Of course, every year about this time, something happens in Canada that absolutely sickens me. No, I’m not talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs missing out on the Stanley Cup playoffs AGAIN (and what’s up with that??). I’m talking about Canada’s annual commercial seal hunt, perhaps the single most inhumane example of rampant brutality in North America today. That a country as advanced and “civilized” as Canada still feels the need to “cull” (code for “brutally inhumane slaughter”) seals pups sometimes mere days or weeks old is something that simply defies any sort of even remotely coherent logic.

The most disturbing aspect of the seal hunt is that it is both tolerated and promoted by the Canadian government. This season, up to 275,000 seals with be brutally slaughtered. Anyone familiar with the hunt is also familiar with the reality that the hunt is not a quick and painless process. Given the often extremely inclement conditions the hunt is often conducted in, it can be difficult and at times impossible to kill a seal quickly and “humanely”. The reality is that seals suffer.

In the past, I’ve used images of the seal hunt to make a political point, but brutally murdering 275,000 defenseless seals is an indefensibly cruel campaign that cannot be justified under ANY circumstances. It’s time that the Canadian government removed it’s anterior from it’s posterior and did the right thing. This inhumane travesty must stop, and it must stop NOW. This sort of behavior is unworthy of one of the world’s best examples of peace, order, and good government, and it continues to be a yearly stain on Canada’s character and international reputation.

Enough is enough. Stop the killng.

If there’s anything that the past almost six years have taught us, it’s that the American Sheeple possess an almost unlimited facility for being manipulated, propagandized, and fear-mongered into hating the “Other” of the moment. SInce 9.11, of course, the “Other” consists of various iterations of the same theme: swarthy, bearded, uneducated males who practiced a bastardized and vrirtually unrecognizable form of Islam that regards non-believers and sub-human and therefore no guilt can or should be associated with killing them. For far long, though, the “Other” for the Ku Klux Klan has been just about any non-Caucasian racial group, primarily African-Americans.

You might think in this day and age where at least greater lip service is being paid to the idea of greater harmony between the races that the KKK would have withered and died. Sadly, hate has a very long shelf life, and there are those who carry on the tradition as if it’s some sort of charge from God. In this case, you have your answer to the question: “What are the fashionable haters wearing these days?”.

Man, the next thing you know, they’ll be telling using that the price of coffee and microbrews will be going up. Someone best fire up the riot police….

I taught for a year in Nicosia, so I developed an affinity for (in my humble opinion) one of the world’s most beautiful place, as well as a strong interest in the political situation. Technically, it was still a war zone, though thankfully things were quiet during my time there. During my time in Cyprus, I frequently tooks walks along the Green Line dividing the Greek and Turkish halves of Nicosia. Turkish soldiers would ask me for cigarettes (I don’t smoke), and one almost shot me. It made for some interesting times.

While the Turkish and Greek sides of the island were still officially at war, there existed a strange symbiosis between the sides. Greek Cypriots depended on Turkish Cypriots for fresh water, while conversely, the Turks depended on the Greeks for electricity- at least what little they could afford. Can’t live with ‘em…can’t live without ‘em….

Ledra Street is one of the few crossing points in Nicosia where once can transit between Turkish Cyprus and Greek Cyprus. Cypriot natives were prohibited from crossing the Green Line during my time there, and even crossing over as a foreign national was tricky. The first time I went, I was escorted by a friend who worked at the US Embassy. He dropped me in northern Nicosia with the warning that, should anything happen to me, there was no way to contact the Embassy, and I’d probably end up on the Turkish mainland. I needn’t have worried, because most of the people I ran into were glad to see me…because I had dollars. Yeah, they loved me…as long as I bought stuff from them. Hard currency was a commodity in short supply on the Turkish side of the island, so anyone with dollars became very popular very quickly.

Fergus Drennan has set himself the challenge of eating nothing but wild food for a year. Every morning he will forage within a ten-mile radius of his home, seeking out field mushrooms, berries, nuts, bark, herbs, plants such as dandelions and daisies, and even roadkill. Any dead squirrels, foxes, badgers and rabbits he comes across will become his dinner and their skins used for clothing. Coffee will be made from acorns. Mr Drennan, 36, will be living at home and has allowed himself the use of a fridge, freezer and cooker but will not resort to additional ingredients such as flour or eggs. He hopes that by cutting out processed foods his overall health and well-being will improve dramatically…. “I did a month-long trial run where I only ate wild food that I’d foraged and felt absolutely wonderful for it at the end,” said Mr Drennan, from Broad Oak near Canterbury.

From the “Pointless Exhibition of…Well, I’m Not Quite Sure What” Department comes this story of what seems a complete and utter waste of time and effort. Mr. Drennan is free to do with his life as he chooses, of course, and if wants to dine at the Roadkill Cafe on a daily basis…well, that’s his call. But acorn coffee? Doesn’t the poor guy have a Starbucks anywhere nearby? If he’s willing to “grant” himself use of a refrigerator, a freezer, and a cooker, shouldn’t at least allow himself some decent coffee??

