't share with Canada: the willingness to bear the heavy burdens.

We know who are friends are, who we can count on, and who stands tall in this world. I am overjoyed that we are building stronger and closer relations with them as well as with the British, Australians, Italians, Danish, Poles and Spanish, and if I regret that Canada is not numbered among them, it doesn't mean I'll overlook Canada's lack of moral imagination and give her a pass.

One last time: the US is not the one on trial. The rest of the world is.

Nothing can long withstand those who passionately love freedom. If the day comes when we do fall, we'll go down fighting and give future generations such examples of courage and determination as to light their souls with our passion.

UPDATE: I usually enjoy Ralph Peters' columns, but this one has me fuming because it appears the US is again stiffing the Poles. I have an idea: let's not do that. We're still trying to shake off the stench of Yalta. (It is an excellent column, by the way. I just hate the message.)

(Globe and Mail link via Neale News, FrontPage Mag link via Instapundit.)

Posted by: Debbye at 01:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 1143 words, total size 7 kb.

BSE cow from Canada

Dec. 27 - Please note that this is a tentative conclusion: Mad Cow Was >From Canada; U.S. Exports Down. It's nice to see the investigation is proceeding so well:

Based on the Canadian records, the cow was 6-years-old - older than U.S. officials had thought, DeHaven said. U.S. papers on the cow said she was 4- or 4-years-old.

Huh? Am I the only wondering if they are talking about the same cow?

UPDATE: Evidently not.

Sorry for being so irritable, but we went through all this in Canada just last spring. The one clear fact that emerged was that there were precious few facts: most of what was being said about the disease was speculation: they aren't sure how (or even if) the disease is transmitted from cow to cow, if it can jump cross-species (referring back to elk in Alberta stricken with lung wasting disease,) and if it can occur spontaneously which in turn would render much that has been done to stop the spread of the disease (including the wholesale slaughter of herds) an expensive public relations act which had no real effect in containing the disease.

As I commented yesterday, they still don't know how the Alberta cow became infected. That just might be the starting point for a new series of investigations to test current scientific theory about the disease.

The age is significant because the United States and Canada have banned feed that could be the source of infection since 1997.

Ah, usage of the word could which implies some doubt, but remains the number one solution for prevention of the disease.

I really, really hope that the federal, provincial and state meat and argricultural agencies have been conducting ongoing tests and discussions since last spring when the disease hit the beef industry in Canada.

UPDATE: Paul and Jack have some other thoughts on this.

UPDATE: Maybe one of my New Year's Resolutions should be not to fall behind reading Glenn R.'s blog. Here is the link to his round-up of the Washington BSE case links, including one from a Canadian government agency stating that the Alberta case was determined to be spontaneous (science types might be especially interested in that link.)

UPDATE: The Toronto Sun has a brief Q & A about mad cow disease. As I stated early in this post, Canadians have already been through this. The best solution is don't eat cow brains (which is totally easy for me because there are just some things I won't do anyway. It's just a part of my cultural bias. No offense to Capers, but I don't eat fish heads either.)

Here's a link to the UK Dept. of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs webpage for BSE.

Posted by: Debbye at 12:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 457 words, total size 3 kb.

The Scrawler's picks for 2003

Dec. 26 - The Scrawler weighs in with his choices for Honourable mention for the stars of 2003:

Not going to knock those choices but if Scrawler were choosing, I would have given our Canadian men and women in the armed services the honour in what was a year of war -- whether the government in Ottawa wanted to acknowledge it or not.

The troops in Afghanistan certainly know they are in a war and when I was in the Persian Gulf, onboard both HMCS Regina and HMCS Iroquois, the understanding was this was serious and dangerous business.

The troops do us proud and for that I'd give them the number one spot. But that's me.

Not only you, Joe, not only you.

Read the column, his other choices for honurable mention. He invites email for other contenders, so I'm firing off mine for Dr. Donald Low, who's professional demeanour certainly helped reassure me during the SARS crisis.

Posted by: Debbye at 01:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 166 words, total size 1 kb.

