this week in goodbye

Two more goodbye dinners this week.

First, dinner with my very close friend AWE; along with my friend NN who I mentioned earlier, these are my closest female friends.

I see AWE more than any other friend because we live in the same neighborhood and often meet for dinner. In New York City, that is a rare and wonderful treat, and we have really cherished it. But my friendship with AWE far pre-dates both our moves to Upper Manhattan. We've been through more than 20 years of life together, including a relationship with the same man. (Who has since died!)

Saying goodbye to AWE would totally floor me, if it were not for the fact that she is leaving New York City at the exact same time. In many ways, her move from NYC to L.A. will be as great a change as our move to Canada.

And last night we had dinner with our great friends Alan and Fred. (Alan is a loyal wmtc reader, who I sometimes refer to as Alan With One L or Alan The Handheld Evangelist.) I remember hanging out with A&F before they moved to London. Now they are in NYC and we're the ones taking off. I have no doubt our excellent friendship will continue beyond this move and others yet unplanned.

Although based on our conversation last night, we're all expecting flat-out fascism in the US and the UK, so perhaps we'll be neighbors again in Canada, sooner than we imagine.

* * * *

I was supposed to have another tourism report for you this week, but the City has nixed that.

A few years ago, the City of New York renovated the infamous Tweed Courthouse Building, restoring it to its former splendor. You've probably heard of Tammany Hall, the incredibly corrupt machine that ran New York City like an organized crime racket, under the monarchy of William Marcy "Boss" Tweed. The construction of the Courthouse - massive delays, budgets beyond budgets, kickbacks and greed that were shocking even for an administration whose name was synonymous with kickbacks and greed - became a symbol of Tammany corruption. There's a pretty good capsule history of Tweed and the Courthouse here.

Since its completion in the 1870s, the Tweed Courthouse had been standing around getting grimier and more dilapidated. (It wasn't used as a courthouse, just a government office building.) In 1999, the building was renovated and restored to the tune of $85 million. Several non-profits bid for the space, and it was finally promised to the Museum of the City of New York. This was an inspired choice. El Museo del Barrio was slated to move into the MCNY space, and everyone was very happy.

Enter Michael Bloomberg. After being elected mayor, Bloomberg decided the re-named Department of Education would move into the Tweed Building. This would supposedly lend the moribund, useless, corrupt, incompetent Board of Education some class, which supposedly would make it more effective. Uh-huh.

The decision sent shockwaves through the museum and preservation communities, as well as the tourist industry: as city offices, the Tweed Building would now be closed to the public. Two years and $85 million worth of renovations, and no one would ever see it.

After a public outcry, the city relented. Supposedly. You want public access? We'll give you public access. To tour the Tweed Building, you must plan weeks in advance, call a special phone number, wait for a return call, get security clearance and a special reservation, and you must be available whenever you are told the tour is running.

A Tweed Building security guard told me that tours are given every Friday at 2:30 p.m., and to call for a reservation. I can't think of a less convenient time to be in the City Hall area. But I love architecture, and I love New York City history, and I was determined to see this damn building.

So today was slated as Tweed Courthouse Tour Day, and I thought I'd see a few other sites in Lower Manhattan while I was there, such as the Irish Hunger Memorial. Wrong! "I'm sorry, we no longer have tours on Friday afternoon. You can take a tour at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 23, or else on September 2..." In other words, when I'm packing, or when I'm living in Canada.

It's obvious that the mayor's office was determined to keep this building closed to the public. Because the renovation was publicly financed, they were forced to allow some public access. So they allow it in principle, but make it as inaccessible as possible, thereby discouraging most visitors.

Pfft.

More photos of the renovated Tweed Building. For more information on the Irish Hunger Memorial, here is another good photo in context, and a poorly designed website with good information is here).

great american exports

Several people have sent me links to stories on the rise of guns from the US showing up in Canada. (Thanks to all, and I'm sorry that I've lost track of those links.) I know there's been an outbreak of gun violence in the T.O. area. Frankly, I'm glad to see what big news it is; here, it would hardly be noteworthy.

ALPF sent this very good feature from Macleans. It begins:

John Butcher had fallen on hard times. His wife of 33 years had died after a lengthy battle with multiple sclerosis. He'd lost his job in the financial services industry, he'd run out of money and, in his late 50s, the expat Englishman had been forced to move in with his daughter. With only an entry-level job at a golf course and moonlight gigs as frontman of a blues band to earn his keep, he felt like a burden. So when a close friend approached him with a shady sounding proposition -- $500 per trip to squire envelopes stuffed with U.S. cash into Canada from Detroit -- he swallowed hard and accepted. "I was told that at my age, I would never be involved with anything that would result in a jail sentence," he says. Glancing at his surroundings -- a drafty interview room at the Toronto East Detention Centre -- he now snorts at this thought with hollow laughter.

