rtod

Revolutionary thought of the day:

Pick up Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front or James Jones’s From Here to Eternity. Read Henry IV. Turn to the Iliad. The allure of combat is a trap, a ploy, an old, dirty game of deception in which the powerful, who do not go to war, promise a mirage to those who do.

Chris Hedges

teen arrested for asking kenney about refugee health care cuts

Cheers for Bashir Mohamed! He interrupted a speech by Jason Kenney, trying to ask questions about refugee health care, was removed and arrested, and now he's challenging the illustrious Minister to a debate. Video here.

An Edmonton teenager was arrested Saturday after grilling federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney during his speech at a Conservative party barbecue.

Bashir Mohamed, 17, said he bought tickets to legally attend the barbecue, which was held inside a hanger at the Alberta Aviation Museum for more than 400 Tories.

Mohamed and two friends with video cameras arrived with a plan to question Kenney about the recent government cuts to health-care coverage for refugees arriving in Canada.

The policy, announced in April and in effect as of Canada Day, prevents refugees from accessing prescription drug, dental and other extended health-care coverage unless they're covered by a federal program.

The cuts were made to extended coverage that most Canadians pay for or already have covered by insurance. The government expects the policy to save $100 million over the next five years.

"This has been in effect since Canada Day and right now a refugee cannot receive certain health care," Mohamed said. "The reason I chose this course of action is because the minister doesn't allow question and answer debates."

Get 'em, Bashir! You're a people's hero!

what i'm reading: "zone one" by colson whitehead

I'm currently reading Zone One, by Colson Whitehead, a book I might never have picked up if it hadn't been written by one of my favourite authors. Fortunately for me, it was, because I'd hate to have missed this.

Zone One is a zombie book - a literary zombie novel. The action takes place principally in New York City after a global, apocalyptic plague has swept the earth and subsided. Whitehead has total cred when it comes to horror, having spent his childhood obsessed with B movies (see his brilliant essay in the New Yorker, "A Psychotronic Childhood"). He's taken that background and married it to his own literary sensibilities.

Whitehead imagines the aftermath of the pandemic in minute detail, and these details become a showcase for his acute powers of observation, quirky, wry descriptions, and profound understanding of human motivation. The devastation and rebuilding form a vehicle for Whitehead to analyze and comment on every facet of society, reflecting and refracting it with dead-on accuracy. It is really a tour de force.

Whitehead readers will find some familiar themes, as the reconstruction comes complete with corporate sponsorship, theme music, and inspirational titles. Other scenes are either nauseating or hilarious or frightening or some combination of those, depending on how you react to zombie-style gore. The disgusting bits are often leavened by wry humour, including inside New York jokes. (The comparison of zombies to tourists is too easy, but how could it be left out?) Whitehead zooms in for the minute detail that turns your stomach, then zooms out for the global view, forcing you to contemplate The End of the World. The reconstruction may work, or it may not.

Buzzwords had returned, and what greater proof of the rejuvenation of the world, the return to Eden, than a new buzzword emerging from the dirt to tilt its petals to the zeitgeist. In the recent calm, experts of sundry persuasion reconnected with their professions, hoping to get out of custodial duty and earn a ticket to Buffalo with the rest of the royalty. One canny psychotherapist - Dr. Neil Herkimer, who'd made a fortune in the days before the flood with a line of self-help books imparting "The Herkimer Solution to Human Unhappiness" - delivered the big buzzword of the moment: PASD, or Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder. Dr. Neil Herkimer climbed aboard a Buffalo-bound chopper soon after his diagnosis. As the chopper disappeared into the sky, he could be seen through the tiny window giving his buddies at Camp El Dorado a vigorous thumbs-up. Mark Spitz heard people jabbering about it over pea soup in the mess tents, or as he handed crates of powdered milk and vitamin supplements to eager survivors in the scattered camps from an armor-plated supply truck: Everyone suffered from PASD. Herkimer put it at seventy-five percent of the surviving population, with the other twenty-five percent under the sway of preexisting mental conditions that were, of course, exacerbated by the great calamity. In the new reckoning, a hundred percent of the world was mad. Seemed about right.

Buffalo shipped out "Living with PASD" pamphlets to the settlements in the packages containing work orders, dietary guidelines focusing on the realities of this age of scarcity (scurvy was a recurring character), and, of course, classified status reports on new reconstruction initiatives. The pamphlets were left on bunks and mess-hall seats; Buffalo knew exactly how many to print from the survivor rolls. . . . .

Whitehead doesn't offer a formula for plague and recovery; there are no ready-made morality tales. There is meaning in here, but you'll have to ponder it on your own.

Mark Spitz had met plenty of the divine-retribution folks over the months. This was their moment; they were umbrella salesmen standing outside a subway entrance in a downpour. The human race deserved the plague, we brought it on ourselves for poisoning the planet, for the Death of God, the calculated brutalities of the global economic system, for driving primordial species to extinction: the entire collapse of values as evidenced by everything from nuclear fission to reality television to alternate side of the street parking. Mark Spitz could only endure these harangues for a minute or two before he split. It was boring.The plague was the plague. You were wearing galoshes, or you weren't.

Survivors trade Last Night stories, but rather than an extended movie sequence of the end of the world, the glimpses of Last Night are scattered, brief, sketched in a few lines, the details left to our imaginations to fill in.

...One aspect of the afternoon remained unblemished, however. It was a drop-off party, that two-hour oasis in the harried parent's calendar, egress to a world of manis and pedis, a pilfered nap, a glass or two of decent rose. Mim left her kids there. They had buddies their own age, known each other since they were born. Asher, Jackson, and little Eve didn't even spare a goodbye, trotting into the playroom where the other kids toiled in their commotion. "Good luck," Mim said, as Gladys shut the door to keep the AC in.

When she returned an hour and a half later - she had resolved to straighten up her office but had scratched at her crossword instead - she saw the ambulance outside but immediately calmed herself: Gladys would have called her if it had been one of her kids. Then the squad cars ran her off the road as they sped past, almost driving onto her friend's front lawn and into her beloved hydrangeas and Mim thought, Maybe Gladys didn't have time to call and something has happened to her babies. She was correct: Gladys didn't have time to call.

Twelve hours later, Mim was on the run like everyone else. Cast out into the dreary steppes. Mark Spitz didn't ask about Harry. You never asked about the characters that disappeared from a Last Night story. You knew the answer. The plague had a knack for narrative closure.

