test blog #10

We performed a little social experiment tonight, but we have no idea how it turned out. Our neighbourhood is always very busy on Halloween. In fact, we saw the house for the first time on Halloween 2006, and seeing all the groups of kids traipsing from house to house in costumes gave us a good feeling about the neighbourhood. We had to work tonight, but we didn't want to be unavailable for the kids, and we also didn't want the doorbell ringing all night, bothering the dogs. So we did Halloween in absentia. We left the light on, taped over the doorbell, put a bucket of candy on the doorstep, and taped this sign to the door. But unfortunately, we had no way to videotape or otherwise spy on the proceedings. When I came home tonight, all the candy was gone. That's not unusual. But how did it go? Did someone tip the whole bucket into their trick-or-treat bag? Did each child take just one or two candies? Most of the kids are escorted by parents, so I'm thinking everyone was w...

Watch these two interviews with Afghan MP Malalai Joya, one from CNN in the US, one from CNN International. A Tale of Two CNNs This goes a long way in explaining much of the ignorance of the US population regarding their own government's policies. I'm not saying it excuses it. And I understand that other sources are available to all of us now - but we have to know there's a need for the sources, and have the time and motivation to look for them, and have some support for other worldviews, and... a lot of things that many people don't have. But in any event, this is what passes for hard-hitting international news in that country. In between episodes of WTWWA and flying balloon boys . Many thanks to DeanG for sending. Also, reminder: Malalai Joya will be speaking in Toronto on November 18 .

If you're a student in Ontario, I hope you're already aware of this important action, but just in case... On Thursday, November 5 , Ontario students of all ages and levels will take to the streets and campuses, calling for a poverty-free province. This diverse coalition of concerned citizens is asking for: Reduced Tuition Fees Affordable Child Care Public Housing A Living Wage Quality Public Health Care Employment Equity Raise in Social Assistance Rates Fair Employment Insurance Rates At the University of Toronto, the schedule is: 11:30 a.m. - free pancake breakfast outside Sid Smith [these organizers are smart!] 1:00 p.m. - meet up & rally at Sidney Smith Hall 2:00 p.m. - city-wide convergence and march, starting at Con Hall 4:00 p.m. - mass rally at Queen's Park Turnout is expected to be massive. Be there! Facebook group here.

Another good story on PTSD. This one, from The New York Times , focuses on female soldiers. For Vivienne Pacquette, being a combat veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder means avoiding phone calls to her sons, dinner out with her husband and therapy sessions that make her talk about seeing the reds and whites of her friends' insides after a mortar attack in 2004. As with other women in her position, hiding seems to make sense. Post-traumatic stress disorder distorts personalities: some veterans who have it fight in their sleep; others feel paranoid around children. And as women return to a society unfamiliar with their wartime roles, they often choose isolation over embarrassment. Many spend months or years as virtual shut-ins, missing the camaraderie of Iraq or Afghanistan, while racked with guilt over who they have become. "After all, I'm a soldier, I'm an NCO, I'm a problem solver," said Mrs. Pacquette, 52, a retired noncommissioned officer who served...

What century will it be when the fruits and vegetables sold and consumed in North America are not the bitter fruit of exploited labour? Once again, the use of child labour in the fields has been exposed, this time children as young as five years old picking blueberries in Michigan. Wal-Mart and the Kroger supermarket chain have cut ties with the grower - after these human rights abuses were revealed, of course. I've been reading, thinking and agitating about this issue my entire life. The stories appear as regularly as the seasons. When Allan sent me this story yesterday, I wondered how so many reader comments could amass on such a non-controversial topic, something universally condemned, like slavery. Everyone opposes child labour, right? Obviously everyone doesn't oppose child labour, or it wouldn't exist. But I didn't think anyone would publicly support or justify it. Then I clicked, and my head nearly exploded. Apparently many people believe "we" have no ...

The CBC website is running quite a good story about post-traumatic stress disorder . In the ongoing worldwide read of the Diary of Samuel Pepys , we recently reached the historic Great Fire of London , which raged from September 2 to 5, 1666. Our man Sam was personally not directly affected by the fire - his house was not burned, although you can see from this map that he had reason to be afraid. But regardless of his personal good fortune, Pepys spent days and nights walking the streets, witnessing the fear and destruction. He is thought to be one of several people who urged the Lord Mayor of London to order that houses be pulled down to stop the fire from continuing to spread. He also spent many panicked hours removing his possessions - especially his books - by boat and wagon to safer ground. In the nights following the fire, and for weeks to come, Sam's sleep was troubled by visions of burning buildings and of houses being pulled down. Many readers immediately recognized his d...

