Christmas adventures

Well, here we are on the cusp of Christmas. I have not posted since last Wednesday because I was out of town, visiting family - my daughter and her family. The threat of a snow storm meant I had to return 12 hours before intended, but not too soon to experience the joys and excitements of living in the country. Prior excitements at the farm included a new born calf that refused to suckle, slaughtering a cow, and building a chicken coop. All of them rather tame in comparison to this trip's entertainment.

My son and law and grandson, eager to get home after a harrowing drive through a snow storm, mistook the culvert's open area between two snow banks for his driveway, and, before his son could warn him drove his car part way into the only open water in kilometers. Both exited the vehicle in a prompt manner while the nose of the car sunk into the swamp water, car bottom resting on the culvert. car rear hiked up indecently at a 45 degree angle.

It is amazing how the creative juices flow when the threat of humiliation looms. When the tow truck refused to come due to weather conditions, my son-in-law realized that, unless he took matters into his own hands, the car would likely freeze into the swamp and be there 'till spring. Not only would they lose the use of the car, but, more significantly, he would be the laughing stock of the county. So, armed with a tipsy neighbour and said neighbour's truck he attacked the problem, only to have the neighbour's truck end up in a ditch (not the swamp). Undaunted, he hauled out a sort of winch thingame, called a "come along" (??? a dubious name at best), which, he used to drag the truck out of the ditch using only human muscle power.

Miraculously, they pulled the car out of the swamp using the truck and the "come along", then pushed the car down the road, entering via the correct driveway, and finally coming to rest in the workshop where it is currently being thawed and dried out.

Hesitant to risk such mistakes myself, being hideously unequiped (no "come along" in the trunk), I decided once the storm abated and before the next one descended, to high tail it back to the relative safety and placidity of the city so I could relate this tale to my faithful readers, all 1.734 of them.

Paper - Use and Reuse

Paper has invaded my thinking today. From starting the fire with newspaper to reading a blog on which books ended up in the discount bin (Everything Must Go) there was some kernel of meaning in it all. The transitory nature of material things? Multiple uses of newspaper?

"Not worth the paper it's printed on!" How many times have I read that comment? Now that we are facing a global environmental crisis, we might need to take that paradigm a little more to heart. Trees may well become a rarer commodity than wise or clever sayings and we will be admonished to save our valuable paper for only the noblest, best written, most important ideas, information and stories. All other words to be disseminated by the internet.

Until this takes place, we will still be innundated with paper - newspaper and its inserts - what to do with it once it has been read? Nothing is older than yesterday's news, or sales, for that matter. Once read, can we afford to just toss it out? Of course it is being recycled in increasing amounts by many communities, for the rest of us, here are some other uses for it:

• Gardening: newspaper makes great mulch. My neighbour who sports a magnificent garden uses it to kill grass, reclaiming lawn space for more engaging plant life than grass. Several layers (10?) of newsprint placed over your lawn will effectively kill the grass beneath.
• Composting: If you vermicompost, as I do, the worms need a constant supply of bedding materials, that they also digest. Shredded newspaper (black inks, preferably vegetable, are better for them, the coloured inks have more poisonous chemicals) is well tolerated by the voracious red wigglers that eat my garbage.
• Starting fires: I have discovered an effective fire starter using bunched up newspaper and paper bags. Ever since I started insisting that all my packaging be paper, rather than plastic, I have accumulated LOTS of paper bags. I use them (after removing the glued strip) to drain bacon on, to spread butter in pans for cooking and for wrapping packages to send through the mail. To start a fire, I put several bunched up pieces of newspaper into the bag and then put kindling on top of one or two bags. The bag keeps the paper close enough together to generate a focused heat and ignites the kindling quite nicely.

I know, I know, I probably shouldn't be burning wood. Although it is a sustainable resource, if logged appropriately. I do buy my wood from a "green" logger. Still there is the environmental cost with the carbon dioxide that gets thrown into the atmosphere when I burn it. My carbon footprint is not zero, but I am trying to do what I can to reduce unneeded waste. Not perfect yet, by any means, but working at improving.

