test blog #10

I have no idea why I only learned of this story yesterday, through an email from James. I keep in touch with several bully-related groups, and this has been going on almost a year, but for some reason it completely escaped my radar. It's one of the most heartbreaking pit stories I've read. I cannot even imagine the anger - the rage - I would be experiencing if this were my dog. This kind of abuse is how ordinary people are pushed to seemingly insane lengths. I'm sick from reading about it, especially the details of how the dog has been abused while confined. Can you imagine being taken from your loving home, with no understanding of what is happening, and being forced to live in solitary confinement, with no human contact or even a warm bed to lie on? (Rather like Maher Arar. No better when it is done to humans!) I have not been able to confirm if the dog has been killed, or if the family is still in the appeals process. Their blog is here , but it has not been updated for...

It's been several months since Allan and I decided we're ready to adopt a new dog. Cody left us at the end of last summer, and through her aging and illness, it's been a long time since Tala had a lively sister to play with. Allan takes Tala to the dog park at least once a week - both for fun and to make sure she stays socialized with other dogs - but she needs a sister. And we need another dog! Without two dogs, our family is just not complete. For various practical reasons, we decided late April is the right time. We've been forcing ourselves to hold off on browsing through Petfinder until closer to that time, knowing that once we start, we'll be immediately smitten by any number of wonderful, needy dogs. Last week, we both crumbled. Now once again we are faced with the dozens upon dozens upon hundreds of dogs who need homes. It's not that I don't know this. It's something I think about quite a bit. It's seeing their faces. I know many wmtc reade...

There's been a lot of activity in our battle over the bizarre water bill (background here and here ), but unfortunately it all amounted to spinning our wheels in mud. Allan made another round of phone calls and followed yet more trails: the City Manager's office, our MPP's office, the Commissioner of Public Works, the Ministry of Consumer Services, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. We got legal advice from lawyer friends, a lawyer where Allan works, and someone at the Mississagua legal aid clinic who was very generous with her time. We fielded more calls from Peel, asking to know "our decision," meaning, "Are you going to pay or do we shut off your water?" People were variously shocked, sympathetic or buck-passing, but no one could actually help. It comes down to this: we say you used this water, so you owe us this money. We had only one option left. We paid the bill and are now going to Small Claims Court to try to recover our money. It's a gamb...

This excellent piece in Embassy is a must-read for anyone who cares about justice - and Canada - and keeping any link between the two. Jason Kenney's troubling refugee legacy By Jim Creskey Jason Kenney was making changes to the Department of Citizenship and Immigration at a torrid pace — or so it seemed — until he was stopped dead in his tracks last week by a non-confidence vote. Now, before the May 2 election, might be a good time to take stock of what he accomplished. The migration department he was given by Stephen Harper was a house built on policy and practice laid by Liberals and Mulroney Progressive Conservatives and shaped by Charter rulings, public consultations and politics — lots of politics. It was a place of noble aims, practical goals, unkept promises, interminable long waits and a lot of over-worked public servants — some of them amazingly compassionate, others sullen and patronizing. A few were even found to be corrupt. Correctly seen from outside Canada, it was ...

As I've written here many times, I've made no attempt to chronicle the onslaught of anti-choice legislation battering US women these days. I've posted a few updates - most recently here and here - but one could blog exclusively about these laws (some only proposed, others already passed) and have no shortage of material. Antonia Zerbisias has the right-wing Canadian position, which is just as deadly as the US version. Twice in the past week, women have had to watch men use female bodies as political footballs. Oh sure, there are also women in both the U.S. Congress and Canada's House of Commons, but let's not kid ourselves: When it comes to deciding how women should live their lives, it's not a level playing field. Kick in the Church, and the odds are even worse. Last weekend in the U.S., we saw lawmakers throw women under the health care bus when it was decided that no federal funds could be used for abortion. That could result in a potential administrative n...

