Thoughts on a Cold Winter's Day

I have been attending a conference on training technology the past two days. For various reasons, this has meant that I have been down town Toronto between 7:30 and 8:30 in the morning.

The city is still largely asleep at that time; at least, once you get off the subway system. There are cars, to be sure, but few pedestrians on the three blocks between the subway station and my destination. There are also a surprising number of homeless people sleeping on grates on the sidewalk.

Its odd how homelessness is invisible until you have to step gingerly to avoid stepping on some poor soul huddled under a blanket on a sidewalk. You can see the steam rising from the grates and the breath appearing in front of your face, and then it strikes you -- these people are sleeping outside in temperatures that fall to -16 degrees Celsius. (That's 3 degrees American.)

I wish I could say I had a solution, but I don't. All I have is a great sense of unease and a lot of questions without answers.

Winter Wonderland

You may have noticed that I have not mentioned the weather much lately. That is because we finally got our normal seasonal weather a couple of weeks back. In fact, the weatherman on the six o'clock news says that temperatures are expected to be a bit below seasonal for the rest of the week.

It has snowed since the mid-afternoon. I went out to take some photographs just after five o'clock. The sun had not set yet, so I was able to photograph this bird's nest.

I'll bet you that the fellow who rode this bike to the bus stop did not expect it to snow so much.

The snow has slowed down traffic a bit, but there is still a steady stream of red tail lights heading down Yonge Street.

Even though there is a lot of snow falling, this is not a nasty storm. There are not bitter winds and the precipitation is dry rather than slushy. The result is light and fluffy snow.

Happy BWA Day

Today is Bubble Wrap ® Appreciation Day! At least, it is according to the fine folks at Fast-Pack.com, purveyors of fine Bubble Wrap ® in a variety of colours.

Bubble Wrap ® is a plastic sheet containing regularly spaced air-filled pockets that cusion fragile items being shipped. Although it has been in use as a shipping material since 1957, it also serves as a stress reliever for a multitude of people who are addicted to popping the tiny plastic bubbles. Although there are many manufacturers of air cushioning packing materials, the Bubble Wrap ® is actually a trademarked name.

If you go to the Fast-Pack.com website (www.fast-pack.com/bubblewrapappreciation.html) you will find a short news feature on BWA Day, along with craft ideas, virtual bubble popping games, and links to other sites. Check out the Virtual Bubble Wrap ® website (http://www.virtual-bubblewrap.com/index.shtml) which includes pages on Bubble Wrap ® diagnostics, Bubble Wrap ® etiquette, and Bubble Wrap ® techniques.

Survival of The One Drop Rule?

There is a lot being written about Barak Obama these days. Most articles refer to Obama as the first 'serious' Black candidate for the presidency of the United States of America, even though his mother was white. I don't know about you, but sometimes the media's fixation on Obama's blackness hints at the survival of the old-fashioned "one drop rule".

The infamous rule, which dates back to the Jim Crow days of the early twentieth century, says that a person is Black if they have even one drop of African blood in them. In other words, if your great-great-great grandmother was an Ibo slave, you are black, even though you are only 1/32 Ibo. The purpose of the rule was to identify who qualified for white-only preference and who could legally be discriminated against.

I realize that Obama identifies himself as an African American, has married an African American, and attends an African American church. I also realize that, for most people at least, ethnicity does not matter when evaluating a political candidate. Or does it? It was not so long ago when pundits wondered whether Kennedy's Catholicism would harm him at the polls.

Perhaps it is good that Obama is running for the highest office in his country. It may just help the US put the issue of race behind it. It would be nice to see an America where the land of a candidate's ancestors was less important than his or her political platform.

A Thousand Words

I don't feel like saying much today.

I didn't feel like saying much yesterday.

I may not feel like saying much tomorrow.

I cannot see beyond tomorrow, but I may not feel like saying much then.

Today, I will let my camera do my talking for me.

This photograph is called "Wishing".

Poem: Virginia Dare

Virginia Dare

Sometimes, it's no fun
Being first -
First to be born,
First to disappear.

(c) J S Phillips

Happy Burns Day

Today is Robbie Burns Day, an unofficial holiday celebrated by Scots throughout the world. The day commemorates the birth of the great Scottish poet Robbie Burns.

