Equal Marriage in California

California has, today, become the second American state to allow equal marriage for all people, regardless of sexual orientation. In a 4-3 ruling, the California Supreme Court overturned the statute defining marriage as between a man and a woman. The reasons of the Majority, written by Chief Justice George, contain several clear explanations of why LGBT folks are entitled to equal rights, and why "separate but equal" civil unions/domestic partnerships just don't cut it. First the Chief Justice had this to say:

Furthermore, in contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual’s capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual’s sexual orientation, and, more generally, that an individual’s sexual orientation — like a person’s race or gender — does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights. We therefore conclude that in view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship, the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples.

He added this:

Second, retaining the traditional definition of marriage and affording same-sex couples only a separate and differently named family relationship will, as a realistic matter, impose appreciable harm on same-sex couples and their children, because denying such couples access to the familiar and highly favored designation of marriage is likely to cast doubt on whether the official family relationship of same-sex couples enjoys dignity equal to that of opposite-sex couples. Third, because of the widespread disparagement that gay individuals historically have faced, it is all the more probable that excluding same-sex couples from the legal institution of marriage is likely to be viewed as reflecting an official view that their committed relationships are of lesser stature than the comparable relationships of opposite-sex couples. Finally, retaining the designation of marriage exclusively for opposite sex couples and providing only a separate and distinct designation for same-sex couples may well have the effect of perpetuating a more general premise — now emphatically rejected by this state — that gay individuals and same-sex couples are in some respects “second-class citizens” who may, under the law, be treated differently from, and less favorably than, heterosexual individuals or opposite-sex couples.

Those two excerpts from the decision eloquently make the case for equal marriage.

The forces of acceptance have won the battle, but the forces of bigotry and hatred haven't yet given up the war. They have one last play: an attempt to change the constitution of California to return to unequal marriage. This attempt will likely be on the ballot in California in November. If that battle is won, then it will truly be a time to celebrate.

That is not, of course, to play down the incredible victory that today's ruling represents. Thousands, if not millions, of Californians will be able to marry the person they love now, and that is certainly a cause for joy.

I salute the judges of the California Supreme Court for coming to the right decision, and I hope that the people of California will see fit to reject the ballot initiative to entrench bigotry in California's constitution. For anyone interested in reading the decision, the following link will take you to the PDF version of the ruling.


Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 251

Police Tase Eldery Kamloops Man Three Times

This one just has me boiling. On Saturday Frank Lasser, an eighty-two year old man who was lying in a bed in the Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops with an oxygen/breathing apparatus, was tased by the RCMP because he was supposedly delirious and wielding a "three inch pocket knife." This on it's own is bad, but is unfortunately rather usual given the culture of systematic police brutality. Today, more details emerged. It turns out that police tased this elderly man three times. According to Lasser's account to the CBC, as soon as the three RCMP officers arrived, he was immediately tased because the police had "more important work to do on the street" that night.

This is absolutely outrageous. First off, this guy was 82 and in the hospital after having had a heart bypass. And yet the RCMP is asserting that he posed a deadly threat to the lives of the officers, no different than a 20 year old man. Somehow, I think an 82 year-old in a hospital for heart surgery is going to lack the strength to overcome three RCMP officers and then do any kind of damage with a blade of what sounds like a Swiss Army knife. What is the RCMP teaching its officers these days? Are they not teaching them how to use intermediate levels of force or non-violent conflict resolution? Lasser is a former prison guard and has asserted that three officers could easily overcome a person of his age and in his condition. I'm inclined to agree, and it seems only logical to believe. That they didn't speaks to a culture of violence in the RCMP.

Not only was he tased, but he was tased three times. Imagine the damage that three shocks of 50 000 volts can do to a person. Even if one shock was possibly called for, there is absolutely no way that three shocks would be justified. What if Lasser hadn't had his heart bypass yet? He would probably have entered cardiac arrest and possibly died. The police have become lethal weapons in their own right.

Once again, I call for proper civilian oversight of the police. Oversight that isn't afraid to call a spade a spade or to come down on officers who betray the trust placed in them by society. Lets bring democracy to the police. It can be done if the will of the people is strong enough and clear enough. Don't let the naysayers and the authoritarians tell you no, that the police are just fine as they are. Don't let them tell you it's too hard, or not worth the fight. Don't let them tell you it can't be done.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 257

Tragedy in Burma

The tragedy continuing to unfold in Burma in the wake of Cyclone Nargis is absolutely heartrending. It seems that as of today, the estimated death toll is 100 000, with the capacity to go much higher. That 100 000 is 80% of the number that died in the Boxing Day tsunami disaster that struck the entire coast of the Indian Ocean. It is equivalent to killing one in three people living in Halifax. Put another way, this is roughly 33 Hurricane Katrinas rolled into one. And those are just the people killed from the immediate effects of the storm. Given the horrendous delays that the Burmese junta is creating by denying visas to aid workers from the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross/Red Crescent, tens of thousands more people are going to die from starvation and disease, since there is no food, no drinking water and no shelter. To get an idea of how bad the devastation is, take a look at the following satellite pictures from NASA.


The first picture shows the Irrawaddy delta area of Burma (where the cyclone came ashore) on April 15, prior to the storm. The second shows the same area on May 5, three days after the cyclone struck. As I'm sure you can see, a huge area of the delta, including much of the land around the capital city of Yangon is under water. Reports suggest that 95% of buildings in the affected areas have been knocked down by the storm surge. The rivers in the area that provided drinking water are full of mud and human waste, becoming unsuitable for drinking. Food supplies and crops have been swept away, so there is nothing to eat. As the bodies of the dead rot, the water will be tainted by disease, spreading to the survivors.

This is a disaster on a scale not seen possibly since the Bhola Cyclone in 1973 that killed between 300 000 and 1 000 000 people in what is now Bangladesh. The government of Burma (a tyrannical military dictatorship) is making the situation worse by misappropriating and misdirecting the aid, getting it only to their political supporters. The only possible good thing that might come of this storm is if the regime is so debilitated, and the people so outraged by the government handling of the storm, that the military regime is brought to an end.

My thoughts are with the people of Burma as they face this horrible time.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 258

Nelson Mandela on American Terrorist Watch List

So it seems that the US has the first black president of South Africa on its terrorist watch list. That was brought up today in hearings before the US Senate, in which Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice confirmed that since the apartheid government of South Africa designated the African National Congress as a terrorist group in the 1970s, Mr. Mandela has required a special waiver to come to the United States. Let's not forget who this man is. He was a leader of the ANC for many years in the struggle to free black South Africans from the oppressive rule of the white minority. This man was jailed for 27 years for his role in the ANC, after being released from prison he went on to become the first black president of South Africa, and to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. The fucking Nobel Peace Prize, and the US says he's a terrorist. Just bloody brilliant.

This story illustrates the idiocy that is terrorist watch lists. You know the ones, where people who have never been convicted of anything, or even told they are under investigation, turn out to be on lists that keep them from flying, or visiting certain countries and so on. In this age of paranoia about terrorism, when the government would like us to believe that terrorists lurk under every rock and behind every tree, we need stories like this to remind us that these lists make no sense. People wind up on these lists because they are political opponents of their governments. Hell, if he was alive today, Ghandi would probably be on an American terrorist watch list. The American founding fathers would be on the watch list too, since they used guerrilla tactics to win their war of independence.

