41B

Now I recognize very well the futility of attempting to improve the HSR. It’s quite clear that our elected officials have no interest in maintaining anything other than a bare bones transit system. Even city staff, who by and large all drive (because why wouldn’t you if you could) could care less about building the HSR into a formidable alternative to their beloved cars. Still I’ll make this plea for an improvement to transit in the heartland of the car nonetheless.

It seems to me that people on the mountain are sick and tired of waiting for buses that rarely come and when they do take forever to get you anywhere fast because of all those stops. I grew up at the top of the Jolley Cut so I had literally dozens of buses to choose from but most mountain dwellers have only one option. Quite reasonably they choose to take their cars to get around. But a side effect of this decision is that Hamilton has to spend millions on highways to provide for all these vehicles; the Red Hill Creek Expressway is only the first of many, I promise. Comparatively a small investment in the HSR would yield a better return on investment than decades of building and maintaining expensive highways. Remember a full bus can take 40 cars off the road.

The main street on the mountain running east to west is Mohawk Road. Interestingly the current bus route 41 Mohawk can take you from Ancaster to the heart of the steel mills near Ottawa and Kenilworth, with all stops in between. Unfortunately, this service is anything but quick so isn’t a serious option for steelworkers or other downtown workers coming in from the mountain. If you’ve ever traveled it you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Therefore I propose that a mountain beeline service be added to increase the number of buses running along this route. It would only make major stops along the way like its downtown cousin and run at the same times and on the same days. The beeline service should extend the current Mohawk route by connecting via Ancaster to McMaster University; McMaster is a major destination and should have direct access from the mountain.

It seems to me there are several advantages of this mountain beeline route:

• It would make the Meadowlands more accessible to shoppers that don’t have cars
• Becomes an alternative to passing through downtown to McMaster University and reduces the rampant overcrowding on buses running from downtown to Mac
• It would complete a rapid transit ring road of sorts around Hamilton
• Connects transit users with Chedoke Hospital and Mohawk College reasonably close to the current 41 Mohawk route
• It would fit with the City of Hamilton’s proposed GRIDS solution of nodes and corridors with transit hubs at Limeridge Mall, Meadowlands and McMaster University
• Related to GRIDS, Mohawk Road could be opened up to increased high density development to complement the buildings already present (James to Wentworth) if potential tenants had access to a rapid bus service
• Ancaster would be connected to rest of Hamilton through reliable transit not the current abysmal system

Everyone Loves an Empire

Can you hear the barbarians at the gate? It's a little hard in Canada and we often assume that our local barbarians are Americans or Albertans. But in Australia they can hear them loud and clear and they're scared. Little wonder that the Aussies are practicing a little preemption of their own in their neighbourhood.

This week Australia sent a contingent of commandos to East Timor to apparently restore order. East Timor is suffering from a common condition of former conflict zones; sacked soldiers are angry about being booted from the security forces given that their talents are no longer in demand. First of all there are no jobs and second even if there were what do you put on your resume: your proficiency with weapons of all kinds, your extensive torture experience? Unfortunately given these young men's skills with small arms and light weapons, they are highly talented in disrupting the everyday functioning of a modern state. The Australian commandos plan to explain to them the futility of their actions, while protecting anyone with milky white skin and Australian interests in the country.

This new mission builds on Australia's foreign adventures both as a leader in the unstable Solomon Islands and as a follower in Iraq and Afghanistan.

What do the Australians hope to achieve beyond maintaining their position of economic and military power in the region? For one thing, they'll keep all these poor, illiterate and dirty brown people from jumping a boat to their country and claiming political asylum. Under international law, it would be illegal to send them back to a conflict zone where they could be harmed or worse. So Australian troops are immediately dispatched to quell all instability in the region, thus preventing boatloads of unfortunate people from reaching Australian shores with a justifiable reason to stay. Australia for Australians, whatever that means.