Burns is known to most people for a couple of poems --To a Mouse comes immediately to mind -- and for his setting of an old Scottish folk song -- Auld Lang Syne -- that has become a New Year's Eve tradition. A few may also be aware of his poem dedicated to that dubious delicacy -- haggis.

Personally, though, I prefer to think of Burns as a collector and enhancer of Scottish folk songs. There are few songs as beautiful as My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose, although that particular tune is often massacred by Irish tenor wannabes. (If you want to hear the definitive version, check out the Andy M. Stewart recording of Burns' songs.) Another great song is Green Grow the Rashes. In a totally different vein, Rattling, Roaring Willie is a rattling good time.

Some of you who are Scottish may already have plans to commemorate the day by attending a real, live Burns Day celebration, complete with a haggis piped into the dining hall and Scottish fiddle ensembles. The rest of you can celebrate by raising a glass of your finest malt whisky and toasting the poet's body of work.

The New Reality

As of today, travellers flying between the United States and Canada must possess valid passports. In a year, passports will also be required when entering the United States by land. As you may well imagine, the program -- the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative -- is not going over well with many Canadians.

Naturally, tourism-related organizations such as hotels, resorts, and ski lodges are a bit concerned, since the passport requirements are likely to reduce their business. Most Americans, it turns out, do not have passports. The tougher documentation requirements, combined with a relatively high Canadian dollar, means the Canadian tourism industry is going to have to re-invent the way it markets Canada to the American public.

On an individual level, news reports interviewed frustrated people who were lining up at -- or being turned away from -- passport offices. Of course, the new requirements were announced last year, so they had plenty of time to get their papers in order, but they seem upset nonetheless.

Canadian government officials have expressed concerns that the WHTI will have a negative impact on cross-border trade, a reasonable concern when one recognizes that 75% of Canada's international trade is with the United States. They appear to be lobbying for an extension on the requirement for land travel, but the US government is standing firm. American officials, you see, consider the Initiative as a critical step in increasing the security of their borders.

I guess they forget that terrorists -- and other criminals for that matter -- have a long history of travelling on forged documents.

A Tale of Two Despots

Today is the anniversary of the deaths of two despots.

Louis XVI of France was executed in 1793, after being held under house arrest since the previous year. He had been convicted of high treason by the National Assembly and was sentenced to death by guillotine. Interestingly enough, the vote was close: 361 in favour of his death, 288 opposed, and 72 absentions. Had the absentions all voted against the death sentence, the vote would have been 361 to 360, not a particularly strong mandate. France -- and Europe -- were thrown into chaos that ultimately ended with the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815.

The second despot to die on this day was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov or, as he is better known, Lenin. Unlike Louis, Lenin was not born to power. Radicalized by the execution of his brother for terrorism, Lenin came to power in 1917 during the October Revolution against the Kerensky government. Although he was leader of Russia when Tsar Nicholas was executed, it is unlikely that Lenin had ordered the murder. After surviving two assassination attempts, Lenin did authorize the "Red Terror" that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and to the establishment of the Soviet gulag system. Upon his death in 1924, Josef Stalin assumed leadership of the Soviet Union.

Ironically, today is also the anniversary of the death of a man who fought against despots: George Orwell. Orwell's two best-known novels, 1984 and Animal Farm, are classic attacks on totalitariansim.

Thanks, Vera

I like music. I like all kinds of music. I like all kinds of music from all kinds of places. In fact, I am listening to a Portuguese group, Madredeus, at this very moment.

The group, which takes its name from the Madre de Deus station on the Lisbon tram line, has been recording since the mid-1980s. They came to prominence in 1994, when Wim Wenders had them perform in his movie Lisbon Story. Unfortunately, I did not see that movie and I only discovered them this past year when Vera, one of the people I worked with, loaned me the O Espírito da Paz CD.

I fell in love with the group and have since bought O Paraíso and Um Amor Infinito. If I had to choose a favourite album I would pick O Paraíso, but the other two albums are great too. I can, however, say I have a favourite song -- A Andorinha da Primavera off of O Paraíso. There is something magical about the combination of guitars, synthesizers, and Teresa Salgueiro's voice.