I don't read horror novels, so I don't know whether zombie aficionados would find this book satisfying. I imagine that for many readers it might be too slow, crammed with too much detail, too many flashbacks, and not enough plot. For others, it might be the greatest zombie book ever, a more fully realized imagining than any genre novel would dare. So I don't know if Zone One is both a zombie novel and a zombie story as metaphor, or only the latter. Almost every review of the book attempts to tackle this question. I'll tell you this: it's a great book.

* * * *

Other Whitehead in wmtc: Sag Harbor, Apex Hides the Hurt, excerpts from The Colossus of New York here and here.

Other Zone One reviews: Esquire, Guardian, New York Times, and one by a fan and student of the genre i09, with many spoilers.

* * * *

Update. After writing this post, I read the second half of the book in one breathless sweep. It was horrifying, and riveting, and not predictable, and impossibly good. I can't write about it in any detail without giving too much away. So I'll just recommend that you skip the reviews posted above, and read this book.

best recycling ever: abandoned walmart converted to public library

From Beth Buczynski at Shareable.net:

In recent years, there's been something of a grassroots backlash against Wal-Mart Inc., as people have started to realize the damage a single Walmart can do to the small businesses that make up a local economy. In a few cases, there's even been news of Walmart stores closing, effectively run out of town by citizens strongly opposed to its economic, environmental, and social practices.

While this represents a win for the citizens who organized the ouster, it creates an equally big challenge. Namely, what does one do with the cavernous commercial space left behind by an abandoned Walmart?

The citizens of McAllen, Texas, a city of about 130,000 located in the southernmost tip of the state, experienced just such a vaccum after Walmart closed and then abandoned a 124,500 sq. foot space. Instead of searching for another big box retailer to take it's [sic!] place, the City decided to reclaim the space as a public library. . . .

The cavernous space now houses an auditorium, computers lab, classrooms and meeting rooms, and adult and teen reading lounges — not to mention hundreds of thousands of books -- earning it the title of the largest single-story library location in the U.S.

More story and pics here.

Thanks to James for the BoingBoing link and to Allan for the Common Dreams story.

revolutionary thought of the day

Revolutionary thought of the day:

In 2005, the 25 hedge-fund managers averaged $363 million. Paul Krugman observes that these 25 were paid three times as much as New York City’s 80,000 public school teachers combined. And because their pay is taxed as capital gains rather than salary, the teachers paid a higher tax rate!

From The Great Capitalist Heist: How Paris Hilton's Dogs Ended Up Better Off Than You by Gerald Friedman

happy 100th, woody guthrie

Thank you, Woody Guthrie. Wish you were here.

more puppies!

The Yukon Yahoo pups are five weeks old. And they are beyond adorable. This is the first time I've ever seen puppies from birth (actually from conception!) and followed their progress as they grow up. I hope one day to meet them in real life.

Also, 60 puppies were rescued in Labrador and flown to Nova Scotia. The video is raw but be patient, it's worth it!

coming soon to a canadian town near you: the fbi

I seldom play the scary "US is taking over Canada" card, but if the Harper government was any deeper into Washington, you'd need a colonoscopy to find them. I blogged about this here, and I'm glad to see the CBC recognize the issue. This is scary, dangerous, and truly disgusting.

When the Conservative government passed its controversial omnibus budget bill last month, it included new powers for certain U.S. law enforcement agents that critics say could have ramifications for Canadian sovereignty.

The Integrated Cross Border Law Enforcement Operations Act now makes it possible for American officers to cross the border into Canada where, as the act states, they have "the same power to enforce an act of Parliament as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police."

This means they'll be armed and have the powers to arrest suspects in Canadian territory.

For years, law enforcement agents without the authority to cross into neighbouring waters have complained that suspected drug traffickers or smugglers could flee one country by boat and go to another to evade arrest. Officers from one country would have to stop at the border of the other.

Now, small crews, made up of Canadian and U.S. officers specially designated and trained for cross-border policing, can go back and forth across the maritime border, all the while subject to the laws of the country they are in.

Initially limited to small crews on boats

There are conditions, however. The law, which, focuses on combating cross-border crime on waterways shared by Canada and the U.S., pertains specifically to water-based operations.

The crews consist of about five people at most. In U.S waters, a crew may include four U.S. Coast Guard officers and an RCMP officer patrolling on a small U.S Coast Guard vessel. On the Canadian side, RCMP officers will be on a Canadian vessel with one U.S. Coast Guard officer.

RCMP Supt. Warren Coons, director of the Integrated Border Enforcement Teams, stressed that the cross-designated American officers "have to be under the direction and control of a Canadian law enforcement officer" when the vessel crosses into Canadian waters. Similarly, Canadian officers are under the direction of the U.S. Coast Guard officer if they enter U.S. territory.

"Sovereignty is something I take very seriously, and I understand the concerns that Canadian citizens have, because quite frankly I had those same concerns, and so do the U.S. officers," Coons said. "But having said that, safeguards are in place to ensure that U.S law enforcement officers are not allowed to conduct law enforcement activity in Canada unless they’re strictly under the direction and control of Canadian law enforcement officers."

But critics aren't so satisfied. Before the law was passed, the NDP argued that the issue was too important to be included in the omnibus bill and should have been voted on separately.

"This is a highly controversial integrated border enforcement program that jeopardizes Canadian sovereignty and potentially compromises the personal privacy of individual Canadians," wrote NDP MP Brian Masse, critic for Canada-U.S. border issues.

"A program that cedes sovereignty, reduces privacy and requires significant new investment must be fully debated and understood prior to its implementation," he said.

Land-based agreement to come

Although the law deals with Canadian and U.S. waters, some are raising concerns that the next phase of the plan, a land-based version of integrated policing, could be more problematic.

Stuart Trew, a spokesman for the Council of Canadians, said the act in its current form is already a "pretty serious compromise of sovereignty when it comes to policing and security."

"Are we just going to expect down the road when they do expand this program … [that] it just becomes normal to expect armed American agents on Canadian territory?" Trew said.

"How do you define a border operation? How far inland does it go? These are things that need to be dealt with in an open way. Instead they seem to be negotiating through mostly closed-door talks with U.S. officials."

