Which is not to say a quote from a star, but my quote in The Star.
In a January 29 article called "Abortion Anxiety Mounts in U.S.," you will find a quote from a certain "New York pro-choice activist". C'est moi.
Thank you to Shauna, former Haven one-woman-show, currently keeping things hopping at NOW and elsewhere.
2.04.2005
paging george orwell
Because I am unable to watch or listen to W without becoming physically ill, I didn't see the recent State of the Union address. So I just learned that Moron closed with a quote from Franklin D Roosevelt. You know, the Roosevelt whose legacy he is attempting to dismantle? The legacy that shelters elderly people from poverty?
Paul Krugman continues his series. If you need some quick facts to talk about this around the virtual water cooler, the good folks at There Is No Crisis can help you out.
Paul Krugman continues his series. If you need some quick facts to talk about this around the virtual water cooler, the good folks at There Is No Crisis can help you out.
myths and facts
Over at TBNNT, Redsock has linked to an excellent site called Think Progress. It gives factual refutations of W's most egregious lies. Their mission is straightforward:
Arianna Huffington puts the Iraqi "election" in perspective. I never thought I'd be quoting Huffington, but these criminals in Washington have forged some odd coalitions of opposition.
If you can stand it, Cindy Sheehan, whose son, Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan was killed in Iraq, explains why she works for peace. Ms Sheehan was supposed to speak her piece on Larry King, but was bumped for - you guessed it - the Michael Jackson trial.
It's vital that we remember the Cindy and Casey Sheehans. Anyone who supports this war should volunteer to be one of them. Either go and risk your life yourself, or volunteer to lose the person you love most in the world.
For those determined to fight the good fight here in the old US of A, the Principles Project is trying to bring the Democrats back on course. It's a project of 2020 Democrats, who call themselves "a national network of young Progressives".
What We're Fighting For:In The Nation, Katrina vanden Heuvel offers an alternative to the Bush Doctrine.
Social and Economic Justice
Healthy Communities
Global Leadership
A Secure America
What We're Fighting Against:
Corrupt Establishment
Incompetent Establishment
Braindead Media
Radical Right-Wing Agenda
Arianna Huffington puts the Iraqi "election" in perspective. I never thought I'd be quoting Huffington, but these criminals in Washington have forged some odd coalitions of opposition.
If you can stand it, Cindy Sheehan, whose son, Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan was killed in Iraq, explains why she works for peace. Ms Sheehan was supposed to speak her piece on Larry King, but was bumped for - you guessed it - the Michael Jackson trial.
It's vital that we remember the Cindy and Casey Sheehans. Anyone who supports this war should volunteer to be one of them. Either go and risk your life yourself, or volunteer to lose the person you love most in the world.
For those determined to fight the good fight here in the old US of A, the Principles Project is trying to bring the Democrats back on course. It's a project of 2020 Democrats, who call themselves "a national network of young Progressives".
2.03.2005
purple fingers notwithstanding
I find the US government's and many American citizens' self-congratulatory clamor over the Iraqi election baffling and ridiculous. Lest we forget - though apparently we already have forgotten - the United States invaded Iraq for two reasons: to find weapons of mass destruction and to break the Iraqi link to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. We now know definitively what many of us knew all along: both were nonexistent.
An election does not a democracy make. There are elections in Haiti, fer chrissakes. If there is to be a real democracy in Iraq (and not an American-backed puppet regime), did the United States need to kill tens of thousands of Iraqis and 1500+ of its own citizens to establish it?
I'm not enabling comments for this post, because frankly, I'm not interested in debating these ideas. This war makes me sick, and Americans' goopy awe at this phony election is even sicker.
An election does not a democracy make. There are elections in Haiti, fer chrissakes. If there is to be a real democracy in Iraq (and not an American-backed puppet regime), did the United States need to kill tens of thousands of Iraqis and 1500+ of its own citizens to establish it?
I'm not enabling comments for this post, because frankly, I'm not interested in debating these ideas. This war makes me sick, and Americans' goopy awe at this phony election is even sicker.
healthy enough to cross the border
A few people have asked how the medical exams went, so I might as well tell everyone. It might be informative, or perhaps entertaining.