In case you are wondering, I don't speak Portuguese. (Nor do I speak French, Spanish, Latin, Russian, Gaelic, Zulu, or the various African languages on the tracks of my CD collection.) Luckily, you don't have to speak Portuguese to connect with the beauty of the music, you just have to listen.

Thanks, Vera, for turning me onto Madredeus.

The Agouti Effect

I came across an interesting story in a book I am reading called Deep Jungle -- Journey to the heart of the rainforest. It is a tale of trees and orchids and rodents and bees.

The Brazil nut tree is one of the biggest trees in the Amazonian rainforest. Brazil nut trees have been transplanted to other areas, but they only bear nuts in the rainforest. Their success in South America is the result of both flora and fauna.

Orchids grow in the rainforest along with Brazil nut trees. Male orchid bees, which never touch Brazil nut trees, use secretions from orchids to attract females, which do touch the trees. It is the female orchid bees that pollinate the Brazil nut flowers.

Once the flowers blossom, they grow into hard pods that contain up to thirty seeds. The heavy pods fall from great heights, but the pod casings seldom break. Although many animals are attracted to Brazil nuts, they are unable to break into the pods, which would have a terminal impact on the survival of Brazil nuts. Or it would have a terminal impact if not for agoutis.

Agoutis are cat-sized rodents that resemble long-legged guinea pigs. They use their strong teeth to chisel through the pods to get to the seeds, which they then hide throughout the jungle. Some are taken by other species, many are eaten by the agoutis themselves, but enough germinate to ensure the continued existence of the Brazil nut race.

Deep Jungle -- Journey to the heart of the rainforest
Fred Pearce
Eden Project Books, London, 2005
ISBN: 1903919568

Anniversary of an Arrest

Sixty-two years ago today the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg was arrested in Budapest. Officially, Wallenberg was the First Secretary to the Swedish legation. In reality, Wallenberg's primary business during the period between July of 1944 and the liberation of Budapest had been to save Hungarian Jews from deportation to Nazi extermination camps.

He managed this by issuing them with bogus "protective passports" that identified the bearer as a Swedish subject awaiting repatriation. When the fake documents failed to influence Nazi functionaries, Wallenberg was not above threatening them with prosecution for war crimes after the war ended. Yad Veshem, Israel's official Holocaust memorial, credits Wallenberg with saving thousands of Hungarian Jews.

The Soviet Army arrested Wallenberg shortly after they entered Budapest. Supposedly, they thought he had been spying for the United States, but no charges were ever published. As for the validity of the accusation, the US government has never confirmed whether or not Wallenberg was a US agent.

Wallenberg was transferred to the notorious Lubyanka prison shortly after his arrest. What happened to him after that is any body's guess. The Soviet government claimed that he died of an illness in 1947, but prisoners in the Soviet gulag system reported seeing him as late as the 1990s.

There is a bitter irony in Wallenberg's fate. He fought tirelessly and at great personal risk by one totalitarian regime, only to be incarcerated by another one. His legacy, however, did not die with him. Wallenberg not only saved thousands -- he inspires millions. As United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said, Wallenberg is a model for us to "act when we can". We may not be able to save numerous lives, but we can all be a force for good in this world.

Portrait of a Pest

The cane toad (Bufo marinus) is a pest. A native of Central and South America, it was introduced to Australia in 1935 to control cane beetles. Since then, their population has exploded to over 200 million and they have had a negative impact on much of the native Australia fauna, since they are voracious predators.

Recent reports suggest that cane toads are evolving longer legs to help them with their migration. A number of native species are reported to have adapted ways of dealing with the toxins they secrete, but scientists are still working on ways to halt the spread of this predator including creating a gene to reverse the sex of female (i.e. breeding) cane toads.

MLK - A Personal Observation

Today is Martin Luther King Day in the United States. It commemorates the birth of the great American civil rights leader who was gunned down in 1968. King died before I was even in school, and he lived in another country, but I have been inspired by his example. So, I know from personal experience, have other people.

