Today Richard Colvin, a current Intelligence Officer and former diplomat in Afghanistan, testified before a House of Commons committee that Afghan detainees transferred from the Canadian Forces to Afghan officials were knowingly tortured by the Afghan officials and prison system.

To make this worse, Mr Colvin claims, that many of the detainees transferred were actually innocent Afghan civilians. Mr. Colvin goes further to say that his department made the government, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper's foreign policy adviser aware of the situation. They were told in no uncertain terms to stop writing details of torture into their reports and to handle reports of such claims verbally. Also Mr. Colvin claims that his department was told not to report or speak publicly about the deterioration of security in Afghanistan in 2006-2007 even though it was plain to them that things on the ground were getting much, much worse. Mr Harper stood in front of Parliament and the Canadian people and said that Afghan detainees were not being tortured and if there was reason to believe they were that they would not be handed over to the Afghan government. This was plainly either an informed or uninformed lie. Now begins the Conservative smear campaign. Mr Colvin will be attacked both professionally and personally by the Government in an attempt to make this all go away.

The most pathetic part of this is that Harper will most likely win a majority in the next election as the Canadian populace seems to be much more concerned about who plays the best Beatles tune on the piano than human rights. We are supposedly losing soldiers in Afghanistan to make the country a free and better place for its populace. I may be mistaken, but allowing the torture of Afghan civilians to proceed doesn't seem much like nation building to me.


-Son

Is this the birth of a european based IRL?

The FIA and FOM are busy trying to destroy Formula 1. Or at least the F1 that I know and love. I am a person who belives that F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsports. It is supposed to lead to new innovations and technologies through competition. Under a budget cap system and technical and component standardization as favoured by the FOM and FIA this will soon be a series of identical cars. The three new teams coming in are a testament to what the "new" F1 will look like. They are all going to be running Cosworth engines, gearbox's etc and will probably share chassis info with a bigger team. This seriously effects the commercial value of running a manufacturer based F1 team at all. The FIA and FOM are in affect trying to create a european based IRL. They believe that as long as the teams can call their cars a Ferrari or a Mercedes or BMW and paint them in their own colours they'll be happy. Maybe the time has come for these teams to switch into a sport where technology and competition are still at the forefront. This weekend I saw a diesel powered Peugeot beat a Diesel powered Audi and a gas powered Aston Martin in an international sporting event. Seeing a Ferrari LMP1 car at the 24 hours of LeMans next year may be a good sight to see as well.

A letter to my city councillor...

Good evening Councillor Jellett,

Enough is enough.

My wife and I have suffered through these 41 days of no transit service and yet this is the first time we have written to our councillor, Member of Parliament or an ATU union representative. Why? Because we have (or rather had) faith in our city government and the union to keep the interests of the citizens of Ottawa front and centre in this debate. Clearly, that has not been the case.

We began this stoppage of what we consider an essential service by blaming the union and backing the city. While we still blame the union and the senior drivers for taking the city and our most vulnerable hostage, we lately have become frustrated with the city's ambivalence towards binding arbitration and the refusal to remove the scheduling issue from the bargaining table, however temporary. A cynic, Mr. Jellett, would accuse the city of stonewalling in order to reap the maximum financial benefit while the buses remain off the road. We know Mayor O'Brien has no incentive to get the buses running again - he walks to work (at least I hope he does) and the 3-million dollar per week savings looks good in the city coffers. The union bosses really don't give a toss about what happens - their senior drivers will be protected from any layoffs due to seniority and life will go on, raises and choice of shifts intact. Meanwhile, the poor, elderly, and otherwise disadvantaged population of Orléans and Ottawa continue to suffer through a harsh and unforgiving winter, while the union and the city act like children arguing over control of the sandbox in the playground.

We moved to Ottawa from Nova Scotia three years ago. We moved here partly because of the availability of public transit, something we had never had the advantage of using in any of our previous places of residence. We took pride in promoting Ottawa and indeed its transit system to anyone who would listen. We considered both the city and our public transit system to be models for the rest of Canada.

No more. I only talk about our city, our municipal government, and our transit system in negative terms now, as no-one seems to have the ability, skill, or incentive to get things running again. While Councillor Doucet may have spoken out of turn, at least he had the courage to do so and to generate discussion. The city, Mr. Jellett, is on the verge of running off of the high road and it won't be long before you're no better than Mr. Cornellier and the rest of the union management. That is an unfortunate state of affairs, and does not bode well for the future.

I plead with you to do whatever you can to bring this needless and idiotic strike to a close before more people lose their jobs, suffer from a lack of medical treatment, miss their education, are involved in traffic accidents, or suffer the other effects of this dispute. Our livelihoods, as well as the reputation of the city and our entire municipal government hangs in the balance.

Sincerely,

No pressure boss.