Ms Fixit

Well, I finally have dealt with the dripping faucet and the burnt electrical plug on the vacuum cleaner.

I no longer have to shrivel up with guilt every time I go to the bathroom and hear potable water drip, drip, dripping away, forever lost to the thirsty of the world. I belong to several environmental organizations, including Wellington Water Watchers. Although I did do a lot of water watching while pondering the hows, whys and wherefores of my dripping faucet, that's not quite what they had in mind. While my water was pointlessly vacating the aquafer beneath us, Nestle was (and still is) avidly bottling up this same water to sell back to us a few kilometers down the road. While I do not agree with this practice, at least they weren't just wasting it!

Actually, it's not quite true that I "fixed" the faucet. I did try, but was unable to figure out how to replace the washer, basically because I couldn't get to the washer. So, instead I did what I should've done in the first place - turned off the valve underneath the sink. No hot water in the bathroom sink, but I don't mind brushing my teeth in cold water. Really, it couldn't have been easier.

Fixing the vacuum cleaner plug was more time consuming, but pretty straight forward. I bought a new plug at the hardware store, cut off the burnt ends of the wire, sliced away the insulating plastic cover exposing the copper wire(s). Then I had to carefully twist one wire around one screw and the other around the other screw, making sure there was no contact between them. And, you know what? It worked. I finishd vacuuming the living room. Although I could think of more exciting ways to reward myself for the exchange.

This was hardly an inspired blog - sorry to all one of you out there that may or may not be reading this.

The Way of Failure

For most of my life I have run away from any and all awareness of personal failure. At times this has included burning bridges, that is, turning my back on the people and projects that were the context for my failures.

As I have aged, this has become more difficult to do. Many of my failures have been as a parent and even I am not prepared to leave relationships with my grown children to avoid facing up to the ways I have injured them.

Seeing the hardships my failures have caused my children is exquisitely painful and the tempation is there continually to shrink away from the spotlight of truth. Holidays seem to be a good time for stirring up these issues.

So, I found myself this morning, cowering under the weight of all this - a weight, as I have said before, I often want to run away from. Of late I have adopted the practice each morning of asking Jesus to be "yoked" with Him. I imagine Jesus and I being harnessed together, and this morning I realized that the weight of my failure was something that Jesus was willing to help me bear. Of course, if I chose not to bear it by not acknowledging it, then Jesus would not help me carry it.

I felt God informing me that my failures were not excluded from the "things" in "God works all things together for good" and that owning them before God demonstrated my love and trust of God and thereby freed Him up to work even my failures out for good in the lives of those I have injured. This seemed too good to be true! Much of the gospel is - it isn't called the "good news" for nothing.

Further, I wondered if, from God's perspective, our failures are really any different than our successes. Although we feel much better about our successes in life, it is often our failures that being us closer to God, more dependent on God's grace and mercy. Is this maybe what Paul meant when he said, "when I am weak, then I am strong"?

So, while I do not welcome failure, I am called not to fear it. This should make me able to risk hoping for the future. As well, when I do fail, as is inevitable, I must walk through my failures, in fact, there is no other way around them.

The dog, the car and the Logos

Today I woke up before the crack of dawn in a state of anxiety. Besides the usual Christmas crazies yesterday brought a new set of complexities (aka troubles) into my life. The dog and the car.

My elderly mutt, Hobbes, is a long suffering fellow and had been clicking around the house on the canine equivalent of stiletto heels. Yesterday, as a pre-Christmas gift to the old fella, I took him in to the vet to have his toenails clipped. "Oh, and by the way," says I to the vet, "what is that swelling just under his eye?"

