Neuronic

(Spin) Doctors Without Orders

2006-11-24T10:02:00.000-05:00

In light of how much influence Main Stream Media pundits and columnists have on the politicial discourse of the day, I think we should consider improving our system of democracy.

In future, I propose we expand our electoral roster to include representatives within the major media outlets.

Journalists should have to run for the positions of influence they have.

What the hell, they set the tone anyway, at least this way they'd set a tone more reflective of what the majority are REALLY thinking about the issues.

Pass the Gravol. Major spin fatigue is sweeping the 'nation'(s).

To Bitch or Not to Bitch

2006-11-04T19:51:00.000-05:00

Ya, not much time for posting lately as I type away at this dissertation, beg for funding from here, there & everywhere and fulfill my TA obligations, etc.

Not many opportunities to sit and leaf through Other People's blogs, but now and then a lull, and a chance to find a gem like this one posted on "Bitch Ph.D"...

Oiy, such a satisfying read, on so many levels, not least of which the crawling panty level.

Feel free to bitch at will in the comments section here.

Paul Wells, in the latest MacLeans print edition, suggests use of the reference 'dog' to Belinda Stronach by Peter McKay is not relevent to the daily lives of Canadians, and that people like Ralph Goodale should let sleeping dogs lie, as it were. I disagree, of course, because as a woman, my every day life IS and has been affected by the use of such slurs - it's use is indicative of a tacit acceptance of a wide spectrum of ways to keep women down: at one end is seemingly off-hand use of such derogatory tags against us, while at the other end is the murder of women daily at the hands of partners, ex-partners, strangers, and governments simply because they are women...

The message that trickles down via (uncensured) use of the reference 'dog' to a woman in our house of parliament is further endorsement from wherein our leaders represent us and, ostensibly, LEAD us.

A clip of Norman Specter (sp?) responding to the McKay incident on a radio station in BC was played on CBC 's "The Current" with Anna Maria Tramonti this past week with a discussion following regarding use of the word 'bitch. That, since Norman Spector (sp?- who cares?) stated that Ms. Stronach is plain and simple a bitch and nothing but a bitch and who wouldn't say she is a bitch, and so on...

The 'bitch' word ...so much to say, so little time... but, alas, the above posting is a good place to start from.

Pussy loving Prime Minister addresses weakening female support in polls

2006-10-25T11:34:00.000-04:00

DOUBLE BARF:

From the Prime Minister's Web Site (http://www.pm.gc.ca/)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER IN CELEBRATION OF THE 15TH ANNUAL WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

October 25, 2006
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today issued the following statement in celebration of the 15th annual Women’s History Month:

“Women’s History Month recognizes and celebrates the instrumental role Canadian women have played in building our great country. From the Famous Five’s hard-fought victories for legal and political equality to the celestial achievements of Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian woman in space, successive generations of women have helped make Canada the peaceful, prosperous and successful country it is today.

“In every conceivable field of human endeavour – politics, business, scientific study, athletics, or entertainment – Canadian women have made their mark. This year, Women’s History Month is focusing on Aboriginal Women – Canada’s First Women. They have always been central to the success of their families and communities, but their contributions have often been overlooked. Now aboriginal women are taking on increasingly prominent leadership roles as artists, athletes, educators, health professionals and politicians. In no small way, they are making history.

“Canada’s New Government is also making history. For too long Canadian law has denied equality to native women living on reserves by failing to recognize their matrimonial property rights. Our government is now taking action to right this historical wrong and make sure that Aboriginal women living on reserves have the same matrimonial property rights as all Canadian women.

“Women’s History Month reminds us that in our country, unlike so many others, women have the opportunity to participate in every aspect of Canadian life. It is also a time to celebrate the accomplishments of all Canadian women who contribute so much to our great country.”

State of Affairs inThe Great White North

2006-10-20T22:56:00.000-04:00

This article by Richard Fricker, posted on rabble.ca on October 17, pretty much sums it up, from one American journalists viewpoint.

Highly recommended reading.

Thanksgiving in Canada

2006-10-04T22:29:00.000-04:00

I thought Bob Rae was thoughtful and terrific tonight on TVOntario's "The Agenda with Steve Paikin". The panel discussion focused on foreign policy issues only.

Can't wait for televised leadership hopefuls debate.

The calibre of candidates this round makes for exciting, stimulating, and hopeful times in Canadian politics these days. Something to be thankful for, as we pause to take stock of good fortune this weekend.

Keepin' the faith,
Cheez

It's Only a Paper Map

2006-10-03T17:32:00.000-04:00

I've recently learned that the federal government plans to stop printing paper topographical maps for Canadians. These maps will be available soon ONLY OVER THE INTERNET, so that the quality of map one can print at home for an outdoor adventure over ground, water, or snow will basically be crap. Good luck with that, they say.

This site (Maps for Canadians) explains the looming situation and provides information as to how we can agitate to stop this: write, call! Have you ever tried to plan a portage trip without a topo map???

How about less of the huge surplus toward hymnals and keep the damn paper maps? I don't know about you but I feel closer to the power of this universe when I'm surrounded by nature than freaking fundamentalist wingnuts.

This land IS your land, and you CAN do something about where your money goes! See page two of this publication.

Suggested Readings: Michael Ignatieff

2006-10-03T09:47:00.000-04:00

I'm copying an article which does a fairly good, if brief, job of outlining Ignatieff's policy proposals for Aboriginal issues (including dismantling of the Department of Indian Affairs - see paragraph 12).

Other Ignatieff links (profiles and his own writings) follow this article text, and I'll come back and add on to the list as I have the time to expand it.

