Aristotle believed that virtues are those attributes that have achieved the mean between two extremes of a vice. For example, courage is the mean between cowardice and rashness. This balance is what we should all strive for, according to Aristotle. In this way, we must recognize that there is often good in extremes, but we need to "tone it down". I believe that this is wisdom. There are many things in this life that involve having the right balance. In fact, in many ways life is all about balance-I have found this particularly true in my walk with God.

In this way, I believe that many times when we see personality types that are extreme, we label them as some type of condition and try to medicate the person. I believe that many of these conditions are simply certain virtues that have been allowed to grow to a point that they have become extreme, and therefore have developed into vices. One of the reasons for this is the lack of discipline on the part of many parents. This lack has been spread to the school system, where teachers are no longer allowed to criticize the students in any way. As a result, we are replacing parenting with drugs.

I have just completed a series of meetings with Senate, during which we heard the presentation of all of the various budgets from the different clubs that exist within the university that I am enrolled in. We then progressed to work our way through each club’s budget and give or take what we believed to be best for the student body. We receive a very specific amount of money from the students upon the beginning of each school year, so it was necessary to stay within a certain money-frame. Now, what I found profoundly interesting was the various changes that came over people during the progression of the meeting, and because of this I have realized that the discussion of money has a dramatic effect on people. Many of the clubs asked for things that were not needed, and were simply extravagant. However, I found myself not simply striking these extra requests, but in some ways becoming annoyed and frustrated with the requests. I kept thinking of what I would do if the money was going to me, and then judging the clubs according to that standard. I found many of the other members of Senate doing the same thing, and then I realized that we still had very different opinions about how the money should be spent. Despite this conflict of opinions, most of us had no doubt at all that our own opinion of where the money should go is absolutely the best one.

Money makes people very sensitive to needs and desires, since it is often the currency of desire. What this means is that our passions are directly linked to what we want to do with the money that is available, and it is very difficult to separate these passions from our decision-making process. I have no doubt that more conflict occurred within the span of the three hours that it took us to decide who received how much money, then will occur for the rest of the year on Senate.

There is never enough time in this world for all of the things that we all want to do. It seems that there is always something else that draws my eye and makes me want to start a new hobby, learn something new, or go in a new direction. This is, in many ways, what makes it so very difficult to actually receive the joy out of life. Many people will tell you that you need to go around and try everything in order to truly live, but I disagree. I believe that the way to truly get everything out of life that you can is to dedicate yourself to a few select things. Do not overtax yourself with everything, and never actually accomplish anything. The best things in life have to be pursued, and if we flit around to every distraction, we are never able to experience the fullness of life. God calls us to dedication, and that is what we must do. That does not simply mean giving God a couple minutes in the morning and the evening for our devotions and prayers-it is an everlasting dedication and discipline in toning our bodies and minds towards serving God. The really exciting part about this is the fact that through such dedication, we are able to receive eternal life. What this means is that our dedication to God will give us the opportunity to complete all of the dreams and goals that we have now throughout eternity. Perhaps that is why we have so many dreams, and yet so little time-they are dreams that will be fulfilled-not in this life, but the next.

Once again, a massive amount of protestors have demonstrated their desire to have the feeling of doing something useful, while accomplishing absolutely nothing. A large amount of people showed up at the G20 Summit so that they could…what? Protest rich countries getting together to try and solve problems? Or maybe the protestors just don’t like cooperation-or is it that they’re angry that there are rich nations in the world? If somebody could explain this to me, I’d really appreciate it, because I simply do not understand what peoples’ thinking is on this issue.

Personally-I believe the motivation is that it gives people a sense of being part of a cause. People in the world realize that there is something wrong, and they’re looking for people to blame. OF course, we can’t all blame ourselves and realize that most of the problems in the world are a result of our own selfishness-and it would be much to hard for us to actually DO something about the problems-so we yell at our leaders and say "hey, why aren’t YOU doing more?" Well-what about that ugly word "me".

Battle

I have been looking for this game for a while, and I was finally able to find it. I used to play it when I was younger, and

Screen Shot

absolutely loved it. Shining force is likely the best turn-based RPG out there in my opinion, although it is very old. Hope you enjoy it!

To get it, you must first download a Genesis Emulator from this link. I would suggest getting the Kega Fusion emulator. Then download the game at this link.  You will want The Legacy of Great Intention. When you open the file to play the game, choose the option of selecting the program that opens the file from a list. Click browse, then find the Fusion program file, and click the box that causes the file to be opened by this program each time. Then, your on your way!

I have realized what the draw is for me towards Ignatieff, and I may have discovered one of his key beliefs in this political game. Ever since Ignatieff has entered the Canadian political world, people have been wondering-what exactly is his motivation? Just about every politician has something that is driving him/her, but Ignatieff has not been very forthcoming about his motivation. Perhaps the reason for this is because most Canadians have forgotten to care about what Ignatieff cares about-International Affairs. Almost all of Ignatieff’s books have been on international affairs, and the various outlets which that entails. Unfortunately, most Canadians have rejected the international realm as an important area of politics. The focus has become more and more on domestic affairs, as demonstrated by Harper in his continually turning towards domestic affairs even when he is at international conferences about issues greater than just Canada.

In the recent G8 summit, Harper quickly reverted back to domestic politics by responding to a comment that had been made by an Academic (Gordon Smith). Harper had been led to believe that Ignatieff had made the comment, which suggested that a new international forum should be created that excluded Canada. Harper used the final media time that he was given at the Italy G8 summit to respond to the comment, saying that;

“Mr. Ignatieff is supposed to be a Canadian,” Mr. Harper told the media on Friday. “I don’t think you go out and throw out ideas like this that are so obviously contrary to a country’s interest and nobody else is advocating them.