Terrorist watch lists are simply another means of controlling the population. There is no independent control of these lists. There is no one making sure that a person is not listed simply because they are political opponents of their government. As Michael Moore pointed out, the resources of the American state were used to infiltrate and spy on a peace group called Peace Fresno. No one can have reasonably thought that a group of peace activists in Fresno were a threat to the national security of the United States.

We must be vigilant. We must guard our rights, both political and human, from theft by the security state. Cases like that of Nelson Mandela help to remind us of the danger that the state, uncontrolled by citizens, poses to liberty. In memorable words published (though not written) by Benjamin Franklin, "he who gives up a little liberty, to gain a little security, will deserve neither and lose both." Words to remember.

Days remaining in Bush presidency: 262

Transit Workers Strike in Toronto

On Friday evening, workers at the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) walked off the job in a legal strike. Earlier in the day, the workers had, by a 65% to 35% margin, rejected the tentative contract reached at the end of last week. There are many who are angry and frustrated that the workers walked out, but those same people who are angry don't seem to appreciate that TTC workers are also angry and frustrated. They are frustrated that the TTC has done nothing to act on the complaints of the workers about personal safety when doing their job, and that the TTC seems unwilling to give the workers job security, so that they know their jobs will not be contracted out.

Contrary to the usual "greedy workers" meme that comes out of the usual capitalist sources, this strike isn't about money. It is about security, both personal and professional. These workers haven't walked off the job to try to get more money out of the city (and thus by proxy out of the populace). They have walked out to make sure that the city doesn't outsource their jobs, replacing stable and well paying jobs, allowing the workers to contribute to the economy, with unstable, poorly paid contract jobs.

And now the Ontario government proposes to legislate the workers back to work (and to my shame the Ontario NDP has gone along with this), by slapping a fine of $2000/day on any worker who stays off the job. The government implies by taking this action, that the TTC workers are providing an essential public service. Fine, I can go along with that. The hitch is that they want to do that without actually declaring them and essential service. If they were to do that, in exchange for stripping away the right to strike, they would have to replace it with a right to binding arbitration, and they are afraid of where that might lead. This way of handling the issue is conniving and deceitful. If they are an essential service, declare them so and give the right to binding arbitration. If they aren't an essential service, let the negotiation and strike process run its course, and don't legislate and end to the strike.

The members of the Ontario provincial parliament seem intent on squelching the concerns of the workers. They are probably worried that if to many other people realise what the TTC workers are striking about, they might demand job security in their own jobs, throwing the outsourcing craze off the rails. And goodness knows that global capitalism can't have that. Capitalism is, at its very core, exploitation. Capitalists take from the workers what the capitalists have not laboured to earn. And if too many people fought for their job security, that ability to exploit workers, and to pit one against another, would be compromised. That is why this strike is being stomped upon, not any faux concern about the people beyond the possibility that they might not get to work, putting a damper on capitalism for a little while.

I stand with these workers. They have democratically decided to go on strike, and everyone who claims to respect the rights of workers must do the same, and if you live in Ontario, let your MPP know that you don't support this effort to stomp on the rights of workers, and you want them to vote against this bill. Together, the people are strong. Let's make sure that the elected representatives of the people know that.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 266

Conservatives continue efforts to roll back women's rights

Another private members bill that would set the stage to radically roll back a woman's right to choose and to control her own body has been proposed by a Conservative member of parliament, Maurice Vellacott, MP for Saskatoon-Wanuskewin. Bill C-537 would allow health care practitioners to refuse to participate in a medical procedure that "offends a tenet of their religion."

If a person's religious beliefs prohibit them from offering a certain service, then that person should not get into a profession where they might be required to provide that service. If a person feels that their religion prevents them from giving out the 'morning after' pill, then they shouldn't be a pharmacist. If they can't perform an abortion, or prescribe emergency contraception, then the person shouldn't be a physician. If they can't perform a blood transfusion, they shouldn't practice emergency medicine. This really isn't that complex.

This bill is framed in the context of protecting religious rights, but it should tell you something that Vellacott is the chair of the "Parliamentary Pro-Life Caucus" which includes both Conservative and Liberal MPs (but thankfully no New Democrats). This nonsense would allow doctors, who are being paid by the state, to refuse to provide abortions, in effect banning a practice that the Supreme Court of Canada (in R. v. Morgentaler, 1988) said the government could not use the law to ban, because doing that violated the right of women to "security of the person" under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

This is the same philosophy that has seen women left without pharmacists willing to dispense emergency contraceptives in various parts of the United States. It is the philosophy that says that a doctor's dogmatic beliefs are more important that a woman's right to control her body. That is utter garbage and nonsense.

Furthermore, this bill follows hard on the heels of Bill C-484, which would impose extra penalties for killing a pregnant woman since the assault also terminates the fetus. That bill deems the fetus to be a person, since only a person is legally capable of being murdered, setting us back on the road to banning abortion as murder.

The Conservatives are being cagey on how they push this radical patriarchal and misogynist agenda. It is being done through private members bills, not government bills, so in the next election campaign Harper can claim his government had nothing to do with it. This is very important, because the majority of Canadians think this issue is settled, and that a woman has a right to choose. The Cons want to roll back a woman's rights, and want to take our society back to some twisted 1950s ideal, where everyone is white, everyone is straight, everyone is Christian, people don't have sex until they are thirty and a woman stays in the home, with a martini for her husband at the end of the day. That's not my Canada, and I sure as hell know it isn't any Canada I want to see. We have to remember that women's rights are human rights. If the Cons take rights away from one group, it is only a matter of time until they are taking them away from everyone else.

To everyone reading this in Canada, I encourage you to get in touch with your MP and let them know that you oppose this bill and bill C-484, and that you want them to vote against both bills. Tell your friends, make noise, be heard. Don't let the Conservatives take rights away in the dark and in silence.


Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 271

Justice Michel Bastarache to Retire

The Supreme Court of Canada has announced that Mr. Justice Michel Bastarache, a puisne justice of the Court, will retire at the end of the spring session. Bastarache J has sat on the court since 1997, and is (aside from Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin) the most senior judge of the Supreme Court. Bastarache J was the judge from the Atlantic provinces, and as such his successor will have to be drawn from the Atlantic provinces. I hope that Harper does not follow the model of the American right and appoint a partisan to the Supreme Court as he has done with some of the Provincial Courts of Appeal.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 285

Former Vancouver Police Complaints Commissioner Was Reluctant to Investigate

The Vancouver Sun is reporting that the former Commissioner of the Vancouver Police Complaints Commission Don Morrison didn't launch investigations unless there was a media outcry. You can find the Sun story here. This story is based on testimony of Matt Adie, the former Deputy Commissioner.

This kind of thing illustrates the central problem with watchdogs that are also lapdogs. The RCMP Complaints Commission is no different. I can't remember the last time it came back with a ruling that there had been wrongdoing on the part of the police.

"It is my perception that it would be extremely unlikely that Commissioner Morrison would order a public hearing against the Vancouver police unless the matter was in the media and there was very little other option," said former OPCC deputy commissioner Matt Adie.

This was Adie's explanation for why Morrison refused to order an public hearing into the death of Frank Paul, a homeless, alcoholic, aboriginal man who died in December 1998 after being dumped while stupefied with alcohol in a cold, wet downtown alley by Vancouver police.

