David T. Joneshttp://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/author/20enghttp://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/771http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/771Washington, DC…Even before the seminal January 12 earthquake, Haiti was in trouble.  It was the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with per capita income of less than $2 per day ($660/year) where 1 percent of the citizens held half of Haiti's wealth.  Even before the earthquake, statistics indicated that only a third of the population could access electricity and only 11 percent had piped water.  No city had a sanitation system; life expectancy at 61 years was the hemisphere's lowest, and the UN Human Development Index placed it 149 of 182 countries with all below it being African states.  The best and brightest of its citizens long ago escaped...David T. JonesThu, 11 Feb 2010 17:00:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/749http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/749 There is an aphorism to the effect that you can always make a sensitive person feel guilty. Extrapolate that judgment to a national level and one can conclude that Canada is so afflicted.There is much wrong, indeed evil, that is done in the world that we can do nothing to mitigate, let alone eliminate.   To paraphrase scripture, too often “we do those things that we ought not to have done and leave undone those things that we ought to have done.”  We cudgel ourselves with “what ifs.”   If we had only paid more attention; worked harder; spoken out; saved more/spent less, the wrong would be righted (or would never have happened at all). David T. JonesThu, 07 Jan 2010 18:00:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/733http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/733It was a cold, wet, and grim Remembrance/Veterans Day in Washington this year.  Perhaps more than even in the most recent past, moods were irritated, marked by a puzzled frustration over the future of the United States and the most effective manner of management for a multiracial/multicultural/multi-multi society...David T. JonesThu, 03 Dec 2009 18:30:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/714http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/714On Tuesday, November 3, as a resident of Arlington Virginia, I voted.  As I did so, I recalled that Canadian friends had voted earlier in the week in Montreal for mayor and council members.  On my ballot were candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and a variety of state and county officials, e.g., school board.  For a variety of personal and institutional reasons, this was the first time I’d ever voted in Arlington, having participated by absentee ballot for 45 years in my home town, Scranton, Pennsylvania.  But now I was exercising my franchise where I live; it was a privilege to do so freely and one about which I am not blasé. David T. JonesWed, 04 Nov 2009 17:30:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/678http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/678 This summer for Americans has seen the return of the “teachable moment.”  That is, in my rough definition of such, a circumstance or development from which a lesson about life, society, politics, etc can be drawn. Our interlock in this instance, has been the interaction between Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates (an African American), Cambridge police sergeant James Crowley (a Caucasian), and U.S. President Barack Obama.  Although the outlines of this event are relatively well known, they deserve recounting. David T. JonesWed, 02 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/636http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/636The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948 without dissent. It proclaimed: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.....Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status."..David T. JonesThu, 02 Jul 2009 15:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/638http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/638 What was I missing?  What was it that I didn‘t understand?The continuing saga of Abousfian Abdelrazik, marooned in the Canadian embassy in Khartoum for over a year, had a “Kafkaesque Catch 22” quality to it that sounds more like the opening scene of some comedy/suspense thriller than a “we’re telling you this with a straight face” diplomatic explanation.  Even with his return it leaves an outside observer head shaking... David T. JonesThu, 02 Jul 2009 13:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/576http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/576We can be confident that, as soon as our long ago ancestors started living in caves, there was "correctness"--social, political, tribal, etc.  Just where do you throw your bones after cracking them open and sucking out the marrow?  Just where do you perform your bodily functions?  Or who speaks (grunts?) in what order in the group meeting?David T. JonesThu, 18 Jun 2009 19:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/577http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/577There are basic needs for human beings:  the obvious are food; shelter; sex.  And then it becomes complicated for societies where the basics are “givens,” and needs become more abstract.  Are the freedoms enumerated in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (and the U.S. Constitution) “freedoms”—or limitations on the actions that a citizen might take otherwise?David T. JonesThu, 18 Jun 2009 18:45:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/548http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/548 Washington, DC - There are basic needs for human beings:  the obvious are food; shelter; sex.  And then it becomes complicated for societies where the basics are “givens,” and needs become more abstract.  Are the freedoms enumerated in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (and the U.S. Constitution) “freedoms”—or limitations on the actions that a citizen might take otherwise? Freedom of speech—but at what point does it become slander?Freedom of the press—but what are the parameters of libel, let alone “hate” when making such speech?Freedom of religion—but to practice polygamy, let alone human sacrifice? David T. JonesThu, 28 May 2009 13:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/513http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/513It is a pity that political correctness has driven Mark Twain out of style.  