This is a few months old, but it just came to my attention and it's worth sharing. Kathryn Schulz is the author of the book Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error and writes a companion blog on Slate called The Wrong Stuff . Her interview with conscientious objector Josh Stieber ran last December. My Country Right or Wrong: Conscientious Objector Josh Stieber on Being Wrong About the Military By Kathryn Schulz After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a 13-year-old kid named Josh Stieber vowed that as soon as he was old enough, he would join the military. His goal: to help protect his country and spread its values of freedom and democracy around the world. With the war still on when he graduated from high school, Stieber enlisted in 2006 and was deployed to Baghdad in 2007. A devout Christian and a staunch political conservative, Stieber became troubled by the gap between the values he was told the military embodied and those he experienced on the ground. Partway thro...

This is the first Canadian federal election for which I'm eligible to vote. Part of what always made me excited about coming to Canada - and now, about being a Canadian citizen - is the presence of a viable left-of-liberal party. For a long time, I've been looking forward to voting for a party that more closely represents my values, the NDP. So here I am, finally eligible to vote... and I'm going to hold my nose and vote Liberal. I live in a riding that will be hotly contested in this election: Mississauga East Cooksville. Our Liberal MP is retiring for health reasons, and this is exactly the kind of riding the Conservatives hope to grab. Two adjacent ridings, Mississauga Erindale and Mississauga South, are both on the Globe and Mail 's list of "50 ridings to watch" . Erindale flipped from Liberal to Conservative by a very slim margin in 2008; Mississauga South, while still Liberal, is seen by the Conservatives as ripe for picking. The demographic of Cooksvill...

Also from the "in case you missed it" files... An Indiana deputy prosecutor and Republican activist resigned Thursday after the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism uncovered an email to Gov. Scott Walker in which he suggested a fake attack on the governor to discredit union protesters. Carlos F. Lam submitted his resignation shortly before the Center published a story quoting his Feb. 19 email, which praised Walker for standing up to unions but went on to say that the chaos in Wisconsin presented “a good opportunity for what’s called a ‘false flag’ operation.” “If you could employ an associate who pretends to be sympathetic to the unions’ cause to physically attack you (or even use a firearm against you), you could discredit the unions,” the email said. ...but when we suggest that violent "protesters" may be hired provocateurs, we're just paranoid.

In case you missed it, Malalai Joya was admitted to the US, thanks to pressure from US peace activists . A prominent Afghan feminist and war critic was granted a visa to enter the United States on Thursday - by the same State Department office that turned her down last week - and belatedly started on a speaking tour that is scheduled to wind up in San Francisco. The case of Malalai Joya is the latest of several in which the Obama administration, after at first refusing entry, has allowed a visit by a foreigner who has criticized policies of the United States or its allies. The administration "does not engage in the practice of ideological exclusion," the State Department's legal adviser, Harold Koh, said in a letter in December to the American Civil Liberties Union, which backed Joya and others whose visits were challenged. ACLU attorney Jameel Jaffer said the administration has largely kept its promise. If you're in the US, I highly recommend attending one of Joya...

March 25 was the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Factory Fire , a seminal moment in the history of the American labour movement. I was surprised that the date received as much recognition as it did, with stories about the fire and the anniversary commemorations making the rounds everywhere I looked. That was good to see, but unfortunately few of those stories spelled out why the anniversary is so painfully relevant to our present world. In North America, laws protecting workers' safety have been systematically weakened and dismantled over the last 30 years. For migrant workers and undocumented people, such laws barely exist, as was the case when a scaffold collapsed at a Toronto construction site on Christmas Eve two years ago , killing four men and seriously injuring a fifth. Elsewhere in the world - where most of the goods we buy are produced - such laws are still a revolution away. Below, I'm posting a short film about the Triangle Fire that makes one such connection. A ...