I have a story at "The Mark" which I'd like you to read: "Conscience Behind Bars," about three Campaigners' visit to jailed war resister Cliff Cornell, and Bill C-440. If you go to The Mark today (and for the next few days), you should see the story as the top headline, rotating with 4 other stories. Front page here , story here .

Guess what I did tonight? I went to a Campaign meeting for the first time since starting school. It was great to be back. I was so happy to see everyone, to get caught up on Campaign news, to be in touch with what matters most to me. A Campaign friend had very generously offered a spare bedroom for me to crash any time between or after classes. She lives right near U of T, in easy walking distance from our meetings at the Steelworkers Hall. J made this incredible offer as soon as I announced I would be going to school, and I finally felt ready to take her up on it. Now I have a key, and a place to put my feet up and turn my brain off for a while on Wednesday afternoons. It worked beautifully. I left J's house feeling refreshed; I never could have done it otherwise. I also realized that I've passed the halfway point of my first term. Cool.

No nation can donate liberation to another nation. These values must be fought for and won by the people themselves. They can only grow and flourish when they are planted by the people in their own soil and watered by their own blood and tears. Malalai Joya, Afghan MP and peace activist Malalai Joya's new book, A Woman Among Warlords , is an account of Joya's fight to liberate Afghanistan amid 30 years of war. On Wednesday, November 18, Joya will speak in Toronto, an event sponsored by the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War and the University of Toronto Students Union. Joya has been a thorn in the side of NATO-supported government by being an outspoken critic of the human rights abuses of the warlords that dominate the Parliament of Afghanistan. She has been threatened and attacked for her stance. In 2006, President Hamid Karzai suspended her from Parliament and cut her security funding, proving that women's rights are not a concern for his government. Joya's intimate u...

Dennis Kucinich, as quoted by Chris Hedges. Every thinking person wants to take a stand against hate crimes, but isn’t war the most offensive of hate crimes? ... To have people have to make a choice, or contemplate the hierarchy of hate crimes, is cynical. I don’t vote to fund wars. If you are opposed to war, you don’t vote to authorize or appropriate money. Congress, historically and constitutionally, has the power to fund or defund a war. The more Congress participates in authorizing spending for war, the more likely it is that we will be there for a long, long time. This reflects an even larger question. All the attention is paid to what President Obama is going to do right now with respect to Iraq and Afghanistan. The truth is the Democratic Congress could have ended the war when it took control just after 2006. We were given control of the Congress by the American people in November 2006 specifically to end the war. It did not happen. The funding continues. And while the attentio...

Media Matters: After 6 Days, RNC Finally Removes "Repeal Loving v Virginia" poster from Facebook page . Loving v Virginia is the 1967 US Supreme Court decision striking down "anti-miscengation" laws, making it illegal for a state to forbid a black person from marrying a white person. Check out the poster. It shows President Obama eating fried chicken. I'm only posting a tiny fraction of the virulent, often violent racism swirling around in the US these days. But keep 'em coming. Thanks to James. And regarding Al Franken and Jamie Leigh Jones , a reader sent me this: Republicans for Rape . Thanks to Tripleman.

This was encouraging. A loud protest in the visitors gallery of the House of Commons resulted in several arrests and the brief shutdown of question period on Monday. Around 200 young protesters chanted slogans to support Bill C-311, an NDP private member's bill on climate change. Six people were reported to have been detained. The protesters yelled, "I say 311; you say 'Sign it'." ... This was not. Parliamentary security guards eventually cleared the public gallery by removing the demonstrators in small groups. Activist Jeh Custer, who was part of a group protesting the delay of a review of a climate change bill, says he was roughed up by security guards.Activist Jeh Custer, who was part of a group protesting the delay of a review of a climate change bill, says he was roughed up by security guards. With his face still covered in blood, environmental activist Jeh Custer told CBC's Power & Politics that once he was removed from the gallery he was taken to a ...

A new poll shows that less than half of all Canadians support the war in Afghanistan . Quebecers are the smartest of all. Being less nationalistic is very healthy.

