Church and state in Conservative Ottawa

Church and state in Conservative Ottawa
By EVAGELOS SOTIROPOULOS | Jan. 09, 2012

TORONTO—Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—seven simple words from the U.S.
Declaration of Independence that forever changed a nation. These "unalienable rights" it should be remembered are endowed by a "Creator" according to that famous 1776 document.

Similarly, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms brought in by Pierre Elliott Trudeau states that Canada is "founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law."

It was these two examples that Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney used as a springboard to address the more than 80 Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox clergymen who gathered to hear him at a private luncheon in Toronto last month.

As Kenney delivered his off-the-cuff introductory remarks, one could not help but see the enthusiasm he has for the religious vocation and for the need to protect all communities and individuals (not just Christians) persecuted because of their faith.

Religion—and its role in the political square—is a sensitive subject in this day and age, especially for the current federal government which has time and again been accused of being beholden to the religious right.

This claim persists despite the fact that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has shown, in both word and deed, his unwillingness to open the debate on issues that matter to them (namely, abortion and same-sex marriage).

Yet listening to Kenney was to hear a politician speak authentically and whether one agreed with him or not, you knew where he stood on the issues discussed.


Alas, this attribute—authenticity—is often absent from our elected officials.

Kenney's story concerning Shahbaz Bhatti, for example (the Christian Pakistani Cabinet member who was assassinated in March because he dared to criticized that country's blasphemy laws), showed emotion seldom seen in the scripted world of Canadian politics.

During the meeting, the Minister reiterated Canada's commitment to Iraqi refugees who face persecution and support of other communities, like Ahmadiyya Muslims, who are also under threat.

Other subjects given consideration included Egypt's Coptic Christians, the situation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the question of confiscated Armenian Churches in Turkey and the problems facing Christians in Kosovo.

Kenney's address to church representatives at the Greek Orthodox Metropolis comes in the context of the soon-to-be established Office of Religious Freedom—one of the few policy issues from last year's federal campaign still being debated.

The office is a potential sweet spot for Conservatives where good policy meets good politics.

They can promote values that play to their strength like democracy, human rights and the rule of law while at the same time cementing their relationship with ethnic communities that Kenney has worked hard to cultivate. (So hard, in fact, that Maclean's named him the hardest working Parliamentarian in 2011.)

On the other hand, however, by reorienting its foreign policy to protect religious minorities, the federal government leaves itself open to criticism that it is playing international favourites for domestic gain.

There have already been a number of stories that those being consulted on the Office of Religious Freedom are drawn from Judeo-Christian communities with both eastern religions and Islam largely excluded.

Time will tell how the Conservatives stickhandle these sensitivities. One thing, though, is evident: a dialogue between church and state can yield benefits to society and is not indicative of one being beholden to the other.

Evagelos Sotiropoulos is a freelance political columnist.

news@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times

Solidarity with the Greek people !

I, too, am Greek ! 
We demand double nationality !

