I've wanted to visit The McMichael Canadian Art Collection for a long time, and my mother's visit gave me the perfect opportunity. She had actually been there before, but a very long time ago, on a sightseeing trip to Toronto and Ottawa. Allan, my mother and I did this yesterday.
The McMichael, located north of Toronto - near the suburbs of Richmond Hill, Woodbridge, and Vaughan - exhibits only Canadian art. Their permanent collection emphasizes Tom Thomson, Group of Seven, First Nations and Inuit art.
Although Thomson and the Group of Seven are perhaps the best known Canadian visual artists to Canadians, I had never heard of them before moving here, which is perhaps a commentary on how Canadian art is viewed (or not viewed) in the US.
We perused the whole Thomson and Group of Seven collection. I can't say I'm a huge fan of this work, but it was interesting to learn about the artists' social and historical significance. Their work was the first major attempt at forging a distinctly modern Canadian identity in art, rather than repeating and copying European styles. The artists traveled throughout Canada and painted the vast wilderness and variety of landscapes they found. I liked much of the later work that becomes more abstract and geometrical, less representational. I also appreciated the dark, rugged quality of some the landscapes.
I'm much more interested in Inuit and First Nations art than early 20th Century Anglo-Canadian art. But unfortunately for me, most of those galleries were closed, as a new exhibition is about to open there. We did get to see one First Nations room, and it piqued my interest for a future visit.
There was also an exhibit of work by photographer Yousuf Karsh. Portraits of famous people are not my thing, but photographs of auto workers and steel workers in Oakville, Windsor and Hamilton were interesting. It was nice to see every worker identified as an individual, not a nameless Everyman. Plus, now I know who made the photograph of Winston Churchill that has become everyone's mental image of the man.
The best part of the McMichael is probably the site itself, a stunning log and stone building situated in a 100-acre conservation area. There are paths and trails around the woods. Hopefully we can time a future visit with nice walking weather, but yesterday it was just too hot.
We drove into the tiny historical village of Kleinberg for a cold drink. Sadly, if you've seen one old town trying to live on tourism, you've seen them all. The only way these places can survive is through cutesy, expensive shops and restaurants. Still, it's nice to see a village at all, very different from nearby suburbs.
6.25.2009
textile museum, judy chicago, and me
My mother went home this morning. We had a very nice visit, a good mix of sightseeing and hanging out, grilling in the backyard and a few restaurants, watching baseball and playing with the dogs.
On Tuesday we went to the Textile Museum of Canada, in downtown Toronto. Connie, my mother, is a huge appreciator of handcrafted work of all kinds, as well as an expert knitter and talented needleworker in her own right. A textile museum is perfect for her, and a nice thing for us to do together.
I really enjoy small museums, the kind where you can easily see the entire museum in one visit. For example, in New York, although I love the Metropolitan Museum of Art, my favourite museum is The Frick. In Paris, although I'm glad I've been to the Louvre, I prefer the Marmottan or the Musée Rodin.
So when we arrived at the Textile Museum, I was pleased to learn it is just two floors of a small building. My mom and I explored one floor, had lunch at Java Joe's across the street, then went back to see the other floor. Perfect.
The current main exhibit is "When Women Rule The World: Judy Chicago In Thread". Judy Chicago, if you don't know her, is an immensely talented and creative feminist artist who works in many different media. It's been a long time since I've seen any of her work in person, and this exhibit deepened my appreciation of her.
There were works from Chicago's Birth Project (1980-1985) and Holocaust Project (1993), but what really grabbed me was Resolutions: A Stitch in Time (1994 to present). I would love to see more of these.
Resolutions takes the old idea of a needlework "sampler" and updates it. Think of those old embroidered aphorisms found in home of generations past: "Home Sweet Home", "Bless This House" and such. The expressions have become meaningless cliches, but the work itself was done by women, with their own hands. Of course that work was devalued as non-essential "women's work" - craft at best, but never art.
Judy Chicago's Resolutions: A Stitch in Time updates the idea of the sampler. Using needlework genius, as well as paint, applique and other media, the women of Resolutions created samplers with messages of hope for today's world. "Bury The Hatchet" shows a rabbi, a priest and an imam joining hands in work. "Two Heads Are Better Than One" shows a man and woman working together as equals. "Do A Good Turn" shows cooperation between generations, colours and genders. Each sampler displays needlework talent that seems almost otherworldly in its complexity, yet creates simple, direct beauty.
We watched a great video about the making of Resolutions. Chicago had just finished eight years of studying and creating Holocaust imagery. (Not incidentally, her central thesis on the Holocaust is that it arose not as an aberration, but directly from, Western culture.) She was overwhelmed by darkness and faced a choice: succumb, or choose hope. In keeping with her Judaism, she chose hope.
Resolutions: A Stitch in Time is a celebration of that choice, and of life, joy and hope. The project itself was collaborative every step of the way. Chicago assembled a group of talented women needleworkers. Together, they explored the themes that would be expressed and methods by which they could implement Chicago's designs. Chicago had the challenge of finding imagery to match the text, and she designed "resolutions" specific to each artist's special talents and skills. In the video, the women all attested to the profound experience of being part of the project, and to how much they learned about themselves and their craft.
Resolutions reminded me of all the talented people, everywhere, who work at their crafts because they want to and need to, and the seemingly infinite variety of ways that creativity is expressed.
* * * *
There was a time when all my writing energy was focused on trying to be published in as many places as possible, trying to see as many of my ideas in print as possible. I thought this way for many years.
Coincidentally to this, in 2001, Allan and I were planning a trip to Ireland. I had a long-standing fascination with Irish history and culture, and going to Ireland was the culmination of ten years of reading and dreaming.
A big part of the trip was hearing Irish music, which I adore. Every town we visited had at least one pub where traditional Irish music was played. We would drive into a town, ask at the B&B or in a shop where traditional music could be heard, and get the name of the pub, then we'd stop by that pub to ask what time music would start. In this way, we heard music every night of the trip, nearly 3 weeks.
This was not in tourist season, and we were usually the only non-locals in the pub. The music was played by whoever showed up. One night it might be two guitars, a pipe and a bodhrán, the next perhaps a guitar, a fiddle and a pipe, or any other combination.
The musicians sat at a table - no stage - and played whatever they wanted. Patrons would make requests, and sing along. Sometimes everyone in the pub would sing. Imagine this, a community of people hanging out at night together, raising their voices in song.
These musicians made music because they were musicians. They played for the joy of it, for their craft, and to keep their tradition alive. Undoubtedly they all had jobs and did this after work. You could say they made music because it gave their lives meaning.
I returned home from that trip with a new understanding of my own craft. I wasn't sorry I had spent so much time and energy trying to be published. That was something I needed to do, and it was important that I did it. But whatever I had needed to prove to myself was now proven.
I decided to stop applying pressure on myself, stop viewing publication as the necessary end of any writing. I still wanted an audience, of course, but I would get back in touch with the writer within, and not focus on the external affirmation.
Watching the video about the making of Judy Chicago's Resolutions, I remembered all this. The women who stitched these Resolutions are not famous. Standard Western culture does not even consider them artists, nor their work art. But they are, quite clearly, artists.
* * * *
I just might return to the Textile Museum for future exhibits.
On Wednesday, we visited the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, which I'll write about in my next post.
On Tuesday we went to the Textile Museum of Canada, in downtown Toronto. Connie, my mother, is a huge appreciator of handcrafted work of all kinds, as well as an expert knitter and talented needleworker in her own right. A textile museum is perfect for her, and a nice thing for us to do together.
I really enjoy small museums, the kind where you can easily see the entire museum in one visit. For example, in New York, although I love the Metropolitan Museum of Art, my favourite museum is The Frick. In Paris, although I'm glad I've been to the Louvre, I prefer the Marmottan or the Musée Rodin.
So when we arrived at the Textile Museum, I was pleased to learn it is just two floors of a small building. My mom and I explored one floor, had lunch at Java Joe's across the street, then went back to see the other floor. Perfect.
The current main exhibit is "When Women Rule The World: Judy Chicago In Thread". Judy Chicago, if you don't know her, is an immensely talented and creative feminist artist who works in many different media. It's been a long time since I've seen any of her work in person, and this exhibit deepened my appreciation of her.
There were works from Chicago's Birth Project (1980-1985) and Holocaust Project (1993), but what really grabbed me was Resolutions: A Stitch in Time (1994 to present). I would love to see more of these.
Resolutions takes the old idea of a needlework "sampler" and updates it. Think of those old embroidered aphorisms found in home of generations past: "Home Sweet Home", "Bless This House" and such. The expressions have become meaningless cliches, but the work itself was done by women, with their own hands. Of course that work was devalued as non-essential "women's work" - craft at best, but never art.
Judy Chicago's Resolutions: A Stitch in Time updates the idea of the sampler. Using needlework genius, as well as paint, applique and other media, the women of Resolutions created samplers with messages of hope for today's world. "Bury The Hatchet" shows a rabbi, a priest and an imam joining hands in work. "Two Heads Are Better Than One" shows a man and woman working together as equals. "Do A Good Turn" shows cooperation between generations, colours and genders. Each sampler displays needlework talent that seems almost otherworldly in its complexity, yet creates simple, direct beauty.
We watched a great video about the making of Resolutions. Chicago had just finished eight years of studying and creating Holocaust imagery. (Not incidentally, her central thesis on the Holocaust is that it arose not as an aberration, but directly from, Western culture.) She was overwhelmed by darkness and faced a choice: succumb, or choose hope. In keeping with her Judaism, she chose hope.
Resolutions: A Stitch in Time is a celebration of that choice, and of life, joy and hope. The project itself was collaborative every step of the way. Chicago assembled a group of talented women needleworkers. Together, they explored the themes that would be expressed and methods by which they could implement Chicago's designs. Chicago had the challenge of finding imagery to match the text, and she designed "resolutions" specific to each artist's special talents and skills. In the video, the women all attested to the profound experience of being part of the project, and to how much they learned about themselves and their craft.
Resolutions reminded me of all the talented people, everywhere, who work at their crafts because they want to and need to, and the seemingly infinite variety of ways that creativity is expressed.
* * * *
There was a time when all my writing energy was focused on trying to be published in as many places as possible, trying to see as many of my ideas in print as possible. I thought this way for many years.
Coincidentally to this, in 2001, Allan and I were planning a trip to Ireland. I had a long-standing fascination with Irish history and culture, and going to Ireland was the culmination of ten years of reading and dreaming.
A big part of the trip was hearing Irish music, which I adore. Every town we visited had at least one pub where traditional Irish music was played. We would drive into a town, ask at the B&B or in a shop where traditional music could be heard, and get the name of the pub, then we'd stop by that pub to ask what time music would start. In this way, we heard music every night of the trip, nearly 3 weeks.
This was not in tourist season, and we were usually the only non-locals in the pub. The music was played by whoever showed up. One night it might be two guitars, a pipe and a bodhrán, the next perhaps a guitar, a fiddle and a pipe, or any other combination.
The musicians sat at a table - no stage - and played whatever they wanted. Patrons would make requests, and sing along. Sometimes everyone in the pub would sing. Imagine this, a community of people hanging out at night together, raising their voices in song.
These musicians made music because they were musicians. They played for the joy of it, for their craft, and to keep their tradition alive. Undoubtedly they all had jobs and did this after work. You could say they made music because it gave their lives meaning.
I returned home from that trip with a new understanding of my own craft. I wasn't sorry I had spent so much time and energy trying to be published. That was something I needed to do, and it was important that I did it. But whatever I had needed to prove to myself was now proven.
I decided to stop applying pressure on myself, stop viewing publication as the necessary end of any writing. I still wanted an audience, of course, but I would get back in touch with the writer within, and not focus on the external affirmation.
Watching the video about the making of Judy Chicago's Resolutions, I remembered all this. The women who stitched these Resolutions are not famous. Standard Western culture does not even consider them artists, nor their work art. But they are, quite clearly, artists.
* * * *
I just might return to the Textile Museum for future exhibits.
On Wednesday, we visited the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, which I'll write about in my next post.
war resister support campaign fears more democracy subversion by harper govt
For those of you, who - like me - were unable to attend last week's fundraiser and update for the War Resister Support Campaign, I can update you a bit here. There's a lot going on.
War resister Kimberly Rivera, who received an emergency stay of deportation in late March, goes to court on July 8. Lawyer Alyssa Manning will continue to fight for the right of Kim, her husband Mario, and their three children to stay in Canada.
Several other war resisters have impending court dates or are waiting for potential deportation dates. We have reason to fear that the Harper Government will use the Parliamentary recess as an opportunity to aggressively go after war resisters. In other words, to turf them while they think no one is watching. This has happened twice before: last summer, and over the 2008-2009 winter recess.
