Boxing Day 2006, Gerald Ford's death and the end of Saddam

Three important things happened today: One of them is the Boxing Day, celebrated across Canada and some other countries in the Commonwealth. Another one is the ratification of Saddam Hussein's condemnation to death. The last one (but not least) is former US President Gerald Ford's death.
As for the Boxing Day, it's not a surprise to see how people massively congregate in shopping centres all across Canada to take advantage of the sales and offers available only during this day- myself being part of the bargain worshipers.

My personal experience this Boxing Day was very deceiving: There were no items that really satisfied my expectations. It is my philosophy, if I can't find anything that I really like, then I don't buy anything. I think that it helped me to save some money today.

However, my philosophy is not precisely shared among the vast majority of people in Canada. In fact, I think that the Boxing Day is a very clever move year by year: It helps to increase largely the sales, which keeps moving the economy. I'm not sure of what impact does the Boxing Day has every year in the Canadian economy, but it'd be interesting to find out (if you have any idea about this, please post a message!!).

I'm sure that Saddam Hussein (right) doesn't really appreciate this Boxing Day as many residents in Canada did. Today, the former Iraqui dictator's sentence to death was confirmed.

Just as I mentioned in a post back in November, I don't think that killing Saddam is a wise idea. Not even close to that. In fact, I believe that his execution will only carry more problems to the region (Click here to read the related post). However, the decision was made by a Court there in Iraq, and according to the Iraqi law, the sentence should be executed in no more than 30 days counting from the day when the appeal trial is officially dismissed.

After all, it looks that South Park's prediction in the movie "South Park: Bigger, longer and uncut" about Saddam's death wasn't right: He will not be killed by some wild boars. But it seems that there's no way for him to avoid the sentence.
Also, this day will be remembered in the future as the day when former US President Gerald Ford (left) passed away, at age 93. The causes of his death have not been confirmed yet. It may be related to the pneumonia that he had been suffering through all this year, or maybe to the heart crises that he suffered twice during 2006. However, this is a very sad news. A country mourns.



Photo by AP