Canada. vs. Bloggers

Dec. 25 - Beau Jon Sackett, another American in Canada, sent me this link from Boing Boing: Canadian Liberal party trying to shut down political parody site with crappy Trademark claims which refers to this report at the Paul Martin Time website.

Canadians should read the two links and compare the parody site with the official one (link below) and make their own judgements. I take paraodies for granted: as an American, I am more likely to be annoyed when something isn't satirized than critical when it is. (How else can we explain the popularity of The Daily Show, which is an equal opportunity satire?)

The intimidation tactics used by the webmaster at the official Paul Martin site, Paul Martin Times, including his (false?) assertion that he tracked them down by breaching the privacy terms at privacy.ca, should get media attention and become a national scandal, but as I've commented before, the Canadian media is much more comfortable commenting on and criticizing US affairs than Canadian affairs.

In other words, until the Canadian media can find a way to blame John Ashcroft and the Patriot Act, most of them will ignore attempts to repress free speech in their own back yards and divert public attention to what's happening in their neighbours' back yards.

I've fussed before that so much focus on US concerns do Canadians a disservice (as well as my own weariness at how relentlessly the US is brought into nearly every controversy in Canada.)

Canada has so much more to offer her people than ducking responsibility by invoking what the US does or does not approve of. I may be an American, but I don't think that how the US feels about decriminalizing marijuana use should be relevant to Canadians, and attempts to make that a factor in the discussion up here should be viewed with suspicion. As someone pointed out long ago, did the legislation passed in Oregon regarding marijuana possession change US relations with that state?

When freedom of speech in Canada is under attack, the first priority for the Canadian media must be to investigate and publicize it. Will they?

Posted by: Debbye at 12:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 361 words, total size 2 kb.

Tiger Williams supporting the troops

Dec. 22 - Some interesting observations in this article on Dave "Tiger" Williams' visit to Kabul about reconstruction progress in Kabul and how the people living there feel about the presence of Canadian and other forces.

The forces at Camp Julien held a ball hockey tournament in memory of the two soldiers killed last October by a land mine:

To help out, the Maple Leafs donated 2,000 t-shirts and the Vancouver Canucks gave 2,000 ball caps for a raffle to raise money for a Canadian Mine Awareness program.

"It doesn't only benefit the charity itself, it benefits everybody that's over here, trying to help out the people of Afghanistan," said Cpl. Steve Posthumus of Burlington, Ont.

"So far they've cleared a 60,000 square foot ( 5,570 square metres) area (of landmines), and that's 60,000 square feet that is safe to walk on for the troops that are over here."

A number of hockey jerseys, hats, headbands and pins were also donated by Team Canada, the Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Leafs and Canucks, with many of the items autographed by Williams, former Canucks goalie Kirk McLean and Olympic Women's Hockey Gold medalist Cassie Campbell.

McLean and Campbell are also in Kabul with Williams.

Hockey figures in Canada have been very active in supporting the troops. I don't know how well known Don Cherry is to non-hockey fans in the US, but his strong denunciation of the Sept. 11 attacks as well as his staunch support last winter of the US in Iraq eclipsed anything said by any national leader, and Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Tiger Williams have been among those active in reminding Canadians that the soldiers are in harm's way and letting the troops know that they are appreciated.

UPDATE: The Toronto Sun has an update and picture of the rink (Hockey night in Kabul) and a bit more information on the raffle and jersey auction held to raise money for the Mine Awareness Program.

Posted by: Debbye at 09:52 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 334 words, total size 2 kb.

More reaction to Libya's announcement

Dec. 21 - The reaction to Libya's announcement is muted, but a columnist at the Toronto Star actually asserts that Saddam takes heat off Bush (which reflects how she sees the world) and makes this astonishing statement:

None of the countries opposing the war at the U.N. - nor any of the millions of people who joined street protests around the world - ever doubted that the U.S. could use its superior military power to crush Saddam's regime and, ultimately, capture him. Rather, the debate centred on Washington's allegation that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction that posed such an imminent danger to the world that an invasion had to be launched immediately. (Emphasis added.)

