1947

July of course must be space month, and here in Canada, our sci-fi channel is called Space.
Today on Space, we were up in the Yukon where aliens had been frightening anyone who happened to be on the main highway one night, and then we were re-visiting Roswell. I believe the 'Incident' happened earlier on in July, but nonetheless, 60 years ago this month.

I find it fascinating how the pendulum swings back and forth on this. Was there, wasn't there? Definitely no, definitely yes.
'Swing up and bring me hope of life, swing down and plunge the surgeon's knife,'
The surgeon's knife did indeed seem to be a bone of contention. Or rather his (in this case) scissors. A real surgeon would never hold them like that. Hmmm....
All to play for, if they're out there, we'd better stop squabbling because it might be them against us.
If they're not out there then we'd better stop squabbling because we're all there is.

The last few days we've had good, solid rain. Obviously cooler. But I'll be happy if the weather does what it's supposed to and brightens up on Monday. Not that I want the heat back, no siree Bob, but I want Vancouver and Richmond to show their splendour. I want my family to have their breath taken even before they land, when they look down from the aeroplane and see the trees, the water, the mountains.

The horror of 'honour killings' stalks both of our lands. In Britain, three male relatives of a young woman who was tortured, sexually assaulted and brutally killed by them, have been put away and for a long time.

Good, it is a message that needs to be sent however many times it happens, but it shouldn't ever happen. It is not an acceptable cultural practice any more than female genital mutilation is. It is something brought in from an inferior culture, like a virus coming in on imported food or a plane.

And here, it goes on and on. Almost always the husband, or father, or in one case, the mother who gave the order for her daughter's throat to be cut in India from a telephone in Vancouver, or was it Surrey? I don't remember.

In both the British and the most recent Canadian case, the police had been made aware of threats, of a history of violence. And here, the cry goes up.
Racism.
Racism? Why do you do this? Do Canadians from other cultural backgrounds kill for 'honour'? Or is it in fact actually proscribed by the law of the land?
Oh yes.
So it isn't part of our culture, it's not something we can put up with. Racism? You cannot justify everything by crying foul. Not things that are against fundamental human decency.
How long would we have to go back in our history to find a time when women could be legally brutalised and killed by men because they did something those men didn't like?

Further back than 1947 that's for sure. Stop squabbling? Well some things are worth fighting for. And the aliens had better realise it.