As part of my job, I have delivered leadership training sessions in branches in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. I always begin the first session of the program by getting participants to identify one leader whom they admire and one leader whom they feel is a poor example of leadership.

My audiences varied in age, gender, ethnicity, and education, but Martin Luther King is one of only two individuals who have made the list every time I ran this exercise. (Gandhi was the other one.) Employees in such diverse locations as Phoenix, Atlanta, Glasgow, Vancouver, and Toronto have all found something about King's courage and commitment to inspire them.

The Eternal Conversation

I came across the following passage in a book about Jesus and how he has been perceived:

We are all part of an unending conversation. It is an image of human life, a parable of our lives, powerfully and insightfully developed by the twentieth century American scholar Kenneth Burke. Being born is like entering a parlor where there's already a conversation going on. The conversation began long before we were born, and it will continue long after we're gone. The conversation is about life itself - about what is real, what's worth paying attention to, how we should live, and what "this" is all about. When we have listened long enough to have some idea of what the conversation is about, we join it ourselves. Then, in Burke's words, "The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress."

I don't know about you, but I find this image reassuring.

From
Jesus - Understanding the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary
Marcus J. Borg
Harper San Francisco, 2006
ISBN: 10: 0-06-059445-4
13: 978-0-06-056445-9
Page 310

Book Review - Dreamland

How do you see Canada's place in the world?

For many Canadians, Canada is a beacon to the world, a "kinder, gentler" version of the great American image of the "shining city on the hill". Canada, these people believe, has a lot to show the world about how to live in multicultural, non-judgmental harmony. Internationally, Canada is a nation that uses moral persuasion --or "soft power", to use Lloyd Axworthy's phrase -- to influence change. Unlike our neighbour to the south, Canada is committed to making multinational institutions such as the United Nations work the way they were intended to.

At the risk of offending my countrymen, I have always thought that this "vision of Canada" is immature and more suitable for a romantic teenager than for adults. I think Canada is more than just a collection of social programs such as public health care and, perhaps, universal daycare. I think Canada is more than just a collection of the world's ethnicities that transform this nation into a community of communities. I think Canada has failed to pull its weight in international affairs and, especially, when protecting its sovereignty. "Soft power" is a great exercise in public relations when you are pitching policy to idealistic adolescents, but in the real world it is an admission that you don't possess the means to project "hard power".

People who share my views tend to be thought of as closet Americans. Now, however, I have come across a book that makes the argument that "realists" -- as my fellow travellers and I label ourselves -- have grounds to be considered the true nationalists. Author Roy Rempel argues in Dreamland - How Canada's Pretend Foreign Policy Has Undermined Sovereignty that the "middle power" of common Canadian mythology is in serious danger of becoming a de facto protectorate of the United States because it refuses to take a realistic approach to international affairs.

In Rempel's view, Canada is no longer internationally significant in part because we have let our armed forces decay and in part because we have allowed ourselves to dissipate our resources in foreign affairs initiatives that are aimed more at the domestic electorate than in advancing -- and protecting -- Canada's national interests. In fact, it is not too extreme to summarize Rempel's arguments as saying that Canadian governments, regardless of which party is in power, tend not to even recognize that Canada has national interests. (The discussion of values and interests would be entertaining were it not so depressing.)

Perhaps the most important thesis in Dreamland, however, is that Canadian governments have done Canadians a gross disservice by their failure to concentrate on creating appropriate relations to the empire to the south - the United States of America. The Canada-US relationship is without a doubt the single most important relationship in terms of our national interest, yet Canadian "leaders" such as Jean Chretien have had no hesitation to go out of their way to damage the relationship. While bearding the American lion plays well to certain domestic audiences, it is a foolhardy and even self-destructive strategy to follow with the nation that comprises 75% of your international trade.

Rempel examines other aspects of Canadian foreign policy in detail, including how the Canadian military lacks the means for strategic power projection and the willy-nilly nature of Canadian foreign aid expenditures. He also presents an interesting examination of how three other middle powers with limited resources and relatively small populations -- Australia, New Zealand, and Norway -- have approached similar challenges.

Dreamland is unlikely to appear on Jack Layton's recommended reading list. (Nor, for that matter, are its arguments likely to be accepted by Stephan Dion.) It should, however, be on the reading list of any Canadian who is concerned about the future of this great country and its place in an increasingly complicated world.