William Anderson, Ontario research chair in cross-border transportation policy at the University of Windsor, said that he is a supporter of the current act, but a land-based version could be more complicated.

"Most people worry that you have a foreign law enforcement officer making an arrest, carrying a gun on Canadian territory. I think it becomes a little bit more difficult to control on land than it is on water, just by virtue of the fact that with water you're in a boat and [officers] can't get too far away from each other."

So far, the government has revealed few details about the land-based version of the plan. The Beyond the Border plan, agreed to by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S President Barack Obama in 2011, had called for two land-based pilot projects to begin this summer.

Government officials will only say that consultations are continuing, with the possibility of pilot projects starting no earlier than the fall.

'Hot pursuit' exception

However, the current act does allow for American officers to come on Canadian soil in extreme situations, also known as the "hot pursuit" exception.

"If a person on a boat is suspected of committing a serious offence and now are trying to get away and they hit shore, [U.S. officers] are allowed to go on shore and pursue in those circumstances," Coons said.

"If they’re working in the Niagara-St. Catharines area, we don’t expect to see them in downtown Toronto. It's just under a very specific circumstance where everybody would expect for public safety reasons that the officer continue with the pursuit of an individual.”

But Coons said if a pursuit involved multiple suspects, it's possible that the RCMP officer could be separated from the U.S. officer. As for how much time a U.S. officer can be on shore or how far inland, Coons said "common sense prevails."

The project, named Shiprider, began in Detroit-Windsor area in September 2005, and was followed by two pilot projects two years later in Cornwall-Massena (Ontario-New York State) and the Strait of Georgia (British Columbia and Washington state).

In 2008, Canada and the U.S. negotiated a framework agreement. Legislation was introduced twice, but died because Parliament was prorogued.

The Canadian and U.S. officers involved in the program have all been trained at the Maritime Law Enforcement Academy in Charleston, S.C., where they are educated in Canadian and U.S. law, including criminal code, privacy laws and sovereignty and cultural issues.

Coons said they are still in the process of negotiating the final details of the water-based program with the U.S. Coast Guard and that it should launch in the next several months.

and the jason kenney award goes to... jason kenney (updated)

Have you all seen this petition? The Honourable [sic] Jason Kenney asks us to sign a petition thanking none other than Jason Kenney. Macleans found it amusing, and the National Post has the Twitter talk.

But it took Dan Murphy, cartoonist with The Province, to really do it justice. Please watch and share!

Note: To see this video, please click here. The auto-play was too annoying!

Also, my recent Kenney-related post is running at The Mark.

Also also, this cartoon at the Hamilton Spectator.

Also also also, Tabitha Southey: Cabinet minister is a thankless job – unless you’re Jason Kenney.

pancakes, pups, palestine: mini-holiday in london, ontario

We've just returned from a visit with our friends David and Stephanie in London, Ontario. We had such a lovely, relaxing time - plus we were off from work the previous weekend for wmtc7 - that it really felt like a mini vacation. It was also Diego's first time going away with us! He did very well, although Negrita, whose home we invaded, may not agree.

This get-together was definitely long-awaited. Last summer we cancelled because of Tala's injury (she could barely walk at the time), and the summer before our schedules refused to mesh.

David and Stephanie live in a beautiful old house full of books, art, and radical politics. Stephanie went to great lengths to make our visit special, especially in the kitchen. We easily could have been in a bed-and-breakfast or a country inn. I'm pretty sure we took a few breaks from eating and drinking to take walks with the dogs.

The gathering was also an opportunity for activism and education. David has a presentation about his experience with the Canadian Boat to Gaza, and I hadn't been able to attend his appearance in Toronto. So on Wednesday night, David and Stephanie invited some of their neighbours, set up a projector in the backyard, and passed around a few beers, and David gave his talk and answered questions.

I want to share as much of the talk as possible, and tell wmtc readers about an exciting new initiative in the movement to free Palestine. More soon.

follow-up: i still ♥ roku and a question about gaming

A few months ago, I blogged about our Roku streaming device. Shorter wmtc: I love it. We now only use streaming or DVDs - no more cable - and it's been great. And Roku is now available in Canada. If you don't already have a gaming system that allows you to stream on your television, I highly recommend picking up a Roku - and make it a Roku2 XS.

We were using our Roku XD for a couple of months when I learned that a different model supports a USB drive and a media server. We didn't know this when we bought ours, and since we bought it in Buffalo, we might not have been able to find that one anyway.

We tried a couple of home media servers in development, most notably Plex, but they were awful. (Maybe one day Plex will be a brilliant personal media server. Right now... no.) Finally, in frustration, we upgraded to the Roku2, just to get the USB drive. It. Is. Great. MLB + Netflix + being able to play anything we download = perfect.

Well, almost perfect. When Amazon Instant Video comes to Canada, it will be perfect. (Right now Canadians can watch Amazon Instant Video by using a tunnel or proxy server. I can do that on my computer, but can't stream it through Roku.)

The Roku2 remote also functions as a game controller, and Roku2 comes with a few games, including the full version of Angry Birds. I've never played video games before - not because I don't like them, but because I know I would like them too much. I find games of any type completely addictive. You name it - backgammon, puzzles, card games, word games. Once I start, I have trouble stopping. I've always felt that if I had video games in the house, I'd never watch a movie or read a book again.

That's a slight exaggeration, but still, do I need anything else to compete for my time?

But there it is. Angry Birds. And of course I really enjoy it. It won't wipe out movies or books, but it's starting to encroach on Coronation Street.

So I've been playing Angry Birds on downtime. I completed Poached Eggs (that level 21 was a killer), and was 10 or 12 levels into Mighty Hoax. I exited. And the next time I opened the game, I was back at level 20 of Poached Eggs. The final level of Poached Eggs, and every level I completed in Mighty Hoax, had been wiped out. Grrrr!

Does this happen frequently with video gaming? Can I prevent it from happening again? Can I restore my previously completed levels?

"dissenting doctors do canada proud" as harper and kenney follow a familiar pattern

The fightback over the Interim Federal Health Program (health coverage for refugees) is being noticed. So is the typical pattern of propaganda staged by the Harper Government^TM when it wants to kill another piece of what makes Canada a decent country.

First, Janet Bagnall in the Montreal Gazette nails the Harper Government playbook. Then Jeremy Klaszus, writing in the Calgary Herald, Harper and Kenney's home turf, writes:

Canadian doctors are fighting for all the refugee health cuts to be rescinded, so all are treated with dignity. Their dissent is an honourable act of welcoming, an example of what Canada can and should be.