“I think it’s an irresponsible suggestion…. I would suggest he look carefully at these comments and withdraw those. Frankly, they’d be irresponsible coming from anybody, but they’re particularly irresponsible coming from a senior Canadian parliamentarian.”

I do not suggest that Harper did not have a right to respond to the comment, but using an international forum was most definitely not the place to do it. His response said to every other representative at the meeting that he did not really place much importance in the international world, and would rather be back home battling the opposition.

Here I must comment on Ignatieff’s actions concerning foreign affairs. Obviously, as broadcasted by the Conservative party, Ignatieff has spend a great deal of time outside of Canada, and so has an interest in foreign affairs as a result of that. However, Ignatieff’s interests are rooted in something much deeper than that. His most passionate statements have been made about foreign affairs, because Ignatieff believes in a Canada that is involved, and actually has a real ability to provide peace-keepers, not just token flag-holders. As Ignatieff said,

“It’s disgusting in my own country, and I love my country, Canada, but they would rather bitch about their rich neighbour to the south than actually pay the note,” he said, in response to a question about peacekeeping. “To pay the bill to be an international citizen is not something that they want to do.”

Ignatieff is one of the few politicians who is actually able to face the facts about what Canadian foreign policy has become. Canada has become self-interested, and is simply trying to ride a reputation that was made decades ago in the international world, in order to keep a fingernail hold on international decisions. This nation is a nation that is obsessed with trying to take as little risks as possible, while still maintaining a facade of goodness. The long and the short of it is that Canada does not deserve to hold a place at the international decision-making table if we do not take action. Ignatieff believes in a Canada that is involved in the world, and not simply wrapped up in it’s own selfish interests. As Ignatieff said,

“Riskless warfare in pursuit of human rights is a moral contradiction. The concept of human rights assumes that all human life is of equal value. Risk-free warfare presumes that our lives matter more than those we are intervening to save.”

Further Readings

‘Bogus’ peacekeeping?

G8 Attack Reflects Poorly on Canada: Experts

UPDATE: Harper apologizes for unloading on Ignatieff

Liberal-Era Diplomatic Language Killed Off

Apparently it is organic and is most definitely not oil, nor does it appear to be any type of hazardous substance. It is, to put it simply, black goo that has been found floating down from alaska, and nobody seems to know what it is. Personally, I like the theory of a commenter on the National Post article:

“Obviously an alien life-form. Probably escaped from CIA custody when someone forgot to lock the door.” -hoppy96-

Further Readings

Weird biological goo making its way down Alaska coast

clipped from www.cbc.ca Pro-Mousavi supporters face tear gas, arrests Supporters of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi turned out in the thousands to pack Iran’s main prayer hall in Tehran University Friday, in what was a loud show of defiance targeted at the ruling government. Outside, police and pro-government Basiji militiamen fired tear gas and used batons on some of the protesters, who chanted “death to the dictator” and called on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to resign. Dozens were arrested, piled in trucks and taken away, witnesses said. Meanwhile, young protesters wearing green bandanas over their mouths took to the streets, despite the tear gas in the air. Some set a bonfire in the street and waved their hands in the air in victory signs. Weeks after the election, hundreds of thousands of Mousavi supporters marched in the street, declaring the results a fraud. At least 20 people were killed when police cracked down on the protesters

There has still been no solutions found in Iran, as the government continues to crack down hard on protesters, and the protesters continue to fight and speak up. In my opinion, the more the government tries to suppress the voice of the people, the more illegitimate the government becomes. A new election must be called, and this election must be counted by completely impartial people-possibly from another nation.

There is a frightening tendency within this world for governments to take control of the rearing of children over the authority of parents, even when the parents are perfectly capable of raising children themselves. I posted earlier on a new law in Quebec that makes it mandatory for all schools to teach a course that presents all religions on an equal footing. I found out that this course actually insists on the children “being” a certain religion for a week. Children will take part in islamism, christianity, judaism, and other religions by actually taking part in the religious ceremonies that these religions contain. This means that, if I was sending my children to one of these schools, my children would have to at least go through the motions of worshiping Alah, a monotheistic god (as opposed to the trinity), and likely other gods such as the earth itself, etc. So, essentially my children would be forced into disobeying the ten commandments, and countless scriptures in the Bible.

Another recent development that has occured in Britain is a general tendency towards seperating the children from their parents in authority and trust. It has recently come up that teachers are to be trusted more than parents themselves when it comes to children. In the East Beds School Sports Partnership Athletics Day at Sandy Upper School in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, parents were literally banned from attending because of the fear of pedophiles. I’m not sure what the logic in this was, if there was any at all, since I highly doubt that keeping parents away from their children during a sports event will prevent bad parents from doing bad things. If anything, having the parents there will ensure that the teachers do not do anything questionable. Not to mention the fact that children need the support of their parents in order to really grow and mature.

During the May 14 CBS Evening News broadcast, the anchor featured a guest expert who said parents “need help from the government” to stop advertisers from turning children into underage drinkers, smokers, and worse. More and more in Canada and throughout the world, the government is stepping in to interfere with parenting. Has anyone read the book 1984 by George Orwell? Or for that matter, has anyone read revelations?

Further Readings

Schools bar parents from sports day…to keep out pedophiles

Bonehead of the day award

CBS: Parents Need Government Help to Raise Kids?

This is just a quick post to give a shoutout to the website LiveMocha. It is the best website out there for learning other languages. It gives a great system for learning French and many other languages, that includes full courses from beginner to expert, access to many useful resources, and access to others who can assist in your learning-and of course, it’s all free. Here’s the Link: Livemocha (www.livemocha.com) Enjoy!