And concludes:

The idea of playing big-house mascot to a group of outlaws is not something Butcher finds terribly amusing. But prison has given him time to think, to read, to examine his conscience. He has learned his lesson, he says; he knows where danger lies and -- like anyone betrayed by a long-time friend -- he's determined not to be duped again. With the death toll from gang shootings rising on Canadian streets, and nothing on the horizon to stem the flow of American guns, can the same be said for the rest of us?

Very good stuff in the middle, found here.

he's baa-aack

Have you met teflonjedi? He is a Canadian living in the US, and he writes the farnorthblog. (I commend teflonjedi for his lower case!)

Well, guess who paid t-jedi a visit? That's right, it's our intelligent, well-informed friend Kyle Couch. Excuse me while I cough up this sarcasm. In this comment, teflonjedi reports.

Kyle wrote:
----------------
Subject: more thought

Hey Spacenut, as you suggested I've given it more thought. My conclusion is that I'm not just repeating that this country is great. I am stating a fact. This Country believes in individualism. This is the place where you can achieve whatever goals you set for yourself w/ hard work and tenacity. Unlike the socialist gov't you prefer, where we all have to Shaaaare. To hell w/ that. I work for my family and I pay for my family. I expect no handouts. Once again unlike you and your socialist tendencies.

In exile? I can't blame them for kicking you out. I would too. IN all seriousness you can't be serious. You leave a hell hole and move to paradise and you are in exile? I've been to canada and it truly sucks. by the way your mounties suck too . I know how dearly you snowbunnies hold that institution.

Teflonjedi replied:

Not sure where you've been, but I can say that I have lived in many places in Canada, and visited many more, and there's no place in Canada I thought of as a hell-hole....certainly no place I worried about my safety walking down the streets. Sad to say, it's not the same here.

Also, the last I checked, Canada is a democracy, not a socialist republic. You're confusing Canada with China, or the late USSR.

But, since you're not into sharing, if you don't mind, I paid taxes last year, and therefore the road in front of your home is my property. Please do not tresspass. I realize that this means you will have to stay in your home, but do not worry, I believe with your hard work and tenacity, you will be able to succeed handily without being able to interact with others.

Good luck!

I thought that was brilliant! T-jedi wonders if he's encouraging Mr Couch. I realize those of us who are into this little game are probably doing just that. But I don't care, it's just too much silly fun. Eventually Kyle Couch will get bored and move on, and I'll still be blogging. Plus I'll be living in Canada!

Mr Couch's correspondence has also been instructive, as I've learned more about what the Fox News crowd "thinks" about Canada. I mentioned in a comment that Mr Couch knows nothing about Canada or France. Wrye pointed out that Couch knows nothing of the US, either. So true.

the great -our debate

This spelling thing everyone keeps warning me about is more complicated than I thought! This page runs through the terms of the debate. Check it out - it's informative and amusing. Thanks to ALPF, of course.

sweet neo con

From Reuters:

The Rolling Stones, not exactly a band at the forefront of rock 'n' roll activism, are taking aim at the American right with a new song on their upcoming album, according to Newsweek magazine.

The track, "Sweet Neo Con," boasts the line, "You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite/You call yourself a patriot, well I think you're full of shit," according to the weekly newsmagazine.

"It is direct," singer Mick Jagger was quoted as saying, adding that his collaborator, Keith Richards, was "a bit worried" about a backlash because the guitarist lives in the United States and Jagger does not.

In an interview to be broadcast Wednesday on syndicated TV show Extra, Jagger said the song was not aimed at anyone specifically, such as President Bush.

"It certainly is very critical of certain policies of the administration, but so what! Lots of people are critical," Jagger said, according to an advance transcript.

"Sweet Neo Con" is one of 16 tracks featured on the Stones' new album, "A Bigger Bang," which comes out in the United States on Sept. 6, and a day earlier internationally. It was not featured on a 12-track advance CD circulated to critics. The group's publicist was traveling and not able to confirm the quoted lyrics or provide the complete lyrics.

The band is currently rehearsing in Toronto ahead of a world tour that begins on Aug. 21 in Boston. It will play a club show Wednesday for 1,000 fans at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre. Tickets were priced at just C$10 ($8.26), a far cry from the tour's $478 top price.

In their 43-year career, the Stones have observed political developments in songs like 1968's "Street Fighting Man," but have generally avoided taking sides. Notable exceptions included the 1983 single "Undercover (of the Night)," about civil rights abuse in Latin America, and 1991's Gulf War-related track "Highwire."

This is so cool. As the last paragraph points out, the Stones are not completely apolitical, as some might think. And don't worry, Keith, you don't really live in the US - you live in New York City.

you must read this

Once again I am asking you to spend your hard-earned currency.

