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From the Please Tell Me This Is A Parody department, Dunkin' Donuts has pulled online ads featuring Food Network personality Rachael Ray because fascist social critic Michelle Malkin is offended by Ray's clothing. Too much clevage? An exposed nipple, perhaps? Nothing that simple. In the ad, Ray is wearing a black and white scarf. The hatemongering Malkin thinks that scarf looks like a kaffiyeh, which is worn in the Middle East. And to Malkin, that can only mean one thing: terrorism. As quoted on the CBC website (you can be sure I'm not going to link to her blog, there's not enough valium on the planet), Malkin said, the kaffiyeh "has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad." Equating a popular Middle Eastern garment with terrorism is bad enough, but Malkin doesn't stop there. " Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ig...

An amazing story has emerged from South America. One of the world's few remaining uncontacted indigenous tribes has been photographed on the border between Brazil and Peru. Survival International , an international movement to support tribal peoples, says that more than half the world's remaining uncontacted tribes live in Brazil or Peru. The group's director, Stephen Corry, says such tribes will soon be wiped out if their land is not protected. The people revealed in these photos are at risk from illegal logging. Corry described the threats to such tribes and their land as "a monumental crime against the natural world" and "further testimony to the complete irrationality with which we, the 'civilised' ones, treat the world". The photos were first revealed by BBC News, but I thought the Globe and Mail did a better job with it today. Brazil's government agreed to release stunning photos of Amazon Indians firing arrows at an airplane so that...

These letters to the editor ran in the Toronto Star last week. All three letters were in support of allowing Iraq War resisters to remain in Canada. U.S. Iraq war resister Corey Glass was told on May 21 that his application to stay in Canada has been rejected and he now faces deportation. Glass would be the first Iraq war resister to be deported from Canada. This is not just an immigration or moral issue – it is an issue of international law. Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the Iraq war illegal, and the war crimes and crimes against humanity that have occurred throughout the war are well-documented. Canada cannot pretend to support international law while denying sanctuary to those fleeing war crimes and crimes against humanity. If we expect individuals to uphold international law, then it follows that we must support them and provide sanctuary when they believe they are being asked to do something that violates international law. If we fail to do so, then we lose all r...

John Hagan is the author of Northern Passage: American Vietnam War Resisters in Canada . He spoke at our event in January , coming in from Chicago to support the cause of war resisters in Canada. John brings an important historical perspective which should inform the debate over Iraq War resisters. As the Conservatives repeat ad nauseum "but they volunteered" and "Vietnam was different," they would do well to study what John Hagan can teach us. This piece will run in Saturday's Globe and Mail . Please follow the link and click yes for "recommend this article?" at the bottom of the story. It can help increase visibility. Let's provide a haven for those who chose not to fight in Iraq John Hagan May 30, 2008 The Liberals' Bob Rae recently joined the NDP's Olivia Chow and others in urging Parliament to pass a motion allowing American Iraq war resisters, such as Corey Glass, to stay in Canada. Last week, Mr. Glass was refused refugee status an...

Yesterday's debate in Parliament is now available online . We were glued to the TV set all morning - including, for a while, placing the phone in front of the speaker so Campaigners en route to Ottawa could listen! It was thrilling to hear our issue take front and centre stage, to see MPs standing up and reading the words of the war resisters in Parliament. It was a little anti-climactic when the vote wasn't called, but we'll only have to chew our fingernails a few more days. Tuesday afternoon, June 3 , the House of Commons will vote on the motion to allow US war resisters to remain in Canada. Once again, the motion reads: The Committee recommends that the government immediately implement a program to allow conscientious objectors and their immediate family members (partners and dependents), who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations and do not have a criminal record, to apply for permanent resident status and remain in C...

When explaining why the Iraq War resisters should be sent back to the US, the standard Tory fallback position is that the US is a democratic nation governed by the rule of law. They say all the war resisters will be given due process. As I recall, that was Stockwell Day's excuse for not coming to the aid of Ronald Allen Smith , a Canadian citizen on death row in Montana. Today that supposedly democratic nation showed us yet again how their rule of law works. The U.S. military judge presiding over the trial of Canadian terrorism suspect Omar Khadr has been fired , said Khadr's lawyer. In a news release issued Thursday, Lt.-Cmdr. William C. Kuebler said the judge, Col. Peter Brownback, was replaced after threatening to suspend proceedings in the case earlier this month. Brownback told prosecutors they had to provide Khadr's defence lawyers with records of his confinement at the detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or he would suspend the proceedings. Kuebler, Khadr's U...