Dreamland - How Canada's Pretend Foreign Policy Has Undermined Sovereignty
Roy Rempel
School of Policy Studies Queen's University, 2006
ISBN: 1-55339-119-5

Warmer Weather? Whoopee!

Global warming may not be all bad, at least not to all creatures.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced that the sole naturally migrating flock of whooping cranes now numbers a record 237 birds, up from the previous year's 220. No less than 45 chicks were born last year, including seven sets of twins. Not bad for a species whose population was 15 at one point.

And what is the explanation for these increasing numbers? Mild weather in Wood Buffalo National Park, where the birds nest. The lack of freezing temperatures and drizzle meant that more chicks survived. I just hope that Big Oil and the US government don't start using this good news story as an additional reason to avoid taking action on global warming.

The Latest Great White Hope

So David Beckham has decided to make the leap to American soccer after a lack lustre year with Real Madrid. Good for him.

Beckham has been adamant that he is not crossing the pond just for the money, which frankly is a relief to me. When I heard he had signed a deal that could end up paying him a quarter of a billion dollars over five years, my initial thoughts centred on "that greedy bastard". However, Becks claims he wanted to make the move now when, at age 32, he is still at the top of his game. You see, he did not want to be one of those guys who wait until they are hitting 40 and then make the move for a huge payoff.

There has been a lot of talk in the media about the move, and I have no doubts that it will sell a lot of tickets in the short run. However, I can't really see how one man will be enough to interest a country that has been the United States of Ambivalence when it comes to the game of soccer. (I mean, they can't even call it by the name the rest of the world calls it - soccer.)

Personally, I think there is something sick about a deal that pays Beckham $10 million a season when the lowest paid players earn less than $20,000, but that is our modern capitalist system for you. The fact is that Beckham will earn something like five times as much as the rest of his team combined. If everyone else in the league is happy with this disparity so be it.

Some commentators have compared Beckham's move to LA with that of Wayne Gretzky years ago. I don't think that bodes well for the fate of soccer in the US. After all, Gretzky raised hockey's profile and became an A-list celebrity, but the National Hockey League never did get a decent network broadcast deal, a fact that has continued to hurt the league. When you consider that the soccer league basically consists of Beckham at one level and everyone else at another, it is even less likely that soccer's profile will be any higher than it was when Pele played for New York.

I hope I am wrong. I hope that soccer takes off and becomes a big deal in North America. But somehow, I just don't see it happening.

And They Call Our Dollar Loonie

A report on CBC.ca talked about a US defence report that claimed that Canadian coins were used as electronic surveillance devises. Supposedly, radio frequency transmitters were located on Canadian coins no less than three times in a four month period.

As one expert stated, "It wouldn't seem to be the best place to put something like that; you'd want to put it in something that wouldn't be left behind or spent. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

An American official is reported as telling the Globe and Mail that while Canadian coins triggered suspicions, the fears were groundless. Apparently, they were so groundless that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) did not know about the alleged incidents until the story was reported in the news.

What next? Will they discover that someone has hidden radio frequency transmitters hidden under the rim of Tim Hortons coffee cups?

For Sale: One Slightly Used Principality

Major Paddy Roy Bates (Retd), or rather Prince Roy of the Principality of Sealand, has put his "country" up for sale. Or rather, he has made Sealand available for transfer, since one cannot sell a principality.

Sealand" is an old World War II off-shore fortress that used to be known as HM Fort Roughs Tower. It was originally built in international waters as part of a chain of installations protecting England from the Germans. When the war ended, the garrison was withdrawn and the facility was abandoned until Bates and his family moved to the installation and proclaimed it an autonomous principality in 1967.

Previously, Bates had been convicted of running an illegal radio station when he broadcast from HM Fort John Knox, which was within Britain's 3 mile territorial waters. By moving to Roughs Tower, which is six miles off the coast of England, he hoped to avoid similar charges. The British government took him to court but the judge, suprisingly, ruled that Sealand was outside of the government's control because it was in international waters.

