After the horrible events of the World Trade Center bombings, most countries beefed up their security and politicians boasted about how the world is a safer place.
But just last week, a nobody drove a common SUV truck into New York’s Times Square, with enough explosive force to kill thousands of innocent people, out for a night on the town.
American President Barack Obama told reporters at a news conference shortly after the event that his administration will do whatever is necessary to keep American’s safe.
Bull.
Where was Homeland Security – the American federal department responsible for monitoring and preventing terrorist acts on American soil – when Faisal Shahzad drove his SUV full of explosive materials right into the heart of New York’s Times Square?
The only reason Shahzad didn’t succeed in his bombing attempt, was because of a hot dog vendor’s concerned call to police, about a man acting oddly.
That’s right – for all the billions of dollars the American government has spent on anti-terrorism, a humble merchant peddling hot dogs and sausages from his hot dog cart on the street prevented the latest terrorist threat to the most powerful nation on Earth.
Yet President Obama tells his citizens not to worry, he’s got their back. Yeah right.
He didn’t have their back last week – although Shahzad was on a no-fly list, he was able to purchase and board an airplane bound for Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Had authorities arrived just moments later, the terrorist would have been soaring about 30,000 feet in the sky towards the safety of home.
If American President Obama really did have his finger on the pulse of potential terrorist attacks, then Shahzad and his co-conspirators would have been captured long before he posed any real threat. Or at least, long before he had the opportunity to drive a bomb into a very busy Times Square.
President Obama’s administration dropped the ball on this – and who knows on how many other possible attacks which may be to come. The only reason no one got hurt was pure luck.
I don’t know about you, but relying on luck doesn’t exactly make me feel all the safer traveling through the States.
You just knew it was coming – despite her botched attempt to become vice-president of the United States of America, Sarah Palin has written a book.
As with many political scribblings, a managed book tour is the norm. But with Palin, the book tour is being more controlled than managed, as her handlers aren’t sending her to cities and towns where she’ll probably cause more hairs on the backs of people’s necks to rise, than books to be sold.
And that means she’ll be skipping over some of the biggest cities in the States – usually the ones key to the success of a new book.
The former Alaskan governor will NOT take her book tour to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia. Instead, if you want to catch up on how her teenage daughter is doing as a new mom, challenge her on her stance on American values, or just grab her autograph, you’ll have to go to places which welcome her often backwards thinking type of politics.
Fort Wayne, Indiana, Washington, Pennsylvania, Roanoke, Virginia and Jacksonville, Florida are just some of the smaller, and more conservative areas where Palin’s pen will be scrawling her name into covers of her book.
Although the book’s publisher says more cities may be added to the tour, don’t count on any place that may cause Palin to defend her views.
This book tour is being very controlled, partly because of Palin’s own outspokenness, and partly because her views aren’t always immediately accepted. After all, no one wants their star author being yelled at, cursed, or even being spoofed. Though Palin has already been spoofed many times on Saturday Night Live. It would be quite different if a wild New Yorker not agreeing with her conservative views got into a shouting match during a book signing.
That’s why her publishers aren’t taking any chances and limiting her book tour to cities and towns which will be more accepting of Palin’s old fashioned – some would say dated – conservative family values.
One such view which bit her bottom during the election, was about abstinence instead of sex education for teenagers. She boasted about the benefits of telling kids that it is better to wait for the Mister or Miss Right, rather than teaching teens how to protect themselves from Sexually Transmitted Diseases and unwanted pregnancies. Then, during the later-half of the campaign, she ann
ounced to the world that her young, teenage daughter was pregnant.
She had even gone so far as to ban condom vending machines from public high schools in Alaska, when she was governor. Maybe if her daughter Bristol had used one of these banned devices, she wouldn’t have made a spectacle out of the ex-governor from America’s northernmost state.
They even orchestrated a very shot-gun-type of wedding between Palin’s daughter, and the young man who would be the father of the kid’s kid. Though a few months later, the wedding was called off, and both teens went their separate ways.
Though Sarah Palin was pretty good at making a scene all on her own – she didn’t need her family for that.
Palin’s book tour ironically kicks off in Michigan, where she publicly disagreed with her presidential running-mate, John McCain on pulling resources out of that state, which earned her the dubious title of the “Rogue” candidate.
Most recently, she’s been promoting her credentials – and possibly looking for work – by creating her own online profile on the social networking site LinkedIn, which is geared for professional development and job hunting.
Canada’s largest province is going hands-free – sort of.
Drivers in Ontario, Canada, will face fines up to $500CDN if they watch, listen, text, type, email, dial, or talk on any hand-held device while driving. This ban includes all cell phones, smart phones, portable video games and DVD players.
The ban on using hand-held devices takes effect Oct. 26, but begins with a gradual three-month public education grace period, where offenders will be sternly warned, but not fined. Repeat offenders may not only be fined, but could also be charged with additional infractions, such as careless driving, which adds more fines, lost demerit points, and the possibility of being tossed in jail.