I haven't selected to suit my own views. Warts and all, we should all make the effort to be as well informed as we can be and then make our own judgements. Any additional sources would be appreciated.

Changing the Liberal catechism

Peter C. Newman
National Post
Sat 23 Sep 2006

One week from today, the Liberal Party of Canada will pick the 5,000 delegates who will go to Montreal on Dec. 2 and elect the party's new leader. If present trends hold, Michael Ignatieff will lead the pack on the initial ballot, though that is no guarantee he will emerge as the ultimate victor.

Still, his run has been remarkable. From a standing start -- he had spent the previous 30 years in distant academic puddles -- Mr. Ignatieff has fielded a masterful campaign. It is based on the identical conviction that has fuelled his university, literary and social activist careers -- namely, that the world exists to be put in order, so that its scattered details make sense. That takes more guts than brains, or at least as much of each. Why else, to pick the most outrageous example, would he advocate constitutional reform, which has ensnared every Canadian politician brave enough to venture into its labyrinth?

When we look back at his campaign, it seems as if he woke up each morning, mumbling to himself: "Which beehive should I poke today?" At times, his approach smacked of the worst kind of amateurish attempt to grab headlines, hoping public exposure would translate into delegates' votes. At the same time, he never developed the swordsman's eye for being alert to counter-thrusts, so that he frequently had to wrap his sallies in retroactive, explanatory nuances the next morning.

In fact, there was nothing accidental about any of his remarks, no matter how casual they might have sounded. He may have the manners of a prince, but he has the mind of a chess master. Every detail of his strategy and every word of his bravura declarations had been carefully programmed by his retinue of two dozen advisors -- really a private think-tank -- which secretly plotted his strategy, from day to day and debate to debate. No campaign has been so minutely planned since the 1968 leadership run by another party outsider, Pierre Trudeau, who similarly appeared to grab startling pronouncements out of the breezes, though he was actually programmed down to every shrug.

Because he was the outsider in a field of party veterans, Mr. Ignatieff decided early on that he had to differentiate himself from the pack. He did so with a vengeance. He jettisoned many of the political verities that kept the Liberals in power for most of the last century, and the first half-decade of this one, because he found them outdated and not in tune with current realities. Instead of treating the party as the sacred instrument of sedate populism that legitimized its claim to being "Canada's natural government party," he has, to coin a graceless metaphor, pushed the envelope out of the ballpark. His campaign was aimed at nothing less than creating a new political movement with a contemporary vision designed to win both the final delegate count on Dec. 3 and the general election, which he feels is certain to follow in the next six months.

This has been a gamble that Kenny Rogers might have envied. As one member of the Ignatieff inner circle confided to me, strongly suggesting that I don't use his name, "We're all saying to each other, 'Jesus, is he going to blow himself up before he gets there?'" The answer to that question -- "you bet" or "not bloody likely" -- will determine his political future. His handlers point out that this week's informal polls of delegate preferences did not include the party's ex officio voters whom they expect to drive his lead on the first ballot to at least 25%.

His fate will depend on whether he will grab the opportunity to make a convincing case for the political revolution he has launched. One test of that precarious endeavour will be the perception of whether he was just making trouble or actually stands behind his contentious pronouncements. According to his political intimates, he does. Every damn word. One of his most influential advisors compares his determination to the 16th-century theological reformer Martin Luther's famed cry: "Here I stand. I can do no other."

Ignatieff's chief strategist has been Ian Davey, 42, the son of Senator Keith Davey, who earned his title as "The Rainmaker" during the three decades he spent in Ottawa modernizing the Liberal party, as its national director. "A lot of Liberals are frightened by the Ignatieff campaign," Davey told me, "and you know what? They should be. We're trying to change the culture of the Liberal party, and it's not easy. We have this unbelievably bright group of young advisors who have never been in politics before, and don't see why they shouldn't be led by possibility -- by what should be instead of what is. This is no longer Liberals against Conservatives, but Canada against the world -- to ensure that we make the most of our potential."

The impressive collection of policy wonks backing Davey are in their 20s or early 30s, mostly from outside the party. (The sidebar to this column contains a partial list.) Some are former Ignatieff students, most are independent-minded, bushy-tailed activists, others are professional experts who were approached, not on the basis of seeking their endorsement, but their advice. "I came to Michael's team without policy experience and no hidden agenda," I was told by Brad Davis, the campaign's National Director of Policy and Internet Strategy, a perky 33-year-old (which makes him the oldest of the Ignatieff policy advisors) who has taken a leave of absence from his law firm. "Michael is offering Liberals and Canadians a series of progressive policies built on the premise that the federal government has one sole overriding purpose: to secure and maintain the indivisibility of Canadian citizenship."

An Ignatieff-led Liberal party will continue to attract the best and the brightest, who recognize his immense capacity to effect radical reform. There is, in this process, a generational change and the development of a mentoring system that can only happen in the perfect storm that is Michael's campaign led by Ian Davey. This must be contrasted with the "play it safe" tactics of Bob Rae. The leadership convention is now shaping up to be a simple ballot question: Does the Liberal party really want genuine renewal and regeneration? We're betting on the answer being, yes.

Ignatieff's policy shifts illuminate not only interesting future options but his perception of the failures of current Conservative -- and Liberal -- policy lapses. He is asking Canadians to rethink their self-perception of peacekeeping, made and kept in the face of terrorism. Interestingly, Romeo Dallaire, who knows more about the subject first-hand than any Canadian, has endorsed his candidacy. Unlike his opponents, Ignatieff admits that Canada will not meet its first Kyoto targets and has argued for a tax on carbon emissions as the core of his policy on climate change.