No, thankfully, it was not cancer, just a broken tooth and infected bone, requiring dental surgery, "Let me give you a quote on that," says he. Which is how I discover that Hobbes' mouth will cost more than all the Christmas presents and the turkey with the trimmings combined. "OK," says I, "can I get back to you on that?"

Try as I might, I cannot think of an alternative to immediate oral surgery for Hobbes, so, I will call the vet today to book it and worry about the cost later (me and the auto industry, eh? I'd ask the government for a bail-out, but...there really is no Santa Claus - for individuals at least)

Later on, after a busy day of entertaining and decorating, I decided to attend a Christmas drop-in hosted by some friends - that ought to cheer me up! Lo and behold my car protested loudly when I tried to leave later that night - screeching like a banshee it appeared that the parking brake on the right hand side would not release. The car mechanic is not open on Saturdays, so I will have to wait until Monday to find out how much it will cost to repair. Our host drove me home.

Finally, cozy in my bed, I tried to complete my nightly routine of writing up the day in my journal - oops, my glasses, yep, you guessed it - left on the dashboard of the car...hmm - thankfully, I have a few out-dated spares kicking around the house - one of those rare times I can pat myself on the back for being a pack rat.

So, no wonder I'm feeling a little pressed this morning - although, as I review my list of woes, I realize that I am truly blessed that they are so relatively benign - no foreclosures, no earthquakes, no dislocations due to war, no famine.

Still, wussy North American that I am, they do drag me down. As is my habit, I pray in the morning, "casting my cares upon the Lord" so God gets an earful of my angst. Generally I read the Psalms while breakfasting, and found this in Psalm 138: 7-8 "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me; Thou wilt stretch forth thy hand against the wrath of mine enemies, And thy right hand will save me. Jehovah will perfect that which concerneth me: Thy lovingkindness, O Jehovah, endureth for ever; Forsake not the works of thine own hands." I put down my spoon and suddenly notice the poinsetta on my kitchen table - the colours of the leaves and petals are so richly nuanced!

I believe that this is one of God's daily miracles - that those words were specifically meant for me. Somehow in the eternal now the Logos of God, in love, aimed those words at me, to be read on this morning, to speak to these circumstances. And I am encouraged. If God cares for me and my foolish little woes, how much more must He care for those with greater woes. I pray that God will meet those who are suffering in the midst of their greater woes with love and hope.

Green Christmas Caroling

As Christmas approaches and the dread spirit begins to haunt my steps, I look around for ways to bless my family, enjoy my friends and honour the humble, meek and lowly Jesus without damaging the environment or my diminishing income.

"Those who bless the poor will themselves find blessing" (Good King Winceslas): Organizations like World Vision and Heifer International offer ways to purchase gifts for third world families such as a flock of chickens or an agricultural package including tools and seed. Donations to local food banks or the Salvation Army will help support those who have less in your area.

"Let earth receive her king" (Joy to the World): Bless the earth by buying a living Christmas tree that you could plant after a couple of years. Or an artificial tree. I'm trying something new this year - I bought an upside down cone about three feet high which I plan to decorate with cedar and pine boughs that I will harvest from the trees in my yard.

The spirit of the season and how to avoid it

No political commentary today, no, not even any environmental concerns. No, today I want to talk about the "spirit of the season". And by that, I do not mean Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the angel Gabriel or Santa Claus. What I mean is that oppressive sense of panic descending on or around the first of December, crushing the very "warm coziness" it dangles in front of us to lure us into its vortex of buy, buy, buy and busy, busy, busy. Then, if we can't afford to buy, buy, buy or have no one to be busy, busy, busy with or when the actual day does not deliver on the promised "magic" of warmth / family / intimacy we are heaped with such a sense of loss that many despair. Social agencies and emergency hot lines beef up their services over Christmas and New Years to try to avert the human tragedies brought on by this same spirit - self-destructive behaviours that trip over into suicide.



