test blog #10

Go here to sign a letter demanding a full public inquiry into vote suppression and other illegal tactics used by the Conservative Party in the 2011 federal election. Please sign and share.

Just in case you haven't watched this yet, please do. I have only one quibble. I doubt anything made Richard Nixon blush!

I've never liked the comparison of control freak Stephen Harper to figurehead Resident George W. Bush. I understand where it comes from, of course, but if Canada is becoming the United States, as progressive Canadians love to say, then it's the United States of 20, 25 years ago. My comrade John Bell goes even further back, and he has a point. The growing RoboCall scandal is being likened to Watergate, and Stephen Harper to our own Richard Nixon. I used to run home from school to watch the Watergate hearings. My pal Stu and I collected tapes of Nixon speeches: we would marvel at the evident gap between Nixon’s self-righteous sincerity and the weasel words issuing from his jowly mouth. I think the comparison is valid. Stephen Harper may lack the jowls, but I believe he shares Nixon’s honest belief that he has license to break any law because the cause he serves is right—in more ways than one. Read it here: The Robocall rogues gallery . On that theme, see also: Dr. Dawg, Harper: ...

On our DIY top-ten list , M@ made a top-ten list of top-ten lists . David Weinberger, author of Everything Is Miscellaneous , takes it up a level, with a top ten list of top ten lists of top ten lists ! I haven't read that book yet, but I probably will over the spring-summer. (That's the wonderful season from mid-April to mid-September when I get my life back.) Some chapter excerpts are on the reading list for my current "ROCM" class. (That's Representation, Organization, Classification and Meaning-Making, otherwise known as A Complete Waste of My Time.) I'm restraining myself from my semi-annual (November and March) Why I Hate Grad School whine-rant-list, to keep your eyes from completely glazing over. Time to bust out my Imp Strump . It's March. You're in university. Of course you're a mess. You're going to be a mess for a month and then emerge, blinking and befuddled, somehow having completed all your coursework, into a beautiful spring wh...

This editorial in the Toronto Star is based on the same misinformation and hysteria that led to the pit bull death sentence in the first place. If you care about this issue, please take a moment to write to the Star and inform of them of the facts. Write to publiced@thestar.ca and letters@thestar.ca. This is really too long for a really good letter to the editor. Perhaps you can use it as a model to write your own. * * * * To the editor: Your editorial "Pit bulls are dangerous and Ontario is right to ban them" (February 27, 2012) is misleading and incorrect. Under the current Dog Owners' Liability Act, any dog that is "alleged" - merely alleged - to be a pit bull or to be menacing can be confiscated from its owner. It falls to the owner to prove the dog is not a pit bull, something that cannot be done, since the term "pit bull" is vague and subjective. Until recently, a confiscated dog was automatically killed without any due process for its owner. No...

I'm posting this for Googleability. If you've received an excessive water bill, there may be an error in your reading, even if the water meter is working correctly . My partner and I recently filed a small claims lawsuit against the Region of Peel to recover excessive water charges we were forced to pay. The judge awarded us a full refund, plus court fees, plus money for our time and effort, plus interest. If you have received a water bill that is 10 times (or more) your normal rate, and there are no leaks or plumbing issues in your home, and your subsequent bills show normal usage, this may apply to you. To read details of our experience, go here: advice needed: we really did not use all this water water bill woes continue. help needed. really really needed. in which we kick peel's butt lesson: fight your excessive water bill (My partner's blog) I haven't written about our preparation for the case or our evidence at trial. If you would like more details, please em...

What will be done about RoboGate ? Has Stephen Harper's well-documented pattern of giving democracy the finger finally gone too far? Thanks to an excellent election post-mortem by Matt Peters and Ryan Boldt on rabble.ca last year, we know that the Conservative Party won by a very narrow margin in dozens of ridings, in some cases beating out NDP and Liberal candidates by only hundreds of votes (some within dozens). The scope and breadth of RoboGate has yet to be known, but every day more ridings are reporting robo-calls and deceiving messages from the 2011 election. Could the Conservatives have, in fact, stolen their majority victory? Even before what I call RoboGate (or, as other media have coined, 'RoboCon'), we had a litany of abuses --from the Conservatives pleading guilty to illegal election spending (the 'in-out' scandal), to being found in contempt of Parliament, pork-barrelling millions in G20 cash into cabinet minister Tony Clement's personal riding, a...

