Anti-Semitism in Calgary

It's really sickening to think that anti-semitism is at work once again, in Calgary to boot. Late Saturday or early Sunday various Jewish facilities were vandalized. This was clearly a hate crime. Were lessons not learned from the past?

I thought we were a more tolerant society now with respect for one another's ethnicity, religion or POV.

This kind of act should not be tolerated at all. I hope whoever is responsible for this horrible thing will get the book thrown at them.

H1N1 Overblown

See, just as I thought. The Swine Flu pandemic has been overblown.

According to our chief public officer, Dr. David Butler-Jones, the H1N1 is no worse than seasonal flu.

Although H1N1 is disproportionately infecting more children and otherwise healthy young adults "the mortality rate from this [H1N1] is no worse than seasonal flu," Dr. David Butler-Jones said in an interview with Canwest News Service.

"The individual risk of severe disease or dying if you happen to get the flu is very similar today as it was back in June. It's just that we're starting to see a lot more people affected," he said.

"The fact that we haven't had more deaths and more people in [intensive-care units] I think is a testimony to people doing the right things to both prevent and reduce the severity of disease," Dr. Butler-Jones said. People are following public health advice to cough and sneeze into their sleeves, stay home if they're sick and get on anti-virals if symptoms are worsening, he said.

"When you do take this disease seriously, you can actually dramatically reduce the number of people with severe illness and death," Dr. Butler-Jones said. "So the usual 2,000 to 8,000 range [of flu-related deaths] that we see with seasonal flu, we might actually be able to reduce that substantially."

The ones that really hyped this up and have overblown it is the media and some in the opposition. Hey, sensationalism and fear sells papers and drives up ratings. The opposition, they just want try and score political points. At that note looks like that is backfiring. Take a look at the polls.

So take proper precautions like wash your hands, get plenty sleep, keep your stress levels down, eat healthy you'll be fine.

Ed Stelmach Promises Changes?

Things have not been going to well for the Premier for awhile now. Some external, some of their own doing. Poll numbers dropping like a stone while Wildrose Alliance is rising in popular support.

Last weekend Annual General Meeting Premier Stelmach got 77% support from the PC party membership. He promised there would be changes.

What are those changes going to be? Is he going to shuffle his cabinet? There is speculation out there he might. He could begin by taking Ted Morton, put him in Finance, Iris Evans has been a disaster. Also remove Ron Liepert from Alberta Health and Wellness Minister, he doesn't have clue what he's doing.

There are more, too many to mention right now. I could go on and on about Cabinet Minister incompetence but it's going to take more than a cabinet shuffle to change things in Alberta.

First of all before you shuffle your cabinet,Premier Stelmach, please listen to Albertans. We are not happy. Make the kind of changes WE want, like change the royalty formula back, cut spending, cut taxes, and axe the AHRC for example. It would be good start!

Two Thumbs Up

I give the Harper government a two thumbs up for their new Citizenship Guidebook, Discover Canada
The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship

Minister Jason Kenny unveiled a beautiful publication full of valuable information about Canada and who we are and what are responsibilities should be as citizens of the this the best country in the world.

It tells story of our history the positive and the negative. It tells of our proud military history both current and past. It talks of our symbols and what they mean.

The booklet also explains how Canada and Canadians have contributed to the world to make it a better place.

I find the book is very colorful and inviting, beautiful photographs and illustrations. It makes you want to look at and read it. It is not only valuable to new Canadians but also those of us who have been born and raised here and have lived here all our lives. I think it would be great to distribute to school children so they can get a better picture of what this country is all about that they are growing up in. After all they are the leaders of tomorrow, they have a right to know everything about their country that they can.

I especially took an interest in this new citizenship book because just recently my husband became a new Canadian. He had the old book, A Look at Canada, which was much lacking both in substance and accuracy. I even complained about to my husband that they need to change this thing. Our kids even noticed that is was vacuous. It was dull, photos were in black and white and well just uninteresting.

Thank-you Minister Kenny for this new citizenship book. Now new Canadians will have a better knowledge of what Canada is really all about.

P.S. If anyone is wondering where my husband came from, well he came from England and I'm glad he did.

It's the Soldier

Here is a poem I came upon today. I thought I would share it with you as we think about what our soldiers have done and are doing for us.

IT IS THE SOLDIER

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

There can never be enough gratitude that we could ever show the brave men and women in uniform who have sacrificed so much for us.
Thank-you and God Bless!