Still re-writing history, are we? FOAD, bitch.

Nobody doubted that Saddam had WMD, including the pompous Toronto Star. And the president never claimed the threat was imminent, but precisely the opposite (that's been cited too many times to have to do it again, but I'll stick in the link when I get home.)

So long!

Posted by: Debbye at 11:47 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 178 words, total size 1 kb.

Tiger Williams supporting the troops

Dec. 21 - These days, one Canadian in Afghanistan is former Maple Leaf Tiger Williams (Vancouver playing time recognized but overlooked.)

Posted by: Debbye at 11:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 31 words, total size 1 kb.

Time Magazine's Canadian Newsmaker of the Year

Dec. 21 - Time Magazine has named the Canadian Newsmaker of the Year: This will tell you who.

UPDATE: Here is another (and more permanent) permalink.

Posted by: Debbye at 11:32 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 40 words, total size 1 kb.

Licia Corbella from Afghanistan

Dec. 21 - Another dispatch from Calgary Sun editor Licia Corbella: Khaki Christmas in Kabul. Arghh, the clock is ticking on me, so read the whole thing!

Posted by: Debbye at 11:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 35 words, total size 1 kb.

Operation Booster Shot

Dec. 21 - Some time ago I posted an item about EMS stations gathering things to send to Canadian soldiers stationed overseas and today found these in the Letter to the Editors of the Toronto Sun Toronto Sun: Editorial/Letters (I'm posting the whole thing because this link has only a one-day life):

The birth of 'Operation Booster Shot'

THIS FALL, three paramedics of Toronto EMS - Sarah Zourdoumis, Marco Colabella and Steven Henderson - had an idea. After receiving a letter from Sarah's brother (who is serving in Afghanistan), it was brought to our attention that morale on the Canadian base was low. So we took it upon ourselves to begin a morale-boosting mission for our Canadian troops.

With this, "Operation Booster Shot" was born. Collection boxes were placed in the 40 or so EMS stations in Toronto and the donations began.

We collected snacks, candies, "Canadiana" and, most importantly, Canadians were able to send their good wishes to our boys and girls serving abroad.

With a bit more effort, we were able to convince some corporations to empty some of their pockets too. Mac's convenience stores opened their warehouse to us, Costco Downsview opened its wallet and the Toronto Blue Jays joined in too!

On Oct. 29, we set out for CFB Montreal to deliver an ambulance full of donations, packed to the brim! Today, six weeks after delivering our load, we would like to share with you the letter below, sent to us by Sarah's brother, Cpl. Aesop Zourdoumis.

Marco Colabella

Sarah Zourdoumis

Steven Henderson

The letter they mention follows:

SO THE other day I make it to the mess hall just in time for breakfast and one of my bosses gets hold of me and says in a rather gruff tone, "Get up to the orderly room. They've been looking for you."

"Uh-oh," I think. What did I not get away with? After wracking my brain I sheepishly ooze my way up to the office and poke just my head in the door so as to make a quick escape if the yelling starts.

"Get in there!" a voice sounds from behind me.

Crraaaaaap. No escape. Just have to ride it out. I cross through the doorway and instead of being met with a flurry of shouting I get handed a box. Then another. Then another until I'm holding five in total.

"Somebody out there must care about you," I hear. I take a look at what I'm holding and sure enough, a whole lot of somebodies do.

The first load of packages from Operation Booster Shot had arrived. I struggle them back to the tent and take a closer look. "Good God! There's enough sugar here to put us all in a diabetic coma," I giggle. Nobody complains, they just start eating. Through the brief pauses in our pigfest we start to open the rest and discover mountains of candy, enough writing instruments for every soldier to scratch out about 15 letters, several games for the mess that are fiercely Canadian and, near and dear to everyone's heart: books on hockey.

More digging and we discover sun hats, keychains with Canadian flags and a whole lot of baseball caps. We've got time for one more so we open the largest. Tucked within we discover a small black teddy bear that immediately finds its way into my sleeping bag (I think he was cold), and a ballcap emblazoned with the EMS logo.

