chapter 43: time to send harper to the principal's office

if i do it, i get sued.

if students do it, they get expelled.

if stephen harper does it, his cronies applaud.

yes, today it was revealed stephen harper plagiarized a speech given in march 2003, by then-australian prime minister john howard. and he didn't just copy some ideas, he copied it word for freaking word!

check it out:



i'm trying to remain neutral, but beyond the issue of personal integrity, i have issues with this. if stephen harper has to copy a speech from someone else, what does it say about his ability to come up with fresh ideas and creative solutions to the problems facing the country?

also, it's clear that harper not only supported the war in iraq, but he was taking his cues from foreign conservatives who were in lockstep with bush and the gang.

obviously, not participating in dubya's excellent adventure was the right call. so when the next iraq happens, and it will, is "steve" going to just go along?

chapter 42: time to panic!!!

is this it? is this how the 21st century version of rome falls?

the republicans defeated the us congress bailout bill today, and worldwide markets tanked in response.

it was a purely political response to a crisis of which, i'm convinced, americans don't fully understand the consequences. many of them didn't support the $700 billion rescue of wall street firms, whose greed arguably started all this.

i don't really blame them.

why should they bail out the hideously wealthy fat cats of wall street? in short, because regular americans - with mortgages, jobs and mutual funds - are about to feel the pain.

and the rest of us are too.

that's why it's clearer than ever that the republicans are driving the american empire into decline. they voted against a bill that could have helped slow down a global economic crisis that's threatening to destroy their financial system, ruin ordinary people, and sink the entire world into depression.

thanks guys.

and now they're doing what they usually do - dragging out the socialist boogeyman and suggesting the market should be left to its own devices. but that's what got us into this mess.

meanwhile, here's the message from the us treasury:

chapter 41: conservatives gone wild

during the 2006 campaign, the conservative party became known as a well-oiled machine on the way to ending the liberals reign of terror. but this time around, the pc's have been decidedly un-pc.

there was the puffin poop incident. (http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=566e7b2d-7dc1-4ce9-99ed-bf7b06bd829e)

next, a tory staffer was canned for suggesting a father of a dead soldier who was critical of the conservatives had political motives. (http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=634dfca0-8c67-4a0f-9528-59ee0ffd64da)

then there was the "death by 1000 cold cuts" remark made by agriculture minister gerry ritz, that spawned outrage (http://www.canada.com/topics/news/features/decisioncanada/story.html?id=97e5ce8f-3afc-404d-bd7e-2f11f8761f06) and a satirical video game (www.deathby1000coldcuts.info)



finally, a toronto-area conservative candidate quit today because of remarks he made in his blog criticizing bus passengers who didn't try to stop the brutal beheading of tim mclean. here's the full text of what he said:

"So there was a bus stabbing on the Prairies. A man with a knife was able to go on a murderous rapage decapitating a fellow human being. The rest of the bus was unarmed and helpless. What was the generous Canadian thing to do? Help a fellow human being? No. Flee in terror. Passengers and the bus driver stood by and watched another person being butchered, and couldn't muster up any courage or self sacrifice to intervene. This is where socialism as gotten us folks, a castrated effeminate population.

This is a perfect example of why we need concealed-carry handgun legislation in this country, so we can defend one another and deter horrible events such as this. But what are our politicians talking about? More government regulation and security.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the friends and family of Tim McLean during their time of pain."

it's not like the liberals (http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2008/09/11/liberal-candidate-a-no-show-to-explain-oka-remarks.aspx) and ndp haven't had their mis-steps, but we've come to expect that kind of disorganization and wackiness from those guys.

but the conservatives? not so much.

i wonder if they've been getting high with comrade jack?

chapter 40: personality please!

watching saturday night live's adorable and hilarious tina fey do a dead-on impersonation of the "lipstick on a pitbull" republican vp-candidate sarah palin made me realize a sad thing about canadian politics.

we have no personality.

we're vanilla.

there's no barack, there's no palin, there's not even a war hero or a guy with a big mouth who rides the train to parliament hill every day. maybe canadians like their politicians bland. maybe we're just not enthusiastic enough. one thing's for sure: stephen, stephane, jack, gilles and elizabeth are putting the electorate to sleep.

here then, in an attempt to generate interest, a few suggestions to liven things up:

1 - make the politicians ballroom dance together to see how well they'd work together. who would lead, harper or layton? bonus points go to the green party's elizabeth may, who for the first time, would be in a position to reject the big four, instead of the other way around.

2 - danny williams. newfoundland's premier has the gift of diarrhea mouth that delights reporters from coast to coast. he's been haranguing stephen harper non-stop, with his so-called "ABC" (anybody but conservative) campaign, and has been calling the pm "a fraud". after the conservatives' idiotic bird poop ad that had an animated puffin crapping on stephane dion, williams actually hired a guy in a bird suit to get a laugh at a speaking engagement. williams has taken on other heavy hitters and come out on the winning end before, and harper would do well to stay away from him. that's why i'd love to see danny front and centre at every harper event.

