The saga/history/thoughts of two gay partners and their 4-footed child picking up stakes in the US and immigrating to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Last evening I finally got around to watching the Frontline program "The Lost Year in Iraq" recorded earlier on PBS. It is an EXCELLENT chronology of how the Bush Administration botched the year following the US invasion of Iraq. You can watch it online in segments here. Very well done, as their reports typically are.
While watching the program, remember that L. (Jerry) Paul Bremer is one of the people - along with George Tenet and Gen. Tommy Franks - that our "esteemed" president gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom award to in 2004, and Paul Wolfowitz is now President of the World Bank.
What is rather surprising, though, is that Canadians are not expressing a sense of outrage that their government is apparently turning a blind eye to the practice. Another example of the "bully" of the schoolyard intimidating the rest of the "kids"?
Ah, for the days when cross-border "cooperation" is not so one-sided . . . . . .
B.C. residents smoke most pot in Canada, report says
Daily marijuana use outstripping tobacco, UVic research indicates
BY RICHARD WATTS CanWest News Service
VICTORIA — People in B.C. smoke more marijuana than people in any other province in Canada, according to a study released Wednesday.
“There is more occasional and low-risk cannabis use, more tolerant attitudes, and greater availability in B.C. than in the rest of Canada,” says the study for Addictions Research of B.C. based at the University of Victoria.
“In B.C., cannabis, like alcohol, is now regarded as a ‘normal’ recreational drug.” In fact, daily use among young people in B.C. is outstripping tobacco.
And a majority in B.C. want cannabis decriminalized, says the study.
The study cites estimates that put the value of the cannabis industry in B.C. at as much as $3.64 billion a year.
The study, based on a 2004 Canadian Addiction Survey, said more British Columbians report having used cannabis (53 per cent), than other Canadians (44).
British Columbians also report it is easy to find — 65 per cent, versus only 44 in Canada.
Just one of the many "high" lights of our future home!
The Tories are planning more mischief on the Same Sex Marriage battle.From today's Globe and Mail we have the following excerpt:
Tories split over gay-marriage plan TENILLE BONOGUORE and BILL CURRY AND SCOTT DEVEAU Globe and Mail Update with Canadian Press
OTTAWA - A storm of debate has erupted in Ottawa over the Conservative government's plan to allow public officials to refuse to perform same-sex marriages, with Harper government members lending their voices to the howl of protest.
Politicians on both sides of the floor have spoken out against the planned Defence of Religions Act, which is also designed to protect the free-speech rights of religious leaders and others who criticize homosexual behaviour or refuse to do business with gay-rights organizations.
The legislation would be brought forward if the government loses the motion this fall to reopen the debate on same-sex marriage, which is likely to be defeated by a combination of Opposition and Conservative MPs.
"Isn't this just an attempt to remove sexual orientation as a prohibited ground of discrimination in our country. (The bill is) totally against what was already adopted by this Parliament,"” Liberal interim leader Bill Graham asked during Wednesday's Question Period.
While Mr. Harper reiterated his government's promise to bring a same-sex marriage motion before an open debate in the House, he would not speculate on the nature of the proposed bill.
According to a report in The Globe and Mail on Wednesday, the federal government is floating the idea of a Defence of Religions Act that would protect public officials who refuse to perform same-sex marriages, and church groups that refuse to rent halls to gay couples.
You can see thewhole story here. Sure would be nice if this crowd's poll numbers started to parallel mr. bush's - Straight down, that is!!
Yes, it is alarming a US Congressperson was apparently having inappropriate communication with 16 year old pages, but I think there are far more important issues confronting the nation prior to the election on November 7th . . . .
The revelations about what then National Seurity Advisor and now Secretary of State "Condescending" Rice knew about potential attacks on the US are far more alarming and warrant investigation. Her convenient memory lapses are chronicled here and are symptomatic of a pattern of deceit to uphold her image. Very similar to her shopping for new Ferragamo and Manolo shoes while folks in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina were stranded on rooftops . . . .
"PageGate" doesn't warrant the attention it is getting from the media that the advance notice this woman had which could have protected American lives does. The page scandal affects relatively few people - The Bush Administration's debacles are even today killing US military personnel and innocent civilians. Let's get our priorities in order . . . . .
Jo of The Canadian Wayand I have been having an email discussion regarding the Conservative's plan to reschedule the same sex marriage vote promised by Mr. Harper for later in the parliamentary calendar. The story is discussed in this article in the Globe and Mail.
My feeling is that it may be Harper's way of taking on the "new kid on the block" by scheduling the debate just after the Liberal Party selects their new leader. Sounds like a move directly from the Karl Rove playbook of political dirty tricks.
Of course,by delaying it will also give the radical religious right the opportunity for a few more Sunday preachings against the homos . . .
