Our Head Evangelical Strikes Again

You can add yet another member to the club. ->

Harper's new year's resolution seems to be to take several stabs at our venerable scientific community. And I haven't heard any of the opposition parties cry foul over it yet.

It seems that the only agency in Canada that funds large-scale science in Canada was shut out of the new budget. This move means that Canada will have to pull out of some large international projects, abandon groundbreaking research, and generally frak with science.

The Globe and Mail article spells it out nicely.

I believe this one is worth writing my MP over.

Affordable Housing in BC?

Demographia has produced their fifth annual International Housing Affordability Survey and British Columbia has come out on top...of the list of "Severely Unaffordable Housing Markets" - the most unaffordable classification.

To be fair, Australia actually holds three of the top five spots on the list. Canadian cites are ranked four times in the top 25 least affordable housing markets and all four are from BC; Vancouver (4), Victoria (7), Kelowna (19), and Abbotsford (25).

To all the condescending Torontonians who enrage us by refusing to accept that they do in fact live in a place that is remarkably affordable by comparison, it is interesting to note that no other Canadian city made the top 60 list. Toronto, Mississauga, Richmond Hill? All more affordable than Toowoomba, QLD, Australia.


The News Story
The Complete Report (PDF)
Demographia's Site

America's Duceppe Speaks

"The message we are sending around the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism ... and we are going to do so in a manner consistent with our values and our ideals," Obama said.

"We are not going to continue with a false choice between our safety and our ideals."

With this statement on ideals, Obama reminded me of my favorite politician orator, Gilles Duceppe. Barack is making me like him - and I'm okay with that. Of course, no American politician is able to speak very eloquently without a prepared speech like a Canadian (or British, etc.) politician can, but he's certainly no Bush!

So what is this all about? I'm sure you've seen the news, unless you checked out the Globe and Mail website where they buried the story; Obama is ordering the closure of Gitmo! I'll no longer have to fear ending up there due to an error when I travel! It's pretty exciting news, check it out:

BBC News
Globe and Mail
Canada.com
CBC News

President Barack Obama puts his pen away after signing an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre during a ceremony in the Oval Office at the White House on Thursday. Standing behind Obama are Vice-President Joe Biden and retired military officers. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

Letter to Braemar #5

MILF FOR LIFE IS COMING SOON!!


That is all.

You're Not Kidding

I just walked my co-worker to the lab for some tests. On our walk we
started talking about celebrities we've run into and she said that she's
terrible at recognizing famous people; she was once in an elevator with
Robin Williams and even after her friend started chatting him up, didn't
really recognize him.

When we got to the waiting room I picked through the available magazines
and revealed one with Tom Cruise's face on the cover. I let out an "ug"
and my friend asked why so I showed her the cover and she asked "Who's
that?". Um, Tom Cruise? Dude, he's like, the most recognizable movie star
on the planet! You really do have trouble recognizing famous people!

Canadian Under Any Circumstance

I just watched a Fifth Estate special on CBC Newsworld called "Life + Death
in Kandahar" that centres on the Canadian-run NATO military trauma hospital
there - one of the busiest ones in Afghanistan.

Something stood out to me near the end of the program. After officially
pronouncing the death of a Canadian soldier, the head doctor is asked
questions about how difficult her work is in the context of being a mother.
Tears quickly threaten to fall and she stops speaking. She reflects for a
moment, allows a small smile, and then quietly says 'thank you' before
retreating behind the authorized personnel only doors of the hospital. And
she didn't say it with malice or contempt, no disguised sneer for having
manipulated those emotions from her. Her 'thank you' was sincere and
respectful. It made me think immediately that this was a consummate
Canadian; working in that environment, pestered by a reporter, but
remaining above all, humble, genuine, empathetic, and courteous.

Perhaps in that moment she represents the ideal and not the norm, but in
those two words, I saw a National identity that is slipping away, and felt
a profound loss for casualties of war. A powerful moment for this
Canadian.