A brief struggle occurs and the cap ends up on someone's head as they run for daylight. I turn back to the boxes and find the colours - Canadian flags covered with signatures and thank-yous. The fighting stops and everyone takes a closer look.

"Those need to go in the mess," someone says. Suddenly everyone's lost interest in killing each other over the hat and is examining the flags.

Very little is said after that. I think everyone was simply taken by surprise by the amount of unsolicited support from the home front.

A while later, we're driving to a heavy weapon containment site outside the city where we have to photograph and catalogue some Scud missiles. The silence breaks and gives way to discussion of how to pass out all those sugary treats. Nobody's thinking too deeply about the local threat or that the area off-route is mined or that we're in Afghanistan.

Everyone is smiling and light-hearted and feels a little better about the job and that we're almost coming home. Without saying it, every person present knows where this change in mood has come from. Every one of us feels that much more pride knowing the folks back home have us on their minds.

We do the job and make our way back to camp. After dinner, we head to the mess to discover a crowd around the small bar.

A bit of pushing and we discover that in our absence Cpl. Boudreau has hung the smaller of the three signature flags above the bar. A glance to my left and I see three soldiers perusing the 2004 hockey yearbook, sitting directly under a Canadian flag marked proudly with "45 Station." To my right, at the opposite end of the mess tent is Cpl. Ash, trying to figure out if he can get the largest of the three flags into his pocket before he gets pummeled for it.

Wisely, he leaves it up.

I look around and the mood has visibly changed. There's more smiling and more laughing and, yes, one or two good natured wrestling matches over the damned EMS hat. But it isn't the big load of loot that's done it. It's the fact that someone made such an effort to care about someone so far away.

>From all the soldiers at Camp Warehouse to all the Toronto paramedics and their families back home, I can't thank you enough. Your efforts couldn't possibly be forgotten.

Cpl. A.S.R. Zourdoumis

Afghanistan

(We're all proud of you. Merry Chistmas, and come home safe in the new year)

Canadians do remember those who serve.

Posted by: Debbye at 11:29 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 1012 words, total size 6 kb.

Licia Corbella from Afghanistan

Dec. 20 - Another dispatch from Calgary Sun editor Licia Corbella from Kabul: Smiles and waves win fans.

Don't forget to send your thanks and holiday greetings to the Canadian troops here.

Posted by: Debbye at 11:17 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 40 words, total size 1 kb.

Air India trial

Dec. 20 - It has been hard to keep on top of the trial of those accused of the 1985 Air India bombing attacks because news has been sporadic and convoluted, and one thing missing has been context.

This article, Gandhi plot tied to Air India case tells of the involvment of the accused with a 1985 plot to kill then-PM of India Rajiv Gandhi in NYC and some of the background and aims of the group that planted bombs in the luggage of Air India Flt. 182 that went down over the Irish Sea and another that detonated in a Tokyo airport killing two baggage handlers.

The attempt on Gandhi's life and the Air India bombings happened in the same month.

It's well-worth reading, especially as time has dimmed our memories.

Posted by: Debbye at 10:11 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 138 words, total size 1 kb.

Licia Corbella from Afghanistan

Dec. 18 - This is bittersweet: Near riot for gifts at camp. Samaritan's Purse, an evangelical Christian aid organization, put together shoeboxes with toys, candy, toothpaste and other sundries for distribution to kids at a refugee camp in Afghanistan but there was a near riot as children and adults fought for the gifts.

"We had a plan to have the adults help us control the movement of people," said Maj. Steve Whelan, in charge of the military unit that distributed the boxes. "But clearly ... they overwhelmed us very quickly. It was a mob scene."

Several times, soldiers had to wave off adults, who beat the children with sticks and tightly wound blankets as they advanced on the flatbed truck.

No one suffered serious injuries as the children appeared to accept what, for them, is considered normal treatment by adults.

"It's a bit overwhelming," said Godfrey Vandeleur of Vancouver, who helped organize the delivery. "I feel happy to give them out, but then you also feel a bit sad when you see them fighting for the boxes."