The doctor was an ancient man with a strong Eastern European Jewish accent and a slight tremor, in a bizarre, almost Dickensian office bursting with boxes, papers and all kinds of assorted junk, and in bad need of a fresh coat of paint. A not-quite-ancient office assistant herded us around. Allan and I looked at each other skeptically, a tad weirded out.
I went in first, and my discomfort grew to mild freak-out when the doctor - hands trembling slightly - couldn't find a vein on my arm for a blood test. (I get my blood drawn regularly and have never had a problem.) As he shone a light on my arm and peered and tapped and puzzled, I imagined jumping up, grabbing Allan, announcing "We're leaving!" and hurrying out. But the doctor finally found his quarry. It turned out not to be so bad, though today, two days later, my arm looks like a topographical weather map.
Despite this unpromising start, it turned out fine. The doctor, though quite elderly, was perfectly sharp and focused. Working from, as Allan said, 20th-generation photocopies, he asked questions from a list - have you ever had this, have you ever had that, do you smoke, how many glasses of alcohol do you drink per week - then did an extremely basic exam (blood pressure, height, weight, a scrap of paper for an eye chart). We signed releases for our blood to be checked for HIV, then we were sent elsewhere for chest x-rays.
We each need a letter from our respective doctors confirming some medical conditions and prognoses. Then we bring those letters and the x-rays back to the doctor's lair, he packs them up with the questionnaires (our extra passport photos attached) and exam results, and sends the whole shebang on to the Consulate.
We're waiting on our doctors' letters now, and expect this hurdle to be cleared by early next week.
The doctor was an ancient man with a strong Eastern European Jewish accent and a slight tremor, in a bizarre, almost Dickensian office bursting with boxes, papers and all kinds of assorted junk, and in bad need of a fresh coat of paint. A not-quite-ancient office assistant herded us around. Allan and I looked at each other skeptically, a tad weirded out.
I went in first, and my discomfort grew to mild freak-out when the doctor - hands trembling slightly - couldn't find a vein on my arm for a blood test. (I get my blood drawn regularly and have never had a problem.) As he shone a light on my arm and peered and tapped and puzzled, I imagined jumping up, grabbing Allan, announcing "We're leaving!" and hurrying out. But the doctor finally found his quarry. It turned out not to be so bad, though today, two days later, my arm looks like a topographical weather map.
Despite this unpromising start, it turned out fine. The doctor, though quite elderly, was perfectly sharp and focused. Working from, as Allan said, 20th-generation photocopies, he asked questions from a list - have you ever had this, have you ever had that, do you smoke, how many glasses of alcohol do you drink per week - then did an extremely basic exam (blood pressure, height, weight, a scrap of paper for an eye chart). We signed releases for our blood to be checked for HIV, then we were sent elsewhere for chest x-rays.
We each need a letter from our respective doctors confirming some medical conditions and prognoses. Then we bring those letters and the x-rays back to the doctor's lair, he packs them up with the questionnaires (our extra passport photos attached) and exam results, and sends the whole shebang on to the Consulate.
We're waiting on our doctors' letters now, and expect this hurdle to be cleared by early next week.
2.02.2005
i always get those confused
Years, months, days - it's all the same to our friends at the MTA. From this morning's New York Times:
The dopes at the MTA have also backed away from their original claim that the fire was started by a homeless person. No evidence of an unauthorized person, homeless or otherwise, was found at the scene of the fire. It's now being labeled "mysterious". It's not farfetched to guess the fire was caused by the MTA's own antiquated, poorly maintained equipment.
At first, the estimate was grim, a subway rider's nightmare. It could take up to five years to get the A and C trains running normally after a fire in an underground signal relay room last month.Don't you love it?
Then the forecast improved: transit officials said it would take only six to nine months to fix the disruptions.
Now the estimate has come down once more. The new prognosis for restoration of most service on the subway lines?
Today. Just nine days and 15 hours after the fire.
The dopes at the MTA have also backed away from their original claim that the fire was started by a homeless person. No evidence of an unauthorized person, homeless or otherwise, was found at the scene of the fire. It's now being labeled "mysterious". It's not farfetched to guess the fire was caused by the MTA's own antiquated, poorly maintained equipment.
