Happy Merry Holiday Christmas

We hear a great deal these days about political correctness. Pious Christians fulminate about taking Christ out of Christmas and, although I am not religious, I tend to agree with them. The whole raison d'être for celebrating this day is, according to believers, the birth of Jesus, Son of God, in human form. If this is all malarkey to you, or if you're Muslim or Jewish or Sikh, then at least appreciate Christians for getting you a paid holiday. So,

Merry Christmas, everyone!! Peace and good will.

Religion, again

Those of you who have browsed this blog may think I have issues with religion, especially the organized kind. Well, you'd be right. In today's news, a young Saudi woman who was raped by seven men was given a sentence of six months and 200 lashes. She had been in a car with a man who was not her husband. Sharia law. Bad girl!

Following condemnation by George Bush, King Abdullah granted a pardon, but this lady would do well to leave the country or change her identity, if she could do either, which is doubtful. She will forever be considered unclean among the faithful. Usually in these cases, the husband divorces the woman.

The article also notes that in her case, and in the case of the rapists, their sentences had been doubled upon appeal. How dare you appeal, you sinners! Other miscreants take warning. The rapists had raped both the girl and the man in the car with her. Nice blokes, what?

Check out the article here

Who's Lying?

Following Brian Mulroney's testimony before the House Ethics Committee, a poll was taken asking people if, in their opinion, either Mulroney or Karlheinz Schrieber was telling the truth. Brian scored 10% which is an F double minus in anyone's score book. Schrieber's 34% was hardly a passing grade but it's revealing in one aspect. This is my opinion now. Although people realized that Karlheinz only revealed what he wanted to and fudged many questions and left no doubt about his ethics, he did reveal the essential truth of the nature of international dealings between governments, large corporations and banks, and that is what really matters. Thank you, Karlheinz.

Would I like to meet either of these gentlemen? Let me put it this way. I wouldn't invest in a new welcome mat or bake a cake for either. If Brian showed up at my door, I would bolt it. As for Karlheinz, after first hiding my property deed and counting the spoons, I would let him in, sit him down, pour him a good cognac, and prepare to be entertained. He does seem to have a sense of humour, which is a saving grace. I would then hope not to be hauled before the Ethics committee.

Pas de Deux

Back to the parliamentary committee. Today the entertainment was provided by Brian Mulroney, ex-Prime Minister and ex-friend of the redoubtable and cash-rich Karlheinz Schrieber. The scent of bribery, influence peddling and skulduggery was in the air.

Brian had accepted envelopes of cash on three occasions, a year apart, in three different cities and countries, in hotel rooms, for a total of $300,000 according to Karlheinz, or $240,000 according to Brian, for which Karlheinz expected certain services to be rendered.

Brian soared on wings of rhetoric, if not eloquence, damning himself and apologizing for such a profound misjudgment, but insisting that there was nothing illegal about it. He insisted so often, and so loudly, and so persistently and wasted so much time doing it that I was reminded of Hamlet's Queen Gertrude saying of the Play Queen, "the lady doth protest too much, methinks". So much as to lose credibility, in other words.

Brian dominated the meeting, as Karlheinz had the previous four. After each question he went on at great length with such irrelevancies, "ragging the puck", as TV anchor Don Newman put it, that it appeared he was trying to run out the clock. Each time the committee chair tried to restrain him, a Conservative member would raise a point of order to allow him to continue. The chair, trying to be fair to everyone, was visibly frustrated.

Few believe that Schrieber is an exemplary citizen, he's been living on his wits for years and the jig may be up, but Mulroney did not come off very well in this session. Did he really, really believe that Europeans normally deal in cash? Did he really have a road-to-Damascus conversion when he discovered at a late date that Schrieber was really a, gasp!, crook? Please!

These two deserve each other. Perhaps we can find a small island where they could retire and talk over old times together. St. Helena, for instance.

A Tango for Three

This past week's entertainment was enhanced, can you imagine, by a parliamentary committee session. The star witness was the reputed international crook swindler businessman wheeler dealer friend of people in high places, Karlheinz Schrieber. This gentleman has had a falling out with his erstwhile friend Brian Mulroney over a matter of 300,ooo dollars, and I suspect there's more to it than that.

Watching the proceedings, I began to feel a certain sympathy with Karlheinz, and he seemed like a guy you could warm up to. I wouldn't buy a used car from the guy and I'd hide the spoons, but he'd be good company, I'm sure. Shrewd, and always calculating, like a fox, watching for the main chance to bargain his way out of being deported to Germany where he's wanted for fraud and corruption and what-not. It seemed a bit much to drag him from jail in handcuffs and leg-irons; where would he run? That got my wife's sympathy - why do that to an old man?

The third dancer in this drama, Stephen Harper seems reluctant to tap a shoulder and join the fun. He might just have to abandon his old friend Brian for the greater good. There are others heading for the exits. Peter MacKay has piously informed us that he had warned his father Elmer to be "leery" of Schrieber. That lets him off the hook, I guess. Nothing like filial devotion. Now, Elmer MacKay has been around the block a few times, he was a so-so cabinet minister in Brian's government but under the previous Liberal reign of fond memory, he was a very effective opposition voice, perhaps the best. He'll be looking after himself.

Harper would love to get Karlheinz out of the country if he can make it look right. The Germans are managing to suppress their eagerness to get him back. Tomorrow the committee meets again. Stay tuned.

It's all very funny.

Teddy Bear Fuss

No sooner had I published the previous post, than another example of religious insanity hit the news. An English teacher in Sudan was jailed for 15 days, and given a deportation order, because her seven year old students named a teddy bear Muhammad. Many boys are named Muhammad but teddy bears are beyond the pale.

Worshippers streamed out of mosques in their thousands, then assembled in Martyrs Square, some carrying clubs and knives, demanding her execution.

She can hardly wait for deportation, one would think.

Some folk find comfort in religion. That's fine. But overall, is not religion the curse of humanity?

True believers believe what they're told. There is no reasoning involved. You must believe, my son, as the priests of my youth repeatedly said. Why? Just because if you don't believe, bad things will happen to you, such as burning in hell. These priests ranted against "freethinkers", a bad lot indeed.

There is a great gulf between belief and knowledge. The fuss and riots in Sudan are the result of belief. Blind belief. I prefer to know things, and knowledge can only be had by using one's intellect, imperfect as it may be. The important question to be asked of any assertion is this: Why? Then go figure.