On the occasion of the inauguration

Actually, my post has nothing to do with the inauguration, but we're watching/listening to the live broadcast of the inauguration right now. It truly is a momentous occasion. Now is the time to pray for the new leadership of the United States. Tonight is my lecture at Fort Calgary. Our pastor phoned last night to talk to Brent and I compared reading speed and sermon/lecture length with him. It made me realize that my paper was too short to fill an hour, so I spent last night adding bits and pieces. I'm hoping I'm going to hit an hour now. If you're not busy tonight, I'll be speaking at Fort Calgary at 7:30 on Danish Folk Schools in the city of Calgary in the 1920s. On Saturday we went for a skate and a visit with some friends from our lifegroup. We enjoy discussing things with them as they are in a similar headspace/life situation to us. They have a beautiful little girl who at two years old is learning to skate. I got the honour of skating with her. It was wonderful looking into her trusting brown eyes and encouraging her to keep balancing. Finally, CBC this morning released its top 49 song playlist on the occasion of Obama's inauguration: music about Canada. Check it out. I agree with a lot of the choices, with Joni and Leonard and Gordon...and the Arrogant Worms. Oh, and one more thing. Last night we had muffins for supper...(yes I know, that sounds very strange, but to our defence, they had almonds and apple sauce and whole wheat flour in them). I thought I would share the recipe because they were so darn good.

[rant]

I'm really torn about all the American election hype that's going on right now. It is monumental, possibly course-of-history-changing, but is it really THAT important? As Canadians, shouldn't we care more about our own government than the American one? Yet, as this CBC article explains, a record low number of Canadians voted in the federal election on October 14th (for the record, we both voted--and we were out of the country on election day, for goodness' sake). If so few people care about who is running our country, why don't we go back to an absolutist monarchy or dictator who can make decisions on our behalf. Apparently, that's what Canadians want. And yet of course we all care about who the Americans vote for. The States are our big and powerful next-door neighbour and important trading partner and we ought to be interested in how our relationship is going to change for the next eight years. But to prioritize it OVER our own government?? That seems counter-intuitive, ignorant, and thoroughly detrimental to the Canadian political climate. It almost seems like we watch the American election the same way we pay attention to celebrity gossip or slow down to look at a car crash. Because the media has made it THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE IN THE NEWS we cannot but senselessly stare at it. So, in a moment of rantful frustration, I say if you, reader, are paying more attention to the American election than you did to our own, shame on you. [/rant]

Politics: No Place for Grown-ups

We saw this on the Mercer Report the other night...Rick Mercer is incredibly intelligent, funny and kind. And this segment had us laughing so hard we were crying...

Changes in Lacombe: Pay Attention

This probably shouldn't concern me so much since we don't live in or near Lacombe anymore and may never do so again, but I just hate to see such matters addressed so hastily. Because someone once said "you don't get no where when you're too hasty." So, if there are any concerned Lacombeians out there, particularly if you're a crunchy greenie like me, you should read this letter from the Lacombe Globe: Residents need to be informed about Area Structure Plan. And this one: Area Structure Plan equals life sentence. You should also know about this: Lacombe Lake Spoiled. I find this statement in the plan proposal completely laughable with the present state of Lacombe Lake in mind: In preparation of this ASP, the following objectives were identified by Lacombe County in the terms of reference: 3.1 (e) Safeguard the environmental integrity of Lacombe Lake and protect and enhance the other natural areas and features of this plan area. Ha! If the Lake is already dead, due to failings in the due diligence if the Lacombe County, how can the county be further counted upon to "safeguard" the environmental integrity??? A bit late perhaps?? And here's the whole Proposal, if you're interested. So, Lacombe readers, if we have any, maybe it would be worth your while to go to the meeting tomorrow night at seven at the Lacombe Memorial Center

Democratic Race

This is slightly out of date now, but it's hilarious nonetheless. Voting for party leadership in American politics is incredibly complicated. Who are you rooting for? Wanna guess who I am?