Those who championed Kyoto within Liberal circles, especially Stephane Dion, are angry at him. To some of his critics his approach smacks of a confiscatory, anti-Alberta approach. Yet many oil patch executives are remaining silent or calling his plan "gutsy." At the same time, he advocates a new era of trust in pursuit of aboriginal self-government, and the dismantling of the Department of Indian Affairs. He has pushed that debate beyond its "post-Kelowna" phase, with new initiatives on self-governance, aboriginal health care, aboriginal environment and aboriginal education and training. In the process Ignatieff has quietly lined up the support of most of the new-generation native leaders, beginning with Gary Merasty, a Grand Chief from Saskatchewan and Liberal MP. His call for a "new citizenship contract" that grants rights and imposes responsibilities -- as a framework for Canadian multiculturalism and diversity in the 21st century -- has brought aboard such minority community MPs as Raymonde Folco, Susan Kadis, Albina Guarnieri, Ruby Dhalla, Paul Zed, Herb Dhaliwal, Paul Szabo, John Cannis and Gary Merasty.

The deal breaker could well be his determination to recognize the Quebec and aboriginal nations. Almost every English-language newspaper editorial in the country has come down hard on his pledge, labelling it dangerous folly, while the French press has applauded his courage.

It's hardly news. Fifteen years ago, in Blood and Belonging, Ignatieff described Quebec as a civic nation. Somehow he has to make the case that it's mostly symbolic and that he is not rejecting the Trudeau vision of Canada, but helping it come true. "Quebec is a totally flourishing distinct society and it has all the powers it needs," he has declared.

Ignatieff is deeply disturbed by Quebecers who are socially progressive leaders in the province, but now voting for the Conservatives. He claims it's because the Liberals haven't made themselves relevant to Quebecers. He believes that labelling Quebec a nation doesn't have any kind of ethnic overtones. "This isn't any threat to Canada, this is just part of the patchwork of our diversity," he told a friend recently.

It will be a hard sell.

Because the Liberals have become a big-city, Ontario-centred party, Ignatieff spent nearly three-quarters of his campaigning time outside Ontario in rural constituencies. That's where the push has to come, if his visions are realized. Michael Ignatieff has already proven that history is no longer the domain of scholars leafing through dusty archives. Now, as well as writing it in his lively fashion, he wants to make some history of his own. The ballot count next weekend will decide whether he gets the chance.

OTHER LINKS:

http://www.learntoquestion.com/resources/database/archives/000714.html

http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/politics/article.jsp?content=20060904_132689_132689

http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/ksgnews/Features/opeds/062605_ignatieff.htm

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0012484

http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/news/opeds/2004/ignatieff_year_dangerously_nyt_031404.htm

http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=20113

http://www.goodreads.ca/lectures/ignatieff/

http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/ignatieff.html

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060825.wxboat26/BNStory/National/

http://www.vigile.net/05-12/2.html#8

http://www.michaelignatieff.ca/en/news_info.aspx?id=359

http://michaelignatieff.ca/MiCommunity/forums/53/ShowForum.aspx

http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/ksgnews/Features/opeds/060205_ignatieff.htm

http://www.michaelignatieff.ca/en/ontherecord.aspx

SEE ALSO... DENIS SMITH'S BOOK: "Ignatieff’s World: A Liberal Leader for the 21st Century?"

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1159393811656&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home

What has feminism done for you lately?

2006-10-02T10:25:00.000-04:00

I was tagged by Scout at Harper-Valley blog to post today on the topic of "5 Things Feminism Has Done For Me", so here goes:

1. Education. I'm currently completing a PhD in geography - a discipline which is still hugely lopsided in terms of male faculty. My research is qualitative; in large part informed by feminism. I work in the subdiscipline of cultural-historical geography with focus on femininities and masculinities and their evolutions through space and time, as specific to place. My doctoral committee happens to be all-female, which is a first-time experience for each of the members. My work is very currently feminist in that it does not look at gender in terms of only women's experiences. It examines men's experiences, as well as all the accompanying intersections in the web of race, class, and (dis)ability, etc. This is one of the most widely misunderstood aspects of feminism today - the fact that the very nature of feminism is, in fact, INCLUSIVE. Our work contests exclusion of any sort.

2. Reproductive Choice. I was able to choose when and how many children I would have. I'm blessed with four. I'm able, through the example of my own life, to teach them the values inherent in inclusivity, tolerance, curiosity and a hunger to learn how this world can be made better by individual efforts.

3. Choice of work. I stayed home to be a full-time mother while my two oldest children were younger. I then taught high school full time until returning to continue my education. Childcare is available to me. I've had so many choices, and my decisions at various stages have been accepted by my family and society. My vote and political activism can influence this society.

4. My life. I was adopted, and am extremely grateful to know that although my maternal biological grandparents offered to raise me, my birth mother ultimately made the choice of adoption for me. She was not coerced; she made her own decision and I think it was the right one. Not without its baggage, adoption, but the knowledge that my birth mother had agency makes the baggage that much lighter for both of us. She had choices. She was rejected as 'marriage material' by my birth father and his family because she is native. She went on to have a good and fulfilling life with a professional career, and eventually - once I found her - rich relationships with my children and me. She made her own choices and landed on her feet, to say the least. She was never cowardly. She is a true warrior. My adoptive mother (my mother) made me see I could do anything. These two women inspire me!!!

5. My partner. My partner is as strong a feminist as one can get, my best friend, confidante, strongest supporter, and the kind of father anyone would wish they had. He instills the sense of possibilities and promise to our two girls and two boys that should rightly be there. He's fair and respectful and gentle and encouraging. I'd accept no less, and neither would he of me. Raised in another age, another place, he would not be who he is, and I would not be who I am.