This is horrifying. If a situation like that one doesn't qualify for an investigation, what does? I would absolutely love to see a citizen of Vancouver slap a misfeasance of public duty suit on Morrison for this.

We need a proper, civilian run, independent oversight process for police from the smallest municipal police force to the RCMP. For too long the police have been functionally above the law, whether it be the summary execution by Taser of Robert Dziekanski, or the murder of Neil Stonechild by the Saskatoon police, nothing is ever done, or if it is done it's far too late. Frankly, I have come to the opinion that the police as an institution are so hopelessly corrupt and morally rotten that the whole lot should be scrapped and we should start from scratch. I know this isn't practical, but it needs to be done somehow.

We also need to make sure that the police are not able hold their inquiries in secret. A democracy thrives on the availability of information to citizens The police must be made to let in the light, and to allow the people to scrutinize their behaviour. If they have done nothing wrong, as they claim, they have nothing to hide. No structure that fears the light of day has any business surviving in a democracy.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 289

Lukiwski Drama Continues

The controversy continues to swirl around Tom Lukiwski, homophobe par excellence. He continues to assert that the vile insults heaped on the LGBT community no longer represent his views. Bull. I'd be more convinced if he actually, say, repudiated his votes on same-sex marriage, and the motion to reopen SSM. In the era of polite homophobia, bigots for the most part close their mouths and work quietly to undermine the rights of those they hate. Lukiwski expressed his hatred for gays and lesbians when he voted against equal rights on the Civil Marriage Act and on the motion to reopen it. Shame on him. Unless you support equal rights for all people regardless of sexual orientation, religion, race, sex, gender identity, ethnic origin, creed and so forth, guess what, you're a bigot. You may not think so, but if you think it's okay for the government to racially profile Muslims and Arabs, then guess what, you're a bigot. If you think it is okay to deny equal access to the institution of civil marriage to LGBT folks and fob that group of society off with "separate but equal" civil unions, you're a bigot. If you think the native people should shut up and stop whining, guess what, you're a bigot. If you think women don't deserve to control their own bodies in all respects, you're a bigot. And hey, surprise, all of these things can be found in the two parties with a realistic chance of forming a government in Canada. The Conservatives (until they got elected) would take these positions openly. The Liberals would take them behind the collective back of the people. Some of these positions have even turned up in the NDP to a distressing extent. It's not as bad in the NDP, but it sure as hell is more disappointing.

Tom Lukiwski is the poster boy for the new age of polite bigotry. His voting record shows that he still hates gays and lesbians, but he knows now that he can't say what he really feels. Some on the right call this the political correctness police and call those who stand up to bigoted statements "humourless". That's ridiculous precisely because these same people will turn around and scream bloody murder if any ridicule or hatred is turned back around on them, on their institutions. They demand that others be tolerant of their intolerance. I say fuck that.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 290

Big Surprise - Conservatives are Homophobes

Surprise, surprise. Turns out Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski is a homophobe and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is a racist and a sexist. Who would have expected that from the political heirs of the Reform Party?

The Saskatchewan NDP discovered a tape from 1991 left behind in the Official Opposition offices in the Sask. legislature, that shows a forty year old Lukiwski saying that "there's A's and there's B's. The A's are guys like me. The B's are homosexual faggots with dirt on their fingernails that transmit diseases.” Disgusting homophobic trash. But frankly not that unexpected from the bigoted dinosaurs of the Conservative Party of Canada.

As for Wall, he put on a fake Ukrainian accent and pretended to be Roy Romanow (the Sask. NDP leader of the day, who is of Ukrainian heritage) and then he made sexist fun of the Sask. Liberal leader of the day. All of this coming just days after Wall got himself worked up into a hypocritical lather about David Ahenakew (I don't excuse Ahenakew, what he said was repulsive).

Interestingly, this would never have come to light if the electorate of Saskatchewan, in a short sighted and self-destructive desire for change hadn't turfed the Sask. NDP just as the job market and economy were picking up. Apparently the Saskatchewan Party either doesn't think that homophobia, sexism and racism are important to cover up in their staffers, or they are criminally stupid and too dumb to clean out their files on the way to their new offices.


For those interested in watching the video for themselves, the relevant stuff by Lukiwski is at the end of this clip from the CBC. I haven't been able to find the stuff by Brad Wall yet.





This is yet another in a long stream of examples of Conservative/Alliance/Reform bigotry towards LGBT folks, and towards immigrants. Speak up, everyone who is surprised that Conservatives are once again shown to be haters. *Crickets*

Now, Lukiwski has apologized for this stuff, saying that it no longer represents his views. I would find it easier to believe if he didn't sit in the caucus of Canada's "we hate everyone who isn't white and male" party. After all, he has been given the opportunity to show his supposed changed views by voting for measures to give equal rights to LGBT folks, and has not done so. He voted against equal marriage in 2005, and he voted to re-open the equal marriage debate in 2006. He also has voted for Conservative budgets that have slashed funding for programmes that supported women's equality efforts, and is backing the changes to the immigration act that would allow the Immigration Minister to, by fiat, reject any immigrant arbitrarily. And given the Reform-Conservative history of being anti-immigrant, this is a Very Bad Thing. Lukiwski has shown no objective evidence of his supposed changed views, and we have only his word that he has changed them. I for one, don't believe him for a minute. He isn't sorry he said it, or that he held (and most probably still holds) such abhorrent views. He is sorry he got caught.

Lukiwski ought to resign his seat. Haters shouldn't (but unfortunately do) have a place in the House of Commons. If he won't resign, the Conservatives ought to (but, of course, won't) give him the boot from their caucus. Canadians everywhere, of every sexual orientation, sex and race should be up in arms, calling for Lukiwski's resignation, along with Brad Wall's. These people are below pond scum.

This is a classic example of why Harper is so desperate to keep a muzzle on his MPs, with some duct tape added for good measure. If he didn't we would be hearing about comments like this every other week, rather than every other year. Remember Cheryl Gallant who said abortion is like beheading hostages in Iraq? Or Randy White who said he would like to re-criminalize homosexuality? Or any of half a million things said by Conservative/Canadian Alliance/Reform MPs over the years? These people are haters through and through. Scratch a Conservative, find a bigot.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 291

Toronto City Council Chickens Out

I am mightily pissed off at the Toronto city council. To set up the background, over the last year, decals of yellow "support the troops" ribbons had been attached to the ambulances and fire engines of the city. They were of a pretty good size and highly visible. I found this disturbing, because while the sentiment of "support the troops" is itself reasonable, it has been twisted by the right-wing into "support the troops, don't question the mission." The way I support the troops is by wanting to bring them back, so they stop dying. We are involved in a war of aggression in Afghanistan, and we have no place being there. Yet these stickers suggest that the city of Toronto, and by proxy all of its citizens, support the occupation of Afghanistan, but that could not be further from the truth. Further more, these decals have no place on civic vehicles, which must be construed as representing all the members of the community. For them to display such opening jingoistic, war-mongering, messages is to discount the views of members of the populace that don't support this war. For those that would like to see things in the opposite manner, who would say that the lack of decals means that the city would be endorsing the slaughter of Canadian soldiers is in no way true. Beyond the fact that Canadians against the war are calling for the immediate and safe withdrawal of troops, the lack of decals simply expressing the neutrality of the civic structures and services, which is as it should be.

