Swompdonkey

Mid-November doldrums

Haven't felt much like blogging lately, but here are a few items that might amuse you:

Lomins arrived in Morocco safely. She shouldn't have trouble finding lodging.Everyone in that country appears to be moving to Spain

Do as the Romans did: Sean Maloney on Afghanistan

Rex for GG! I can't get enough of this guy. I find it hilarious when the extremely articulate Murphy deploys his formidable vocab to address whimsical topics like our parliamentarians' shabby treatment of a beloved national institution. But seriously, no worries, boy. Grapes can take care of himself.

Here's a headscratcher From yesterday's G&M:

A majority of Canadians accept multiculturalism in principle, but that support evaporates when immigrant religious and cultural practices threaten gender equality, according to a new poll examining Canadians' views of Muslims. The vast majority - 81 per cent -- of 2,021 Canadians surveyed said immigrants should adapt to mainstream Canadian beliefs about the rights and role of women, an opinion that was shared almost equally across demographic, income, education, age and gender lines. Half the respondents said immigrants and minority ethnic groups should be free to maintain their religious and cultural practices in Canada, while 40 per cent said immigrants should blend into Canadian society and not form separate communities. The study revealed, however, that the majority of Canadians welcome the Muslim community as a vital part of the Canadian fabric, with 75 per cent saying that Muslim immigrants make a positive contribution to Canada. As well, half of Canadians say they have a positive impression of Islam, an increase of four percentage points from 2003. "The survey underlines how important multiculturalism is, on the one hand, and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is, on the other. "Where they clash, Charter equality rights trump multiculturalism," said Fred Lowy, interim president of the Montreal-based Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, which commissioned the poll from Environics. "At the same time, Canada is not retreating from multiculturalism, as several European countries are, including Sweden and Denmark, in light of 9/11 and terrorist attacks in London and Madrid."

Uh... what? They aren't retreating "in light of 9/11 and terrorist attacks in London and Madrid"... that makes it sound like people panicked after the attack and suddenly became bigots... maybe if some European countries are in fact retreating from multiculturalism, it could be because multiculturalism, at least in its present form, is not working for them.

Quid est Veritas?

Who the heck knows? All I know is that this Bill Whittle guy comes up with some goood stuff!

Random military snippet of the day:Mr. Miyagi's unit