New Media

Canada’s battlegroup in Afghanistan has handed over command to a new group of Canadian soldiers (CTV.ca). There’s still much work to be done before the troops can come home.

Yes, Conservative PM Stephen Harper has already announced that the larger portion of our military involvement in central Asia is likely to end in 2011 (which the Taliban and their allies are likely hailing as a strategic victory a la the Madrid bombings). But it’s not fast enough for at least one foreign policy lightweight, who happens to be the leader of a mainstream political party. Says mustachioed moron Jack Layton, “We’ve got to construct a comprehensive peace process using all the various tools and elements that are available in the UN toolbox — and they are many — in order to work towards the accomplishment of ceasefires, piece by piece, working towards negotiations in as many locations as possible” (The Star).

To which Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee founding member and political commentator Terry Glavin would likely reply:

“The NDP’s ideas have already been tried, and they have already failed catastrophically. This is why UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon describes the ground that the NDP has staked out as ‘a misjudgement of historic proportions.’ It’s because the position demands “the repetition of a mistake that has already had terrible consequences.

“Quite apart from the earth-rattling mistake the “international community” made when it abandoned the Afghan people to the Taliban in the first place, Canada has already tried withdrawing its troops. We already did that once. After joining with NATO in driving out the Taliban, we joined an exodus of foreign troops from Afghanistan in the summer of 2002. Canada withdrew its troops, our meagre successes were slammed into reverse, and the whole country started sliding back into barbarism again.”

Is Afghanistan really neutralized as an election issue for 2008? Perhaps. But we’re still going to need clear thinking about our involvement in Afghanistan and the endgame we desire for a long time to come.

And here’s why.

Drink from the tap. It’s healthier for you. Cheaper, too. Better for the environment. It’s win-win-win.

The web we’re building just ain’t secure. Odd, since virtually so many organizations from tech startups to a tire factories to your municipal government are so plugged into interactive websites and business web apps. You’d think we’d all take better care of it.

For more info on how to protect your business site or personal blog from hackers, check out my latest post on Techvibes here. WordPress bloggers may want to check out a post on how to protect themselves courtesy of Vancouver Techie blogger Jan Karlsbjerg.

Why should you care? As Thomas Friedman would point out, one thing that keeps North Americans from a race to the bottom in competition with places like China and India is our ability to produce dynamic knowledge workers who can utilize technology for maximum efficiency. I’m not talking about our programmers being more talented than foreign programmers (Ours already AREN’T more talented). I’m talking about our artists being able to produce unique art, market it and distribute it better than a Photoshop hack somewhere in Lithuania. Or small business owners utilizing optimal supply chain management and improved work processes to beat out the competition anywhere in the world.

If our web infrastructure remains at the mercy of the cyber mafia and pimply-faced script kiddies, that hurts our nation’s efficiency at a time when we are already having trouble maintaining our edge. Our livelihoods are at stake.

Nice to see that politicians are engaging their constituents with social media apps to connect on the issues in this Canadian federal election season. Even nicer to see NDP boss Jack Layton getting slammed on his own Facebook site (CTV.ca). One angry voter writes on his wall:

“You just lost my vote, you undemocratic shill.“

Canadian politics 2.0. Loving it.

Vancouver residents are a compassionate bunch who care mostly about social issues. Well, that’s one take from NPA mayoral candidate Peter Ladner (as reported in the Hook) following an Ipsos Reid poll that looked like this:

In response to the question, “What is the most important local issue facing the City of Vancouver, that is the one issue you feel should receive the greatest attention for Vancouver’s city council?” Vancouverites replied:

- Social issues 37%
- Transportation 19%
- Crime 15%
- Taxation/government spending 5%
- Environment 4%

Is it really that we’re compassionate, or simply that the other issues seem to be taken care of, or that people generally recognize that the city can’t do much about some of these issues on its own, anyway? For instance, Vancouver is on a number of metrics the most environmentally friendly large city in North America, so action on the environment may not really be required. Taxes have been going up for years, but sale of areas like the False Creek lands have kept rises at a reasonable level. As for crime, the average resident may not even be aware that the city has its own police force separate from the RCMP.

Thus, transporation and social issues become the default election issues, because these are the obvious, in-your-face issues that affect us every day (ie. morning traffic, or the poor homeless guy sleeping next to the entrance to the office building where you work).

Nice to see we actually do care about the real issues. So far, no mention of lipstick or pigs in this fight.