Enfuriated by the cowardice and lack of imagination of the Western governments—including our own 
(1)—towards the dictatorship of the financial markets;
And disgusted by the current humiliations being imposed on the Greek people, shamefully accused of excess and dishonesty, pronounced guilty without being allowed a defence 
(2), condemned to endless austerity and penitant contrition, in a language that evokes 1940 and Pétain with its "moral order," "effort" and "spirit of joy;"
And certainly not forgotting those who now sacrifice Greece to the financial speculators, pretend that "economic fascism" will content itself with the little countries, sparing themselves...
... those same people who abandoned Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler in Munich in 1938, hoping that he would be satisfied with this new prey, following the cowardice shown to the Spanish republicans 
(3); We will no longer support these nouveaux riches (the triumphant 1% of the globalised world), who ignore the moral debt that humanity owes to the Greek nation 
(4), which sowed the first seeds of direct democracy
(5), based precisely on the abolition of debts and the emancipation of citizens reduced to slavery by their indebtedness 2500 years ago 
(6). For all these reasons, we are all Greeks. We want to send a clear signal right now that we will no longer collaborate a minute longer in passivity towards the financial regime imposed on Greece 
(7). We wish to express our solidarity with Greece, and to share, at least symbolically, the fate of its people.
We therefore ask for dual Greek nationality, by making a formal request to the Greek ambassador in our country. We will launch this campaign with a list of primary signatories on the 24 November 2011, a date that is also the anniversary of a significant action by the Greek resistance at the Gorgopotamos Viaduct on the night of the 24/25 November 1942 
(8)."Declaration of Nantes for Greece," 11/11/11.
"Your excellency, in solidarity with your country, I, the undersigned.............. request personally to be counted at heart a Greek, to enjoy the rights and duties of dual nationality, and to express this international citizenship with a view to the establishment of universal democracy in liberty and equality, twenty-five centuries after the time of Solon, Clisthene, and Pericles. Thanks in advance for your response, and in fraternity with your people. "
My name, town and country of residence follow, along with my profession and other relevant personal information (blogger, musician, father, student, Hellenist, age, etc.): FAMILY NAME, First name............ Town........... Country of residence....... Profession and other personal information................. Where to send it ? In France, send a letter to l'Ambassade de Grèce, République hellénique, 17 rue Auguste-Vacquerie, 75116 Paris (Telephone : 01 47 23 72 28, Fax : 01 47 23 73 85 ).
Copy and paste this text, or write a personalised letter to the embassy. When you have done so, send a copy to the following list of email addresses (copy/paste the entire line):
mfapar@wanadoo.fr, grinfoamb.paris@wanadoo.fr, info@amb-grece.fr, grpresse@magic.fr, jesuisgrec@numericable.fr, (The first address is that of the Greek embassy in Paris, the next two
are those of its press office and communications office which must be informed of your application, the fourth is the Greek office at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, and the latter is the liaison address
for this initiative for information and coordination).
You can also post a personal comment on the dedicated blog: http//:www.jesuisgrec.blogspot.fr
This personal and collective response of a request for Greek nationality belongs only to those who undertake it, and is not directed by any party or institution. It has been proposed by the N.e.u.f. cultural association ("Nantes Est Une Fête! ", note 9)

Notes on the call for solidarity:
Note 1: We will never forget the paternalistic disdain displayed towards Greece by the leaders of Germany and France, an arrogant and vexatious attitude, made all the more scandalous by the fact that it is these two countries whose major arms deals with Greece have ruined the country.
We are shamed by the Merkel-Sarkozy couple, who lecture at Greece when it is down, forcing upon them a treatment that is as highhanded and inept as that of the bloodletting physicians of old, medicine which
they next plan to administer to their own people.
We cannot accept that, for the first time in the history of mankind, a country will lose its political sovereignty at the diktat of financial markets, merely to defend the investments of the privileged 1% of the world, who have bought themselves government bonds.
We will not allow these slanders towards the Greek people to pass, while the responsibilities of the profitmongers and international traffickers and their accomplices remain ignored.
Note 2: Nor even to express themselves in a referendum.
Note 3: Churchill's well known comment after Munich: "You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour and you will have war." Gandhi's comment from India is less well known: "Europe has sold her soul for the sake of seven-days’ earthly existence. The peace Europe gained at Munich is a triumph of violence; it is also its defeat."
We do not forget General Faucher, the French mission chief in Prague, who, sickened by the Munich agreement, submitted an honourable resignation to the French government, and then requested Czech citizenship. General Louis-Eugène Faucher (1874-1964) had lived for twenty years among the Czech people. On his return to France, he joined the resistance against the Nazi occupation, was arrested and deported to Germany, and survived to return home in 1945.
Note 4: Because Greece has given the world the inspiring myth of Antigone, the unconquerable defiance of conscience in the face of arbitrary tyranny; 
Note 5: Because Greece gave Europe the first seeds of direct democracy (not delegated to a class of professionals, but exercised directly by an assembly and by drawing lots),
Note 6: And because the first act of the newborn Athenian democracy, though but a fragile and imperfect shoot, under the rule of Solon in 594 BCE, was precisely the abolition of debts and the general emancipation of citizens reduced to slavery by personal indebtedness. But who remembers that?
We do not forget the eminent and heroic Greek resistance, which strongly participated in the liberation of Europe from Nazism.
Note 7: The controls imposed on Greece are a blatant coup d'etat against European democracy, a deliberate suffocation of its civil society, a material and moral humiliation of its people, which will inevitably spread in a domino effect to neighbouring countries, including our own, with a risk of pre-fascist crisis.
Note 8: On the night of the 24/25 November 1942, the destruction of the strategic Gorgopotamos railway viaduct between Thessaloniki and Athens was an important joint action between two major elements of the Greek resistance: the communist EAM-ELAS and the non-communist EDES-EOEA, with the support of British special forces.
Note 9: The N.e.u.f association organises the Fête des langues (Festival of languages) and walking tours commemorating the resistance against fascism in Nantes (Pays de la Loire/Brittany, France). This association was instrumental in achieving the transparent publication of public finances on the internet in 1995, and in 1997 launched the "Réveillon de 1er mai" (Eve of the 1st of May) outside the Paris Bourse (Stock exchange), the first demonstration in the western world for the Tobin tax on financial speculation and against tax havens.
N.e.u.f. also participated in the "Call to the youth for resistance" of the 8 March 2004 with ATTAC, and the Décapol Declaration for Ten new rights for the coming century.