The city had decided that after a year the decals were to come off, especially because some members of council had become concerned about exactly what I explained above. The councillors had gotten to the point of voting to have them removed, with most of the council on side and only the ridiculous reactionary Frances Nunziata putting up a real objection. Yet, two days ago, after the deaths of three more Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, the council (on the initiative of Mayor David Miller) voted to leave the decals on the vehicles. Shame on them for caving.

Supposedly, there has been a great wave of protest from around the country, but this wave has been whipped up by the right-wing press (Toronto Sun, I am looking at you) as well as conservatives in the 905 belt surrounding Toronto, who are not citizens or tax-payers in Toronto. As a result of this faux-fire-storm, Mayor Miller proposed a motion that the decals would remain on the vehicles., and it was unanimously passed by all of those present (six councillors were not present, three of whom deliberately abstained and three of whom were away on other business but said they would have voted for the motion). This is a city council that is supposed to be dominated by progressive politicians. These politicians have no business calling themselves progressive if they are willing to have decals that support a belligerent, aggressive and imperialistic war attached to city vehicles. If they don't have the guts to stand up to a wave of complaints from people who have no stake in Toronto, then they are not standing up for their citizens, who elected them for their leftist positions, expecting leftist government, and yet all we have here is placation of the ravenous, foaming-at-the-mouth reactionary crowd. For shame.

If these politicians will not even stick by the philosophy on which they were elected, and if they chose to put the views of non-residents ahead of the views of their electorate, they have no business representing us. Any "progressive" councillor who voted for this measure has a lot of explaining to do, if they want to get the votes of their electors back. Every one of them, from David Miller on down, needs to explain why we should believe anything they say when they are running for office.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 582

Sarkozy wins French Presidency

Sucks to be French today. Nicholas Sarkozy, the ultra-Conservative former interior minister has been elected to the French presidency by a vote of 53%-47% over Segoline Royal, the candidate of the Socialist Party. Sarkozy is the one who referred to immigrants (and in particular those living in the suburbs of Paris) as "scum." Not exactly a good attitude for someone who will be governing France for at least the next four years.

Sarkozy is also disturbingly close to George W. Bush on issues of foreign policy and civil rights. While I may not have agreed with Jacques Chirac on most issues, he was at least a strong voice opposing the idiocy of the foreign policy of the U.S. government in Iraq. Sarkozy cannot be counted on to do the same.

Sarkozy has announced his resolution to destroy a significant part of the fabric of the French social security net, including reducing state pensions and lengthening the work week. France is finally coming in for the kind of neoliberal garbage government that those of us in North America, many parts of Europe, much of Africa, much of Latin America and in Oceania have suffered through for two decades. It is too bad that the French did not learn the lessons of economic disaster brought on by neoliberal idiot economics and of right-wing governments with authoritarian tendencies:

1. Jobs, fleeing to South and South-East Asia as a result of trade "liberalization."
   
2. Dramatically increasing gaps between the rich and the poor as low-decile incomes stagnate or fall and high-decile incomes soar into the stratosphere.
   
3. Security states, where the most basic of human rights and civil liberties can be sacrificed on the altar of Security, a demon insatiable for the freedoms that define a democracy.
4. Social programmes and safety nets torn to ribbons in the quest to get rid of "fat" in the system, and in the never ending search for "efficiency".

Today, the French public chose to inflict this on themselves. For their sakes, I hope that the next four years go by quickly.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 629

New Green Plan

The Harpokon government released its new green plan the other day. And it is a bag of worthless crap. The key things to know are these:

1. The target it aims for is a 18% reduction in GHGs by 2010. The key problem here is that this is an 18% reduction from 2006 levels, not from 1990. Given the extent to which GHG emissions have risen since 1990, this does not even get our emissions back to our 1990 levels, let alone below them, as envisioned by the Kyoto Accord.
2. Instead of a hard requirement for emissions reductions, companies will be allowed to make "intensity" reductions, meaning a reduction in the GHGs emitted per unit of production. This means that if a company reduces emissions intensity by 25% yet increases production by 50%, emissions will rise 12.5%, instead of falling at all.

These two things are what make the plan exactly what Al Gore described it as, "a complete and utter fraud." It is designed to allow industry proceed on as before, making a further mess of our world.

By making these pathetic half-steps towards reducing our GHG emissions, we are essentially letting the big emitters of the world (U.S., China and India) off the hook. After all, if a rich, first world, state like Canada is unwilling to bite the bullet and take the necessary measures, why should China or India feel obliged to do so with much more meagre resources?

If the Conservatives think that this will get the public on-side, I am willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that it won't happen. All of the respected voices of the environmental movement (from Al Gore and David Suzuki on down) are calling bullshit on this so-called plan. I am so tired of this and I am so angry.

There is a problem, and it needs fixing now. And the fixing won't come from tinkering around the edges. We need to make major adjustments to the way we live, and they need to be made soon. There is still a very limited amount of time to phase in these changes, but if we wait much longer we are going to hit a wall and be forced to change by the fact that we will be facing an existential crisis.

The first good step to fixing this would be for the three opposition parties (NDP, Liberals and Bloc) to put every ounce of pressure available to them on the government to bring bill C-30 (the amended Clean Air Act) back to Parliament. It has important measures in it that would be very helpful. NDP leader Jack Layton has sent an open letter to the leaders of the other two opposition parties asking them for help, and hopefully the three parties will work together to make something happen.

We are running out of time.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 637

Canadians Sending Afghans to Torture

Thanks to some excellent investigative reporting by the Globe and Mail, it has come to light that the Canadian government has been knowingly handing over Afghan prisoners of war to face torture in prisons run by the Afghan government. Not only did senior commanders on the ground clearly know about it, but the political leadership in Ottawa has been clearly demonstrated to be in the know as well.

Afghan prisoners report being beaten with bundles of wire, choked/asphyxiated, made to stand naked outside overnight in sub-zero temperatures and other inhuman and cruel treatment. I don't think any reasonable person could argue that this does not constitute torture. The fact that Canada knew about this and continued to hand prisoners over to Afghan torturers places Canada clearly in violation of our responsibilities under the Third Geneva Convention and under the Anti-Torture Convention. Canada has broken international law by handing these people over, knowing that they would be tortured for information. We have become a criminal state.

Under the Third Geneva Convention (available here) the detaining power (that is Canada) remains responsible for the well-being of prisoners of war transfered to another power (in this case Afghanistan). In the case of inhumane treatment by the power to which prisoners have been transfered, the detaining power has a responsibility to either take substantive action to fix the situation or to take the prisoners back. The Canadian government has done neither of those things. That means that Canada has violated the international laws of war, and thus has committed war crimes.

Additionally, the government is making a conscious effort to brush off the torture of these people. The government suggests that they are all Taliban fighters and thus their complaints cannot be believed. The government calls the reports "rumours." The government response to this is so wrong.

1. These people have not been tried or convicted of anything. Anything at all. So to call them Taliban is to violate the presumption of innocence that should be afforded to all people.
   
2. Even if they are Taliban fighters, it does not mean that their complaints of torture are necessarily false or that they deserve to be tortured.
   
3. The minimization of the reports of torture as "rumours" makes clear that the government does not plan to investigate them with any vigour.

No-one deserves to be tortured. It is ethically wrong to inflict pain and possibly death on someone else in search of information. Nothing gives us the right to say that we should be allowed to decide whether or not a particular faces torture. We have a responsibility to stop torture wherever or whenever we encounter it.

