Smallpox is a scary disease. It kills a fifth of those infected, and scars and blinds many survivors. Canada has been smallpox free since 1962 and the world since 1977. But, Canada has a smallpox contingency plan. So does Britain. The chances of a smallpox outbreak are remote, but I am happy to pay taxes so Canada can employ people to fight its return. That's what governments are for.

Canada stands on guard for just about every other imaginable disaster too. Click onto Public Health Canada's "Get Prepared," and you find detailed advice and plans on a long list of emergencies. But there is one glaring omission. Canada has no plan to deal with an international oil shortage even though one is almost certain to hit soon.

The headline in the Globe was certainly ominous -- "Clark's Hydro policy threatens to collapse B.C.'s climate change progress, scientist says."

The purported policy change seemed scary -- the government might roll back the requirement for BC Hydro to be able to meet domestic electricity requirements in drought conditions. And the scientist's description of the consequences is also quite a fright -- BC Hydro will be forced to rely on coal-fired electricity if the policy change goes through.

Following the operation in which nine civilians on an aid flotilla were killed by Israeli commandos, relations between Israel and Turkey have continued to take a dive. Most interestingly, The Times Online has this to say (found via Friday Lunch Club):