Feb. 3, 2007: Various

Canada:

Telus defends cellphone porn offerings -- and we must service the lowest common denominator of society, of course , February 2, 2007, CBC

www.cbc.ca/canada/brit
ish-columbia/story/
2007/02/02/bc-telus.html?ref=rss

[....] "We can't make adult content go away. It's on your TV, it's on your home computer, it's now coming to your cellphones."

[....] 135 customers have registered complaints [....]

If you don't like it and think we should change what we see as wrong for our society and its children, write. While you're at it, write a few advertising companies. Then, you may also resolve to take note of companies who skirt pornography in the interest of sales, and refuse to buy from them. By our choices, we shape our society and our children's environment.



How Canada can make a difference in the Middle East , Peter MacKay, National Post, January 31, 2007

Peter MacKay is Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

[....] Third, I spoke frankly with both Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

I discussed with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas his plans to deal with the challenges that lay ahead for him and the Palestinian people. I reminded him that the essential first step for Palestinians toward peace is ending terror and violence and building strong democratic institutions for a vibrant and accountable society. Reform of his Fatah party must be a top priority and he needs to give the Palestinian people real options and a real choice for true democratic governance.

I learned that ordinary Israelis and Palestinians are frustrated with the conflict and the violence. They want solutions and the prospect of a peaceful future.

I also found that there was shared concern about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime in Iran and the dangerous direction it is headed with its nuclear weapons aspirations and its antagonistic role in the region. I shared Canada's deep concerns and discussed our efforts to date -- in the International Atomic Energy Agency, the G8, the UN and with friends and partners -- to address this challenge. I explained that Canada takes the position that all non-military options to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons must be widely and creatively explored. [....]

Violence in Gaza and the West Bank, and continued attacks against Israel -- such as rocket attacks on the town of Sderot and this week's tragic suicide bombing in Eilat -- must come to an end to build trust in the peace process. He said he was ready to push this forward but that he needed support -- from us, the Quartet (United States, Russia, the European Union, the United Nations), the Arab world and of course, from Israel.

Sounds great. I won't hold my breath.


US

Surrendering to Weak Enemies , By William R. Hawkins, FontPageMagazine.com | February 1, 2007

[....] Professor Bell blames the Enlightenment for having “popularized the notion that war was a barbaric relic of mankind's infancy, an anachronism that should soon vanish from the Earth.” But the history of the last 300 years clearly indicates that the Enlightenment has not reached much beyond the ivory tower of liberal intellectuals. They are the ones who overreact with horror when the world does not behavior in accordance with their naive notions. They seek to deny the basic nature of our violent and contentious world and retreat from it. That is not the path to enlightenment, it is only the path to defeat.

Agency targets human trade , By Jerry Seper, Washington Times, February 1, 2007

www.washingtontimes.com/national/
20070131-112532-9528r.htm

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales yesterday created a Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit and assigned it the task of developing strategies to combat modern-day slavery and expand the Justice Department's anti-trafficking enforcement programs. [....]

You know those pornographic images people download? The women in these photos and films are as often as not, modern day slaves to pimps and photographer, who may add drugs to the mix to keep the women enslaved. Think of that the next time you're tempted to look at porn.


Ben Stein's America , By R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. February 2, 2007, via newsbeat1

www.washingtontimes.com/commen
tary/20070201-084312-9997r.htm

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator, a contributing editor to the New York Sun, and an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute. His most recent book is "Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House."

This contains a good paragraph on what is best about America.

[....] There is something else about our military that I do not believe even Ben has mentioned. When they return to civilian life they will become leading members of society. Their record as good citizens is a matter of fact. I recall years ago spending time in a retirement community with a learned intellectual named Huntington Cairns. He, a leftist with tendencies toward pacifism, one day confided that in this community of retirees and octogenarians, the old folks who could always be counted on to look out for the community and for its most fragile members were most likely retired military.

There is no reason to doubt that the members of the military defending us abroad today will return to be leaders in their communities tomorrow in a country as pleasant and just as Ben insists that it is. [....]

Worth reading.