This is an absolute must read or must see: the testimony of a 26-year-old man, the son of a Canadian oil executive, to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel hearings. The Vancouver Observer , progressive independent media, has the transcript and the video. One such day on the refinery stood out in particular. It was a hot, sunny and humid day, after monsoon rainfall my entire time there -- I think it was most likely the Prince Rupert weather following me overseas -- and on that day a hand full of managers thought it would be fun to take me out to the jetty, where they loaded and unloaded the super tankers. Situated a lengthy route away from the refinery itself, we drove down to towards the coastline. On our way there, we drove past many different villages. Each one looking extremely impoverished. I learned later that this was not always the case. There was a time in this region where fishing, farming and the local economy truly flourished. But once the refinery project was ...

Win? That doesn't even begin to describe it. This was a rout. When the smoke cleared, we were celebrating and they were gasping for air. $429 and change that we should never have been charged? Check. $175 in court costs? Check. But wait, there's more... $100 for our preparation time, plus $400 for our inconvenience, for a grand total of $1104.47 plus interest. Not credits on our account, either. Cold cash, baby! The judge said, "Frankly, I'm surprised that Peel's legal department would have let this go this far. You could have offered a settlement just to expedite this." You know, the settlement that Allan would have been happy to take, the one he regrets not bargaining for?! It was a little hairy to start. We were very well prepared, but we weren't aware of certain requirements, thinking, for example, that the exhibits in our initial pleading would be the exhibits at trial. So there was some scurrying about, photocopying and highlighting. The judge was a...

Hershey's Law, the private member's bill that would repeal the worst of the Dog Owners' Liability Act - that is, the pit bull death sentence - has passed second reading in the Ontario Parliament. My heartfelt thanks to all the dog lovers who worked so hard to make this happen. Go here for details. Some time back, I praised Ontario MPP Randy Hillier for a principled op-ed on the G20 carnage. I was excoriated here and on Facebook. Surely there is much on which I disagree with Randy Hillier and the rest of Tim Hudak's caucus. But that doesn't mean we never find ourselves on common ground. Randy Hillier introduced Hershey's Bill. If DOLA is repealed, he will deserve our most sincere gratitude. Thank you, everyone! I wish I could say I was part of it, but I have not been able to fight this fight, although it is my own. So thank you from me and from Allan, on behalf of the memory of our beautiful Buster.

Remember our crazy water bill ? And how tried to fight it ? In the end, we had no choice. We had to pay the bill or Peel would have disconnected our water. After that, our only recourse was to file in small claims court to try to recover the excess payment. We did so, and we had a mandatory (and useless) settlement conference. The trial is tomorrow. Allan has been working on our case for a long time and is beyond sick of it. Being a classic pessimist, he is convinced we will lose and just wants to get it over with. I have no idea what will happen and I'm not predicting anything. But whatever happens, I'll know I tried everything. I couldn't live with paying that bill and walking away. We both felt we had to try, no stone unturned. So this is the last stone.

I'm sure you've seen this everywhere already, but damn , how could I not post it. I love this man and I love this music. He may be short of breath, but consider that he's almost 70 years old... and still smokin' hot. Nice to hear the great Hubert Sumlin invoked in a song by the incomparable Wolf. Also very cool to see Jagger do this number.

Tell Mayor Ford you want a free, public Toronto Public Library. Go here.

Even if you live in a sports-free universe, the name Jeremy Lin may have seeped in through osmosis. The 24-year-old Harvard grad and point guard for the New York Knicks basketball team has inspired a wave of Lin-sanity and Lin-spiration around North America and much of the world. Lin is not the first NBA player of Asian descent, but there haven't been many, and none as home-grown and crowd-pleasing as Lin. Lin is a rags-to-riches sports story. He attended university without a sports scholarship, wasn't drafted after graduation, was waived by one NBA team, then claimed off the scrap heap as a bench-warmer by another. Then, given a chance to start for the Knicks, he made history. Lin has set and broken records for most points scored and most assists in his first three, four, and five career starts, ushering in a Knicks win-streak, a Sports Illustrated cover... and a conversation about identity, generally going by the label race . The other night I caught the tail-end of the local...

"What are you doing?" "Putting books away." "Why are you doing that?" "So people can find them later." "Do you have any books about fishing?" "Books on fishing... let's see. Oh look, here's one with Winnie the Pooh fishing." "I put that there!" "You did?" "I did! I put that there!" "Conor, leave the lady alone. Conor, come over here and play. Conor..." A few minutes later... "What are you doing? Why are you doing that? Do you have any books about fishing?" "Conor, leave her alone so she can do her job." "No, that's ok, he's not bothering me." Conor is a toddler. He was at the library with his dad. Conor asked questions in a rapid staccato that just cracked me up. * * * * I rode in the elevator with a mom and her pre-teen daughter. The library has big plastic baskets on wheels, like a luggage cart, and they had one filled to the brim with book...