I just want to re-run Bob Herbert's last column for The New York Times . Thank you, Mr. Herbert, for being a steadfast voice for working people and for justice. With Herbert's exit and Frank Rich's departure a few weeks ago, only Paul Krugman remains as a progressive voice in the supposedly-but-not-really-liberal paper. That is not to say that progressive people don't still write for the Times , but in the opinion department, any pretense of balance has been abandoned. It will be interesting to see who is hired or promoted to columnist now. Herbert, "Losing Our Way": So here we are pouring shiploads of cash into yet another war, this time in Libya, while simultaneously demolishing school budgets, closing libraries, laying off teachers and police officers, and generally letting the bottom fall out of the quality of life here at home. Welcome to America in the second decade of the 21st century. An army of long-term unemployed workers is spread across the land,...

Geraldine A. Ferraro, the first woman nominated for national office by a major US political party, is gone. She was 75 and had suffered from multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, for 12 years. In one of the shoeboxes that house the archives of my life, there is a letter from Ms. Ferraro, or at least from her campaign office. I had written a fan letter and received a lovely reply - not a form letter, a personalized recognition of my appreciation. Ferraro was a trailblazer, and in 1984, her campaign meant a lot to me. Her New York Times obituary is here. If you are wondering who was the first woman to run for national office in the United States, that would be Victoria Woodhull , who ran for President in 1872. Her running mate was Frederick Douglass.

Two weeks ago, at Toronto's Trinity St. Paul Centre, George Galloway spoke about the grassroots revolutions in the Arab world, and the intervention or interference of Western nations. I couldn't be there, so I'm grateful for YouTube and activists with video cameras. The whole talk is about 26 minutes (parts 1 and 2), and well worth your time. In parts 3, 4, and 5, Galloway responds to some hecklers with his usual arsenal of facts, wit and aplomb. And for a bonus, courtesy of Allan, there is Galloway discussing Libya on the UK's Sky News on March 19. Part 1: Part 2: Part 3: Part 4: Part 5: Libya:

Please take a break from politics to enjoy a few moments of canine cuteness and joy. Because when a sweet dog interrupts your game, there's nothing else you can do. Canadians may now return to thinking about how to defeat Stephen Harper.

Get Out The Vote: Canadians Advocating Political Participation ; on Facebook (formerly known as Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament) Catch 22 Conservatives LeadNow Fair Vote Canada Coffee Party Canada Voter Registration FAQ Kathleen O'Hara at Rabble: Ten reasons to oppose the Harper candidate in your riding Thomas Walkom: Yes, contempt of Parliament does matter Lawrence Martin: On the road to the Harper Government's tipping point Jeffrey Simpson: What if Stephen Harper's previous views were used against him? "Defend Parliament": The Harper attack on democracy , the long version (and this list is more than a year old) If you have any good links in a similar vein, please post them in comments.

Great work by Emily at Pushed to the Left and Loving it .

This is a day I've been waiting and hoping for, for what seems like a very long time. Goodbye Harper Government™, hello election. Bring it! Now to glue myself to CPAC .

Canada has long been thought of as a country with a generous refugee system. Despite recent anti-immigrant fear-mongering, Canadians are very proud of their country's history of offering haven to people fleeing injustice and persecution, from the Doukhobors in the early 20th Century to US war resisters and Vietnamese "boat people" in the 1970s, all of whom became part of Canada. I wonder how many Canadians know that proud history may be coming to a close. The situation may soon look more like the St. Louis , the ship of more than 900 European Jews who were refused entry and sent back to die in Nazi concentration camps. At a recent fundraiser for the War Resisters Support Campaign , immigration and refugee lawyer Alyssa Manning spoke about the Canadian refugee system in light of the passage of Bill C-11 last year. Alyssa's remarks reminded me that although I blogged about C-11 when it was introduced, I never followed up on the very significant changes it made to Ca...

