Phendrana Drifts

I have often lamented the practice of new year's resolutions and the very concept of a January 1 new year in general because September always felt like the new year. I was a student for 19 years, and still work in the post-secondary realm. However on this, my thirty-first new year's eve it suddenly feels like indeed, tomorrow could be the start of a new year and perhaps I should celebrate accordingly.

I also tended to eschew resolutions because taking stock of my life and making goals was never a problem - I did that pretty regularly. But this year is different. So with that, I'll think of some. And one of them is going to be either to blog more or determine what the fate of this vehicle is - because I have to stop having blog guilt. So either writing or evolving is in order.

Labels: new year

DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O'Hanlon.
115 West Ninety-fifth Street.

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Labels: christmas, santa

First, the only thing worse than Prime Minister Harper breaking his word and the spirit of his word and appointing a bunch of senators today would be the psuedo-Prime Minister Ignatieff doing the same thing, so to some degree I guess this is just the best of two bad choices. And I have nothing against the individuals themselves, but I would have still rather have had the Prime Minister choose to keep his word and dare Iggy not to appoint a bunch of Liberal hacks.

Labels: federal politics

I have a lot of thoughts. My brain, normally much more laid-back, is a-buzz. The Canadian government is facing imminent collapse and rather than facing the electorate, it seems likely another government will take the reins in the form of Dr. Dion and 24 cabinet ministers, six of which will come from the NDP. Now, given how the last five days have unfolded I don't think anyone can say what will happen in the next six.

My first thought, and the overwhelming one, is disappointment. There is enough blame to go around to all participants and the participants as a whole.

My second thought is directed towards the (current) opposition. Liberal MP Martha Hall Findlay said yesterday that even if the Conservatives put forward an stimulus package now, it would have no credibility and the opposition would reject it - a statement that leads me to believe the Liberal and NDP caucuses spent more time talking about how to gain power than deal with the economy. I believe that the Collapse of Global Capitalism is merely an excuse for the actions of the opposition, and I have been searching for a mere hint that I am wrong. So if it is just an excuse, why now? And again, adding to my cynicsm, I think the reason is because if the opposition had done this last spring it would have triggered an election rather than a coalition government. Indeed, I think it is being done now because the window of credibly going to the Governor General to deny a dissolution of parliament and choose a coalition government is only a few weeks, and that is coming to a close. I believe this is a naked power grab and the economic crisis is just window dressing. If it weren't, I believe compromise is possible.

My third thought speaks to why compromise isn't possible. When it comes to crass and cynical political moves, Mr. Harper is pretty good at pointing them out because he has been the author of some pretty good ones. Killing public funding for parties under the guise of economic measures is only the last in a long line of partisan political moves done by the Prime Minister. You reap what you sow, and while I am surprised at how well the opposition have maneuvered in the last six days I am not surprised that they took the first (and really any) opportunity to stick it to the Prime Minister.

My final thought for this post is how far off the actions of all the political parties is from what they promised and what Canadians expected in the last election. A coalition government was not only not pitched to Canadians, it was explicitly rejected by the Liberals. I believe that had Dr. Dion suggested a Liberal/NDP government that would rely heavily on the Bloc for any and all confidence matters then Canadians would have punished him severely and awarded Mr. Harper with a majority. I certainly do not disagree that what the opposition is doing is legal - not only is it legal but I believe that if we are in that nascent environment when a minority parliament is sorting out who is Prime Minister and who is not, then this is legitimate. I do worry that we have passed that time (I would have thought the Throne Speech was the moment to pull that pin) but I shall allow the Governor General - and her suddenly busy team of lawyers and advisors - to make that call.

If the Collapse of Global Capitalism is a immenent and mortal threat to the Canadian economy then I do think a coalition government is not just an acceptable option for the 40th Canadian Parliament, but maybe the right one. However, the one that I think would make more sense would have been a Conservative-Liberal coalition, but I think I recognize that such a suggestion is made impossible by the partisan politics that I worry is killing our democracy.

Labels: federal politics

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