My home state moves closer to justice! Gov. David A. Paterson has directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, California and Canada. In a directive issued on May 14, the governor’s legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere "should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union." The revisions are most likely to involve as many as 1,300 statutes and regulations in New York governing everything from joint filing of income tax returns to transferring fishing licenses between spouses. In a videotaped message given to gay community leaders at a dinner on May 17, Mr. Paterson described the move as "a strong step toward marriage equality." And people on both sides of the issue said it moved the state closer to fully legalizing same-sex unions in this state. Nicely done, Governor Paters...

In comments here , my blog-friend Impudent Strumpet asked if this motion came to late to help Corey Glass, the first U.S. war resister to receive a deportation order. The motion before Parliament calls for the Government to immediately cease all deportation proceedings against all war resisters. So if the motion passes, and the government honours it, it will include Corey. But even if the Government won't overtly agree to honour the motion - the will of the majority of Canadians - will they actually have Corey taken away, and risk such negative publicity, at a time when they can scarcely afford any more? They may just let the deportation order sit for a while, without acting on it, while they think of a way to save face. Many people don't realize that this issue was a political battle during the Vietnam era, too. Just like today, activists worked for years to try to convince the government to let the draft resisters and deserters remain in Canada. It took a deportation order t...

From the website of the Liberal Party of Canada : The Liberal Opposition is calling on the Conservative government to support a motion that would allow conscientious objectors to apply for permanent resident status in Canada, said Liberal Citizenship and Immigration Critic Maurizio Bevilacqua. "Five years ago, the Liberal government made a principled decision not to participate in a war that wasn’t sanctioned by the United Nations (U.N.). We should not now punish individuals and their families for making the same decision based on their personal principles," said Mr. Bevilacqua. The motion, which was passed by the Immigration Committee and is being debated in the House today, calls on the government to allow conscientious objectors, and their immediate family members, who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the U.N. and who do not have a criminal record to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada. The motion also stipulate...

One year ago, we didn't have the full support of the opposition members of the Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. So we worked. We educated, and lobbied, and demonstrated. We made our case, with facts and with feeling. In December, our resolution passed in Committee. Then we didn't have enough support in the House of Commons to bring the resolution forward. So we worked more. We enlisted the support of the Canadian people. Across Canada, people wrote letters and made phone calls. We held events where we could educate the public and broaden our support. We worked with peace groups and church groups, labour and immigration. We blogged and we YouTubed and we Facebooked. We demonstrated, and we tabled, and we petitioned. Now we have enough support that our resolution should pass in Parliament. This has been, and continues to be, a lesson in how true democracy works. And I owe about a dozen people a huge "I told you so"! * * * * Technically, this resolution will not...

You may have seen an earlier post saying that we had won, that the motion had passed. We watched the Parliamentary debate and it looked like we carried the day... but then the vote was deffered until Monday or Tuesday of next week. This is a procedural delay, our side making sure that there are enough bodies in their seats to get this thing across. It's very nerve-wracking! But it looks very positive. Update: I'm now told that the procedural delay may have been from our side, but it may have been from the Tories. We aren't sure. Either way, everyone will have all their ducks in a row for the vote next week. What a tense weekend we have ahead!

RIGHT NOW NDP Members of Parliament Olivia Chow and Bill Siksay are introducing our motion to the House of Commons. I haven't been able to say anything about this until it actually happened. But here we go! This is the motion that passed in the Committee on Citizenship and Immigration in December through a united opposition. It reads: The Committee recommends that the government immediately implement a program to allow conscientious objectors and their immediate family members (partners and dependents), who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations and do not have a criminal record, to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada; and that the government should immediately cease any removal or deportation actions that may have already commenced against such individuals. Debate is going on right now. I will post more as I know. This motion is not binding on the Government: it cannot compel them to act. However, with a ...

Good news from BC! North America's only sanctioned safe-injection site for drug addicts won a major court victory Tuesday, thwarting any chance of the federal Conservative government closing it down. Mr. Justice Ian Pitfield of the B.C. Supreme Court granted users and staff at the popular but controversial facility known as Insite a permanent constitutional exemption from prosecution under federal drug laws. Allowing addicts to inject their illegal drugs in a safe, medically supervised environment is a matter of sensible health care and they should not be under threat of being busted by police, the judge ruled. In so doing, Judge Pitfield also declared that sections of Canada's drug laws against possession and trafficking in illegal narcotics were unconstitutional. However, he gave the government until the end of June next year to redraft them in accordance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The ruling is narrow in scope and not expected to lead to widespread loo...