Campaigners went to Ottawa last week, to brainstorm with supportive Members of Parliament for ideas and strategy. In attendance were:
Hon. Maurizio Bevilacqua (Vaughan), Liberal Immigration Critic
Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Etobicoke Centre)
Olivia Chow (Trinity—Spadina), NDP Immigration Critic
Alex Atamanenko (British Columbia Southern Interior)
Thierry St-Cyr (Jeanne-Le Ber), Bloc Québécois Immigration Critic
Gerard Kennedy (Parkdale—High Park), in whose riding several war resisters live, participated by telephone
The MPs want to find ways to protect the war resisters over the summer, and come up with strategies for ongoing support, so we're not scrambling in emergency mode every time a resister faces possible deportation. There are a few possible options in play, and as soon as we know more, I'll post more.
Meanwhile, even though Parliament has risen, you can still express your own ongoing support of war resisters to your own MP or any of the Immigration Critics.
War resister Kimberly Rivera, who received an emergency stay of deportation in late March, goes to court on July 8. Lawyer Alyssa Manning will continue to fight for the right of Kim, her husband Mario, and their three children to stay in Canada.
Several other war resisters have impending court dates or are waiting for potential deportation dates. We have reason to fear that the Harper Government will use the Parliamentary recess as an opportunity to aggressively go after war resisters. In other words, to turf them while they think no one is watching. This has happened twice before: last summer, and over the 2008-2009 winter recess.
Campaigners went to Ottawa last week, to brainstorm with supportive Members of Parliament for ideas and strategy. In attendance were:
Hon. Maurizio Bevilacqua (Vaughan), Liberal Immigration Critic
Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Etobicoke Centre)
Olivia Chow (Trinity—Spadina), NDP Immigration Critic
Alex Atamanenko (British Columbia Southern Interior)
Thierry St-Cyr (Jeanne-Le Ber), Bloc Québécois Immigration Critic
Gerard Kennedy (Parkdale—High Park), in whose riding several war resisters live, participated by telephone
The MPs want to find ways to protect the war resisters over the summer, and come up with strategies for ongoing support, so we're not scrambling in emergency mode every time a resister faces possible deportation. There are a few possible options in play, and as soon as we know more, I'll post more.
Meanwhile, even though Parliament has risen, you can still express your own ongoing support of war resisters to your own MP or any of the Immigration Critics.
we dog jason kenney all over the globe
You may recall that Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration - a/k/a Minister of Censorship and Deportation - was having trouble avoiding members of the War Resisters Support Campaign. It seemed like he couldn't turn around without tripping over a protest.
Mr Kenney appeared at an event in Mississauga: we were there.
Mr Kenney appeared in Toronto: we were there, and there.
Later that week, he appeared in Barrie: we were there.
That's about the time when the Ministry stopped announcing his whereabouts.
No matter. He appeared in Calgary: we were there.
And again in Toronto: there is no escape.
Are you ready for this? Yesterday Jason Kenney appeared in Oslo, Norway. And guess what?
From the Ministry's media release:
[An aside: the evils of communism?? What decade is this?]
And from the Campaign's media release:
And an excerpt from an email from the intrepid Dr. Molloy (a/k/a NCF!).
First a few protesters stood outside the hotel where Kenney was speaking, holding placards. Then she writes:
Mr. Kenney, there is no escape!
My friends, although we can't all follow Jason Kenney up close and personal, each one of us can email him and call his office. We can all deliver the message loud and clear:
STOP DEPORTING U.S. WAR RESISTERS! IMPLEMENT THE MOTION TO LET THEM STAY!
Constituency Office: 403.225.3480
Ottawa Office: 613.992.2235
Email: kennej@parl.gc.ca
Mr Kenney appeared at an event in Mississauga: we were there.
Mr Kenney appeared in Toronto: we were there, and there.
Later that week, he appeared in Barrie: we were there.
That's about the time when the Ministry stopped announcing his whereabouts.
No matter. He appeared in Calgary: we were there.
And again in Toronto: there is no escape.
Are you ready for this? Yesterday Jason Kenney appeared in Oslo, Norway. And guess what?
From the Ministry's media release:
Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney leaves tomorrow for an official visit to continental Europe and the United Kingdom. The Minister's agenda in Europe will include travel to Norway, Hungary, the Czech Republic and France, where he will represent the Government of Canada and Prime Minister Stephen Harper at various commemorative events on the Holocaust and the evils of communism.
While in Oslo, Norway, on June 24, the Minister will represent the Government of Canada at a major conference hosted by the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF), where Canada is expected to achieve full membership status.
"Our Government has taken steps to achieve full membership in the Holocaust Task Force," said Minister Kenney. "We will continue to promote the fundamental Canadian values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, while also promoting Holocaust education and combating anti-Semitism in all its forms."
During the remainder of the trip, the Minister will meet with senior government officials, pay his respects at various memorial and historical sites commemorating the Holocaust and the evils of communism, and continue to highlight Canada's ongoing commitment to combat anti-Semitism.
[An aside: the evils of communism?? What decade is this?]
And from the Campaign's media release:
Minister Kenney's office has announced that the minister will attend a conference hosted by the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF) in Oslo to seek full membership status on behalf of the Government of Canada.
"While the Canadian government is to be lauded for finally and formally recognising its historical failure to protect refugees from crimes against humanity, the current government is failing to protect refugees who are refusing to commit crimes against humanity in Iraq," said Dr. Patricia Molloy, a Canadian university professor and War Resisters Support Campaign activist who will be participating in the demonstration. "The majority of Canadians and Parliament agree that the deportation of even one more Iraq War resister would be too many. Minister Jason Kenney must act now to stop the deportations of Iraq War resisters to show that the Government of Canada isn't just paying lip service to the Geneva Conventions."
And an excerpt from an email from the intrepid Dr. Molloy (a/k/a NCF!).
First a few protesters stood outside the hotel where Kenney was speaking, holding placards. Then she writes:
I went over with my hand outstretched and introduced myself: "Mr. Kenney, I'm Patricia Molloy with the War Resisters Support Campaign in Toronto."
He didn't miss a beat. Oh, hi, how are you. Weclome to Oslo. What brings you here?
So, I said, actually I'd like to ask you a question. And then I said I want to first thank and congratulate him for what he's doing here today, that I applaud Canada's recognition of our historical failure to protect Jewish refugees.... you know the rest.... and my question is: why are you continuing to deport refugees who refuse to commit crimes against humanity etc etc.
He gave his usual spiel: that no refugees are deported, but once someone's refugee claim is turned down they have to obey the law, they're no longer refugees at that point so no refugees are ever deported from Canada.
Nice. Twas the usual, there's a process in place, there's the IRB, the courts etc etc. So I brought up the two parliamentary motions. He says they're nonbinding, so I say but they represent the will of the Canadian public who overwhelmingly support letting the resisters stay in Canada and as immigration minister you have the power to implement the motion. etc etc.
His cohorts meanwhile are taking all this in. I managed to get quite a bit in before a security came over and said that the presentations were about to start and that I'd have to move along. ...
He'll no doubt get wind that there were protesters... I got in his face and embarrassed him, very politely and astutely, in a foreign country, and I'll be interviewed tomorrow for a local paper with a large readership (and apparently read by journalists). ...
Mr. Kenney, there is no escape!
My friends, although we can't all follow Jason Kenney up close and personal, each one of us can email him and call his office. We can all deliver the message loud and clear:
STOP DEPORTING U.S. WAR RESISTERS! IMPLEMENT THE MOTION TO LET THEM STAY!
Constituency Office: 403.225.3480
Ottawa Office: 613.992.2235
Email: kennej@parl.gc.ca
6.24.2009
i support striking city workers and you should too
I am completely disgusted at the vitriol being directed at striking city workers in Toronto.
Apparently everyone wants other people to have less than what they have. Anyone Who Has More should be knocked down a peg. And god forbid the People Who Have More are paid with My Taxes! I don't want My Taxes to keep anyone comfortable! Everyone should suffer! Hey, if Those People were slaves, we wouldn't have to pay any taxes at all! Whoo-hoo!
Many of the people brimming over with anger and resentment towards striking city workers are well-paid and comfortable themselves. Some are even members of other, non-affected unions!
Newsflash, angry Torontonians. Gains for unionized workers raise the standards for all workers.
We all aren't lucky enough to belong to a strong union that fights to get us better pay, benefits or working conditions, or to keep what we already have. But the strong unions' efforts help all of us. That's been proven throughout history. Without the higher standards hard-fought for and won by unions, most of us would still be labouring under 19th Century conditions.
But all anyone cares about is the inconvenience to them. And of course, their taxes. "I pay their salaries! They have some nerve! I don't have bankable sick time, why should they?" Yes indeed, why should anyone have what I don't have. If I can't have it, no one should!
Can your employer unilaterally change your working conditions? Mine can.
Do you like it? I don't.
So should I advocate for everyone to have no control over their working life, like I do?
Isn't it better that some workers, rather than none, have a measure of input into their working conditions, through a collective bargaining agent?
For a good explanation of why sick time should be bankable, and why this is not just fat for Greedy Evil Unions, see Impudent Strumpet here and here. But my main point is not bankable sick time.
I've had my benefits cut and my workload increased because of layoffs and cutbacks. If I had a union to fight on my behalf, maybe that wouldn't have happened, or maybe the change wouldn't have been as severe. Maybe the company would have been forced to keep some of the laid off employees.
But because I work in a notoriously non-unionized sector, my employer can hit us with whatever they want. The cutbacks from my employer lower the standards throughout the industry. When the law firm I work for cut our transportation benefit and increased our workload, it wasn't long before another firm did, then another... and before you know it, that is becoming the new normal. When things improve, do you think they'll reinstate our benefits? Don't count on it.
That's how it works - in reverse - when union employees make gains through collective bargaining. A threshold is breached, a new standard is set. The higher standard becomes the new normal. We all win.
We should want people to have good jobs. Jobs through which you can support a family, take a child to the doctor without losing a day's pay (or your job!), have insurance so you don't have to choose between paying rent and taking your medication, have a decent vacation. We should want people to have good jobs so they can live good lives. So we can have a strong society.
But no. All we care about is paying less taxes, and the inconvenience to ourselves. Everyone Who Isn't Me should have not a penny more, not a single day off, not a hair more of comfort, than I have.
Canadians should be ashamed of themselves. I'm always hearing how much better Canada is than the US. Folks, this is as American as it gets, because it's all about ME. The individual. Here's Imp Strump again:
Stand strong, CUPE workers! Fight for yourselves, fight for us all!
Apparently everyone wants other people to have less than what they have. Anyone Who Has More should be knocked down a peg. And god forbid the People Who Have More are paid with My Taxes! I don't want My Taxes to keep anyone comfortable! Everyone should suffer! Hey, if Those People were slaves, we wouldn't have to pay any taxes at all! Whoo-hoo!
Many of the people brimming over with anger and resentment towards striking city workers are well-paid and comfortable themselves. Some are even members of other, non-affected unions!
Newsflash, angry Torontonians. Gains for unionized workers raise the standards for all workers.
We all aren't lucky enough to belong to a strong union that fights to get us better pay, benefits or working conditions, or to keep what we already have. But the strong unions' efforts help all of us. That's been proven throughout history. Without the higher standards hard-fought for and won by unions, most of us would still be labouring under 19th Century conditions.
But all anyone cares about is the inconvenience to them. And of course, their taxes. "I pay their salaries! They have some nerve! I don't have bankable sick time, why should they?" Yes indeed, why should anyone have what I don't have. If I can't have it, no one should!
Can your employer unilaterally change your working conditions? Mine can.
Do you like it? I don't.
So should I advocate for everyone to have no control over their working life, like I do?
Isn't it better that some workers, rather than none, have a measure of input into their working conditions, through a collective bargaining agent?
For a good explanation of why sick time should be bankable, and why this is not just fat for Greedy Evil Unions, see Impudent Strumpet here and here. But my main point is not bankable sick time.
I've had my benefits cut and my workload increased because of layoffs and cutbacks. If I had a union to fight on my behalf, maybe that wouldn't have happened, or maybe the change wouldn't have been as severe. Maybe the company would have been forced to keep some of the laid off employees.
But because I work in a notoriously non-unionized sector, my employer can hit us with whatever they want. The cutbacks from my employer lower the standards throughout the industry. When the law firm I work for cut our transportation benefit and increased our workload, it wasn't long before another firm did, then another... and before you know it, that is becoming the new normal. When things improve, do you think they'll reinstate our benefits? Don't count on it.
That's how it works - in reverse - when union employees make gains through collective bargaining. A threshold is breached, a new standard is set. The higher standard becomes the new normal. We all win.
We should want people to have good jobs. Jobs through which you can support a family, take a child to the doctor without losing a day's pay (or your job!), have insurance so you don't have to choose between paying rent and taking your medication, have a decent vacation. We should want people to have good jobs so they can live good lives. So we can have a strong society.
But no. All we care about is paying less taxes, and the inconvenience to ourselves. Everyone Who Isn't Me should have not a penny more, not a single day off, not a hair more of comfort, than I have.
