Wednesday digest

- Much is being made about Muhammed Ali's 65th birthday today, but lost in the celebrating of that milestone is one Susanna Hoffs, lead singer of The Bangles and pictured above, who turns 50 herself on this January 17. Like many hormonally-driven adolescents at the time, Ms. Hoffs occupied my thoughts quite a bit in 1986-1987, and for good reason, too, as you can plainly see.

- The head of Canada's public service, Maria Barrados, is puzzled because visible minorities just don't seem to be getting hired. Allow me the opportunity to point something out to Ms. Barrados and thereby save the good taxpayer the ignominy of having to pay for yet another unnecessary government study.

The major factor at play here is that generally speaking, Canadians who originate from countries like India, China, Pakistan and the Caribbean (not including Haiti) do not speak French, and the ridiculously onerous yet unwritten government requirement which pretty much necessitates that all new hires must speak the language at least at an intermediate level upon entry to the public service is a major barrier to not only vis mins but the vast majority of Canadians who aspire to serve their country through a career in government.

This shouldn't be that hard to figure out.

- Even though several Arab states are applauding the President's forward plan in Iraq, one has to wonder if there's any room left for idealism given recent events. Perhaps the Administration and their backers like me were a bit naive in thinking that there was a higher level of respect for human life in the Middle East than there is, but as we've seen even Canadian clerics echoing comments made on jihadist TV, it's certainly no time to quit the fight.