Thanks to James and Stephanie and everyone else who sent me these. From Peace Love & Pitbulls .

In case you haven't done so already, you'll want to read Dr. Dawg on the Vic Toews phony scandal, internet surveillance, and the mind-boggling hypocrisy of the both the Conservatives and the mainstream media: On hypocrisy, politicians and the media . I'm not even going to quote from it, because you've got to read the whole thing. So go, read .

Further to the saga of dumping Rogers , this morning I ordered internet service through TekSavvy. (I had already called for information on how to switch and called Rogers to cancel my service.) The customer service rep was friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. I wasn't 100% certain of my disconnect date with Rogers, so after I hung up with TekSavvy, I called Rogers, just to double-check. Ever since cancelling Rogers, we've been inundated with calls, paper mail, and email offering us deep discounts to return. I expected more of the same, but I didn't expect this. LK: I recently cancelled my Rogers services. I already have a disconnect order, and I need to check on the date of the disconnect. Are you able to help me with that? Rogers: Why are you leaving Rogers? Are you unhappy with the service? LK: I appreciate your asking, but I am cancelling my service, and I'd prefer not to discuss it. Could you please check the date of my disconnect order? I believe it is March 6. Ro...

Like many Canadian activists, I am currently being bombarded with emails from Leadnow and Avaaz , pushing their "Cooperate for Canada" campaign. We are being urged to join the political party of our choice, then to encourage the parties to "cooperate" in the next election, in order to defeat the Conservatives. This would supposedly be a one-time deal, after which the parties would work together for meaningful electoral reform. I'm keeping an open mind, but I'm highly skeptical. The Leadnow FAQ claims this is not strategic voting (which actually works in very few ridings), not a merger, and not a step towards a two-party system. I am skeptical about each of those claims. I fear that "cooperation" is a slippery slope, and at the bottom lies an even more broken system with fewer choices. There's something else very wrong with this picture: the Liberal Party. Stories about the "cooperation" idea, such as this one in the Vancouver Sun , ...

From Maureen O'Reilly, library workers' union, Toronto Public Library (emphasis mine): + + + + + It hasn’t taken Ford and company long before launching a new attack on our public library. Frustrated that we stopped him last month from wreaking massive reductions to open hours and slashing programs and services, such as the children’s literacy program and the Bookmobile, Ford and his allies have a new strategy to achieve their goal of off-loading our public library to private interests. Today, they are targeting the librarians and other people who serve you at your neighbourhood branch, and the attack is playing out at the bargaining table. They want the right to get rid of experienced, career librarians and replace them (if at all) with lower-paid part-timers who, through no fault of their own, will not be able to serve library users half as well. For Ford, it’s simple. If he can’t close your neighbourhood branch, he wants to make sure there are fewer people to serve you and a ...

The Harperites have resurrected the unjust, immoral, and, according to international treaties to which Canada is a signatory, illegal bill formerly known as C-11. Jason Kenney doesn't want so much riff-raff allowed into Canada. So first he let positions on the Immigration and Refugee Board go vacant, so there weren't enough decision-makers to hear cases, thereby creating a backlog. Then he uses the backlog to say there are too many claimants. The IRB is under political pressure to reject certain types of cases. Kenney then uses those rejections to "prove" that claimants from certain countries are "bogus" refugees and no review of their claims is needed. When the minority Conservative government tried to rush this bill into law without debate in 2010, the NDP fought back, and after enough pressure was applied, the Liberals grew a (temporary) spine.* Amendments were added protecting the most vulnerable refugee claimants. Now the Harper Government TM wants to...

I was pleased to see the results of a recent Environics survey about Canadians' attitudes towards immigrants and new Canadians. It's reassuring to know that the attitudes that led to an attack on a Muslim woman in Mississauga and the directive forbidding women to wear veils at a citizenship ceremony - while abhorrent - are not the majority view. Even several supposedly hot-button issues, like dual citizenship or Canadians living abroad, do not appear to be a problem for most Canadians. Only for Stephen Harper, Jason Kenney, and the rest of the Conservative lackeys. CBC: Most Canadians feel immigrants are just as likely to be good citizens as people who were born here , a recent Environics Institute survey suggests. Canadians also don't appear to have problems with dual citizenship or with Canadian citizens living abroad, according to the telephone survey, which the Environics Institute says is the first poll to directly ask Canadians their views on citizenship. A group ma...