Today is David Suzuki's birthday, and you can give him a gift by signing the Declaration of Interdependence . The Suzuki Foundation says: The declaration is a heartfelt prayer to preserve the Earth, and a commitment to act on the understanding that we are completely dependent on and interconnected with nature. Nothing would make David happier than knowing how many people support him, and agree that we need to take care of our environment. David and friends wrote the Declaration for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit. But the words are as compelling and important as ever. For David's birthday, pledge to live by these values. We should all be stewards of the Earth. I wish the Foundation didn't describe this as a prayer; to me this Declaration is a simple and powerful resolution. It reads: We can't steal from the future to serve the present. We need to sustain and steward the Earth for our descendants. You can sign it here.

This story broke several months back, but it's been revived and is receiving international attention. From today's Guardian : An American soldier has pleaded guilty to being part of a "kill team" who deliberately murdered Afghan civilians for sport last year. Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 23, told a military court he had helped to kill three unarmed Afghans. "The plan was to kill people, sir," he told an army judge in Fort Lea, near Seattle, after his plea. The case has caused outraged headlines around the world. In a series of videotaped confessions to investigators, some of which have been broadcast on American television, Morlock detailed how he and other members of his Stryker brigade set up and faked combat situations so that they could kill civilians who posed no threat to them. Four other soldiers are still to come to trial over the incidents. The case is a PR disaster for America's military and has been compared to the notorious incidents of to...

Thanks to Tom of Sweet Creamery fame. How you can help: Catch 22 Harper Conservatives .

Last Saturday, on the 8th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, thousands of people marched in Washington in protest of US imperial war and occupation. Of those, 113 people were arrested , including Daniel Ellsberg and Chris Hedges. I'm told it was Ellsberg's 80th arrest. I'd be so proud to have that record - although I probably couldn't have emigrated to Canada! This is Hedges speech before he was arrested. Please watch. The following day, there was a rally at the Marine base at Quantico, where Bradley Manning is being humiliated and held in abusive solitary confinement. Hedges also gave a passionate and remarkable speech about hope in Lafayette Park on December 16, 2010: The text is here .

When I was a kid, pre-teen, I loved watching old movies. I don't know how I got into this, but I grew up watching Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, Spencer Tracy and a whole constellation of actors unknown to most of my peers. [Retro aside: If you're a certain age and grew up in the New York metro area, you watched the " Million Dollar Movie " on WWOR, non-network Channel 9. The open was a montage of New York City images played to "Tara's Theme" from "Gone with the Wind". There's a version of it on YouTube , but it's a later incarnation. A 1970s image of the Broadway TKTS booth has been substituted for the clip I remember most: a woman going up an escalator, seen from behind. I can't find the original anywhere.] In those days, my favourite actor, hands-down, was Humphrey Bogart. I would scan the TV listings for any movie he was in, and knew many of them - classics and duds alike - backwards and forwards. Recently I read a review of a new...

I've just learned that Pinetop Perkins died last week. Pinetop was one of the greatest blues piano players ever, and one of my all-time favourite musicians. He lived to the advanced age of 97 and died peacefully at home in Austin, Texas. Pinetop, born on a Mississippi plantation in 1913, originally wanted to play blues guitar. Fortunately for me and so many other lovers of blues piano, he was stabbed in the arm. Perkins was born on a cotton plantation and taught himself guitar , but his arm was hurt in a stabbing, ending his dreams of becoming a guitar man. He collaborated with Muddy Waters, B.B. King and Earl Hooker and inspired Ike Turner. Last month he won a Grammy for best traditional blues album. Pinetop Perkins switched to playing piano after he was stabbed in the arm in 1942. His influence was vast; his pedigree impeccable. Pinetop Perkins, a regal pianist who was one of the last of the original Mississippi Delta blues musicians, died Monday of cardiac arrest at his home in ...

I don't pay much attention to partisan campaigning, so I didn't realize just how far into the slime the Harper Government™ has sunk. I'm not surprised, but it is worth noting: a very nice post from Impudent Strumpet , with an important link.

It's always so galling to me when members of the privileged, corporate class raise the spectre of class war. As the saying goes, "They only call it class war when we fight back." Here's a picture of the current class war being waged against working people in the US, found here (where it's a little more readable). I've heard that some folks are working on a Canadian version, which is bound to be less dramatic, but equally imbalanced and unjust.

