Saturday digest

- Every thinking person with an opinion on the war in Iraq owes it to themselves to read this.

- The latest from Dixie Chick Natalie Maines:

"The entire country may disagree with me, but I don't understand the necessity for patriotism" ... "Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country… I don't see why people care about patriotism."

There have been many times that I've shaken my head at my own country (Canada), but to mock the Commander-in-Chief during war time while on foreign shores like Maines did - a war, by the way, that was overwhelmingly endorsed by both parties represented in Congress? You can't expect Nashville to support you you when you pull stunts like that. There are far more constructive ways to express dissent without damaging your career at the same time. More analysis here.

- The forces of tolerance, inclusion and diversity have struck again. How long till they descend on Ottawa City Hall to demand that the city cough up 50K to bail out the Gay Pride festival? I'm sure we can count on the usual intimidation tactics on the part of the politically correct because obviously if you're not in favour of having taxpayers subsidize a mismanaged gay-themed enterprise, you're a knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing homophobe. More seriously, what's wrong with asking Ottawa's sizable and affluent gay community be expected to cough up some private money to bail out their own festival?

- Speaking of diversity, the National Post has been running a series all week examining the unintended consequences of multiculturalism. I haven't read all of it, but some of the articles can be found here, here, here, and here. I think George Jonas is overly conspiratorial in his offering here, as Cabinet documents from the late 70's that have since been released show that even PET himself knew that multiculturalism was bound to ghettoize and divide, but with the spectre of Levesque looming large in Quebec, perhaps he didn't know what else to do. In any case, when the obligations to and customs of your host country take a government-funded, establishment-supported back seat to the values of the society you left behind, it's clear that asking the tough questions about those "old" values are that much harder to ask, and so those who are unwilling to be full participants in the new society - and may have violent intentions towards it - are much less obvious. As we've seen in Toronto, this can have inter-generational impacts as well. It's important that we take a clear-headed look at this instead of primarily concerning ourselves with the (non-existent) anti-Muslim backlash.

- Finally, happy Father's Day.