The last time I plugged an article from Harper's, it was something I found fascinating and entertaining. This time, it's essential. I've been waiting for someone to write this article, someone who could pull all the evidence together and put it in context. The brilliant Mark Crispin Miller has done it.

Here's the beginning of "None Dare Call It Stolen: Ohio, the election, and America's servile press".

Whichever candidate you voted for (or think you voted for), or even if you did not vote (or could not vote), you must admit that last year's presidential race was - if nothing else - pretty interesting. True, the press has dropped the subject, and the Democrats, with very few exceptions, have "moved on." Yet this contest may have been the most unusual in U.S. history; it was certainly among those with the strangest outcomes. You may remember being surprised yourself. The infamously factious Democrats were fiercely unified - Ralph Nader garnered only about 0.38 percent of the national vote while the Republicans were split, with a vocal anti-Bush front that included anti-Clinton warrior Bob Barr of Georgia; Ike's son John Eisenhower; Ronald Reagan's chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, William J. Crowe Jr.; former Air Force Chief of Staff and onetime "Veteran for Bush" General Merrill "Tony" McPeak; founding neocon Francis Fukuyama; Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute, and various large alliances of military officers, diplomats, and business professors. The American Conservative, co-founded by Pat Buchanan, endorsed five candidates for president, including both Bush and Kerry, while the Financial Times and The Economist came out for Kerry alone. At least fifty-nine daily newspapers that backed Bush in the previous election endorsed Kerry (or no one) in this election. The national turnout in 2004 was the highest since 1968, when another unpopular war had swept the ruling party from the White House. And on Election Day, twenty-six state exit polls incorrectly predicted wins for Kerry, a statistical failure so colossal and unprecedented that the odds against its happening, according to a report last May by the National Election Data Archive Project, were 16.5 million to 1. Yet this ever-less beloved president, this president who had united liberals and conservatives and nearly all the world against himself - this president somehow bested his opponent by 3,000,176 votes.

How did he do it? To that most important question the commentariat, briskly prompted by Republicans, supplied an answer. Americans of faith - a silent majority heretofore unmoved by any other politician - had poured forth by the millions to vote "Yes!" for Jesus' buddy in the White House. Bush's 51 percent, according to this thesis, were roused primarily by "family values." Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, called gay marriage "the hood ornament on the family values wagon that carried the president to a second term." The pundits eagerly pronounced their amens - "Moral values," Tucker Carlson said on CNN, "drove President Bush and other Republican candidates to victory this week" - although it is not clear why. The primary evidence of our Great Awakening was a post-election poll by the Pew Research Center in which 27 percent of the respondents, when asked which issue "mattered most" to them in the election, selected something called "moral values." This slight plurality of impulse becomes still less impressive when we note that, as the pollsters went to great pains to make clear, "the relative importance of moral values depends greatly on how the question is framed." In fact, when voters were asked to "name in their own words the most important factor in their vote," only 14 percent managed to come up with "moral values." Strangely, this detail went little mentioned in the postelectoral commentary. [1]

The press has had little to say about most of the strange details of the election - except, that is, to ridicule all efforts to discuss them. This animus appeared soon after November 2, in a spate of caustic articles dismissing any critical discussion of the outcome as crazed speculation: "Election paranoia surfaces: Conspiracy theorists call results rigged," chuckled the Baltimore Sun on November 5. "Internet Buzz on Vote Fraud Is Dismissed," proclaimed the Boston Globe on November 10. "Latest Conspiracy Theory - Kerry Won - Hits the Ether," the Washington Post chortled on November 11. The New York Times weighed in with "Vote Fraud Theories, Spread by Blogs, Are Quickly Buried" - making mock not only of the "post-election theorizing" but of cyberspace itself, the fons et origo of all such loony tunes, according to the Times.

Such was the news that most Americans received. Although the tone was scientific, "realistic," skeptical, and "middle-of-the-road," the explanations offered by the press were weak and immaterial. It was as if they were reporting from inside a forest fire without acknowledging the fire, except to keep insisting that there was no fire.[2] Since Kerry has conceded, they argued, and since "no smoking gun" had come to light, there was no story to report. This is an oddly passive argument. Even so, the evidence that something went extremely wrong last fall is copious, and not hard to find. Much of it was noted at the time, albeit by local papers and haphazardly. Concerning the decisive contest in Ohio, the evidence is lucidly compiled in a single congressional report, released by Representative John Conyers of Michigan, which, for the last half-year, has been available to anyone inclined to read it. It is a veritable arsenal of "smoking guns" - and yet its findings may be less extraordinary than the fact that no one in this country seems to care about them.

[1] Another poll, by Zogby International, showed that 33 percent of voters deemed - greed and materialism - the most pressing moral problems in America. Only 12 percent of those polled cited gay marriage.

[2] Keith Olbermann, on MSNBC, stood out as an heroic exception, devoting many segments of his nightly program Countdown to the myriad signs of electoral mischief, particularly in Ohio.

