Where the Rubber Hits the Road

The drum beat of war is getting louder and louder and..... Panetta: 'Strong possibility' Israel will strike Iran's nuclear installations in spring - U.s. - Catholic Online

Let's see... how did that go again? "States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world." (G.W. Bush: State of the Union Address, 2002) He was talking about Iraq, Iran and North Korea. We may need to remind our American neighbors that just because their national game gives every player 'three strikes' before they must 'step away from the plate' doesn't mean that they can assume that we Canadians will agree to give them another chance to come up to bat. We are a nation of hockey fans. We understand that a game can end 0-1, irrespective of whose considered the 'home team'. Most of us believe that the game has been played, and while we stand 1-0 in military terms, it was a Pyrrhic victory when we assess the real losses our team suffered in terms of 'career ending injuries and deaths.' It was like this weekend when poor, battered Vancouver won but got mugged when they played in...

And now the war chant begin to build to a casus belli, the opening movement of a symphony that will climax with the kettle drums of war. I wonder how many people understand what's happening: that they are being seduced by a siren song that will lead again to spilled blood and coin , leaving both they and us weaker whether we win or lose? We almost participated in this dance once before to our regret when the US tried to convince us to join in the invasion of Iraq. We indirectly assisted the US by taking up their legitimate enemy in Afghanistan, freeing their forces for Iraq. Do we honestly believe that we will enjoy this performance any more than the last time if we join the US into another Middle Eastern country? Just because we label it as a war against terrorism doesn't mean that we should all dance off to war against other countries. Neither Iran nor Syria have done anything to threaten Canada. Unless they do, we have no grounds to wage war against them. Yet, the signs a...

The drumbeat of war is getting louder. If Noam Chomsky is correct, we might see the start of hostilities between Iran and the West within months. I believe it was he who postulated that when a nation's media starts to pay up another country as a threat, it puts into process a series of events that usually leads to armed conflict within a year. It is a process that is marked by a steady drumbeat of more and louder voices making the argument that force is the only effective option to 'protect ourselves'. Somehow they convince the majority to actually buy into an argument that essentially concludes that 'war is the best tactic to prevent war'. After suitable noise has been made demanding steps Iran must take to change its ways (allowing inspections etc.) along with the establishment of deadlines that ultimately Iran will either ignore or fail to comply with, Chomsky would predict that the West will go to war again in the next phase of a battle to control the earth'...

This story is part of an unsettling trend where the 'drums of war' are becoming more and more insistent. It has been posited that whenever governments decide that war 'needs to' be waged, they start 6-12 months in advance to prepare their population with a slow and steady increase in 'propaganda' designed to bring them on side in preparation for conflict. I've noted such an increase over the past few weeks of media stories which seem to be aimed at just such a process. I really, really hope that I am wrong, but I fear that I may be correct. If I am correct, we are in for some difficult times in the months ahead. Iran's escalating conflict with Gulf neighbours increases risk of war | News | National Post

Finally, a job for Ahmadinejad! 'Iran says it will send monkey into space ... JPost - Middle East

For those who believe we, who are 'ringing the bell' on the coming Islamic threat to our way of life here in Canada, are virtual 'Chicken Little's' ... I offer the following. National Archives cancels screening of documentary on Iran after threats

Cannon condemns planned execution in Iran - CTV News

GOOD NEWS!! Iran cancels plan for Gaza blockade-busting ship - The Globe and Mail

Our Debt to Jerusalem - UPDATED The late Pope John Paul the Great was acclaimed throughout his pontificate for being the pontiff that finally aligned the barque of Peter with ‘our elder brothers and sisters,’ the first children of Abraham, the Jews. As someone who had resisted antisemitism throughout his life, his apology, offered in Jerusalem in the extraordinary Holy Year of the Millennium, carried the credibility of one who experienced the horrors of the Holocaust first hand in Poland. His acknowledgement of the debt of all Christians to the people of the first covenant should have consequences not only in the spiritual realm but in worldly matters too. It means that we must ensure the welfare of the Jewish people as members of our extended family. Recent and future events in Israel's blockade of the Gaza strip now demand that the nations of the world respond with diplomatic initiatives, supporting either Israel or Hamas. The question then becomes: Do Christians, as citize...