The Last Post of 2006

Final thoughts for the year, and a brief glimpse into 2007:

• When it comes to Saddam Hussein, I'm more in line with Kinsella than my old Dal colleague Riley. The hideous crimes that he committed far outweigh whatever ghastliness there is surrounding his own execution. Generally I'm not for capital punishment, but there are certain circumstances where I have a hard time squaring what (Mass) Murderer X did and having to pay the government to keep him alive for the rest of his days. Willie Pickton, I'm looking directly at you as I type that.
• This past year has not been a good one for the Bush Administration. Since Katrina, there is almost an inexorable turn against him, and he has been unable to get his message out with the force and clarity that is required of a POTUS.
• Stephen Harper's first year as PMOC has been a good run. I still believe that the Status of Women Canada file may bite him in the future, it all depends on what happens in the coming months regarding it and how mobilized the various groups opposed to his actions get.
• Being a pro-feminism male can be an awfully lonely road sometimes. Luckily, there are good men like Robert Jensen and others out there who get it. I've found in the past year that it is much easier to stick one's head in the sand or erect a straw-feminist argument than it is to get people to understand and empathize with what it is that women are fighting for. From being told that I'd "love living in Iran" because I'm anti-pornography, to seeing the hatred that some men spout when a woman raises an opinion on the internet, to being told that being concerned about 1-in-3 women being on the wrong end of male violence means that I'm "not, ah, realistic," I've seen an awful lot of stuff this year that is both depressing yet motivating at the same time. It is a hard path, but it is the right path.

2007? More of the same around these parts. A few thesis excerpts, more feminism postings, more foreign policy/international relations, more Habs, and more of whatever else I feel like talking about, even if it's considered part of a "red herring tour." Don't like it? Too bad. It's my blog.

I do plan to talk about something I've been fiddling with called "The Sources of Canadian Conduct," a rather in-depth look at Canadian foreign policy, its objectives, its foundations, and the three C's--commitment, capability, and credibility--that go a long way in determining how far Canada can go in achieving those objectives.

And, who knows, maybe I'll have an election to discuss. And pick sides.