Maniacal cackling fills your ears as the hyena circles around you. The warm, carrion-stench of its breath fills your nostrils and you know that the end is near. The powerful teeth tear at your soft flesh, as you clutch your heart and scream at the sky. This is love in all its glory and the hyena is the person who just dumped your sorry ass.

Time and again, the hypocrisy of developed North American and Western European nations shows its true self. This is

Several years ago The Economist ran one of my favourite magazine covers ever--two camels having what appeared to be extremely painful sex with the caption beneath reading, "The Trouble with Mergers."

Over the last two weeks Time Warner has announced mergers with both AOL and EMI. The resulting media mega-conglomerate, name as yet undetermined, will be the largest in the world. In the understatement of the year, one industry analyst suggested the deals will have a staggering impact on consumers.

Political commentator Gore Vidal once compared US presidential elections to the Grammy Awards; both get little interest from outside of the industry and both are too self-congratulatory to be taken seriously.

With our Southern neighbours gearing up for another go-round of baby kissing some frightening realities have arisen.

The level of gentry among serious contenders is more than disturbing.

Bouncers are a fickle bunch. They handle the troublemakers, keep minors out and manage the line-up. They decide whether your shoes are too casual, whether you look like your ugly driver's license and whether you're good-looking (and female) enough to skip the line-up. Like most people in the service industry, some are nice and some are bitter, some are fair and unfortunately, some are racially prejudiced.

And we let them get away with it.

This millennium thing has really fizzled out. With the majority of the population suffering from "Greatest All-Time" list fatigue and the barrage of "Will 2k," they've become oblivious to the true potential of this event.

The millennium is not a finish line or a graduation ceremony. There will be no diplomas awarded. Instead, we have the opportunity to examine our last thousand years, measure our merits and failures, and devise a way to become better people.

Women are not funny. In grade school, who were the kids who made their classmates laugh? Who made complete asses out of themselves for a chuckle? The girls? No. It was the runny-nosed boy with pencils up his nose entertaining the class.

I try to be aware of where my money goes. I boycott stores that sell pornography, avoid Nike like it's ebola and read the labels on my vegetarian food. I try to know what company owns what, where they manufacture and avoid companies that employ child labor. But it's getting harder and harder to be politically correct and socially conscious, especially on a student's budget.

ta oil and gas industry for their "understanding" during what is sure to be difficult days of transition.

Pardon me if I don't share Anderson's enthusiasm.

The Klein government seems to believe in the adage, "Words speak louder than actions." Anderson took the bait while I, on the other hand, don't believe for a second that Alberta is about to abandon her wild west consumerist ways for environmental responsibility. Neither should you.

The sky is clouded over. Small snowflakes fall from above and, as each one lands on my cheek, it melts to join the tears that are present. The cold stings my flesh but I don't notice. I look at the people around me and think, "why?" Their old, withered faces have seen so much death, so much suffering. The memories still haunt them. I look around again and see little children laughing. If only they knew. If only they could understand. I'm not sure I even understand.