Bagnall's excellent column is worth reading in its entirety.

The Harper government is nothing if not predictable in how it goes about dismantling a program or service. It starts by denigrating the program and the program's beneficiaries, and telling Canadians that they've been played for fools by the beneficiaries. Once that message has been drilled home, and the government judges that the moment is right and Canadians' attitudes changed, it proceeds to get rid of the offending program - no matter how impractical, immoral or ultimately costly the exercise might prove to be.

Examples include the gun registry (accompanied by criticism of the police departments that claimed it was useful) and alternative sentencing programs (with much sneering at justice departments, notably Quebec's, that believed having sentencing options was good for society).

The latest case is the government's decision to severely curtail or simply eliminate health benefits for refugees, with some slight backtracking last Friday.

Until June 30, the Interim Federal Health program, which is similar to provincial health-insurance programs, provided basic health coverage to refugee claimants no matter where they came from or under what circumstances. The coverage was available until a claimant became a permanent resident, at which point the province began picking up the tab, or until the claimant abandoned or withdrew his or her claim.

The government proceeded as it always does. First, denigrate the program: Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has tirelessly painted the IFH program as little more than a draw for bogus refugee claimants. Free eyeglasses and a round of antibiotics are, apparently, more than enough reason for people to try to sneak into Canada on their flight from war, famine or violence. Kenney labels failed claimants "illegal immigrants."

Second, tell Canadians they are being played for fools: Kenney has done his best to set Canadian citizens against refugees, saying refugees have until now been given better health care than residents, whereas in fact refugees have been given the same level of care as the lowest-income Canadians.

Third, when Canadians protest, as virtually the entire medical community in the country has, just tough it out: Call them "militants," "activists" and "extremists."

Dr. Philip Berger, chief of family and community medicine at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and a founding member of a group called Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care, says that those are words Kenney has used to describe national medical groups including the Canadian Medical Association, the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Union, the Canadian College of Physicians, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the Canadian Psychiatric Association and the Canadian Paediatric Society.

From Kenney's zeal to reform Canada's refugee program no one would guess that refugee-acceptance rates are at their lowest in the history of the Immigration and Refugee Board, at 38 per cent in 2010 and 2011, according to the University of Ottawa's Human Rights Research and Education Centre. In recent years, the centre has found, the acceptance rate has been stable at between 40 and 45 per cent of the roughly 25,000 claims made every year. At that rate, a total of 11,250 people are accepted every year, including 2011.

That figure is dwarfed by the 4.3 million people around the world who were newly displaced in 2011. Last year "saw suffering on an epic scale. For so many lives to have been thrown into turmoil over so short a space of time means enormous personal cost for all who were affected," Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said last month.

Ottawa seems less concerned with the fate of refugees than with how to categorize them. The government has two types: deserving and undeserving.

Deserving refugees, if health-care provision is a guide, are those who are government-sponsored, brought to Canada as permanent refugees through the Resettlement Assistance Program (as well as some victims of people-smuggling). According to Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care, these refugees will have cost-free access to physician visits, diagnostics and laboratory testing through their provincial health coverage, along with prescription drugs, vision care and dental coverage.

Undeserving refugees appear to include those sponsored by church groups or other humanitarian organizations; those who have come from countries designated by the minister as places where refugees should not be coming from; those who have sought asylum in Canada after fleeing their homeland; and those whose claims have been denied. Refugees from countries deemed "safe" by the minister will have no coverage even in the case of emergencies. ("Safe" is a fast-moving target. Amnesty International reported this week that migrants in Greece are being beaten up.)

Refugee claimants from countries Canada recognizes as not safe will be covered for urgent or essential care, including physician visits and laboratory and diagnostic testing, the Doctors for Refugee Care group says. There is no coverage for preventive care. Otherwise, refugees will not be eligible for health care unless their condition involves a risk, narrowly defined, to public health. A contagious illness such as pneumonia is not considered a threat.

Quebec has promised, temporarily, to fill the gap by paying for medical care for all refugees. Doctors have promised to keep track of cases of compromised care. The group Doctors for Refugee Care will collect data as refugee patients run out of medication and become ineligible for care.

"As soon as we get data on harm done to refugees, we will be reporting it," said Berger.

Klaszus brings the fight to Harper and Kenney's doorstep; this excellent column ran in the Calgary Herald. (It was posted in comments on this earlier thread, but many people don't see comments.)

Dissenting Doctors Do Canada Proud

It would have been easy to just keep quiet.

When the federal government announced cuts to refugee health care in April, it seemed like a done deal. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney indicated that starting this month, the government would no longer pay for supplemental health services such as prescription drugs, dentistry and eye care for refugees. This was framed in terms of fairness: most Canadians don't get government coverage for such things, so why should outsiders? That's not right!

"We do not want to ask Canadians to pay for benefits for protected persons and refugee claimants that are more generous than what they are entitled to themselves," Kenney said in a news release at the time. This, he suggested, would save money and protect Canadian taxpayers from being exploited.

Doctors were having none of it. Kenney's announcement triggered an incredible flourish of dissent. A coalition of care provider groups - including the Canadian Medical Association, dentists and social workers - protested the cuts in an open letter, warning Kenney that the changes would hurt some of the most vulnerable people in the country. The consequences could be "catastrophic," they warned. Protests erupted across the country.

To make their point, a couple of doctors even interrupted funding announcements by Conservative cabinet ministers. That takes cojones. These events are usually self-congratulatory affairs at which the minister is showered with adulation. Everyone present is expected to fall in line and give thanks.

So it was encouraging to see Chris Keefer, a doctor, spoil that tired script by confronting Natural Re-sources Minister Joe Oliver at Toronto General Hospital last month. "This is not the legacy of Canada," Keefer said of the cuts, interrupting Oliver. "This is not the kind of country that we want to live in."

Hospital administrators were visibly embarrassed by the disruption, and told Keefer to sit down. He didn't. He was then told that he ruined the announcement.

Tarek Loubani, a doctor in London, Ont., did the same thing to Human Resources Minister Diane Finley. "I'm very sorry minister, I cannot let you continue until the position of your government changes on this issue," said Loubani. "We're talking about people's lives here."

