Sentimental Journey

A pollster has taken the Canadian public's pulse regarding the EQ (Emotional Intelligence) of Stephen harper & Iggy Pop.

Yawn.

Try my poll...so to speak...

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Pretty much any time you go into the back country, you're taking a risk. And you accept those risks every time you do. You have to be smart. But what happened isn't going to stop me from going up there today, tomorrow, the next day."

Time to Change

The numbers are telling and chilling and unavoidable.

Among Indians 25 to 64 years of age, 38 per cent have failed to complete high school. For non-aboriginals, the figure is 15 per cent. Only three per cent of registered Indians have a university degree, compared to 18 per cent for the general population.

The system that has been in place for some time now doesn't work.

The "system" is that Ottawa gives band councils the cash and the local bands, rife with corruption and nepotism, dispense the funds.

Except that nobody knows how, where or when.

Calvin Helin, a Vancouver aboriginal lawyer and author, says its way past time to change "the system" and get the money where it needs to be - in the hands of the future students.

In addition to being part of the news story quoted above, Mr. Helin is the co-author of an editorial on the subject.

Read it.

It's your money and our future.

Travel Plans

The lovely city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, just a hop, skip and a jump from El Paso, Texas is an interesting place.

Only 2,601 people were killed in "drug violence" last year.

That makes over 18,000 similarly killed since 2007.

Where's my passport, now?