Canadians should be ashamed of themselves. I'm always hearing how much better Canada is than the US. Folks, this is as American as it gets, because it's all about ME. The individual. Here's Imp Strump again:
Meanwhile, I'm terrified. Not by the strikes (although the prospect of a prolonged garbage strike with no alcohol available is kind of scary for someone with my phobias), but by the attitude of the public. There are so many loud people who seem so vehemently opposed to anyone making a decent living. They seem to genuinely and truly want all these people - LCBO workers, daycare workers, even garbage collectors - to be among the working poor, floating through contract hell. They seem to actively think that it's outright wrong for these workers to be making a decent working-class living, something where you can rent a small house in a safe neighbourhood, go to the dentist whenever necessary, buy your kid some skates for xmas and take them to Canada's Wonderland in the summer. This terrifies me, because if they want these people to be poor, they also want me to be poor. I'm far less important and have a far easier job than a garbage man! They just haven't noticed me yet because my job is to be invisible.
. . . .
I know many people in the world don't get to live at that level, but here in Toronto in the 21st century, it isn't really so much to ask. I'm not asking for diamond-encrusted platinum, I'm not even asking for a car, I just want to be able to continue to make a living that allows me these small comforts. But these loud angry people who begrudge the garbage men a paycheque that allows them to buy their kids skates will, as soon as they notice I exist, want to send me back to having things crawling out of my walls. I don't feel safe.
I'd like to see a study of the people who begrudge others a safe, steady living for a solid day's work. What do they do for a living? What's their financial situation and career history like? What are some examples of what they think are appropriately-compensated jobs?
Stand strong, CUPE workers! Fight for yourselves, fight for us all!
6.23.2009
"can harper, who spent most of life in alberta, really understand canada?"
I am no fan of Michael Ignatieff. Long before I decided to come to Canada, I read his work in The New York Times, and was repulsed. No matter what his apologists say, Ignatieff defended and rationalized U.S. foreign policy, and all the invasion, occupation and torture that goes with it.
As Liberal leader, Ignatieff has been a tough-talking hot air balloon, pounding his fist but doing nothing, propping up a government that should have been brought down long ago.
Despite my feelings about Ignatieff, and the ineffective Liberal Party in general, I find the Conservatives' personal arguments against the Liberal leader ridiculous - and dangerous. Watch out folks, this man is well educated! He's an elite! Are we to believe Stephen Harper grew up in a trailer park?
Such a transparent attempt to appeal to Joe Six Pack with anti-intellectualism should be beyond the pale of Canadian politics. But of course, nothing is beyond the pale for the Conservatives and their US-style campaigning. Whether or not there's even an election campaign going on!
This is on my mind today because of this excellent letter in yesterday's Globe and Mail, written in response to a Rex Murphy piece, in which Murphy pretends to decry the Conservatives' attack ads, then agrees with them. For me this letter lays the whole non-issue to rest.
As Liberal leader, Ignatieff has been a tough-talking hot air balloon, pounding his fist but doing nothing, propping up a government that should have been brought down long ago.
Despite my feelings about Ignatieff, and the ineffective Liberal Party in general, I find the Conservatives' personal arguments against the Liberal leader ridiculous - and dangerous. Watch out folks, this man is well educated! He's an elite! Are we to believe Stephen Harper grew up in a trailer park?
Such a transparent attempt to appeal to Joe Six Pack with anti-intellectualism should be beyond the pale of Canadian politics. But of course, nothing is beyond the pale for the Conservatives and their US-style campaigning. Whether or not there's even an election campaign going on!
This is on my mind today because of this excellent letter in yesterday's Globe and Mail, written in response to a Rex Murphy piece, in which Murphy pretends to decry the Conservatives' attack ads, then agrees with them. For me this letter lays the whole non-issue to rest.
Rex Murphy asks of Michael Ignatieff: Can He Feel What He Never Experienced? (June 20). Good point, Mr. Murphy. Can Stephen Harper, who spent most of adult life in Alberta, really understand the rest of Canada? Is that why he thought that cutting funding for culture will be popular in Quebec? Would someone able to "see anything of Calgary in Newfoundland" then lecture Atlantic Canadians about having "a culture of defeat"? Does the person who initially dismissed the economic crisis as a good chance to invest really "know" what those people losing their jobs felt?
When Mr. Ignatieff was away, he saw the world, had his ideas shaped by a great diversity of views and, to study and teach at Oxford and Harvard, had to compete against the best. When Mr. Harper was away in Alberta, he got to know, well, Alberta and, being a lifelong Reform/Conservative party apparatchik, knows and trusts only the people who think like him. Anything else deserves only a smirk or an attack ad.
Which one would you want to lead our country in a complicated world?
Piotr Trela, St. John's
6.22.2009
mom visit
My mother arrives today, staying until Thursday morning. I miss her and I'm excited to see her.
Connie - my mother - has been coming up every year since we moved here, but we've never done any sightseeing together.
The first year, when Allan and I lived near the Lake, we all worked around our house, walked on the Waterfront Trail, and poked around Port Credit.
The following year we had several plans, including the ROM, but shortly before the trip, Connie had injured her ankle and could barely walk. (She eventually needed surgery, but is fine now.)
Then last year, it was my turn. I was recuperating from a huge writing project, and we just did errands and relaxed.
We always have a good time, so whatever happens is fine, but this year, I hope to be a bit more active. I have two destinations in mind. Naturally, expect a report.
Connie - my mother - has been coming up every year since we moved here, but we've never done any sightseeing together.
The first year, when Allan and I lived near the Lake, we all worked around our house, walked on the Waterfront Trail, and poked around Port Credit.
The following year we had several plans, including the ROM, but shortly before the trip, Connie had injured her ankle and could barely walk. (She eventually needed surgery, but is fine now.)
Then last year, it was my turn. I was recuperating from a huge writing project, and we just did errands and relaxed.
We always have a good time, so whatever happens is fine, but this year, I hope to be a bit more active. I have two destinations in mind. Naturally, expect a report.
blogs now dead in more places
6.21.2009
petition to open the canadian embassy to injured iranians
Sign here.
Text of Petition:
Petition to Prime Minster Stephen Harper
Dear Prime Minster Harper,
We Canadians are lucky enough to live in a country where our government representatives listen to us and act when the people demand assistance. So now, we the voting public of Canada, are requesting you to listen to us and act upon our request.
I am sure you are all aware of the current coup d'état, demonstrations, violence and the silencing of the voting public by the Iranian government.
The past few days have been filled with violence and death in Iran. The wounded are unable to go to a hospital to receive care and treatment because they are being arrested and removed from the hospital before they receive treatment.
What a shame it is that people are safer in foreign embassies than at their own hospitals. What an even bigger shame is that Canada (a country known for its generosity and caring for people less fortunate then them) has not yet opened their doors to the wounded.
So far the Australian, Belgian, British, Dutch, Finnish, German, Irish, Italian, Norway, Portugese, the Swiss and the Embassy of the Republic of Solvenia, have all opened their doors and are providing aid and shelter and safety for the injured. But where is Canada? Why have we not opened our doors?
Please listen to the Canadian public and open our doors. To view the uproar and anger caused by Canada not opening their doors, visit www.twitter.com and search the tags #canadafail #canadianembassy #gr88 . There are thousands upon thousands of angered CANADIAN citizens who want their embassy opened to help the injured.
Please show us that Canada stands by their fellow countries that support democry and do not tolerate what is gong on in Iran.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Sign here.
Text of Petition:
Petition to Prime Minster Stephen Harper
Dear Prime Minster Harper,
We Canadians are lucky enough to live in a country where our government representatives listen to us and act when the people demand assistance. So now, we the voting public of Canada, are requesting you to listen to us and act upon our request.
I am sure you are all aware of the current coup d'état, demonstrations, violence and the silencing of the voting public by the Iranian government.
The past few days have been filled with violence and death in Iran. The wounded are unable to go to a hospital to receive care and treatment because they are being arrested and removed from the hospital before they receive treatment.
What a shame it is that people are safer in foreign embassies than at their own hospitals. What an even bigger shame is that Canada (a country known for its generosity and caring for people less fortunate then them) has not yet opened their doors to the wounded.
So far the Australian, Belgian, British, Dutch, Finnish, German, Irish, Italian, Norway, Portugese, the Swiss and the Embassy of the Republic of Solvenia, have all opened their doors and are providing aid and shelter and safety for the injured. But where is Canada? Why have we not opened our doors?
Please listen to the Canadian public and open our doors. To view the uproar and anger caused by Canada not opening their doors, visit www.twitter.com and search the tags #canadafail #canadianembassy #gr88 . There are thousands upon thousands of angered CANADIAN citizens who want their embassy opened to help the injured.
Please show us that Canada stands by their fellow countries that support democry and do not tolerate what is gong on in Iran.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Sign here.
flip flop fly fun
I miss my quiet work weekends, reading Pepys Diary and Impudent Strumpet, scanning Common Dreams and Rabble for essays. There was work, but there was down-time, too.
But when a company slashes one-third of its support staff, down-time becomes a thing of the past. After so many years of saving certain reading for work weekends, I've yet to develop a new system, carve out new time, for my must-reads. Things are piling up. Uncomfortably so.
I'll need a full week of vacation just to explore this delicious site: Flip Flop Fly Ball.
Check it out. Its creator, Craig Robinson, says, "A love of baseball plus a love of infographics equals Flip Flop Fly Ball." I say, wow, I love the internet, because it brings me all this creativity and wonder.
Many thanks to M@ for turning me and Allan on to this.
But when a company slashes one-third of its support staff, down-time becomes a thing of the past. After so many years of saving certain reading for work weekends, I've yet to develop a new system, carve out new time, for my must-reads. Things are piling up. Uncomfortably so.
I'll need a full week of vacation just to explore this delicious site: Flip Flop Fly Ball.
Check it out. Its creator, Craig Robinson, says, "A love of baseball plus a love of infographics equals Flip Flop Fly Ball." I say, wow, I love the internet, because it brings me all this creativity and wonder.
Many thanks to M@ for turning me and Allan on to this.
was the taser abuse that killed robert dziekanski premeditated?
In case - while you were distracted by Liberal bluster and the revolution in Iran - you missed this.
Most of this Canadian Press story focuses on reactions to the late release of the email, RCMP explanations of the late release, how the late release delays the inquiry, and various other double-speak obfuscation.
I'm not sure if Occam's Razor applies here, but past experience with all police, military and government authorities in the history of the universe point to a simple explanation: cover up.
On a related note, here's a good letter to the Globe and Mail this week:
A single sentence contained in an email between RCMP brass in the weeks after Robert Dziekanski died has derailed a public inquiry, raising questions yet again about the testimony of four police officers and prompting calls for further investigation of the national police force.
As closing arguments were set to begin on Friday, a lawyer for the inquiry revealed a previously unreleased email that suggested the RCMP officers developed a plan to use a Taser before they arrived at Vancouver's airport.
All four insisted in their testimony that they did not.
. . .
The email was written in November 2007, just weeks after Dziekanski's confrontation with the Mounties.
In it, Chief Supt. Dick Bent and RCMP Assistant Commissioner Al McIntyre were discussing their media strategy for the release of the now-infamous amateur video of the fatal confrontation.
Bent recounted a conversation with Supt. Wayne Rideout, who was in charge of the investigation into Dziekanski's death.
"Spoke to Wayne, and he indicated that the members . . . . had discussed the response en route and decided that if he did not comply, that they would go to CEW (Taser)," wrote Bent, whose email was read in court on Friday.
. . .
Ujjal Dosanjh, a former B.C. premier and the federal Liberals' public safety critic, used the furor over the undisclosed email to call for a "comprehensive federal review" of the RCMP and its policies on Tasers.
"It should look at whether or not . . . the culture of the RCMP is broken and whether or not it is in need of a major overhaul," Dosanjh said in an interview.
"And if it is, what are the recommendations for that overhaul."
Most of this Canadian Press story focuses on reactions to the late release of the email, RCMP explanations of the late release, how the late release delays the inquiry, and various other double-speak obfuscation.
I'm not sure if Occam's Razor applies here, but past experience with all police, military and government authorities in the history of the universe point to a simple explanation: cover up.
On a related note, here's a good letter to the Globe and Mail this week:
While I applaud the editorial board for its position on Mr. Abdelrazik, it must be chided on one point: You forgot to warn him that, after landing in Canada, under no circumstances should he approach a stapler.
Laurelyn Jenkins, Vancouver
woody allen comes home
For those interested, as I am, in Woody Allen, and to a lesser extent, in Larry David:
When Woody Met Larry, by Brian Johnson, in Maclean's.
Of course it will be ages until I see "Whatever Works," but I very much look forward to it.
Thanks to Redsock.
When Woody Met Larry, by Brian Johnson, in Maclean's.
Of course it will be ages until I see "Whatever Works," but I very much look forward to it.
Thanks to Redsock.
leash free in the gta
Happy Summer Solstice!
On this day of maximum sunlight, I'm thinking about how much I'm enjoying my new suburban lifestyle. I know it's not that new anymore - August 30 will be four years - but I still appreciate it every day.
