I wrote this column originally about three weeks ago, but never posted it, when the number of Canadian soldiers lost in Afghanistan was 88. As of a few days ago, it’s apparently at 90. It’s possible that before Christmas, we will break the 100 mark, not a national achievement that we will accept with pride. While it’s a statistic that pales in comparison to the world wars, it’s a statistic that is gradually eroding away the support of the Canadian public for that engagement, and no doubt number 100 will bring a louder call to “Do something about it!”

I think most of us support our military. When support rallies are held, they generally carefully phrase the purpose as being for the military, not for supporting the conflict in Afghanistan. People are more divided on that, and I would not be surprised if only a minority of Canadians support the rationale for that “war on terrorism”.

We’re “between a rock and a hard place”, as the old saying goes. There is a generally accepted belief that if we and others pull out of Afghanistan, there will be chaos, bloodshed, and many things they’ve accomplished over the last few years will be gone in a heartbeat. I have little doubt that will happen. That fact is the main reason we are there, and for the next year at least, staying there.
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It’s difficult to know what to do with telemarketers. I know some people have their own approach to the nuisance phone calls from them, but few of the responses seem completely ideal. I’m aware that one common approach is to immediately hang up, while another is to issue a stream of profanity and replace the receiver with some force, but I’m not sure how much of a deterrent this might be. I doubt that it stops anything, and the latter technique (although telemarketers voluntarily invade your space) might get you reported to the phone company.

There’s a side of me that is aware of many of these people being stuck in cubicles all day, trying to build a record of sales or donations, struggling to get by in this world. Accents will tell you that a lot of them might be immigrants who need the work, though this might be a misconception from the belief that you are receiving the call to donate to the Canadian Disabled Bearded Motorcycle Repairmen Fund from someone in Toronto, when in fact it’s really Mujubar calling from Calcutta.

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A certain number of my readers are old enough to remember things like pulling into the service station for two dollars worth of gas, knowing that was plenty for an evening roaming the town– in fact that would probably make your tank half-full.

I suppose they would yell for anyone in the station office to come out for a laugh if I held out a “toonie” (or is it “two-nie”?) and asked for gas today. The attendant would have to be pretty good with the pump to get it stopped at about a liter and a half (not as much liquid as the milk jugs we buy— but notice that gas is cheaper than the milk).

We’ve been using up oil, and many other natural resources, for some time now. Back in the 1800’s when men invented mechanical things to ease our work load, and the “Industrial Revolution” started, things were initially fired on coal, and steam was used as the means of moving things, both outside with trains and ships, and inside the factories. Gradually we became more sophisticated, and along came cars and trucks, then aircraft, and we wired ourselves together in electrical grids and started enjoying the Good Life. But we were gradually relying on oil as the fuel; coal took on a smaller role because it was cumbersome, dirty, and difficult to get out of the ground.

Oil was great… black gold, Texas tea. We all moved to Beverley Hills and put in Cee-ment ponds and enjoyed ourselves.

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Last night we turned out our lights for an hour, in keeping with the Earth Hour mandate. Looking out the window, it didn’t appear that many in Barrington were with us on this, although in a rural area, with street lights and public buildings (well, maybe two of those) with lights still on, it was hard to tell if anyone had joined the campaign or they were just out for Saturday night.

With the early time change, the hour started with a fair amount of light, probably only barely at the point of turning them on in the first place. I played the guitar for half an hour, while Ellen played Sudoku (battery powered, with a light—was that cheating?).

They say the purpose of the “observance” was to raise awareness; certainly it didn’t result in a significant cost saving for electricity (in Ireland they saved 1.5% for the evening), but it did provide some awareness to be sure.
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12-year old Karissa Boudreau first disappeared on January 27, after apparently having an argument with her mother, Penny. Penny indicated that she had left Karissa in the car and gone into the Bridgewater, Nova Scotia Sobey’s Supermarket for a few minutes, and that Karissa was gone when she returned to the car.

For most of us, the situation just deteriorated from there. I knew Penny from high school, and she and Karissa used to come to our church for Sunday School when they were living in this area. My first reaction, when the disappearance was reported in the news, was that this was a situation of a girl, smarting from a disagreement, who was temporarily hiding out at a friend’s home to teach her mother a lesson.

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There are some who are saying that 2008 will be a watershed election year in the US; that somehow, things will change, that American politics will not be the same, not matter what the results. That could be true, but it’s a line we have heard before in more than one country’s elections.

Certainly it seems to surpass all previous elections as far as preparation. While the behind-the-scenes work likely started years ago, certainly things have been front and centre for over a year now, with final elections still eight months away and no likelihood of the tempo changing other than the trimming of the candidates down to one a party. I don’t think anyone, this side of the border or not, has seen this level of electioneering.
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