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Grad student knows about resilience
PICTURE YOURSELF as a 16-year-old in high school, out of foster care, living in a rooming house, then your own apartment, and successfully completing Grade 12. You want to better yourself and you enter university, only to have difficulty in first year because the basics of education were lost from moving so often as a youngster.
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Leaders jockeying for position, election game is on
IT’S BECOMING obvious where our respective party leaders are heading in terms of positioning themselves for what is likely to be an election year in Nova Scotia. With the Rodney MacDonald minority Conservative government in its third year, there are few expectations that we’ll get through the next 12 months without a trip to the ballot boxes. Rumblings among the opposition leaders have grown louder and questions are being asked about whether the Liberals, under Stephen McNeil, can afford to prop up the Tories for another year.
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Hamas to blame for current crisis
MODERATOR'S NOTE: This column is closed to commenting. NO matter what anyone says, no matter how forceful or persuasive the arguments, the deep ideological divide in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will persist through and well beyond the current crisis in Gaza. In fact, that’s a war Israel will likely never win.
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Receipt inspection reveals alarming discovery
HERE we go with the first odds ’n sods column of the new year. Let’s start with something disturbing I noticed over the Christmas break.
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Margaret 103, feisty and with lots of work to do
THE INTERVIEW ENDS. Margaret Publicover says she has work to do.
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Semrau case no Somalia, at least from PR perspective
AT THE TIME of writing, there were very few details regarding the second-degree murder charge laid against Capt. Robert Semrau. Around noon on New Year’s Eve, the Canadian military had issued a brief statement acknowledging its National Investigative Service had been asked to look into "improper conduct" in the death of a suspected insurgent. The incident allegedly occurred during a major NATO operation on Oct. 19 in Helmand province, and the Canadian suspect was part of a mentoring team attached to an Afghan Army unit.
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Note to Parliament Stop scrapping and get to work
MODERATOR'S NOTE: This column is closed to comments. AS A TAXPAYING, patriotic citizen and voter, I believe I have the right to expect certain things from the people governing me. Every Canadian has that right. Call it an entitlement, if you must. As a Canadian, I should be confident of excellent leadership from the fellow citizens who run my country, my province and my community. So should we all.
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Leaders fight lacks bikers, cleavage, but should be fun
MODERATOR'S NOTE: This column is closed to comments. LUCKILY FOR US, whatever happens in Canadian politics in 2009 isn’t likely to have serious consequences. Unlike voters in Israel or Gaza, whose choices at the ballot boxes have resulted in a terrifying and tragic new year, Canadians can be pretty confident that our politics will continue to revolve around overblown scandals, which is a sign that things are going pretty well in the country.
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A new year, and a new portfolio
’VE LIVED so long to the rhythm of the academic year that I can’t help but associate December with final exams. For 10 years, I tracked my days by the university students’ calendar, and then for another seven I followed the same calendar as a professor. Now, as the mother of school-age children, I still think of the end of the year as the end of the first semester. As Jan. 1 nears, I tend to quiz myself on the results of the past 12 months as if the "school of experience" must inevitably lead to a summative test. As the end of the year approaches, I get that sweaty-palm feeling that results from exam anxiety. I face the final days of December with a mixture of angst and adrenalin. I can’t wait to hurry up and get through to Jan. 2 so I can start the new term with a fresh notebook and an empty grade sheet.
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Hard to be positive when officials ignore you
MODERATOR'S NOTE: This column is closed to commenting. LAST APRIL , I was attending a military training exercise at CFB Wainwright in Alberta and had the occasion to sit in on a rather enlightening lunch table discussion. As this was a final confirmation exercise for the battle group prior to their deployment to Kandahar, it was conducted alongside representatives from both Foreign Affairs and the Canadian International Development Agency.
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