On the Chaplaincy

Most people would agree that a modern democracy owes it to itself and its citizens to maintain a secular approach to affairs of state; the separation between the church and the people's sovereign institutions of governance is imperative to those same institutions' impartiality before all citizens and their proper service of state interests.

So why is it that our armed forces are still maintaining an active chaplaincy - either at home or in missions abroad - on the public dime? Is it so strange that our enemies think we're fighting religious wars against them? Our own government is paying to ship priests overseas to preach the Christian message.

I understand that our soldiers are doing a tough job and some of them need a bit of spiritual guidance or what have you to be able to go out and face those realities every day for however long their tours of duty end up being. But the abovementioned proper service of state interests requires that we consider the ramifications of state-sponsored religious figures in our state-sponsored war-machine (not that the Canadian war-machine is particularly terrifying, but I wouldn't wanna piss 'em off, anyway). The trick, I believe, lies in the "state-sponsored" bit.

Soldiers who want spiritual guidance should be given the same choice as people all over Canada and the United States: pay the Tithe. The military could cut funding to the chaplaincy entirely, paying only for their transportation, while the soldiers themselves pay the tithe from their salaries to keep their regiments stocked with all that's required to satisfy their spiritual needs. This hands-off approach may not be immediately appreciated by our enemies on the ground, but the intellectuals (and yes, our enemies do have a class of intellectuals interpretting world events for them) may well understand the intention behind the change.

Additionally, the stories of soldiers forced to attend services by social pressures might change if the culture of religious kow-towing espoused by the people at the top is, in this way, forced to change. I doubt it, but one can hope. The real pay-off will be in the long run; every other facet of our society has benefitted from the democratization and accessibility that secularization has brought with it, the military will prove to be no exception.

Pour Myra

Myra,

Nous sommes ici pour te dire au revoir, te commémorer et surtout pour partager nos souvenirs de ton âme si chaleureux. Ton âme nous a si profondément touchés; si bien entouré d’amour et de tendresse. Tu as projetée cette même tendresse à tout ceux qui, par leur chance incroyable, on pu te connaître.

Myra, tu as semé la joie dans nos coeurs et tu vas nous manquer. Ta persévérence et ton effervescence laissent un vide intense au centre de nos coeurs. Nous ne pourrons écouter Jonathan Painchaud, Les Colocs, Les Backstreet Boys où Roch Voisine sans se souvenir de cette passion pour la musique qui fût constante tout au long de ta vie remarquable; remarquable autant pour ses difficultés que pour l’attitude avec laquelle tu les surmontais. Nous ne pouvons qu’espérer un jour ressentir pour un bref instant et pour les choses les plus précieuses, l’amour que tu démontrais pour les mélodieuses créations de tes artistes préférés.

Myra, notre belle, notre douce Myra. Ton épreuve est terminée et nous avons tous été enrichis par ton passage.

Ton sourire et ton sens de l’humour vallaient leur pesant d’or. Ta franche appréciation de tous les gens que tu rencontrais, tout simplement pour ce qu’ils étaient, représente une qualité trop peu présente chez le commun des mortels, et sans toi, nous n’aurions jamais connu sa valeure réelle.

Certe, ces qualités que tu possédais nous ont marqués, tous et chacun. Elles ont faites de nous de meilleures personnes. Nul ne peut nier cette réalité. Mais la vrai richesse que tu nous laisse, la mémoire qui restera toujours avec nous, c’est l’amour.

L’amour était le cadeau que tu nous réservais tous; l’amour que nous ressentons tous aujourd’hui; l’amour que nous avons toujours ressenti pour toi et avec toi.

Cet amour nous convoque aujourd’hui. C’est cet amour qui nous porte à célébrer la merveilleuse personne que tu étais et c’est cet amour qui nous uni aujourd’hui dans notre peine de t’avoir perdu et dans notre soulagement à savoir que tes souffances sont enfin terminées.

Oui, tu vas nous manquer! c’est avec des coeurs un peu plus légers que nous te disons au revoir; nous t’aimons de plus profonds de nous.

Repose en paix, Myra

A Curriculum Vitae for the Future

For Rent:

Semi-autonomous organic machine, useful for almost any physical task. Recently acquired clerical & research-dedicated programming. Operating system and memory based on an bio-electric processor and Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory.

All commands can be entered verbally. Programming can be accomplished through visual, tactile and auditory inputs. Data transfer rate of four to twelve words per second, depending on a variety of variables.

Flexible fuel compatibility allows the unit to be run on any number of biological and organic materials. Fuel efficiency and processing power can be increased by the catalyst C₈H₁₀N₄O₂ known colloquially as caffeine.

Operating System has some quirks and operates on a paradigm basis and sometimes will have difficulty with verbal commands if they violate previous assumptions about the operational environment. Both the Operating System and the unit itself require regular rest and cannot be operated indefinitely. Brief pauses every few hours followed by a longer pause after 8 to 12 hours of operation are required in order to ensure the unit's continued efficient operation.

Asking rental price: 11$-25$ per hour of operation, depending on the nature of the task required.

The Computer as Mind

Is it possible that human beings have accidentally shaped the computer as an avatar of the human mind? The autonomic system (BIOS, Processor, Buses, Communication Protocols, etc), the subconcious (daemon programs, background processes, root-programs, etc) and the concious (GUIs, active programs and processes and real-time access to memory & data) minds are all represented...

Just a thought.

Countdowns and Transitions

Our neighbours to the south have just inaugurated themselves a new President and his first major action was signing an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay Prison before the year's out; the transition begins. Executive orders are all well and good, but it remains to be seen how he'll steer the country itself over the next four years (and my money's still on boring and ordinary).

That being said, there are countdowns on in this country, one of which is related to our own governance: Stephen Harper's delay tactic comes to an end in four days. Parliament will be confronted with his new budget and, if cooler heads haven't prevailed, we'll be looking at a very interesting end to the month of January; the liberals and NDP know the damage to their reputation is already done, and they may grab the coalition just to make sure they can wield power for the next two years or so and maybe get credit for steering Canada out of the coming economic quagmire - the only way they might salvage their political reputations before any more elections are called. I'm keeping an eye on CPAC.

Oh, and the all-star weekend begins in Montreal tomorrow night. Woohoo!