I will always love cities, and a part of me will always miss urban life. But after living a very urban lifestyle from the time I started university in 1978 until moving to Canada in 2005, I am so enjoying the difference.
Living in a house, and having a backyard: those were the two main reasons we chose to live in Mississauga. For the rent we could afford, we could find a nice apartment in Toronto, but we really wanted a whole house. And the backyard. The backyard! We adore it. In the warm months, weather permitting, we eat dinner outside every night, and I work outside on the patio as often as possible. On beautiful spring days, I like to email friends who are stuck in offices: "I'm sitting on the patio with an iced coffee...". Ha!
But we don't only enjoy outdoor space sequestered in our own backyard. I've blogged about this before, but it bears repeating: the parks in Toronto and Mississauga - especially the dog parks - are amazing.
Mississauga itself is full of lovely public parks, and a handful of them have leash-free areas. We live very near Garnetwood Park, which has a big, fenced-in enclosure that's leash-free. It's just a big dog run within a larger (and beautiful) park, as you'll find in Toronto, New York and many other cities, but larger. It's great for us because it's so nearby - not walking distance, but a 10-minute drive. The proximity helped us socialize Tala more easily.
When we lived in Port Credit, we drove a bit further down the lake to Jack Darling Park, the jewel in Mississauga's leash-free crown, and as good a dog park as you'll find anywhere. There's a huge open meadow for romping, and a trail through a wooded area, all of it completely fenced. At an average walking pace, a loop through the park takes about 40 minutes - great for people, and a great way to get a dog accustomed to hiking and walking on a trail.
Jack Darling is a longer drive now, but we would still go down there once in a while, because the dogs (and I) love it. Unfortunately there's some construction going on there now. There's an alternate fenced-in area, which is huge, but without the trail, there's not much incentive to drive all the way there.
At about the same time the construction started at Jack Darling, I thought Tala might be ready for High Park. Our friends James and Lori, of Miniature Australian Shepherd fame, had mentioned it several times when all of our dogs were playing together in the backyard. We were waiting until Tala seemed ready for a dog park that's not completely fenced in, but uses the natural boundaries of where people stand and where dogs generally run.
But after trying it once (see here), a new tradition - or at least a habit - was born. Now, on any available holiday, the eight of us meet at a dog park: James, Lori, Allan, Laura, Cobalt, Denim, Cody and Tala.
The dogs go absolutely wild for this. They always love going to the park, of course, but meeting at these special parks is joy of another magnitude. The last time we met at Toronto's High Park, we arrived first, and Cody planted herself at the entrance, craning her neck, scanning the path from the parking lot - very obviously waiting for her friends to appear. When they did, she started leaping about, overjoyed.
To our surprise, High Park is much closer than we expected, and quickly supplanted Jack Darling as our favourite dog destination. (I knew where it was, of course; we pass it all the time. But I hadn't realized that the drive time - local roads to Jack Darling versus the highway on a holiday - would make a park in Toronto more convenient than one in Mississauga.)
High Park is Toronto's largest park. It's huge and very multi-faceted, and the leash-free area is amazing. It's a similar idea to Jack Darling - an open play area where the dogs run around, then a combination of paths and trails, where people and dogs can do an leash-free loop.
It's hillier than Jack Darling, and there's a creek. The only downside, for us, is that there are also bikes on the path, and sometimes a park bus (one of those fake trollies) - and we can't trust Tala not to chase. We stay alert and keep her leash at the ready, but there are also enough distractions that sometimes she doesn't care.
Our most recent doggie meet-up was at Cherry Beach, our first time there. (James and Lori go there very frequently.) Allan and I loved this one. The park itself is hidden away; you could drive past the turnoff every day and never know it's there. But over a series of little bridges, past a few marinas and some industrial buildings, you find a stand of tall trees abutting a sandy shoreline. And imagine, a leash-free stretch of lakefront! From May to September, the leash free hours are restricted, but it still seems so great to me.
Another one we want to try is Etobicoke Valley Park, which we hear contains a nice stretch of Etobicoke Creek where dogs can splash in the summer.
It probably seems a little odd to write about these parks and not post pictures. But I never feel like taking the camera when we go - and if I did, I'd only have dog photos anyway, nothing that would show you the park itself. I promise more dog pics some time this summer. Possibly involving a hose.
On this day of maximum sunlight, I'm thinking about how much I'm enjoying my new suburban lifestyle. I know it's not that new anymore - August 30 will be four years - but I still appreciate it every day.
I will always love cities, and a part of me will always miss urban life. But after living a very urban lifestyle from the time I started university in 1978 until moving to Canada in 2005, I am so enjoying the difference.
Living in a house, and having a backyard: those were the two main reasons we chose to live in Mississauga. For the rent we could afford, we could find a nice apartment in Toronto, but we really wanted a whole house. And the backyard. The backyard! We adore it. In the warm months, weather permitting, we eat dinner outside every night, and I work outside on the patio as often as possible. On beautiful spring days, I like to email friends who are stuck in offices: "I'm sitting on the patio with an iced coffee...". Ha!
But we don't only enjoy outdoor space sequestered in our own backyard. I've blogged about this before, but it bears repeating: the parks in Toronto and Mississauga - especially the dog parks - are amazing.
Mississauga itself is full of lovely public parks, and a handful of them have leash-free areas. We live very near Garnetwood Park, which has a big, fenced-in enclosure that's leash-free. It's just a big dog run within a larger (and beautiful) park, as you'll find in Toronto, New York and many other cities, but larger. It's great for us because it's so nearby - not walking distance, but a 10-minute drive. The proximity helped us socialize Tala more easily.
When we lived in Port Credit, we drove a bit further down the lake to Jack Darling Park, the jewel in Mississauga's leash-free crown, and as good a dog park as you'll find anywhere. There's a huge open meadow for romping, and a trail through a wooded area, all of it completely fenced. At an average walking pace, a loop through the park takes about 40 minutes - great for people, and a great way to get a dog accustomed to hiking and walking on a trail.
Jack Darling is a longer drive now, but we would still go down there once in a while, because the dogs (and I) love it. Unfortunately there's some construction going on there now. There's an alternate fenced-in area, which is huge, but without the trail, there's not much incentive to drive all the way there.
At about the same time the construction started at Jack Darling, I thought Tala might be ready for High Park. Our friends James and Lori, of Miniature Australian Shepherd fame, had mentioned it several times when all of our dogs were playing together in the backyard. We were waiting until Tala seemed ready for a dog park that's not completely fenced in, but uses the natural boundaries of where people stand and where dogs generally run.
But after trying it once (see here), a new tradition - or at least a habit - was born. Now, on any available holiday, the eight of us meet at a dog park: James, Lori, Allan, Laura, Cobalt, Denim, Cody and Tala.
The dogs go absolutely wild for this. They always love going to the park, of course, but meeting at these special parks is joy of another magnitude. The last time we met at Toronto's High Park, we arrived first, and Cody planted herself at the entrance, craning her neck, scanning the path from the parking lot - very obviously waiting for her friends to appear. When they did, she started leaping about, overjoyed.
To our surprise, High Park is much closer than we expected, and quickly supplanted Jack Darling as our favourite dog destination. (I knew where it was, of course; we pass it all the time. But I hadn't realized that the drive time - local roads to Jack Darling versus the highway on a holiday - would make a park in Toronto more convenient than one in Mississauga.)
High Park is Toronto's largest park. It's huge and very multi-faceted, and the leash-free area is amazing. It's a similar idea to Jack Darling - an open play area where the dogs run around, then a combination of paths and trails, where people and dogs can do an leash-free loop.
It's hillier than Jack Darling, and there's a creek. The only downside, for us, is that there are also bikes on the path, and sometimes a park bus (one of those fake trollies) - and we can't trust Tala not to chase. We stay alert and keep her leash at the ready, but there are also enough distractions that sometimes she doesn't care.
Our most recent doggie meet-up was at Cherry Beach, our first time there. (James and Lori go there very frequently.) Allan and I loved this one. The park itself is hidden away; you could drive past the turnoff every day and never know it's there. But over a series of little bridges, past a few marinas and some industrial buildings, you find a stand of tall trees abutting a sandy shoreline. And imagine, a leash-free stretch of lakefront! From May to September, the leash free hours are restricted, but it still seems so great to me.
Another one we want to try is Etobicoke Valley Park, which we hear contains a nice stretch of Etobicoke Creek where dogs can splash in the summer.
It probably seems a little odd to write about these parks and not post pictures. But I never feel like taking the camera when we go - and if I did, I'd only have dog photos anyway, nothing that would show you the park itself. I promise more dog pics some time this summer. Possibly involving a hose.
6.19.2009
abdelrazik can come home: one down, how many to go?
Well hallefuckinlujah, saints be praised, the Harper Government says it will comply with a federal court order and allow Abousfian Abdelrazik to come home.
It's completely shameful that it took a protracted public battle and a court order to make this happen. Even after the ruling, the Government delayed, saying it needed time to study the situation and decide whether or not to appeal.
But finally, at long last, the Government will obey the rule of law.
One down, how many to go?
Omar Khadr must come home to Canada.
And, as Parliament has voted twice, Iraq War resisters seeking sanctuary in Canada must be allowed to stay.
* * * *
I'm typing my little fingers off for peace today, so - barring some new insane outrage - wmtc will be quiet for a bit. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves.
It's completely shameful that it took a protracted public battle and a court order to make this happen. Even after the ruling, the Government delayed, saying it needed time to study the situation and decide whether or not to appeal.
But finally, at long last, the Government will obey the rule of law.
One down, how many to go?
Omar Khadr must come home to Canada.
And, as Parliament has voted twice, Iraq War resisters seeking sanctuary in Canada must be allowed to stay.
* * * *
I'm typing my little fingers off for peace today, so - barring some new insane outrage - wmtc will be quiet for a bit. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves.
6.18.2009
tomorrow night: what's next for iraq war resisters in canada
If you're in the Toronto area and you support US war resisters in Canada, please join us tomorrow night for a casual dinner, socializing, and a political and legal update on the campaign to Let Them Stay.
When:
Friday, June 19
5:30 doors open
6:00 buffet dinner
7:00 updates, featuring lawyer Alyssa Manning, campaign representatives and war resisters
Where:
Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil Street, Toronto
Admission:
$20, proceeds go to war resister legal defense.
RSVP:
Email resisters@sympatico.ca or leave a comment here and I'll pass it along.
When:
Friday, June 19
5:30 doors open
6:00 buffet dinner
7:00 updates, featuring lawyer Alyssa Manning, campaign representatives and war resisters
Where:
Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil Street, Toronto
Admission:
$20, proceeds go to war resister legal defense.
RSVP:
Email resisters@sympatico.ca or leave a comment here and I'll pass it along.
war resisters in limbo: "this place is hell, and i didn't do anything wrong"
This report was written by Sarah Lazare, of Courage To Resist.
Read the report here.
At Fort Bragg, North Carolina, AWOL soldiers find themselves detained for months under difficult conditions in an extended legal limbo they cannot escape.
Dustin Stevens is one of about 50 soldiers being held at Fort Bragg awaiting likely AWOL and desertion charges that seem like they will never arrive, he says.
A former soldier who refused to continue military service seven years ago because he did not want to fight a war, Stevens says that he and his colleagues are being held in legal limbo - a no man's land of poor living standards and arbitrary punishments - while awaiting charges and possible court-martial. Stevens has been in a holdover unit for five months without charges, and he says that others have been held for up to a year in conditions he describes as harrowing.
The unit is overcrowded and filthy, he says, with four people to a room. The command verbally abuses the soldiers, with one commanding officer proclaiming, "We should just shoot you all," according to Stevens. Troops are not receiving the medical and mental health care they need. "People around me are literally going crazy. I hear people threaten suicide on a daily basis," says Stevens. "They won't give us leave passes unless it's a dire emergency, so we're just sitting here, day by day."
The command offered the soldiers a free pass if they agreed to deploy to Afghanistan, according to Stevens. About ten people took up the offer, he says. Those who decline must find a way to endure.
. . . .
Stevens says that the people being held in the 82nd Holdover Unit went AWOL for various reasons, some because they were opposed to the war, some because the Army wouldn't let them leave to tend to family problems, and some because of medical problems.
"It is horrible here. We are treated like animals," he says. "We're all just lost, wanting to go home. Some of us are going crazy, some were already crazy, some are sick," he says. "I'm bouncing on a pin needle. I read all of the time, I talk to people all of the time to try to stay out of this place in my mind. It's really hard."
"AWOL troops being held in a replacement unit is totally absurd and unusual and is an example of how the command has plenty of ways to punish people and enforce discipline, bypassing the formal justice system. Smoking people, giving them unofficial duties, mistreatment, and in this case, making an example out of people and segregating them, are all informal mechanisms of punishment commonly used in the military." says Carl Davison, Iraq war resister and member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. "People who follow their consciences deserve our support, and there needs to be a highly vocal community out there to let them know they are not alone."