What has feminism done for you?

What the World Needs Now

2006-09-30T10:48:00.000-04:00

As reported today in The Toronto Star ("UofT Grad Hope To Be First Woman Leader of the UN") Vaira Vike-Freiberga is "famed for her determination and intellectual muscle".

THe 69 year old president of Latvia is among three front-runners for the candidacy of secretary-general of the United Nations to replace out-going Kofi Annan. From the Star article:

"I've been trained to think, and I have authority," she says. "The UN needs to give the secretary general more authority to manage the secretariat. But diplomatic skills are absolutely essential too. In my current job I have to reconcile conflicting views, listen to all sides, and act to the best understanding of my conscience," she says.

Speaking five languages, Vike-Freiberga also believes she has an edge at the United Nations. As a psychologist, she focused on the relationship of thought and language, a vital link for a diplomat.

"I'm as cosmopolitan as anyone could be, and politics, when you think about it, also follows the laws of human nature. Frequently there are confrontations because somebody has been offended, has lost face or been humiliated," she points out.

"Humans in official capacities function in the same way as individuals. Understanding that is a skill that never hurts."

Things could be looking up.

Teach your children (in Caledonia) well

2006-09-26T18:47:00.000-04:00

There's an ill wind blowing across Caledonia, as plans for a non-native "rally" on October 15 appear to be moving right along, with no provincial or federal intervention.

David Peterson has called the "march for freedom" organizers "wackos", with predictable response from rally organizers.

First Nations reporter Thahoketoteh today speaks out at Mohawk Nation News:
"With the help of Canada and maybe a few other “foreign” authorities, the gang calling itself “Caledonia Wake Up Call” has publicly announced they’re planning a big “march for freedom” [raid] on the Six Nations trying to take over land that legally belongs to us. They are taking advantage of the fact that Canada has yet to publicly acknowledge our demonstration of our legal title to our land by living on our property. This raid is being carried out with the full knowledge of the Ontario Provincial Police, Ontario government, Canada, Indian Affairs [probably coming right out of their “war room”], RCMP and the Canadian public."

HEY. CAN'T WE GIVE PEACE A CHANCE?
Good grief, it starts at home and spreads beyond, not the other way around.
Can the non-native Caledonian antagonists not see past their puffed-up little lives?

This, as Judge Marshall has been completely discredited for his hand in totally screwing up the situation, helping to get us all where we are today.

UPDATE: The Globe link for Judge Marshall reference has expired, so here's the text:

All parties blast judge over rulings on Caledonia
Alleged bias means protesters' convictions for contempt should be quashed, court told
KIRK MAKIN, JUSTICE REPORTER, Globe & Mail, Sept. 26/06

An Ontario judge who made national headlines by cracking down on aboriginal demonstrators during a bitter standoff in Caledonia was described yesterday as obsessed, perverse, overreaching and just plain wrong about the law.

In a daylong onslaught aimed at Mr. Justice T. David Marshall of the Superior Court, lawyers for the province, the Ontario Provincial Police and the aboriginals said the judge was completely off base when he ordered parties in the dispute to report back to him as if he were their supervisor.

"I would say that Justice Marshall is so concerned -- I'd say obsessed -- with his view of law and order, that he shouldn't be involved any longer," said James O'Reilly, a Montreal lawyer appointed as a friend of the court to offer arguments on behalf of the aboriginals.

Mr. O'Reilly urged the court to overturn contempt-of-court convictions that Judge Marshall made against 21 of the protesters, since "any reasonable person" would conclude that the judge had shown an appearance of bias.

He also compared Judge Marshall to Judge Roy Bean, a famous judge in the American Old West who believed in frontier justice. Mr. O'Reilly said he knew of no precedent for Judge Marshall finding the 21 demonstrators guilty of contempt without them being able to even make legal arguments.

Mr. O'Reilly's impassioned address appeared to find favour with two judges on the panel -- Mr. Justice John Laskin and Madam Justice Kathryn Feldman -- who shook their heads in apparent surprise as Judge Marshall's approach to the contempt proceedings was described.

"Let's assume -- as I believe to be the case -- that the contempt proceedings were deeply flawed . . ." Judge Laskin said late in the day, prefacing a question.

Aboriginal protesters occupied the Douglas Creek Estates last February to protest against the slow progress of their claim to a vast tract of land in Southwestern Ontario. Several ugly incidents have erupted since, pitting the protesters against non-aboriginal local residents.

Over the summer, Judge Marshall convened an unusual set of hearings to find out why the land was still occupied despite an injunction in March ordering the occupation to cease. In August, he said the rule of law had broken down, and he continued his injunction until an outstanding matter of criminal contempt was dealt with -- even though the land had been sold to the province in July.

In an odd twist yesterday, Crown lawyers Dennis Brown and Malliha Wilson argued in favour of the protesters being allowed to stay on the land while negotiations continue to resolve the dispute. "The new owner does not object to the protesters being on site," Ms. Wilson told the court. "Judge Marshall has misdirected himself by not dissolving the injunction."

The Crown said that Judge Marshall's authority over the case ended months ago, and that his orders have been so lacking in "procedural fairness" toward the protesters that they should be quashed. They warned in written arguments against the damaging effect that the kind of "force and coercion" Judge Marshall advocates could have on the delicate negotiation process.

A lawyer for the OPP, Mark Sandler, said Judge Marshall's orders were so vague, broad or simply unenforceable that police found themselves in a "quagmire."