This excerpt is found at Harpers.org, but to read the whole story, you must run out and buy Harper's. So do that right now. Share it with your friends and neighbors.

Miller ends with this:

In this nation's epic struggle on behalf of freedom, reason, and democracy, the press has unilaterally disarmed - and therefore many good Americans, both liberal and conservative, have lost faith in the promise of self-government. That vast surrender is demoralizing, certainly, but if we face it, and endeavor to reverse it, it will not prove fatal. This democracy can survive a plot to hijack an election. What it cannot survive is our indifference to, or unawareness of, the evidence that such a plot has succeeded.

Be informed. Be angry. Be vocal.

For more practical ideas on how you can help secure your vote, see (as always) Black Box Voting.

kyle couch writes to redsock

Whoa, Kyle Couch may not be as dumb as we thought. He's apparently been spying on us, and knows how Redsock spends most of his time. Check out this email Mr Couch sent to Allan this evening. Subject line: "asshole".

yeah I know your type. You root for the red sox while living in NYC so it gets you a little extra attention. you are in need of therapy.
I can tell that you have been asleep and drunk for most of your existence.

You need rehab as well. The next time you resort to name calling just come on down to Texas and look me up. I will be glad to kick your canadian loving ass all the way back to the border.

your daddy
Kyle

Kyle Couch, you are cordially invited to southern Ontario. You may kick our collective asses anytime after August 31. Watch out, though, one of our dogs may kick back.

We haven't had this much fun at wmtc since the days of Big Soccer!

trust me, it's not worth it

While wingnuts are asking why anyone in their right mind would leave the greatestcountryonthefaceoftheearth, others are risking their lives swimming across rivers to get here. Mexicans braving the Rio Grande? Nope. A British woman swimming the St. John.

Woman faces jail over border swim

A woman barred from entering the US has been arrested after allegedly swimming over the border from Canada.

Katharine Hiscox, 33, from Shepton Mallet, Somerset, is charged with entering the US without inspection and being in the country after deportation.

If convicted, she faces up to two years in prison and a fine of up to £140,000.

Ms Hiscox allegedly swam across the St. John River from Canada and was discovered in Maine on Saturday, according to court documents.

Various visas

She was driven to a hotel and the police were called. Border agents found her at a petrol station on Sunday.

Ms Hiscox's lawyer, Charles Hodsdon, said she had been to the US three times on various visas.

She was deported from Atlanta in January and barred from re-entering the US.

"I am still trying to figure out why exactly she was turned away on that occasion," Mr Hodsdon said.

A detention hearing is scheduled at a court in Bangor, Maine for Thursday.

The story is here, though I've copied the entire text. Thanks to Alan With One L for the news and link.

the genius in queens

Louis Armstrong, one of the greatest American artists, lived in New York City from 1943 until his death in 1971. His home in the Corona section of Queens is now a museum. I went there yesterday with my mother.

I love Louis Armstrong, and I was happy to visit the home that meant so much to him. However, the Louis Armstrong House itself is more house than Louis. My mom and I were lucky to have a private tour - the guide took us alone, in between giant groups of Japanese tourists - but the tour was more about wallpaper and furnishings than Satchmo. This may be unavoidable, since Armstrong spent 300 days a year on the road, and home was really his wife Lucille's domain.

One exception to this was Armstrong's study. His state-of-the-art recording equipment is built into the wall and handwritten notes about music are on the desk. In that room, Armstrong hung out with Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, and dozens of other musicians, making music and shooting the breeze. That just gave me chills.

Armstrong was very technologically savvy, and he loved recording all kinds of sounds - the every day music of life. He had the whole house wired for sound, and made more than 650 hours of tapes, all of which live in the Louis Armstrong Archives at Queens College.

On the house tour, you can hear snippets of those tapes in each room of the house. In the study, you hear Armstrong talking about the joys of having a separate room just for himself ("Study? Who ever heard of having a study? When I was growing up, any room you had, you'd be sleeping in - all ten of you!") and about the necessity of listening to all different kinds of music. Someone else is making fun of The Beatles, but Armstrong says he listens to The Beatles, and everyone should listen to as many different kinds of music as possible. Yeah, Satchmo.

If you venture out to Corona to visit the Louis Armstrong House, the thing to do is make a day of it on the 7 line in Queens. The famous 7 train of the NYC subway slices through one of the most ethnically diverse areas in the world. And because it's a very working-class, urban landscape, there's a lot of street life. The 7 runs on an elevated track above Roosevelt Avenue. Roosevelt Avenue and the streets immediately off it are lined with shops, restaurants and markets from people all over the world. You'll want to log on to Chowhound.com for some pointers, pick a few stops, and make sure you're hungry.