Work was grueling this weekend, as is the norm now, thanks to staff cuts. Every weekend further validates my decision to change careers. In the short run, school leaves me very little bounce-back time, so I have to be really careful with what little I have. This morning we went for a walk on the lake, towards Rattray Marsh , and the dogs had a little run at Jack Darling Park. When I decided to get my Masters degree to become a librarian, the idea was to change my day-job as a legal document-production operator. Librarianship is one of the few career options (of jobs I could see myself doing) that can be done part-time and still pay well. I was thinking I would still work part-time, and write and do activism part-time, as I do now. But even now, in my first term of school, I find myself thinking about working full-time. Having a rewarding full-time job - and having decent pay and benefits for the first time in a long time - is appealing. The Mississauga Library System starts everyone as...

Glenn Greenwald outdoes himself in this column, no small feat. Something very unusual happened on The Washington Post Editorial Page today: they deigned to address a response from one of their readers, who "challenged [them] to explain what he sees as a contradiction in [their] editorial positions": namely, the Post demands that Obama's health care plan not be paid for with borrowed money, yet the very same Post Editors vocally support escalation in Afghanistan without specifying how it should be paid for. "Why is it okay to finance wars with debt, asks our reader, but not to pay for health care that way?" The Post editors give two answers. They first claim that Obama will save substantial money by reducing defense spending -- by which they mean that he is merely decreasing the rate at which defense spending increases ("from 2008 to 2019, defense spending would increase only 17 percent") -- as well as withdrawing from Iraq. But so what? Even if those...

I'm disappointed that I didn't win one of these. Seriously. I am.

From No One Is Illegal Montreal: Migrant justice activists and organizers, with their McGill allies, confronted and disrupted Jason Kenney -- Canada's Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism -- before and during a closed function with Conservative McGill. At least 50 protesters, in an action called by No One Is Illegal-Montreal, were able to surround Kenney in the Arts Building as he tried to enter the private event. For about one minute, Kenney was asked about the report in today’s Toronto Star that a Mexican woman, who twice tried to apply for refugee status to Canada, was found murdered in Mexico [ story here ]. Kenney brushed off the question and didn’t answer. Kenney was also asked explicitly about his party’s blocking of a refugee appeals division, and again he didn’t answer. When Kenney was told by a member of No One Is Illegal that his policies scapegoat migrants and pander to racists, Kenney replied (with a hint of sarcasm): “I plead guilty, I’m a racist...

Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing has an eye-opening post about a source-code leak at Sequoia , a company that makes electronic vote-rigging voting machines used in the US. His information comes from the Election Defense Alliance , whose goal is to "review and improve voting system technology and operations". They've set up a Wiki for easier examination: Sequoia Study . Apparently the code doesn't show a definitive smoking gun, but it might point to areas of questions and concerns. Isn't that what we could expect? In any complex and controversial investigation, evidence is generally found in bits and pieces which, taken together, present a picture from which logical inferences are drawn. If people are waiting for a signed confession - "I, Dick Cheney, planned, authorized and paid for the results of the 2004 election" - then they'll never be satisfied. Which may be their intention. What I found most interesting at the BoingBoing post were the comments. I...

Here's Al Franken again, this time on medical bankruptcies. For Canadians who are unfamiliar with that term - since it doesn't exist here - this refers to people who exhaust all their credit and savings, and are forced to declare bankruptcy, in order to pay their medical bills. Franken is making a point we all know well, but he's just so much fun to watch. Plus I'm finishing a story and writing a paper, and of course working all weekend, so I need fallbacks like this. And a related note that's been sitting in my inbox for too long: in eight states, plus Washington DC, getting beaten by your partner is a pre-existing condition - a legal reason to deny insurance coverage. This jumped out at me from the HuffPo story: "During the last health care reform push, in 1993 and 1994, the industry similarly promised to end discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions." Just ask the insurance companies nicely. I'm sure they'll reform themselves. ...

To visitors from Little Green Footballs : Just because you personally don't know any Americans who have moved to Canada, doesn't mean it isn't being done. In 2006, 11,000 USians emigrated to Canada, and that number continues to increase. Please note that my partner and I applied to emigrate to Canada in 2003 . We didn't care who won the fraudulent 2004 "election". We'd had enough. It takes about two years to go through the Canadian immigration process, thus we moved in 2005. Through this blog, I hear from dozens - by now, hundreds - of Americans asking advice on how to come to Canada. Sadly, I also hear from so many Americans who desperately want to come to Canada, but don't meet the requirements. Stay in the US if you like, but don't assume everyone else is. Many people think a country with high-quality health care and equal rights for all is a better place.