Prince Roy's firm belief in Sealand's independence was reinforced in 1978 when Dutch and German businessmen were held as prisoners of war after an abortive attempt to kidnap Prince Roy's son Michael, the current Prince Regent and acting head of state. When the German government attempted to intercede with the British government to obtain the release of their citizen, they were directed to deal with Sealand authorities.

No nation has formally recognized Sealand as an actual state, although it is sometimes used to illustrate principles of international law, but that has not stopped the Bates dynasty from issuing Sealand passports, stamps, and currency. The Principality has even been represented at sporting events, such as mini-golf and slot cars.

Given the impending change of government which will inevitably follow the transfer of the principality, it might be a good time to consider purchasing an official Sealand title. That's right, you can become a Lord, Lady, Baron, or Baroness of Sealand for the low, low price of only £29. For more information, check out: http://www.sealandgov.org/shop.html

By the way, if you are interested in arranging the transfer of Sealand from the Bates family to your own dynasty, you had better start getting the money together. The asking price is from £65,000,000 and £504,000,000. In Canadian dollars, it would cost you $1.4 billion. And you thought cottage country was expensive.

Coat of Arms used with the kind permission of the government of Sealand.

Everyone Talks About It

Last month I commented a few times about how weird the weather was. Well, it is still unseasonably warm, although the weatherpeople are predicting snow over the next couple of days.

Here are just a few weather-related items:

• several golf courses have been open for a week, making this the first golfing January ever;
• bushes appear to be forming buds and crocuses have been reported in the London area;
• birdwatchers in Presquile Park near Brighton report seeing six robins and one kingfisher;
• people have reported seeing squirrels mating;
• Blue Mountain ski resort had to temporarily lay off 1,300 seasonal workers last week due to lack of snow;
• fishermen are out on the lakes fishing for perch -- in boats, not in ice-fishing shacks;
• retailers report that people have ordered snowmobiles but have not picked them up yet because there is no snow on the trails yet;
• I personally saw a caterpillar crawling on the sidewalk last month.

Mark Twain once said about the weather that "everyone talks about it but nobody does anything about it". Judging by the odd events outlined above, it appears we are starting to pay for all the things we've done in the past to accelerate global warming. I wonder what we can expect in the future. Perhaps twenty years from now people will refer to us as the "great green north".

Gladiators: Before and After

A few days ago I started painting some 54mm Roman gladiator figures. Here is what three of the lads looked like before painting:

Here is what the finished products look like:

Good News on the Afghanada Front

Thanks to the two folks who were kind enough to let me know that Afghanada has been extended an extra 10 episodes. You can even catch up on episodes you missed. Check out the comments on my earlier post for more details.

By the way, the comment from Laurence may sound a bit whiny :o) , but his show - Outfront - is definitely worth checking out. It is a DYI show where ordinary (and often, extraordinary) listeners make their own 15 minute radio programs. You can catch it on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays at approximately 8:45 pm. Content varies day by day, and while not every episode may interest you, the ones that do are likely to knock your socks off.

Kudos, Condolences, and Consternation

Congratulations to Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives. Not only is she the first Californian and the first Italian-American to hold this post; she is also the highest-ranked woman in American political history. Her new position puts her second in line in the presidential succession, after Vice President Cheney. No woman has ever held such an important position in the US government.

Condolences to Rona Ambrose, Canada's erstwhile Minister of the Environment. Ambrose had the unfortunate job of representing a government that only discovered how important the environment is to Canadians when the Liberals elected Dion as their leader. Her transfer to Intergovernmental Affairs puts her in a portfolio for which she is much better suited, but it now means that not one of the seven female cabinet ministers has a major portfolio.

Please, Britney, say it ain't so. The evening news aired a rumour that Britney Spears plans on making a comeback this year. After partying with Paris sans panties, Brit was allegedly booed at a basketball game. According to the wire services, the singer's website has accused the media "criticized my every move and printed a skewed perception of who I really am as a human being". She goes on to threaten/promise that she will be cominging back "bigger and better than ever". Thanks for the warning, Britney.

CBC Radio - The Best Game in Town Tonight

I like to listen to CBC Radio One on Thursday nights because there are several excellent shows on.

