More journal entries

Journal two – reflections on the Cegep system – includes link to new Ministerial suggestions for making the system better.
Journal three – reflections on Marcia Baxter Magolda’s theoretical framework of knowledge – obviously, I can’t reproduce her work here, but I have included a link to a review of the book in question.

Elizabeth Claire Moore-Main

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My sister, Kathryn, has finally produced a female for the next generation! She already has two boys, and I have two boys, and I think my mother was beginning to lose hope. But Elizabeth Claire has arrived.
Ellie was born Monday evening, weighing a healthy 8 lbs 2 oz, and as you can see, she is definitely not bald.

Adding to his collection

Yesterday was former PM Jean Chretien’s turn on the witness stand in the Gomery Commission inquiry into the 2003 sponsorship ‘scandal’.
Chrétien ended the day by taking a theatrical shot at inquiry commissioner Gomery, who said in a controversial year-end media interview that he found the fact the Prime Minister’s Office had golf balls made up with Chrétien’s signature to be “small town cheap.”
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Former prime minister Jean Chrétien holds a golf ball during his testimony at the Gomery inquiry. (CP photo)
A smiling Chrétien proceeded to pull from his briefcase golf balls that he said he’d received from people from small towns, including U.S. President George W. Bush and former president Bill Clinton.”
One might say he now has a pair from Mr. Gomery, too. Gomery did try to stop Chretien, who refused to stop because “it’s too much fun.”
As part of his testimony, Chretien also said it was misleading to refer to the ad agencies who allegedly benefitted from the affair as “Liberal-friendly” – he claims the agencies are in fact “federalism-friendly” and that the alternative would have been “separatist-friendly” companies.
Ah, well, that’s alright then.

Granted, math was never my forte

Ok, math is hard. Goodness knows, I’m not stellar when it comes to personal finances, as Dr. T will attest (most likely while clutching his heart and becoming even paler). But even I can’t lose $9 billion US. This is no doubt why I haven’t been recruited by the “U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which governed Iraq after the invasion up until mid-2004.”
The $9 billion whoopsie was discovered in a recent audit of the CPA. One particularly interesting finding in the audit shows that “funds went to pay the salaries of 8,206 Iraqi guards, yet the audit could verify the existence of only 602 guards.”
The other side of this potentially missing coin is the issue of so-called combat pay. Alternet reports that not only are front-line soldiers earning a mere $225 a month – which is about$7.50 a day – for their part in G.I. Joe, the Reality Series, but that other military personnel, hundreds of miles from the action, are making the same wage. So the soldiers who are getting shot at, blown up, and stoned in the streets are making the same as the ones who are polishing the general’s shoes, somewhere that isn’t in the streets.
I suppose one could argue that front-line soldiers are there because that’s where they were sent, and the same is true for those holding down the fort miles from the danger zone. This is true – so perhaps the front-liners shouldn’t be making more, since the fort-holders didn’t choose not to fight. But $7.50 a day? How is this justifiable?
That’s exactly what I asked myself, and these are the answers I found:
According to Military.com, those qualified for “Immanent Danger Pay” are also exempt from taxes on that pay. Also, the IDP is paid on top of the minimum $1,142.70 per month earned by an enlisted soldier with less than 4 months experience. Militarypay.com also reports that “Most soldiers… get more than just basic pay. Those on active duty are given an allowance for housing and subsistence, incentive pay, medical and other benefits.” Incentive pay is given for things like speaking foreign languages, flying, diving, and so on.
So it’s essentially misleading for Alternet’s reporter to suggest that the US soldiers are earning $7.50 per day – the truth is, the $7.50 is a bonus for being involved in the conflict. There are also allowances for clothing, housing, education, and, for the soldiers in Iraq, a special allowance for the families they’ve left behind.
It’s still not much – you certainly couldn’t get me to slip into fatigues and dash off to the streets of Bagdhad, not even for an additional $7.50 a day.
Now, for $9 billion, I’d consider it.