Government – the Grand Paradox

The modern definition of a state, as defined by Max Weber way back in the early 1900s, goes something like this:

A group of people having a monopoly on the legitimate use of force in a defined area.

In this case, force equates with violence. From this definition of a state, it follows that politics is based on violence insofar as that if I do not follow the law, and I resist every attempt to force me to follow it, at the end of the day there is a man with a gun who will shoot me if I do not comply.

I find this paradoxical because, as I interpret it, a government’s role (in liberal democracy, at least) is to preserve the welfare of its people. So basically we have a bunch of people whose job is to preserve our welfare pointing guns at us.

And that’s my amusing musing for the day.

LOL,

Tim

My Heart, When I Behold

Every time I see a city at night, I look at the lights over the city, and I think it’s such a pity.

When I see a city, this is what I think. And I can’t help but wonder:

What did this place look like before us? And how can we achieve a happy union between that which was and what is now?

Please take the time to watch the video – it’s long, but it’s worth it.

LOL,

Tim

On Spirituality

I think I’ve finally figured (some of) this out…

A New Perspective on the Buddha

I first found out about Noah’s books after a friend recommended his autobiography to me.

Entitled Dharma Punx, it tells the story of a troubled youth growing up during the heydays of punk. Moving from city to city, his parents split, Noah turne to drugs and punk rock to vent his anger – the classic “rebellious teenager” stereotype.

Eventually the drugs took over and the punk stopped

I’m Back!

Well, the break is over and I’m back in Montréal (have been since the 2nd, if fact). Settling back into classes has been tough as, counting exams and reading week along with the break, I’ve been out of school for over 5 weeks. Getting up in the morning is starting to get a little easier; doing readings decidedly isn’t. Speaking of that, my copy of “A Brief History of Chinese Civilization” is calling to me…

LOL,

Tim

Keep your eyes ahead…

I was reading Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama’s autobiography, and was struck by a passage from it. Obama had graduated from high school, and was talking to one of his grandfather’s friends, whose name is Frank. Frank has just asked Obama what he wants to get out of university, and Obama replied that he doesn’t know.

“Well, that’s the problem, isn’t it? You don’t know. You’re like the rest of the young cats out here. All you know is that college is the next thing you’re supposed to do.
…
“Understand something, boy. You’re not going to college to get educated. You’re going there to get trained. They’ll train you to want what you don’t need. They’ll train you to manipulate words so they don’t mean anything anymore. They’ll train you to forget what you already know.”

From what I’ve seen this far, I absolutely agree with what Frank said. We (the students) condense the forest of life into two trees: school and partying. You go to class on a Monday thinking about what a great weekend you had. By Wednesday, you’re looking forward to the next weekend. You study for exams, all the while thinking about how drunk you’ll be getting when you’re finished for the semester.

Sure, you can have discussions about politics and philosophy with nearly anybody you meet. That is one of the greatest things about university: the opportunity to have intelligent conversation any time you like, with people who know what they’re talking about. But when it comes to activism, to turning talk into action, we’re lazy. We’re apathetic. “I have readings to do”; “I have papers”. Or is it that activism is neither school nor partying?

Most of my friends are in rez, so I can’t really speak to the mindset of upper-year students, but I have to say – getting people motivated to do anything is almost impossible. They’ll have a great conversation with you, but when it comes time to commit to doing something, the same involvement is notably, and regrettably, absent – and this does not sit well with me.

There are clouds in the sky ahead – who will lead the way if not us? Clouds bring the rains; who will farm the land they leave fertile?

We all have things to do, people to see, places to go. We all have commitments and obligations. But what of the obligation we have to ourselves? To the freedoms we hold so carelessly; to the beautiful lands we don’t notice until we leave; to the brothers and sisters that we will never meet?

I know I can change the world. But I also know that I can’t unless you stand beside me.

You wouldn’t leave me hanging if I were asking for help with my homework. You wouldn’t leave me hanging if I were asking for a high five. Why would you leave me hanging now?

LOL,

Tim

Café Veritas

A while back I took a trip out to Café Veritas, a shop on St. Laurent close to Vieux-Port. I had heard (among other things) that it a) has a Synesso, and b) has the best espresso in Montréal. Needless to say, being a coffee geek and having been brought up on a Synesso, I had to go.

Home!

And even my computer knows it:

Montréal is great, but it just isn’t Vancouver. I’m glad to be back

LOL,

Tim

Canada at Copenhagen: Help or Hindrance?

According to George Monbiot, a columnist for The Guardian, we are not only a hindrance:

The tar barons have held the nation to ransom. This thuggish petro-state is today the greatest obstacle to a deal in Copenhagen.

Personally, I agree with him. One only needs to look at the shameful performance of the past governments (both Liberals and Conservatives) to see that.

But you know what really angers me? The fact that the tar sands are even viable operations.

It’s not the high price of oil. No, it is much, much worse than that.

Last year, Stephen Harper’s government gave over TWO BILLION DOLLARS of federal subsidies to the tar sands operations. That, and not the price of oil, is why this atrocity is continuing.

Personally, I think that is really sad.

A) The landscape and the environment are being destroyed. But, even more importantly:

B) People are getting CANCER from the oil sands – heavy metals and toxins are leeching into rivers and the groundwater from the tailings ponds.

And once the groundwater is contaminated, it takes a long time to purify. A really, really long time.

Come on, Canada. Wake up.

LOL,

Tim

—-The full article can be found here.

Coffeehouse!

Hey guys! I know I’ve been a little long posting this, but I had papers and imminent exams.

So anyways…on the 24th of November, Gardner Hall had an awesome, sick, rad-tastic coffeehouse!

Basically, a coffeehouse is essentially a talent show with coffee. But, being Gardner, we had to go further than *just* coffee