Hands-free devices are not included in the ban. However, the province doesn’t condone their use, saying drivers need their full attention focused on the operation of their vehicles.
Bravo Queen’s Park – the province’s legislative assembly -- for taking the right steps towards protecting us all.
Over 50 countries already have banned yacking on your cell phone (or other mobile device) while driving, because statistics show an increase in accidents involving those on these communication marvels. Other jurisdictions which have banned using hand-held devices while driving include Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada, and California and New York states in the U.S.A.
A study by the VirginiaTech Transportation Institute says truck drivers are 23 times more likely to have a crash if they are sending a text message, when compared to drivers not “texting.” The study also found that “texting” took a driver’s focus off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds – that’s enough time to travel the length of a football field at about 60KM/hour.
Another study by Clemson University found drivers that text message and use their iPods are 10 percent more likely to accidentally drift into another lane or off the road completely.
There are already far too many bad drivers out on our public roads, giving them the ability to talk – or worse – text message – while driving is no less dangerous than giving a kid a loaded shot gun and saying, “have fun.”
Granted, driving is second nature to most of us, we do it so often, we sometimes forget that it actually involves a lot of muscle control, attention to details, and quick thinking – just to name a few of the many skills we employ while sitting behind the wheel.
And if you believe some of the hype, those radicals calling for cell phone bans while driving compare it to drinking and driving. However that analogy is far fetched, although cell phones distract drivers, they don’t physically change a driver’s cognitive abilities, as alcohol does by slowing the firing of neurons in the brain.
There are so many distractions to motorists – from the traffic around them, to the radio and CD player in their own vehicle, to the numerous signs, billboards, and pedestrians surrounding them.
Add in the ability to check your voicemail, text message your friends about getting together after work, or even trying to pick up members of the opposite sex on a singles dating chat line (as one teenage girl was doing, when she rolled her dad’s brand new four-wheeled drive BMW a few months back) – can you really oppose this new legislation in Ontario?
That scene could very well be played out for real in Canada’s largest city of Toronto, if the local politicians allow chicken coups in residential areas. Currently any form of raising livestock in your home is illegal – as it should be.
Granted, the city isn’t going to allow Torontonians to cut off the bird’s heads and cook them up for dinner – the chickens are supposed to be used for providing fresh eggs daily – but you just know that someone, will get their axe and swipe away at Chicken Little.
For most of us, we choose where we want to live based on our own personal beliefs, values, and lifestyles. For those who like to get up at the crack of dawn, to the sounds of a rooster, the smells of manure, and the hard physical work of living the farm life – awesome for you.
As cities and towns across North America continue to sprawl into farm country, we’re losing our most valuable source of food – the farm. Farmers do hard work, so that lazy city stiffs – like me – can enjoy a good, well balanced diet.
Then there are city stiffs – like me – who chose to live and work in urban areas like the suburbs or right in the city. Although we may wake at the crack of dawn, the noise we hear is usually traffic, and the smells may be of smog, or that funky neighbour down the road that never seems to bathe.
Most city slickers couldn’t imagine taking care of livestock. Sure we have our domesticated pets, our cats, dogs, fish, even the odd turtle or lizard. But we’d never, not in our wildest dreams see ourselves raising animals for food production.
That’s just too complicated – you have to make sure you do the right thing, or the food you produce could be toxic, and the waste from the livestock – that’s a whole other matter.
Feed your chickens the wrong things, and you could be eating eggs which will later have you rushed to the hospital for a good ‘ol fashioned stomach pumping. Nothing like one of those first thing in the morning!
And what about that guy – you just know he’s out there – that’s going to kill his chicken for dinner? In an urban setting, where the foulest things we produce are consumer-grade waste, how is this person going to dispose of the remains of the chicken in a safe and ethical manner?
Cities just weren’t designed for farming. We don’t have the resources, and we certainly don’t have the know-how to do it right.
We’d all love to have the freshest milk, eggs, vegetables; even the freshest steak would be nice. But to live in certain lifestyles, you must give up the benefits of others. That’s life.
Toronto isn’t the first city to contend with allowing local residents to farm their own food. New York, Chicago and Vancouver already have these programs in place. Whether these programs are serving the public good, or – pardon the pun – fowling our cities, remains to be seen.
Jordan H. Green began his never-ending journey for life-long learning while writing for the campus paper in university.
From student protests, to student politics, he eventually discovered his passion for knowledge -- and even more importantly, that he could write.
And write he did, for major big city dailies, small town weeklies, monthly magazines, even doing on-air work in television and radio -- Jordan mastered the media.
Jokingly calling this blog his place to "bitch and moan" he's once again mastering the media -- this time that new fangled thing called "the net."
Enjoy.
Want to chat and discuss what you see here with Jordan H. Green? Check us out on Facebook and on Twitter -- follow the links on the main page, or search for "Jordan's Daily."
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