I have to turn on comment moderation when I'm away from my computer, and overnight. Nothing personal. Thanks for your understanding.

As you may have noticed, I generally don't blog about day-to-day politics, the strategies and scandals and who's-in-who's-out of government. It's not my thing, and there are zillions of blogs out there through which to follow all that. But may I just add how very much I am enjoying watching the Harper government melt down? Thank goodness they are so full of the accountability and transparency that were the centrepieces of their campaign promises. Oh, wait. Well, they're full of something. This is very entertaining.

Corey Glass and other US war resisters in Canada on The Real News . Make those phone calls, people. We're making progress. We see it on many fronts. Help push us over the top. Stephen Harper: 613.992.4211 Stéphane Dion: 613.996.6740 or 613.996.5789 Urge them to: support the motion to allow Iraq War resisters to remain in Canada, oppose the deportation of people of conscience who have resisted an illegal war, and support the will of the Canadian people, not the U.S.'s war agenda. Let them stay!

Thanks to James.

It took me a long time to finish Naomi Wolf's The End of America - Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot . Not because it's long or difficult to read; it is just the opposite - short, clear and concise. It took me so long to finish because I kept starting to cry and would need to put down the book. It's overwhelmingly sad and frightening to think about what "the end of America" could mean - to all of us. If you're not familiar with this book, I blogged about it here (that includes an extended excerpt) and here . Wolf draws historical parallels to other times when democracies morphed into fascism - governments that were democratically elected, then systematically weakened, twisted and dismantled the structure of democracy through legal, legislative and executive means. Finally democracy became a mere facade, a hollowed-out shell, and the leap to fascism could be completed. Her most frequent examples are Germany, Italy, Russia and Chile. The similarities are un...

The Gambia calls itself "the smiling coast of Africa" . Unless you're gay. Or care about human rights and equality. President Threatens Mass Beheading of Gays From Slap Upside The Head, one of my favourite activist bloggers. Scroll down to see more of his terrific artwork. The post on California is great.

When I saw this... The Canadian military has established a special intelligence unit to do spy work on overseas missions, in places like Afghanistan, CBC News has learned. CBC obtained documents that show the Canadian Forces is spending about $27 million over the next three years to purchase equipment for the new unit, which is actively recruiting soldiers. Many details about the unit are considered classified, and not being released to the public, but the documents show that members analyze information gathered by other soldiers in the field, such as the information soldiers might pick up while interviewing motorists and searching cars at roadside checkpoints. The intelligence unit can also be tasked with recruiting and overseeing local intelligence agents who are already operating in a country. ...I thought of this. The Pentagon is moving forward with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex on the main American military base in Afghanistan, officials said, in a stark acknowl...

Just realized I didn't link to this story about the war resisters in the Toronto Star ; it's also up on Common Dreams . A positive story with a nice picture of poor Corey. It's interesting that when my essay about the resisters was on Common Dreams, it garnered a barrage of negative comments. The comments this time are mostly very supportive of Corey and disgusted with Canada. Maybe just a coincidence, luck of the draw. Maybe a shift in understanding. Remember, this is crunch time. If you haven't called Harper, Dion and your own MP on this issue, now is the time . We've got to get this resolution passed. Keep hope alive: call today. Stephen Harper: 613.992.4211 Stéphane Dion: 613.996.6740 or 613.996.5789 For your own MP, Google for their website, then look for contact info. Non-Canadian readers: contact the Canadian Embassy in your own country. Urge them to: support the motion to allow Iraq War resisters to remain in Canada, oppose the deportation of people of c...

Ted Rall: Should the news media be patriotic? When a journalist uncovers a government secret, which comes first–national security or the public’s right to know? In the United States, reporters consider themselves Americans first, journalists second. That means consulting the government before going public with a state secret. "When I was at ABC," James Bamford told Time in 2006, "we always checked with the Administration in power when we thought we had something of concern, and there was usually some way to work it out." In a new book about the Bush Administration's efforts to expand the president's powers at the expense of the legislative and judicial branches, the assumption that the press shouldn't publish security-sensitive stories is so hard-wired that New York Times reporter Eric Lichtblau accepts it as a given. But it's a very American concept, and one that relies on the presumption that the U.S. government may make mistakes, but is largely a...