http://lucky.blog.lemonde.fr/2006/11/13/video-et-texte-de-lappel-des-resistants-traductions/

http://cf.groups.yahoo.com/group/LeMonde-etLaResistance/message/2

http://lucky.blog.lemonde.fr/2005/09/18/2005_09_decapol_dekapol/

Technical notes:

There is a general Greek consulate in Marseille, as well as twenty or so honorary consulates in other French towns. Consult the list here: http://www.levoyageur.net/ambassade.php?pays=GRECE

A Greek flag measuring 1 x 1.5m with a pole, costs around 30 euros from a specialised shop. A small table flag costs about 3 euros.
The photo overleaf shows the Greek flag flying over the Acropolis in Athens, an important site for remembrance of the anti-nazi resistance.


SVP :
Nous cherchons des volontaires pour traduire l'intégralité de ce message en grec, anglais, et autres langues. Merci d'avance.

Tous contacts : jesuisgrec@numericable.fr

http://jesuisgrec.blogspot.com/

Air Force GPS Program Receives International Award

International Astronautical Federation President Berndt Feuerbacher presents 
the IAF's  60th Anniversary Award to General William Shelton, Commander, 
Air Force Space Command, during the  International Astronautical Congress in Cape Town, South Africa, on October 4, 2011.

by Staff Sgt. Richard A. Williams Jr.
Air Force Public Affairs Agency

10/5/2011 - ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) -- The Air Force Global Positioning System program was recognized Oct. 4 by officials at the International Astronautical Federation with a special award during the 62nd International Astronautical Congress in Cape Town, South Africa.

The IAF, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, established a one-time 60th anniversary award to honor the occasion and "recognize an organization or key individual for a singular and successful project in the field of space applications, space science and exploration, which could demonstrate through its implementation, that measurable benefit to humanity has been achieved," according to the IAF website.

Gen. William L. Shelton, the Air Force Space Command commander, accepted the award in Cape Town on behalf of the Air Force.

"This is a tremendous honor for the Air Force, Air Force Space Command and everyone on our GPS team," said Under Secretary of the Air Force Erin Conaton. "We are proud to have developed and invested in this remarkable system that our Airmen continue to operate, sustain and modernize for the benefit of billions of people.

"In addition to being a vital asset for our military and our nation, GPS is an international treasure that enables countless economic transactions," she said. "Its contributions to the global economy are enormous -- by one estimate more than $100 billion every year."

GPS is a space-based radio-positioning system that provides precision navigation and timing information to military and civilian users worldwide, officials said. Since its origin more than 30 years ago, GPS has evolved into an indispensible resource that enables technologies employed by users every day in a variety of government and private sectors, to include agriculture, banking, transportation, weather, and defense.

In its official award nomination package to the IAF, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics stated, "No other single space product, program or system has led to human benefits that are even remotely close to those that have resulted from GPS."

La physique des particules européenne réfléchit à son avenir

Genève, le 15 décembre 2011. Le Conseil du CERN1 a annoncé aujourd’hui qu’un symposium public en vue de la mise à jour de la stratégie européenne pour la physique des particules se tiendra à Cracovie (Pologne), du 10 au 13 septembre 2012. La première stratégie européenne pour la physique des particules a été adoptée par le Conseil en juillet 2006, étant entendu qu’elle serait mise à jour à intervalles appropriés (en principe tous les cinq ans).