Regrettably I have no doubt that Canadians would behave just as our Australian cousins if faced with the same circumstances. Thankfully all our barbarians have decent jobs--but for how long?

Gates and Mazes

Forget Mapquest, check out Google Maps. It seems that whatever Google touches turns to gold. I'll stop the fawning over this omnipotent corporation now; lest we forget that they sold out by releasing information on our searches to the US government and they are oh so helpful to the censor-happy Chinese government.

But despite these shortcomings, I did learn something recently looking at my instant Google Map of Hamilton. You can tell a lot about a city from the air. Look at the way the streets are laid out and you can tell where the suburbs begin and the traditional urban area ends. In Hamilton most of downtown from Westdale to the Red Hill Creek is in the standard grid format. Straight lines running up and down and left and right. Seems boring but makes sense for getting around. There are no crazy courts to trap you or dead ends that you'll have to double back on.

In the newer suburban areas, by contrast, watch what happens to the map. Say you're looking at the large city block bordered by the Linc, Upper Sherman, Stonechurch, and Upper Gage. There are just a few access points to the major roads from the interior of the subdivision. Is it just me or do you think it would be pretty easy to put up gates at those few access points into the subdivision? Private security anyone?

So who cares? Well it's just another example of how you need to have a car to get around in this place and, like Jason, you'll need to memorize the maze of roads. If you're on foot you're going to have to walk much further than you would on the downtown grid structure; there walking is king. You can get anywhere; maybe even faster than a car. In the 'burbs good luck.

And if you don't know where you're going you're doomed. Walking through the dismal suburban nightmare of the Greenhill and King neighbourhood the other day I found I was walking in circles. I just wanted to get back to the office but I made the fatal mistake of heading through the maze with few exits. I thought logically that the quickest way between two points was a straight line; I was wrong. I ended up having to double back and join the inefficient main road and go out of my way. Essentially the message of the city planners is: if you don't have a car you're not welcome.

I guess these neighbourhoods will have to change and very soon given the reality of peak oil. I hope that many new paths will be created by homeowners to allow quick access by pedestrians and cyclists from interior roads to major streets. There they would be able to catch buses or get out to shops and markets. But maybe the secured gates are the more realistic solution. One can always dream.

(And yes, I'm sure I could have come to the same conclusion looking at a standard road map. Do they still make those anymore?)

Midnight Run

Channel surfing late Saturday night at a friend's place I came across an interesting news story. Interesting because of the timing of this "breaking" news. No I didn't catch this story on CNN or (sigh) Fox News, it was a purely Canadian story. The body of Captain Nichola Goddard was returning from Afghanistan where it had been terminated prematurely during the Canadian mission there. CBC Newsworld and CTV Newsnet showed live pictures of the repatriation at midnight on Saturday. A very dark and cold military airfield welcomed the coffin back to Canada. Was anyone watching?

From my first glimpse of this story, I recognized that it stunk of politics. Many Canadians, as well as Americans, Israelis and Indians are rightly upset by a stream of coffins carrying their young deceased soldiers home. Remember all the lengths that the Bush Administration went to cover up the initial stream of soldiers killed in Iraq? Now it seems that Stephen Harper is following Bush's lead. Why midnight? Could it be that Mr Harper didn't want Canadians to see the entire unloading but merely the next day's short soundbite?

War is misery. Everyone knows this but still we decide to get into them. I've been told that it's human nature but this is a bogus excuse. Humans are just as capable of building community and embracing nonviolent approaches to conflict. We have choices.

Having said this, I don't believe that we Canadians should cut and run from Afghanistan. For one we chose to support the Americans in their blazing revenge for 9/11. Americans may act irresponsibly and wantonly, moving rapidly from one war to another, but we have to do our duty to rebuild this poor country now that we are committed. The Americans won't, they have their own agenda unfortunately. It's up to smaller countries like Canada and the Netherlands to help the Afghanis. Afghanistan is a terribly sad place and we should work with them to laugh and share again. Imagine growing up with only war and landmines; you'd be as bitter and angry as many Afghani people as well as "terrorists". It may take years but this bitterness can be fought with commitment and honesty.