Mr. Sandler said that Judge Marshall's involvement should have ended with the earlier contempt proceedings, fair or not, and that there is "no evidentiary basis" to justify him attempting to continue supervising the Caledonia case.

In a separate development yesterday, Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Ramsay said that all sides in the standoff have agreed to a 30-metre "no-go" zone, which will be patrolled by the provincial police and will separate residents from the protesters occupying the former housing development site." ~

Wong, again.

2006-09-20T11:29:00.000-04:00

How this coloumn by Jan Wong in the Globe & Mail about the Dawson College Shooting got past editors is beyond me.

Thankfully, Rick Salutin's piece on the same topic offered a sane counterpoint from the same publication.

Something else: remember the informal pact made at the time of the Montreal Massacre in 1989 never to mention the name of the killer? The thinking was that we would not render his name more memorable than the names of his beautiful victims. We need to continue to honour this pact, and extend it to the Dawson College shooter as well.

Gotta love the 'F' word

2006-09-19T19:36:00.000-04:00

I've often wished to link columns by Lisa Rundle, but she normally publishes in Herizon, Canada's largest feminist magazine, which requires a subscription to access on-line. I recieve the print version, and it's consistently worth every penny, cover to cover.

Turns out Rundles' latest Herizons column, is also posted (free) on rabble.ca. Go for it!

Here's another one.

Vantage Point: Harper's Ass

2006-09-15T08:59:00.000-04:00

Last night on CBC, commenting on the Dawson College shooting, Stephen Harper said "let's hope that we never get to a point where we do understand this person".

Once again, our insightful prime minister has his head buried so far up his ass he can't see past denial. With one's head tightly secured, any sense of responsibility to try to reduce chances of this happening again, is overshadowed by sheer crap.

Inspiration

2006-09-12T09:21:00.000-04:00

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Taken from the 1994 Inaugural Speech of Nelson Mandela

...CALL IT "GOD", "THE CREATOR", THE UNIVERSE", "NATURE", WHATEVER. I HAVE THIS POSTED ON MY BATHROOM MIRROR AND READ IT EVERY DAY WHEN I BRUSH MY TEETH.

IMAGINE WHAT WE COULD ALL BE COLLECTIVELY IF WE TRULY BELIEVED THIS AS INDIVIDUALS.

TAG

2006-09-06T16:05:00.000-04:00

The prolific and always creative, NON-linear thinking Scout at Harper-Valley tagged me, so here are my answers to probing tag questions:

(BTW, I'm a book nerd. I always have 6-8 on the go at once - read them according to my mood on any given day. I also tend to think first of most recently read books, so these answers may reflect most recent memories over truth...)

A BOOK THAT CHANGED MY LIFE: (Many, at various stages...): Monoculture of the Mind, Vandan Shiva; If Women Counted, Marilyn Waring; A Separate Peace, John Knowles, Polly of Primrose Hill, by ???; The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and Silmarillion, Tolkien; Cat's Eye, Margaret Atwood; Joy of Cooking; I Have Lived Here Since the World Began, Arthur J. Ray; Testament, Nino Ricci; Everything You Need To Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask) by ??? - found it in my parents' room once ...

A BOOK I'VE READ MORE THAN ONCE: Surfacing, Margaret Atwood; The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood, many books of poetry (esp. Leonard Cohen, Dylan Thomas, e.e.cummings, Margaret Atood, Shakespears sonnets - never got much into his plays), Away, Jane Urquhart; several by Michael Ondaatji.

A BOOK I WOULD TAKE TO A DESERT ISLAND: The one I'm trying to finish writing - so, I guess I'd take pens and paper.

A BOOK THAT MADE ME LAUGH: Joshua Then and Now, and Barney's Version, Mordechai Richler; The Moor's Last Sigh, Salmon Rushdie; Larry's Party, Carol Shields, A Complicate Kindness, Miriam Toews.

A BOOK THAT MADE ME CRY: Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion; English Patient, Running in the Family, In the Skin of Lion, Michael Ondaatji.

A BOOK I WISH HAD BEEN WRITTEN: The one I'm working on!

A BOOK I WISH HAD NEVER BEEN WRITTEN:

BOOKS I AM CURRENTLY READING: War & Peace, Tolstoy (inspired by a recent article in The Walrus- I'm one third of the way through and I skip over the battle scenes); Three Day Road, Joseph Boyden; Paris 1919, Margaret MacMillan; Book of Longing, Leonard Cohen; Cosmopolitanism, Kwame Appish; Istanbul, Orhan Pamul; Collapse of Globalism, J.R. Saul; Dropped Threads 3 (forget the editor- it's in my car) (is it Doris Anderson?)

BOOKS I HAVE BEEN MEANING TO READ: Can't seem to finish Anna Karenina. (War & Peace seems less sappy - more to do with what life is all about - questioning that - than just romantic love.)

WHAT TURNED ME ON TO FICTION: No idea.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Someone once berated me for 'wasting my money' on hardcovers rather than waiting for the paperbacks, but I love that feeling of being part of something - waves of thought as they cross the country/planet AT THAT TIME. As a result, only one room in our house has no books in it: the cold storage room, which only has pickles and jam.

FIVE I'LL PASS THIS POLL ONTO: ummm... do I know 5 other bloggers? (other than Scout...?) Will have to give this last one some thought...:)

So many terrors, so little time

2006-08-13T22:52:00.000-04:00

Trouble is, while there certainly are extremists out there to be feared, there is just as much reason to fear and mistrust our erstwhile leaders, such that we don't really know anymore which is the tail, which is the dog, and which is chasing which.