Dispatches is on at 7:30. This program showcases documentaries on events happening throughout the world. It is part foreign affairs, part human interest, and 100% impactful. Whether it is a story about Robert Mugabe and the economic meltdown of Zimbabwe or a profile of musicians who are opposing totalitarian regimes, there is always something interesting on Dispatches.

The next show, Global Village, fills the 8:00 to 8:30 slot. GV is about music and musicians from around the world. Listeners become correspondents and file reports from musical events throughout the four corners of the globe. While I prefer the one hour version of Global Village that airs Saturdays at 6:30, the Thursday night version is a nice alternative to mindless television.

The surprise show of this season is Afghanada, a half hour drama that airs at 8:30. Afghanada goes where no television has gone yet -- it follows a squad of Canadian soldiers as they serve a tour of duty in Afghanistan. The show is remarkably frank in its depiction of the violence and contradictions of the mission to Afghanistan. This evening's episode involved a fracas involving the Cape Breton story-teller-cum-soldier Private Manson, a local "terp", and Captain "Crunch" Williams. This episode, like so many of the previous nine, was sad, but perhaps the saddest thing about the show is that it will end in two weeks. Check it out while you can.

And lastly, CBC airs coverage from other public broadcasters from around the world in the hours between 1:00 am and 6:00 am. I don't usually stay up that late, but when I do I really enjoy the grab bag of programming.

They Must Really Want Him Gone

A couple of days ago I wrote about the gap between CEO compensation and that of the average Canadian worker. Apparently, stratospheric compensation extends beyond day-to-day work to include termination pay.

I'm talking, of course, about yesterday's departure of Bob Nardelli from the role of Home Depot's CEO and Chairman of the Board. Nardelli, who had been Chief Operating Officer for six years, was under a great deal of pressure from investors who were unhappy about how the company's share price was perfoming. He leaves Home Depot with a cash payment of $20 million (US) and the acceleration of stock awards and options worth about $84 million (US).

Included in Nardelli's $210 million (US) severance package is a cash payment of $20 million and the acceleration of unvested deferred stock awards currently valued at roughly $77 million. To put it into perspective, the total amount that Home Depot has set aside for stores and staff that provide good customer service is only $30 million. In other words, Nardelli leaving is worth seven times as much as average employees doing a good job.

Investors don't seem to care. The stock ended the day trading almost 2.3% higher and most of the commentary was positive. Bernie Marcus, who co-founded the company and is still a major shareholder, did not seem to think the amount was a problem. "It's like the old story, if the stock goes up 10%, who's going to care?" he is quoted as saying.

I don't know about Mr. Marcus and Mr. Nardelli, but a lot of people care. People work too hard to make ends meet to just shrug off the latest golden handshake as the cost of doing business. Most people do not get rewarded for doing a poor job, and I can't think of many cases where a clerk in a Home Depot store would get an extensive severance package for quitting. It is about time that the executive elite of the corporate world start realizing that they must play by the same rules as everyone else.

Of Funerals, State or Other

There have been a lot of funerals in the news lately.

First was the funeral for James Brown, the "Godfather of Soul". The funeral was attended by some of the most famous personalities in modern Afro-American culture. Even Michael Jackson, who tends more towards the infamous than the famous, showed up to pay his respects. And before the actual funeral ceremony, Brown's body "lay in state" at the Apollo Theater to allow thousands of fans to pay their last respects.

The second funeral in the news was that of ex-President of the United States Gerald Ford. Ford, the longest-lived president in history at 93, died a day after Brown. An understated leader and a decent man, Ford's body lay in state for three days in the Capitol before a state funeral in Washington and a private funeral in Michigan.

The third funeral in the news was one that has not occurred yet. Last year, the Canadian House of Parliament voted to hold a state funeral for the last veteran of World War I. The problem, it seems, is that none of the remaining three veterans wish to have a state funeral. The government has stated that it will only have a state funeral if the family of the deceased agree to it, but I can't see how the families would approve if the actual veterans don't. I think a better plan would be for the government to declare a national day of remembrance and celebration to honour all of Canada's war dead.

