Moderating Radicals

On Thursday last week, a day after Hamas was elected in the West Bank and three days after the Conservative Party was elected here in Canada, I raised a toast in my dining room to Moderating Radicals.

Now that the Fattah Party and the Liberal Party have been defeated primarily because their respective electorates were fed up with corruption from stagnant governments, two radical parties have replaced them. But perhaps in acquiring a mandate to govern, these parties will learn to moderate their policies, out of necessity, in order to secure a second mandate.

I know that Hamas has blood on its hands. So has almost every Israeli leader in its short history. That was then, this is now. Ariel Sharon, a butcher of civilians decades ago, ended his tenure as a great peacemaker. Much can change if it is allowed to.

I despise the Israeli and American responses to Hamas' victory. I am ashamed and disgusted that the Fattah militia responded to the Hamas mandate from the Palestinian electorate by storming the legislature. Let the party govern. Let it see that compromise, contemplation, and transparency are the keys to good government. Let democracy and wisdom prevail. Israel and the US should welcome the installation of a duly elected government. That formal recognition alone can undermine Hamas' urge for reactionary grandstanding, but more importantly legitimizes the freedom to choose by the Palestinians, and initiates a potentially constructive dialogue with the new government.

To Moderating Radicals. --= clink! =--

Handshake Philanthropy

I loved this AP story of a Wyoming rancher named Allen Cook who donated a portion of his property to the University of Pittsburgh, a school he had no prior affiliation with, to be custodians of the land. The land is "littered with fossils" and will be an invaluable field study site to the university's paleontology, geology, and archeology departments, and is valued at $7m.

What charmed me the most about this story was the description of the rancher offered by the dean of the university's honour college, Alec Stewart: Cook is a "a quintessential Westerner, a straight-talker whose handshake means a lot to him."

Canada punishes Liberals....sort of

Canadians voted yesterday. The Liberal Party, which has governed for the last 13 years, was punished for a series of scandals dating back to the start of their reign, which began under leader Jean Chretien. The current leader, Paul Martin, won an election eighteen months ago, was exonerated from the Liberals' most notorious scandal by Justice Gomery, and has led Canada to a series of surplus budgets as Finance Minister and Prime Minister that is the envy of the G8. That did not stop Canadians from bouncing him from government.

I am a fiscal small-c-conservative and a social small-l-liberal, and like most Canadians yesterday, I was frustrated by the dilemma I faced as I entered the poll to mark my ballot: How do I punish the Liberal Party's bloat and graft without punishing the Nation? How do I withdraw support from a party that has "lost the moral authority to govern" and hand it to one supporters believe received its authority from on high?

I can't think of any party but the Liberals that is better equipped to govern Canada into a period of sustainable prosperity, security, justice, and health.

But I only had one vote. And millions of Canadians decided to withdraw support from the centrist Liberals to throw it behind parties at the margins, whether they be separatists, fiscal and social conservatives, or fiscal and social liberals. Some of my friends think it's great. Some think it'll shake up those Liberals and teach 'em a lesson. I'm just worried about the damage done in the meantime.


I hope the damage is limited. I will enjoy receiving $2400 a year for my twins promised repeatedly by Harper as a daycare solution. I will enjoy paying one less percent in tax for my purchases, but I'm not holding my breath for getting another percentage point off; for that Harper has to be re-elected. I expect that the social conservatism and dubious qualifications of his caucus will prevent a second term.

Robertson Grovels After "inappropriate and insensitive" Remarks

Posted to Pat Robertson's website is his letter to Omri Sharon, son of Ariel Sharon, apologizing to him and the people of Israel for remarks made shortly after Ariel Sharon's stroke. Robertson had insinuated that the Israeli leader was the target of divine wrath for dividing Israel. In his profusely apologetic letter, Robertson claims that his "zeal, [his] love of Israel" led him to make remarks which in retrospect are "clearly insensitive."

He finishes off his pleadings by claiming to be "one of the strongest supporters of the nation of Israel anywhere in the world." He warns of the threats posed by Hamas, Hezbollah, a nuclear-capable Iran, and "virulent anti-Semitism [...] throughout the Muslim world, Europe, and the United Nations."

Here, you can read it for yourself by clicking the images below:

In Vomito Veritas

"In watching someone react to vomit, there is truth"

This is how I opened my thank you cards to the three colleagues I was working with when I was afflicted by a wicked gastroenteritis at work two months ago. I saw their true selves at work, swapping barf basin after overflowing barf basin from beneath my bowed head as I vomited up enough puke to fill Lake Erie.

Nice to work with people like that. I have been so overloaded with work, I have largely neglected this blog. It was important for me to take a moment today and acknowledge the compassion of my samaritans. Back to work.