November 2005
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November 26th, 2005
The Sacred Feast of Plastic Crap That You Don't Need
The madness has begun. I don't know how it goes in the rest of the "Christian" world, but North Americans 
are about to be inundated with a month of consumption. American Thanksgiving was Thursday, that led to 
"Black Friday" and the official start of the Shopping Season. Spend Spend Spend! Here is your chance to make
up for a year of disappointing your friends and family by trying to buy their love. Since entertainment companies
own the media, (and stand to profit by shaming people into buying what their parent companies sell) 
reporters acted as cheerleaders on Friday morning. Correspondents were stationed at big box stores across
the US, capturing embarrassing footage of porcine consumers trampling each other in a race to the pile 
of DVD's. These "reports" were little more than thinly disguised commercials for Wal Mart and the like. 
They interviewed executive types who were thrilled to talk about the great deals that their stores offered. 
They challenged viewers to get out there and consume, for the love of the economy, do your patriotic duty 
and buy crap now! 

In North America, Christmas has very little to do with Christ. It is a (month long) holiday that celebrates 
our culture of consumption, nothing more. I would suggest that the very survival of our exploitative (not to 
mention unsustainable) economic system is entirely dependent upon Christmas spending. Why is the day after US
Thanksgiving called "Black Friday?" It is the day that the retailers are expected to break even. In the last
month of the year, there are tremendous cultural pressures urging us all to spend lots of money. The beast needs 
to feast before the end of the fiscal year. What does this have to do with Christianity? Though the gift-giving
tradition may originate with Oriental Kings following their astrologer's advice and making a pilgrimage to Palestine,
Santa Claus is nothing more than the bastard child of Coca Cola. Would the Christ want us to celebrate its birthday 
by going into debt? Our culture tells us that we must be sure to match or outspend everyone else so as not to seem
cheap or uncaring. If they spend hundreds of dollars, we must do the same. Its a classic race to the bottom, inspired
more by pride and guilt than by love. Is this what the Christ would have wanted? We've really missed the point of 
Christmas. There's nothing wrong with gift giving, but it has spiralled out of control. I challenge Christians to
tone it down this year, give the gift of time rather than money. In the end, it will be much more appreciated. 
If you do intend to spend money, why not give it to the Red Cross, they need it more than Sony does.
Let us reclaim Christmas from the retailers. Let us once again make it about spending quality time with family.
Jesus was not a fan of merchants in the temple. The Beatles were right, you can't buy me love.           

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November 19th, 2005
Govern From the Left
Here in Canada, it looks like we're going to have another election soon. I really have to wonder why. 
For those of you outside, Canada is currently ruled by an informal alliance comprised of the Liberal Party and the
New Democratic Party. The Liberals are centrists and the New Democrats (NDP) are a left wing party. The NDP holds
about twenty of three hundred seats in parliament. There is little chance that the NDP will ever be a majority 
party, it is only in a minority parliament that they can hold influence. Holding too few seats to pass legislation
on their own, the Liberals have needed the NDP's support to remain in power. This has resulted in some of the best
work that government has done since the days of Pierre Trudeau. The Liberals have had to govern from the left in 
order to maintain the NDP's support. We have seen investment in social programs and civic infrastructure. NDP 
leader, Jack Layton, has held a tremendous amount of influence. However, Layton is considering ending this 
parliament, joining the Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois (BQ) in calling for an election. What is Jack thinking?

Perhaps the NDP could increase its number of seats in parliament in another election, but perhaps not. I'm not saying
that the Liberals deserve to hold power, they have proven themselves to be corrupt and complacent when holding a 
majority. That said, Liberals are inevitably the first choice for Canadians. The BQ are Quebec separatists who's only
mandate is to pave the way for Quebec to leave Canada. They don't run candidates outside la Belle Provence. The 
Conservatives are wannabe Republicans; had they been in power three years ago, they would have happily joined 
the Washington war criminals and sent Canadian troops to Iraq, sewing the seeds for subway bombs in Toronto and
Montreal. Canadians will vote strategically. Even though they may like the NDP, they will vote Liberal just to keep
the Conservatives out. The NDP may never again have the influence that they do now. With Paul Martin pledging to
call an election in the spring, why not hang on and get a few more positive things done? By that time, the NDP will
be able to run on its record. By that time another Conservative candidate will have made a racist, homophobic, or 
religiously insane comment to help sink the ship. I can hold out hope that Layton is just playing poker. Otherwise
his call for an election might only give the Liberals just what they want, a majority where Jack has no say.  