2.01.2005
the next hurdle
We go for our medical exams today. As with everything else in the immigration process, there's a specific procedure that must be followed to the letter - we choose a doctor from a short list, we bring our passports, two extra passport photos each, forms to fill out, and so forth.
There was a huge range in fees among the doctors on the list, and the one we chose (the least expensive, of course) only takes cash! Seems a little odd, but whatever. It's not my business if he doesn't pay his taxes, or maybe he's just been ripped off by personal checks.
We're also getting together financial information, affidavits of our status as common-law partners and other documents, while we wait for the FBI to send back our fingerprints. Onward.
There was a huge range in fees among the doctors on the list, and the one we chose (the least expensive, of course) only takes cash! Seems a little odd, but whatever. It's not my business if he doesn't pay his taxes, or maybe he's just been ripped off by personal checks.
We're also getting together financial information, affidavits of our status as common-law partners and other documents, while we wait for the FBI to send back our fingerprints. Onward.
1.29.2005
refuse and resist
Two heartbreaking and inspiring views on the war in Iraq.
From the National Catholic Reporter, "What the Rest of the World Watched on Inauguration Day," by Sister Joan Chittister. I'm sure you saw the photo. I liked Sister Joan's description of Dublin commuters confronting their morning papers.
And on the growing war number of soldiers who are refusing to fight this immoral war, "'They Can't Throw Us All In Jail'", by Geov Parrish.
I am very attracted to these stories of dissenting servicepeople. I feel called to help. I have no idea yet what I'll do, but I have a feeling an opportunity will present itself.
From the National Catholic Reporter, "What the Rest of the World Watched on Inauguration Day," by Sister Joan Chittister. I'm sure you saw the photo. I liked Sister Joan's description of Dublin commuters confronting their morning papers.
And on the growing war number of soldiers who are refusing to fight this immoral war, "'They Can't Throw Us All In Jail'", by Geov Parrish.
I am very attracted to these stories of dissenting servicepeople. I feel called to help. I have no idea yet what I'll do, but I have a feeling an opportunity will present itself.
bloomberg's boondoggle
A little closer to home, Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks our financially strapped city - where ancient subway signals are spontaneously combusting and neighborhood activists are chaining themselves to firehouse doors - should increase the net worth of his billionaire friend Robert Wood Johnson IV, owner of the New York Jets.
New York doesn't need this stadium. It doesn't want this stadium. And the stadium plan itself is laughable. Who in their right mind would build a 75,000-seat football stadium without parking facilities?
No city in America has ever made money from building a stadium. People get rich all right, but it ain't us.
Bob Herbert recently wrote a nice screed against this insanity, in which he says:
New York doesn't need this stadium. It doesn't want this stadium. And the stadium plan itself is laughable. Who in their right mind would build a 75,000-seat football stadium without parking facilities?
No city in America has ever made money from building a stadium. People get rich all right, but it ain't us.
Bob Herbert recently wrote a nice screed against this insanity, in which he says:
To take the public's money, which should be used for schoolkids, for subway riders, for hospital patients - for any number of projects that might truly serve the public's interest - and hand it over to a billionaire who will use it as seed money to further his already fabulous interests is obscene.For the 411 on stadium-building schemes in general, go to the source. Neil deMause will explain it all to you. His book Field of Schemes is essential reading, and not just for intelligent sports fans. Anyone interested in city planning issues should read it, too.
I presume there will be naming rights for Woody's wonderful new playground. I can see the sign now: Bloomberg's Boondoggle.
tribute to henry morgentaler
Continuing the abortion-rights theme here at wmtc, yesterday, January 28, was the 17th anniversary of the Morgentaler Decision. That decision by the Supreme Court of Canada decriminalized abortion and effectively ended legal restrictions to abortion in Canada.
In 1969, in defiance of the law, Dr Henry Morgentaler opened Canada's first freestanding abortion clinic. After a series of trials where Quebec juries refused to convict him, Dr Morgentaler served time in prison. It won't surprise you to learn I admire people with that kind of courage and commitment. Like every movement for social change, this was a long, circuitous battle, culminating in the 1988 Supreme Court decision.