"Every single person here should not be here. There are people here who should be in mental hospitals, who are just sitting here. This place is hell, it really is," says Stevens. "And in my mind, I didn't even do anything wrong."
Read the report here.
new york state condones taser abuse
I have another good item from James, which is handy, because I'm transcribing for the campaign today and tomorrow, and have limited blogging time.
In what is believed to be the first ruling of its kind, a New York State court has determined that police can taser a suspect in order to obtain a DNA sample without his consent.
Think about the implications of this.
If the police cannot obtain the evidence they need through the normal methods - that is, by doing their jobs - they can zap you to get some. And you can be forced to give up evidence, as long as there's a warrant and the police aren't being "malicious". Although who will judge this maliciousness and how it will be defined isn't noted.
The taser in this case isn't being used to subdue a dangerous, out-of-control suspect, or to protect the police; it's being used to force a suspect to give potentially incriminating evidence. It's pain compliance, pure and simple. The more pain compliance is rationalized and condoned, the more it will be abused, as law enforcement knows the state will back them up.
In other words, this court has ruled that the police can torture you to obtain evidence.
With any luck, the ACLU will be on this, and it will be overturned. But this is a frightening and dangerous push of the envelope of state intrusion into bodily integrity.
Note that in this case, the suspect has already given a DNA sample, which was corrupted through bureaucratic incompetence.
In what is believed to be the first ruling of its kind, a New York State court has determined that police can taser a suspect in order to obtain a DNA sample without his consent.
Think about the implications of this.
If the police cannot obtain the evidence they need through the normal methods - that is, by doing their jobs - they can zap you to get some. And you can be forced to give up evidence, as long as there's a warrant and the police aren't being "malicious". Although who will judge this maliciousness and how it will be defined isn't noted.
The taser in this case isn't being used to subdue a dangerous, out-of-control suspect, or to protect the police; it's being used to force a suspect to give potentially incriminating evidence. It's pain compliance, pure and simple. The more pain compliance is rationalized and condoned, the more it will be abused, as law enforcement knows the state will back them up.
In other words, this court has ruled that the police can torture you to obtain evidence.
With any luck, the ACLU will be on this, and it will be overturned. But this is a frightening and dangerous push of the envelope of state intrusion into bodily integrity.
Note that in this case, the suspect has already given a DNA sample, which was corrupted through bureaucratic incompetence.
It is legally permissible for police to zap a suspect with a Taser to obtain a DNA sample, as long as it's not done "maliciously, or to an excessive extent, or with resulting injury," a county judge has ruled in the first case of its kind in New York State, and possibly the nation.
Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza decided that the DNA sample obtained Sept. 29 from Ryan S. Smith of Niagara Falls — which ties him to a shooting and a gas station robbery — is legally valid and can be used at his trial.
Smith was handcuffed and sitting on the floor of Niagara Falls Police Headquarters when he was zapped with the 50,000- volt electronic stun gun after he insisted he would not give a DNA sample.
He already had given a sample, a swab of the inside of his cheek, without protest the previous month. But police sent it to the wrong lab, where it was opened and spoiled. Prosecutors who had obtained a court order for the first sample went back to Sperrazza, who signed another order without consulting the defense.
Defense lawyer Patrick M. Balkin denounced the ruling in an interview with The Buffalo News.
"They have now given the Niagara Falls police discretion to Taser anybody anytime they think it's reasonable," he asserted. "Her decision says you can enforce a court order by force. If you extrapolate that, we no longer have to have child support hearings; you can just Taser the parent."
A police officer said that when Smith was ordered by officers to give his DNA, he adamantly refused.
"I ain't giving up my DNA again. I already gave it up once. I'll sit in jail. I ain't giving it up. You're going to have to Tase me," the officer's report stated.
The officer wrote that he then applied the stun gun to Smith's left shoulder, a "drive stun" that is regarded as less painful than shooting electric prongs into a person, which is the usual Taser approach. Smith then consented to the sample, and he was arrested on a contempt of court charge.
In her ruling, Sperrazza cited numerous legal precedents and the state's Criminal Procedure Law, allowing the use of reasonable force to carry out a court order.
u.s. vs canada (unscientific) health care poll
Small sample size, and unscientific survey, but interesting nonetheless. From a Daily Kos journal, sent to me by James.
Good graphic representation of this and discussion here.
91% of Canadians have never had necessary health care delayed or denied... as opposed to 34% of Americans.
. . .
Total Canadians: 333
Never had necessary health care denied or delayed: 304 votes - 91%
Have had necessary health care denied: 7 votes - 2%
Have had necessary health care delayed: 19 votes - 5%
Have had necessary health care denied and delayed: 3 votes - 1%
Total Americans: 841
Insured, never had necessary health care denied or delayed: 283 votes - 34%
Insured, have had necessary health care denied: 99 votes - 12%
Insured, have had necessary health care delayed: 125 votes - 15%
Insured, have had necessary health care denied and delayed: 122 votes - 15%
Uninsured: 212 votes - 25%
Good graphic representation of this and discussion here.
6.17.2009
the tory-lib coalition lives on
The Coalition lives on.
Canadians will lose their homes and rely on food banks while the Government and the so-called Opposition study Employment Insurance. Not fix. Study.
The endless minority Government lives on.
And Michael Ignatieff shows himself to be Stephane Dion with a better accent. Full of threats and bluster, but too weak to make real change.
James Curran sums it up with one question, "We dumped our former Leader because...?"
It's too depressing to write another word. Here are some other people's words:
Canadian Soapbox:
Peace, Order and Good Government, eh?:
Thomas Walkom, Toronto Star:
Don Martin, National Post:
Tiny Perfect Blog:
Scott Feschuk, Macleans:
More Feschuk:
Michael Ignatieff, CTV News, June 17, 2009 [emphasis added]:
Many thanks to Redsock for gathering and posting the quotes.
Canadians will lose their homes and rely on food banks while the Government and the so-called Opposition study Employment Insurance. Not fix. Study.
The endless minority Government lives on.
And Michael Ignatieff shows himself to be Stephane Dion with a better accent. Full of threats and bluster, but too weak to make real change.
James Curran sums it up with one question, "We dumped our former Leader because...?"
It's too depressing to write another word. Here are some other people's words:
Canadian Soapbox:
Iggy gets a powerplay and scores ... into his own net
Ignatieff's plan was to criticize and demand changes. ... Harper mulled those demands over for perhaps a nanosecond before basically saying "no". ... I've never seen someone trying to sound forceful and decisive while back pedalling so fast.
Peace, Order and Good Government, eh?:
Ignatieff must think this little bit of theatre allows him to be perceived as holding the government accountable and makes it appear as though we have a system that works. But in fact, people who have recently lost their jobs and don't qualify for EI, or those who will lose their jobs between now and the end of September (at least) and don't qualify for benefits, are still out of luck. Ignatieff claims he got results but he didn't. He got an agreement to talk about maybe getting some results in three and a half months.
Thomas Walkom, Toronto Star:
It's hard to take the federal Liberals seriously. They claim they want to hold Prime Minister Stephen Harper to account. But they don't. They criticize the Conservative government endlessly. But when the crunch comes, they support it. ...
For the Liberals, the time is never right. They come up with endless excuses for never forcing an election on the minority Harper government: They don't have enough money; they don't have enough candidates; their leader is too new; the polls are inauspicious; the weather is too warm; the weather is too cold.
In the spring, they say wait until fall. In the fall, they say wait until spring.
Don Martin, National Post:
The rookie Liberal leader went from condemning the government on multiple fronts, preening himself as a portrait of moral rectitude willing to defend his party’s virtue on the campaign trail if those Conservative evil-doers didn’t play nice with the unemployed, to a leader who was knocked back on his heels by a Prime Minister who did nothing but reject his key proposal.
Tiny Perfect Blog:
Remember "I will not sign a blank cheque," or "this government changes EI or they're done"?
This week, Ignatieff was reduced to begging for a bit of information from Harper in exchange for confidence, and he didn't even get that.
It seems as if the Ignatieff team felt the only thing needing change from the Dion days was the ability to knuckle under with flair!
Scott Feschuk, Macleans:
Stephane Dion may be gone from a leadership role, but his legacy of hysterical threats followed by ignoble climbdowns lives on, affecting our perception of his successor. This government is terrible, it is horrible, it is an abomination unto God himself – and we are totally going to do something about it, eventually, somewhere down the road, maybe spring-ish. But now we dance!
More Feschuk:
What do we want? Further numerical information pursuant to a number of ongoing political files!
When do we want it? By Friday. Or perhaps later. Listen, we’re flexible on that!
Michael Ignatieff, CTV News, June 17, 2009 [emphasis added]:
Let me be clear, we don't have an agreement here. We have an agreement to work hard, professionally, and seriously with top level officials to get a legislative proposal before parliament if we can. I give you no guarantees that we can get there, but I know in my heart I can look unemployed Canadians in the eye today and say I’ve done my darnedest for you.
Many thanks to Redsock for gathering and posting the quotes.
memo to british airways: slavery was outlawed in the 19th century. do try to keep up.
Cash-strapped British Airways has come up with a sure-fire cost-cutting plan: slavery.
This is outrageous. But even more outrageous, is that the no-pay strategy is not as unusual as we might think. At least one southern Ontario factory is doing this right now - and frightened workers are still showing up, weeks after their paycheques have stopped doing so.
Don't be fooled by CEO Walsh's own unpaid work. Presumably he can afford to coast on investments, savings or discretionary cash a bit better than the average worker. How many of us could survive with no income for any length of time?
There are also more insidious forms of this type of slavery. The worker who must come in early to set up, or stay late to prep for the next day - off the clock. Layoffs that leave survivors doing three times the work for the same level of compensation. The subtle - and overt - pressure to never use a sick day or vacation time, lest your job disappear in your absence.
Further on, we have people working two and three part-time jobs because housing costs have so outstripped pay levels. And even for those currently well employed, the constant stress of not knowing if your job is next.
If you have to stop paying workers to run your business, your business isn't working.
If you need massive infusions of tax dollars to prop up the entire system, your system isn't working.
The answer is right under our noses, but people are too addicted to profit and the sacred idea of private ownership to see it. Capitalism is collapsing. We need a better way.
British Airways has asked its 40,000 staff to work without pay for up to a month as the ailing airline seeks to cut costs.
The group, which made a record £401 million loss in 2008 amid surging fuel prices and a collapse in premium-fare passengers, is seeking to reduce costs dramatically and has already offered staff unpaid leave or a reduction in hours.
Willie Walsh, BA's chief executive, has now gone a step further by asking staff to volunteer for between one and four weeks of unpaid work in what he says is a "fight for survival."
Mr Walsh, who said last week that he would work for free in July, has set a deadline of June 24 for employees to volunteer for unpaid work. He said that the salary deductions would be spread over three to six months wherever possible.
BA denied that those staff who volunteered for unpaid work would be given preference if the airline imposes a further round of redundancies.
This is outrageous. But even more outrageous, is that the no-pay strategy is not as unusual as we might think. At least one southern Ontario factory is doing this right now - and frightened workers are still showing up, weeks after their paycheques have stopped doing so.
Don't be fooled by CEO Walsh's own unpaid work. Presumably he can afford to coast on investments, savings or discretionary cash a bit better than the average worker. How many of us could survive with no income for any length of time?
There are also more insidious forms of this type of slavery. The worker who must come in early to set up, or stay late to prep for the next day - off the clock. Layoffs that leave survivors doing three times the work for the same level of compensation. The subtle - and overt - pressure to never use a sick day or vacation time, lest your job disappear in your absence.
Further on, we have people working two and three part-time jobs because housing costs have so outstripped pay levels. And even for those currently well employed, the constant stress of not knowing if your job is next.
If you have to stop paying workers to run your business, your business isn't working.
If you need massive infusions of tax dollars to prop up the entire system, your system isn't working.
The answer is right under our noses, but people are too addicted to profit and the sacred idea of private ownership to see it. Capitalism is collapsing. We need a better way.
the blog is dead. yawn.
Why are you all reading this blog? Don't you know no one reads blogs anymore?
About a week ago, I saw yet another blogging-is-dead story in the Globe and Mail. (I can't find the version I saw online, but I did find the same story in the Halifax Chronicle Herald.) The headline was enough to set me off: "For most, blogging is a boulevard of broken dreams - Online writers start out with dreams of money and fame, but the reality is that only 5 per cent of blogs are frequently updated".
What is it about these stories that bother me so much?
First, stories that turn something patently obvious into a "report" generally make me slap my forehead. People start projects and don't finish them? Do tell!
But the "life" sections of newspapers are full of perennials - literally full, that's basically all they are - and while I find most of those stories silly, they don't make me grind my teeth. It's the pseudo-analysis of internet activity, and of blogging, that irritate me here.