While you're out there, stop in at the Queens Museum of Art to see the panorama. It's amazing. There are many other nice things to do in Queens, but if you ask me, they are all excuses to sample (literally) the glorious mosaic of New York City.

the return of kyle couch

Our friend Mr Couch is back.

For your reference, I had replied to Kyle:

Last time I checked, leaving a great job, a great place to live and all one's friends and family, and starting over in a new country with no contacts and no employment was not cowardly. I wonder what brave things you do for your great country, Kyle. I wonder, too, if your grandparents, or great-grandparents, or great-great-grandparents (whoever) were cowardly when they left the country of their birth.

Today, he writes:

You liberals puzzle the hell out of me. You said it yourself,a great place to live. Why would anyone w/ any brains leave their family and friends just because they don't agree w/ the Administration's policies. Cowardly? Maybe not. Stupid? definitely. Selfish? absolutely.

As for my ancestors they came here and built what you are leaving. No they were not cowards because they were leaving an oppressive gov't. Last time I checked this was the most free natiion in the world. You can worship or not worship. Vote or not vote. Join the military or not. You can work or not work. ThiThis is a country of individuals doing their own thing. Socialism has no place in this land, and you are going to find out all about socialism the first time you go to the doctor and told you need a hospital bed or surgery and then put on the waiting list. But if you are wealthy you won't have this problem because you'll come back to America to get your treatment just like wealthy canadiens do today.

My bravery? I don't have to do much because of the sacrifices made by American generations before me. I very much understand and appreciate that fact unlike you and your type of over-sensitive, uninformed, politically belligerent socialistic comrades.

Good luck learning French . france and canada joined at the hip. How fitting.

Scoop that snow!
Kyle

My reply doesn't begin to rival Crabletta's classic response to Joe Blow, but I did dash off this missive.

You are spectacularly uniformed. Amusing, but still ridiculous.

I am not a liberal. Liberals don't leave the US. They vote Democrat. I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican.

I was leaving the US no matter who was elected in 2004 (as is clearly stated several times throughout my blog).

I am not leaving because I don't agree with an administration's policies. I don't agree with the US. Period. I haven't for most of my life, including when Democrats were presidents.

They speak English where I am going, as they do in all of Canada, including the parts that also speak French. Although I'm not sure why you assume I don't speak French. I might be fluent in French for all you know. France and Canada are not so much alike, though both countries have much to recommend them.

As far as health care, you also haven't the slightest idea if I even have health care in the US, and you obviously know nothing about the Canadian system. That is not unusual. Most Americans' impressions of the Canadian health care system are based on myth and misinformation. Canadians are proud of their health care system, and justly so. I look forward to my taxes supporting universal health insurance instead of useless wars.

Politically belligerent?? You email a stranger to insult her and criticize her choices and I am belligerent? I'm not bothering you about how you live your life. I'm just leaving.

Imagine that you are reduced to such clever quips as "scoop that snow". How nice that you are proud of the weather where you live. I'm sure it's the greatest weather on the face of the earth, as is everything in the US.

Thanks again for writing. Please do not do so again.

L.

P.S. The "great place to live" I referred to was just my apartment! A great apartment in NYC. Not the whole damn country!

Well folks, feel free to fill in anything I may have missed!

buster update

For those of you following the Buster Saga, here's the latest installment. Those of you easily squicked by medical details, here's a post to skip.

First off, it's not Addison's. That would have been too easy.

Buster has inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a chronic condition. We won't know what's causing it until the biopsies come back.

The internist (a veterinary specialist) is terrific. She is very thorough, extremely knowledgeable and competent, and warm, caring and very good at explaining things. These qualities don't always go together in doctors, and I'm very happy to have found them the full combination.

First she did a full medical history of all Buster's many health issues since the day we found him. No one has ever done that before. She said many of his behaviors which we put down to quirks or "sensitive stomach" were the classic early signs of gastro-intestinal disease.

It makes me sad to think Buster was walking around with untreated problems all this time. Of course this condition would only be diagnosed by a specialist performing an internal scope, and no one takes their dog to a specialist for what appears to be an every day issue, easily solved with a change of diet. So I'm trying not to blame myself for letting it go on for too long.

After our talk, the doc told us she suspected IBD, but a definite diagnosis was only possible from an endoscopy, an internal scope of the whole gastro-intestinal tract. She also explained that IBD could be caused by any of four conditions, which would then determine the course of treatment. That can only be known from biopsy results.

She gave Buster some sedation so they could deal with him (and his anxiety) more easily. Then she explained exactly what they would do, including a cost estimate, and sent us away.

Four hours later...

The good news: a full ultrasound revealed no tumors. So hooray for that.

The bad news: the endoscopy showed that Buster's entire stomach, small intestine and large intestine is "grossly diseased". She said it looked awful - red, inflamed, the lining flaking off, with several "pin-point ulcers" throughout the small intestine. Wow. As sick as he's been, it's a wonder he's been able to eat at all.