As I was "stumbling"* around the web today, I came upon this page which is quite clever and very accurate. Hope you think so, too . . . .
*Actually, "stumbling" is an accurate term if you're not familiar with it. It's a Firefox browser extension that lets you pick search options based on your interests and fetches pages that people find useful. It has been a very good tool to find new viewpoints on topics that interest me. Here is where to go to install it.
L-girl of We Move to Canada advises that Mason and Nick of Life Without Borders landed in Canada this morning . . . What great news for them and the rest of us attempting to follow in their footsteps.
Not that this is surprising, but it is still disappointing. Further ties to the southern neighbour is not a good route for our future home to take. More spending on the military, depletion of natural resources, no universal health care, the "with us or against us" foreign policy . . . . These are reasons we're trying to get out of the US, we sure don't want them to follow us up here.
From today's Vancouver Sun:
Conservatives snuggle up to Washington
U.S. ambassador hails a ‘new era of cooperation’
BY MIKE BLANCHFIELDCanWest News Service
OTTAWA — Canada and the United States have entered a “new era” of cooperation, the American ambassador said Tuesday, hours after new federal government documents proclaimed Ottawa’s top foreign policy priority to be “greater collaboration” with Washington. Though Prime Minister Stephen Harper has made strengthening relations with Washington a key part of his international agenda, the relationship was identified as the country’s top foreign policy priority in the government’s spending estimates formally tabled in Parliament on Tuesday. According to the estimates, tabled by Foreign Affairs, that means backing the U.S. in its “indispensable role” in promoting Middle East peace, deepening ties between Canadian and American diplomats abroad, and an attempt “to balance American priorities with traditional Canadian foreign policy” in dealing with major international issues such as Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Iraqi reconstruction. Later in the day, a speech in Ottawa by U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins heralded the onset of a renewed era of stronger ties between the two as he took a thinly veiled swipe at the previous Liberal governments of Paul Martin and Jean Chretien for undermining relations with the Bush administration. “We are truly entering a new era of cooperation where there is a focus on shared responsibilities for dealing with problems — certainly more interested today on fixing the problem rather than fixing the blame,” Wilkins told hundreds of delegates at the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada’s annual meeting.
Checked in on the Burrard Bridge web cam overlooking English Bay this morning . . . Looks like another beautiful day in our future home.
Sure wish we were already there on a permanent basis. Getting kind of envious of Nick/Mason and Gito/Juan's journey this week . . . . . Hopefully the rest of us will be following soon!
This from today's Vancouver Sun . . . What do you think about this proposed change?
For those of you already with PR status, do you plan to maintain US Citizenship upon gaining Canadian Citizenship? Thoughts appreciated . . . . Tories plan review of dual citizenship
Some argue people should lose Canadian status if they are also citizens elsewhere
BY ALLAN WOODS CanWest News Service
OTTAWA — The Conservative government plans to revisit issues surrounding 30-year-old rules allowing people who live abroad to hold dual Canadian citizenship, a senior Conservative has told CanWest News Service. The review of the laws allowing people to carry a Canadian passport along with the citizenship of another country appears to be on a fast-track, particularly after the government began tallying the costs and results of the mass rescue of civilians in Lebanon who held Canadian citizenship during the recent conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. “I think it’s going to be something that our minister of immigration [Monte Solberg] . . . will be addressing in the future because I think there is some interest as these details become known,” said Conservative caucus chairman Rahim Jaffer, a member of the House of Commons citizenship and immigration committee. Solberg refused requests for an interview and Jaffer did not disclose what other issues relating to dual citizenship could come under review. But Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already expressed his desire to look at changes to the protocol the government follows when helping Canadians leave foreign hotspots. Lesley Harmer, a spokeswoman for Solberg, said “there aren’t any plans” to change laws governing dual citizenship. But Jaffer said a closer look at the issue was already on the government’s fall agenda, and could now happen “within weeks” after the burden of moving Canadian citizens out of the Middle East war zone have come to light. Some 40,000 Canadians were registered with the embassy in Lebanon when the war broke out in July, and Ottawa estimates it spent more than $85 million to bring about 15,000 of them to Canada. Reports suggest 7,000 evacuees have since returned to Lebanon. The movement to revisit dual citizenship is drawing support on both sides of the Commons. “I’ve always questioned dual citizenship, and I’m the former minister,” said Ontario Liberal MP Judy Sgro, a Liberal immigration minister between 2003 and 2005. “We’ve paid all that money to evacuate all those people and now 7,000 of them have gone back.” She added the benefits that come with Canadian citizenship — including pension benefits and assistance from the federal government in times of emergency — are “ripe for exploitation” by those living abroad. Statistics Canada says there are more than four million immigrants who hold dual citizenship with Canada and at least one other country. There are no records for Canadian-born citizens who hold other citizenships. “We need to be loyal to one country as far as your citizenship. Your heart can be where you were born but I think the commitment to Canada has to be strong, and I think dual citizenship weakens that,” Sgro said. Canada changed its laws to allow Canadians to hold passports from two countries in 1977. Advice from two parliamentary committees from the mid-1990s that it was time to revamp citizenship laws were ignored. One of those committees from 1993 suggested permitting dual citizenship reduced the value that goes along with being a Canadian and recommended those who take citizenship with another country should forfeit their Canadian passport.