Of course millions of people started blogs and didn't continue to write them. That's what people do. Blogging is free, and at some point it became a hip thing to do. So a lot of people started blogs, but didn't continue. The end. But because it's on the internet - ooo, the internet! - it gets treated as news.
So why, as the article claims, are only 5% of blogs "frequently updated"?
Apparently some bloggers stop blogging because they lack readership. There's a shocker.
Another reason bloggers stop blogging, the story suggests, is that they move on to other platforms, like Facebook and Twitter. I would argue that if Facebook and Twitter can replace your blogging, you weren't much of a blogger in the first place. I'm not denigrating social networking or micro-blogging. They clearly have a place and serve their many functions. But those functions are not redundant with blogging. There's no reason Facebook or Twitter should make good blogs obsolete.
But mainly, the writer seems to be trying - somewhat desperately - to make the case that people thought they would get rich and famous by blogging. He doesn't offer much proof. One person says:
Yes, wouldn't we all. But most of us don't read the subject lines in our spam folders as serious job opportunities.
Another former blogger opines:
A third defunct blogger brought in some advertising dollars posting videos of his dog destroying things in his home. Amazingly enough, that got old and fizzled out.
So some people never attracted an audience, others lost interest in blogging, and others people ran out of things to say. Whoever heard of such a thing?
Meanwhile, there's no mention of all the activity blogs - the knitting, home renovations, gardening, cooking, cycling, (etc. etc.) blogs - where people with similar interests read and share ideas.
No mention of all the therapeutic blogs, where people are working out specific issues and offering support to others doing the same.
No mention of all the blogs that serve as personal journals, with no great concern for building readership.
And, most bizarrely, no mention of political blogs. Because yes, people do want to read that stuff.
* * * *
Regarding the millions of people who started blogs and didn't continue them, one word: writing. Blogging is writing. Not everyone wants to write, has a need to write. And not everyone can write.
In another era, the cliche was the unfinished screenplay in the desk drawer; before that, it was the unfinished novel. Now it's the abandoned blog. The only difference is now the unfinished work hangs around online, announcing its abandoned state. The last visible post begins with "Sorry I haven't posted in so long..." and a vow to post more often.
How many bloggers really started out "with dreams of money and fame"? Were so many people that foolish?
I was writing for a decade or more before I learned that some people try to write a book because they imagine it's a good way to earn a lot of money. Writing books as a way to get rich! This still leaves me slack-jawed and head-shaking. For every J. K. Rowling (depending on the generation, substitute John Grisham, Stephen King, Danielle Steel, and so on) there are 5,000 published writers you'll never hear of, who teach (and work in law firms!) to support themselves. There's another 5,000 whose books are never published.
But there's probably another 100,000 who never complete the book. "You're a writer? I always thought I should write a book. I have a great idea..." Oh yes, the great idea. And, "It's all here in my head, I just have to write it down..." I smile and nod. Yes, that's the hard part. Getting it out of your head into a form that someone else can read. That's called writing.
Blogging is easier than writing a book, and it's easier than writing a newspaper column, if only because you're not obligated to churn out a certain number of words every week. Blogging doesn't give you a word length, doesn't oblige you to find credible sources. It also doesn't censor you, tone you down - or guarantee you a readership.
But blogging is still writing. It doesn't make you rich, and it's not for everybody.
Some thoughts on why I blog are here.
About a week ago, I saw yet another blogging-is-dead story in the Globe and Mail. (I can't find the version I saw online, but I did find the same story in the Halifax Chronicle Herald.) The headline was enough to set me off: "For most, blogging is a boulevard of broken dreams - Online writers start out with dreams of money and fame, but the reality is that only 5 per cent of blogs are frequently updated".
What is it about these stories that bother me so much?
First, stories that turn something patently obvious into a "report" generally make me slap my forehead. People start projects and don't finish them? Do tell!
But the "life" sections of newspapers are full of perennials - literally full, that's basically all they are - and while I find most of those stories silly, they don't make me grind my teeth. It's the pseudo-analysis of internet activity, and of blogging, that irritate me here.
Of course millions of people started blogs and didn't continue to write them. That's what people do. Blogging is free, and at some point it became a hip thing to do. So a lot of people started blogs, but didn't continue. The end. But because it's on the internet - ooo, the internet! - it gets treated as news.
So why, as the article claims, are only 5% of blogs "frequently updated"?
Apparently some bloggers stop blogging because they lack readership. There's a shocker.
Another reason bloggers stop blogging, the story suggests, is that they move on to other platforms, like Facebook and Twitter. I would argue that if Facebook and Twitter can replace your blogging, you weren't much of a blogger in the first place. I'm not denigrating social networking or micro-blogging. They clearly have a place and serve their many functions. But those functions are not redundant with blogging. There's no reason Facebook or Twitter should make good blogs obsolete.
But mainly, the writer seems to be trying - somewhat desperately - to make the case that people thought they would get rich and famous by blogging. He doesn't offer much proof. One person says:
I was always hoping more people would read it, and it would get a lot of comments. . . Every once in a while I would see this thing on TV about some mommy blogger making $4,000 a month, and thought, 'I would like that.'
Yes, wouldn't we all. But most of us don't read the subject lines in our spam folders as serious job opportunities.
Another former blogger opines:
Before you could be anonymous, and now you can't. . . The Internet is different now. I was too web 1.0. You want to be anonymous, you want to write, like, long entries, and no one wants to read that stuff.
A third defunct blogger brought in some advertising dollars posting videos of his dog destroying things in his home. Amazingly enough, that got old and fizzled out.
So some people never attracted an audience, others lost interest in blogging, and others people ran out of things to say. Whoever heard of such a thing?
Meanwhile, there's no mention of all the activity blogs - the knitting, home renovations, gardening, cooking, cycling, (etc. etc.) blogs - where people with similar interests read and share ideas.
No mention of all the therapeutic blogs, where people are working out specific issues and offering support to others doing the same.
No mention of all the blogs that serve as personal journals, with no great concern for building readership.
And, most bizarrely, no mention of political blogs. Because yes, people do want to read that stuff.
* * * *
Regarding the millions of people who started blogs and didn't continue them, one word: writing. Blogging is writing. Not everyone wants to write, has a need to write. And not everyone can write.
In another era, the cliche was the unfinished screenplay in the desk drawer; before that, it was the unfinished novel. Now it's the abandoned blog. The only difference is now the unfinished work hangs around online, announcing its abandoned state. The last visible post begins with "Sorry I haven't posted in so long..." and a vow to post more often.
How many bloggers really started out "with dreams of money and fame"? Were so many people that foolish?
I was writing for a decade or more before I learned that some people try to write a book because they imagine it's a good way to earn a lot of money. Writing books as a way to get rich! This still leaves me slack-jawed and head-shaking. For every J. K. Rowling (depending on the generation, substitute John Grisham, Stephen King, Danielle Steel, and so on) there are 5,000 published writers you'll never hear of, who teach (and work in law firms!) to support themselves. There's another 5,000 whose books are never published.
But there's probably another 100,000 who never complete the book. "You're a writer? I always thought I should write a book. I have a great idea..." Oh yes, the great idea. And, "It's all here in my head, I just have to write it down..." I smile and nod. Yes, that's the hard part. Getting it out of your head into a form that someone else can read. That's called writing.
Blogging is easier than writing a book, and it's easier than writing a newspaper column, if only because you're not obligated to churn out a certain number of words every week. Blogging doesn't give you a word length, doesn't oblige you to find credible sources. It also doesn't censor you, tone you down - or guarantee you a readership.
But blogging is still writing. It doesn't make you rich, and it's not for everybody.
Some thoughts on why I blog are here.
6.16.2009
letter from iran
From The Mark, How Social Movements Can Change Iran, by Noushin Ahmadi Khorasani, Iranian women's rights activist, author, journalist. Worth reading.
frank rich on fox news, responsibility and domestic terrorism
Frank Rich's most recent column is excellent.
Full column with links here.
When a Fox News anchor, reacting to his own network's surging e-mail traffic, warns urgently on-camera of a rise in hate-filled, "amped up" Americans who are "taking the extra step and getting the gun out," maybe we should listen. He has better sources in that underground than most.
The anchor was Shepard Smith, speaking after Wednesday's mayhem at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. Unlike the bloviators at his network and elsewhere on cable, Smith is famous for his highly caffeinated news-reading, not any political agenda. But very occasionally — notably during Hurricane Katrina — he hits the Howard Beale mad-as-hell wall. Joining those at Fox who routinely disregard the network's "We report, you decide" mantra, he both reported and decided, loudly.
What he reported was this: his e-mail from viewers had "become more and more frightening" in recent months, dating back to the election season. From Wednesday alone, he "could read a hundred" messages spewing "hate that's not based in fact," much of it about Barack Obama and some of it sharing the museum gunman's canard that the president was not a naturally born citizen. These are Americans "out there in a scary place," Smith said.
Then he brought up another recent gunman: "If you're one who believes that abortion is murder, at what point do you go out and kill someone who's performing abortions?" An answer, he said, was provided by Dr. George Tiller's killer. He went on: "If you are one who believes these sorts of things about the president of the United States ..." He left the rest of that chilling sentence unsaid.
These are extraordinary words to hear on Fox. The network"s highest-rated star, Bill O'Reilly, had assailed Tiller, calling him "Tiller the baby killer" and likening him to the Nazis, on 29 of his shows before the doctor was murdered at his church in Kansas. O'Reilly was unrepentant, stating that only "pro-abortion zealots and Fox News haters" would link him to the crime. But now another Fox star, while stopping short of blaming O'Reilly, was breaching his network's brand of political correctness: he tied the far-right loners who had gotten their guns out in Wichita and Washington to the mounting fury of Obama haters.
What is this fury about? In his scant 145 days in office, the new president has not remotely matched the Bush record in deficit creation. Nor has he repealed the right to bear arms or exacerbated the wars he inherited. He has tried more than his predecessor ever did to reach across the aisle. But none of that seems to matter. A sizable minority of Americans is irrationally fearful of the fast-moving generational, cultural and racial turnover Obama embodies — indeed, of the 21st century itself. That minority is now getting angrier in inverse relationship to his popularity with the vast majority of the country. Change can be frightening and traumatic, especially if it's not change you can believe in.
We don't know whether the tiny subset of domestic terrorists in this crowd is egged on by political or media demagogues — though we do tend to assume that foreign jihadists respond like Pavlov's dogs to the words of their most fanatical leaders and polemicists. But well before the latest murderers struck — well before another "antigovernment" Obama hater went on a cop-killing rampage in Pittsburgh in April — there have been indications that this rage could spiral out of control.
This was evident during the campaign, when hotheads greeted Obama's name with "Treason!" and "Terrorist!" at G.O.P. rallies. At first the McCain-Palin campaign fed the anger with accusations that Obama was "palling around with terrorists." But later John McCain thought better of it and defended his opponent's honor to a town-hall participant who vented her fears of the Democrats' "Arab" candidate. Although two neo-Nazi skinheads were arrested in an assassination plot against Obama two weeks before Election Day, the fever broke after McCain exercised leadership.
That honeymoon, if it was one, is over.
Full column with links here.
the people of iran show us how it's done
Last night, watching the streets of Tehran overflowing with protesters, people demanding election accountability, demanding change, I thought: this is what the United States should have looked like in 2000. If it had, maybe there wouldn't have been a second stolen election in 2004.
My mother used to say there would never be a revolution in the US, because people would miss their favourite TV show.
She was right. Our minds are so deadened from consumer culture, that as long as we can eat McDonald's, watch American Idol and buy ShamWow, democracy can go to hell.
I am hopeful for the people of Iran. I look at their courage and strength, at their numbers, and I envy them.
My mother used to say there would never be a revolution in the US, because people would miss their favourite TV show.
She was right. Our minds are so deadened from consumer culture, that as long as we can eat McDonald's, watch American Idol and buy ShamWow, democracy can go to hell.
I am hopeful for the people of Iran. I look at their courage and strength, at their numbers, and I envy them.
ignatieff: dion with eyebrows?
Yesterday morning, Allan and I watched Michael Ignatieff's press conference, and we thought we were headed for an election. At long last, a chance to get rid of this endless, anti-democratic, anti-human Conservative minority government.
I read the "I don't want an election," as a rhetorical device. "I don't want to do this, but the actions and attitude of the Prime Minister leave me no choice...". Just as when Ignatieff announced, "We hate this budget, it's the worst, it stinks, but...", the real message is in the "but".
We didn't watch Harper's reply, and we didn't watch question period.
Then next time we turned on the TV, the election threat had cooled. On The National, the "At Issue" panel said Ignatieff looked weaker as the day wore on. Today's Globe and Mail says Ignatieff was mollified with a few vague, minor promises from Harper, undoubtedly worth no more than the hot air on which they floated out of the Prime Minister's lying mouth.
Polls show Canadians don't want an election. But as a friend said last night, when do Canadians want an election? How does "never" sound? There's no evidence that the Liberals would be punished at the polls for triggering an election. The Conservatives sure weren't punished last time.