In the face of this dissent, Kenney is doing a contortion act, saying the supplemental coverage will continue for government-sponsored refugees, though not others. That appears to be a switch, though Kenney has described it as a clarification.

It seems more like obfuscation. If the goal is to make coverage equal for all, why is supplemental coverage now being upheld for government-sponsored refugees? That's inconsistent with the rationale Kenney laid out in April. Why should outsiders - government-sponsored or not - get coverage that we Canadians do not? This is supposed to irk us, remember? How quickly Kenney has forsaken the taxpayer!

The dissent will keep on, in part, because so many Canadians are connected with the refugee experience. My grandfather experienced it in Germany when the Red Army forced his family to flee westward from East Prussia in 1944. Even though my grandfather was a Ger-man seeking shelter and food from other Germans, he was always aware that he was viewed as an outsider. "An intruder," as he put it.

Refugees from eastern Germany took work from locals in the west. It was the same old story: Why are these people taking what is ours?

That experience of being ostracized made a deep impression on him. But so did small acts of welcome: a bed to sleep in, a foot bath, a loaf of bread. Later, he and my grandmother would extend similar hospitality by sponsoring a Vietnamese family when Canada opened its arms to the boat people. That great welcoming was easily one of our proudest moments as a nation.

Canadian doctors are fighting for all the refugee health cuts to be rescinded, so all are treated with dignity. Their dissent is an honourable act of welcoming, an example of what Canada can and should be.

Also: Elie Wiesel and the Toronto Board of Rabbis publicly denounce the defunding of refugee health care.

canadian health care professionals continue to speak out for refugee health care

The chorus of health care professionals publicly opposing the Harper Government's cuts to refugee health care services is growing stronger and louder. Every major health care professional association is speaking out against the Harper-Kenney regime's attack on refugees. The Harper government may be prepared to call every Canadian doctor, nurse, dentist, social worker, and optometrist "radical", but that brand won't stick.

It didn't work with environmental activism either. After Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver labelled opposition to the tarsands "radical groups" stacked with "jet-setting" celebrities, funded by "foreign special interest groups" who were trying to "hijack" the Canadian economy, thousands of Canadians joined the David Suzuki Foundation. Well-known and decidedly mainstream Canadians were moved to take a stand, including, most notably, Mike Holmes. Did you ever hear of a radical jet-setter having his own show on a home and garden channel? Me neither.

On the health care front, the Government's recent concession - restoring health care for one very limited group of refugees - is proof that the public outcry is working. But we have a long way to go. Please follow the example of the Canadian Medical Association, Canadian Dental Association, College of Family Physicians of Canada, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Canadian Nurses Associations, Association of Canadian Social Workers, and the Canadian Association of Optometrists: contact Stephen Harper, Jason Kenney, and Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq. Demand they restore the Interim Federal Health Program in its entirety. And if you haven't mailed your 59 cents yet, that's a good place to start.

But first, read this letter. [Please pardon the breaks; those were for posting purposes only. Click on any section to embiggen.]

A few days earlier, Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care released this statement:

Government backs down on IFHP cuts for one refugee group only

Doctors will not compromise on health coverage for all refugees

July 3, 2012

TORONTO—Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care is grateful that the Government has backed down on cuts to health coverage for one refugee group: Government Assisted Refugees. Doctors expect the same coverage for all other refugee groups.

On Friday, June 29, the day before the cuts went into effect, Minister Jason Kenney stated that the Government Assisted Refugees would not be affected by the cuts to their health coverage. The Citizenship and Immigration Canada website was changed on Friday afternoon to confirm that the government had indeed backed down on cuts for Government Assisted Refugees but for no other refugee group.

Such a reversal indicates that the government acknowledges the need for access to medications, prosthetics, emergency dental and vision services and other essential health services for refugees. The federal government has finally agreed with health care workers, as a matter of equity, that refugees deserve the same health coverage as other low income Canadians—no more, no less.

Despite this reversal, many other refugees will still be denied access to basic health services.

Dr. Philip Berger of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto stated, “Most concerning is that refugees who come from what the government deems to be ‘safe countries’, will be denied the most basic health coverage. These refugees will be denied care for serious conditions such as heart attacks, other medical emergencies and all chronic diseases. Pregnant refugee women and their babies will be denied care. The government needs to rescind the Interim Federal Health Program changes so that all refugees have access to basic health care.”

Dr. Megan Williams, from Somerset Community West Community Health Centre in Ottawa, said, “The vast majority of refugees who are sponsored by church groups and other citizens will lose access to life saving medications. Many of these refugees come from refugee camps and have endured war and other forms of violence. Imposing these cuts is inhumane for refugees and unfair to the church groups and other citizens who have sponsored these refugees in good faith.”

Dr. Meb Rashid of Women’s College Hospital in Toronto said, “The physician advocacy campaign against these cuts will continue until the government rescinds the cuts for all refugees. Over a dozen national organizations, representing a breath of health care workers, have condemned these cuts. Health care workers have organized across the country and have developed a surveillance system to document the effects of these cuts. We will publicize these cases so that the government, media, and other Canadians know the consequences of the government’s policy.”

The government’s concession for Government Assisted Refugees is too little and too late. Many other refugees will suffer because of the cuts that are still in place. Doctors and other health care workers expect that the government will rescind its plan to cut health care coverage for all refugees.

wmtc7 is awesome, or, 10 reasons i love hosting a summer potluck

Wmtc7 was last night, and I think it might have been the best wmtc party yet. It was certainly the our biggest turnout, with more than 40 people - and 10 dogs!

All week, southern Ontario had been sweltering under brutal heat and humidity. Then on Saturday morning it rained a bit, the skies were dark and threatening all day, and then... the humidity lifted, the skies cleared, and the temperature dropped. It was perfect weather for an outdoor gathering.

There was so much food that we couldn't fit it all on the table. We needed a separate table just for desserts! Some guests' offerings never made it out at all, and will feed Allan and I today and this week.

I made one change this year. For previous parties, I've been very hands-off about what people bring. If a friend said she didn't cook, I would say, "Just bring chips and salsa, or cookies, whatever." But last year I noticed this had led to an over-abundance of chips and salsa and we were a bit light on more substantial fare.