In the short term, the doc prescribed several medications for the ulcers and to soothe his system. When the biopsy results come back, she'll give us a more specific course of treatment.

She also told us that this condition should be monitored and treated by a specialist, not by a general vet. She's going to ask around about an internist vet in the Toronto area.

So. More meds added to Buster's already elaborate medication schedule. I'm not thinking much beyond that yet. Biopsy results later in the week.

As always, thank you so much for your support. I'm doing some NYC sightseeing with my mom today, and will report back later.

The patient, post-procedure.

maybe an answer

Today we hope to get an answer on Buster's blood tests. Fingers crossed (chanting, praying, whatever you like) that it's Addison's disease. Second best would be anything that can be treated with drugs as opposed to surgery.

I don't think I can blog about anything else this morning, my brain has only one
track right now. Instead I'll leave you with something to meditate on.

A very old pic, but one of my faves.



Buster's favorite position.



Hey, what about me?

****

RIP Peter Jennings. I did want to note the passing of Peter Jennings, someone whose work I appreciated. Before I gave up on TV news entirely, he was the only newscaster I found who brought a healthy skepticism to reports on WMDs, Iraq and the W administration in general. I also just personally liked his style and his wit. He was a fixture in New York City, and an wholly self-made man. Only 67 years old: a walking "stop smoking" advertisement. New York Times obit here.

the nutshell

I just received two emails at the movetocanada address. Kyle Couch says:

What are you waiting for? Get the hell out of this GREAT country. We don't need or want your cowardly attitude here.

And from a Canadian:

Welcome to the true melting pot.

Unlock your front door, grab a cold Canadian, exchange the uh for an eh & never forget what it means to be Canadian, & that's ... & that's...... Well, the answer won't come from some loud-mouth Rocker From Toronto, Living In Montreal with his beautiful, intelligent, American wife. She moved up here under the first King George. No, it will come from fine people like you. In fact, all of the immigrants sharing their culture with the natives, making them a little more intelligent & hopefully much more tolerant.

Yes sir America's loss is once again Canada's gain baby.

That's it in a nutshell.

Do you think Kyle Couch's grandparents, or great-grandparents, or great-great-grandparents, or however many generations back it goes (something tells me Kyle is not a Native American) were cowards when they left the country of their birth?

I thank Kyle Couch and all of his ilk: you make it so wonderfully easy to leave.

don't blame w...

...because nothing is ever his fault!

Reggie Rivers, a former NFL player, now a columnist for the Denver Post, always has interesting things to say, and often says them with great wit and humor. I especially like Rivers because he reaches an audience outside the already-converted, and because (as you may know) I have an interest in the progressive voices in professional sports. Rivers writes:

Each new Bush administration story reminds me of the scene in the movie "Good Will Hunting," when Robin Williams' character, a counselor, has a breakthrough with Matt Damon's character.

"It's not your fault," Williams says over and over to the brilliant but troubled Will Hunting, whose overly aggressive, angry, self-destructive behavior constantly lands him in trouble. Hearing that it was not his fault, Hunting eventually breaks down, sobbing uncontrollably. He's finally on the path to redemption.

In America's version of this drama, President Bush lacks Hunting's brilliance but he's got the aggression and destruction mastered. He insults, dismisses, attacks, denies and disappears - usually to his ranch in Texas, where he has so far spent 20 percent of his presidency on vacation.

For the full list of what's not Bush's fault, read Rivers's latest column, also found here on Common Dreams.

we love new york

Help keep our city safe from unapprehended icy* vendors. From the People With Nothing Better To Do files:

"Deponent states that he observed approximately four un-apprehended individuals surrounding defendant and said cart, and further observed one un-apprehended individual hand defendant a sum of United States currency."

"In exchange, defendant handed to said un-apprehended individual an icy."

The "un-apprehended individuals" were customers, many of them children. The defendant was the man selling them. The deponent was the policeman, and the sum of United States currency was one dollar.

Some would argue that selling an icy on a day as hot as July 19 was more a public service than an illegal enterprise. In fact, his customers tried. "They were saying, 'Dios mío! Leave the sellers alone'," Mr. Luna said on Thursday, back at his painted wooden cart, with children swarming around like flies.

Then Mr. Luna, a mild-mannered man wearing spectacles, admitted what was true: He did not have a license for his $60-a-day operation of ice and syrup. Not then, on July 19, and not now.

Here's how the police recorded that fact:

"Deponent further states that he approached defendant and asked defendant in sum and substance if he had a vendor's license and/or a tax certificate. And defendant stated in sum and substance: NO."

Read more about this public menace.