Thanks to ALPF, today I read about Dr Morgentaler's work and life (and about the Canadian reproductive rights movement). Morgentaler is also a survivor of the Nazi slave-labor camp in Dachau. He is still a leader in the struggle for equality and access to reproductive-related medical care; you can read something about his current work at his clinics' website.
Canadian women still face barriers to full reproductive freedom. I'm aware of some of these because Haven regularly helps women from Canada, mainly from Quebec, who take the bus to New York City for their procedures.
There are great differences among the provinces when it comes to abortion access and funding, which, I read, violates the Canada Health Act, which calls for insured medical services to be universal, accessible, portable, and comprehensive. From CARAL, the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League:
Canada is still miles ahead of the US on this issue, by virtue of having national health insurance, and not being controlled by religious zealots. But I see there is still work to be done, so maybe I can put my experience to use north of the border as well.
In 1969, in defiance of the law, Dr Henry Morgentaler opened Canada's first freestanding abortion clinic. After a series of trials where Quebec juries refused to convict him, Dr Morgentaler served time in prison. It won't surprise you to learn I admire people with that kind of courage and commitment. Like every movement for social change, this was a long, circuitous battle, culminating in the 1988 Supreme Court decision.
Thanks to ALPF, today I read about Dr Morgentaler's work and life (and about the Canadian reproductive rights movement). Morgentaler is also a survivor of the Nazi slave-labor camp in Dachau. He is still a leader in the struggle for equality and access to reproductive-related medical care; you can read something about his current work at his clinics' website.
Canadian women still face barriers to full reproductive freedom. I'm aware of some of these because Haven regularly helps women from Canada, mainly from Quebec, who take the bus to New York City for their procedures.
There are great differences among the provinces when it comes to abortion access and funding, which, I read, violates the Canada Health Act, which calls for insured medical services to be universal, accessible, portable, and comprehensive. From CARAL, the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League:
Because different provinces and territories have different policies on funding abortions at hospitals and private clinics, women, particularly those who are poor and/or young, have limited access to the service. Too often, abortion-related costs, including travel, accommodation and sometimes child care, or simply the delays required by travel, prevent women from having this medical procedure.The article goes on to detail the restrictions province by province. Another comprehensive article, which I'll be bookmarking and reading thoroughly, is here. It also gives some interesting details about Morgentaler's legal battle.
Women in Atlantic Canada, as well as remote and rural areas throughout the country, are particularly hard hit. For example, in Prince Edward Island, the government refuses to provide abortion services at all six Island hospitals, forcing the 200 women who seek abortions each year to leave the province for the service. The minimum cost of the procedure is $450, and associated costs for travel and child care can easily push this to $600 or more. Labrador and Cape Breton also have no abortion services, and there is only limited access in Newfoundland.
Canada is still miles ahead of the US on this issue, by virtue of having national health insurance, and not being controlled by religious zealots. But I see there is still work to be done, so maybe I can put my experience to use north of the border as well.
1.28.2005
join the purple ocean
You may know that Wal-mart has launched a multi-million dollar advertising blitz to counter its well-deserved image as an enemy of the people. The company bought hundreds of TV and newspaper ads to spread its propaganda and defend its indefensable policies.
Purple Ocean, the political arm of the Service Employees Union (SEIU), is fighting back with a different sort of weapon. Through a grassroots, hand-to-hand campaign, people who care about workers, the environment and community life will help spread the facts about Wal-mart.
I encourage you to read the facts and invite your friends to read them, too. You can track who has accepted your invitation on an animated map that follows your fact sheet as it spreads across the country. Check it out here. I think it's an excellent opportunity to put the old activist's axiom in motion: each one, reach one.
The smart folks at the SEIU have also linked the campaign to a contest. From the original email:
Purple Ocean, the political arm of the Service Employees Union (SEIU), is fighting back with a different sort of weapon. Through a grassroots, hand-to-hand campaign, people who care about workers, the environment and community life will help spread the facts about Wal-mart.
I encourage you to read the facts and invite your friends to read them, too. You can track who has accepted your invitation on an animated map that follows your fact sheet as it spreads across the country. Check it out here. I think it's an excellent opportunity to put the old activist's axiom in motion: each one, reach one.