Isn't this always the way? The dark trying to co-opt the light, trying to blight the generosity and genuine good will shown by so many during this time of year. Trying to draw attention away from the dirty stable where Jesus' was born - redolent with animal smells and the worship of shepherds. Instead, we get stuck in Herod's palace with the cloying sweetness of expensive perfumes and an inordinate drive to "get what is mine". What else could have been driving those hordes of people in the USA who broke through the doors of a Walmart and trampled an employee to death. Yes, the ads put out by WalMart pumped people up with expectations of yet more Christmas goodies for an even cheaper price. But why did that advertising work?

Well, I am trying to lay low myself. Malls do it for me - that is, once I am in one, all reserve and self-control go out the window. Oh, wait, I forgot, there aren't any windows in a mall - just like there aren't any clocks or any logical layout of the stores...I figure they are designed that way intentionally - it is to the vendors' advantage that you lose your way and your sense of time and any awareness that a reality outside of the mall exists.

Lest I sound like Scrooge - I do love Christmas and all the trappings. Its just that I find it so easy to get focused on the trappings and forget the content. Some ways around that are to focus on the poor, on making your own gifts, on spending time (instead of money) with those you love and on look for ways to be kind and civil to others as you trudge through the pitfalls and blessings of this season.

Towards Sustainable Future, circa 1972

Tired of doom and gloom? Well, who isn't. Want an outline of what can be done? Of course you do. Thirty-six years ago A Blueprint for Survival was published 1972 in "The Ecologist", then later in book form by Penguin. Written by Edward Goldsmith, editor of "The Ecologist" and Robert Allen, it paints a predicament, not unlike the one we face now, and, more importantly, proposes a strategy to deal with it. I loved it when I first read it, so I did what I always do with great books - insist that my friends read them, hence, my library suffers - Thank God for the internet! For I have now rediscovered this marvelous little text, conveniently archived!

To give you a flavour of the book itself, and perhaps tempt you to read it for yourselves here is the first paragraph from the introduction:

The principal defect of the industrial way of life with its ethos of expansion is that it is not sustainable. Its termination within the lifetime of someone born today is inevitable-unless it continues to be sustained for a while longer by an entrenched minority at the cost of imposing great suffering on the rest of mankind. We can be certain, however, that sooner or later it will end (only the precise time and circumstances are in doubt), and that it will do so in one of two ways: either against our will, in a succession of famines, epidemics, social crises and wars; or because we want it to-because we wish to create a society which will not impose hardship and cruelty upon our children-in a succession of thoughtful, humane and measured changes. We believe that a growing number of people are aware of this choice, and are more interested in our proposals for creating a sustainable society than in yet another recitation of the reasons why this should be done. We will therefore consider these reasons only briefly, reserving a fuller analysis for the four appendices which follow the Blueprint proper.

This book, written over thirty years ago, raised an alarm that has largely been ignored. Within its first pages is a likely reason why - the demand for environmental resources grows exponentially but, by the time it is actually noticed, it may be too late to change. They quote a Professor Forrestor who says,

"Exponential growth is treacherous and misleading. A system variable can continue through many doubling intervals without seeming to reach significant size. But then in one or two more doubling periods, still following the same law of exponential growth, it suddenly seems to become overwhelming."

Let's hope that it isn't too late for us to turn the tide, and perhaps this little book will provide some answers as to how it can be done.

Canada's dead, Conspiracy theories and Debt

Well, three more Canadian soldiers were killed yesterday in Afghanistan, bringing the toll up to 100. My heart goes out to their families, friends and colleagues. I think about my own sons, both of military age, and cannot fathom the depth of sorrow I would face at loosing either of them.

Occasionally I tune into the CBC on a Thursday at 11:30 and catch "Afghanada", the excellent radio drama about our troops in Afghanistan and the kind of challenges they face. It is very well done, well scripted, well acted. I think we owe it to our troops in the field to listen to this program as a way of keeping them in our minds and prayers.