Our illustrious Minister of Censorship and Deportation is at it again - attacking freedom of expression and those who defend the rights of Palestinians. This time his target is Palestine House, a Palestinian cultural and educational organization based in Mississauga, for its highly successful settlement program. Last week, Palestine House was informed by the CIC that all funding for its immigration settlement program had been cut. This must be seen as an entirely political decision, as it fits the broader pattern of government-led censorship and intimidation of anyone who is critical of Canada's foreign policy, especially regarding Israel and Palestine. See below for action alert. Meanwhile, some context: • The Canadian Arab Federation - funding was cut by Kenney in February 2009, in response to its criticism of Harper's support for Israel’s attack on Gaza • Former British MP George Galloway - banned from entering Canada by Kenney in March 2009, in response to his humanitaria...

Do you like Valentine's Day? Do you celebrate it or avoid it? Do you celebrate it and avoid it? Tell us why. Three reasons, please. I don't do Valentine's Day. Here's why. 1. I don't like being told when to be romantic. If everyone is supposed to be romantic at once, where's the romance in that? 2. It's another weapon of mass consumption. Buy, buy, buy, more, more, more. 3. Here's a Valentine's Day story from my childhood. I'm not sure what grade this was in, possibly first. We made paper and cardboard mailboxes, decorated with hearts and whatnot. Then everyone was to make valentines, as they were called, and deliver them to classmates' mailboxes. My mother had a package of these little valentines. One side was a heart or a goopy picture of a puppy, very cheap stuff, the other side was blank, and you folded it closed. We made a valentine for each child in the class. I don't remember exactly how this happened, but I think my mother must h...

For reasons unknown, Blogger will not allow me to follow my friend NN's blog for more than a few hours. It insists on dropping Stacked-NYC from my reading list. Because of this, I missed Charles Dickens' 200th birthday ! NN's post reminded me of the excellent essay by George Orwell (call the Squad Squad, the phrase itself is a redundancy) exploring Dickens' staying power and analyzing his politics. Was Dickens a revolutionary? (No.) Did he really love the working class? (Nope.) If Dickens protested the conditions of his day, what did he offer as an alternative? (Be nice.) I have three writing idols*, and reading one of them write about another is loaded with meaning. I love Dickens, and I love Orwell, and Orwell didn't make me love Dickens any less. But it did help me think about Dickens through a more political lens. And because it was Orwell, it was sparkling clear, perfect prose - brilliantly accessible, totally unpretentious, a bit wry, very warm, witty, genero...

In celebration of African American history month, thousands of Texas schoolchildren attended a screening of the film "Red Tails," about the famed Tuskegee Airmen, the first black aviators to serve in the US military. Well, thousands of boys did, anyway. Girls were brought to a screening of "Akeelah and the Bee," about an 11-year-old girl who competes in a national spelling bee. A spokesperson for the Dallas Independent School District said the arrangement was made because seating at "Red Tails" was limited, and they thought boys would enjoy the movie more than girls. Reporters caught up with one of the original Tuskegee Airmen, a 94-year-old gentleman named Herbert Carter, for his thoughts on this boys-only screening. Turns out that Herbert Carter's late wife Mildred Carter was also an aviator, and the first black woman to hold a pilot's license in Alabama. Mildred, who died not long ago, wasn't allowed to fly for the military. Good things ti...

Last summer I worked as a research assistant on a project about video surveillance in stores, malls and public spaces.* That project was headed by Andrew Clement, an expert in the field of identity, privacy, and surveillance. Andrew co-created this mini-documentary with Kate Milberry, about the so-called "lawful access" legislation being rushed into law by the Harper Government. Please watch it, share widely, and take action . It is of the utmost importance. (un)LAWFUL ACCESS from The New Transparency on Vimeo . I've posted this petition before, but we all get so many petitions and opportunities to sign letters, I wonder how much of it registers. Please educate yourself about this, sign the petition, and pass it on: Stop Spying . To get involved, join the campaign . * A condensed version of our final report was presented as a paper at this year's iConference . It won an award as one of the five best papers of the conference.

Psyche! Not that Tala! This Tala is a wolf pup, now a full-grown wolf. Watch more inter-species love. Thanks, James!

I meant to include this in my earlier post with various action alerts . It's a bit old, but very important. Since this organizing started, Parks Canada has agreed to delay their decision to study it further. We should keep up the pressure so they know what the Canadian people want. Privatization is a slippery slope. Every aspect of Parks Canada should remain public and not-for-profit. From Avaaz : In days, the Harper Government could privatise a section of Jasper National Park and let an American-owned company blast a 300m metal walkway into our World Heritage mountains -- but Jasper's superintendent has the power to stop them. The plan would not only spur development, but would give an American company the right to charge each of us for entry into parts of Jasper park. Greg Fenton, a local Jasperite, has the ability to stop the privatisation of the park he grew up in and loves -- but the company's massive lobbying effort means he will face brutal pressure to sell out this ...