Torture is wrong, and we cannot countenance, condone or tolerate it by any state or actor, be they allied or opposed to the Canadian government. Now is manifestly the time to stand up for reason and justice in a world rapidly spiraling downwards.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 640

A Horror in Virginia

Yesterday, a man killed 32 people at Virginia Tech, apparently with two handguns, before killing himself. This is a horrible crime and my sympathies go out those who were injured, and to the families and friends of the injured and the dead. My sympathies also go out to the family of the shooter. It must be horrible to lose a son or brother in such a manner, knowing that they had done such a repugnant thing. I totally condemn this crime, and it makes me think of a few different things.

First, and as Juan Cole points out, Iraq suffers the equivalent of two Virginia Tech slaughters every day, be it deaths inflicted by occupation soldiers, insurgents or Sufist terrorists (and yes, there is a distinction between them). The people of Iraq must suffer through this kind of horror twice per day. And the violence there is just as random. Whether the people are killed by American use of weapons of mass destruction (e.g. white phosphorus in Falujah), or are near an American patrol attacked by the insurgency or are in a market that is blown up by a suicide car-bomber, they die randomly and meaninglessly. We in the west need to think about this. Western nations are inflicting dozens of deaths every day. No wonder populations around the world are saying "if this is 'freedom,' we don't want any thank you." Can we blame them for rejecting something that has become associated with chaos and meaningless, random, death? The situation in Afghanistan is only quantitatively better, in that less people are dying random, meaningless, deaths every day, but Canadian troops are inflicting random death on people who have done nothing to deserve the harsh occupation that has been imposed on them by an imperialistic NATO.

The second thing the Virginia Tech slaughter has made me think of is the importance of gun control. Throughout the day, I had to listen to idiotic pro-gun activists say that if only, if only, Virginia Tech had not prohibited students from carrying concealed handguns on campus, most of the deaths would have been prevented. This is idiotic on so many levels. Firstly, if the killer had not been able to obtain a gun at all, he would not have been able to kill nearly the number of people that he did. It is simply much, much harder to inflict lethal wounds on a large number people in a short period of time with a knife than it is with a gun. Second, picture this. A number of students were armed with concealed handguns on campus. They hear the shooting start in the lecture hall and draw their weapons to try to hunt down the killer. The police then enter the building, after the shooting is reported, and see one of these students walking around with a drawn handgun looking for the shooter. They are going to assume that the student with the gun is the shooter, in all likelihood, and that student may quite likely then be shot, before the mistake can be sorted out. Third, unless someone is well trained with a handgun, it is easy to miss one's target. In a crowed environment like the lecture hall, they could just as easily hit other students as the shooter.

Gun control is necessary. This is because homicidal maniac control is always going to be harder than gun control. On the street, one can see a handgun and realize, "gee, that's a handgun." What one cannot do is look at a homicidal maniac just walking down the street and realize, "gee, that's a homicidal maniac." It just doesn't work like that.

Furthermore, handguns should be entirely illegal. The only purpose they have is shooting people. Sure, you can do some kinds of recreational shooting with them, but the benefits of making them entirely illegal (i.e. less dead people) would be much greater than the negative impacts on sport shooting.

Horrors like what happened at Virginia Tech make me so sad, because of the number of lives lost that could so easily have been saved.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 648

Budgets

Both the federal government and the government of Ontario brought down budgets in the last week. The federal government has adopted the tried and tested Liberal Party of Canada approach to the budget. Sprinkle a tiny little bit of money to just about everybody, and try to use that to hide honking big corporate tax cuts. Excellent, just what we need. At a time when corporate profits are going off the scale, what they need is another tax cut. All this while money could be used to fight poverty, reduce the debt burden on post-secondary students, fight global climate change, encourage primary health-care, ensure that aboriginals have a decent standard of living or so much more. Jack Layton put it quite well when he said that the federal budget "put crumbs on the kitchen table and a buffet on the board-room table." I'm not surprised, but I had been hoping for more. With the amount of money being thrown around, Jim Flahrety has reduced the expected surplus next year to just $300 million dollars. Remember that number. You're going to hear it again.

The provincial situation is a little bit more positive. The Ontario Liberals have been feeling the pressure from the NDP on the left to do something, anything, for working-class and poor Ontarians. As a result, there is going to be an Ontario Child Benefit for families earning less than $20 000/year phased in over the next couple years. In conjunction with this, the provincial government will stop clawing back the National Child Benefit from families on welfare (though not for three or four years, which is far too long). Thirdly, the government will raise the minimum wage $0.75/hr each March for three years, starting next year. This will bring minimum wage to $10.25/hr by 2010. This is a decent start, but the minimum wage needs to be at least $10/hr now, and it needs to get there now, not in three years. After all, Dalton McGuinty and the other MPs didn't have to wait three years for their fat raises, so why should the lowest income people in this country have to wait for their (rather slim) raises? Also, this provincial budget was balanced, with an estimated surplus of $300 million next year.

Remember that number? That means that at the federal level, Flahrety has reduced the federal government's fiscal situation to the same as a province that has just introduced its first balanced budget in at least 4 years. That means that the slightest downturn in the economy, which will come (it's called the business cycle, folks), we are back to deficits. Good job Harpokons. I hope you're happy.

Cheers

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 671

Alberta Takes Another Step Towards Two-Tier Healthcare

The government of Ed Stelmach in Alberta has just decided that people will be able to opt-out of the public healthcare system for three years at a time. The government claims that this is simply a housekeeping measure, to reduce the amount of paperwork people have to do, but it is clearly more than that. To allow people to opt out of a universal healthcare system at all is a bad idea. To let them opt out for three years at a time is even worse.

The point of a universal healthcare system is that everyone pays into the system, and we can all draw on it when we are in need. The education system works exactly the same way. I don't have any kids, but my taxes still go to pay for the education system and I am perfectly happy with that. I haven't been to a hospital for care in close to 10 years, but I still have no problem with my taxes going to support a public, universal, healthcare system. To allow people to opt out of the system is to allow the system to be deprived of resources. And who do you think will opt out? Why the rich. Those that put the most money into the system in the first place through the progressive taxation system. What the government of Ed Stelmach is up to is a covert attempt to let healthcare privatization in through the back door. He should be ashamed of himself, and ashamed of the lies that he is telling to his people and to the rest of the country. If other provinces start doing this type of thing, we are going to be boarding the handbasket to hell in an awful hurry, and we are going to be without a public healthcare system. And we are back to the bad old days, when only those who could afford to pay would get medical care. For shame, Mr. Stelmach. For shame.

Cheers

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 681

A $10 Minimum Wage

There is a campaign underway in Ontario to raise the minimum wage to $10/hr. I think this is an excellent idea, because it simply is not possible for people to live on $8/hr (the current general minimum wage in Ontario) in many parts of the province. If anyone is interested in my living expenses calculations for Toronto related to the minimum wage, leave a comment and I will post more details of my reasoning. Suffice it to say, rents are so high in many cities in Toronto that even working 40 hours per week (and very few minimum or just-above-minimum wage jobs give 40 hrs/wk) will not allow people to live, even if heavy use is made of food banks. Obviously, $10/hr will not allow people to live comfortably, but it is a dramatic improvement on what has gone before and will help people have some degree of stability in their lives.