Three letters to the Vancouver Sun in support of Rodney Watson, who is living in sanctuary in a Vancouver church. Rodney Watson, a U.S. citizen, came to Canada because he didn't want to be punished for choosing not to hurt anyone. He was sent to Iraq as a cook and ended up looking for explosives. He didn't want to find out what he'd be ordered to do next. Watson is a real refugee. Parliament has twice voted to affirm that war resisters are welcome in Canada. Canadians affirm in opinion polls that war resisters should be allowed to remain here. Our government needs to give Watson refugee status and stop harassing him. Ian Weniger, Vancouver * The churches are more and more taking the lead in harbouring war resisters before the Conservative government forcibly deports them, despite the express wishes of the majority of Canadians and the will of Parliament. Have churches found a way to stop the government? Don't hold your breath. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is busy lo...

From Canadian Press, in Metro . As George W. Bush cracked jokes with a business crowd inside a hotel ballroom Thursday, hundreds of people outside the building cheered while he was being burned in effigy. Police in riot gear and others on horseback held back a crowd of hundreds, including many people who tossed shoes at Montreal's historic Queen Elizabeth Hotel in a demonstration of disdain for the man speaking inside. Protesters who tried forcing their way through the line of shield-and baton-carrying police were wrestled to the ground and arrested. Montreal police said several officers were hit by flying objects, but none were injured. Five people were arrested for mischief and disturbing the peace. Ironically, this demonstration took place outside the same hotel where John Lennon's antiwar anthem "Give Peace a Chance" was recorded in 1969. Chants of "George Bush terrorist" echoed in the street as protesters lashed out at the Board of Trade of Metropolitan...

Click here to see a painting of war resisters Kim Rivera, Josh Key, Robin Long and Rodney Watson. Beautiful work - thanks to Gerry Condon for sending the link.

This is war resister Rodney Watson, now living in sanctuary in a church in Vancouver. Some coverage about Watson and the church: Macleans , CBC , Vancouver Province , Vancouver Sun . How you can help: Write a letter in support of Rodney to your local paper. The Council of Canadians has a great tool to find addresses . Your best shot at getting a letter published is to keep it under 200 words. But even if your letter doesn't run, it helps other letters get published. Donate if you can; no amount is too small (or too large!). Whether or not you can donate, circulate the link to support our fundraising campaign for legal defence of war resisters facing deportation. Donate here. Contact your MP. Ask her or him to support Bill C-440, which will give the weight of law to two motions already passed in the House of Commons.

I hate not being able to blog every day. All day, I have that nagging feeling that I've forgotten to do something, a loose end that hasn't been properly tied. I have one week between papers for school, and I'm trying to use the time to write something for myself, and for the Campaign. I'll soon find out if this is a realistic goal or if I'm crazy. Allan is transcribing someone's IRB hearing, and I'm assisting with that, too. It's a bit crazy. But I insist on carving out a little down-time. It's the only way. So after a few annoying delays, Movie Season is finally underway here. We began with "Doubt". Everyone told me how great Meryl Streep was and how great PSH was, and of course that is true. But the real star of this movie is John Patrick Shanley , who wrote the play, wrote the screenplay and directed the movie. Streep and Hoffman are amazing, but their roles are so complex and so subtle; they had so much to work with. It's as fine a...

From the War Resisters Support Campaign : Subject: Statement regarding the situation of Iraq War resister Rodney Watson October 19, 2009 VANCOUVER—The War Resisters Support Campaign is a network of volunteers working together to provide assistance to members of the U.S. military seeking refuge in Canada as a result of their opposition to the illegal war in Iraq. Groups exist in many centres across the country and include a wide diversity of age and origin including many former U.S. citizens welcomed to our country during the Vietnam era. The Campaign was initiated following the arrival of Jeremy Hinzman in 2004, the first of the new generation of conscientious resisters. Our work has focused primarily on assisting these young men and women in the legal aspect of their search for refuge in Canada, and in lobbying for a provision to be enacted that would ensure that U.S. Iraq War resisters are allowed to remain in Canada rather than face imprisonment or forced participation in an illegal...