The Liberals aren't ready? If they're not ready now, what the $%^&?! are they waiting for?
If Ignatieff doesn't pull the trigger this Friday, he looks as weak as his jellyfish predecessor. The Liberals should be more worried about that than the wealth of their campaign fundraising or Canadians complaining about another election. Michael Ignatieff should be worried about becoming Dion Deux.
I read the "I don't want an election," as a rhetorical device. "I don't want to do this, but the actions and attitude of the Prime Minister leave me no choice...". Just as when Ignatieff announced, "We hate this budget, it's the worst, it stinks, but...", the real message is in the "but".
We didn't watch Harper's reply, and we didn't watch question period.
Then next time we turned on the TV, the election threat had cooled. On The National, the "At Issue" panel said Ignatieff looked weaker as the day wore on. Today's Globe and Mail says Ignatieff was mollified with a few vague, minor promises from Harper, undoubtedly worth no more than the hot air on which they floated out of the Prime Minister's lying mouth.
Polls show Canadians don't want an election. But as a friend said last night, when do Canadians want an election? How does "never" sound? There's no evidence that the Liberals would be punished at the polls for triggering an election. The Conservatives sure weren't punished last time.
The Liberals aren't ready? If they're not ready now, what the $%^&?! are they waiting for?
If Ignatieff doesn't pull the trigger this Friday, he looks as weak as his jellyfish predecessor. The Liberals should be more worried about that than the wealth of their campaign fundraising or Canadians complaining about another election. Michael Ignatieff should be worried about becoming Dion Deux.
sweet creamery: great gelato in cabbagetown
Yesterday we finally visited Sweet Creamery, the new gelato and ice cream sensation in Toronto's Cabbagetown neighbourhood.
The gelato is a knock-out. Rich but light, sweet and refreshing, popping with flavour. The newest flavour may be my favourite: watermelon. It takes like a watermelon melted into cream. And it's watermelon, the fruit, not watermelon flavour.
The lemon-mint is another stand-out. As with all Sweet Creamery gelato, this is made with fresh, authentic ingredients: real lemon and real mint, not mint flavour. Passion fruit is also a crowd favourite. There's also raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, and a raspberry-strawberry mix.
If you don't care for fruit flavours, try the vanilla bourbon, chocolate, or pistachio. If you're a bit more adventurous, there's spicy chocolate, blending rich, creamy chocolate with the bite of chile peppers. It's very interesting.
If you can't decide, whoever is scooping will be happy to offer you a free taste of any and all flavours. Customers will typically sample three or four before making the difficult decision.
If ice cream is more your thing, Sweet Creamery serves a wide variety of flavours made by Kawartha Dairy, a locally-produced favourite. The ice cream is very dense and super creamy.
Allan loved the banana and chocolate-peanut butter flavours, and the steady stream of customers all seemed very happy with their cones. It's very good, but when there's gelato around, I'm not eating ice cream.
Sweet Creamery also features home-made cakes and pastries. That part of the business is just getting going, but it promises to be delicious.
* * * *
Why am I writing about ice cream, you may ask? Sweet Creamery is the labour of love and devotion of two of new Canadians, Tom Smeraldo and Emilio Ojeda, who some of you know through the blog Canadian Hope.
Tom and Emilio came to Canada after living with years of frustration and fear in the US. Emilio is not a US citizen, and because their relationship is not legally recognized in the US, they were unable to secure Emilio's status. Every day the couple lived under the threat of deportation. They finally gave up on the US and moved to Canada to enjoy a peaceful life together, equal to their neighbours, accepted fully as who they are.
Tom and Emilio are not only my friends and fellow immigrants, they're some of the best people I know. They have been active supporters of the War Resisters Support Campaign: Tom told me that the war resisters' struggle to live in peace as their conscience dictates really resonates with them. When Sweet Creamery was ready to add an employee, they went to Supporting Our Youth (SOY), a mentoring and resettlement program for young gays and lesbians.
Tom and Emilio opened Sweet Creamery only a few weeks ago, and it's already become a neighbourhood fixture. Tom works full-time, then joins Emilio at the store for the evening rush. And what a rush it is! They thought they'd close at 9:00, but Emilio couldn't bear to turn so many customers away. Even with a 10:00 p.m. closing, they still see sad faces at the door, many of them making their second Sweet Creamery run of the evening.
Our mutual good friend Kim - a fixture of the wmtc community, who writes My Canada Includes Justice (at least occasionally!) - often can be seen behind the counter, scooping away. Nick and Mason - who used to write Life Without Borders - also volunteered long hours in the early going. Adam and Eric of Canadian Boomdiada have volunteered their time, as has other friends. Tom told us Sweet Creamery never would have made it through its first weekend if these guys hadn't pitched in. Community. What an amazing thing.
* * * *
Sweet Creamery is located at 521 Parliament Street, in the heart of Cabbagetown, between between Carlton and Winchester.
You can find them on Facebook, on Twitter, and on the web.
But most importantly, find them in a cup, a crunchy cone, or in a container in your freezer.
6.15.2009
medical rape in africa: sterilization abuse lives on
Reproductive rights is not only about access to safe and legal abortion. Reproductive rights is about all women and all men being free to choose whether and when to have children, and how many children to have.
This means having access to reliable, nonjudgmental sexual health information, affordable contraception, and prenatal and neonatal health care.
It means opposing any state or religious interference with people's private reproductive decisions.
And it means shining a light on a persistent, pernicious problem: sterilization abuse.
Today's Globe and Mail has a feature about sterilization abuse in several African countries - and about courageous women who are speaking up and fighting back.
I chose not to have children. It's a choice I was able to make because of the place and time I live in, and because I have enough education and resources to be a free human being. Women who are unable to control their reproduction are slaves.
Although I chose not to have children, I can think of few things worse than a government and a medical establishment taking that choice away from me without my knowledge or consent. I can only imagine the rage and the sorrow these women feel.
And although I won't pretend to know what they are experiencing, I do know from my own experience with sexual assault that becoming an activist - educating the public, reaching out to survivors - can be enormously therapeutic and empowering. I hope these women are finding comfort and strength in their cause.
* * * *
Lest anyone believe this to be an African problem, consider that forced sterilization of impoverished black Americans was once known as a "Mississippi appendectomy". Between 1928 and 1972, nearly 3,000 people in Alberta were victims of forced or coerced sterilizations.
Sterilization abuse of mentally ill and developmentally disabled people, of aboriginal people, and of Roma (Gypsies) has all been well documented.
As a sidebar to the story, above, the G&M has a summary of some 20th Century forced sterilization policies from the US, Canada, Japan, Germany and elsewhere, but of course they use very conservative estimates, and they seem to have omitted the medical abuse of aboriginal people.
The Wikipedia entry on compulsory sterilization is extensive, although largely unsourced.
This article from the Our Bodies, Ourselves website is about sterilization abuse in the US.
The blog Mississippi Appendectomy (which seems to be defunct) has a post on the forced sterilization of Romani women.
The 1996 documentary "The Sterliization of Leilani Muir" is about the eugenics policies of the province of Alberta. From the National Film Board site:
British Columbia had a similar policy, although less extensive.
The Globe and Mail story is worth reading. The women profiled - using their own horrific experiences to expose these human rights abuses - are inspiring.
This means having access to reliable, nonjudgmental sexual health information, affordable contraception, and prenatal and neonatal health care.
It means opposing any state or religious interference with people's private reproductive decisions.
And it means shining a light on a persistent, pernicious problem: sterilization abuse.
Today's Globe and Mail has a feature about sterilization abuse in several African countries - and about courageous women who are speaking up and fighting back.
A few weeks after giving birth to a baby boy by Caesarian section, Hilma Nendongo went back to hospital to have the stitches removed. A nurse glanced at her medical record and casually asked her a horrifying question.
“Oh,” the nurse said, “did they tell you that you had been sterilized?”
Ms. Nendongo, a 30-year-old villager from northern Namibia who barely spoke English, tore through her personal health card, looking for a clue to what had been done to her in the state hospital.
She couldn't read any of the doctor's scrawled handwriting, except for the word “stop” and the word “closed.” She later discovered the sickening truth: this was a common code for a tubal ligation, the most frequent form of sterilization in Namibia.
She suddenly remembered that the hospital staff had told her to sign some papers as she entered the operating room for her C-section. Nobody had explained the papers.
“It was a very big shock,” she said, brushing back tears. “I was very emotional. I cried a lot. I wanted a sister for my three boys, and now I can't have one.”
She returned to the hospital to search for the doctor who had sterilized her. She hoped that somehow he could reverse the operation. But every time she went to the hospital, the staff said the doctor was busy or away.
Ms. Nendongo didn't know it at the time, but she was one of dozens of African women – perhaps hundreds – who have been sterilized without their knowledge or consent in recent years because they were HIV-positive. At least 20 such cases have been documented in Namibia, some occurring as recently as six months ago, and similar cases are believed to have occurred in Zambia, South Africa and Congo.
Women's groups say the coerced sterilizations are examples of the continuing stigma and discrimination suffered by African women who have the AIDS virus. Governments and doctors still sometimes see HIV-positive women as irresponsible dangers to society who must be restricted or even criminalized. Despite new medicine that allows them to live normally and have healthy children, many women are told they must not get pregnant. Two countries, Sierra Leone and Tanzania, even passed laws that criminalize the mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
I chose not to have children. It's a choice I was able to make because of the place and time I live in, and because I have enough education and resources to be a free human being. Women who are unable to control their reproduction are slaves.
Although I chose not to have children, I can think of few things worse than a government and a medical establishment taking that choice away from me without my knowledge or consent. I can only imagine the rage and the sorrow these women feel.
And although I won't pretend to know what they are experiencing, I do know from my own experience with sexual assault that becoming an activist - educating the public, reaching out to survivors - can be enormously therapeutic and empowering. I hope these women are finding comfort and strength in their cause.
* * * *
Lest anyone believe this to be an African problem, consider that forced sterilization of impoverished black Americans was once known as a "Mississippi appendectomy". Between 1928 and 1972, nearly 3,000 people in Alberta were victims of forced or coerced sterilizations.
Sterilization abuse of mentally ill and developmentally disabled people, of aboriginal people, and of Roma (Gypsies) has all been well documented.
As a sidebar to the story, above, the G&M has a summary of some 20th Century forced sterilization policies from the US, Canada, Japan, Germany and elsewhere, but of course they use very conservative estimates, and they seem to have omitted the medical abuse of aboriginal people.
The Wikipedia entry on compulsory sterilization is extensive, although largely unsourced.
This article from the Our Bodies, Ourselves website is about sterilization abuse in the US.
The blog Mississippi Appendectomy (which seems to be defunct) has a post on the forced sterilization of Romani women.
The 1996 documentary "The Sterliization of Leilani Muir" is about the eugenics policies of the province of Alberta. From the National Film Board site:
Twenty-five years ago Leilani Muir was informed she would never be able to conceive a child. Unbeknownst to her, at the age of fourteen, she had already been sexually sterilized, by an Act of the Alberta government. The film entwines her personal search for justice with the background story of eugenics, a respected "science" during the early decades of the twentieth century. In 1928, the Alberta government, supported by some of society's most prominent members, passed the Sterilization Act. By the time the Act was repealed in 1972, the lives of nearly 3,000 individuals were irreparably changed. Included in the wide net of people considered "unfit" to bear children were new immigrants, alcoholics, epileptics, unwed mothers, the poor and native people. The film opens as Leilani concludes years of emotional and legal preparation and steps into court to sue the Alberta government.
British Columbia had a similar policy, although less extensive.
The Globe and Mail story is worth reading. The women profiled - using their own horrific experiences to expose these human rights abuses - are inspiring.
silenced: a clinic volunteer speaks out, or tries to
This video was put out by the Women's Medical Fund in Philadelphia, ten days before Dr George Tiller was assassinated. Please watch, it's great.
Many thanks to Mara for sending.
Many thanks to Mara for sending.
6.14.2009
wmtc4, and canada
Best. Wmtc party. Ever.
This just gets better every year. There were 30 people, seven (!) dogs, mountains of incredible food, plenty of liquid refreshment, and perfect weather. As a bonus, $150 appeared in the Campaign donation jar without a word from me.
I never had a potluck before. It was a big challenge for me, letting go of my natural inclination to organize and manage, trusting other people to contribute. That means, in essence, realizing that I have friends. It was a great experience.
And as M@ said yesterday, the potluck is proof that collectivism works. The food was amazing! And there was a lot of it. I had to force people to take home leftovers, and our fridge is still full.
The wtmc3 volleyball game resulted in continual fence-climbing to retrieve the ball from neighbours' yards. So this year I cleverly thought of low-to-the-ground games: bocce ball and croquet. Initially people were reluctant, but eventually 10 or so people split up into two teams. Try playing bocce with dogs running around, and one of them a retriever! But I think they had fun.
