September 29/12

Today's WYWH moment could have easily been about my 15 seconds of fame on The Rachel Maddow Show.  I only got to bed at 1 this morning, and my stupid internal clock woke me up at about 6:30 this morning.  I struggled to get back to sleep, but after a while, I just gave up and got up to go about my morning routine, which includes checking my Twitter feed.  To my shock and delight, I learned that my big mouth and enormous sense of pride got me featured very briefly on my favourite news program in the US.  Well colour me gobsmacked!  So yes, today's moment could easily be that.

But it's not (consider the above as a bonus).

Just as my head was spinning at my newfound/short-lived fame this morning, the news broke that Omar Khadr was enroute to Canada, after having been confined in Guantanamo Bay prison camp for the past 11 years.  So I leave you with no doubt whatsoever, I have supported the campaign to bring him back to Canada.  He was convicted by a kangaroo court, based on evidence obtained by torture, and by the standards of international law, he was a child soldier.  While international law doesn't prohibit the prosecution of children who commit war crimes, article 37 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child does limit the punishment that a child can receive including "Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age.

That the Harper Government™ has stonewalled and delayed repatriating him from Guantanamo Bay is shameful, and it makes a mockery of the so-called commitments this government makes to uphold International law and human rights.

Of course, I'm known for having opinions.  But today's moment is this:

"I sometimes get the feeling that Minister Toews verges on inciting hatred. What is so tragic is that a young soldier lost his life, a young child was punished by a war commission that is not even recognized in law. The Canadian government still seems hell bent on, and insists on, maligning and treating him like a demon when all over the world human atrocities (read China and Afghanistan) go unchallenged by our high horse government!"

This was posted on my parents' facebook wall, in response to an article about Khadr's return in their local big city newspaper.  Today's moment belongs entirely to my parents, whose interest in world events and politics has shaped who I am, and there should be no doubt where I get my social advocacy passion from.  As you can tell, I come by it honestly.

Parents...

...Wish you were here.