America saw the light and elected Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. I am in a state of disbelief that somehow the appropriate choice was made and we didn't see a repeat of the 2004 debacle. Now comes the interesting part.
There was not a person outside of the Republican party in the U.S that was unhappy about the result of the U.S elections. Furthermore people across the world are convinced that an Obama presidency will lead to their issues being resolved and their lives getting better. Obama faces incredible tasks and expectations. Palestinians in Ramalah expect a resolution to the Middle East crisis. Kenyans believe he will bring Africa ito the 21st century. Europeans believe that an Obama presidency will lead to an immediae reversal in U.S unilatertarianism and a more peaceful world. People living in impoverished areas of the U.S believe they will be brought to the middle class while minorities believe that they will be treated as equals to the majority starting in January.
All of this despite the fact that America and the world are in the midst of an economic crisis unseen in decades. They are mired in two wars which are costing billions and show no sign of a near resolution. Add to this the fact that the threat of terrorism has not gone away and that Russia seems on the brink of reasserting superpower status. All of these factors combined lead to me speculating that Obama will not be able to placate everyone and everyones needs. I'm hoping the American people give him the time he needs to make a meaningful change. As he said in his acceptance speech, it may not happen in 1 year or even in one term but he will make America a fairer more inclusive country. A country which will be the envy of the free world.



-Son

A sigh of relief from the Republicans

Well, she didn't win. But she got enough talking points and clichés out that "Joe Six Pack" probably thought she won, which was the real goal. I swear though, if I would have heard "maverick," or "say it ain't so, Joe" one more time, I would have gone through the screen at her.

She did just enough to confirm to me she has no business being in charge of the most powerful nation on earth.

Father

Sarah Palin can't lose

"What!?" you say, "are you nuts? Did you see how she imploded in the interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric? This is going to be a huge train wreck!"

Well, maybe. But even if she loses the debate with Joe Biden, I maintain she will come out smelling like a rose, and here's why:

If she mangles all her answers and spouts nonsensical gibberish again, the Republicans and many American hockey moms will take pity on her and she'll receive a huge outpouring of support. They'll feel sorry for her. If Biden scores all the points and makes her look silly, they'll take him to task for treating a woman poorly. The expectations for her performance are now so low that even if she doesn't say a word, a majority of people will look upon that as being a vast improvement from what she's done up to now. And finally, her attractiveness will win over many male viewers who may be staring at the screen, but won't hear a word she says.

Nope, I don't think she can lose. While she may leave the stage tonight looking like a deer (or a moose) in the headlights, her support and poll numbers will rise like the Phoenix. And while I hope I'm wrong (the thought of a political neophyte from Pavement Narrows, Alaska, who just got her first passport last year, leading the USA absolutely terrifies me), I don't think the American public has the ability to see either beyond the Joe Six-pack, pitbull with lipstick facade or down the road to when she may be called upon to assume the Presidency.

Time will tell. I'll be back tomorrow with either doom and gloom or relief.

Father

Following my Farve-rite Quarterback

I risk writing that which has been written a million times. I risk beating a dead horse to death long after rigor has already set in. I risk inciting groans from my parents and wife who have heard me espouse the greatness of Brett Favre far too many times.

But it must be done. This summer I purchased and donned a New York Football Jets hat for the first time. Yes it looked weird at first. Heck it even felt strange. When you live and die by the results of the Green and Gold of Wisconsin it's bound to feel weird and strange. What bugs me the most is that people look at you and figure that your supporting the team because of one player as if there is shame in it. Some will even call you a bandwagon jumper as if the Jets are going to the Superbowl this year and the Packers are going to fall apart.

For all that care there are reasons for my sometimes blind loyalty. You see I won't forget watching Football at the age of 13 for the first time shortly after moving to Canada from Germany. In Germany football is played, well, with your feet. It took a heated argument with the young boys across the street to understand that what I thought was football is actually called soccer here.
I'm not sure if Brett played in the first football game I ever watched, but I'd like to think so. At the time he was a young 24 slinging the ball all over the place with the youthful, reckless abandon that he still plays with today. I was 13 and sports heroes were still heroes. They could do no wrong, lived perfect lives, had good marriages and weren't addicted to pain-killers. It didn't hurt that the Packers won a lot of games and eventually the Superbowl (beating the Patriots I might add). The NFL was the greatest show on earth. It is pomp and extravagance mixed with strategy and violence. It's cockiness, wealth and money mixed with blue collar, lunch-box-carrying work ethic. It has its glory and boy can it have its problems. And Brett was the poster boy. Now he changes teams after all these years after a summer of playing he said they said and they love me, they love me not. Fact is he may have 1 or 2 years left with the Jets.

So you can call me a bandwagon jumper if you want. Call me disloyal to the Packers. Think less of me because I changed who I support. Brett made me love the game of Football. I figure I owe him 1 or 2 years.




-Son