I can understand that Mr. Drennan is doing what he feels is right for him, but I’m not certain that I grasp why the adventures of Mr. Go-Back-to-Nature are even remotely newsworthy. If I decide to wear nothing but cotton diapers and only drink milk from a Jack Daniels bottle while consuming only the still-beating hearts of live squirrels, can I get a few column inches??

A recent survey that found some Florida teens believe drinking a cap of bleach will prevent HIV and a shot of Mountain Dew will stop pregnancy has prompted lawmakers to push for an overhaul of sex education in the state. The survey showed that Florida teens also believe that smoking marijuana will prevent a person from getting pregnant.

Somehow, I’m not surprised that this story comes from Floriduh, home to some of the strangest, most convoluted (allegedly) Christ-centric ideology to be found anywhere in this great land. In a state where most of the public school curriculum seems to be drawn from Revelations, should we even be surprised that Florida’s children seem to be growing up without even a rudimentary grasp of human sexuality and reproduction?

That this situation even exists to begin with is criminal. Florida parents and educators should be ashamed of themselves for tolerating an education that not only produces, but apparently also condones the sort of stunning ignorance. You’d think that someone would be held accountable for tolerating an “education” system that’s unwilling to adequately and accurately address basic human sexuality in a way that would arm children with enough accurate information to allow them to make sound decisions. If children grow up thinking that you can get HIV/AIDS from door knobs or toilet seats, how can we expect them to make sensible, intelligent decisions about sex and sexuality.

Then again, if all you really need to do to avoid getting pregnant is to take a few hits of prime Colombian ditchweed, what else do you need to know? Condoms? Safe sex? Nah…you’ll be too high…which can only mean that you’re safe…right?

On Fox News’s Hannity and Colmes last night, host Sean Hannity announced that on his other Fox News show, Hannity’s America, controversial talk radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger will be getting a weekly segment to offer advice and answer questions from viewers…. Recently, Dr. Laura made headlines when she blamed former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s wife, Silda, for her husband’s involvement with prostitutes. Previously, Dr. Laura has disparaged “lonely” military wives, saying that they were “bitching” and “whining”.

• Think Progress

The Chinese are fortunate in that a) Tibet has no oil reserves, and b) Chinese capital is underwriting a good chunk of just about all Western economies. Being the 800-lb. gorilla means that they can get by with an awful lot that smaller, less financially flush nations couldn’t. Those of us who believe that Tibet deserves to be free don’t appear to have any problems with tugging on Superman’s cape.

OK, so some of the protests have been theatrical, perhaps even a bit childish. So what? The goal is to draw attention to the plight of the Tibetan people and to Chinese brutality in maintaining their illegal occupation. Mission Accomplished, no? The Chinese are angry and embarrassed…and they should be. Honestly, they should be ashamed- as if the Chinese government could even define and recognize that emotion.

Now is the time for those of us in the West to demand that our governments stand up to the Chinese bully. It’s time to demand that Tibet be freed to once again and regain it’s rightful place in the international community as a sovereign nation. If China refuses, then Western leaders should boycott the Opening Ceremonies and the Games themselves. If a boycott fails to gather steam or to convince the Chinese government, then serious consideration should be given by Western nations to keeping their Olympic teams home. This isn’t an option I recommend lightly; yes, sport and politics (in a perfect world) should be separate. The reality, though, is that sport and politics are for too many countries merely opposite sides of the same coin. Sport has been used to fan nationalist passions and to divert attention from a country’s internal problems. To say, then, that an Olympic boycott is inappropriate because sport and politics must be kept seperate is at best ignorant, and at worst self-serving.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has already announced that she will boycott the Opening Ceremonies in Beijing. I applaud her for her willingness to take even a small step, and I strongly believe that other Western governments should follow suit. Ultimately, though, the only thing that stands a chance of breaking China’s intransigence when it comes to Tibet is the threat (and perhaps the reality) of a full-fledged boycott. If China has to face the threat of their coming-out party being diminished, there’s a chance (however slim) that the government’s hand may be forced. Is it worth hanging on to Tibet if it means a significantly diminished Olympic Games?

It’s time to demand that our government does the right thing by threatening a boycott of the Beijing Olympics. As with so many things, it’s possible- perhaps even likely- that other nations will follow America’s lead- if only we have the backbone and the conviction to take this step. Yes, there are those who will argue (and not without reason) that our moral authority and our credibility internationally has diminised significantly over the past eight years. Does that mean we must stand idly by waiting for some other country to do the right thing so we can fall into line? Of course not. We can, and indeed must, take the lead in demanding that Tibet be freed from Chinese repression.

It’s time…and there’s no wrong way to do the right thing.