(Venn diagram by Dave Hoffman)

Canada did not win a seat on the UN’s Security Council because a leader of the opposition was sceptical about it. It had nothing to do with our lackluster foreign policy…

Some observers believe the Harper government’s foreign policy is largely responsible for the outcome, including its pro-Israel stance on the Middle East, cutting foreign aid to Africa, and also the move away from UN peacekeeping and toward the Afghan mission.

However, [Foreign Minister Lawrence] Cannon dismissed the idea.

“I do not in any way see this as a repudiation of Canada’s foreign policy,” he said.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/10/12/un-vote012.html

Yah… right.
.

A recent online war erupted in Edmonton between the ‘new journalists’ represented by bloggers and twitterers and the old media. Basically an actor and recipient of online reviews reacted badly in the comments section of a blogger and this set off a series of other posts online that grew to massive proportions.

I chimed in on Mack’s site (boyfriend of the original blogger, and the real reason it grew to such proportions) just because I could… Ain’t the internet grand!

# Bruce K Says:
August 18th, 2010 at 1:24 pm

I spent years in the theatre. It’s a family. Any bad review hurts and you tend to leap to the defensive. But I’m going to guess that Jeff (being of that ‘border’ generation) isn’t really all that confident of the place of the internet in the new world. Hell, reading the comments here reinforces for me that most of the professional journalists are still struggling.

A few of my favorite online personalities have been engaging in flamefests and hurt feelings of late (I almost got sucked into a few) and it occurs to me that there is no satisfactory paradigm for conflict reslution in this new type of conversation.

I think the thing to take from this is there is a communication gap. Mack doesn’t get why Jeff would lash out using a particular forum rather than in person and Jeff fails to realize that the internet shouldn’t replace human contact in conflict situations.

We need a new rule book, but I for one am starting to believe rule #1 will have to be “Just walk away, because there are no winners when everyone has a voice.”

Whilst cruising for ebooks I came across this lovely tidbit. The best part is the use of quote marks (well, not the best part but I was trying to be nice…).

The Three Planeteers For All
by Edmonda Hamilton
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2010 Edmonda Hamilton

A Gender Switch Adventure

CHAPTER I

Comrades of Peril

THEY sauntered through the crowded, krypton lit street bordering the great New York spaceport, casually, as though there was not a reward on their heads. An Earthwoman, a Venusian, and a huge Mercurian, looking merely like three ordinary space-sailors in their soiled, drab jackets and trousers.

But inwardly Joan Thorn, the lean, dark-headed Earthwoman of the trio, was queerly tense. She felt the warning of that sixth sense which tells of being watched. Her brown, hard-chinned face showed nothing of what she felt, and she was smiling as though telling some joke as she spoke to her two companions.

‘We’re being followed,” she said. “I’ve felt it, since we left the spaceport. I don’t know who it is.’

Sua Av, the bald, bow-legged Venusian, laughed merrily as though at a jest. Her bright green eyes glistened, and there was a wide grin on her ugly, froglike face.

‘The police?’ she chuckled.

Etc.

At least it was offered for free.

In Utah, after a pregnant 17-year-old paid a man $150 to beat her in an effort to induce a miscarriage, legislators passed a law that would allow a woman in such circumstances to be charged with homicide.

It always stuns me when people try to legislate misguided stupidity out of existence. Sure, punish them more, that’ll fix the issue…

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/health/policy/03abortion.html

A friend of mine in love with children’s books, posted a post recently in which she pointed out our North American issues with bodies. Apparently the Canadian edition of Else-Marie and Her Seven Little Daddies simply omitted an image of communal bathing. Why? I guess it was too much for our high morality. I mean after all, heaven forfend we start to look at each other realistically…

Because you come across these gems when cruising science fiction feeds:

Matthew 6:1-4 (New International Version)
Matthew 6

Giving to the Needy

1 “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Such a simple concept. That Jesus was a righteous dude

If only America were this free…

The sidebar from an Onion article reads as follows:

Oh wait. No it’s just us North Americans. Those other guys are obviously big mean bully types…

Humans are fundamentally very fragile psychologically. The trauma of seeing an automobile accident will stay with you for life. I don’t think we should be subjecting our military to this kind of trauma unless absolutely necessary, and Canada has no natural enemies. Nobody is threatening to overrun our borders. We only have one border, with the US. We’re a very cosmopolitan place, one third French, one third European, and one third other. Why are we at war in a country on the other side of the planet?

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2010/05/01/mb-shilo-returning-soldiers-1051.html#ixzz0miKlm6fP

CBC comments make me sooooooo crazy!

What is sillier than a whole country misusing a word? The right and left get into an argument about who gets Obama…

Americans, and their ignorance and fear of socialism:

Quagliaroli says he doesn’t like socialism because it breeds mediocrity and encourages people to “live on the dole.” Capitalism “breeds excellence” because it encourages initiative, he says.