3 - geri hall. canada's answer to fey, the hilarious "this hour has 22 minutes" correspondent that has commented, among other things, on stephen harper's "rock-hard abs" and asked him if he likes handcuffs. she should be the one asking questions at the leaders debate. now that would be a debate worth watching.

chapter 39: fishy situation

Study finds fishy labelling at restaurants, markets

Sarah Schmidt , Canwest News ServicePublished: Thursday, August 21, 2008
OTTAWA - Fish lovers and sushi connoisseurs beware: Fillets marketed as Mediterranean red mullet could really be spotted goatfish, and a white tuna wrap may just be Mozambique tilapia.
A new Canadian study using DNA bar-coding technology found that one in four fish samples taken from Toronto and New York restaurants and stores were mislabelled.
In all cases, they were sold to unsuspecting consumers as higher-priced or more-desirable fish species.

full story here: http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=4381b239-db40-47da-ae6b-b573bc5dc72c

this reminds me of hot friday and saturday nights in bantama in kumasi. we used to gather and party there, and we'd always have banku and tilapia. not the most appetizing thing if you're expecting red snapper, but a nice trip down memory lane nonetheless. here's a look at one of ghana's favourite dishes.

banku is a ‘dumpling’ made from a sour, fermented corn mash which is wrapped in plantain leaves and boiled. It is to be eaten with your hands (right hand only). here it was served with fried tilapia and an extremely spicy salsa-like fresh sauce.

great with beer!

chapter 38: a journey of a thousand miles...

"a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
-lao-tzu

when i went to ghana to try and build human rights reporting capacity in the media, i knew results would come slowly, if at all. i had a couple of successes, but many disappointments as well. the story of humu, a muslim girl who was being forced to quit school and get married, was one of the ones that got away. we got her back in school briefly, but all indications were that she would be forced to marry when the media and police pressure was off. (read the full story here: http://www.jhr.ca/fieldnotes/view.php?aid=1137)

but recently, my colleague muftaw mohammed, who was instrumental in our coverage of that story told me humu had managed to complete school and is looking forward to continuing her education. it's a big victory for a muslim girl in ghana. muslims face bigger hurdles to education and career success, particularly the girls, who are often treated like chattel. humu's success can serve as an example to her community, and open up new possibilities for so many disenfranchised young people. it's also a great example for young reporters like muftaw that they really can help change things for the better. here is the email i got from him:

Dear Bro,
Today my heart is glad that I did not lose in my fight against the violation of Human Rights. So I say kudos and more greetings to your elbows. All the credits to you for your leadership and training and man, I must say am really missing big time the good times when we used to work, dine and share ideas together. More especially, your efforts in igniting up my spirit when I am down.

All theses citation are occasioned by the phone call I had this morning from Humu’s mother to the effect that Humu has graduated from her computer course in Accra and is currently in kumasi with the mother waiting for her JHS certificate to continue with her education.

Now the mother and other family members who thronged the DOVVSU offices and I believe you remember that day, they are all now looking for you and I to offer us their vote of thanks and to crown us as heroes but I told them you have gone back to your home land.

So I say gracias to you.

We never walk alone.

chapter 37: private insecurity

this is the face of the latest canadian soldier killed in afghanistan, the 89th since the mission began. master corporal josh roberts was shot during an operation against insurgents in the dangerous zhari district. he was known as an all-round good guy, and was expecting his first child next month. but this is more than another tragic story from the front lines.

investigations are underway to determine whether roberts was shot by a private security team which was in the area at the time. private security companies in war zones have been a source of controversy for years, particularly in iraq and afghanistan. the stories about tragic massacres involving blackwater and other private security companies abound.

many afghans, not to mention ngo's and the united nations, don't trust private security firms, and who can blame them?(http://www.privateforces.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2081&Itemid=99999999)

not only are these security companies making billions of dollars, they also kill civilians, and get tangled up with state military forces.

canadian forces shot and killed a private security guard in april from the same company being investigated in master corporal roberts' death. the canadians apparently shot at security personnel after they failed to heed warnings to stop advancing towards a military checkpoint. these firms provide security for development projects and protect foreign dignitaries. that's work the military used to do, but private security forces now fill these roles without legal and ethical boundaries.

newspaper reports in afghanistan say they increase the likelihood that those in the country to fight the taliban will be confused with security forces that often seem to play by their own rules. (http://www.privateforces.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2022&Itemid=99999999)

it's making afghans increasingly nervous and breeding paranoia. and given the thin line between local cooperation and radicalization, perhaps it's time to give them the boot.