Monthly Archives: June 2007
Respect For Our Fallen — Not Political Gamesmanship
| 6/26/2007 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan, Canadian Politics |
This last week has made me extremely glad I am not a resident of the City of Toronto. As three young Canadians, including one from Scarborough, were giving their lives in service to this country the boys and girls who are supposed to be in service to the people of Toronto were voting on whether to leave the ribbon decals on the emergency vehicles or not.
Sunday night, when those three young men were returned to Canada, firefighters were called off the bridges in Toronto just in time to stop them from paying their respects. Fire Chief Bill Stewart calls the decision a matter of ‘public safety’. That is a crock of the highest odour available. (more…)
We Will Remember Them
| 6/20/2007 | Posted by Patti under Brave Canadians |
They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them
In memory of our fallen Canadian:
– Afghanistan June 20, 2007
Afghanistan June 20, 2007
Afghanistan June 20, 2007
Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated
Support Our Troops — Wear Red on Fridays
Deaths in Afghanistan
| 6/20/2007 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan, Brave Canadians |
On the day that their comrade in arms, Trooper Darryl Caswell, was being laid to rest in Bowmanville, Ontario three more young Canadians have met their deaths in Afghanistan. Three more caskets will make their solemn way onto a transport plane for the journey to Trenton, Ontario, just east of me. Three more families will wait heartbroken on the tarmac in Trenton as their fallen family member is returned home.
They will be accompanying the remains as they are escorted into Toronto along the Trans Canada 401 highway. I can’t even begin to imagine what it will be like for them to know that they wont be able to enjoy this reunion with the young man who went off to serve his country in a faraway land. They wont be able to laugh, hug, cry and catch up on lost time. They will travel with the ungodly raw ache of the loss of someone so near and dear — and so young. (more…)
We Will Remember Him
| 6/12/2007 | Posted by Patti under Brave Canadians |
They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them
In memory of our fallen Canadian:
Tpr Darryl Caswell – Afghanistan June 11, 2007
Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated
Support Our Troops — Wear Red on Fridays
Smog Has a Hundred Year Old History
| 6/10/2007 | Posted by Patti under Environment |
Most Canadians would think of smog and smog days as something that originated in the late 20th century. In fact, the term ‘smog’ was coined back in 1905. Back then Dr. Henry Antoine Des Voeux delivered a paper to the Public Health Congress in London, England about the air in London. He noted there was a health threat inherent in urban living due to the pervasive presence of a “smokey fog” or “smog”.
In this country concerns were being raised about smog in 1946 during the debate over the building of the Spadina Expressway in Toronto. They even started a committee to investigate the long term of effects from smog in the preceding two years. A report in the Toronto Star said, “Toronto’s struggle with smoke-laden air will apparently continue for some time” It noted that the study group was planning to implement “public education” – “an admittedly slower way of addressing the problem,” it added. (more…)
Canadian Passport System to be Simplified
| 6/9/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
Now that our American neighbours have decreed that Canadians will be required to have passports to enter the US likely by 2008 (air passengers into the US are required to have them now) the Canadian government is experiencing a backlog of passport applications. The response is to ‘streamline’ the system by changing the requirements to make the process easier.
Under the current system an applicant needs a professional like a doctor, clergy, accountant etc to sign as guarantor. Under the new rules, an adult with a current passport may sign as guarantor for a first time applicant.
Passports can be renewed without submitting proof of citizenship or the guarantor’s signature if the applicant had been resident in Canada at the time of both the previous application and this one and was over the age of 16. As well the previous passport had to be issued after Jan 2002, never been damaged or reported as lost or stolen.
It seems to me that when nations start streamlining and simplifying the process that the opportunity for obtaining a passport illegally rises. Isn’t the purpose of the American decree to increase their border security?
I don’t have a passport, nor do I expect to be even applying for one in the foreseeable future. I have rarely crossed the border in my life even though I live right across one of the Great Lakes from the US. The few times I have crossed the border have been a spur of the moment event like an outing with my niece which took place the day of the Great Blackout.
If I have to go to the trouble of obtaining a passport for spur of the moment trips then I’ll not be doing any. There is lots to do north of the border, I have no need to travel south and no need of a passport. So, other than securing their border against those who would make infrequent, spur of the moment trips across the question is… will the Americans have truly secured their borders?
Mosque Rigidity
| 6/1/2007 | Posted by Patti under General |
Sadia Zaman, award winning journalist and broadcaster currently Director of In House Productions for Vision TV, has written an interesting piece in the Toronto Star today. We need articles like hers to remind us occasionally that not withstanding the awareness of Muslims which we see on our TV screens, usually via the media, there is a diversity of beliefs and views within their faith.
Not all Muslims believe in generating violence against us ‘infidels’, nor the subjugation of women or a range of other beliefs that are not necessarily in line with western practices. Regardless of their beliefs, it is rather clear that all Muslims have experienced the bias and distrust generated by a few in the wake of 9/11.
In her piece she writes about ‘traditionalists’ within her faith actively imposing their will on others. Her dismay at trying to attend mosque with her family and being forced to be separated by black clad conformist women she “can’t even look in the eye” due to the women’s garb not the writer’s inability.
Human nature being what it is, Zaman is not alone in her struggle to be a practising Muslim in sync with her perceptions of the faith. That struggle crosses religious lines. From my perspective as a Christian I have to struggle with the diversity and conflict between the ‘traditionalists’ aka ‘conservatives’ and the ‘liberals’ or ‘progressives’.
I’m fortunate in that I’m not confronted directly with that conflict in that it intrudes onto my time at worship. My nature being what it is, I suspect I would not take to being bullied by others at worship any more than in any other part of my life.
I empathize with Zaman’s struggle to be a faithful Muslim and to be true to herself. It is a human struggle.
Don’t Expect Spam to Change
| 6/1/2007 | Posted by Patti under General, The Web |
US authorities are busy high fiving themselves over the arrest of Robert Alan Soloway who is reportedly one of the world’s top spammers. A federal grand jury last week returned a 35-count indictment against Soloway, charging him with mail fraud, wire fraud, e-mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.
Authorities claim that we’ll notice a decrease in spam traffic arriving at our email inboxes. Don’t hold your breath. While Soloway is a top spammer, even among the top 10 in the world, he’s hardly the majority of spam. Spamhaus, a website which maintains a database of spammers around the world, claims that 80% of the world’s spam is generated by 200 spammers or spam gangs.
Spamhaus publishes a list of the top ten worst countries in the world for generating spam. Topping the list is the United States, currently with 1919 known spam issues. Canada comes ninth on that list with 120 known spam issues. That’s a list we can do with not being on.
Seems to me that while Soloway has grabbed a lot of attention, he is but a drop in the flood of spam arriving in our email. Not to diminish the accomplishment in nailing him. Every time one of them gets nailed and taken out of action it sets precedents to nail others.
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