So this year, I made a short list of suggestions for people who prefer not to cook. It worked out great. We had more food, more variety, and people seemed to appreciate the bit of direction. The no-cook list included cheese and crackers, hummus and assorted dips, breads, pizza, samosas, spring rolls, rotisserie chicken, vegetables for dipping, cut-up fruit, and cookies. No one took me up on the chicken, but the pizza was a huge hit.

I also decided not to make this year's party a fundraiser. Although in past years we raised a lot of money for the War Resisters Support Campaign, and last year I asked for donations for Bad Rap for my birthday, I don't want our party to become about fundraising. I invited several new people this year, both from the library and from the IS, and I wanted them to attend without any pressure, and without wondering if I was boosting the guest list for donations.

This morning as I clean up and recover, I'm thinking about why I enjoy this annual tradition so much. And so, ten reasons I love hosting a summer potluck.

10. Having an artificial deadline to clean and do home repairs and improvements.

9. Having a backyard big enough to host a big party without being cramped for space.

8. Not worrying if anyone will show up, if there'll be enough food, or even if the weather will be nice. We've already had one party in the rain, and it was a blast. (It takes more than a little rain to keep Canadians from drinking beer!)

7. Introducing people to each other, potentially beginning new connections and friendships.

6. The element of surprise, the lack of control over what will be served.

5. Leftovers!

4. Dogs!

3. I experience no social anxiety whatsoever. I'm totally relaxed and in the moment.

2. I have a bit of a "pinch me, I'm dreaming" feeling at my good fortune. How did I meet all these wonderful people?

1. Feeling that I am part of a community - a feeling of belongingness - is extremely important to me. (I listed it on our "simple pleasures" list.) The wmtc party is like a mainline fix of belongingness.

jason kenney gets his wish: the anglicising of canadian citizenship

In some of the best work I've ever done for this blog, I compared "Discover Canada," the Harper Government's new Citizenship Guide, to its predecessor, "A Look at Canada," which was published by several Liberal governments. The results were eye-opening. Based on my analysis of the booklets, I concluded that Stephen Harper's and Jason Kenney's vision of Canada was:

A country that: does not value peace and tolerance; measures its history by armed conflict; does not encourage its citizens to work for social justice; is not concerned with protecting the environment; reveres the monarchy; is mostly Christian; warns immigrants to tame their savage ways; and emphasizes obedience to authority.

If you haven't read that post, or have only read the shorter versions published at The Mark and Straight Goods, and at the risk of self-tooting, I recommend it. Many more subtle points were lost for space considerations - and now some of those are producing results.

"Discover Canada" does more than illuminate the Harper Government's vision of Canada. For many immigrants, it creates a barrier to citizenship - an intentional barrier, and an unnecessary one.

A cultural history test

Immigrants from North America or from Commonwealth countries have a distinct advantage: they will have more general knowledge of the history and culture that is included in the citizenship test. We absorb that background knowledge without even realizing it. For example, before moving to Canada, I had never heard of Vimy Ridge and knew very little about the War of 1812, but when I heard and read about those events in Canada, I had background context in which to place them. I could easily grasp their general shape and outline, because they're also part of the history of my country of origin. But if I were from Afghanistan or Vietnam, would I be able to answer questions about Vimy Ridge? Many immigrants are finding that they can't.

According to a recent article in the Globe and Mail, the numbers of applicants who fail their citizenship test is climbing, and among certain groups, it is skyrocketing.

Across the board, the failure rate jumped from less than 4 per cent in 2009 to nearly 15 per cent last year. Nearly half of the Afghan-born immigrants vying to become Canadians last year, for example, failed; that’s compared to only 21 per cent in 2009. Meanwhile, fewer than 2 per cent of immigrants born in Australia, England and the United States failed last year.

A de facto advanced language test

The citizenship guide's content has changed, but so has its structure. Another significant difference between the new "Discover Canada" and its predecessors is the new guide's more advanced reading level. A higher reading level means more complicated sentence structures, more advanced vocabulary, more implied knowledge (assumptions not overtly stated), and usually a smaller font. This change can be summed up in one word: exclusion.

Citizenship for me and thee, but not for أنتم or நீ or bạn

Most Permanent Residents of Canada who have lived in the country long enough to be eligible for citizenship can speak, understand, and read either English or French very well. But do they understand it well enough to read a complex nonfiction book? (Does every Canadian-born Canadian read at that level?) Why should that advanced reading level be a requirement, and why should it be a barrier to citizenship? Apparently now it is.

Critics say the test functions as a de facto language test, driving many immigrant-service groups to offer citizenship classes in addition to language classes, with a heavy emphasis on grasping Canadian names and vocabulary likely to come up on the test.

The Vietnamese Association in Toronto is one of several groups that launched citizenship programs after fail rates skyrocketed. “The classes are a response to the need of the community,” said settlement worker Phuong (Patricia) Do, who runs the classes.

For people born in Vietnam, test fail rates went from 14.8 per cent in 2005 to 41.2 per cent last year. Ms. Do argues that higher language standards are the greatest barrier to getting questions right on the test and reading the guidebook sent to applicants.

“They may have family responsibility such as taking care of the children, or getting a job to share their costs of living, and do not have a chance to learn English as much as they like,” Ms. Do said, adding that many immigrants feel they can communicate in daily life but the test requires a higher proficiency.

Lien Le took the test in April in part because she feels citizenship, rather than permanent residency, will allow her to integrate into Canadian life as her two-year-old Canadian daughter grows up. Ms. Le, who worked as a biology teacher in Vietnam, has recently finished a Canadian college nursing program.

“I want to engage, be involved in society because my daughter was born here … so I want to get my citizenship as soon as possible,” said Ms. Le, who came from Ho Chi Minh City in 2007 when her husband’s application to sponsor her move to Canada was accepted.

She’s still awaiting her test results. “Even though I studied hard, I found the test really, really tough,” she said, noting many questions weren’t straightforward and required critical thinking. She said many of her friends, who work long hours at labour jobs, are unable to dedicate time to studying and face extensive language barriers.

“I have a college diploma, I have experience with writing tests with multiple-choice questions, so I know what should be the best answer,” she said. “But for those that … don’t even have a high-school diploma, how can they pass the test?”

By Order of Her Majesty

In my earlier post, I noted that "Discover Canada" contains ten times as many references to the Queen as the older "A Look at Canada," along with the three pictures of Queen Elizabeth II, the lyrics to "God Save the Queen" (why? this is not the Canadian national anthem), several references to the monarchy, and much emphasis on "the original immigrants" from England, Scotland, and France.

