Suspicion

If nothing else, he lied to the border police.

He insisted that he had only $10,000 as he was trying to drive into Canada last month.

Turns out he had considerably more than that - about $900,000 in gold coins and other currencies.

He also had an odd and damning array of other goodies in his possession. Read the full story for all the details.

Khaled Nawaya is in custody and he is innocent of any charges until proven otherwise.

He may be the Danny Kaye of border crossers - a goofy naive dupe.

Or he may be a terrorist.

Being a pilot and a certified flying instructor trying to drive into Canada with a cargo of oddities doesn't help.

The border guards were justified in stopping Nawaya and the Canadian government is justified in holding on to him until all can rest assured that he is just a nice guy with peculiar tastes in memorabilia.

Disgrace

It seems to have become a new Canadian tradition.

Every year, just before November 11th, some bright light urinates on or topples a war monument.

This time it is Fredericton, where vandals have crashed part of a monument with names of those Canadian soldiers killed in wars.

Some of these acts of sheer stupidity or outright hatred can be assigned to drunks who care about nothing, for whom nothing ever was or ever will be honorable, let alone sacred.

But some are committed by misbegotten fools who believe that they are making a plea for peace.

Yes, we get it.

We all know war is hell and war is dreadful and we'd all like to sit in our gardens and sip tea.

We also know that wars are often fought for all of the wrong reasons and that millions have died needlessly.

None of those home truths however change the fact that those who have fought and died did their best to serve.

Honoring the dead is not approving of war.

Like any Canadian, I mourn the loss of any soldier's life in Afghanistan, even while decrying our very presence there.

The desecration of monuments to dead soldiers is about as detestable an act as can be imagined.