Fidelity is important in any relationship and especially important in intimate relationships. But there’s one kind of cheating that doesn’t count.

When you fall asleep at night and begin to dream, all previous commitments are off. The most faithful person can be flagrantly promiscuous all night long and still wake up with a crystal-clear conscience.

My partner will wake up some mornings with a satisfied sigh and a little smirk on her face. Thankfully, she usually spares me the details, but when I get the goods, it’s like peeking into an Academy Awards afterparty.

I won’t name any names, but if you’re not A-list material, you’re not getting past the velvet rope in her brain.

The reason I’m talking about her nocturnal conquests instead of my own is because I never get to have any. When I meet a beautiful woman in a dream it typically takes just moments before I announce I’m married and that if she’s looking for some action, she’s in the wrong head.

Unlike Pinocchio, I have never wished my conscience would disappear. I just wish it would go to sleep instead of chirping at me all damn night.

Last night’s dream was different.

I found myself in a Shopper’s Drug Mart, filling up a small basket with various items. When I had everything I needed, I walked over to the counter to pay. The cashier was gorgeous.

We exchanged some idle chit-chat as she rang through my purchases. Then I made my move.

“I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner tonight, after work.”

“I don’t get off work until 7:30,” she replied.

“That’s alright, I don’t mind eating late – ”

” – and I have to work really early tomorrow morning.”

There was an awkward pause. “I think the word you’re looking for is ‘no’,” I said.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “That’ll be $26.03.”

If it wasn’t for real life, I think I’d be really depressed.

[tags]humour, dreams[/tags]

The Prime Minister bolstered Canada’s military engagement in Afghanistan last night on CBC’s The National. In an interview with Peter Mansbridge, Mr. Harper claimed the interaction has made Canada’s military stronger and a better fighting force.

No one will argue with him on that point. In Afghanistan, the military is doing what it is trained to do. However, we may want to ask “to what end?”

Last year, the House of Commons held a scant debate on Canada’s role in Afghanistan. Australian Prime Minister John Howard was making a planned visit to Canada and Prime Minister Harper rushed the debate, ostensibly to accommodate Mr. Howard’s address in the House – a poor excuse by every standard.

Yesterday’s opening Question Period in the House of Commons further confirmed the void of military purpose defining Canada’s role in Afghanistan. Defense Minister Gordon O’Connor deflected opposition criticisms by saying that Canada was not about to hand Afghanistan back over to the Taliban.

Again, no one will question the premise here. Rather, Canadians are unsure about the alternative. The Prime Minister has done little to rationalize the death of 36 Canadian soldiers. Instead, his focus has been patriotic rebuke:

If I can be frank about this, you know, in some ways I think we can complain that only a handful of countries are carrying the bulk of the load and the bulk of the danger there. It’s certainly raising Canada’s leadership role, once again, in the United Nations and in the world community where we used to have an important leadership role.

If one were to think quite literally, the Prime Minister’s stance seems to be that Canada needs this war as much as Afghanistan. His motives for the continued military engagement are going to be called into question. What kind of answer can we expect?

The Prime Minister has arranged a diplomatic visit by Afghan President Hamid Karzai later this week. Karzai will address the House of Commons. He will also attend a wreath-laying ceremony with Mr. Harper at the Canadian War Memorial in Ottawa. Canadians can expect effusive praise from Karzai for the Canadian military’s efforts in Afghanistan.

However, the diplomatic visit is little more than political sleight of hand. Harper expects to drown uncertainty about the war in a patriotic deluge. It is a page out of the George Bush playbook. I can hardly understand why the Prime Minister would think this is a good way to define his foreign policy objectives.

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This post was written by alevo. The timestamp has been adjusted to give this post the attention it deserves.

[tags]afghanistan, canada, politics[/tags]

A Canadian government commission has declared that Maher Arar, the Syrian-born Canadian who was secretly and illegally taken to Syria by the United States in a process called “extraordinary rendition” to be tortured, is innocent.

This is all over the news but Democracy Now has a good, long bit on this, that includes a clip from a former interview with DN where Arar describes the terrible effects torture has had on him, causing serious psychological problems and “ruining [his] life”, as he puts it.

In related news, Bush said in a press conference that Common Article III of the Geneva Conventions, is over his head:

Common Article 3 says that ‘there will be no outrages upon human dignity. That’s very vague. What does that mean, ‘outrages upon human dignity’? That’s a statement that is wide open to interpretation.

You can find video of the press conference here, that bit is about 4/5 of the way through. Stephen Colbert also opens with it in this clip, if you want to spend less time waiting to see this portion (the rest of the Colbert video isn’t really worth watching).

I really do recommend watching this portion of the video because you get a revealing glimpse of a man so immersed in double-think that he seems scarcely capable of distinguishing between reality and fantasy. The text doesn’t do it justice.

[tags]torture, politics, terrorism[/tags]

Anastasia De Sousa was just 18 years old. There is more about her tragically short life here.

These are the lyrics to This Memory, written by the Wyrd Sisters about the murders of 14 women at a Montreal school in 1989. After today’s terrible events in Montreal, when a 20-year-old woman was murdered and 20 others were injured, they are all too relevant.

Early that morning, cup of coffee in her hand,
Kissed her mother on the cheek, said ‘I’m more busy than I planned;
I’ll be coming home a bit late–could you keep the supper warm?
Oh, it’s just another busy day.’

Early that morning, getting ready by the door,
Kissed her lover on the cheek, said ‘I’ll be coming back for more.
Oh how I love you; we’ve got so much to live for, baby.
Oh, and I’ll be coming home real soon.’

But it could have been me, just as easily.
Could have been my sister, left there to bleed.
Oh it could have been my father or brother done the deed–
Oh no! Don’t let me lose this memory.

Later on that evening, I turned on my TV,
Listened as they’re talkin’ about the news of a shooting spree.
Fourteen young women shot dead in Montreal!
Oh, it’s a killing of us all.
Yes it’s a killing of us all.

But it could have been me, just as easily.
Could have been my sister, left there to bleed.
Oh it could have been my father or brother done the deed–
Oh no! Don’t let me lose this memory.

Copyright 1993 Wyrd Sisters.

I never met you, but I won’t forget you.