Perhaps it was the combination of thinking about the war, Margaret Atwood's "Payback" and my sons that led me this morning to investigate one of my sons' interest in conspiracy theories. The trail led me to an article in the Pakistan Daily which reported on a group of American scientists and ex-military who are challenging the standard take on the 9/11 bombings - they have a website and call themselves the Scholars for 9/11 Truth and Justice. It is hard to know what to believe in this day and age, but I do think this group, with its analytical approach, poses some distressing / compelling / intriguing questions.

I know that many with sons and daughters overseas fighting and peacekeeping for Canada may dismiss such musings as disrespectful to the sacrifice their loved ones are making, and down right ungrateful to boot. Nothing of the sort is intended. With no disrespect due to those who have already died, shouldn't we think about what we are asking our soldiers to risk their lives for? The courage, and self-sacrifice of those who have already died is a debt that we who live on will never be able to repay. Do we want to increase that debt by sending others to die too, if it can be avoided?

Considering the high cost, both personal and as a nation, that we Canadians are paying to be involved in the "war on terror" launched in response to the global horror of the 9/11 bombings, it would be a good thing to sort out, once and for all, the facts behind them and who is responsible.

Proroguing the fall out...

I took the time to read my local newspaper last night. No, it wasn't the Globe and Mail or the New York Times, just a lowly, local rag. There was good news and bad news. The good news is that finally, Canadians are passionate about Canadian politics - this truly is new considering we had the lowest voter turn out ever in our last elections! The letters to the editor took up two whole pages and dealt exclusively with the political situation.

The bad news is that once you get Canadians passionate about anything (and, believe me, our passion threshold is pretty high - it takes a lot to override the calm, civilized, diffident, hey, let's be frank, boring, demeanour, we are noted for, eh?), whether it is hockey, NFL football, a great bargain, or, in this case, politics, rationality seems to flit conveniently out the window. Perhaps we are so unused to passion that we aren't that good at tempering it with reason.

Actually, let me amend that slightly, and I am trying my hardest to be fair about this, but those who wrote in to the newspaper opposed to the coalition and pro Stephen Harper, were vitriolic in their prose, failing to back it up with much - it seemed like they had swallowed Stephen Harper's rhetoric, hook, line and sinker, and were churning it back out with a lot of emotion but not much thought. Most distressing was one writer who obliquely threatened armed revolt if the coalition went through!

On the other sides, and there were at least two, some semblance of basing your statements on facts did come into play. There was middle ground, covered by the professor of political science who explained that, within our constitution, a coalition government was not illegal, nor was it undemocratic as those participating were duly elected and represented more than half of the electors. On the side of the coalition, the tone was much more of a, "come and let us reason together". Equally adamant about their stance, but without the divisive bitterness and much more conciliatory.

Almost as distressing as the angry tone of the letters, was the obvious ignorance about our parliamentary system of government. Many pro-Harperites seemed to believe that a coalition government was "undemocratic" because Stephen Harper had been elected Prime Minister in the recent elections! This is flat out incorrect - wrong, wrong, wrong. They are seeing Canadian politics through an American Presidential election filter. The way it works, my friends, is that we the people elect those we want to represent us. The party with the most MPs gets to "form a government", but in order to rule, it must negotiate with those other MPs, of a different political stripe, who also have the right to be there, make decisions, and rule. It's all about sharing power - especially when the Prime Minister's party did NOT win a majority of the seats in parliament, as is the case with the Conservatives.

Most disturbing of all, was the divisiveness that came across in the pro-Harper letters, they reflected what I had heard in Stephen Harper's speeches. There was no room for negotiation, no admission of any failure on Harper's part to engage the opposition parties. It went so quickly to an us/them mentality that is frightening. It does not bode well for the hard times ahead where we will need everyone on board if we are to survive with our civilization, not to mention our civility, in tact.