Although I am not a Henry Rollins fan, I see he and I have something in common. Take a couple of minutes to appreciate New York City along with us.

If you're reading this from the Greater Toronto Area, I hope you'll join us tonight for dinner, music, community, and an update on the War Resisters Support Campaign. Time and place details below. We've all been following the machinations of the Harper Government™ as it lurches from scandal to scandal, subverting and short-circuiting democracy in any and every way it can. US war resisters in Canada are no strangers to the government's underhanded methods. Last summer, the Federal Court of Appeal issued a unanimous decision in favour of war resister Jeremy Hinzman . The court called the rejection of Hinzman's application to remain in Canada on Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds "flawed" and "unreasonable," clearly stating that immigration officers must take into account the applicants' sincerely held beliefs that motivated them to come to refuse illegal orders and come to Canada. Immediately after that, Minister of Censorship and Deportat...

Yippee, a no-fly zone, because it's much better for the West to kill Libyans than for Gaddafi to do it! Hey, those crazy Arabs can't liberate themselves, you know. They need our help. Just ask the Iraqis! Those who have survived, anyway. Some excellent analysis by The Arabist: 5 questions few are asking about Libya . Thanks to Hysperia for the Arabist post. Also: Stop the War Coalition (UK): The real reasons behind the United Nations' Libya vote : A new war has been declared in the Middle East. With the bloody and failing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan still in place, the USA, Britain and France are now committed to an escalating armed intervention in Libya. Dissident Voice: Mission Creep and Slippery Slopes , Bombs Away Over Libya

As you may know, Afghan writer and activist Malalai Joya has been denied entry to the US . Joya opposes the Western occupation of her country, and with a clear majority of USians now opposing the war in Afghanistan, those who profit from the occupation want to prevent her injecting public opinion with facts and motivation. I saw Joya speak - report here and here - and I know the peace movement in the United States needs her. When Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's flunky stupidly declared former UK MP George Galloway "inadmissible" to Canada, the ensuing publicity for Galloway's tour became Jason Kenney's nightmare. Eventually that nightmare ended up in court, and Galloway is now a regular guest of peace activists in Canada. I hope the US peace movement will get behind Joya's visit in a similar way. [For details on that, click on the wmtc category "george galloway in canada" .] United for Peace and Justice , the umbrella coalition of 1,400 US ant...

Glenn Greenwald, including links and emphasis: The forced nudity imposed on Bradley Manning followed by the forced resignation of P.J. Crowley has clearly created a media tipping point in this story. In addition to the scathing New York Times Editorial from Monday (Manning's treatment "conjures creepy memories of how the Bush administration used to treat terror suspects"), editorial condemnation has now come from The Los Angeles Times ("punishment, not protection, is the purpose of these degrading measures") and The Guardian ("There was at least the ghost of an excuse for bullying foreign combatants but no US need for mistreating one of their own"). Perhaps most notably, even the military-revering, establishment-defending Washington Post Editorial Page today emphatically condemns these conditions as "uncomfortably close to the kind of intimidating and humiliating tactics disavowed after the abuses at the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons tha...

Beginning May 1, Ontario will begin time-of-use pricing for energy* use. With time-of-use pricing , electricity use will be billed at three different rates: off-peak (least expensive), mid-peak and peak (most expensive). Mid-peak is a higher rate than current billing, and off-peak is a lower rate. That is, under the new pricing plan, your bill cannot stay the same; it can only go up or go down. There are also two different time-of-use pricing models, one for May through November, the other from November to May. Compare this to our current rate of 6.4 cents/kWh. Ontario has been gradually reducing its dependence on coal-fired electric plants, down from 25% in 2003 to the current 8%. The last coal-fired plant is supposed to be closed by 2030, a big step towards cleaner air and better health. Infrastructure is being upgraded, renewable sources expanded, and all that other stuff that means rates are slated to significantly increase. So TOU pricing involves a choice between changing habits ...