All over the world, people are scraping together whatever they have and leaving their homelands, seeking a better life. It has ever been thus. My grandparents and great-grandparents were part of a mass migration from Europe to North America, masses of people hoping to find religious freedom and economic opportunity. In the first half of the 20th Century, millions of African-Americans moved from the southern United States to the north, which might as well have been a different country at the time, creating a sea-change in US history. Indeed, the United States and Canada were both founded by such seekers, first called colonists, then pioneers, later immigrants. (Leaving aside, for the present, the millions who were brought to the US by force, and the millions already there who were massacred or displaced.) Since its founding, the US has never been particularly welcoming to immigrants, each immigrant group, now settled, trying to bar the next one from "their" country. But at va...

In the US, this is Memorial Day Weekend, supposedly a time to commemorate war dead, but usually the unofficial start of summer. Towns and cities all over the country hold parades, and veterans are featured prominently. But not all veterans are welcome. From Matthew Rothschild in The Progressive : There is one group of veterans that isn't allowed to march in the national memorial parade in Washington on Monday. That's the Veterans for Peace, Delwin Anderson Memorial chapter, based in D.C. It's named after a World War II vet who fought in Italy and then worked for the VA for many years designing programs for injured veterans. The group had applied to join the National Memorial Day parade. And initially, anyway, it was accepted. But then, late last month, the group was told that it didn't meet the criteria to participate. The American Veterans Center , which runs the parade, told them "we cannot have elements in the parade that have any type of political message or wi...

The New York Times put this story in the sports section. I'm not sure it's a sport if only one person is rich enough and brave obsessed insane enough to attempt it. This is sky-diving in the sense that the Gobi March is a stroll through a park. * He has spent two decades and nearly $20 million in a quest to fly to the upper reaches of the atmosphere with a helium balloon, just so he can jump back to earth again. Now, Michel Fournier says, he is ready at last. Depending on the weather, Fournier, a 64-year-old retired French army officer, will attempt what he is calling Le Grand Saut (The Great Leap) on Sunday from the plains of northern Saskatchewan. He intends to climb into the pressurized gondola of the 650-foot balloon, which resembles a giant jellyfish, and make a two-hour journey to 130,000 feet. At that altitude, almost 25 miles up, Fournier will see both the blackness of space and the curvature of the earth. He will experience weightlessness. Then he plans to step ...

I like this column by Jeffrey Simpson about the Bouchard-Taylor Commission report. I was appalled by the hearings while they were happening; Simpson helps me see a positive side. Quebec is an existential kind of place; always has been, always will be. Issues get debated there differently than elsewhere in Canada – not better or worse, necessarily, just differently. "Who are we?" lies at the heart of a great deal of Quebec public discourse. Who are we here, in Quebec? Who are we in Canada? Who are we in the French-speaking world? And who, by the way, are "we"? Are "we" everyone who lives in Quebec? Everyone who speaks French in Quebec, regardless of ethnicity or mother language? Everyone whose ancestors were French-speaking? These sorts of debates swirl (much less among younger francophones than older ones) within a society that speaks a minority language in North America, and therefore can sometimes be prone to seeing slippery slopes, erosion, threats, la...

When it comes to Omar Khadr, any positive news is very welcome. But I think our jubilation over yesterday's Supreme Court ruling was out of proportion to its reality. Omar Khadr won a limited victory in the Supreme Court of Canada Friday, but his lawyer had hoped for more. In a 9-0 ruling, the SCC said that Khadr has a constitutional right to material related to interviews conducted by Canadian officials in 2003 at Guantanamo Bay. But the ruling allows the government to object to releasing some documents for national security reasons. The SCC ruling also said that Khadr does not have the right to access some of the documents that Ottawa holds regarding the case. Khadr's Canadian lawyer, Nathan Whitling, told Canada AM that the ruling contained both "good and bad news." Whitling said that he won't get many of the documents he wanted. A Federal Court judge will review the materials and decide which ones to disclose. An analysis in the Globe and Mail notes: Yesterd...