Here's a post at Allspin that articulates some similar thoughts to those spinning inarticulated in my own cranium (and apparently many others), alternating with the terror I'm supposed to feel a la mainstream reports, and the terror that perhaps I've finally gone crackers. Time to go camping....I don't have to fly there, and the terror of bears as I make my way to the comfort station at night will hopefully block out all else.

Tale of Two Rivers

2006-08-11T20:03:00.000-04:00

The top image is the Grand River at Caledonia, Ontario, Canada.
The lower image is of a major river in south Lebanon.
Half a planet apart, and yet eerily similar.

If we want to understand the middle-east situation, we should focus on trying to understand the middle-Ontario situation: Caledonia.

Same thing, smaller scale: ancient territory wars, blind hate on both sides, rampant fear and racism, present generations unaware of the past which led to the present, complicated beyond unbiased comprehension, average person doesn't have a clue what the hell is going on (and most don't give a damn), authorities impotent (i.e., United Nations /Province of Ontario, OPP, judges, Government of Canada), no end in sight & worst likely to come, culture wars, cultural purists, unspeakably useless pride.

Recipe for Eve & Walter

2006-08-07T21:45:00.000-04:00

Here's the recipe you asked for that I made for you in April in Arkansas:

JUDGE ROTHSTEIN'S SALMON SUPREME (garnered from Macleans Magazine a while back -their site search engine didn't turn up the link so I'm using my copy, somewhat modified, from my recipe box)

1. Wash and pat dry 4-6 fresh WILD salmon filets (skinned and boned)

2. Put a little olive oil on both sides of fish and season with salt, pepper.

3. Cut variously coloured peppers (2-3 - red, yellow, orange, green - whatever), 2-3 stocks of celery, 1/3 to 1/2 sweet onion, and 1 cup or so fresh mushrooms into 1"ish pieces.

4. Mix calorie-wise Italian dressing with light apricot jam, using much more jam than dressing. The consistency should be thick and lumpy, not runny.

5. Stir jam mixture into the veggies.

6. Spread half the jam mixture into a casserole, cover with salmon pieces, and then the other half of the jam mixture. Pat it down lightly.

7. Cover with foil, refrigerate for 6 hours to marinate (I never do this).

8. Bake 350 degrees Fahrenheit, for at least 40 minutes, covered.

9. To serve, drain out some of the liquid, and just serve as is with veggies and salmon in the same casserole.

10. Good basmati rice is nice with it.

All done but the eating. Bon appetit from Ontario! (P.S. Judge Rothstein is our newest Supreme Court Judge - and apparently not a bad cook.)

Grim Fairy Tale - Conservative Childcare Scam

2006-08-04T23:45:00.000-04:00

For a clear explanation of why Harper's $1200.00 a year childcare "program" really amounts to $197.10 a year, see "The real cost of Harper's phony child-care cheques"
by Scott Piatkowski on Rabble Columns August 3, 2006.

George, Steve, Hugo, Mahmoud: Testosterone Dopes

2006-07-31T18:24:00.000-04:00

This kinda tempts me to take up smoking again, eat all the ribs and ice cream I want, stop working out, cash in the RRSPs, blow it all, and hug the kids.

Gee, the recent scientific discovery that sperm cells can be created from stem cells didn't get much media attention...with testosterone being out of control on so many levels worldwide, maybe there's something to the armchair observation that insecurity in males correlates with compensatory increased aggression...

Maybe the New World after global catastrophe I've heard a lot of blog talk about is really a New Amazonia...Maybe Amazonia wasn't a myth after all...Maybe it's happened before...maybe today is just deja vu all over again... only this time we may not need the Gargareans...

I'm just saying...

Few more Geography tidbits for non-geographer types...

2006-07-30T17:22:00.000-04:00

Any geographer would be familiar with this disorienting concept - who did decide which was up?
__________________________________________________________________
For some cute thematic maps, see GEIST Magazines' "Caught Mapping" segment. It's kind of hard to read the place-names in the on-line versions, but the links to PDFs print very clearly.
You'll find a roll of such serious geographic themes as:

'Menstrual Map of Canada: Right on schedule',

'Pardon Me? The Canadian map of places that sound impolite',

'Condimental Divide: The Canadian map of toppings',

Discover the Inside Passage: The erotic map of Canada

etc.

Still with me???

Here's an excerpt from From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow -- a primer dealing with how maps name, claim, and defame: body parts and risque toponyms.

Geography Tutorial

2006-07-27T22:42:00.000-04:00

A map can say a thousand words.

On a related note, Serendipityoucity is a geography blog with an excellent post up providing updated visual representations of the middle east situation and how it got to what we are seeing on the news daily. Links to lots of really helpful interactive maps, and much more...

Also with visuals, the Armed Forces Journal offers its own version of 'before' and 'after' maps, along with an interesting post.

Climate Change

2006-07-27T20:30:00.000-04:00

A heads up to Ontarians concerned about climate change. If you, like me, have done the little things around your home to conserve energy, but want to take bigger steps, check out BullfrogPower Inc.

You can sign up over the Internet to support power drawn from renewable sources only. You remain on the Ontario grid, so your home energy source is as stable and secure as when you paid your local utility. Cost increase is ONE DOLLAR extra per day. Small price, in my view.

And...see Inconvenient Truth, the compelling Al Gore documentary about global warming. Check your local listings, and spread the word...

Call for Written Support!!!

2006-07-08T09:06:00.000-04:00

What we do not need is for editorial content like this (see below - links on ly work for subscribers) to be stirring up antagonism toward the legitimate, albeit desperate, methods of native peoples in Canada to have their land claims acknowledged.