To place that in context, the Harper Government spent 28 million taxpayer dollars to celebrate the War of 1812, and another seven or eight million on the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. By contrast, the Government snubbed the anniversary one of Canada's most shining achievements, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and is cutting the Interim Federal Health Program (with one tiny exception), which provided health care to refugees for the bargain price of 59 cents per Canadian citizen.

For further context, one could gather a laundry list of the well-documented anti-immigrant and anti-refugee statements that have emanated from Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism [sic!] Jason Kenney.

The Harper Government has only one use for brown immigrants: as props for publicity purposes. Kenney's CIC has all but halted immigration, throwing out a self-created backlog of 280,000 applications, and rewriting immigration standards to comply with supposed labour demands, although how they arrived at those demands was not disclosed to the public. The only immigration class growing under the Harper-Kenney regime is temporary workers - people with no rights and no access to permanent settlement.

Taken together, we can see that the "Discover Canada" guide is fulfilling the purpose for which it was designed: as a barrier for non-Anglo immigrants. Now that people of colour will soon constitute a majority in Canada's two largest cities, the Harper Government tries to provide an antidote to that trend.

People who chose Canada for their new home - who met all the many requirements for immigration - who have lived here for the requisite number of years - who are working, raising a family, participating in their community - and who are motivated enough to study for a citizenship exam - and who could pass an exam if it required a more basic reading level and emphasized present day Canada, rather than a narrow reading of Canada's British Commonwealth past - should be welcomed as citizens. Not excluded.

two thoughts for canada day

I have no country to fight for; my country is the earth, and I am a citizen of the world.
- Eugene V. Debs

Thank you to the two Facebook friends who posted these.

how are you celebrating national stop harper day?

Today is National Stop Harper Day. People all over the country are using this day, officially known as Canada Day, to gather and organize and express their anger - and their fear - at the anti-democratic and inhumane policies of the Harper Government.

In keeping with the spirit of Occupy and all the related democracy movements that are sprouting through North America, there's no central organizing committee, but if you're interested in attending an event in your area, you should be able to find one. Or you could create one. Call a friend, make some signs, commandeer a street corner or a section of a local park.

In Vancouver, people will rally at Library Square. In Winnipeg, there'll be a funeral for Canada.

In Toronto, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid have won the green light to march under their own banner - and carry an 8-metre wall - in the Pride parade. Something tells me there'll be a lot of Stop Harper actions going on.

If you're celebrating Canada Day in a more traditional vein - grilling and swilling - enjoy it. Take a moment to reflect on what's being lost, and on the meaning of resistance.

canadian health care professionals stand up for refugee health care

These doctors and medical students are so inspiring! They are taking action not on their own behalf, but for the vulnerable, voiceless people they serve.

Several doctors released statements on Friday opposing the cuts.

"Why is minister Kenney persisting with interim federal health program cuts in the face of near-uniform opposition from national health organizations and now the governments of Ontario and Quebec?" Dr. Philip Berger, head of family medicine at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, wrote in a statement.

The changes "have nothing to do with equity and only to do with hurting refugees including pregnant women and their babies," he added.

Berger said opponents of the cuts plan to continue to dog government MPs across the country to show their opposition.

"The interventions at Conservative MP events across Canada will continue indefinitely."

Excellent photos of some of the 2,000 health care workers who protested the changes to the Interim Federal Health Program on June 18 are here on Your Heart's On The Left.

More information: Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care.

jason kenney calls refugees "illegal immigrants", scolds us for caring about them

My disgust at Jason Kenney reached new heights today, and that is really saying something. It's not enough to destroy the Federal Interim Health Program, leaving thousands of vulnerable people without health insurance in a country that claims to have universal health care. When Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews wrote a letter to Kenney and Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq protesting the budget cut, Kenney responded by admonishing the provinces for even caring about it. (How dare anyone care about someone who is not a Canadian citizen?!) Kenney really showed his star-spangled cards when he referred to refugee claimants as illegal immigrants.

Really, Jason? Illegal immigrants? People fleeing death, destruction, torture, starvation? People leaving their homes with only the clothes on their back, struggling through desperation that most of us can only begin to imagine? These are illegal immigrants?

It was bad enough repeatedly referring to certain people as "bogus refugees," as if anyone who applies for refugee status but whose case is rejected by the highly politicized IRB is a joke, a phony, a scam artist. Now these poor souls are "illegal immigrants". I cannot recall ever hearing this language used in Canada. Next we'll be hearing they're coming to steal our jobs and rape our women.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says provinces upset about cuts to refugee health services should be more concerned about their own citizens than rejected claimants who are taking advantage of the system.

Kenney is fending off protests from the medical community and now some provinces over the Conservatives' decision to cut benefits under the interim federal health program.

. . .

"I think that perhaps the provinces, some of the provinces who are raising this, have put their priority in the wrong place. They should be more focused on their own citizens and residents than people who are, in many cases we're talking here about illegal immigrants — that is to say, rejected asylum claimants who are under removal orders from Canada," he said at a news conference held to highlight the government's immigration reform agenda.

"The real question is why were we providing them with tax-funded health insurance in the past? That's what Canadians have been asking us and that's why we've acted in this way," he said.

Who's been asking you that, Jason? How many Canadians were clamouring for refugee claimaints to be stripped of health insurance? How many Canadians would have even thought about this, would have missed their $0.59, if it weren't for your relentless activism against refugees?

In my next post, Canadians respond.

in defense of drugs: anti-depressant medication saves and improves lives

Friends, if this post sounds like a conversation we've had, please don't take it personally. I've had the same or similar conversations with many people. This is a subject that seems to arise periodically - here, on Allan's blog, on Facebook, in any forum I frequent. That's why I thought it was time to gather my thoughts and put them in a post.

The conversation is about the illness known as depression - also called clinical depression - and the treatment of that illness with anti-depressant medications. Every so often, an athlete or an artist will go public about their struggles with depression, or a new study about either the good or evil of anti-depressants will appear, and I find myself having this familiar conversation. Often, I agree with many of the arguments, but disagree with the conclusion.

I don't use anti-depressants myself, but many people I love do. I've seen anti-depressants, especially the class of drugs known as Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), do tremendous good. I've seen them change lives and save lives. Without these medications, many people I love would lead dire, desperate, lonely lives. In some cases, I don't think they'd be alive at all.