The smart folks at the SEIU have also linked the campaign to a contest. From the original email:
Start the chain by passing on the facts, then see how from day to day, your individual influence spreads the word. If you're one of the first 25 people whose chain grows to 200, then you'll receive $1,000 towards your health insurance expenses—or, if you already have health insurance, we'll put it into a fund that will help provide health insurance for Wal-Mart workers who can't afford it. (The official rules are online at http://www.purpleocean.org/walmart/officialrules)In launching their campaign, Wal-Mart's CEO H. Lee Scott recently said that he was tired of the criticism of the world's largest retailer - tired of the criticism about its poor pay, bad benefits, sexual discrimination, and poor working conditions. He said he was "tired of being nibbled to death by guppies." Let the nibbling begin!
diamond dreams
I woke up this morning thinking about baseball. Spring training is just around the corner!
quotes of the day
Second-term drinking game for ya: You chug a beer every time you hear the phrase "a contentious but futile protest vote by the Democrats". By the time Jeb Bush is elected, you'll be too wasted to notice the war in Syria.
Jon Stewart, on Condoleezza Rice's confirmation as Secretary of State
Can’t you see? You're not making Christianity better, you're making rock and roll worse!
Hank Hill, on Christian rockers
Do Canadian readers know Hank Hill?
Also, some LOTD from ALPF:
"U.S. Christian right leader urges Canadians to oppose same-sex marriage." Is Dobson really a Christian right "leader"? Or just a wacko with a great publicist?
A very smart man in Pakistan says: "George Bush is a very simple, very violent person with very extreme views, as well as being very much an ignoramus. This is a very dangerous combination."
And finally, why "they hate us". Hint: it ain't because we love freedom. A Saudi Arabian op-ed on Jihad, American Style.
It is very cold in New York. I'm just saying.
Jon Stewart, on Condoleezza Rice's confirmation as Secretary of State
Can’t you see? You're not making Christianity better, you're making rock and roll worse!
Hank Hill, on Christian rockers
Do Canadian readers know Hank Hill?
Also, some LOTD from ALPF:
"U.S. Christian right leader urges Canadians to oppose same-sex marriage." Is Dobson really a Christian right "leader"? Or just a wacko with a great publicist?
A very smart man in Pakistan says: "George Bush is a very simple, very violent person with very extreme views, as well as being very much an ignoramus. This is a very dangerous combination."
And finally, why "they hate us". Hint: it ain't because we love freedom. A Saudi Arabian op-ed on Jihad, American Style.
It is very cold in New York. I'm just saying.
1.27.2005
canada is so sane
In this wrap-up about the respective states of same-sex marriage in Canada and the US, I liked this bit:
The article also notes that the opposition backlash in Canada is getting a substantial helping hand from the American religious right. Not content to meddle in their own national affairs, they cross borders to spread their bigoted, exclusionary, pseudo-morality.
Thanks again to ALPF, scouring the web so we don't have to.
Indeed, many Canadians have come to regard same-sex marriage as an affirmation of secular values that bind their diverse nation. Acceptance of minorities and respect for individuals' rights are paramount in national politics, even if they clash with moral and religious beliefs.A Canadian woman is quoted as saying, "I think people will look back and feel bewildered that there was even an issue at all." I agree. One day the same-sex exclusion will seem as bizarre as "whites only" drinking fountains seem today.
The article also notes that the opposition backlash in Canada is getting a substantial helping hand from the American religious right. Not content to meddle in their own national affairs, they cross borders to spread their bigoted, exclusionary, pseudo-morality.
Thanks again to ALPF, scouring the web so we don't have to.
1.26.2005
another 31 lives wasted
This was the single deadliest day for American forces in Iraq. Thirty-one human beings. Thirty-one people who presumably believed they were serving their country, and whose leaders utterly betrayed their trust.
Resist Fascism pays tribute to all the Americans who have died over there; you can follow it here, here, here, here and continued on.
This whole blog is excellent and well worth bookmarking. I share Resistance's rage and pain, and her/his call to resistance. Thank you for being a voice for peace and democracy.
Resist Fascism pays tribute to all the Americans who have died over there; you can follow it here, here, here, here and continued on.