*Yes, in New York City, the flavored shaved-ice treats are now called icies, singular icy. I'm sure everyone will weigh in with what they called these things when they were growing up. We called them ices, or sometimes, Italian ices.

shall refuse to surrender

Anonymous Peter, proud lefty from Alberta (and longtime wmtc reader), asks Canadian readers to "help stop the US's intrusion on the Canadian justice system and our drug policies".

I've seen lots of blog posts making fun of Mark Emery, but honestly, the situation doesn't sound amusing. The US may have some things that are worth exporting and emulating, but drug policy is not one of them.

Interested readers can read and sign the petition.

random canadosity

Catching up on some links you guys have been posting...

First up, Canadian peace activists believe a visa was denied to an Iraqi doctor as a little US ass-kiss. (ALPF, good thing you sent the CBC link, the anarchists removed their story.) From the CBC:

The Canadian Peace Alliance invited Dr. Salam Ismael, 29, to Canada later this month to speak about his experiences as a doctor during both sieges of Fallujah. However, he was denied a visa by Canada's embassy in Jordan.

Salam heads a group called Doctors for Iraq Society and has frequently traveled abroad to raise money for food and medical supplies. He's known for speaking about the suffering of Iraqi civilians during the war.

He has also written articles and given photo presentations accusing the U.S. forces in Iraq of committing atrocities.

Salam said he was told he had failed to convince the visa officer his trip was legitimate, and that there were fears he might try to stay in Canada because there are few job opportunities in Iraq. He also said his credentials for his hospital job were not persuasive.

A spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration refused to discuss the case, citing privacy laws, but said that visa officers have discretionary powers to turn down any applicant.

A member of the Ottawa-based peace alliance said the doctor had already been to several other countries -- including Norway, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom -- and always returned home to his family and his hospital job in Iraq.

"All of us know that there are many little ways in which our government tries to help the United States under the radar of Canadian public opinion," said Jo Wood. "I think this is one example of that."

Next, journalist Michaelle Jean was named Canada's new Governor General.

At 48 years old, the award-winning journalist will become one of the youngest governors general ever, the third woman in the job and the first black person to call Rideau Hall home. . . .

Jean is probably best known to English-Canadians as the host of The Passionate Eye and Rough Cuts on CBC Newsworld.

She was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She left in 1968, her family fleeing the oppressive regime of Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, settling in Quebec with her family.

She has a six-year-old daughter whom she adopted from Haiti, and she is married to filmmaker Jean-Daniel Lafond. As well, she is fluent in five languages: French, English, Spanish, Italian and Haitian Creole.

She sounds awesome. Will someone explain what a Governor General does?

And last, this is kind of nuts:

A visit by the Canadian defence minister to a barren island in the Arctic has sparked a row with Denmark.

Bill Graham landed on Hans Island, which is claimed by Canada and Denmark, during a tour of Canadian military outposts in the region.

The status of the island - an outcrop barely 100 metres wide between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Greenland - has been disputed for more than 30 years.

The Danish government says it will send a letter of protest to Canada.

The dispute started in 1973 when Denmark and Canada drew a border down the Nares Strait, between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory.

The sovereignty of Hans Island was left to be determined later. . . .

Discussion of this silliness is going on here and here, from which I've learned that Denmark sent troops to Iraq. We talked about the pastries, but we forgot about the really big dog.

never forget

Today is the 60th anniversary of the first use of an atomic bomb against a human population.

Let's pause and reflect.

Thanks to my brother for reminding me.

why they stay put

I'm back.

In comments here, ALPF asked:

What's your take on this one...
If so many Americans (six times the normal amount) were interested in moving here after the election, why do think so few have actually taken the big step?

[Story here.]

I can't believe it's because they are afraid of the cold! It must be because they realized it's just not as easy as they expected it to be.

Kyle speculated:

That's exactly it. Except for those fresh out of school, you tend to stick down roots where you live. It's hard enough to move to another city in a different state/province, let alone another country.

And also said:

That's something the wackos that call Laura a coward don't seem to understand. To actually pack up and move to Canada is an act of bravery, not cowardice.

Besides thanking Kyle and ALPF for their vote of confidence in me and Allan, I'll throw in my two cents.

I definitely agree that most people are put off by how much work is required to emigrate, and by how much it costs. Most Americans mistakenly believe - as we did, once upon a time - that they can move to Toronto or Vancouver the same way they can move to San Francisco or New York. When they find out what's involved, few are motivated enough to go through the process.

In my opinion, if you were going to be happy enough with the US had John Kerry been elected, your motivation is probably insufficient to leave the country. If it was only about the 2004 election, for the most part, you'll ride out the storm. As I am forever reminding nasty commenters, we were leaving no matter who was elected in 2004. Our problems with the US are greater than George Bush and the Republicans.

Also, those fresh out of school, as Kyle notes, might have lives flexible enough to uproot and begin anew, but most wouldn't be eligible. They wouldn't have the required work experience, stable life history, or money in the bank.

