a w a k e : t o : d r e a m

My residents (three of whom are American) gleefully informed me of a recent news story (I can’t believe I didn’t hear of it first given my news addiction) about a local case to indict President George W Bush under the Canadian War Crimes Act for war crimes regarding his actions as the leader of a country who invaded Iraq, and more specifically, perpetrated torture against prisoners of that war, including Ontario teenager Omar Khadr.

A group of B.C. lawyers who want U.S. President George W. Bush put on trial for allegedly torturing thousands if not tens of thousands of those ghostly detainees in the war on terror was in B.C. Supreme Court Friday to argue its case. The federal government, however, argued the allegations were being made in the wrong jurisdiction and that such a prosecution must be approved by Canadian Attorney-General Irwin Cotler. The Crown says the case involves a non-citizen being accused of crimes committed outside Canada who was visiting the country as a guest of the government.

From an editorial by Ian Mulgrew, The Vancouver Sun, Nov. 27th, 2005.

I’ve always thought that a great way to make a political point is to arrest the duly (well, sort of) elected leader of a sovereign country! What are they thinking? Furthermore, Mulgrew goes on to say that Davidson, the non-practicing family lawyer who presented the brief was unprepared and inexperienced in these matters… I’m disappointed that they (Toronto legal group Lawyers Against the War (LAW)) didn’t do their homework, for starters, but also that they didn’t find a more credible person to write and present the brief - if you’re going to make a point, then make it in a way that lends credibility to your cause, not removes it!

Interestingly, if you search for it, the majority of links you will find to this issue will have to do with urban legends and internet hoaxes than actual hard news - because of an existing publication ban declared by the first judge who heard the case, Provincial Court Justice William Kitchen. It occurs to me that only in Canada could this even occur: an inexperienced lawyer from a different specialty launches an indictment as a private citizen against a world leader… and we hear nothing about it because of our tradition of publication bans on court procedings.

Beautiful. I like the way our country works sometimes.

There is perhaps nothing we modern people need more than to be genuinely shaken up. Where life is firm we need to sense its firmness; and where it is unstable and uncertain and has no basis, no foundation, we need to know this too and endure it. We need to recognize that we have stood on this earth in false pathos, in false security, in spiritual insanity.

For this is the message of Advent: faced with him who is the Last, the world will begin to shake. Only when we do not cling to false securities will our eyes be able to see this Last One and get to the bottom of things. Only then will we be able to guard our life from the frights and terrors into which God the Lord has let the world sink to teach us, so that we may awaken from sleep, as Paul says, and see that it is time to repent, time to change things.

From “Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas”

…it’s really true, I swear. By way of evidence, I should tell you that Melbourne is sadly lacking in internets. Yes, it’s true - the internets fairy has neglected to sprinkle a fair share of them on this lovely cosmopolitan city, leaving it dull, gray and uninspired in that regard. I am currently sitting in a Gloria Jeans (a tastier Aussie version of Starbucks) on Puckle Street, enjoying that local delicacy known as “raisin toast,” stealing “Belkin54g”’s internet from underneath his/her nose. Internet costs $8 for 15 minutes from Telstra (aka Telus) in any McDonalds or Starbucks, and most don’t have any sort of broadband in their houses. What is the deal, people?! Hence, this update is a week late.

After settling at the Friendly Group Greenhouse Backpacker hostel in Melbourne, I seriously reconsidered my idea of just living in a hostel the whole time. Not only is it quite expensive, but messy, disorganized, and very difficult to concentrate. Within days of my stay there, the only lift up to the main floor (where the main lifts are to the dorm floors) which is operated by the Melbourne police service office on the ground floor of the hostel building, broke down. Much as I love being carried around by cute, strapping Aussie police officers, I’d much rather come and go as I please from my place of residence.

Second hazard of living in the CBD? It is far, FAR too easy to waste one’s time buying fashionable but expensive clothes and eating and drinking fashionable and expensive food and drink. Seriously - I have no idea how I would get any work done living in such a place. For those who don’t know about Melbourne, you should. It is the fashion, culture and sporting capital of Australia - and well, it just as well should be the real capital of the country except that moving the politicos over from boring Canberra would probably ruin this amazingly cosmopolitan and industrious city.