a year of morons and miracles

i realize it's a little early for the introspection and reflective tones of the new year, but i figure i may as well get ahead of the curve. It's been quite a year. from the vantage point of two continents, three cities and a lot of travelling, the world has looked like an interesting place for the last 365 days. i'm impressed by how the world continues to function without an existential crises of some kind. i think some people last year tried to persuade themselves that 9/11 was such a moment. however, i think it was just simply one more earth quake highlighting the consistent rumblings of the fault lines of our world. if 9/11 had been a true crises of faith, i think we would have needed to ask more questions about why? and what now? rather than how? and who next?

that being said, this year hasn't exactly been short on moments to remember. and so a year of morons and miracles:

miracle: the liberals finally bring in a budget and we're reminded of the ballooning costs of health care, the fine line between real socialists and liberals and the divide between perceived political power and the necessary funds to carry that out (brian tobin)

moron: jean chretien handles political slapshots like a goalie who hasn't even shown up to the game. cabinet shuffles abound as he grasps at the last straws of his chokehold (remember our dear friend the protestor?) on the liberal leadership

miracle: the canadian alliance finally selects a new leader and moron and a christian fundamentalist who believes in a divine solution to the middle east becomes foreign affairs critic

miracle: noah mason birch is born after one friggin' long labour but is quickly crowned the most beautiful child ever to walk (or crawl or drool across) the earth

moron: george w. bush continues to hold his "democratically elected" office of president... like a kid in a candy store he continues to want everything and accidentally knock over a lot of stuff which requires costly clean-up (afghanistan, iraq, trent lott, etc., etc.)

moron: the us policy of "with us or against us" becomes tantamount to approving a whole bunch of nasty deeds to make sure everyone is still invited to the birthday party (yemen, saudi arabia, pakistan)

miracle: the new africa initiative actually gets through the g8 and moron the plan is fraught with bad policies and really continues a paternalistic and economically unfortunate path for africa

miracle: someone actually has the balls to say george bush is a moron

moron: someone still thinks that hitler's an ok guy (and he's a member of the order of canada)

miracle: paul martin fucks jean chretien over- again, and again, and again, and again, and (well, you get the idea)

moron: jean chretien fails to express even a hint of coherence and makes it look like policies are chosen by the winner of a game of dutch blitz in the privy council office

moron: w. continues push for war in iraq

miracle: mark continues to travel europe while "studying" in britain...

so, it's been a great year. feel free to add your own morons and miracles as this list is horribly incomplete. miss you all and i'll be back soon

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