How this human being (Beckham) can look at his reflection in a mirror everyday is beyond me. Personally I would be embarrassed to presume that I should be that great as to receive such an audacious amount of coinage. I would be ashamed to accept that kind of funds knowing how badly off a good chunk of the world is.

Did Beckham say “Give me 250 million over 5 years and I’m going to give up 200 million to charities.”- ? Nyet. Imagine if he did? I would have fallen off my chair and offered a tip-of-the-hat to him. Now that would have been something.And 250 mil for what? To play soccer? 

Hello? Did the people who offered this deal completely lose their minds? Is Beckham that good? No.No one is that good. Even in the sacred sport of soccer, it’s a team sport, I know, I played soccer for over 10 years in an organized league. Fine, it wasn’t at a professional level, but it was no less still the game. And we all ran around the field just like his lord and master Mr. Beckham.

Chasing the ball from one end and back to the other. Soccer scores are low - why? Because the field is huge and the game changes drastically and unpredictably, more time is spent running than anything else. It resembles hockey in that it’s constantly moving - I know, played that as well. Also a team sport. Wayne Gretsky was only as good as his teammates.
 

Everybody has an idea who they would name as top news maker or person, or news item of the year - a la TIME Magazine and others.

This year TIME decided that “You” were the 2006 Person of the Year, which was nice of them to do. TIME’s 2006 Person of the Year is “You” as the Citizens of the Digital Democracy Who Most Affected the News and Our Lives This Year.

TIME Canada decided that Prime Minister Stephen Harper was the 2006 Canadian Newsmaker of the Year which completely boggled most sane Canadian’s minds. Most of us figured there had to be something that was a wee more important than Mr. Harper’s fun and games.

So I decided to jump into the mix with my rendition of the top news stories or rather, top news situations. With the world being semi out-to-lunch these days it would be hard to pick out any particular news story. I mean where does one start?

And so, without further ado, here’s the list…
 

Africa - the one continent that is perpetually in crisis - somewhere, almost everywhere. At any given moment any number of countries are being ruined by the warlord/dictator of the month and usually with dire results for the people of their respective countries.

The media will only show up once in a blue moon when Clooney, Madonna or Jolie visit some impoverished African village while shopping for a kid or trying to win points with their adoring fans because they’re ‘concerned’ for the plight of kiddies everywhere. That and if somebody had buckets-o-oil up for grabs we’d all be cursing out some African “insurgents” instead of the Taliban “insurgents”.

Yet this continent is in need of help - a damn big chunk of it - it needs interference from the world’s developed countries, it needs political and military assistance to put the many warlords/dictators out of business. 

Sure many will say that’s what’s happening in Afghanistan - warlords/dictators and all that. But it’s not quite the same. One of the reasons everybody is playing hide and seek with suicide bombers in Afghanistan and Iraq is because of oil and Bush and a few other relatively stupid ideas.
 

Is this next? Of course, even if this were to ever take place, Quebec would probably not sign up.

I can’t be only one (besides a handful of Liberals) who doesn’t think the “Nation” label is a good thing!?! There have to be Conservatives, NDP'ers, members of the Green Party (you’ll notice I’m not mentioning the Bloc) and others who have a problem with this. The Problem? Just how crazy would the Bloc or the PQ go with this most excellent Title. Has anyone seen any country wide public polls on this? I haven’t so far.

Is this their ticket straight to separation? If the government has recognized Quebec as a “Nation”, which Canada is supposed to be itself; and when you look at what we (Canada) have because we’re called a “Nation” ??? …. sooo… thus won’t Quebec be able to have what we (Canada) have because it’s now a “Nation” too?

Oh, le crap.

And just for the record, I’m a Montrealer. Born and raised (for many memorable years) and I never forgot where I came from. Been a Canadiens fan since I knew what hockey was. Traveled the world at Expo ‘67; and saw the tanks and army personnel run around near the airport (back then it was the Dorval International Airport - now it’s the Pierre Trudeau Airport) during the FLQ crisis. It was “La Belle Province”! Now we’re supposed to ‘remember’ something (Je me souviens).
 

 The Freedom of Expression has taken on a whole new meaning when terrorists strap bombs to their sorry asses and blow themselves and other innocent people off the planet.

Everyday bombs are detonated around the world - and more specifically in Iraq and Afghanistan - for a ‘cause’. Nothing says you love your deity more than blowing yourself up.

If the Freedom of Expression has hit this level, then Canada’s introduction into this kind of ‘Expressionism’ can’t be that far off.

The Freedom of Speech and Expression is a picky subject to a few people around the world and in some countries it can be down-right deadly.

Here in Canada we revel in our ability to do what we want and say what we please without fear of being shot, provided you play the game right. Basic Life Skills - 101. We keep our Freedoms in check with publications, peaceful protests and open-lines of communication, with the exception of our own Prime Minister who bans anything he can.
 

Most of us wonder when the people living in the Middle East will literally blow themselves right off the map. We wonder why it is they have such a problem with finding a peaceful resolution. Then it hits us - religion.

The denominations of the many turn the entire area into the deadliest reality show on earth. Where do you start to debate this mess? Where does one begin to fathom mankind’s absolute stupidness with this tit-for-tat game between the Israelis and Hezbollah?

This current Middle East showdown between Israel and Hezbollah, who hide out in the middle of Lebanon, (you know, behind the houses of regular folks), has little to do with the kidnapped Israeli soldiers and more to do with who can’t stand who.

Religion gets in the way with everyone believing they have the right god. The Middle East holds one of the most diverse collection of different branches/sects/groups of the Muslim and Jewish faiths and with a healthy mixture of Christian followers thrown in for good measure, you’ve got the groundwork for a major hot spot.