The Ontario NDP, the Federal NDP, many unions and a vast plethora of community and citizen groups are pushing this effort forward. A good measure of a society is how it treats the most abject of it's citizens. And right now we are treating the poor of our society like crap, to be frank. Raising the minimum wage to $10/hr won't make that better, but it would be a good first step.

Now, the right wing will whinge about how raising the minimum wage like this will cause the sky to fall and cause every small business in Ontario to go out of business. Well guess what; doctor's said that socialized healthcare would cause the end of the medical system and that didn't happen. And business has been claiming that every increase to the minimum wage since the invention of such a thing will have catastrophic effects on business, and the economy has continued much as it ever has, cyclical as always. Frankly, a lot of the business sector is full of shit and not to be trusted on these issues.

Another objection that the right-wing will raise is that most people who earn minimum wage are teenagers living at home who don't need a raise. Nice try. That may be strictly speaking true, but a raise in the minimum wage from $8 to $10 would also help every person making between $8.01 and $9.99 per hour. And that is a lot of people in Ontario alone.

This is a good idea, and the reason the right fights it so strenuously is because they need a demoralized and abjected working class to produce wealth for them. As Ambrose Bierce said:

Corporation, noun: An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit, without individual responsibility.

He was on to something there. Capitalists don't care about people, they care about profit. This is to put the cart before the horse in a dramatic manner. People should come before profit.

Cheers

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 688

Opposition Defeats Terrorism Act Provisions

For once, I have something nice to say about the Liberals. They voted the right way on the government motion to extend the arrest-without-charge and compulsory testimony provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act. These sections of the Act posed a serious threat to the freedoms of Canadians and should never have been enacted in the first place. What is hilarious is to see the Liberals posturing as the defenders of civil liberties. To hear them tell it, you would never think that they wrote the law in the first place. One Liberal voted in favour of the government motion, notorious right-winger and arch-bigot Tom Wappell. It remains to be seen what, if any, punishment he will face for breaking ranks with the rest of his party.

The Conservatives now think that the Liberals have handed them a club for the next election. Expect to hear an endless repetition of "soft on terrorism" for the next couple of months. What is true is that by finally doing the right thing, the Liberals have proven that once again they are hopeless flip-floppers, following the political winds of the day. The NDP opposed these provisions from the beginning. The NDP was the only one to be concerned that the government was using the threat of terrorism as a means to induce Canadians to accept a diminution of their civil liberties.

The Conservatives also seem to have decided that they will bring in a new act to reinstate the measures that were allowed to expire on Wednesday. Expect it to be a matter of confidence, so that the Conservatives can say after they are defeated that the Liberals (plus the NDP and the Bloc) brought down the government because they support terrorism. It would be about par for the Republican course, and would fit right in with the playbook used by the American right in the last several elections.

All of this should make for more interesting politics in the weeks to come.

Cheers

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 696

A bit of catch-up

Hi everybody. Sorry for the long absence from posting to this blog. A lot has happened in Canada and Canadian affairs that I should catch up on.

First up, the timing of the federal budget. This is the most transparent federal interference in a provincial election that I can recall. The budget (which is sure to be full of goodies for Quebec and claims to have resolved the "fiscal imbalance" between Quebec and the federal government) is a manipulative attempt by Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada to influence the outcome of the provincial election and create the conditions for the Conservatives to grow in the next federal election. It is simply disgusting that the federal budget would be timed for a week before the provincial election. Now, I know some people out there are going to be thinking to themselves: "but the election was called after the budget date was announced, so there can't be collusion." Those people are either willfully deluding themselves or idiots. It's frank, but it's the truth. Anyone who doesn't believe that Harper and Jean Charest were consulting each other on the timing of the budget and the election is seriously gullible. Shame on Harper, shame on Charest and shame on the media who are doing nothing to make this known to Canadians.

Second, the Supreme Court ruling on the security certificate regime. For those that don't know, security certificates are documents signed by the ministers of Immigration and Justice that allow for non-citizens to be held in indefinite detention, with the evidence behind their detention is heard in a sealed court room by a judge of the federal court in the absence of the detained person or their attorneys. These documents have, in recent memory, been used to detain a number of men who, it is suggested, are tied to al-Qaida, though the evidence against them is clearly insufficient to bring them to trial or that is where they would be, rather than rotting in a detention centre in central Ontario. The Supreme Court recently ruled that it violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (specifically section 11[d]) for detainees to be denied the opportunity to confront the evidence against them. The court gave the government one year to alter the law in order to ensure that it complies with the Charter. This is a good ruling. It does violence to the concept of justice that a person could be imprisoned for the rest of their life without being granted a fair trial and without being able to even know on what grounds they are being imprisoned. Unfortunately, the Court, in it's ruling, suggested that the government adopt a "special advocate" system, similar to what is in place in Britain in which security-cleared lawyers act for the defendant and are able to challenge the evidence on his or her behalf. The key problem with such a system is that the special advocate is prevented from discussing the evidence with his or her client and as such can not bring forward alternate facts or explanations to dispute the arguments of the government. As such, a fair trial is denied and the burden of proof is reversed. In essence, the defendant must prove that he or she is not guilty, rather than the state being forced to prove that the defendant is guilty.

Finally, I come to Afghanistan. The occupation rumbles on, though Stephen Harper has now launched an effort to convince Canadians that we are doing more in Afghanistan than propping up a puppet government made up of misogynistic and homophobic drug dealers while blowing Afghanis in the south into little teensy bits. Now let me be very clear on this point: the Taliban were, are and likely will always be, a nasty group of people committed to making the lives of the people under their rule very, very difficult and generally living in the word of 1007 as opposed to 2007. I do not want to see the Taliban return to power, but it has to be recognized that the Taliban are a potent force in Afghan society and cannot be crushed by force of arms. Ultimately a political, negotiated, solution is the only possibility in Afghanistan. There is still time to end the occupation with a political settlement, but in not that long the occupiers in Afghanistan will cross the same threshold that was crossed in Iraq years ago: the point where the only possibility for withdrawal is a Saigon-style evacuation under fire. Yet Harper is spending $200 million on "development" work in order to convince the Canadian public to back the continuation of the occupation, and (though he won't admit as much) to back the next extension that Harper wants to pass to the mission, namely to 2011. By itself, $200 million in aid to Afghanistan is a good thing. But this aid will be tied to the existing government and will be delivered by agencies that are irrevocably tied to the occupation. If we want the insurgency to stop blowing up schools, we have to stop having them built by the armed forces. The insurgency will rightly see anything built by occupation forces as being a tool of the occupation. I don't know another way to get it done, but funding local groups indirectly through international NGOs might be a good start.

Cheers

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 699

Conservatives Create Green Smokescreen

All through this week, the Conservative government has been occupied in busily painting itself Green. But like most slapdash jobs, they have done a bad job of it. The government seeks to convince the people that it is truly concerned about global climate change, and is taking action to fix it. That is just a bit difficult to swallow, because these are the same people who just a few years ago were denying that global climate change was occurring at all.

This week, the Conservatives announced three new measures:

1. $230 million for clean energy research over the next four years.
   
2. $1.5 billion for the construction of renewable energy projects over the next ten years.
3. $300 million for home and business energy efficiency incentives over the next four years.