And let us not take these things lightly. Before the horrors of Naziism, Germany was considered a highly civilized society, but the hard times of the depression and the punitive measures imposed after World War I created a breeding ground for vile thoughts later birthed as even more vile deeds. An atmosphere of us / them, of blame and of finger pointing and fear prevailed.

When the leader of our country vilifies one part of the country he is supposed to be leading, this can increase divisiveness. When SH points at the Bloc and says outright that they are unCanadian, that the coalition is setting the stage for Canada's destruction, that it will pull all the money from the West and pour it into Quebec, he is setting the stage for the kind of divisiveness, and suspicion that precedes outright hatred. Is he purposefully playing into the Quebec and / or Western separatists' / sovreignists' hands? What more evidence is needed by the majority of Quebecers who voted for the Bloc that the rest of Canada does not want to hear them, that they have no voice in Canada?

Now that Harper has been given his "get out of jail free" card, let's hope he puts the time to good use and tries to undo some of the damage he has done to Canadian unity.

Prorogue - Professional Rogue or???

A new word for me - no, it is not a professional scamp or scoundrel. Originated in 14th century it is a word you will never find being used in American politics. It refers to the request to discontinue a session of parliament. In Canada, this request can be made by the prime minister to the Governor General, Queen Elizabeth II's representative in Canada. Her name is Michaelle Jean and today, Stephen Harper, our beleaguered Prime Minister will ask her to "prorogue" parliament for him.

It is a little like the "get out of jail free" card in Monopoly. Stephen Harper has led his party and his country into a corner and now he wants to buy time to figure a way out of it. Truthfully, I feel very angry at the man. He won a minority government two years ago, one of his campaign promises at the time was to limit the frequency of elections to no less than every four years. Within two years he has called another election himself.

Why would Stephen Harper go back on his promise like that? Well, I think he has an agenda and he wants free rein to implement it. I fear that he wants to change the face of Canada. And he doesn't want any pesky opposition parties to stop him. So, he took a chance on an election, hoping the timing of it, shortly after a poll showing Canadians thought him the best leader among the parties, would catapult him into a majority government. It did not. So, after spending $30 million of Canadian tax payers' money, he still does not get the message that Canadians do not want to give him a majority.

Now he is tossing around all sorts of vile accusations that will only hurt Canada, the Conservative party and ultimately him, that is if people see through it. S.H. claims that Canada's relative stability in this time of economic recession, is because of his government's good policies. Yet his government had only been in office for eighteen months, so the good policies are probably more a result of the many years of prior Liberal government.

He claims it is "undemocratic" for the opposition parties to form a coalition government, because the people did not vote for Stephan Dion. No, and they did not vote for Stephen Harper either - they voted for a party. This is not the USA, although I suspect Harper's agenda is to move Canada closer to an American form of government - perhaps in his own mind he's already there.

Clearly, Canadians gave Harper a mandate to govern with the other parties - that's what a minority government is supposed to do. This is not Harper's strong suit. Instead of trying to work with them, he vilifies them. He has said that by making agreements with the Bloc Quebecois, Dion and Layton (the NDP party leader) are threatening the security of the country! How must Quebec voters feel to hear their prime minister essentially accuse their duly elected representatives of being threats to Canada? If this is his attitude towards the representatives of Quebec in parliament, how can he work with them at all? He has no confidence in them, and quite rightly, they have no reason to have confidence in him.

Harper has gotten himself into this mess, first by calling an election so soon after he formed a government. Then, by not taking seriously the message given him by the Canadian people that we want him to work with the other parties that we also elected. We did not give him a mandate to govern with a majority. Now he wants to have the parliament, he went to such great lengths to change, prorogued until he can figure out another way to slip his agenda through.

I was willing to give him a chance to lead Canada, although I did not vote for him, I did think he had the potential to lead. However, he does not have what a truly great democratic leader needs, the ability to listen and to negotiate. I fear that Harper's inner attitude, exposed by the current turn of events, is that of dictator - my way or the highway - and his manoeuverings make me nervous. I feel he is using all in his power to stay in power, so that he can impose his vision of Canada on us unhindered by the pesky demands of his fellow legislators who, let's face it, represent more of the country than his party does.