There was a media conference in Vancouver today, revealing the whereabouts of US war resister Rodney Watson. From the Ottawa Citizen . U.S. army deserter Rodney Watson has become the first fugitive from service in Iraq to enter church sanctuary in Canada. Monday morning, the 31-year-old told reporters he has been living in refuge at the First United Church in Vancouver since Sept. 18. "I don't believe it will be just for me to be deported," said Watson, flanked by church ministers and supporters. Watson lost his refugee claim on Sept. 11, and was expecting to be deported back to the U.S., where he faces jail for refusing to do a second tour of duty in Iraq. The main reason Watson wants to stay is to be with his 10-month-old son and fiancee, who live in Vancouver. Watson said his son is currently in foster care, but wouldn't say why. He said he plans to get married and settle in B.C. Ric Matthews, minister with the First United Church, said Watson has an apartment at t...

Last week, Allan and I went out for dinner for his birthday, and he picked Canyon Creek as his restaurant of choice. We discovered this local chain last year when craving steak, but not wanting to drop a ton of money on a high-end steakhouse. The food is good - not amazingly great, but quite good - and the atmosphere is subdued. We've tried Outback a few times before we found this place, but your red-meat craving has to be pretty strong to counteract the cloying, theme-park atmosphere. Canyon Creek is going for classy, as opposed to hilarious. Good food, good service, a traditional steakhouse menu with some other more modern touches, and very affordable for this kind of food - definitely a nice treat for us while we're on a tight budget. And this time, something extra: a local menu. Canyon Creek is featuring an Ontario-grown-and-produced fall menu, highlighted separately from the standard menu, and emphasized by the server. You can see a pdf of the menu here. Local products in...

It's Ontario Public Library Week. The Mississauga Library System E-news tells me: This annual fall event focuses on promoting public libraries in Ontario. A strong library system is the foundation of a strong community. With more than 1,100 service points throughout the province, public library members make 66 million visits to local libraries across Ontario each year. And now virtually every library branch provides access to electronic information through the Internet. You know, I'm really excited about being a librarian one day. How that's going to work with being a writer, I don't know. That's a topic for another day, a post I'm trying to write, on which I probably won't be able to concentrate until winter break. My list of Things To Do Over Winter Break is becoming unrealistically long, considering I'll also be in dire need of down-time. [I repeat: a topic for another day .] James sent me this, via BoingBoing . It's from a PATRIOT Act protest t-s...

This is a beautiful thing. Thank you, Jamie Leigh Jones. Thank you, Al Franken. Please watch. The Jamie Leigh Foundation

The sixth of a ten-part series: top ten reasons why US Iraq War Resisters should be allowed to stay in Canada. Reason # 5: from Rex Wyler, ecologist, author and Vietnam War resister. Reason # 6 from Naomi Klein , award-winning author, filmmaker, activist, Canadian. Daughter of war resister. Reason # 7 from Olivia Chow , Member of Parliament. Reason # 8 from Bill King , musician, producer, Vietnam war deserter. Reason # 9 from Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians . Reason # 10 from Alex Neve of Amnesty International . Here's 85,000 more reasons. The Iraqi government has released its first official death toll report. It says 85,000 Iraqis were killed from 2004 to 2008 . Other ongoing sources for civilian death tolls: Iraq Body Count , invasion of Iraq casualties on Wikipedia.

Stephen Harper, there is no escape. Even at an invitation-only function - on taxpayer-supported, public property - we are there to remind you. Tell your MP: Support Bill C-440 !

From the Hamilton Spectator . Canada as haven for war resisters; We should not be U.S. 'enforcement agent' for those who won't fight in Iraq by Ed Corrigan Members of Parliament Gerard Kennedy and Bill Siksay introduced a private member's bill last month in support of Iraq War resisters. Bill C-440 would make binding on our government very specific directions -- to immediately stop the deportation of Iraq War resisters and to allow them to apply for permanent resident status from within Canada. Since then, conservative pundits have likened veterans of the Iraq War who have refused to participate in atrocities on Iraqi civilians, and conscientious objectors who cannot morally let themselves kill another human being, to anti-abortion extremists who shoot doctors. Some have even suggested the bill should be contorted to include sanctuary for the criminally indicted U.S. financiers that caused the current recession. For any rational Canadian, these comparisons are ludicrous...

