Honestly?

Sometimes it's all right to lie, as long as the cause is truly just, and it is only a temporary fib. It reminds me of the figures that were given around Christmastime in 1989 when it was reputed there was an all-out attack on the citizens of Romania by their Stalinist dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu. The number of dead was apparently exaggerated, a mass grave was supposedly uncovered (which turned out to be a pauper's grave), but it was enough to get the citizens riled up enough to overthrow that brutal tyrant, and end communism in Romania. That is a sort of yardstick which I measure 'noble lies', if it allows the unvarnished truth to come out as quickly as possible.

On the other hand, you have that now famous case of the 'Balloon Boy', and the quest for fame at any cost, for its own sake. Are there many less noble, self-serving causes you can think about? One can only wonder if this Heene guy is insane or just plain evil.

And who are these 'Yes Men'? Claiming to speak for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, saying that they have basically done an 'about face' in opposing climate change legislation, what have they really accomplished? To me, it was an ill-conceived prank, even if the cause was just, it set back the cause of environmentalism and gave all kinds of ammunition for the nay-sayers.

Still on the subject of questionable tactics, I often wonder about people like Al Gore and David Suzuki, and the sort of science that they used. I wonder if it is still the same science, or was it successfully rebuffed? It's one thing to be proven wrong, but God help them if they knowing used faulty science (you never hear about the 'Hockey Stick' anymore except from the Right). Gore can likely get away with it, but surely Dr. Suzuki has to answer to somebody in the scientific community. I wonder if he has been debunked on some major points or had his credentials seriously challenged. If they are that wrong, people will simply stop listening to climate scientists, and they would be right to do so.

Still, I may be wrong, but I still trust them. Climate scientists are human, and can never know everything or be always right, I cling to the naive belief that they are not nearly as way off the mark or just plain corrupt as some noisy people say they are. I am actually encouraged by today's news that China and India agreed to a pact to at least partially control carbon emissions (of course, communist China would agree to it, but what is India's motivation {snark}), which is quite likely easier for them to do than for us after becoming so dependent on them.

Of course, I read some conservative sites about how this is some widespread conspiracy by the United Nations to erode sovereignty and to take away all our freedom and property yadda yadda yadda. On the other hand, they could be right about carbon emissions having no effect on the climate, and I will be proven to be on the wrong side. If we are, I'll cling to another naive belief that this is not the concerted loonie-liberal-global-takeover that they are working themselves up into a lather about, and that the mistakes we could be making right now can be reversed without moving heaven and earth. I just wonder if the mistakes that we made in the past can be reversed as easily as the ones we're making now.

Yet another comeback attempt

If you have not noticed, or remembered me at all, my posts have been kind of infrequent. It's been over six months since my last post, so what has happened? For a start, I graduated from Saint Mary's, with my degree in Political Science. Currently looking for work with it, but still working as a humble scribe at the Provincial Autism Centre.

Also in that time, Twitter became popular. Can't really figure out why though.

Stephen Harper is still prime minister, to me there are not many better options.

So Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize. My initial reaction, along with people on both sides of the political spectrum, was 'What has he done to deserve that?!' Andrew Sullivan's explanation was that, once again, there were no better options this time around (can you think of any?). As to what he may accomplish, it hasn't been a year since he was elected, but I have yet to see many signs that he will accomplish all that much. However, I do share in the hope, but not the hype.

I just found out Saturday listening to 'Definitely Not The Opera' some interesting things about one of my old school chums, Michael Jackson (no stupid, not THAT one), he has a band, and he was also in the Trailer Park Boys series (a better page from a true blue fan). I can't say that I was ever a fan, in spite of my increasing connections to the show. Funny it never occurred to me that the Michael Jackson listed in the credits was the same guy. Heck, it didn't even occur to me that 'Mike' as I knew him was actually 'MJ' until my Grade 10 history teacher Mr. Smith pointed it out.

Speaking of old school friends, another one has retired this summer. Do you all know 'Olie the Goalie'? All those years he tried to give life to a long dead Washington Capitals franchise? He even took them to the Stanley Cup final one year, and of course, he won the Vezina Trophy in 2000. It would have been nice if he could have fulfilled his childhood dream of playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, then again, 39 is considered quite old, even by goalie standards.

I saw yet another one of my class at the Atlantic Fringe Festival around a month ago. A charming little production called 'Overlord'. It's ready to hit Broadway and the West End any day now. Well, not really, but it was pretty good. It was an ode to some of the personas created by heavy metal in the '80s. Good show Tim, and of course, Danny Melvin (no, not me).

