Grains of Sand

This morning's editorial in The Toronto Star : Brutal Spectacle Failed a City and its People , reveals a nasty truth. A friend of mine mentioned to me that we all would have been a whole lot better if the G8/G20 leaders had held their meeting on a cruise ship in the middle of the Pacific. It would have been much easier to isolate them (and probably cheaper to protect them), Toronto would not have such a mess to clean up this morning, its citizens would have been a lot less inconvenienced or terrorized, and Canada would not have such a shameful blot on its history as it has this morning after the events of this weekend. Have we proved once again that politicians are so far removed from reality that they really are clueless when it comes to the consequences of their actions? They come; they go, oblivious to the mess they leave behind. Sadly, history repeats itself. This morning I read the first three chapters of the book of Amos. If anything reminds me of the folly of leadership ...

In case no one has noticed, the G8/G20 summits have invaded southern Ontario. The biggest topic of discussion (other than the fake lake the federal government built to entertain the press) is the huge police presence and security precautions that have been put into place both in Huntsville and Toronto. Most of the comments about the security are less than positive and some are downright nasty. Those who are anxious to protest everything under the sun are particularly verbal about  the measures the government has taken to protect the world leaders who are going to be present over the next four days. People with agendas want access to those with the most political clout to present those agendas. And they are visibly annoyed to be denied the right to stand face-to-face with the power brokers and politicos. They threaten unfriendly protests (some even violence) and expect to share personal space with the most powerful people in the world? Does anyone see the incongruities to that? ...