« La physique des particules est un domaine de recherche à long terme qui nécessite une vision à long terme, a expliqué Tatsuya Nakada, secrétaire scientifique de la Session du Conseil sur la stratégie européenne. Alors que le LHC fonctionne parfaitement bien, que l’on commence à obtenir des résultats et que les perspectives d’avancées dans la physique hors LHC, par exemple concernant les oscillations neutrinos, s’annoncent prometteuses, l’heure est venue de réfléchir au rôle que devra jouer l’Europe dans le développement futur de la physique des particules. »

Le symposium public s’inscrit dans un processus de large consultation auprès des physiciens des particules et des autres intéressés, en Europe et au-delà, la stratégie européenne n'étant qu'un pan d'une stratégie plus globale. Ce sera l’occasion de solliciter l’avis des scientifiques qui mènent les recherches, des communautés qui en pourraient en voir les bénéfices et des ministères de la recherche qui fourniront le financement. Le symposium sera organisé par un groupe préparatoire, dont les membres seront désignés par le Conseil, et permettra à la communauté mondiale de la physique des particules de faire connaître ses vues sur les objectifs scientifiques de la stratégie. Il sera fait appel à des contributions écrites de physiciens et de groupes de scientifiques représentant des intérêts particuliers comme une expérience ou un sujet de recherche spécifique. Des institutions et organisations comme des organismes de financement et des ministères de la science pourront également s’exprimer. À l’issue des discussions au sein du symposium public, tous les éléments ainsi recueillis seront mis à la disposition du Groupe sur la stratégie européenne chargé par le Conseil de rédiger le document d’orientation stratégique mis à jour, sous la présidence du secrétaire scientifique.

Le Conseil examinera en mars 2013 la stratégie européenne mise à jour et tiendra au début de l’été 2013 une session spéciale à Bruxelles, au cours de laquelle la stratégie sera adoptée. La mise à jour de la stratégie devrait être inscrite à l’ordre du jour du Conseil des ministres de l’UE, qui aura lieu au même moment.

ATLAS and CMS experiments present Higgs search status

13 December 2011. In a seminar held at CERN1 today, the ATLAS2 and CMS3 experiments presented the status of their searches for the Standard Model Higgs boson. Their results are based on the analysis of considerably more data than those presented at the summer conferences, sufficient to make significant progress in the search for the Higgs boson, but not enough to make any conclusive statement on the existence or non-existence of the elusive Higgs. The main conclusion is that the Standard Model Higgs boson, if it exists, is most likely to have a mass constrained to the range 116-130 GeV by the ATLAS experiment, and 115-127 GeV by CMS. Tantalising hints have been seen by both experiments in this mass region, but these are not yet strong enough to claim a discovery.

Higgs bosons, if they exist, are very short lived and can decay in many different ways. Discovery relies on observing the particles they decay into rather than the Higgs itself. Both ATLAS and CMS have analysed several decay channels, and the experiments see small excesses in the low mass region that has not yet been excluded.

Taken individually, none of these excesses is any more statistically significant than rolling a die and coming up with two sixes in a row. What is interesting is that there are multiple independent measurements pointing to the region of 124 to 126 GeV. It's far too early to say whether ATLAS and CMS have discovered the Higgs boson, but these updated results are generating a lot of interest in the particle physics community.

"We have restricted the most likely mass region for the Higgs boson to 116-130 GeV, and over the last few weeks we have started to see an intriguing excess of events in the mass range around 125 GeV," explained ATLAS experiment spokesperson Fabiola Gianotti."This excess may be due to a fluctuation, but it could also be something more interesting. We cannot conclude anything at this stage. We need more study and more data. Given the outstanding performance of the LHC this year, we will not need to wait long for enough data and can look forward to resolving this puzzle in 2012."

"We cannot exclude the presence of the Standard Model Higgs between 115 and 127 GeV because of a modest excess of events in this mass region that appears, quite consistently, in five independent channels," explained CMS experiment Spokesperson, Guido Tonelli. "The excess is most compatible with a Standard Model Higgs in the vicinity of 124 GeV and below but the statistical significance is not large enough to say anything conclusive. As of today what we see is consistent either with a background fluctuation or with the presence of the boson. Refined analyses and additional data delivered in 2012 by this magnificent machine will definitely give an answer."

Over the coming months, both experiments will be further refining their analyses in time for the winter particle physics conferences in March. However, a definitive statement on the existence or non-existence of the Higgs will require more data, and is not likely until later in 2012.

The Standard Model is the theory that physicists use to describe the behaviour of fundamental particles and the forces that act between them. It describes the ordinary matter from which we, and everything visible in the Universe, are made extremely well. Nevertheless, the Standard Model does not describe the 96% of the Universe that is invisible. One of the main goals of the LHC research programme is to go beyond the Standard Model, and the Higgs boson could be the key.

