Cathie from Canada

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Watch out

First they came for our cigarettes, and you didn't smoke so you said nothing.
Then they came for our trans-fats, but you didn't like potato chips anyway so you said nothing.
Now they are coming for our booze . . .

Health Canada is set to unveil a proposed National Strategy on Alcohol that will include 41 recommendations drafted by experts in alcohol treatment, addiction research, provincial liquor monopolies -- even distillers and breweries -- to shift alcohol's innocent image as a benign indulgence and curb dangerous drinking.

Actually, I agree with this article's contention that alchohol is a greater blight on society than marijuana -- nobody ever got toked and then went home to beat on their wife and kids.
But I always thought this was an argument to legalize drugs, not to "illegalize" alcohol -- families and society in general would be much better off if the people now addicted to alcohol could escape reality with dope instead.

The innocent

So now it is being reported that rat poison was found in the recalled pet food.
I know in the greater scheme of things, we must care more for people than for pets.
But also in that greater scheme, the deal we have made with our pets is that we feed them and take them for walks and play with them and keep them healthy, and in return they will give us their complete and unconditional love and devotion.
It breaks my heart that for some poor innocent dogs and cats, we broke the deal.
Here are Globe and Mail photos of Pebbles, a Yorkie from Los Angeles, being treated for kidney failure.

I hope he makes it.
And if not, I hope his family can create a Farley's Tree for him:

Great line of the day

Jane Hamsher writing about how they suddently "found" some emails from the the 18-day gap in the Abu Gonzales scandal:

I guess there were emails that didn't get turned over in that 18 day gap. Everyone surprised by this raise your hand, and then let us know how soon you are expecting to receive your Nigerian inheritance.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

"No-fly" zones

Hmmm. Its interesting how language changes.
"No-fly zones" in Iraq used to refer to the areas in northern and southern Iraq where Saddam's helicopters and planes were not allowed to fly because they would be shot down by American and British planes.
Today, the term "no-fly zone" in Iraq refers to areas or routes where U.S. helicopters do not dare to fly anymore for fear of being shot down by Iraqi insurgents.

Flexing

You can tell what scares people by what they use to threaten others.
Here's an example:

The Conservative government is promising to take historic steps to limit federal spending power - but only if Quebecers vote for a federalist party next Monday.
Lost in all the budget headlines this week was a little-noticed promise to negotiate with the provinces about how to formally prevent Ottawa from spending money in provincial jurisdictions. Prime Minister Stephen Harper repeated the promise in the House of Commons on Wednesday and said he hopes to hold those discussions with a federalist government in Quebec.
Tory Quebec lieutenant Lawrence Cannon was asked whether that means the entire initiative hinges on the defeat of the separatist Parti Quebecois in Monday's election.
"That's what I understood," Cannon said of the prime minister's remarks.
"We'll see what happens on election night. But it takes federalists to reform federalism."
The suggestion that Ottawa could scrap such a major initiative if it disagrees with Quebec voters' choice drew accusations of interference in the provincial election.
"It's not a responsible comment," Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe said.

Harper is trying to flex his fiscal muscles in an attempt to make Quebec shiver in shock and awe. Now for Harper, like many federal politicians, nothing is more frightening than the prospect of losing influence, being cut off from authority and power by electing the "wrong" party.
So he thinks Quebeckers must be frightened of this, too.
Not!
There's not much that scares Quebec, but I think they find this kind of federal flexing to be particularly pathetic.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

And another great line today

Digby talks about the Fox Noise reaction to Al Gore's global warming testimony today:

. . . my favorite thing about the know-nothing wingnut argument is that Al Gore is said to be all hysterical on this silly little problem by the same people who are screeching like howler monkeys that the oceans don't protect us anymore and "they're comin' to kill us in our beds!" The fact that ridding ourselves of our dependence on oil might mitigate both of these problems escapes their notice. But then, they are incredibly stupid.

Great line of the day

The Editors write about the Bush statement on how the American people should be patient about Iraq:

Today, we find Bush asking us to be patient with progress in Iraq, and warning of dire consequences should Democrats succeed in denying Bush the chance of passing on responsibility for losing the war to the next administration. . . . . the American people, after being entirely too patient, have lost patience with President George W. Bush, and with his cronies and sycophants. They have lost patience with his conduct of the war - and, as no one else can conduct the war, they have lost patience with the war itself. And I doubt they are much inclined to hear sermons on “patience” from the man who was so anxious to rush into a war that, four years later, he still can’t justify.

Emphasis mine.

Canadian artists

I don't know very much about art or artists, so I decided to do a little research into the winners of the 2007 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts:

The Canada Council for the Arts today announced the names of the eight winners of the 2007 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts.
Ian Carr-Harris, Aganetha Dyck, R. Bruce Elder, Murray Favro, Fernand Leduc and Daphne Odjig will receive awards for artistic achievement; ceramist Paul Mathieu will receive the Saidye Bronfman Award for excellence in the fine crafts, while David P. Silcox will receive the outstanding contribution award for his work as a writer, educator, cultural administrator and arts volunteer.

