Wednesday digest

As Berkeley on the Rideau's student association moves to limit the freedoms of speech and association on campus, thereby continuing in the proud tradition of left-wing campus activists the world over who prefer to shout their opponents down rather than lower themselves to engaging in respectful and tolerant discussion, here's a suggestion: how about forcing ALL student associations to do their own fundraising instead of having the sandbox bullies on student council decide how to redistribute the confiscatory taxes on tuition that are otherwise referred to as "student fees"?

- In a hyperbolic flourish of which only he is capable, Al Gore says that toppling Saddam Hussein was the worst strategic mistake in American history.

Forgetting the small matter of slavery, I thought not responding to global warming would have topped his list, but given that the Clinton administration chose to do sweet nothing on that file when in office, it might not reflect well on ol' Al.

- In Somalia, which has fallen into the clutches of al-Qaeda, if you don't pray five times a day, you're going to get beheaded.

- As the UN dithers, Iran now says that "(t)hank to God's help, we have gone all the way and are only one step away from the zenith" and "(w)e hope to have the big nuclear celebration by the end of the year (March 2007)". If it isn't plain enough, Jeff Jacoby reminds us of the folly of engaging with Ahmedinejad, here, while this editorial asks if the world will get away with Iran becoming a nuclear power. It looks as though the new Secretary of Defense certainly won't stand in Iran's way, who says they'll only play ball diplomatically if the US gets out of Iraq, allowing it to become another, say, Somalia.

- A last word on the Liberal leadership. Word is that a significant number of Gerard Kennedy delegates went to Martha Hall Findlay on the first ballot, with the blessing of their candidate and urged to do so by the party establishment, to shore up her support so it wouldn't make the only woman in the race to lead the Liberal party look as bad as she might otherwise have.

However, this caused Kennedy to finish fourth behind Dion on the first ballot, by two delegates. What might have happened if they weren't so concerned with appearances?

Living by the sword of identity politics can certainly be quite piercing.

ADDENDUM: Tonight, the same-sex marriage issue is being put to rest for once and for all in Canada. I think same-sex marriage is a bad call, but that is not the purpose of this post (and people can read for themselves by going back into the archives, if you really care what I think, and naturally, I don't see why you wouldn't!).

What I'd like to suggest is now that this has been dealt with, I'd like to propose that the ambiguous term "partner" to describe one's significant other be outlawed.

Daryl Hall and John Oates are partners, as are Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn.

Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and Bret "The Hitman" Hart were partners, as were the legendary Canadian comedy duo Maclean and Maclean. From the world of sport, Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri were partners, as were legendary Toronto Blue Jays announcing duo Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth - and by the way, good riddance to Ted Lilly.

Conversely, Mary Cheney and her girlfriend or Melissa Etheridge and her girlfriend or Ellen Degeneres and her girlfriend are not "partners". They are "girlfriends". If they were to be married, like Elton John and his significant other are, they'd be "spouses", "husbands" or "wives".

It's time for this sickeningly inoffensive yet ultimately confusing misnomer to be put to death once and for all.