This whole blog is excellent and well worth bookmarking. I share Resistance's rage and pain, and her/his call to resistance. Thank you for being a voice for peace and democracy.
what i won't miss
The MTA. That's Metropolitan Transit Authority. They suck. They so suck.
On Sunday night, a fire crippled a signaling system on a major subway line, causing a horrendous commute for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. This happens to be our main subway line. Working from home on Monday, I was blissfully unaware of the havoc raging all over the city, as an entire line went out of service, causing stranded commuters to jam onto already-crowded alternate lines.
On Tuesday morning, we awoke to the shocking news that the MTA estimates it will take three to five years to fix the signals. Three to five years?? That's longer that it took to build an entire subway line! How could it take that long to fix anything? What are people supposed to do in the meantime? And what about the ridiculous span of that estimate - they can't get any closer than a two-year difference?
We went out last night and took our "alternate line" home. It was disgustingly overcrowded at 11:30 p.m. I can't imagine what it looked like at rush hour. Yoo-hoo uptown folks, your already inhuman commute just got a little more inhumane.
But hey, who cares about us. We're not tourists. We're not the Olympics or a new sports stadium. We're not a corporation threatening to leave the city. And if you don't fall under one of those categories, the City says fuck you. You don't count. You only live here. Pay taxes. Keep this city alive on a daily basis. You are only the heart and soul of this city, why should we give a fuck about you. (OK, this is not the MTA. This is New York City under Giuliani and Bloomberg. And Koch. And...)
Now, guess what? This morning we are greeted with an about-face. Oh, did we say three to five years? We meant six to nine months. Sorry about that. And now we're supposed to be relieved. Like when they say they're raising the fare to $2.75, you're supposed to happy when it only goes up to $2.00. Try selling that to the tourists.
* * * *
From the New York Times this morning (emphasis added):
These stories from the Daily News capture the mood around town. We are pissed.
On Sunday night, a fire crippled a signaling system on a major subway line, causing a horrendous commute for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. This happens to be our main subway line. Working from home on Monday, I was blissfully unaware of the havoc raging all over the city, as an entire line went out of service, causing stranded commuters to jam onto already-crowded alternate lines.
On Tuesday morning, we awoke to the shocking news that the MTA estimates it will take three to five years to fix the signals. Three to five years?? That's longer that it took to build an entire subway line! How could it take that long to fix anything? What are people supposed to do in the meantime? And what about the ridiculous span of that estimate - they can't get any closer than a two-year difference?
We went out last night and took our "alternate line" home. It was disgustingly overcrowded at 11:30 p.m. I can't imagine what it looked like at rush hour. Yoo-hoo uptown folks, your already inhuman commute just got a little more inhumane.
But hey, who cares about us. We're not tourists. We're not the Olympics or a new sports stadium. We're not a corporation threatening to leave the city. And if you don't fall under one of those categories, the City says fuck you. You don't count. You only live here. Pay taxes. Keep this city alive on a daily basis. You are only the heart and soul of this city, why should we give a fuck about you. (OK, this is not the MTA. This is New York City under Giuliani and Bloomberg. And Koch. And...)
Now, guess what? This morning we are greeted with an about-face. Oh, did we say three to five years? We meant six to nine months. Sorry about that. And now we're supposed to be relieved. Like when they say they're raising the fare to $2.75, you're supposed to happy when it only goes up to $2.00. Try selling that to the tourists.
* * * *
From the New York Times this morning (emphasis added):
The new time frame for repairs will still mean months of confusion and inconvenience on two lines that have an average weekday ridership of 580,000, and hardly diminishes how the fire underscored the vulnerability of a signaling system based on electromechanical switches that were first developed in the 1870's.That would be luxurious new offices for MTA officials, inane, condescending ads telling subway riders how to behave, and American flag decals for all the trains.
Several former transit officials said yesterday that the agency has repeatedly acknowledged over the past 20 years that the signaling system was obsolete or unreliable, but nonetheless chose to devote the vast majority of its limited capital funds to other projects. Reports after two fatal crashes, in 1991 and 1995, recommended improvements in the signal system, though neither blamed the system for the deaths.