Here are some photos related to their work, which I found on the web (there are other photos posted with the Canada Council press release, too):

Ian Carr-Harris

Aganetha Dyck

Beautiful, aren't they?
I have often wished I was an artistically creative person -- learning more about art and finding a creative muse for myself is something I do want to do, one of these years.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Continuing the misery

Please! Please! This is supposed to be a happy occasion! Let's not bicker and argue about who killed who.

Finance minister Flaherty thinks its time to put bickering aside:

The federal budget has now restored fiscal balance and the "discussion is over," Flaherty said during a breakfast speech in this city east of Toronto. "We brought forward yesterday the resolution to that issue. It's been met with substantial approval by the provinces," Flaherty said.
"Now we can get over the bickering and now the federal government can concentrate on our constitutional responsibilities."

But Saskatchewan got screwed.
And the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation are annoyed.
And most important of all, Aboriginal people got nothing in this budget.
I heard on the radio coming home that the chiefs are pissed, and are warning that confrontations will increase if Aboriginal people don't feel their concerns are being taken seriously. Here's Phil Fontaine describing the reaction of Aboriginal people to this budget:

Canadians believe in fairness, and trust that no one should be left behind in prosperous times. Some Canadians will welcome this budget, but many more would be alarmed if they knew about the devastating consequences for First Nations given the lack of attention that First Nations have received in this budget. The frustration of First Nations people is only growing, and this budget does nothing to allay their concerns.
It is clear that the circumstances of First Nations peoples remain a black mark on Canada. It’s an enormous burden, not just on First Nations people, but the whole country. We want to turn this situation around so that First Nations are more effective contributors to Canada’s prosperity. First Nations need to be able create opportunities, not continue to miss out on them.
Nowhere is the fiscal imbalance more apparent than in the critical under-funding of First Nations health, child welfare, education, housing and infrastructure. No other Canadian citizen has had to endure a two-percent cap on funding that has now lasted for over a decade. Our population continues to grow and the poverty gap continues to widen.
. . .
Minister Prentice committed to the process established under the Accord at a meeting of BC First Nations last year. I call upon him to act in accordance with the provisions of the Accord as a way to replace fundamentally flawed government processes and policies.
We have patiently waited a long time for action. This budget only allows for enough money to continue the management of misery.

Is it too cynical of me to think that the Harper government does not care -- would a few high-profile confrontations this summer with Aboriginal protesters play into the political and ideological right-wing agenda?

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Phoned anyone in the USA lately?

And did you say anything "interesting"?
Combine this story:

. . . there were no limits on the telecommunications records which the FBI sought and obtained. They just asked for whatever records they wanted, said whatever they had to say in their lawless letters to get them (even when such statements were false), and the telecom companies instantaneously provided the data to the FBI.

with what we already know about the NSA Scandal:

. . . Unlike the [National Security Agency's] longstanding practice of spying on specific individuals and communications based upon some source of suspicion, data mining involves formula-based searches through mountains of data for individuals whose behavior or profile is in some way suspiciously different from the norm.
Data mining is a broad dragnet. Instead of targeting you because you once received a telephone call from a person who received a telephone call from a person who is a suspected terrorist, you might be targeted because the NSA's computers have analyzed your communications and have determined that they contain certain words or word combinations, addressing information, or other factors with a frequency that deviates from the average, and which they have decided might be an indication of suspiciousness. The NSA has no prior reason to suspect you, and you are in no way tied to any other suspicious individuals -- you have just been plucked out of the crowd by a computer algorithm's analysis of your behavior.

and you see why I asked about what you've been saying on the phone lately.
Of course, the whole thing is a stupid waste of both the FBI's time and the NSA's time:

. . . the creation of large numbers of wasteful and distracting leads is one of the primary reasons that many security experts say data mining and other dragnet strategies are a poor way of preventing crime and terrorism. The New York Times confirmed that point, with its report that the NSA has sent the FBI a "flood" of tips generated by mass domestic eavesdropping and data mining, virtually all of which led to dead ends that wasted the FBI's resources. "We'd chase a number, find it's a schoolteacher with no indication they've ever been involved in international terrorism," one former FBI agent told the Times . "After you get a thousand numbers and not one is turning up anything, you get some frustration."

But since when did wasting time and money ever stop the Bush administration?
We also must not forget that the Bushies think that Democrats and journalists and Quakers and bloggers and peace activists and senators and George Soros and Donald Trump and Hollywood are all traitors, or at least "fellow travellers".
So does anyone wonder whose phone calls and emails they are targetting?