I like that the take home message of that article is that, in these though times we should help those who have less than us…
http://homelessness.change.org/blog/view/prince_william_serves_soup_too
Prince William serves soup too!
My first meeting with Michael Ignatieff
This was an interesting weekend. A week ago, I received invitations to two events with the Canadian Liberal Party: a Shabbat dinner on Friday and a brunch on Sunday. Both of these had party leader Michael Ignatieff as the guest of honor.
The Sunday brunch was just a "bain de foule" where MPs would just meet the people that supported them. This was nothing new for me as I had been to many of those events with the ADQ at the provincial level. The one thing that struck me was how popular Justin Trudeau was. When he was first named, he received nearly as much applause as Ignatieff. He also seemed to be positioning himself as close to the leader as possible. He's been bred by the media as a possible future Prime Minister so he's acting like it.
Stéphane Dion also received a standing ovation at the event but he seemed a bit sad. He didn't seem to have the energy that the other MPs like Rodriguez or Coderre had. I heard someone say that his wife had predicted his win at the Liberal convention a few years ago to which Dion replied "Yes but we didn't win the one after that".
I also managed t speak to Pablo Rodriguez about free cell phones for the homeless. He told me to meet him at his office to discuss further. I personally want to know what steps would be necessary to bring this project forward within the Canadian government. Even though the Liberals are not in power, I hope he can help me do that.
Now, about Iggy! At the brunch, he gave an energetic and inspirational speech about how he was a strong leader and how the liberal party was awesome. He also gave us the creepy directive that went like "Allez frapper aux portes et dites aux gens que les Rouges sont de retour" (This is not a straight quote). All in all, I felt that this was a good speech to an audience that was already sold on his message.
So, I spoke about the brunch first. The reason is that the Shabbat was a very different experience, at least for me. So, on Friday, I went to the Opus Hotel not knowing at all how the evening was going to go. I had never been to a Shabbat dinner before and actually knew (and still knows) very little about the Jewish faith. I also knew no one at that dinner. This made the evening memorable. The Jewish community seems to be very tightly knit. Everyone knew each other and seemed to have helped one another in some way. They were also open insofar as I had no trouble striking conversations with anyone. I was also very impressed with the organizer Zach Battat. He gave a very interesting and emotional speech about the importance of Shabbat for him and his family. You could see the passion in his eyes and I felt he was, by far, the best speaker that night. And yes, that includes Ignatieff who seemed, at least to me, tired. The liberal leader's speech was thoughtful and intelligent but he didn't seem to have energy (something he displayed a lot on Sunday). He talked about his stance on the Israel-Palestine situation which is, in my opinion, fair.
That evening, I also learned that the Israelis in particular and the Jews in general were being persecuted in Venezuela through governmental actions. In answer to this, Canada decided to open its embassy doors to any Israeli who might need shelter and flew the Israeli flag. At any rate, when someone asked Ignatieff what he thought of this, he answered in a way that resonates with my values: state-sponsored hatred of an ethnic group, in this case jews, is unacceptable and Canada should work as hard as it can to prevent or stop such actions.
Oh and yea, I did get to shake Michael's hand and say that I am a fan, to which he said: "I am glad!"
Free cell phones for everyone!
Homeless people are the scapegoats of our society. We somehow think that they deserve their conditions and that they shouldn't bother us. Eerily enough, homelessness is nearly equal to prison for us. An homeless person, much like the con in prison, is someone who made a bad choice earlier in life and must pay for it. Notwithstanding the fact that this kind of logic makes no sense at all, they, as members of our society still deserve our attention.
One thing that I found out about earlier this week was an initiative in the US called Safelink Wireless. This is a government program whose purpose is to help those in need get a cell phone. The idea is born out of the sheer number of people losing their jobs in the US and not able to afford any type of communication device and plan. I just want to clarify that this is not just a free cell phones, but free useable air time as well. This might help people look for a job, give them a number so that they can be reached and, something important in the case of homeless people, a way to call for help if needed.
Oh… and that'll also help them take pictures of someone important (from change.org)!
Changing the layout
I'm just experimenting a bit with a new template until I settle for something more "me" in the future. Just tell me what you think.
By the way, the credits for the template are at the bottom of the page
Accountability
My friend Lenka pointed me to this story of the "Bus Beheader" Vince Li. The man gruesomely removed the head of a sleeping passenger in a traveling Greyhound Bus. Earlier this week, the man was "found not criminally responsible" of the murder as he did not know that what he was doing was wrong. He is to be sent to a maximum security institution for treatment.
Anyone who felt bad (or good) after taking psychotropic substances like alcohol can attest that a person's mood doesn't always have anything to do with reality. Taking it farther there are quite a few drugs that can induce psychosis rather fast in an individual. By watching enough of those events, we start to realize that these interactions between external and internal mental modifiers are what make up our personality. This personality is what makes us ourselves and this is what affects our behavior.
All this is to say that a person's abnormal behavior can be explained by neurological defects but that this should not exempt them from any of the consequences. To give an example, saying that Li was not criminally responsible for his actions because he was schizophrenic is similar to saying a drunk is not responsible for running over a little girl because he is an alcoholic (different diseases, but alcoholism has genetic predispositions and is not always entirely the fault of the drinker).
I have no problem with Li going to a mental institution instead of prison. He is clearly sick and deserves treatment. But I think he should still be held responsible for what he did.
Alex talks about democracy
I just want to point you out to this article on Critic Al's blog about a more direct democracy.
Responding to Russian aggression
There was a lot of activity in the media lately about the incursion of a Russian warplane in Canadian airspace two weeks ago. I personally found it unsettling that this was not this was only the latest of a series of such violations. When the Americans do it, at least we know that they stand much to lose should they become too aggressive. The Russians, at least from my point of view, are much more obscure.
So, should we send the mighty Canadian Legions to conquer Eurasia? The first thing that comes to mind is increasing the Canadian military presence in the arctic. This is the 20th century response. The geographical position of an army is not that relevant in our world. Indeed, the CF-18s that intercepted the bomber were stationed in Alberta. Of course, moving the army closer to an aggressor sends a message that we are monitoring them and this has real dissuasive value. I do think however that the best way to deal with this is show Russia that they would have much more to gain by working with us than by working against us.
Russia, like us, has access to a tremendous amount of natural resources that they funnel to the European Union. Working with us, they could open another trade route to the US while we would gain a more direct access to the Eastern European countries. We would also open another route for goods to travel to northern china, one that might be more effective than the sea route currently use.
Working with Russia would also lay the bases of a strong alliance of arctic countries. The apprehended "Arctic War" would be a ridiculous way to solve the different claims in the region. Working together however, we could achieve great things.
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