I have started to update my blog's links, or at least gotten rid of the dead ones. More soon.

Same person I was the day before

I don't know how many of you have an interest in autism (besides Mr. Doherty), but there was a conference here yesterday that received some coverage. Most of the speakers were great, met some interesting people, and we learned many things. One thing I learned was that I may be ready for prime time, but I'm not ready to go live yet.

So I'm more of a public figure right now, and will probably be invited to talk to larger audiences. Heaven forbid though I should become a celebrity, although there was a time that I would have relished fame for it's own sake. I guess it was what Rush referred to as 'the universal dream', which is probably why we have so many so-called 'reality' shows now. I personally believe that fame is one of those things that should only be used as a means, never as an end.

(But if you're curious about my experience, you are welcome to ask)

Catching up

I'm down to my last semester, so what have I been doing? Well, on January 13th, I attended a talk by Dr. Jeffrey Halper, who is an Israeli who is a conscientious objector to many of his country's policies, particularly the destruction of Palestinian homes. He gave what I thought was a fascinating talk, and you can download it from this site, courtesy of Gideon Levy. (Sadly, it does not include the Q & A session afterward. It got particularly interesting in the end.)

I was able to catch President Barack Obama's inauguration speech during my lunch hour at "Your Father's Mustache". I don't recall too much about his speech, but was happy just to see him get through it, and it is my sincere hope that the secret service does its job and keep him alive as long as he is president.

And for some good news, some serious headway is being made against the Tamil Tigers. I guess it's something that we have to thank Stephen Harper for.

Could you use some good news?

I remember hearing in Mr. Burton's science class back in 1985 about the Amazon rain forest, and how much was getting cut down every second. I can't remember the exact number, but I'm pretty sure that he said that it was relatively untouched (or perhaps not clearcut) until the 20th century. At the end of the '80s, I heard that it was something like 'a football field every second'. Does anyone remember that?

Now from the BBC, the Brazilian government is proposing a seventy (70!) percent cut in deforestation over the next ten years, of course some other countries are going to have to give Brazil some financial support for this plan. Perhaps I'm being too optimistic, since the plan has not been put into practice yet, and it is also a question if other countries can afford to chip in to the effort. But I cannot help to think that this is anything but good news. I dare anyone to tell me otherwise.

So the HRC is good for something

In spite of some of the questionable decisions the Human Rights Commission has made, such as the case against Ezra Levant just for publishing those cartoons, on Friday it reached what I believe to be a tremendous, potentially far-reaching decision for autistic people in the workplace. Michelle Dawson was fired from Canada Post in Montreal after working there for eleven years, after disclosing in 1999 to her employers that she has autism, or what they called 'unpaid leave'.

She took her case to the Canada Human Rights Commission, and since then, she was involved in a long and bitter legal struggle with Canada Post. In the meantime, she has become a writer on science and ethics, particularly in regard to autism, and became part of a university research team, even though she had never been to university herself. In 2005, she became an intervening third-party in the Auton case, where an autism advocacy group run by parents and caregivers tried to tack on a certain type of as yet unproven therapy called Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) to the Canada Health Act via the Supreme Court of Canada. The CHA was not meant to mandate a particular treatment for any particular diagnosis and tampering with it may intrude on provincial jurisdictions, yet some people are still trying to alter it.

In the meantime though, she is currently basking in the victory that she did not expect at all. She did not even sue for compensatory damages and did not ask for reinstatement (why would she want to work for them now?). Many other autistic people have spoken, and I just want to add my own congratulations to that. I may even change my mind about the HRC being a PC enforcement agency.

Back home again

Well, here they are. My pictures of Manhattan where I attended the Model United Nations conference. It was a fascinating experience, and I got to see the inner workings of the UN, although they were somewhat different from the CANIMUN conference in Ottawa. NMUN was much more competitive, although I was told to expect it, a couple of people in my committee took it a bit too seriously. Not that I didn't take it seriously, I did what I could with what little I could do with representing Chad (all you need to know here).

Here was something I thought was worth sharing with you all, it was the second picture I took just after I arrived at the Marriott Marquis.

I just thought that it may have been too much of a coincidence to advertise the stage version of 'Xanadu' on a public trash container. Without having seen the play or the film, I'll have to leave you to your own conclusions.

Taken from Room 2525 at the MM.

Just another afternoon view of Times Square.

And another...

And one more before I go beddy bye.