Good to know racism is dead in the Obama era! This is worth reading just for the laughs. I've bolded some particularly funny bits. From AP via HuffPo: A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have. Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long. "I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else." Bardwell said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed race couple. If they are, he does not marry them, he said. Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the...

Happy Birthday to my best friend! He's no longer Pedro age, now he's Lyndon age.

I've just completed week five of my first term of graduate school, and I feel as if I've turned a corner. I no longer feel like I'm living someone else's life. * * * * My debate went really well, much better than I could have anticipated. That had as much to do with my opponents as anything else. They both read from prepared statements, barely looking up or addressing the room. In their concluding remarks, instead of responding to points raised during the class discussion, they read another prepared statement. They were full of citations and academic jargon, but short on real-life application, and wholly without engagement or passion. But even without that contrast, I felt good. I had a good command of my material, I moved smoothly from point to point, I was able to amend my statement to address new points raised in the discussion. In the pre-debate poll, the class was split: 15 agreed with the statement "copyright is obsolete", 11 opposed, and five were on t...

Calvin Trillin: "What Whoopi Goldberg ('Not a Rape-Rape'), Harvey Weinstein ('So-Called Crime') et al. Are Saying in Their Outrage Over the Arrest of Roman Polanski" . Many thanks to JohnGoldfine for sending.

AutoStraddle - "News, Entertainment and Girl-on-Girl Culture" - has an excellent interview with war resister Skyler James. Skyler James grew up believing that joining the military "was the best thing you could do to make your parents and your country proud." Now 21, James was denied the DADT discharge she expected and wants you to know the true story of her appeal to Canada for asylum. When Private Bethany Smith, now known as Skyler James, 21, was outed as a lesbian by her comrades, she expected her "Don't Ask Don't Tell" discharge to follow shortly afterwards. It didn't. Instead, James, who was 19 at the time, was told they'd "deal with the paperwork" following her next turn in Afghanistan. In the ensuing time, James endured so much harassment and persecution in the US Army that she went AWOL and fled for Canada, where she wants to stay and is seeking refugee status. Read the interview here.

I didn't think movie season would begin before the ALCS! This morning I'm still cursing and sulking about the Red Sox. Seriously, you have no idea how difficult it is to write this post as anything but an incoherent string of profanities. Moving on... Last night I reactivated my Zip account. Zip still is but a pale imitation of Netflix, but it's also still the best of my options. And this is my annual post where you tell me what movies you loved over the last six months or so. Baseball season started just as Waltz With Bashir and Slumdog Millionaire came out, so those are first and second on my Ziplist right now. I'm behind one Futurama movie, and I have to check if any of our favourite filmmakers came out with anything new: Pedro Almodovar, Ken Loach, John Sayles, Walter Salles, Woody Allen... others. Food Inc is due out on DVD soon. Other titles I saved from last year: Sugar, Tulpan, One Week, Adventureland, Stone of Destiny, Anvil. Allan's been adding to the lis...

Dear Everyone I Told I Would Be Busy Watching Baseball In October: I will now have plenty of time. The Red Sox were down two games in a five-game series to start the day. We knew - we absolutely knew - they would come back to win. They have done it so many times before, against better teams than this. The Sox took an early lead, added to it, and held it with ease. Posting in our gamethread, I was all set to type (referring to Game 4), "IF NECESSARY??? IT'S NECESSARY, BABY!!!" Then, in a repeat performance of the JoS1 game in July , Jonathan Papelbon, our once-reliable closer, allowed two runners to score in the eighth. Our lead was down to one run, but we would have still won the game. Then in the ninth, needing only one more strike for the Red Sox to win, Paps allowed three more runs. The Angels move on to the ALCS. And I start movie season. Go Dodgers.

I've blogged before about the shministim , Israeli youth who are refusing to participate in the Palestinian occupation. What I didn't know is that the word shministim is Hebrew for twelth graders - high school seniors - the age at which Israelis are required to serve in the military. In a sense, the name shministim equates war resistance with coming of age. This year's crop of shministim has a new public letter. You can sign to show your support. An excerpt: Out of sense of responsibility and concern for the two nations that live in this country, we cannot stand idle. We were born into a reality of occupation, and many of our generation see this as a "natural" state. In Israeli society it is a matter of fact that at 18, every young man and woman partakes in military service. However, we cannot ignore the truth - the occupation is an extreme situation, violent, racist, inhuman, illegal, non democratic, and immoral, that is life threatening for both nations. We ...