To those of you unfamiliar with Jeff Black's theHornyRabbit.com blog, today's post is particularly amusing . . . Thought a lighter note after the "pope-poop" was in order . . . . Enjoy!
After my original post hereon "His Idiocy" Pope Benedict, it never occurred to me that I would be posting another tidbit about this nitwit so soon . . . . Who knew the cretin is even more bigoted than once thought?!?!? Please explain why anyone would belong to an organized religion when all of them are led by despicably inept people such as this?
CAIRO, Egypt — An al-Qaida-linked extremist group warned Pope Benedict XVI on Monday that he and the West were "doomed," as protesters raged across the Muslim world to demand more of an apology from the pontiff for his remarks about Islam and violence.
The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, issued a statement on a Web forum vowing to continue its holy war against the West. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified.
The group said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as "the worshipper of the cross" saying "you and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere. ... We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose head tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (killed by) the sword."
Islam forbids drinking alcohol and requires non-Muslims to pay a head tax to safeguard their lives if conquered by Muslims. They are exempt if they convert to Islam.
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, meanwhile, shops, businesses and schools shut down in response to a strike call by the head of a hard-line Muslim separatist leader to denounce Benedict. For the third day running, people burned tires and shouted "Down with the pope."
Protests also broke out in Iraq, where angry demonstrators burned an effigy of the pope in Basra, and in Indonesia, where more than 100 people rallied in front of the heavily guarded Vatican Embassy in Jakarta, waving banners that said the "Pope is building religion on hatred."
The pope on Sunday said he was "deeply sorry" about the angry reaction to his speech last week in which he cited the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of Islam's Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman" and referred to spreading Islam "by the sword."
Benedict said the remarks came from a text that didn't reflect his own opinion.
"I hope that this serves to appease hearts and to clarify the true meaning of my address, which in its totality was and is an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect," he said during his weekly appearance before pilgrims in Italy.
The statement of regret - the pope's second in two days - helped ease some tensions.
However, State Minister Mehmet Aydin, who oversees the religious affairs in Turkey, said he expected Turkish authorities to cancel the visit if Benedict does not offer a full apology.
"We are expecting the authorities to unilaterally cancel this visit. The pope's coming to Turkey isn't going to foment the uniting of civilizations, but a clash of civilizations," he said.
The secretary-general of the Turkish HUKUK-DER law association submitted a request to the Justice Ministry asking that the pope be arrested upon entering Turkey.
The appeal by Fikret Karabekmez, a former legislator for the banned pro-Islamic Welfare Party, called for Benedict to be tried under several Turkish laws, among them obstruction of freedom of belief, encouraging discrimination based on religion, and inciting religious hatred.
A prosecutor in the ministry will evaluate the request and decide whether to open a case.
Angry reactions also persisted in other corners of the Muslim world, where many demanded more of an apology by the pope than Sunday's statement of regret.
Morocco's King Mohammed VI sent a letter to the Vatican in which he implored Benedict to show "the same respect for Islam that you have for the other religions," Moroccan media reported. Morocco withdrew its ambassador to the Vatican over the weekend.
Even in China, where the government exerts tight controls over religious activities, a top religious official said Benedict had insulted the nation's Muslims.
In the Middle East, where Muslims threw firebombs at seven churches in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the weekend, Christian leaders posted guards outside some churches.
"We are afraid," said Sonia Kobatazi, a Christian Lebanese, after Mass at the Maronite Christian St. George Cathedral in Beirut, Lebanon, where about a dozen policemen carrying automatic weapons stood guard.
And if you still think Muslims are the only radical religious zealots around, check this out and think again.
I'm sure that both jesus and muhammad would be proud of the actions by their representatives on earth . . . . Sshheeesshh, what a crock!!!
If you missed the 9/11 comments by Keith Olbermann here is the transcript and a link to the video is also available. It is a classic and bears everyone watching . . . .
As a postscript: On 9/13/06 Representative John Conyers of Michigan quoted from Keith's commentary in a speech he made on the floor of the House. At least some people are listening . . .
There is a great review of the NDP convention - complete with a link to very professional photos - here posted by Idealistic Pragmatist. She was in attendance representing her riding.
IP did an excellent job recapping the event in Quebec and it is well worth a read for her in-depth analysis of the convention. Great job, IP!
