The Things We Take For Granted

Between all the commotion of Karlheinz Schreiber, and the sagging fortunes of the Liberal Party of Canada, it's sometimes all too easy to overlook the things that matter most. Such is the case this week of the loss of a family member. In the room next to me is a greiving 18 year old girl, who has cried herself to sleep the last two nights. (Now I know that you're probably thinking about the joke about the blond girl, you know: I woke up 4 AM this morning and there was a beautiful blonde pounding at the front door;.....So I let her out!!)

Sadly, our companion of 18 years has left and not returned. After 54 birthdays, 18 Christmas seasons, 18 Easter Bunnies, quite a few marital disagreements, a couple of power outages, three graduations, good times and bad times; the one sane creature in our house has disappeared.

It's hard to say goodbye to a pet. I'm not sure I'm ready to yet.

Please come home.

It's Important To Have A Sense Of Humour

Here's a headline from National Newswatch that caught my eye: Rarely used warrant sought to ensure Schreiber testifies Here's the first paragraph in the Globe & Mail story: "The federal New Democratic Party says it will table a motion today to use the little-known power of a Speaker's warrant to force Karlheinz Schreiber to testify in front of a parliamentary committee and block his extradition to Germany." Swallow whatever your drinking or eating, and then think about the above paragraph for a minute or two. Done yet? Okay, my query is this: If the NDP, proud supporters of our Armed Forces that they are, are so against sending Afghan terrorists (who kill and maim Afghans and United Nations peacekeepers) to Afghan jails; then what in tarnation (That's a cartoon word) do they think would possibly make Mr. Schreiber say anything that would benefit them? I think we all know that torture is out of the question. So just how can we be sure that he'll tell them anything? We can't. That's why it's important to have a sense of humour.

Schreiber: Not Leaving Without A Bang

It's interesting to view the controversy surrounding the dealings that Brian Mulroney may or not have had with Karlheinz Schreiber. In the latest story from CTV, we learn that now Mulroney himself is calling for a public inquiry. Considering the mountain of material that Mr. Schreiber claims to have available, it appears that Mr. Schreiber came to a decision over a decade ago that if his dealings ever raised suspicion in Germany, he wouldn't go back there without a fight. We don't know all the facts yet, but we are privy to some of the opening arguments: Mr. Mulroney accepted payment for professional services after he left office. This alone begs the question: Do the public hate Brian Mulroney so much that they would attach what happened in 1994 to the government of today, and moreso to a current Prime Minister who left politics when Brian Mulroney was still in office? It's definately a great magic trick when an alleged criminal can bring down a democratically elected government because he knows how to con the voter as well as his fellow Germans claim that he conned them. It's a great side show, but it doesn't belong in the House of Commons, it belongs in the justice system. Let's hope that government lawyers don't spend as much of our money getting to the truth of this as they spent investigating the Somalia affair or Peppergate. It would be a travesty of justice if this is the only thing that could get an elected Liberal member of Parlaiment out of his seat to actually vote on something.