These stories from the Daily News capture the mood around town. We are pissed.
they talk about us around the globe
ALPF (thank you!) has sent this interesting, though amusing, story from India, about Americans "ready to trade in their stars and stripes for the red and white maple-leaf flag". It says we fear that "America seems to be drifting towards conservatism away from liberal, progressive ideas". Say it ain't so!
1.25.2005
we get a bad rap
Public hearings on the proposed ban of pit bull dogs in the province of Ontario began yesterday. Mothers of two children who were attacked by dogs testified.
One woman spoke in favor of the breed-specific legislation, but the mother of a child who was killed by a dog opposes the ban. I liken this to people who have had a loved one murdered and still oppose the death penalty, something I tremendously respect and admire.
Two things to note. One, contrary to what you may have heard, Ontario has not yet banned pit-bulls. It is still illegal for a landlord to deny residence on the basis of dog ownership, regardless of breed (though it might be very difficult to enforce).
Two, breed-specific legislation does not work. It simply does not reduce the incidents of attacks. For very good information on breed-specific legislation, and on pit bulls in general, see the good folks at BAD RAP, Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls. Click here for wonderful bully-boy photos.
One woman spoke in favor of the breed-specific legislation, but the mother of a child who was killed by a dog opposes the ban. I liken this to people who have had a loved one murdered and still oppose the death penalty, something I tremendously respect and admire.
Two things to note. One, contrary to what you may have heard, Ontario has not yet banned pit-bulls. It is still illegal for a landlord to deny residence on the basis of dog ownership, regardless of breed (though it might be very difficult to enforce).
Two, breed-specific legislation does not work. It simply does not reduce the incidents of attacks. For very good information on breed-specific legislation, and on pit bulls in general, see the good folks at BAD RAP, Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls. Click here for wonderful bully-boy photos.
what i'm watching: robert greenwald
If you haven't seen Robert Greenwald's DVD documentaries, you're missing some thought-provoking stuff. We've been working our way through them slowly, with lots of movies in between. Seeing them all at once could be hazardous to your mental health, or at least your blood pressure. I'm referring to "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War," "Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election," and "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism".
We saw "Uncovered" last night. Former CIA, Pentagon, Military and Foreign Service officials systematically prove how BushCo mislead the public into the war. No left-wing conspiracy crazies needed; conservative, establishment white men (and the occasional woman) make the case themselves.
It's interesting to note how, in the run-up to the war, bringing democracy to Iraq was never mentioned. Now it's as if the search for WMDs never existed. We have always been at war with Eastasia...
We saw "Uncovered" last night. Former CIA, Pentagon, Military and Foreign Service officials systematically prove how BushCo mislead the public into the war. No left-wing conspiracy crazies needed; conservative, establishment white men (and the occasional woman) make the case themselves.
It's interesting to note how, in the run-up to the war, bringing democracy to Iraq was never mentioned. Now it's as if the search for WMDs never existed. We have always been at war with Eastasia...
everyone's got an opinion
Even people who don't know what they're talking about! My anonymous link-posting friend (ALPF?) sent me this. It's occasionally amusing, in a look-at-these-losers kind of way.
ALPF also sent this article illustrating the administration's utter inability to be anything but overbearing and dictating in its relations with other countries. A CBC story called "Bush Pressured Martin Over Missile Plan," refers to a Washington Post report:
ALPF also sent this article illustrating the administration's utter inability to be anything but overbearing and dictating in its relations with other countries. A CBC story called "Bush Pressured Martin Over Missile Plan," refers to a Washington Post report:
The newspaper cites a "top Canadian official who attended the meeting between Bush and Martin" as saying Bush brought up the subject on Nov. 30 despite assurances that he wouldn't do so from Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.Maybe because it's a complete waste of money? Or because they have no interest in enriching the US military industry? Because they have brains??
The official said Bush "leaned across the table and said, 'I'm not taking this position, but some future president is going to say, "Why are we paying to defend Canada?"'"
The White House is not commenting on the Washington Post report, which appeared Sunday. [ed: What a surprise!]
The source characterized Bush's approach as a lecture about Canada's duty to join the Ballistic Missile Defence program, which is designed to identify incoming weapons aimed at North America and shoot them down before they can hit their targets.
The U.S. president told Martin he couldn't understand why anyone in Canada would oppose the program.
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