Mood:

Topic: News on News
Take an aboriginal perspective pill.
It is not with much heart that one watches parliamentary news these days i.e. politics in Canada
It seems more like a slow breathing in and out of the 'lie that Jack told' about whatever Cadman spoke (it didnt reach my right ear)
and we dont know who said what about NAFTA but whatever it was we didnt mean it (neither did they)
It seems like a perfectly orchestrated joke to play on the non-paying attention public.
What a mastermind Stephen Harper would be to try and tear NAFTA down and saddle Obama with the credit so he wouldn't have to blame his own party for its failure. Genius!
So whats in the cards now>? The emotions of the Canadians chomping on the bit for an election against the dug in heels and jackboots of the staunch Conservatives who would love a chance to try and prove where Canadians' sentiments now lie. Not!
We have been going up and down like a yo-yo on whether or not there will or will not be another election within the four years of power the capital C's have.
What will it be? What will be the crux of the issue? What could we bang on the drum loud enough to get Canadians out of the bed and out of Harpers hypnotic spell and racing to the voting booth in their night gowns to vote Liberal?
The environment ?
The war in Afghanistan?
The recent budget? Huh?
The restless natives threatening to protest?
Naw. How about the elimination of tax savings for people who want to send their kids to school?
That'll be enough for an election. But will it win it if there is one? Ho-hum on it goes!
Meanwhile, speaking of Afghanistan (do we ever miss a beat?)...in between the pages about jailed news barons, prostitute visiting Governors in entrapment schemes and whatever you can sandwich in between that...
heres news that no Westerner would be willing to want to hear...
that food shortages in some parts of Afghanistan, have forced some families to eat dried grass in order to survive..
or how thousands of Afghans have been been busy repatriating and returning without hope or prospects. Since last year over 360,000 of them.
Thats just over 10X the number of the entire force of Americans currently in country who also make up about a third of the number of soldiers over there (while Canada has about 2,500)
And its in about two days that we will hear word as to what exactly we will do there if we dont get bolstered by about 1000 more support troops from other NATO countries past 2009 our current commitment date.
Under the Afghan government’s current three-year plan, all Afghan refugees are expected to come back by the end of 2009.
360,000 in one year last year, how many per year will be expected in the next two?
In addition to eating grass for sustenance, Afghans returning home to languish, theres been a
Sharp rise in reported cases of violence against women
with that meaning that the key emphasis should be on the REPORTED cases of violence.
But these are the headlines behind the headlines, if we get any more like these...
Canadian soldier found dead at Afghanistan's Kandahar base
(Canadas 80th war casualty) - + one diplomat
what are Canadians supposed to make of our vaunted position in the world?
Sooner or later we will learn 1,000 troops are just a drop in the bucket.
And with that type of realism settling in soon, the reports of a Canadian dying met back with an empty report. Like a silent little echo in a silent little gun chamber that no one hears.
Like how the number of violent incidents rose from an average of 425 a month in 2006 to 566 each month last year.
And here at home too many cops with guns not killling criminals, too many cops using Tasers on civilains, and too many gang members kiling each other.
By how many degrees are we like Afghanistan itself but blessed with so much more?
So stupid things like whether a politician lied? Something about a leaked memo?
While this goes on? We just laugh. We do. Politicians are funny that way.
And gums are flapping over a call girl ring? Something tells me the French are fuming.
Nor do we wish to hear though that in this country with such a huge freedom imparting movement rifling through its population thanks to all of this gladhanding..
that in AFGHANISTAN journalists are being sentenced to death.
Its what we dont want to hear that doesnt make it to press time.
Will he be dead by deadline is the only question left to remain stagnant, not whether or not NATO will reply with a thousand more troops.
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