Dropping the ball in Caledonia

(Jul 8, 2006)
Imagine the following scenario and what Ontario's government and police would do if it ever happened. Out of nowhere, angry protesters assemble and blockade highways 401 and 407 at the Credit River bridges near Toronto, bringing traffic grinding to a halt on Canada's busiest and most economically vital arteries. How many minutes would pass before the protesters were removed and the highways reopened?
Now consider this far from imaginary scenario that has been dragging on for most of this year in the small town of Caledonia, conveniently removed, as it is, from the provincial corridors of wealth and power. For more than four months, this community has been disrupted -- held hostage in the understandable opinion of its residents -- by native protesters occupying a housing development. And for more than four months, the protesters have resolutely ignored a court order that they leave.
That bold defiance, combined with road and railway blockades, repeated acts of vandalism as well as violence against police and individuals has directly challenged not only civil peace but also the rule of law and the provincial government's authority.
Yet, in the face of this urgent challenge, Premier Dalton McGuinty's answer has been feeble and muted. Quite literally, Queen's Park had to buy its way out of a crisis by spending $12.3 million in public funds to purchase the disputed property. While with this single action the province managed to defuse some of the tension, its overall response to the situation has been both inadequate and frightening.To be blunt, this government has never looked as weak or as inept as it has in its handling -- make that mishandling -- of the Caledonia crisis.
Let's grant the government two things: First, resolving a land dispute of this kind, one originating in a 158-year-old deal with the Six Nations, would tax the intelligence of an Einstein. The fact that the native community is led both by an elected band council recognized by Canadian authorities and a traditional, hereditary body known as the Confederacy, which is not officially recognized by the federal government, only adds more pieces to an already devilishly tricky puzzle.
Second, let's all express relief that no one has been seriously injured or killed and that, except for a few, brief flare-ups, there have been no widespread and disruptive protests across Canada from other aboriginal communities sympathetic to the Six Nations cause. No one wants a repeat of Ipperwash, the 1995 native occupation of a provincial park where aboriginal protester Dudley George was shot and killed by police.
But it would be erroneous to conclude that the McGuinty government has been successful in responding to the Caledonia crisis simply because no one has died. In truth, it is as much by good fortune as official design that someone in Caledonia has not been killed. More than a dozen Ontario Provincial Police have been injured in this dispute. Two television journalists were assaulted by the native protesters. An elderly man had a heart attack when his car was swarmed by protesters. Fortunately, he survived. But police have brought charges of kidnapping and attempted murder against the protesters. Meanwhile, property has not been spared: Protesters tore up roads, burned a bridge and damaged a transformer station, plunging thousands of homes into darkness.
At heart, the Caledonia crisis is about two things: Who owns the land and how should such disputes, between the aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities, be resolved? Fair-minded people will want to know the Six Nations' case and only then offer an opinion on who ultimately should hold the deed to this property. But there must be no doubt about how this disagreement should be settled. It should either go before a judge or negotiators and be resolved peacefully.
Yes, there have been fitful negotiations in Caledonia. But the protesters who still occupy the property do not believe that they need rely on courts or peaceful negotiations to get what they want. They are willing to ignore the laws of Ontario, laws which many of them say do not apply to the Six Nations. They are ready to arbitrarily apply rules of their own and enforce those rules with violence. In doing this, they have shown their contempt for the laws of Ontario and for the democratically elected government that makes those laws and is given the sacred trust of upholding the rule of law. And with all the spine that can be located in a jellyfish, the provincial government has acquiesced. What a dismal, dangerous precedent has been set.
All those who live in Waterloo Region within 10 kilometres of the Grand River, take note. You live on land the Six Nations once owned and that at least some Six Nations residents claim was not properly sold by their community. What can you count on Dalton McGuinty to do if, someday soon, the blockades are raised here?
_______________
This is just the latest of what has been decidedly biased editorial in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record regarding the Caledonia issue. Here's another hateful gem from a while back:

Why no action in Caledonia?

(May 31, 2006, Mark Walcoff, Editorial and Insight page)

Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant, the Ontario Provincial Police and the native leaders of the Six Nations reserve all have some serious explaining to do -- to a high-ranking judge.
On March 10, Ontario Superior Court Justice David Marshall issued an order that was both clear and legally binding. He declared that the Six Nations protesters occupying a subdivision in Caledonia, south of Brantford, were doing so illegally and must leave. There were no if, ands or maybes in the court order. The protesters were supposed to go. Immediately. Period.
But while provincial police removed the protesters from the site for a few hours -- and that was on April 20, weeks after Justice Marshall's original injuction -- the natives returned the same day. And there they remain. Police have made no further effort to make them obey the judge's ruling. The Ontario government has not insisted that the laws of this province are upheld and respected.
Under these extraordinary, even bizarre circumstances, Justice Marshall has rightly ordered the various parties in this case to appear before him tomorrow and explain why his order has been defied. Good for the judge. The answers he gets should be illuminating.
Many Ontarians who, in sincerity and good faith, want this land dispute settled fairly and justly for all parties can understand the reluctance to enforce the judge's order. No one is eager to see clouds of tear gas spreading over the contruction site and native protesters being forcibly removed by a riot squad from land they claim is theirs. No one wishes a police officer or native protester to suffer physical injury -- or worse. No one wants to risk the eruption of sympathy protests from one end of Canada to the other. And no one wants a repeat of Ipperwash where, in 1995, native protester Dudley George was shot dead by provincial police.
Yet it can hardly be argued that the failure to enforce the court injunction has made Caledonia a model of peace, order and good government. Native and non-native protesters clashed violently nine days ago. People on both sides were assaulted. A bridge has been burned. Roads have been torn up by Six Nations members. An electrial transformer station was knocked out, plunging thousands of people into a power blackout and requiring $1.25 million in repairs. Meanwhile, public roads remain blocked. And ordinary citizens who want only to go about their daily lives are arbitrarily stopped and even searched by native protesters. We are inches from anarchy. How much further must this situation degenerate before sane minds on both sides agree it must stop, and that the dispute will be resolved either through negotiations or in court?