That's my take.

To answer some questions about Buster, read this, and if you really love dog stories, this goes even further back. Photos of our pups are here, photos of our first family are here.

soothing

Today I'm less frightened and more hopeful about Buster. I'll backtrack.

Wednesday night and Thursday morning were rough. Buster seemed critically ill. I had an appointment Thursday morning that would bring me to the Upper East Side, and since I'd be nearby, I had been planning on some museum-going from my New York City to-do-before-moving list. Allan was home with Buster and could take him to our own vet, for injections and meds to until we saw the specialist on Monday. Allan convinced me that there was no point in changing my plans, and even I could see that the distraction might be good for me.

I first went to the Met, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is the museum I grew up with, where I learned to appreciate art. My mother started taking me to the Met as a little girl, and only later did I realize how lucky I was to have one of the world's great museums only a day's outing away. Yesterday I wasn't trying to take in a large chunk of Met, only to purposefully bounce around. A Laura's Favorite Art Tour.

Mostly I wanted to see the Rembrandts and Vermeers. They weren't easy to find, which was fortunate, because on my way there I got a peek at some Matisse (one of my favorite artists), Picasso and Van Gogh, and wandered through some art by some new friends, the ancient Assyrians, Babylonians and Egyptians.

There was a special exhibit on Matisse and his textiles, which looked great, but it was as crowded as a subway platform, and I passed on it.

Walking through the galleries, I realized how much I had needed this respite. I felt like the art was not just distracting me, but soothing me. That it was healing.

Eventually I found Rembrandt and the Dutch Masters, including what is probably my favorite painting in the world, Vermeer's Young Woman with a Water Jug. I find this work beautiful beyond description. I just stood there drinking it in.

(I see the Met uses this painting on the link for its permanent collections. Nice.)

Then winding my way towards an exit, I spent some time in the incredible Michael D. Rockefeller wing, the Met's African art collection. I love the African masks and sculptures, I find them so powerful and expressive. Lovers of modern art should not miss this; it's the roots of Picasso and all the modern masters.

Then I walked down Fifth Avenue to my favorite museum, and one of the truly great spaces of New York City, the Frick Collection. The Frick is one of several New York museums housed in the former mansion of a robber baron. It's a small, brilliant collection of very fine paintings and sculpture. You can see the whole museum in an hour or two, which I think makes it the perfect size.

It also houses a serene courtyard with a fountain and pool, that is an oasis of cool and calm. I won't even attempt to describe the courtyard, because I can't do it justice. There are some nice photos of the Frick here, but none of the courtyard. And even a decent photo like this, can't capture how it feels to leave the sights and sounds of 21st Century Fifth Avenue and walk into this tiny slice of paradise. If I say it's one of my very favorite spots in New York City, you'll know how I love it.

It was blazingly hot outside, and I sat on a marble bench in the courtyard, thinking of Buster, my heart very heavy (and my eyes very wet).

After a while I roused myself to walk through the galleries. It's a very eclectic collection. There are Dutch Masters, Velasquez, El Greco and Goya, Turner, Constable and Gainsborough, Veronese, Medieval art, exquisite Limoges. The great calling card for me is New York City's other three Vermeers, including Mistress and Maid, now known as "the girl with the pearl earring," from the book of the same name.

I was sorry to see admission to the Frick has become so expensive. I'm sure $12 is prohibitive to many people. There's a $5 student admission, and admission includes an audio guide, which is nice.

Though still very worried, I felt much restored. It was nice to be alone. But more than that, the art itself restored me. Neat how that works.

****

Later in the evening, I had a phone consultation with the internist (specialist vet). She had reviewed all of Buster's records, and believes she sees a pattern. She said all of Buster's many health issues may be caused by a hormone imbalance, an auto-immune disease like Addison's (which is similar to Lupus). She listed the typical profile of a dog with Addison's and it exactly described B. What's more, she said the condition is highly treatable. It's corrected by a synthetic hormone; many dogs with Addison's live happily into old age. Music to my ears.

All this time, I have been wondering if Buster's various problems could all be caused by one underlying disease, and asking if we were perhaps missing a big picture. Finally, someone answered yes.

This morning we are taking him to this specialist for a blood test. She doesn't even have hours today, but she's coming in to the animal hospital for us. She'll take blood, then we leave for an hour, then come back and she'll take another sample.

We'll have the results on Monday morning, when our appointment for colonoscopy was originally scheduled. If the blood test is positive, we'll discuss treatment and start him on the hormone. No scope, no surgery. If it's negative, she'll do a colonoscopy. Naturally I'm hoping the test is positive.

Just knowing this is a possibility has given me great hope. B's stomach is finally quiet and he is less sluggish and more himself today. And we'll know a lot more on Monday.

Thank you all so much for your good wishes. They mean a lot.