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November 11th, 2005
Remembrance Day
Four score and seven years ago, World War One ended. I'm not sure that we've learned anything since. 
Billed as "The War to End All Wars," the horror of it all was supposed to take the bloodlust out of us for good.
It didn't happen that way. Allied involvement in World War Two was necessary in order defeat Nazi Germany.
This was perhaps the only time in the last century that a military action was legitimate. The people of Nazi 
occupied Europe needed to be liberated. We honour Americans and Britons who stormed the beaches of 
France, Canadians who drove the Nazis from Holland, Australians and New Zealanders fighting in North Africa,
Russians who made their brave stand at Stalingrad before crushing Hitler's armies on the Eastern front, and 
others that I've neglected to mention. However, its hard to find a noble fight since World War Two. What have
we learned from the horrors of war? Not much. The world has seen little but extreme state violence since 
Hitler's defeat. The Americans used nuclear weapons against Japan. The West got involved in Korea,
a war that technically never ended. Millions died in China as Mao came to power at the end of a civil war.
Israel occupied Arab lands. Americans attacked Vietnamese peasants with chemical weapons like Napalm and 
Agent Orange. Russia walked into their own quagmire in Afghanistan. Iran and Iraq battled each other for
nearly a decade. Now we have the oil-inspired, illegal invasion of Iraq by the United States, a nation 
that practices torture and gulag. We weren't serious when we said "Never Again." We don't honour
veterans by needlessly swelling their ranks. War is not a legitimate way to resolve conflict. Anyone with
young children would tell them that to resolve their conflicts, they have to use their words. Why wouldn't
we expect the same of those with an army at their disposal? Though we recognize the sacrifice of those
who served, we also must recognize that war is failure. To find your country at war is to acknowledge that
your leaders have failed you. Only those who evaded service would ever glorify the stupidity of war.
Lest we forget.
 

     "Conduct your triumph as a funeral." Lao-Tzu      
  

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November 9th, 2005
French Riots
What a mess. Some people have said that the riots taking place in France are the beginning of European Jihad. 
I'm not so sure. From what I've read, this is more of a class issue than anything. The participants in the riots 
are French citizens, the children of immigrants from North Africa. They are Muslims, but I'm not sure that their
faith has much to do with the rioting. Though they are French citizens, these are people that have never been 
integrated into French society. Liberté, Egalité, et Fraternité doesn't mean much when you live in the projects, 
can't find a job, and face racism from the public at large on a daily basis. I'd compare the lives of many of 
those taking part in the riots to those of American blacks in the inner-cities of the United States. Among this
marginalized people, resentment towards the French government has been building for decades. Many have said
that the riots were not unexpected. Years of anger has reached its boiling point. That said, the people involved
in the riots aren't doing anything to improve their lot. Though they may have legitimate grievances, burning
down schools and small businesses is unlikely to win them any support from the French public, many of whom might
otherwise be sympathetic to their cause. In trying to stop the riots, French authorities ought to proceed with 
caution. Grandstanding interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy has contributed to the rioters anger, reeking of xenophobia
while talking tough. (He called the people of the affected neighbourhoods "scum.") This sort of attitude only serves
to vindicate the rioters, illustrating how the government considers them to be second class citizens. I usually like
to root for the underdog, but in this case the rioters are going about things all wrong. Anger aside, there is a 
real need for political leadership. This is the only way that the people of these neighbourhoods will advance their
cause. Setting cars on fire will not lift anyone out of poverty.  

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November 5th, 2005
Its hard for me to believe it, but this site has been around for a year now. Happy first birthday breadwithcircus.com.
In the first year of operation, we've made some baby steps into the world of the web. Thank you to those of you who
have stuck with the page as its begun to grow. Now with the anniversary, I'm going to make some changes in how I 
run the site. More direct political commentary, more humour, less long winded articles, more frequent updates. 
Let's get to it.
Bird Flu
I don't think I'm as scared as I'm supposed to be of the bird flu. For example, if my fear levels were to
be measured on some sort of coloured chart, I think I'd only be scared in a yellowish-green sort of way. I think 
that the media is telling me to be at least orange afraid, maybe even burnt orange afraid. Of course there is a real
cause for concern. Three times in the last century, flu pandemics circled the globe, taking a chunk out of
populations worldwide. The risk of this happening again is much higher now, given the rise of factory farms and 
the ease of international travel. There is a very real possibility that this flu will, to quote a prominent virologist, 
"go bird person person." They say millions of people worldwide could be killed if the bug takes root. Despite the 
very real danger that the H5N1 presents, I'm not afraid. We've all gotta go some day. In the meantime I see this as 
another bit of political theatre, bread and circuses, especially in the United States. Leadership would think its 
much better to have Americans scared, too busy worrying about the flu to think about paltry things like their Vice
President's acts of treason, their leader's failure to see a storm the size of Texas coming to New Orleans, a war 
that they have already lost, or better yet, that guy sitting in the cave somewhere, you know, the guy with the beard.
Azerbaijan Elections
Azerbaijan, another one of those former Soviet republics, is having an election. Baku has all the of the dysfunction
that places like Kiev and Tblisi did before their people revolted. It wasn't that long ago that our leaders were
happy to throw their support behind Georgians and Ukrainians as they gathered en masse in public squares to demand 
that fraudulently "elected" leaders step down. The West was happy to praise people "standing up for freedom." Not in
Azerbaijan though. Why not? The Aliev regime is no friend of democracy. Human Rights Watch says "The Azerbaijani
government has a long-standing record of pressuring civil society groups and arbitrarily limiting critical expression
and political activism." This election will not be free or fair. Here are some relevant links from Human Rights Watch
Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International.  This country needs an overhaul. A peaceful
people's revolt, like the Rose or Orange Revolution would make a lot of sense here. Aliev junior isn't much more 
progressive than his father was. Yes, its one those hand-me down presidencies. Strangely, Western leaders are quiet,
their usual rhetoric about democracy and freedom is nowhere to be found. Aliev may be a thug, but it seems
that he's our thug. I wonder if this has anything to do with oil?
 
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