Looks like a lamb
FTLComm - Tisdale - Wednesday, March 30, 2011
These pictures were taken today and though it was dull and there was a possibility of snow showers, the temperature was at, or just above, freezing. Hence, the appearance of slush and water. Contractors are still going full out to remove huge snow and ice piles around the community and the town has not opened up the drainage ditches, that in most years, would already be carrying water. There is a lot of snow to be transformed into water and the process is just beginning. In many parts of the town there are very few signs that would indicate that this spring and there are definitely no signs of returning geese.
On Friday, it will be three weeks since that massive earthquake struck Japan, perhaps killing as many as 20,000 people, most of whom died in the thirty to forty foot waves that over ran the communities along the East side of Honshu. It is truly disturbing that the world is no longer placing their attention on the plight of nearly a million people living in temporary shelters knowing it will be years before their towns and villages are cleaned up and rebuilt. The terror of the damaged nuclear reactors is simply so much greater a threat, not only to the people of Japan, but to people throughout the world, not just because of the widespread threat of radio active contamination, but there are hundreds of nuclear reactors all over the world, that is definitely unsettling.
The conflicts in North Africa and the Middle East get their share of attention in the news. Now the concern is placed on what appears to be a civil war in Libya. There are huge problems understanding this event because there is so much guilt to be shared by everyone. The dictator, clinging to power in Tripoli, came to power in a coup forty-one years ago. It was recognised at the time that he was pretty dangerous, but it was a local problem and everyone knows we all have enough problems that we don't have to go looking for them. The guy was not exercising much self control and actively was involved in the bombing of the aircraft that crashed in Lockerby Scotland. He also sponsored other nasty events and the American government dropped some bombs on his country in retaliation. But in time, the oil in his country mellowed France and Britain so that he and his money were welcomed, as his son and others of his family, had homes in England. Alas, the man is a tyrant and as such has filled the pockets of many countries, including the United States, purchasing a huge war chest of weapons.
Now as the flames of unemployment of the young people of Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen and most likely others like Kuwait and even Jordan, the desire for change spilled into the streets and the troubles continue. The leader of Tunisia quit, in Egypt the military rearranged the furniture and time will show us what will happen in these other places. Perhaps, because Libya's leader was propped up and somewhat accepted, the pressure to do something about his mercenary army, killing the people of his own country, the UN passed a Security Council resolution to try to protect the people of the country. Now it would appear that the United States with its CIA is setting in motion assistance to the rebels.
We should not pay much attention to the day to day dispatches from Libya because the place is a desert with communities separated far from one another. The dictator's army is very small in number, though very well armed, the rebels have lots of people, but quite simply have little, or no leadership and really are neither prepared, or capable, of actually fighting a war. The whole event is a fiasco. Oil and oil money is the primary issue. It has not been shared with the people of the country and that wealth has the potential of making this a protracted dirty conflict. There is little chance of those countries now involved in the "no-fly" operation, from having to put troops on the ground to sustain the rebel's futile struggle.
The failure of the United Nations in establishment of Israel in 1948 has seen the small number of Palestinian people first affected ,now numbering more than two million unhappy people.
The stalemate in Afghanistan has existed for almost two full centuries and this brief war of 2001 until now, is just a blip in a perpetual motion machine of violence and death.
Iraq was created after World War I and through its history, it has been just another of the world's on going trouble spots. Yesterday, 58 killed and 97 wounded at Tikrik in a shoot out. Yesterday was just a typical day in Iraq.
Oh yes, did you know there was a federal election in progress. Canadians are indeed a bit weary of elections, simply because without a political party in the country, that has solid support from coast to coast, a majority government is almost impossible. The Liberal Party has little support in the West, the Conservative/Alliance party has almost no support east of Toronto, the NDP has pockets of support scattered around the country and the Bloc fields candidates only in Quebec. The only party with even support from one side of the country to the other, the Green Party, with about 7% of the popular vote in the last election, will not even be represented in the leader's televised debate. Is it any wonder Canadians are hohum about an election and unless they get out and vote, their form of government could easily move in the direction of those totalitarian countries in the Middle East.
This election needs your attention. Each of us needs to figure out where our single vote will do the most good and cast it on election day. If you have read stories on this web site before, it would come as no shock to you to learn that I do not have any respect for the present government and its leadership. But, sports fans, that's my opinion, you have to think this through for yourself. I object to the "Harper Government" as it calls itself, always shouting about law and order while its people break and bend the law in the last election, in Canadian Wheat Board elections, numerous incidents of ignoring court rulings and being forced by the courts to abide by Canadian law. The actions of the government are not just wrong, they are frequently so pro-American that our very country is in danger of being turned into some kind of Alberta nightmare.
If you have made it this far, it is a credit to your patience, for indeed, opinions are formed by the experiences and knowledge a person has. Such opinions are just, but those opinions formed by belief, rather than facts, are truly dangerous in a democratic society. Remember, we have to maintain this democracy and to do that, you need to form opinion, express it and vote on what you know to be true.
Friday is April fool's day, a day to praise the wonders of the patron saint of the day, Stephen Harper.