I hope by now you've all seen the sarcastic piece from SF Gate making the obvious point that public libraries are hotbeds of radical socialism. For far too long, this menace has undermined the very foundations of our economy. While companies like Amazon and Barnes & Noble struggle valiantly each day to sell books, these communistic cabals known as libraries undercut the hard work of good corporate citizens by letting people read their books for free. How is the private sector supposed to compete with free? And just what does this public option give us? People can spend hours and hours in these dens of socialism without having to buy so much as a cappuccino. Furthermore, not only can anyone read books for free in the library, they can take them home, too. They get a simple card that can be used at any library in town. No checking on the previous condition of books they've read. No literacy test. Nothing. Yet, do these libertines of literature let you choose any book you wan...

It's not the first time this has come up, and it won't stand up in court, but this time it actually got passed into law. See JJ on Oklahoma's attempt to intimidate women into self-induced abortions. I'm reminded of Margaret Wente's characterization of "Except for a few backwaters in the United States..." . That's some swamp you got there.

Marge Simpson on the cover of Playboy is getting a lot of attention, but here's something even hotter. Sarah Reinertsen , an amputee athlete, is one of six athletes featured - nude - on different covers of ESPN Magazine 's "Body Issue". See Sarah's cover here . I wrote about Sarah a long time ago for Sports Illustrated for Kids , and blogged about her disability pride . Many people know her from "The Amazing Race," which I've never seen. Here's her website. "Fear Less. Live More." I like it.

The CBC and the National Post newspaper have announced a deal to share sports and financial coverage across their media platforms. Effective immediately, CBC.ca will feature financial stories and podcasts from the Financial Post while nationalpost.com will include daily stories from CBC Sports. The print version of the paper will also periodically include CBC Sports material, the two organizations said in a joint statement issued Thursday afternoon. Richard Stursberg, executive vice-president of CBC English Services, described the deal as "an attractive arrangement for both organizations. "As Canada's national public broadcaster, we have an unsurpassed reputation in the field of sports reporting, which will be available to more Canadians through the Post's readership. CBC.ca's financial news content will be enhanced by one of Canada's most trusted and respected sources of business news," he said in a statement. Financial terms of the deal were not disclos...

I used to love the Olympics. Now I see the Games for the corrupt, nationalistic, sycophantic, hypocritical, corporate boondoggle that they have become. I love celebrating human achievement and athleticism, but this is not how to do it. Note how in this story, those of us who value freedom of expression and the right to dissent are referred to as "civil libertarians". A proposed B.C. law would allow municipal officials to enter homes to seize unauthorized and possibly anti-Olympic signs on short notice, civil libertarians say. Violators could be fined up to $10,000 a day and jailed up to six months, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association said Friday. The proposed law was introduced Thursday as a bill to amend the Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act. The government said in a statement that the changes will "provide the municipalities of Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler with temporary enforcement powers to enable them to swiftly remove illegal signs and graffiti durin...

I've rarely been more surprised than I was to learn that US President Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The award would be more fitting if Obama actually took a few major steps towards ending either of the current US wars of aggression. Or one major step. Or one step. Then again, Henry Kissinger was the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, the award that caused Tom Lehrer to famously say , "It was at that moment that satire died. There was nothing more to say after that." I don't know if a famous quote will emerge from this year's award, but it again tarnishes the Nobel Peace Prize. One might hope Obama would feel an obligation to live up the potential of the Prize. But it's perhaps better to hope for Santa Claus. Update. Please see comments for important links, plus the presidential precedent.

I'm posting this because it may be useful to anyone searching for information related to ankle injuries. A while back, a kind reader (a former librarian) sent me a story on exercises to improve balance and strengthen the ankle. Another reader kindly offered to lend me an ankle brace that she wore after surgery. I posted about it here. Yesterday I had a physio appointment for my ongoing repetitive-stress injury (neck, shoulder, upper back, chest muscles, collar bone), and I thought I'd ask her about my ankle. She suggested I continue doing my shoulder and neck exercises on my own, and we spend the session on the ankle. The most important thing I learned is that those balance exercises aren't intended for a recently injured ankle. If the ankle is still painful and swollen, you don't do any weight-bearing exercises. I'm not suggesting the helpful reader said otherwise, but I was all gung-ho to begin. The physiotherapist gave me some very subtle but difficult exercises ...