Elizabeth May

I attended the Munk Debate on climate change a couple of weeks ago, and the person who surprised me most was Elizabeth May. She surprised me in a bad way. I expected that she would debate as an adult, as a political figure, as an activist. Even though I don't agree with her about many issues (though believe it or not I am with her on some), I expected sage behaviour out of her. I don't know why -- I guess after her hectoring performance in the federal election debates I though she may have learned something, but she has only got worse. Watching her was like watching the incarnation of every sexist male cliche about why women can't do politics. She was personal, childish, emotional. And when I say "emotional" I don't mean in a good way. I think it is possible, even desirable, to be emotional in a good way. She was emotional in an embarrassing manner. She spent much of the evening lobbing personal attacks at her opponents, in particular Bjorn Lomborg, on whom she was fixated. It was painfully obvious that she is jealous of him and resentful of his success. At one point she got in an exchange with him where she got so hysterical (yes, that word is the best one to describe her at that point) that the sound people in the back had to turn off her mic! In spite of repeated, polite requests from the moderator for her to stop talking, she wouldn't, to the point that someone in the audience (who sounded like Stephen LeDrew to me) shouted out, "Be quiet, Ms. May!" She was condescending in the extreme. At one point she made a reference to Nigel Lawson and Lomborg's "nice little books." She referred to Lord Lawson -- in a dismissive tone -- as a "journalist" and two seconds later to George Monbiot as a "wonderful Guardian journalist." Oh please. Get some manners. Speaking of Monbiot, I felt quite sorry for him. I did not find his arguments convincing (at least not in regards climate change, though they did convince me much of African culture is f**ked), but he stayed classy and had to be mortified at having been paired up with May. The saddest part was how she kept dropping names, trying to make herself sound important. She actually used, as an "argument," that she had met "the Minister for Poverty Alleviation from Lesotho" (yes, this is what she said) and that he apparently told her Lomborg was wrong! So there! Can you believe it? A completely juvenile argument -- anyone can say, "Well I met so-and-so, and they said you're wrong!" Hell, Lord Lawson, who was in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet, could certainly have dropped some names. He didn't. But I gather he's not a mass of insecurity, as, sadly, is our Ms. May. The most telling thing about the evening was that she alienated the audience (and she and Monbiot lost the debate, soundly) -- a good U of T/NDP/Green/Annex crowd, her people.

Tony Blair

I lurves me my Tony Blair.

Speaking on BBC One's Fern Britton Meets programme, Tony Blair was asked whether he would still have gone on with plans to join the US-led invasion had he known at the time that there were no WMD.
He said: "I would still have thought it right to remove him. I mean obviously you would have had to use and deploy different arguments, about the nature of the threat."
He added: "I can't really think we'd be better with him and his two sons still in charge, but it's incredibly difficult.
"That's why I sympathise with the people who were against [the war] for perfectly good reasons and are against it now, but for me, you know, in the end I had to take the decision."

I Met a Cute Boy Last Night...

...when I was out feeding cats. I had never seen him before on the route. Isn't he handsome?

I am glad he seemed to enjoy his dinner.

Desiderata

For some reason I've been thinking about the Desiderata, that poem-thingy that was so popular when I was a kid, in the early '70s. I remember there was a recorded version with portentous, meaningful music in the background. My sister had the album and used to play it all the time. It was kind of banal, but rather lovely, too. I always remember the "you have a right to be here" part:

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

And of course, I remember the part Pierre Trudeau quoted when he lost the election to Joe Clark (who?) in 1979:

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.

Actually, I think he also used the "universe is unfolding as it should" part in that speech.

Happy Belated, Frank!

Frank's birthday was yesterday -- I was remiss. Here he is singing The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else with Dean.

Bravery

On the first day of Chanuk Hanuka Hanukkah (okay, that is the spelling I'm going with), a story about a British soldier who smuggled himself into Auschwitz.

Denis Avey is a remarkable man by any measure. A courageous and determined soldier in World War II, he was captured by the Germans and imprisoned in a camp connected to the Germans' largest concentration camp, Auschwitz.
But his actions while in the camp - which he has never spoken about until now - are truly extraordinary. When millions would have done anything to get out, Mr Avey repeatedly smuggled himself into the camp.
Now 91 and living in Derbyshire, he says he wanted to witness what was going on inside and find out the truth about the gas chambers, so he could tell others. He knows he took "a hell of a chance"...
He arranged to swap for one night at a time with a Jewish inmate he had come to trust. He exchanged his uniform for the filthy, stripy garments the man had to wear. For the Auschwitz inmate it meant valuable food and rest in the British camp, while for Denis it was a chance to gather facts on the inside.

It was also a chance for Avey to show extraordinary compassion and courage. Please read the rest of this beautiful story.

Obama's Speech in Oslo

It was way too long (quelle surprise) and he couldn't resist taking shots at the Bush administration (quelle surprise), but I did like this part:

Yet the world must remember that it was not simply international institutions - not just treaties and declarations - that brought stability to a post-World War II world. Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: the United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms. The service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity from Germany to Korea, and enabled democracy to take hold in places like the Balkans. We have borne this burden not because we seek to impose our will. We have done so out of enlightened self-interest - because we seek a better future for our children and grandchildren, and we believe that their lives will be better if other peoples' children and grandchildren can live in freedom and prosperity.
So yes, the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace.

Of course, if George Bush had said something like that, he would have been skewered. But still, I'm glad Obama said it. I'd be even more pleased if I thought he meant it.
(Full text of Obama's speech is here. Warning, it's flippin' long.)

Malcolm Gladwell? Really? The Russian? Really?

Why are Gladwell and Michael Ignatieff on this list of Top 100 Global Thinkers from Foreign Policy magazine? I mean, under no circumstance can I see why Gladwell belongs there, though I think the Russian in days of yore belonged. But since he returned to Canada he has become a pill.
I was, however, delighted to see Dick Cheney in the top twenty. He's my favourite badass.

This Gives me Comfort

"A U.S. Army cadet reads a book entitled 'Kill Bin Laden' as he waits with other cadets for U.S. President Barack Obama to deliver an address on U.S. policy and the war in Afghanistan at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York December 1, 2009." This is what I want soldiers to look like -- these guys are badasses. Thank goodness.

(Reuters Photo/Shannon Stapleton)