This might be all well and good if it wasn't backloaded to hell and gone. None of this is going to be done now. And now is when we need it. These projects are clearly not going to accomplish much of anything. On the clean energy research, we already have commercially viable clean energy technologies, most prominently wind power. On the second, the funding will be backloaded into the final years, when the Conservatives will no longer be in power. They will not do anything, beyond pointing to this plan. The third part of the plan is the best part. Unfortunately, the Conservatives canceled a Liberal programme exactly like this one when they got into office and we have lost a year's worth of progress. Most importantly, none of these proposals include regulation to ensure that our greenhouse gas emissions continue to go down.

These proposals stink of voluntary measures. We have seen that these don't work. The previous Liberal government set voluntary targets for industry to cut emissions, and the emissions went up instead. What we need is immediate hard-cap targets for industry. If we really work at it, I believe that we can still meet our Kyoto Accord commitments. But of course, the Conservatives don't want that to happen. They are too beholden to the oil and gas industries to ever do anything that would threaten the profits of those industries. All the Conservatives want to do is bamboozle the Canadian people into believing, even for a minute, that Conservatives care about the environment. It simply isn't true.

What is equally true is that the Liberals are no better. They had years, and years, in government to make the decisions, enact the regulations and fund the programmes that would have allowed us to reach and surpass our Kyoto Accord targets. And now they cry crocodile tears for the environment, using it as a cynical means to regain power. As environment minister, Dion presided over some of the most dramatic growth in Canadian CO2 emissions in our history. People should know better than to think that the Liberals will take any action on the environment that is more than mere window dressing.

What we need to do is change our way of life. In Canada, we are one of the most dramatically wasteful societies in the world. We have per capita CO2 emissions higher than the United States. We need to use less energy and live in a much more sustainable manner. This means using energy efficient light bulbs, improving insulation, not driving nearly as much (instead choose to walk, bike or take public transit) and a whole host of other changes. Combined with that, we need to help the developing countries of the world to develop in a clean manner. We need to provide help to China and India to develop an economy driven not by fossil fuels but rather by renewables like wind, solar, tidal and geothermal power.

It is not to late, but we have got to do something soon.

Cheers

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 733

Winter! Finally!

Winter has finally come to central Canada. Last night we got 15cm of snow here in Peterborough. It was a total 0-60 moment when I looked out my window this morning. Up till now, we have had very little snow, and it never stuck around for more than a few days. This snow looks like it will hang around for a while. And it is about bloody time.

This is the weirdest "winter" that I have ever experienced. No real snow until January, and then it all comes in one eight-hour period. Global climate change anyone?

The lack of cold weather and snow in central Canada, and the volatility of the weather in BC have helped to put the screws to the federal government to finally take some real action on reducing our carbon dioxide emissions. I hope that the advent of winter weather is not going to stop the momentum that has been building. After all, when there is no meaningful snow until January in Peterborough, something is deeply wrong.

I really, really, hope that when Parliament resumes in two weeks they can get past partisan bickering and get some real work done on the rewriting of the so-called Clean Air Act. I am deeply afraid that Conservatives will use Cabinet powers to try to scuttle any changes that are made (because most of them don't really accept that global climate change is happening) and that the Liberals will scuttle any attempt to make real progress on the bill because they don't want it to be something that the Conservatives can campaign on in the next election. We need action and we need it now. Ultimately, it will be up to the NDP and the Bloc to keep this issue in the public eye and shame the other two parties into taking real action. What has to happen is that the bill must be given real enforcement teeth, and the targets to be met (which must include the Kyoto targets) must be written into the act, not left to Cabinet to enact (or not enact). Minority Parliaments present a wonderful opportunity for the Parliament to control the power of the Cabinet, and this Parliament must seize the opportunity to do precisely that.

If I have children, I want them to believe me about winter. I want them to know what snow is, and what winter is. If we don't work fast, climate change will be beyond our power to fix, and if that comes to pass, we are all in very deep trouble.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 738

More on the Explosion in Athens

It seems that the explosion at the American embassy in Athens was the result of a rocket (presumably a rocket-propelled grenade) that was fired at the embassy. The Athenian police are saying that the intended target of the attack was the American logo at the front of the embassy, but that the rocket missed, and instead went into a third-floor bathroom and blew up a toilet. No injuries are reported. More information is available from various online news sources, for example an article in the International Herald-Tribune.

Cheers,

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 742

Breaking News: Explosion at the U.S. Embassy in Athens

According to what cbc.ca is calling a "senior police source" a rocket was fired at the U.S. embassy in Athens, Greece this morning at 6 am local time. Apparently the rocket shattered glass and struck near the toilets in the embassy building. No one is reported hurt. The story is still developing and I will have more to say when more details are known.


Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 742

Gordon Brown Plans "Independent" Foreign Policy

According to an article in the Guardian (available here) Gordon Brown, the likely successor to Tony Blair as Prime Minister of Great Britain, is planning to have an "independent" foreign policy. According to the article, Brown acknowledges that "mistakes had been made in the aftermath of Iraq" and plans to initiate a round of "frank" talks with the U.S.

Riiiiiight.

Unless and until he is willing to admit the entire war in Iraq was an enormous catastrophuck (to use Jon Stewart's word) I will not have any sympathy for him. He was a part of the government that actively lied to the people of Britain and to the people of the world. He needs to apologize for the lies of the government before he is likely to gain any traction on that front.

As for frank talks with the U.S., I won't believe it until I see some good solid evidence for it. Brown has not earned the benefit of the doubt, and to the people of the world, he will continue to bear the odium of the British government's active participation in a gargantuan scheme of lies and armed robbery.

If Brown forges a good, truly independent, foreign policy for Britain, then I will applaud him. Until then, the U.K. sadly remains a puppet for Washington's village idiot.

Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 746

Wajid Khan Crosses to the Conservatives

Wajid Khan, the MP for Mississauga-Streetsville has crossed the floor from the Liberals to the Conservatives. Isn't it wonderful how little respect these floor-crossers have for the people who elected them? It is so dishonest to seek election under the banner of one party, and then cross the floor to sit as a member of another party, which campaigned on a different set of principles. Mr. Khan ran under the Liberal banner, and did not seem to have any qualms with the LPC's platform. Yet now he is prepared to endorse the platform of the most right-wing government in Canadian history? It just doesn't figure. How the Conservatives can accept him in, after the stink that they raised over Belinda Stronach's crossing to the Liberals is beyond me. And how the Liberals can have the nerve to protest, after they accepted Belinda Stronach in is beyond me too. Just goes to show that in those two parties (at least in the Parliamentary leadership) political expediency is more important than principle. If you feel this is wrong (be you an NDPer, a Liberal, a Greenie, a Conservative or what have you), I urge you to sign the petition that can be found here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/khanout/. What Khan has done is undemocratic and totally disrespectful of the will of the voters who elected him. For shame.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 748

Harper's Cabinet Shuffle

This morning, Stephen Harper shuffled his cabinet. Seven senior ministers had their portfolios changed. The changes are as follows:

• Rona Ambrose moves from environment (as everyone expected) to Intergovernmental Affairs
• John Baird moves from the Treasury Board to Environment
• Vic Toews moves from Justice & Attorney-General to Treasury Board
• Rob Nicholson moves from being Government House Leader to Justice & Attorney-General
• Peter Van Loan moves from Intergovernmental Affairs to be Government House Leader
• Monte Solberg moves from Immigration to Human Resources and Social Development
• Diane Finlay moves from Human Resources and Social Development to Immigration
  

If Harper thinks that this shake-up is going to fix anything, he is sorely deluded. What the environment needs is new policy, not a new face for the old, bad policy. Perhaps Harper thinks that because Baird had so much success moving the Accountability (HA!) Act through the House of Commons, he will have similar success moving the so-called Clean Air Act along. Fat chance. The opposition is going to essentially re-draft the Clean Air Act, and the oil barons will be apoplectic (and thus so will be their stooges in the Conservative Party of Canada and Canada's New Government^tm).