Justice Marshall is now owed some answers. The province, the police, the natives must all explain why they have ignored a court order. Perhaps the judge can be persuaded that his order should be rescinded. If this doesn't happen, let us hope that this judge can impress upon all parties the grave importance of what is at stake. If judicial rulings are flouted, the law has no force. No law, no civil order, no public safety and no mechanism for resolving disputes other than force. Everyone will lose. It's that simple.

And another:

McGuinty sleeps, Caledonia simmers

(Jun 9, 2006, Editorial)
Measured in actual distance, the native protest dragging on in Caledonia is just over 100 kilometres from the provincial capital in Toronto. Measured in terms of how Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty understands the crisis, the protest in Caledonia might as well be light years away in another solar system.
In the provincial legislature this week, McGuinty sang the praises of his government for how it has managed -- or, depending on your perspective, not managed -- the illegal occupation of a housing development by natives who claim the land as theirs. But whether he intended to or not, McGuinty seriously misrepresented what has gone on in Caledonia over the past 102 days. He said the situation has been "largely without incident, without injury.''
No, Mr. Premier, it has not. And your saying so does not alter the facts. The occupation that began at the end of February has been punctuated by violence, disorder, vandalism and the destruction of property. Everyone in Ontario should be deeply concerned.
As Exhibit A, we cite the opinion of Justice David Marshall and evidence brought before him in a Cayuga courtroom last week. The court heard that police are investigating no fewer than 25 criminal charges connected to the Caledonia dispute. Far from being inconsequential, these charges include: assault on police, kidnapping, theft, arson and mischief endangering life.
Two court injunctions ordering the protesters off the subdivision have been ignored. And since Ontario Provincial Police tried to enforce the court order in April, a bridge has been burned, a road has been torn up with a backhoe, natives and non-natives have been involved in fistfights, a police officer was hit in the head with a bag of rocks and a transformer station was knocked out of commission, plunging thousands of people into darkness.
McGuinty may persist in the fantasy that these aren't incidents and that everything has unfolded peacefully. Justice Marshall, the senior Ontario Superior Court judge for the area, disagrees. "The rule of law has been suspended, to some degree,'' he said.
As Exhibit B, we cite complaints raised this week by the OPP officers who are trying to keep order in Caledonia."Due to the political pressures and optics involved with this, the OPP seems to be bending their own rules while sacrificing officer safety," said police union president Karl Walsh. He said officers have been told not to wear riot gear or tactical uniforms while dealing with native protesters and are left wondering if commanding officers will back them up in enforcing the law. So far, 13 officers have been injured while assigned to the standoff.
When will the premier get it? When will he admit the profound disconnect between what is going on in Caledonia and what he says is going on? And when will he take more effective action to settle it before something even worse happens?

Please circulate this and encourage other fair-minded people to take up their pens...

Contact the editors:

letters@therecord.com

Cheezwhiz Weekend Must-Read List

2006-07-07T09:09:00.000-04:00

Feeling like a prisoner in your little world?
Want to get away, if even in your own mind, for the weekend?

Never fear, here are the vehicles for you...

Cheezwhiz Weekend Must-Read List:

Herizons magazine

The Walrus - summer reading edition

Pick up the latest copies of these and there won't be a dull moment all weekend... I read these 2 publications regularly and they are always top-notch, but the latest issues are truly above and beyond.

(David Gilmour's "My Life With Tolstoy" in The Walrus may even inspire you to tackle War & Peace or Anna Karenina next weekend...)

A telling comment on the pervasive devaluation of indigenous knowledge and culture

2006-07-06T11:46:00.000-04:00

This quote from Donald Rumsfeld in Vietnam has been haunting me for weeks:

At the Temple of Literature, one of Hanoi's main tourist attractions, he enthusiastically struck a ritual gong. He also told Vietnam's defence minister, Pham Van Tra, that when the university was founded, some 700 years before the US existed, people in North America were living in "mud huts".

Harper Pussy Appeal

2006-07-02T11:11:00.000-04:00

Indicators reveal that the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada is more inclined to foster adequate housing and clean water for displaced pussies than he is for displaced Indigenous people.

On a related note, this 2003 study reports that 40% of children in foster care in Canada are Aboriginal.

Cats are indigenous to Egypt.

I just like to mull these things over, see if they gel at all...

"Caledo'nia, stern and wild..." Sir Walter Scott (Lay of the Last Minstrel)

2006-07-01T20:18:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time, Roman expansionists came upon a region occupied by a war-like tribe referred to as the Picts ( this term may have Latin origins, referring to "the painted or tattooed people", or Celtic origins referring to "fighters").

To protect themselves from the Picts, the Romans built extensive barricades which still exist today along the most northern Highlands of present-day Great Britian - areas referred to by the Romans as "Caledo'nia".

"The name "Scotland" derives from the Scoti, a Celtic tribe who migrated to Scotland from Ireland during the fifth and sixth centuries and who, in time, merged through conquest and intermarriage with the Pictish tribes to form the nucleus of the Scottish nation."

Geez Whiz

2006-06-23T14:12:00.000-04:00

Cheez Whiz is temporarily on a work-related hiatus that, unfortunately, involves neither celery nor salary.