My inbox is flooded with action alerts from all different groups, which I feel obligated to pass on, even though many (most?) people who read this blog probably get these petitions through multiple sources. So in the spirit of just in case... • David Suzuki asks: If a panel of doctors told you to take better care of your health, would you listen? Ten leading marine scientists with the Royal Society of Canada just told Canada to take care of its oceans before it’s too late. Let’s make sure our government listens to its doctors. With the budget speech just weeks away, now is the time to tell Finance Minster Jim Flaherty that our oceans desperately need proper investment. Rising ocean temperatures and increased salinity in certain areas are just two of the serious threats they face. In last year’s budget speech, the government promised to create six new marine parks by 2012. That hasn’t happened yet, and they only have 10 months left to meet their commitment. Join the thousands of Canadi...

Isn't this amazing? Many other wild shadow creations by Tim Noble and Sue Webster can be seen on a slideshow on Environmental Graffiti and on this Daily Mail story . BuzzFeed brings us examples of shadow art by several artists. This is by Larry Kagan . Thanks to @ImpStrump.

In case you missed it: Tory MP Stephen Woodworth wants human rights for unborn children A Conservative MP is defying his party’s leadership with a move to rewrite Canadian laws to extend human rights to unborn children. Kitchener MP Stephen Woodworth is taking aim at a section of the Criminal Code that defines a child as a human being only when it can breathe on its own and is severed from the umbilical cord. He says the law was first drafted in Britain in the 1700s but is based on “limited medical knowledge” that needs to be updated. “Don’t accept any law that says some human beings are not human beings. Nothing justifies it,” he told reporters Monday. Woodworth filed a motion in the House of Commons asking for a special committee to review medical evidence about when a child can be considered a human being separate from the mother. He also wants that committee of seven Tory MPs, four New Democrats and one Liberal to examine the legal impact of denying full human rights to an unborn c...

In case you missed it, the marketing geniuses at McDonald's thought it was cute to promote their latest concoction of fat, salt, sugar, and unpronounceable ingredients as being healthier than petting a dog. But not just any dog. Trying a brand new menu item at McDonald's isn't risky. You know what's risky? Petting a stray pit bull. Hear for yourself. Pit bull lovers - especially those with rescued strays - were not amused. According to Eater.com , a petition was mounted, and McDonald's quickly pulled the ad and issued an apology. Here are a few of the many creative responses from pit bull lovers, featuring many beautiful, happy dogs. Perhaps McDonald's will eventually offend everyone in the world. There will be a global boycott, and the purveyor of unhealthy food, environmental destruction, cultural homogenization, and crappy jobs will disappear.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the recent " help me get rid of zip " discussion, both on wmtc and by email. And thanks to CNET, for this video ! I started out asking about movies, but ended up with so much more. Goodbye, Rogers! Whoo-hoo! So many friends and readers have told me they've cancelled cable TV service, but we weren't able to do that: we needed cable for baseball. And we also subscribed to MLBTV online. I hated the redundancy, but there was no other way to have baseball both at home and for Allan at work (where he watches three games each week). But thanks to you all, we've done it. So here's what we have: 1. I've already cancelled Rogers cable and internet! I had already dumped Rogers for cell phone service, getting more for my money with Wind. So now I am Rogers-free. 2. Later this month, (at the time suggested by friendly, helpful customer service rep) I will order TekSavvy cable-modem internet service. 3. We will purchase a Roku...

Our photos from Quebec City, dogsledding and Montreal are on Flickr. There turned out to be more decent dogsledding photos than I thought. The city photos are just a few details here there, on our little point-and-shoot camera. Nothing spectacular, but if you're interested: Quebec City Dogsledding Montreal

It's been a long time since I've updated you on Tala's condition. She's made a lot of progress! In short: more activity + less medication = happier dog = happier mommy. You'll recall that when Tala's spine condition first came to light, we had to keep her on total exercise restriction, only going outside to relieve herself. We were also supposed to keep her completely restricted - crated - in the house, but we never went that far. No stairs, no dog park, no long walks. Not a lot of fun. At first, every time we tried to increase her activity, pain and lameness returned. But eventually we were able to gradually increase her activity, one tiny increment at a time. Two five-minute walks a day... we would keep her at that level for two weeks... then two ten-minute walks a day... and so on. We also went through a long process of trying different medications - and different combinations of different types of meds - to find the best combinations and lowest thresholds sh...