The PenOpticon

Lotta problems in this old world, eh? Terrorists in Toronto. IEDs in Iraq. Taliban insurgents. Global warming. Deforestation. Desertification. Where will it end? And where to begin? Of course! Let’s solve the “problem” of same sex marriage. In Bush’s address today he regurgitated the party line which blames activist judges for thwarting the will of the people by allowing gays and lesbians to marry. The man seems Hell-bent on defining a fundamental human relationship through a constitutional amendment.

I dunno what God wanted me to do, so I sure wouldn’t presume to tell other consenting adults who they can or can not marry. Straight? Yup. Gay? Nope. Lesbian? Nope. Transgendered? Hmmm. What are they supposed to do, George? Two-spirited? If you insist on some sort of Biblical foundation, I do know that people who have read that stuff (more thoroughly than I ever will) have identified three sames-sex relationships between its covers. Others have pointed out that at least eight distinct forms of marriage occur in the Old and New Testaments. It’s a wild and crazy world George — not unlike the animal world, where same-sex relationships abound.

Anyhow, this issue is smeared all over the entire infearmation highway — and there is no escape, so you may as well enjoy it. You might relax a little with a look at the Politics TV Report on GOP sexual hypocrisy. Those guys are right on: Bush just wants y’all to stare into his googly eyes and get all mesmerized over same-sex marriage so you’ll forget about those pesky problems mentioned in paragraph one. And guess which North American Prime Minister wants to re-open the same debate in the Fall of 2006?

As George Clooney cooly remarks in O Brother Where Art Thou: “We’re in a tight spot now boys. We’re in a tight spot now”. Health care crisis. Rogue nuclear states. Darfur. Pharmaceuticals and hormone disrupters in the water…

The BBC radio program Have Your Say is trolling once again for fearful Canadians by asking: “Do you feel safer since anti-terror raids in Canada? Do you feel safer as a result of the arrests of a group of terrorism suspects by Canadian police?”

No — I don’t feel safer because it is not clear that this was a “real” terror cell. Since this was a sting operation — and the police themselves orchestrated the delivery of the ammonium nitrate — it is unclear what would have really happened if the police had not been as involved. Time will tell though. Charges against 12 of the accused have finally been read and include conspiracy to carry out a terrorist activity, training for terrorist purposes, bombmaking and illegally importing guns and ammunition.

That said, Canada is extremely vulnerable — as are most industrialized nations — because there just too many weak points in our infrastructure which could be attacked with relative ease. We have unprotected nuclear plants accessible from Lake Ontario. There are thousands of abandoned water wells which could allow water tables to be tainted. Gas pipelines could be disrupted. Blocking 3 or 4 major highways with tractor trailors would probably disrupt emergency response effectively enough to allow all sorts of mayhem to take place. Of course, as we have seen, the Taliban and other purveyors of terror are also quite vulnerable.

We can not secure everything, so we should take care to enforce Canada’s “hate” laws so that no church/temple/mosque or any other group is able to incite members to violence. In the end, we can only protect our infrastructure — and our values — if we give developing countries and all trading partners a fair shake. John F Kennedy’s words are as true today as ever: “The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution”. By the same token, radical, fundamentalist groups will never be able to solve their own problems through acts of terrorism.

As a multi-cultural society, Canada has been relatively successful (if we can ignore these idiots for the moment) in maintaining peace between many different peoples within our borders. We are far from perfect, but we have less to fear than countries that have not fostered the same degree of cultural integration and tolerance that we see in Canada.

So there BBC — that’s about as fearful as I can get right now.