I am beginning to fear that Harper is a dangerous opportunist, guilty of the very accusations he hurls at those daring to oppose him with this coalition government. I do hope that G.G. Jean will refuse to grant him his request. Perhaps it is a professional scoundrel we are dealing with here in PM Harper.

Crazy Idea #5 - Housing in Hard Times

I woke up this morning with another Crazy Idea. It had to do with my house. As small as it is, the mortgage may prove too much for me and I have been worrying about whether or not to sell it.

Rousing out of sleep, my paradigm shifted to an older one I once held. My mother grew up during the Great Depression. She garnered this piece of wisdom from those hard times: "if you are in financial trouble, don't go to the rich, the poor will always help you, because they know what it feels like." Later, when I became a Christian, I heard echoes of her statement in Jesus' own words "It is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to get through the eye of the needle."

The point? "By your love for each other the world will know you are mine" John quotes Jesus as saying. In his letter, James elaborates by asserting that love goes beyond praying for people at church, it requires sharing material wealth where needed - a nuts and bolts involvement in each others' lives that our life styles make almost impossible. Our North American cultural obsession with material independence creates walls between people made up of a lack of time and energy. These walls, though not ill intended, are as difficult to penetrate as any castle fortification.

Well, the economy that allows us the luxury of material independence is wavering; those walls may be crumbling. Is that such a bad thing? Take my house for example. What if, instead of selling it and moving into a condo so that I can maintain my own material independence, I open it up and invite others, without homes, to live with me?

Such a radical move requires a level of faith, hope and love, I do not currently have. I fear losing my independence, my freedom, and yes, even my property. On the other hand, look at what I might gain - a more intimate relationship with others, a sense of community and belonging, shared responsibilities, and support for myself in times of need, not to mention the increased dependency on Jesus for His moment by moment grace.

Bottom line, do I want this? No, but, I am willing to be made willing. And Jesus has changed my heart before. What about you?

A Parlaimentary Dictatorship? Maybe, but...

This year I got into a huge argument with my American, college aged, niece, who, completing her first year at an ivy league university in the US, informed me in no uncertain terms that, according to her political science prof, Canada was a "parliamentary dictatorship". I begged to differ, although I did see her point re: Canada not having the same system of checks and balances that are embedded in the American Constitution.

However, what is happening now in Ottawa, demonstrates how Canada's system works to maintain some control on the party in power. Just in case the one or two of you who are reading this are not Canadians, the current parliament is headed by the Conservative party led by Stephen Harper. In our recent fall election, the Conservatives won more seats than any other party, though not more than half - the Liberals, New Democratic Party and the Bloc Quebecois hold the other seats.

Since every piece of legislation must be passed by a majority vote, this means that the Conservatives have to "play ball" with the other political parties. The Harper government already had a minority gov't going into the recent fall elections, but S.H. wanted a majority. By refusing to present legislation palatable to any of the other political parties he forced them to vote against the legislation - their vote of "non-confidence" automatically dissolved the gov't, prompting the fall elections.

By failing to give them their coveted majority, Canadians were telling the Conservatives that they want S.H to work with the other parties. But, no, the Conservatives decided to push parliament again - essentially using the electorate as a bargaining chip - elections are costly and will effect the economy badly due to the uncertainty of their outcome. The Conservative tactics are, either play the game we choose or we will toss the ball to the people again, and again until you do it our way. The threat is: "you don't want to be blamed for causing the gov't to fall, do you?" This cynical political move was meant to cow the opposition parties into complying with the Conservative agenda.