Instead of hiding the truth of war at midnight on a Saturday night, Harper should explain that we're in Afghanistan because we have to be; and because it's the right thing to do. Give Canadians some credit Mr Prime Minister.

Report F5039450-K
Department of Defense

Today several enemy combatants at Camp Delta attempted to overthrow the base and eject US forces from Cuba. Ten men surprised camp personnel with improvised weapons. This report provides a strategic assessment of the day's events and the wider implications.

It was a tense situation for several minutes when it seemed the ten enemy combatants might have the upper hand. Colonel Michael Bumgarner, spoke of the first frightening minutes, "Frankly we were losing the fight at that point." There were fears that the 10 men might take over Camp Delta from US forces and free their fellow enemy combatants. Had that happened Camp Delta might have well changed names to Camp Jihad. This would be strategically unacceptable.

Given Cuba's proven links to terrorism, they might have found support in the island nation and with their combined terrorist might kept US forces from retaking the base. Things could have escalated to the point where the nuclear option might have been a real option. Like at Tora Bora, enemy combatants might have dug deep tunnels to take refuge in. Tunneling nuclear warheads would have been needed in this case. Unfortunately this was not to be.

This behaviour will be punished severely. Camp doctors recommend sleep deprivation and withdrawal of privileges to ensure a return to compliance. Detainees will no longer have access to the common space at Camp Delta nor their Korans. Their actions clearly demonstrate that they are dangerous individuals intent on killing Americans and challenging our way of life and freedom. Before today's disgraceful display, interrogators were beginning to believe their stories that they were merely farmers and day labourers arrested in the wrong place and at the wrong time. But constructing deadly weapons from everyday items like fans and light fixtures indicates that they must have spent time at Al Qaeda training camps. A broken fluorescent light could be as deadly as a dirty bomb in the wrong hands.

A new round of interrogations is planned to expose the locations of these insidious training camps and the training these men received. Some liberals question the benefit of six or seven year old intelligence but they are clearly mistaken. Clues may have been left behind at these camps that could lead us to high value targets. Thanks to the bravery of camp personnel, a potential major threat to our national security was avoided today. The troops at Camp Delta exemplify their camp's motto: Honour Bound to Defend Freedom.

Also during the day there were two suicide attempts by enemy combatants using prescription medicines. This was well below the official daily average of seven and should be seen as a successful day. Commendations are recommended for base personnel.

The Definition of Hypocrisy

Having surfed to the Guardian Unlimited site just minutes ago, I was struck with the placement of two articles. The first entitled "Iran Mocks EU Nuclear Offer" was followed by one called "Blair Presses the Nuclear Button". The latter outlined British Prime Minister Tony Blair's plan to embrace nuclear power as his country's primary replacement for hydrocarbons in a peak oil world. The former outlines the Iranian response to an EU offer to build a light water reactor for Iran so Iran could have a nuclear program but not have access to enriched nuclear materials.

What a joke? How do the British even think that they have a leg to stand on with Iran? And just referring to the Iranians as evil and hoping that covers it isn't good enough. If the British can have nuclear power (and lots of it according to Mr. Blair's plans), then justifiably so can the Iranians; are they not facing the same energy constraints as the British? At the risk of sounding like a broken record, let's not forget that of the nine known nuclear states on earth, Britain is one. They have nuclear weapons right now! Iran may get them some day but the British have them on alert as I type, ready to launch on order.

As an alternative, why not embrace conservation, simplicity and renewable energy instead of massive, expensive nuclear power stations? At the same time, Mr. Blair could announce that he's scrapping his nuclear warheads and not planning to update the Trident system; a full nuclear disarmament as Britain is pledged to undertake under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That would give Britain the leg they need to stand on when talking with Iran. For now, don't waste my time.