A generation ago, Samuel Clemens (whose nom de plume was “Mark Twain”) was both an iconic author of children’s stories (Tom Sawyer, Prince and the Pauper) and regarded as one of the “greats” in American literature for the classic Huckleberry Finn.  Although “Tom” and “Huck” were often presented as a duality of “boys’ stories,” Huck was anything but a child’s tale with its sophisticated story of adult duplicity and mendacity along with Huck’s efforts to get a slave friend, “Jim” to safety...David T. JonesThu, 09 Apr 2009 09:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/490http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/490The contretemps over the now aborted recreation of the battle on the Plains of Abraham demonstrates this reality...David T. JonesThu, 19 Mar 2009 15:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/455http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/455It must be tedious and frustrating to be a "concerned Canadian."  So many errors to be corrected; so many problems to be resolved; so many wrong directions to be set straight...David T. JonesThu, 26 Feb 2009 13:00:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/444http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/444One of life's lessons is that no man stands so tall as when he puts the monkey on some one else's back.  Appreciating that sobriquet, "Bush 43" jets into history (or at least to Crawford Texas), and a chattering troop of simians have seated themselves on President Obama's shoulders. Caging them, throttling them, or just enduring them are now the Democrats problem as for the first time since 1992, the Democrats control both the Congress and the Presidency...David T. JonesThu, 05 Feb 2009 05:30:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/379http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/379We can be confident that, as soon as our long ago ancestors started living in caves, there was "correctness"--social, political, tribal, etc.  Just where do you throw your bones after cracking them open and sucking out the marrow?  Just where do you perform your bodily functions?  Or who speaks (grunts?) in what order in the group meeting?..David T. JonesThu, 15 Jan 2009 09:00:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/108http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/108Washington DC  - Washington media has much bruited about the concept of a “team of rivals” for the Obama administration.  The label derives from the Doris Kearns Goodwin book of the same name regarding Abraham Lincoln’s assembly of a Civil War cabinet incorporating his political rivals, who individually and corporately believed themselves far better qualified than he to lead the country under any circumstances, let alone during a civil war..David T. JonesThu, 18 Dec 2008 17:00:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/123http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/123Journalists are inclined to depict every political bend in the road as a major turning point.  Historians know better.  And so it is after the 2008 election in which President-elect Obama is being globally greeted with hosannas and depicted as the bearer of solutions to all ills foreign and domestic. ..David T. JonesThu, 27 Nov 2008 15:00:00 -0500http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/397http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/397 U.S. observers of the Canadian scene are well aware of the almost obsessive attention Canadians pay to the United States. It is almost as if you don't have a life of your own... David T. JonesThu, 30 Oct 2008 19:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/194http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/194 A kirpan is a kirpan is … a knife. A kirpan wrapped up and under the clothing of the owner is … a concealed weapon.,, David T. JonesThu, 16 Oct 2008 05:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/215http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/215On November 3, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin accepted the Republican nomination for Vice President.  Her selection on August 31 by Senator John McCain had prompted a tsunami of "Sarah Who?" instant analysis...David T. JonesThu, 18 Sep 2008 18:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/234http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/234Earlier in the campaign season, once Democrats and Republicans identified their presidential candidates, respectively Senators Obama and McCain, the next question for the chatterers was "Who will be the Veep (Vice President)."..David T. JonesThu, 04 Sep 2008 13:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/249http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/249When diplomats travel, they observe. Usually those observations are of the "foreign" countries to which they are professionally assigned or are encountering for professional reasons. But it can also be interesting--and even self-instructive--to play diplomatic observer in one's own country. Having recently been a first-time visitor to Las Vegas, Nevada; the national parks of Bryce Canyon and Zion, Utah; and Hoover Dam, Nevada, prompted a series of thoughts that might interest far-away Canadians...David T. JonesThu, 21 Aug 2008 13:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/261http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/261So Omar Khadr cried. And he wanted his mommy according to much publicized, recently released interrogation transcripts...David T. JonesThu, 07 Aug 2008 16:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/273http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/273Cynics are inclined to conclude that a government that makes the right decision is akin to the proverbial blind pig finding an acorn. But such pigs do find acorns and, in the instance of the decision by the Harper government to see Senator John McCain during his June 20 visit to Ottawa, the Tories got it right...David T. JonesThu, 10 Jul 2008 21:00:00 -0400http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/318http://www.themetropolitain.ca/articles/view/318 Sex sells. And a good sex scandal generates 360 degree, "24/7" attention. Thus Canadians (and Canada watchers around the world) have found the Bernier-Couillard saga a perfect foil for all sorts of analysis both light and ostensibly deep—certainly more than that accorded whatever serious issue a serious commentator would select for public attention... David T. JonesThu, 12 Jun 2008 14:00:00 -0400