The Tory anti-immigrant fervor continues. Sweeping changes to immigration policy without debate, screaming headlines about illegal immigrants lost to the system , now another alarm bell: so-called fraudulent marriages. The Harper government is deploying clandestine teams to fan out across foreign countries and gather raw information about elaborately staged phony weddings aimed at duping Canadian immigration officials. The teams, which comprise up to five people, are part of a wider bid by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration to crack down on marriages of convenience as immigrant communities warn that thousands of foreign fraudsters are leaving lonely Canadians broke and broken-hearted. The wedding spies report back to their colleagues staffing Canada's visa desks about particular regions or communities where lavish parties and convincing photos are little more than a front for getting a passport. "It's a serious issue. That's why there are fraud teams aroun...

The War Resisters Support Campaign has been trying for months to meet with Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion. Campaigners and resisters have met with MPs all over Canada, but Mr. Dion's office has consistently dodged our efforts. Where does Mr. Dion stand on this issue? Will he sit and watch as people of conscience - law-abiding, tax-paying people of conscience - are deported from Canada, to face military trial and prison? Or will he stand up in the tradition of Pierre Elliott Trudeau and say, Let Them Stay? Mr. Dion, which side are you on?

If you haven't called yet, please do so today! Stephen Harper: 613.992.4211 Stéphane Dion: 613.996.6740 or 613.996.5789 Urge them to: - support the motion to allow Iraq War resisters to remain in Canada, - oppose the deportation of people of conscience who have resisted an illegal war, and - support the will of the Canadian people, not the U.S.'s war agenda.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has announced changes in food labeling . I saw a segment on CBC Marketplace once about the "made in Canada" label on food. (I see they have re-run the show and are highlighting it on the website .) Some frozen fish sticks that were labelled "made in Canada / produit du Canada", with a company address in Newfoundland, were in fact made with fish from New Zealand, processed in China, then sent to Newfoundland for a bit of final processing. Under new guidelines, food won't be labelled "Made In Canada" unless it actually is made in Canada, and country-of-origin labels will be much stricter. This is a very positive development for our health and for the environment. Now, Mr. Harper, can we get some foreign policy that is made in Canada, too? ( Canada out of Afghanistan! ) How about some domestic policy made in Canada? ( Let Them Stay! )

Last night's event at Innis Town Hall was fantastic. Fourteen US war resisters were interviewed by CBC host Andy Barrie, himself a Vietnam War conscientious objector. Andy helped the resisters talk about why they joined the military, why they left, how going AWOL has impacted their lives, what they hope for in Canada. Cumulatively, this is a remarkable and moving story. I'm sure I wasn't the only person in the audience moved to tears, more than once. One of the people Andy highlighted is Chuck Wiley. Chuck is older than most of the other resisters, having served almost 20 years in the military. He comes from a military family, where he is - was - the pride and joy, the "good son" who chose the route considered right and proper. Chuck was an officer, and served in a position where he was in no personal danger. He saw young men - kids, really - joining the US military based on lies and false promises. He felt he owed it to his men to tell them the truth as he saw i...

US Iraq war resister Corey Glass was told today that his application to stay in Canada has been rejected and he now faces deportation. Glass, 25, came to Canada in August 2006 after serving in Iraq as a Military Intelligence Sergeant. "What I saw in Iraq convinced me that the war is illegal and immoral. I could not in good conscience continue to take part in it," said Glass. "I came here because Canada did not join the Iraq War. Also, I knew Canada had welcomed many Americans during the Vietnam War," Glass stated. It is estimated that several hundred Iraq War resisters are currently in Canada, many of them living underground. "Corey Glass would be the first Iraq War resister to be deported from Canada. He would face imprisonment and severe penalties in the US," said Lee Zaslofsky, coordinator of the War Resisters Support Campaign and a Vietnam War resister. "This goes against Canada’s tradition of welcoming Americans who disagree with policies like s...

When we were in Peru in 2006 - actually on the last day of the trip - we met a young man from Huancayo named Cristian Alfaro Nùñez. He was selling the most amazing craft work we had seen in our three weeks in his country. The Nùñez family makes mates burilados , which translates literally as "engraved gourds". Here's what I wrote the day after we met him. In an alcove to the side of one of the exhibits, a young man sat in a room full of a kind of handicraft we have not seen anywhere else. He gave us a beautiful description (in Spanish, dumbed down for me, I believe) of how they are made and what they mean. They are gourds, meticulously engraved in the most painstaking detail, then rubbed with the black ash of a certain plant, then cleaned with another solution (all from plants found in the rainforest), so the inky colour stays only in the engravings. The drawings are playful and light, depicting festivals, music, work, family life, and other aspects of rural life in Peru...