And the last funeral is the one that might have been a state funeral 20 years ago but which was a private matter when it happened. Of course, I am talking about the funeral of the late Iraqi strongman, Saddam Hussein. Had Hussein died at any time before his invasion of Kuwait, he would probably have had an even more ostentatious funeral than Brown and Ford combined. Had Hussein died before the US invasion of Iraq, he still would have had a funeral that would have been well-attended by foreign dignitaries. As it is, Hussein was executed like a common criminal and turned over to relatives for a low-key private funeral.

And so it goes. There will be more funerals over the coming days and weeks and months: funerals for victims of ferry sinkings and plane crashes; funerals for victims of car bombs and insurgent bullets; and funerals for murder victims. Some will be widely publicized, while others will be private expressions of love and grief. All will be a way of saying goodbye to those we have lost.

This Ought to Motivate the Staff

There is an article on the CTV.ca site this morning which addresses a serious issue that will probably be ignored by all but a handful of activists.

The article, which was about compensation levels for Canadian CEOs, claimed that the highest paid CEOs had already earned an average Canadian employee's annual salary earlier this morning (at 9:46, to be exact). The figure, which comes from a study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, was derived by taking a look at the 100 highest paid CEOs and then comparing their compensation to the average Canadian salary of $38,010. To get an even darker picture, consider the fact that the top 100 CEOs made the annual average minimum wage salary ($15,931) on New Year's Day.

I think it is a very telling piece of information. I think people should be concerned about the gap between the most and least successful performers in our economy, since relying on figures such as "average household income" skews the great disparities addressed in the article. What I don't understand is why more people are not concerned with the "winner-take-all" mentality of 21st Century capitalism.

I have no problem with the idea of fair compensation. I have no problem with the idea of "pay for performance". I have no problem with the idea that people who have invested their capital in a company should get a decent return on their investment. I do, however, have a problem with gross inequality of the sort that we are talking about here. I find it hard to believe that the top 100 CEOs provide so much shareholder value that they should get paid 150 times the annual salary of the average Canadian.

I know that people are sometimes worried about the future of this country's economy. We think about globalization and automation and increasingly scarce resources as potential threats to our way of life. Somehow, though, I think we are ignoring an even more important threat -- today's capitalism is inherently unfair.

We have become a culture that rewards its economic winners with a disproportionate share of the resources instead of making sure that there is enough for everyone. No wonder recent studies have indicated that the number one aspiration of teenagers is to become rich and famous.

Now I am not going to blame this all on highly paid CEOs -- over-rich, under-employed celebrities like Paris Hilton play their role, as do professional athletes who earn enormous salaries for playing games. The difference, however, is that most people understand that rich celebrities and elite athletes are aberrations. In effect, they have won the lottery of life. CEOs, on the other hand, are people who conceivably earned their positions through merit and hard work.

In other words, we could be them if we had the desire and the drive, and that is why ultimately we don't raise concerns about the gap between richest and poorest. Forget about factors like education, family connections, or corporate mentors. Forget about factors such as gender, ethnicity, or regionalism. Forget about the fact that even if they have and do work hard, it is difficult to quantify why they are worth tens of millions of dollars each year. And while you're at it, forget about the fact that they make enough money to pay one hundred people minimum wage and still have enough left over to live quite comfortably.

Starting Out the New Year Right

I do not have cable television, so I was unable to watch any of the college football bowl games today. To be honest, I would not have watched them even if I had cable, because football bores me. I would probably have watched the Food network instead.



Since I don't have cable, I decided to act out my own cooking show. A quick search of the fridge provided the ingredients for tonight's dinner:

• one chicken breast, skinned


• half a red pepper


• half a sweet onion


• one quarter of a tin of apricots


• the remnants of a half pound block of feta cheese

Dinner was extremely easy to make. I coated the chicken, pepper, and onion in a mixture of olive oil and crushed spices and cooked at 375 for 20 minutes, turning everything once. At the end of 20 minutes, I placed the apricots on the chicken and turned the over to broil for 2 minutes. Once the 2 minutes were up, I moved the apricots from off the chicken and replaced them with two thin slabs of feta cheese. I continued broiling the food for another 6 minutes, until the red pepper was a bit black and the feta cheese was a nice brown.

This is what the final dish looked like: