Captain Ahab joins the Canadian NavyWritten by Gary Whittaker
Canada’s military has been a long-standing joke for decades. On October 5th, that joke turned deadly serious when a crew member of HMCS Chicoutimi died from injuries sustained onboard from smoke inhalation. Lieut. Chris Saunders, who leaves behind a wife and two children, will become known as 1st Canadian to die aboard a submarine will on duty in approx. 50 years. The HMCS Chicoutimi was on its maiden voyage to Canada when fire broke out. It was last one of 4 vessels purchased second hand from UK, to be brought to Canada for use in its Navy. The total price tag for 4 submarines was 750 million dollars. All four submarines reported problems of varying degrees, with this latest incident being most serious. They were actually purchased in 1998, and that was considered a bargain at time. 2 more crewmembers remain hospitalized as a result of injuries sustained during incident. All three crewmembers were transported to a hospital in Ireland, close to where submarine was when fire broke out. In doing so, Canadian government was sparred further embarrassment from incident by not having injured personnel not wait for medical attention in a Canadian hospital with depleted resources due to cuts over last decade. The Liberals are already trying to deflect blame thrown at them from opposition, claiming that problems reported on purchased subs where all normal, and that inspection teams did all they could prior to allowing subs to leave dock. Meanwhile, Navy insists that these submarines were needed in their plans for defence. We now have to ask ourselves what exactly that plan could be. Canadians have to be realistic. There is absolutely no point in trying to develop a strategic plan against any nation. There is no way most powerful nation in history will allow Canada to be invaded, and there is no way Canada would be able to defend its self if ever American lose their minds and attack Canada.
| | The RenaissanceWritten by Amber Whitman
The Renaissance Era was a period dating from approximately 14th century through 16th century. It was a time of great change for Europe and world, as a whole new culture was beginning to emerge. Beliefs were tested. The idea that humankind ruled nature developed, and has contributed greatly to modern science and technology. It is thought that Renaissance political thought was very instrumental in forming government in United States. The idea of freeing government from religious aspects of church, thereby becoming more independent, was key idea in this reformation. Many inventions were also developed in this period, most important being gunpowder, printing press and compass. Another extremely important aspect of Renaissance was creation of prosperous cities, and is reflected today in our own society. Trade increased dramatically, not only in standard items of barter and exchange, but also in area of luxury items as well. With expansion of trade, towns grew wherever trade routes met. Capital that accumulated through trade was eventually available for other enterprises, notably banking and industry, much as happens with capital gains today. Great gains were made in education. However, these were not without a good amount of controversy. There were two distinct type of education, one of which was scholastic, which concentrated on study of logic, and other being philosophy and nature of reality.
|
