To the Victor go the Spoils

Just a thought, Sadam Hussein has now come to the end of his trial on the charges of Crimes Against Humanity for the brutal killing of political and religious opponents. For the record I believe he was likely guilty of mass murder although for whatever reason this most incredibly important trial since Nuremburg was covered very little by CNN. Bear in mind there was gavel to gavel coverage of O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson trials. Every piece of evidence examined by talking heads. With Sadam, we're expected to simply believe what the U.S. administration has to say. After all, they haven't lied to the world in the past. (Notice incidentally he has NOT been charged with any responsibility for terror attacks on the Excited States of America even though that was given as the secondary reason for the invasion of Iraq once WMDs were proven not to exist) Now then, if this were a fair fight in the playground sense, and somehow the Iraqui's won and successfully captured the U.S. leaders, is there doubt in anyones mind that George W. Bush and his cronies would be tried on the same charge of Crimes Against Humanity for the thousands of combatants and innocents killed in the Iraq invasion? Also, what about the numerous incidents of torture carried out and still occuring to this day? As I say, just a thought.

Western researcher develops HIV AIDS vaccine

This is the good news. "A pioneering HIV/AIDS vaccine developed by a virology professor at The University of Western Ontario is being readied for clinical trial.
The vaccine developed by Dr. Yong Kang, of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry could be available for therapeutic use within three years and for use as a preventive vaccine within the next six years." They do some really fine science at the UWO here in London Ontario.

IQ - Genetic ?

On the other hand ....

The University of Western Ontario is also the academic home of Phillipe Rushton. Yes, the same Phillipe Rushton who devined physical, intellectual and anatomical differences between the races. Now he reports: "Men are smarter than women, according to a controversial new study that adds another cinder to the fiery debate over whether gender impacts general inetelligence". I have to say in defence of Rushton, I honestly believe he analyzed available data and produced a report. Well probably not him but one of his research assistants who happens to be quite proficient in database programming. Is it wrong to say for example that on average, people of African heritage tend to have skin several shades darker than the average Caucasian? Also to be fair the difference is only 3.6 percentage points.

Cult or Religion ?

(In the two years since Jeffs has been a fugitive from justice, he has built three compounds from scratch in Colorado, South Dakota and Texas, the latter including a huge white temple.)

You tell me, the Las Vegas Sun reports: Warren Jeffs was captured in Las Vegas today. He was wanted by authorites on charges of polygamy 80 or so wives and according to the SanAntonio Current 'It's also possible that he has raped dozens of children. Jeffs is wanted for sex with a minor, conspiracy to have sex with a minor and rape as an accomplice (of a minor).' You just know he is going to quote scripture at his trial. Jeff's of course is a Mormon and don't kid yourself one of the four books they use to dictate doctrine is the good old King James bible. Religion, the true root of all evil.

Is Canada Facing a Quagmire in Afghanistan?

Likely not in the classic sense of the U.S. rut in Viet Nam (1950? - 1975 ) or the U.S.S.R. when they took on the Afghan rebels (1978 - 1982). But, if we're truly under the direction of the United States in this effort to tame the untameable there may be reason to take pause. Afghanistan is currently on the political back burner in the U.S. however, a case can certainly be made for the need to continue the policing of the country by NATO and coalition forces. The next president of the United States will undoubtedly still have both files on his desk when he first takes his seat in the oval office. The current Canadian government is striving to prove itself to the U.S. as a true ally and Canadian soldiers are paying the price for this reconciliation. To be fair, I felt a limited strike in Afghanistan to close the terrorist training bases and track down and capture Osama Bin Laden was more than justified but this turned out to be a rehearsal for the Iraqui invasion. Nothing short of regime change would suffice.

History tells us this region is best left alone. The British found out in the 1800s and Rudyard Kipling states it best in his poem "The Young British Soldier "

'When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.'

Things in Afghanistan haven't changed much since 1839 and we may as well learn from history now, sooner than later we will have to leave this land to the people who live there.

Time for Sensible Profiling Perhaps

According to news reports , passengers are becoming increasingly alarmed by fellow passengers based on their prejudice:

British holidaymakers staged an unprecedented mutiny - refusing to allow their flight to take off until two men they feared were terrorists were forcibly removed.

The extraordinary scenes happened after some of the 150 passengers on a Malaga-Manchester flight overheard two men of Asian appearance apparently talking Arabic.

Passengers told cabin crew they feared for their safety and demanded police action.

In my opinion, this sort of irrationality can be resolved if airport screeners around the world were allowed to use sensible profiling and in depth screening of passengers. This of course will only work in conjunction with a concerted effort to assure the flying public that such efforts are being made and safety is thereby assured.

Are You Pretty Enough?

Remembering the Laci Peterson case and with the return to the U.S. of John Karr the 41 year old school teacher who has confessed to the kidnap murder of 6 year old JonBenet Ramsey in Colorado Christmas of 1996, I once again question the conscience and morality of the average U.S. citizen. It seems the only victims worthy of media interest are white, beautiful and at the very least middle to upper middle class.

What Of the Faceless Victims?

I confess I haven't broken down the statistics but I'm certain the week JonBenet disappeared there were hundreds of black, Hispanic and poor white children abused, kidnapped and/or murdered in the United States. The simple fact the FBI in its 1996 Uniform Crime Reports , lists a shocking 19,645 occurrences of Murders and Nonnegligent Manslaughter that year must give one pause. How many of these murder victims do you remember? How many of these murders were reported on CNN? Ask yourself, was there anything particularly outstanding about the murder of JonBenet other than her status and its occurrence during Christmas. Such holidays seem to bring as much aggression and depression to the surface as joy to the world. If anything the statistics for that week would have been considerably higher than other times of the year. When time permits I intend to explore the statistics in more detail in a future post.

Media Must Make Money

How many of the disenfranchised victims made it to the front page? Very few I suspect and none got the overwhelming T.V. coverage that a 6 year old beauty princess did. Don't even get me started on the horrid exploitation of these little girls by their twisted parents projecting some displaced narcissism on their children.

Face the Problem

What is the matter with the good Christian people of the God Blessed America that they care more about one blond blue eyed victim than the large number of daily victims of poverty, drugs and sexual deviancy. Concentrating on the inherent sickness of a society caused by it's social blinders surely is more important than solving a ten year old murder mystery.

I admire the tabloid This Week With George Stephanopoulos for closing every episode with a listing of U.S. service men and women who lost their lives that week. It brings the tragedy of the war in Iraq to the attention of the American citizen in a graphic sense. What a tremendous value it would be for CNN to end each segment with a listing of those Americans murdered that day (approximately 60) name, age, gender and city.

In all sincerity, my heart goes out to those who loved and cherished JonBenet. No child should ever experience such a death in this world, and no loved one should ever be faced with this sort of wrenching loss.