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In high school in Calgary, I detested Led Zep.  I particularly detested ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ that staple of every high school sock hop.  I was a punk, you see.

‘Stairway to Heaven’ was a great way to dance up close with Karen Lux, however, so I kept quiet.  Page and Plant made zillions.  The world rolled on.

Many years later, we are learning that something was perhaps amiss.  Did Led Zep truly steal the riff for their most famous song?  Someone feels that they did – in respect of the unlikeliest song you could imagine – and has taken them to court over it.

Listen in, and decide for yourself, here.

In the meantime, Karen Lux, where are you now – and will you let your kids slow-dance to ‘Stairway to Heaven’?

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The facts are wholly different, of course: in the former case, two Canadians – Robert Hall over the weekend, and John Ridsdel last month – were held hostage, and later beheaded, by an Islamic terror cell in the Phillippines when ransom was not paid.

In the latter case, many Americans – we don’t have all of their names yet – were held hostage, and/or shot to death, by an Islamic terrorist in Orlando, Florida.

The response of the Canadian government to Orlando was empathetic and appropriate: “We grieve with our friends in the US & stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ2 community after today’s terror attack,” the Prime Minister tweeted.

The government’s rhetorical response in the Ridsdel case was similar: “I am outraged by the news that a Canadian citizen, held hostage in the Philippines since Sept. 21, 2015, has been killed at the hands of his captors. Canada condemns without reservation the brutality of the hostage takers and this unnecessary death,” Trudeau said at a cabinet retreat in Alberta. Also appropriate.

If we are all honest with ourselves, however, the deaths of Ridsdel and Hall – unlike the deaths in Orlando – are no shock at all.  For many months, the federal government not only was refusing to communicate with their captors – they also seemed to be aggressively going out of their way to advertise their inflexibility to the world. See here and here and (especially) here.

Is paying ransom to terrorists desirable? No. The main argument against it, of course, is that it finances terror, and facilitates more killings and kidnappings. That’s obvious.

But here’s the thing: whether it’s Conservative or Liberal, the federal government routinely refuses to negotiate with terrorists – until it does.  What the federal government says, and what it does, are usually quite different.  

Anyway: I’m completely torn on this.  What do you think? No negotiations, ever? Negotiations, but in secret?  Negotiate in the open?

(For what it is worth, there is an important historical precedent, here: during the FLQ crisis, Trudeau’s father permitted some negotiations to take place with the terrorists.  The end result was the release of James Cross – and the death of Pierre Laporte.)

 

 

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But this, I thought, was just right. 

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From a Rage Against The Machine video. In 1999. Wow. Impressed. 

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The Supreme Court of Canada has decided animal abuse is okay. Seriously. If you can stomach it, more here.

Justin Trudeau, we look forward to your first Supreme Court appointment. Because whoever you pick will be a clear improvement on what’s there now.

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Me: no.

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