Tala never stopped running around, sometimes bullying a lovely dog named Chelsea, often chasing a puppy named Quincy (and barking in his face). Cody charmed everyone with her sweet calmness, and sometimes took a break inside by herself. This morning she is sleeping it off with some extra pain meds. Tala? She's back to patrolling the perimeter for squirrels.
Allan, as always, made my birthday an incredible day, full of thoughtful, creative gifts, cards and indulgence. After everyone left last night, I discovered that one of the reasons I had such a good time was because he worked his tail off. He should have asked me for help! But he didn't. So this morning I left him to sleep in while I did all the cleanup.
* * * *
I recently blogged about a difference I've found between my activism in New York and in Toronto. Here, it's been much more social. I've made friends - and found community - through activism here in a way that never happened in New York. At the time, I said I didn't know if it was specific to my experience, or if it was a New York thing, or a Canadian thing, or what.
Last night, I was so pleased to finally meet Adam and Eric from Canadian Boomdiada, who moved here from San Francisco. Talking about their move and the differences they've found, Adam said, "Everyone is so friendly here! We have more friends after a year than we ever had in San Francisco!"
I thought, ohmygod, me too. I had friends in New York, of course, but I lived there for 22 years. I've lived here just under four years and am surrounded by a richness of community and friendship that I've never had before. We've had a big assist from the internet - all the great people I've met through this blog. But it's much more than that, because the internet can start a connection, but it can't create friendship. People do that.
I think it's Canadians. People who reached out to us, who immediately accepted us, people who are open, friendly, accepting, trusting, giving - and fun.
I am so lucky. Thanks, everyone.
PS: The beer brand in the photo is a pun. That's all I'll say.
6.13.2009
happy birthday to me
I have been alive and kicking 48 years today. And I'm happy about it!
When Allan wakes up, I get spoiled with presents, then tonight is wmtc4.
Last night, I checked the weather report one last time, and was so disappointed. No rain Friday, no rain Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. But rain on Saturday, wtmc day! How can this be? It never rains on my birthday! Please be wrong.
* * * *
Update! I wrote this post last night, but this morning there's no rain in the forecast! Yay!!
The forecast is almost as important as the actual weather. If it rains, we'll deal with it, but if it says rain is coming, I'll be anxious about it all day.
When Allan wakes up, I get spoiled with presents, then tonight is wmtc4.
Last night, I checked the weather report one last time, and was so disappointed. No rain Friday, no rain Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. But rain on Saturday, wtmc day! How can this be? It never rains on my birthday! Please be wrong.
* * * *
Update! I wrote this post last night, but this morning there's no rain in the forecast! Yay!!
The forecast is almost as important as the actual weather. If it rains, we'll deal with it, but if it says rain is coming, I'll be anxious about it all day.
6.12.2009
will they get fooled again? striking back at harry and louise
When I first started this blog, I was besieged by wingnuts alternately offering to help me pack and howling with derision at the wacky country called Canada.
Canada, where you can be hauled off in the middle of the night for saying bad things about the Queen.
Canada, where you can be arrested for not speaking French.
Canada, where it's always cold, and always snowing.
And above all else, Canada, where you will die while you wait for health care.
I am not exaggerating. I heard all this and more.
By now everyone knows the health care non-system in the US isn't working. It's unjust, inhumane, and wildly expensive. The quality of care is great for the wealthy, a crap-shoot for everyone else, and nonexistent for tens of millions. It's also immensely profitable for a few.
There can't be an intelligent person left in the US who thinks it's working. There can only be people who believe that if you can't afford care, that's your own problem, go die on your own; people who fear the government (except when it comes to war and the supposed fight against supposed terrorists, then the government is always right); people who are so defensive and myopic about TGNOTFOTE™ that their brains (such as they are) shut down when the subject comes up; and people who are profiting off the current non-system. Of course there's some overlap among these groups.
We Canadians know the health care system in each Canadian province is not perfect; nothing is. But as I always say, if you want to know what's wrong with the Canadian system, ask someone who uses it. Because, up until very recently, all of what you will hear and read in the US mainstream media about Canada's health care has been lies. Not some, not most: all.
There's a veritable cottage industry of single-payer-bashing in the US media. I'm not talking Fox News. I'm talking New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, AP. Everyone.
I am beyond skeptical that the US will institute universal, single-payer health insurance in my lifetime, but if it's ever going to happen, people have to see a working model. They have to know what is possible. Imagine Tommy Douglas fighting for something he couldn't even prove would work! Fighting to make a dream a reality! Now, some 50 years after Canada's first medicare system was born in Saskatchewan, USians have a bright and shining example of how the whole thing can and does work, right in their own backyard. If only they will be able and allowed to see it.
I don't know how much and what kind of publicity Jack Layton's meeting with Obama garnered. I saw the wingnut blog headlines - "socialist visits US to promote government takeover of your life!!" - but I didn't find much in the mainstream. Any CNN watchers reading this? Did you see anything?
Perhaps this column by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times is a harbinger of change. The Times was one of the worst offenders of Canadian-health-care-bashing. Could it be that is beginning to change?
A few notes on the above.
Most US hospital patients do not get private rooms, either. And Canadians with supplemental (private) health insurance may have coverage for a private room.
I also think it's fair to say most USians have never seen an "opulent" hospital! I realize they're out there, but unless you are very wealthy or have amazing insurance, you're not going to get into one.
More importantly, many Americans have a mistaken impression about "wait times," so often talked about here in Canada. They believe it means how long you will wait to see a doctor on any given day, as if there is some central clinic where everyone goes and endlessly waits for care.
Doctors in Canada have their own offices and appointments are scheduled the usual way. There are also walk-in clinics where you don't need an appointment. But "wait times" refers to queues for certain procedures, such as hip or knee replacements, or to see certain specialists. There is a shortage of doctors in many fields, and in many areas.
There's a lot of discussion about how to bring wait times down. But plenty of us don't wait at all. We just make appointments and go to the doctor. We pay nothing, because we pay for our health care with our taxes. My taxes in Ontario are about the same as they were in New York.
And two, as my partner always says, there are millions of Americans who would be thrilled to be on a waiting list, and when their name comes up, get free surgery and rehab.
Instead, they're just left to deteriorate or die.
Canada, where you can be hauled off in the middle of the night for saying bad things about the Queen.
Canada, where you can be arrested for not speaking French.
Canada, where it's always cold, and always snowing.
And above all else, Canada, where you will die while you wait for health care.
I am not exaggerating. I heard all this and more.
By now everyone knows the health care non-system in the US isn't working. It's unjust, inhumane, and wildly expensive. The quality of care is great for the wealthy, a crap-shoot for everyone else, and nonexistent for tens of millions. It's also immensely profitable for a few.
There can't be an intelligent person left in the US who thinks it's working. There can only be people who believe that if you can't afford care, that's your own problem, go die on your own; people who fear the government (except when it comes to war and the supposed fight against supposed terrorists, then the government is always right); people who are so defensive and myopic about TGNOTFOTE™ that their brains (such as they are) shut down when the subject comes up; and people who are profiting off the current non-system. Of course there's some overlap among these groups.
We Canadians know the health care system in each Canadian province is not perfect; nothing is. But as I always say, if you want to know what's wrong with the Canadian system, ask someone who uses it. Because, up until very recently, all of what you will hear and read in the US mainstream media about Canada's health care has been lies. Not some, not most: all.
There's a veritable cottage industry of single-payer-bashing in the US media. I'm not talking Fox News. I'm talking New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, AP. Everyone.
I am beyond skeptical that the US will institute universal, single-payer health insurance in my lifetime, but if it's ever going to happen, people have to see a working model. They have to know what is possible. Imagine Tommy Douglas fighting for something he couldn't even prove would work! Fighting to make a dream a reality! Now, some 50 years after Canada's first medicare system was born in Saskatchewan, USians have a bright and shining example of how the whole thing can and does work, right in their own backyard. If only they will be able and allowed to see it.
I don't know how much and what kind of publicity Jack Layton's meeting with Obama garnered. I saw the wingnut blog headlines - "socialist visits US to promote government takeover of your life!!" - but I didn't find much in the mainstream. Any CNN watchers reading this? Did you see anything?
Perhaps this column by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times is a harbinger of change. The Times was one of the worst offenders of Canadian-health-care-bashing. Could it be that is beginning to change?
Perhaps you've seen those television commercials denouncing health care reform as a plot to create a Canadian-style totalitarian nightmare, and you feel a wee bit scared.
Back in the election campaign, some people spread rumors that Barack Obama might be a secret Muslim conspiring to impose Sharia law on us. That seems unlikely now, but what if he's a covert Canadian plotting to impose ... health care?
Rick Scott, a former hospital company chief executive, leads a group called Conservatives for Patients' Rights. He was forced to resign as C.E.O. after his company defrauded the government through overbilling and is now spending his time trying to block meaningful health care reform by terrifying us with commercials of "real-life stories of the victims of government-run health care."
So here's a far more representative "real-life story."
Diane Tucker, 59, is an American lawyer who moved to Vancouver, Canada, in 2006. Like everyone else there, she now pays the equivalent of just $49 a month for health care.
Then one day two years ago, Ms. Tucker was working on her office computer when she noticed that she was having trouble typing with her right hand.
"I realized my hand was numb, so I tried to stand up to shake it out," she remembered. "But I had trouble standing."
A colleague called 911, and an ambulance rushed her to the nearest hospital.
"An emergency room doctor met me at the door, and they took me straight upstairs to the CT scan," she recalled. A neurologist explained that she had suffered a stroke.
Ms. Tucker spent a week at the hospital. "The doctors were great, although there were also a couple of jerks," she said. "The nursing staff was wonderful."
Still, there were two patients to a room, and conditions weren't as opulent as at some American hospitals. "The food was horrible," she said.
Then again, the price was right. "They never spoke to me about money," she said. "Not when I checked in, and not when I left."
Scaremongers emphasize the waits for specialists in Canada, and there's some truth to the stories. After the stroke, Ms. Tucker needed to make a routine appointment with a neurologist and an ophthalmologist to see if she should drive again. Initially, those appointments would have meant a two- or three-month wait, although in the end she managed to arrange them more quickly.
Ms. Tucker underwent three months of rehabilitation, including physical therapy several times a week. Again there was no charge, no co-payment.
Then, last year, Ms. Tucker fainted while on a visit to San Francisco, and an ambulance rushed her to the nearest hospital. But this was in the United States, so the person meeting her at the emergency room door wasn’t a doctor.
"The first person I saw was a lady with a computer," she said, "asking me how I intended to pay the bill." Ms. Tucker did, in fact, have insurance, but she was told she would have to pay herself and seek reimbursement.
Nothing was seriously wrong, and the hospital discharged her after five hours. The bill came to $8,789.29.
Ms. Tucker has since lost her job in the recession, but she says she's stuck in Canada — because if she goes back to the United States, she will pay a fortune for private health insurance because of her history of a stroke. "I'm trying to find another job here," she said. "I want to stay here because of medical insurance."
Another advantage of the Canadian system, she says, is that it emphasizes preventive care. When a friend was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic, he was put in a free two-year program emphasizing an improved diet and lifestyle — and he emerged as no longer being prone to diabetes.
If Ms. Tucker's story surprises you, you should know that Mr. Scott's public relations initiative against health reform is led by the same firm that orchestrated the "Swift boat campaign" against Senator John Kerry in 2004. These commercials are just as false, for President Obama is not proposing government-run health care — just a public insurance element in the mix.
No doubt there are some genuine horror stories in Canada, as there are here in the United States.
But the bottom line is that America's health care system spends nearly twice as much per person as Canada's (building the wealth of hospital tycoons like Mr. Scott). Yet our infant mortality rate is 40 percent higher than Canada's, and American mothers are 57 percent more likely to die in childbirth than Canadian ones.
In 1993, the "Harry and Louise" commercials frightened Americans into abandoning health reform. Let's ensure those scare tactics don't work this time.
A few notes on the above.
Most US hospital patients do not get private rooms, either. And Canadians with supplemental (private) health insurance may have coverage for a private room.
I also think it's fair to say most USians have never seen an "opulent" hospital! I realize they're out there, but unless you are very wealthy or have amazing insurance, you're not going to get into one.
More importantly, many Americans have a mistaken impression about "wait times," so often talked about here in Canada. They believe it means how long you will wait to see a doctor on any given day, as if there is some central clinic where everyone goes and endlessly waits for care.
Doctors in Canada have their own offices and appointments are scheduled the usual way. There are also walk-in clinics where you don't need an appointment. But "wait times" refers to queues for certain procedures, such as hip or knee replacements, or to see certain specialists. There is a shortage of doctors in many fields, and in many areas.
There's a lot of discussion about how to bring wait times down. But plenty of us don't wait at all. We just make appointments and go to the doctor. We pay nothing, because we pay for our health care with our taxes. My taxes in Ontario are about the same as they were in New York.
And two, as my partner always says, there are millions of Americans who would be thrilled to be on a waiting list, and when their name comes up, get free surgery and rehab.
Instead, they're just left to deteriorate or die.
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