But Marisacat on the FP is so much more fun, ain't it?

This is the story the world is talking about. This is the real news. This was your President.

So how are you going to help him? Up here in Canada our politicos have been talking Kyoto and Climate Change all day. We ain't perfect by any means, but at least we're talking. So... what are you, or your leaders going to do to save our planet?

They should talk to Gore... he has a boatload of good ideas imo.

Think of me what you will, but Harry was pure. He died a year after Lennon. The year peace and compassion was overtaken by the Ronnie revolution.

Please help save our planet. I beg you.

Peace... and reality... it's all we've got left.

No. Apparently it is Kofi Annan's words about the Israeli attacks on the UNIFIL outpost in Southern Lebanon Tuesday in which observers from Canada, China, Austria, and Finland were killed.

Daniel Ayalon, Israel's ambassador to the U.S., called Annan's reaction "deplorable." He said the observers were caught in crossfire between Hezbollah and Israel.

And what was his reaction that was so "deplorable"? What were those horrible words that dared not be spoken?

"I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defence Forces of a UN observer post in southern Lebanon that has killed two UN military observers, with two more feared dead," Annan said from Rome.

...

Annan said the attack took place "despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that UN positions would be spared Israeli fire."

Struger [spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL] said there had been 14 other incidents of firing close to this position from the Israeli side Tuesday afternoon.

"The firing continued even during the rescue operation," he said.

The UN base has been in operation since 1972 and co-ordinates the organization's activities in southern Lebanon.

Yes, I can see how that statement would be deplorable. Annan and the international community are starting to not tow the party line. And that makes these statements dangerous to the 'official' story the Americans and Israelis are trying to sell back home.

I'm not going to provide any commentary, nor huge blockquotes because you really need to read the whole interview... it's Gore, he talks alot...

But here are a few choice quotes:

The ads use transparent outdoor billboards that will blow your mind. They put the human rights abuse into your own context and environment. Shocking use of imagery.

Send Amnesty some love and appreciation for putting this out there fearlessly.

On a day when the European govts are being chastized for aiding and abetting the secret prisons, when Darfur is still a living hell, where Haditha can be allowed to happen and Gitmo still exists, this campaign is an in-your-face reminder that we can't keep silent.

Because that's my job as a voter. To make them (i.e. the people who are getting paid to represent me) understand my position on the issues and where I think they've gone horribly, horribly wrong. They don't own my vote. I own my vote. They are supposed to work for my vote. They're supposed to represent me. Oh, and I also own my value system. You know, the one which dictates who I feel comfortable loaning my vote to for 4 years.

The Republicans can take care of themselves, and hoo boy do they ever. How the hell do you think the country GOT so far right to begin with? Because the `base' of the GOP wouldn't shut the fuck up about their issues. And stayed home on election night or voted for Perot, or Buchanan, etc. And stopped fundraising for them. The party establishment got the message. And it brought them born again George W. Bush. With a smidge of warmongering Dick Cheney to represent the military-corporate-industrial complex for good measure.

So... today comes the news that Gore has partnered with MySpace to promote his climate change film. This is big news... MySpace has 70 million members. And they spend a lot of time there...

It's community. This one in particular.

Whaaaa! you are now screaming NO! Not more meta community conversations!

To you I say bah. Or maybe, yeah, no doubt I'm sick of them too.

Either way, if you've gotten this far then you have more time on your hands than is reasonable or you really enjoy my quirky sense of humour. Probably both.

Now on to my wisdom and glorious insight....

And guess what... you, as a parent, can't "opt out" of this data collection project. Oh sure, your kids info will go into a "suppression file", but they'll continue to collect the information and maintain the data... and still provide it to recruiters...

Welcome to George OrWell's America.

Having lived in the States for almost 12 years and having friends and myself go through this process in both countries, the contrast is shocking. And as I watch a friend go through an unplanned pregnancy now, in Canada, it saddens me to no end what my sisters to the south have to contend with.

So here is a hypothetical tale of what you would experience if you were in a situation in Canada where abortion may be an option for you (if you didn't realize at the time you were at risk and didn't just walk into a pharmacy and buy Plan B over the counter...):

This dovetails nicely with what my husband heard on talk radio last weekend during a trip through upstate New York... the WMD's were in Iraq and it was the damn anti-war Democrats (ummm... Wellstone & Feingold??) who were responsible for them not turning up by giving Saddam too much time to hide/ move them.

I have refrained from posting about the four hostages being held in Iraq as it not only hurts me to the core, but I have held out hope they will be released soon. But time is running out. The deadline is now hours away.

The hostages are members of the Christian Peacemakers Team and are two Canadians, an American and a Brit. They were in Iraq to document human rights abuses and to help the Iraqis. They were all adamently opposed to the occupation.