A Standard Model Higgs boson would confirm a theory first put forward in the 1960s, but there are other possible forms the Higgs boson could take, linked to theories that go beyond the Standard Model. A Standard Model Higgs could still point the way to new physics, through subtleties in its behaviour that would only emerge after studying a large number of Higgs particle decays. A non-Standard Model Higgs, currently beyond the reach of the LHC experiments with data so far recorded, would immediately open the door to new physics, whereas the absence of a Standard Model Higgs would point strongly to new physics at the LHC's full design energy, set to be achieved after 2014. Whether ATLAS and CMS show over the coming months that the Standard Model Higgs boson exists or not, the LHC programme is opening the way to new physics.

New Documentaries Introduce the 2011 Nobel Laureates

(2011 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Dan Shechtman.
Copyright © Nobel Media 2011
Photo: David Blumenfeld)

1 December 2011
One hour documentary tells the inspiring stories of the ten men and 3 women awarded the 2011 Nobel Prizes. 30 minute documentary focuses on Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.

This unique one hour documentary, Nobel Laureates 2011, takes you to every corner of the globe to meet researchers, professors, a President, rights' activists and more, giving insights about the 2011 Nobel Prizes. From Sweden to France, Israel to Australia, the USA, Liberia and Yemen, this documentary explores the pioneering work and incredible discoveries. Featuring extensive interviews with the Laureates themselves, as well as those who have inspired or have been inspired by them, including Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve and the Irish poet Seamus Heaney, a Nobel Laureate himself.

The documentary captures the fascinatingly diverse range of subjects from the accelerating expansion of the universe awarded to Brian Schmidt and Adam Reiss and Saul Permutter, the discovery of quasicrystals by Dan Shechtman, to the work of Jules Hoffmann and Bruce Beutler on innate immunity and Ralph Steinman's work on the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity. The translucent images in poetry by Tomas Tranströmer, the diverse work of Tawakkol Karman, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee for women's rights in peace building and the work of Christopher Sims and Thomas Sargent on cause and effect in the macroeconomy are also explored.

See a short excerpt from the film:
http://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/index.php?id=1722

The Nobel Peace Prize Documentary 2011, 'Women of Peace', portrays the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, all women and mothers, united by their non-violent struggle for women's rights. We meet the first Arab woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Tawakkol Karman, in New York and Africa's first female head of state, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and activist Leyman Gbowee, in Liberia. This film, through interviews with the Laureates, their friends and families, offers a unique view into the women's lives and their continued work towards peace.

See a short excerpt from the film:
http://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/index.php?id=1723

City of Stockholm and Nobel Foundation Join Forces to Create a Nobel Prize Center

(Blasieholmen and Nybroviken in Stockholm
Photo: Jeppe Wikström)

On December 1, 2011, the Nobel Foundation and the City of Stockholm signed a declaration of intent to work jointly towards the creation of a permanent Nobel Prize Center, to be located on Nybroviken, an inlet of the Baltic Sea in the heart of Stockholm, Sweden. They have agreed on a site on the Blasieholmen peninsula that is owned by the City of Stockholm.

"Through the Nobel Prize Center, we want to create a contemporary meeting place for Nobel Laureates, researchers, students, school pupils and a curious general public. The center will provide a world-class experience and will serve as a base for our efforts to disseminate the message of the Nobel Prize on the importance of knowledge, humanism and peace," says Lars Heikensten, Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation.

The Nobel Prize Center at Nybroviken will be the new focal point of the Nobel Prize and will underscore the role of Stockholm and Sweden as the home city and home country of the Nobel Prize.

"With this project, we are demonstrating Stockholm’s ambition to be a world-leading knowledge region that promotes education, innovation and research. A center that can shed light on all aspects of the Nobel Prize is an eagerly awaited tourist attraction in Stockholm," says Sten Nordin (M), Mayor of Stockholm. "It will be of great importance to a younger generation, who can be inspired here to seek knowledge and to embrace their curiosity."

The Nobel Prize Center can be completed by 2018 and will among other things contain an enlarged Nobel Museum, enabling its public activities to expand. The intention is that the center will eventually also house the activities of the Nobel Foundation and Nobel Media. In order to create a landmark building of high quality, there are plans to launch an international architectural competition during the autumn of 2012.

For supplementary material, see the Nobel Foundation press room on the website Nobelprize.org. This includes an information folder, a report from the working group on a Nobel Prize Center and Nobel Museum in Stockholm which has examined potential locations, as well as illustrations.