These are some arguments I've heard against the use of anti-depressants, and my response to each.

Big Pharma is evil. True. Pharmaceutical companies are purely profit-driven, and will stop at nothing in their quest for a fatter bottom line. They falsify data from clinical trials. They create biased studies driven by marketing. They re-package normal behaviour into "syndromes," then market drugs to treat the fake diseases. They are engines of the capitalist un-health system that has more incentive to perpetuate disease than to promote health. All this is true.

However, some people need anti-depressants in order to live decent, productive, balanced lives. And Big Pharma is where those drugs come from.

I've never heard the greed and deception of pharmaceutical companies used as an argument against taking medication for arthritis, diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), or any other chronic disease. Only for depression.

We don't know how they work. Somewhat true. It is known how SSRIs work, but it's not clear why different SSRIs have such different effects on different people. The chemistry of the brain remains, in many ways, uncharted territory.

However, "we don't know how it works" may be a partial statement of fact, but it's not an argument against taking the drugs. No one knows what causes fibromyalgia. But I know I have it and I know how it affects my life. Science advances unevenly. One day the medical science behind SSRIs may be fully known. Until then, why should that knowledge gap bother us?

They are over-prescribed. True. They are also underprescribed. I have no doubt that since the advent of SSRIs, some doctors prescribe medication for conditions that might be treated equally well (or possibly better, in some cases) with talk therapy, or perhaps not treated at all. At the same time, many people who suffer from serious depression could be helped by these medications, but won't take them, because of bias from their doctors, their families, or themselves.

The simple fact of over-prescription does not mean all prescriptions for anti-depressants are unnecessary. "Baby with the bathwater" caution applies.

Every mood does not need to be medicated away. True. But depression is not a mood. People who use anti-depressants to treat clinical depression still have bad moods. They still feel anger, sadness, pain, and so on.

Consider this. How many people would go to the trouble of seeing a doctor, asking for a prescription, trying different medications, struggling with the inevitable side effects, and so on, because they feel normal sadness? Generally by the time a person seeks help for depression, they have been suffering for a very long time. Just as these medications are under-prescribed, they are under-requested.

The drugs are institutionally abused. True. The United States Army hands them out like Tic Tacs to any soldier feeling the effects of trauma. Many hospitals use them routinely. This fact does not change the condition of people with clinical depression, nor change the fact that SSRIs help them.

There are side effects, some of them potentially dangerous. True. This is true for most, if not all, drugs. Each of us weighs the costs and benefits, the risks and rewards, of taking medication. When conditions are serious enough, most of us are willing to put up with some risk. This is as true for depression as it is for arthritis, diabetes, and high cholesterol.

Medication is a shortcut. The only real treatment for depression is talk therapy. First of all, what's wrong with shortcuts? The moral imperative to do things the hard way should be tossed in the trash next to the whalebone corset and carbon paper. More importantly, many people with serious depression cannot participate in effective talk therapy without first taking medication. Medical therapy and talk therapy often work together to produce real results.

A study proved they don't work. I've noticed that articles about anti-depressants often graft sensational headlines onto banal stories, or present skewed and sketchy non-arguments. The headline "Study Shows Anti-Depressant Drugs Use Placebo Effect" may sit atop a story saying that one-quarter of the people studied experienced no results. But it's already known that these drugs don't work for everyone. On a website promoting non-pharmaceutical medication for depression, I saw: "Only 1 in 4 had positive results with the first medication tried." That only tells us that most people had to try several drugs before they determined whether medication was effective or not.

People who use anti-depressants know that they work. A friend of mine who struggled with suicidal thoughts and uncontrollable sadness and rage every single day of her life is now a happy and productive person. Without the drugs, the black cloud descends. These are facts for millions of people.

Depression is not a disease. It's part of the human condition. It's a normal part of life. I submit that the person who says this does not understand what depression is, or else has experienced a form so different that it rightly could be called something else entirely.

To split hairs, everything that humans experience is "part of the human condition". Arthritis and diabetes are part of the human condition, but we don't suggest that people suffer and die from those chronic illnesses when they can be easily treated.

It is not normal to be unable to get out of bed every morning because one's limbs are weighed down with despair. It is not normal to fight thoughts of suicide, every day. It is not normal to find no pleasure in anyone, anything, any time.

I'm not suggesting that feelings of depression are never a normal and temporary state, a reaction to a tragic or traumatic event in one's life. But when those feelings persist over time, drowning out all other feelings, until life doesn't seem worth living, separate from any situation or event, something else is going on.

I tried them and didn't like them. I hear this often, and I think this response gets closest to the heart of the problem with all of these arguments - and with so many arguments. Our experiences are not universal. Each of us is unique. The word "depression" may be - probably is - used to describe several different conditions. Your experience with depression may be totally different than someone else's. It may feel different, and respond to treatment differently.

I suffered from depression as a teenager. I didn't have medication. My depression passed from a combination of events: leaving an abusive home, stopping or reducing recreational drugging, and talk therapy. But why should I assume that my experience will apply to anyone else? In the grand mosaic of humanity, nothing seems to be one-size-fits-all - not sexuality or worldview or learning style or anything else, including mental health.

A few assumptions underlie most of these are arguments.

One assumption is the persistent stigma surrounding mental illness and mental health. Very few people would urge someone with diabetes, arthritis, or hypertension (all chronic conditions) to not seek medical treatment. Most of us believe we should extend our life expectancies by using medications when needed, in addition to making whatever lifestyle changes we can. Yet so many people won't extend that latitude to mental health, and insist that lifestyle changes should be enough. Get more exercise, suck it up, and get on with your life.

Another assumption, as I wrote above, is the universality of our own experience. If you tried anti-depressants and they either didn't help you or made you feel worse, then surely you shouldn't use them. If your own depression passed without using drugs and you are glad for that, then so be it. The challenge might be to own your experience without trying to apply it to anyone else.

And finally, I believe that many of the arguments against the use of anti-depressants stem from a lack of understanding of what clinical depression is. It's not "the blues," it's not a moral weakness, it's not a deeper understanding of life, it's not the price we pay for living. For a view into that heart of darkness, I recommend reading William Styron's Darkness Visible, and The Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon. These works bring you as close as you will ever come to understanding another human's experience.