I know there are a lot of critics of "consumerism" in religion, but their solution, which is usually some version of "my way is the one right way to be faithful- stop being so self-centred" is not helpful to me. The flip side of consumerism as selfishness is empowerment.

Recently, the Ottawa government announced a large donation (loan to be taxed back from all Canadians to go for civic improvement in Moncton.

By coincidence, at the same time the New Brunswick government offered a large donation (loan to be taxed back from NBers) bringing the total to 50,000,000.

In another amazing coincidence the city of Moncton voted another 30,000,000 to bring it to a total of 80,000,000.

How much power does or should the church organist have. "I don't like it " referring to More Voices so she doesn't practice the chosen hymns.

The order of service is organized by the minister. He is challenged about every hymn.

Who has the power - the minister or the organist?

How would everyone feel about the government implementing a parenting liscence to the expectants?

A few weeks ago, our news media carried many stories about the election in Iran and about the protests that followed. Much of that information came from twitter messages coming out of Iran.\, apparently thousand of them, and most of them critical of the government.

Predictably, that led to a lot of speculation that a new age of communication was upon us. No longer could oppressive governments control the news. The people, with twitter, are now in touch with each other, and the truth will out.

Maybe, but....

Im not here to start a fight.

Im not here to troll.

But dont you see the way that popular culture has taken the people's focus from issues that are relevent to their lives, to trends, celebrities, and generally keeping up with a constant cultural revolution?

I found myself in strong disagreement with others on radio this morning - a disagreement that went beyond simply disagreeing to seeing the question itself in different ways.

The topic was the tightening of border and flight safety, coupled with the US director of homeland security's assertion that the 9/11 attackers came in through Canada.

I don't think her statement was due to ignorance. I don't think airline and border safety have anything to do with the tightening measures. I think the reality is much scarier - and it's not new.