This time around, the other parties have called the Conservative bluff. Since the Liberals and NDP together have enough seats to form a gov't, they have made an agreement to do so, should the legislation before the parliament not be passed next Monday, which is very likely. This is called a "confidence vote" and if it does not pass, parliament will be dissolved. Once dissolved, one of two things could happen - the Governor-General could call an election OR she could ask the Liberal / NDP coalition to form a gov't.

The Conservatives are planning to spend lots of tax payer money on a massive ad campaign which is expected to accuse their opponents of ruthlessly plotting to steal power from the democratically elected Conservatives. Of course, they will gloss over the fact that the Liberal and NDP MPs were also democratically elected. They will also gloss over their own inability / unwillingness to "play well" with the other parties.

Unfortunately, there are right wingers in Western Canada who will see a Liberal / NDP minority gov't as a loss of voice for their region and will feel hard done by. They will likely, as a talk host did this AM, blame the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois rather than their own Conservative party who really have opened the door to this "coup" by pushing their agenda rather than trying to work with the other parties.

The sad thing is that it would be better for Canadians to have a solid gov't working together to support our economy in these uncertain times. A fact that Stephen Harper cynically used to grab a political advantage, hoping that by holding the Canadian electorate to ransom, he could force the other political parties to pass his legislation as is. Stephen Harper has proven that he is not fit to lead Canada. He was given the opportunity to provide true leadership by putting aside partisan politics and working with the other parties to guide Canada through this crisis. Instead, he took the opportunist's approach and tried to press the situation to his political advantage.

I hope that that S.H.'s efforts to have parliament shut down before the vote can take place next Monday fails and that the Liberals and NDP with support from the Bloc will have the chance to lead our country through these dark times. Much rests on the Governer General's head so we will see what stuff she is made of in the week to come.

If you've made it to the end of this bit of writing, then you are probably interested enough in Canadian politics to read about it first hand from the CBC .

A cat named Jaguar

Our cat is named Jaguar - I wanted to name her Smudge, but one of the disadvantageous of having a creative and stubborn family is that everyone had their own idea as to what her name should be and they were all dismissive of mine. So the names went into a battered black fedora and mine lost out.

Sixteen years with a name like Jaguar has taken its toll on the cat who developed into a bossy, high-handed (high-pawed just doesn't have the same connotations) huntress. A spayed tortoise-shell cat, unmellowed by motherhood, she is still a formidable mouser after all these years. I am sorry to have to tell you that she also kills birds, at least she eats what she catches, leaving the remnants where someone is sure to step on them. All that activity has helped her keep her kittenish figure - in fact the vet thought she was only six at her yearly check up.

If she were only marginally larger she would hunt down and devour our poor dog, who, due to his lack of seniority, has been in her thrall since puppyhood. Hobbes is a big, furry beast who barks ferociously at all who stand in our foyer, but little Jag can still terrorize him just by sitting nonchalantly in a doorway he wants to pass through, say to get a bite to eat. I have happened upon this scene numerous times. Hobbes frozen in fear watching the cat with the whites of his eyes showing, while Jag sits pretending that her sole purpose in taking up the doorway is to thoroughly wash herself. As soon as I arrive Hobbes' gaze shifts to me piteously pleading for deliverance from his formidable dominatrix.

Jag is her nickname, and this too has had a less than desirable impact on her character. Like the sleek, expensive car she is imperious and assumes we humans are there to cater to her every whim. This includes being fed at the crack of dawn, a fact she unhesitatingly reminds us of as soon as she hears that shift in breathing that means we are close to waking. Most mornings I am greeted by her increasingly querulous yowling.

Another drawback to being named after a finely tuned racing car, is that, though very affectionate, she can only tolerate being petted for limited amounts of time before her refined nervous system goes into overdrive and she lashes out by biting the hand that pets.

Despite these flaws, which have gotten worse as she ages - a fact I take note of as I approach old age myself, she is unstinting generous with herself when I most need solace. I am positive that had we named her Smudge, she would've developed into a kindly queen mother-ish sort instead of the fierce despot she has become.