Licia Corbella, editor of the Calgary Sun, is in Kabul and writing about her experiences there. Her description of the distribution is here centers on the response of the child who received the box she and her children had packed in Calgary.

This 10-year-old boy lives with five sisters and four brothers in a ramshackle structure at the internally displaced persons camp (IDP) known simply as "the big one."

That, of course, is bad enough, but two months ago, Anjomudin had his left leg amputated below the knee after he was run over by a truck carrying bricks to a neighbouring shack.

Nevertheless, if he thinks he's lucky, I'm certainly not going to tell him otherwise.

"This is the best day of my life," he declares.

What made yesterday so special? For the first time in his life, Anjomudin was given a present -- a shoebox packed to the brim with toys, school supplies and hygiene items.

The box he received was the one my six-year-old boys and I put together back in Calgary and it was jam-packed with goodies.

Toy cars and trucks, three balls, school supplies galore, socks, gloves, stickers, sugarless gum, hard candies, a stationery kit with scissors, glue, an eraser, ruler and doodle pad bought by my boys, a harmonica, a yo-yo, toothpaste, a toothbrush, soap and much more.

But Anjomudin was not alone. Santa came to many good little boys and girls yesterday -- more than 1,450 of them -- on this stinking, dirty hillside.

But, rather than red, Santa -- or rather, many Santas -- wore camouflage green, a big smile, and an assault rifle strapped across his chest.

The shoeboxes are organized by the Christian aid organization, Samaritan's Purse under its initiative called Operation Christmas Child, that will put some seven million shoeboxes into the hands of the world's poorest children this year.

And for all of those Scrooges out there who object to a Christian aid organization helping Muslim children, all I can say to you is bah, humbug.

May I second that? (I'm going to anyway!) Samaritan's Purse does not proseletize when the shoeboxes are handed out, but it's a Christian based organization and the politically correct in Canada find that objectionable.

Master Warrant Officer Wayne Bartlett, 40, says the recent return to Kabul of Afghan refugees is proof that peacekeeping is making a difference.

"When I got here in August, this camp had just 70 or 80 people in it," says Bartlett.

"Now, there's 1,400 kids alone. I think that just shows the confidence Afghans have in Kabul now and the ability to start a new life."

At that, Bartlett, a father of Natasha, 16, and Emily, 12, shows a couple of little boys how to work a toy truck.

"I'm not going to be home for Christmas, so doing this helps," says Bartlett, who has helped hand out shoeboxes three times in Bosnia, once in Somalia and once in Rwanda.

It takes a special kind of person to care so much about others. He sounds like quite a guy.

Posted by: Debbye at 04:41 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 689 words, total size 4 kb.

Keith Magnuson

Dec. 17 - Nice tribute to Keith Magnuson at The Meatriarchy.

A sad day indeed.

Posted by: Debbye at 12:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 19 words, total size 1 kb.

Martin freezes spending

Dec. 17 - Paul Martin has announced a massive freeze on federal spending although he is going ahead with the purchase of helicopters, but according this this analysis by Greg Weston, its part sham because the Purse strings not so tightly knotted.

Posted by: Debbye at 08:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 48 words, total size 1 kb.

Fact-checking PM

Dec. 17 - Fact-checking PM Paul Martin just got easier with Martin Watch. The site says it will be using the Globe and Mail as its base resource.

UPDATE: Francoise has changed the name to Fiberal Watch -- same url. (Blogroll changed.) (He only did it because I knows I tremble in fear before My Template!)

It's on the blogroll along with Premier Liar (which got a mention in a recent Lorrie Goldstein column.)

The Martin site is brought to you courtesy of Francois, also know as French Libertarian in Quebec.

Posted by: Debbye at 07:39 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 95 words, total size 1 kb.

Carnival of the Canucks

Dec. 16 - Go to Switching To Glide: Carnival of the Canucks #1 right now!

Posted by: Debbye at 11:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 23 words, total size 1 kb.