Cluin that is a sad situation. Unfortunately, British and American troops as well as Canadian have been the victims of so-called "friendly fire" by US bombers, and of course there are countless civilians killed, maimed, displaced and destroyed by different military machines and scared and dehumanized soldiers ... Canada gets its turn on the UN Security Council, I don't think that makes a difference about meeting UN/internatioal obligations.

As mentioned above, it is individuals who should get the credit for their accomplishments, but collectively I think Canadians have maybe a little more interest in the shared public good and space than Americans collectively do - for reasons of our history, geography, political system, and no doubt hockey too! Is this true? Is there a "national character"? Are our jokes different?

At the risk of icing the puck here, I'll go back to the original topic and comments that daylia & Peter T didn't see this in the news. Hmm ... I got up in Toronto on the 11th and it was the first item on the CBC radio news at 5 & 6 am. I took a train to Kingston later that day and read it in at least 1 newspaper (don't remember which one). This morning I looked at the Globe & Mail of the 12th and there is a large article with photo on page A10 as well as an editorial. When I search the web sites you mention daylia, I find lots about the Kirsch appointment - eg., 4 articles at Toronto Star here, 6 at G&M here, and various at CBC including one here. Our media ain't great but it's not quite that bad.