The one move that is in any way encouraging is the move of Rob Nicholson into Justice. He is not nearly as extreme as Mr. Toews and will hopefully have the sense to scrap the insistence on draconian penalties and theatrics that Mr. Toews was so fond of.

This is not a team that will win Harper a majority in the next election, thank goodness. Frankly, I would be surprised to see Harper win the next election at all. He has not learned the lesson of Rona Ambrose's failure at Environment. Canadians do not want empty rhetoric and blaming previous governments that failed to act. They want action, and they want it NOW! All Harper is doing is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Cheers

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 748

Saddam's Death Sentence

Saddam Hussein has lost his appeal of the sentence of death that was handed down to him last month. He will likely be executed within the next thirty days.

I do not believe that Saddam should be executed. In the first place, my disagreement with the sentence stems from the fact that I disagree with the death penalty in general. I do not believe that executions solve anything, and killing only leads to more death. In the second place, I do not believe that Saddam Hussein received a fair trial. Among, other injustices, Saddam's lawyers were not allowed to make closing statements at his trial, and had their microphones summarily cut off when the presiding judge did not like what they were saying. The presiding judge himself had reason to be biased against Saddam because his family had suffered in the crushing of the Shiite revolt that followed the First Gulf War. Saddam simply did not receive a fair trial.

There will be those who say that he has no right to a fair trial because he denied that right to so many others. But to say such a thing reduces the rest of the world to his level, the level of a murderous dictator. Every person has a right to due process and no act can strip a person of that right. Personally, I believe that Saddam was guilty of the crimes of which he was accused, but a free trial should have been held. Saddam could likely have been convicted on the strength of the existing evidence. I would have liked to have seen Saddam convicted in a fair trial before an impartial judge and sentenced to life imprisonment. That is the appropriate punishment for what he did. To rot in a jail cell for the rest of his life.

In all likelihood, the execution of Saddam will spark off yet another wave of violence in Iraq, that will result in the deaths of yet more innocent Iraqis. The civilian population of Iraq is not a legitimate target for the insurgents, only the occupying forces. The bombs set off by insurgents that kill Iraqi civilians are just as detestable as the American bombs that kill Iraqi civilians or the Canadian artillery shells that kill Afghani civilians. Violence can not bring about a better world, it only leads to more violence.

This will be my last post of the year, and to everyone reading it I wish you a happy new year, and a healthy and prosperous 2007.

Cheers

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 756

UN Security Council Proclaims Sanctions Against Iran

On Saturday, December 23, the UN Security Council proclaimed trade sanctions against Iran intended to prevent it from aquiring the materials needed for its uranium enrichment programme and missile programme. It seems to have escaped the notice of the members of the Security Council that these sanctions are patently in violation of international law. As a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), Iran is entitled to persue nuclear power for peaceful purposes. As the NPT states:

Convinced that, in furtherance of this principle, all Parties to the Treaty are entitled to participate in the fullest possible exchange of scientific information for, and to contribute alone or in cooperation with other States to, the further development of the applications of atomic energy for peaceful purposes... (text available at this page)

No evidence has to date been presented to prove that Iran is seeking anything other than peaceful nuclear power. Iran has not attacked any of it's neighbours since before the Islamic Revolution of 1979 which is a marked contrast to other states in the region like Israel, which is in fact armed with nuclear weapons.

Now let me be very clear. I don't believe that any state has the right to nuclear power or nuclear weapons because both pose an unconscionable risk to the people of this small world. What I am opposed to is the blatant hypocrisy and disregard for international law being displayed by many, many western states that either have nuclear weapons (US, UK, France, Israel) or have the capacity to produce such weapons through a domestic nuclear energy programme (most of the rest of the west, including Canada). These states claim a right to nuclear energy but are unwilling to allow such to their geopolitical adversaries. Such blatant hypocrisy is sickening.

Not until every other state abandons its nuclear energy/weapons can the west claim a moral prerogative to stop Iran from building up nuclear energy capability. Someday, I hope this will be the case.

May the holiday season find all of you who may read this well and may you have a prosperous 2007. May you enjoy whatever activity you undertake at this time of year, be it a religious observance or simply spending time with family.

Cheers

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 760

A Christmas Tempest in a Teapot

Christian fundamentalists have decided to brew up an enormous controversy over the decision of judge Marion Cohen to remove a Christmas tree from the lobby of a provincial courthouse in Toronto. Judgee Cohen ordered the removal of the tree saying that it is not appropriate to have a Christian symbol in the foyer of a secular building. That is entirely correct and right. We have a theoretically secular state here in Canada, and it is anathemic to such a secular state to display religious symbols of any religion in government buildings.

The Christian fundies are trying to turn this into an enormous issue, though they are trying to get at it through the back door. The fundies are trying to insist that the Christmas tree is not, in fact, a Christian symbol. The fundies claim that the Christmas tree is a pagan symbol, a symbol of nature religion predating Christianity. The roots of the use of trees at the time of Christmas is certainly pagan, but the tree has been whole-heartedly adopted as the symbol of Christmas. If you show any person living in the western world a picture of an evergreen tree covered in ornaments and lights and ask them what it makes them think of, they will tell you Christmas. The Christmas tree is a symbol of Christmas (the Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ) in the modern context. To claim otherwise is to be at least preposterous and at worst disingenuous.

Good on Judge Cohen for making a stand to advance the secularism in Canada, and shame on the fundamentalists of this country who are lying to the people. We should be putting our theoretical secular state into action.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 766

In Memory of the Montreal Massacre

On December 6, 1989, 14 women were shot dead at the l'Ecole Polytechnique by Marc Lepine, simply because they were women at the school. We must always remember what happened there, and that it remains the duty of all people (but particularly of men) to work to end violence against women and to end the misogyny that lies at the root of such violence.

May we always remember the names of the victims:

Geneviève Bergeron (b. 1968), civil engineering student.
Hélène Colgan (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Nathalie Croteau (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Barbara Daigneault (b. 1967) mechanical engineering student.
Anne-Marie Edward (b. 1968), chemical engineering student.
Maud Haviernick (b. 1960), materials engineering student.
Maryse Laganière (b. 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department.
Maryse Leclair (b. 1966), materials engineering student.
Anne-Marie Lemay (b. 1967), mechanical engineering student.
Sonia Pelletier (b. 1961), mechanical engineering student.
Michèle Richard (b. 1968), materials engineering student.
Annie St-Arneault (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Annie Turcotte (b. 1969), materials engineering student.
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (b. 1958), nursing student.

May they rest in peace.

Dion Wins Liberal Leadership

Well, this is about the best that could have been hoped for. And in less time than I expected. Congratulations to Stephane Dion for winning the leadership of the most ideologically bankrupt party on the Canadian political scene. No, scratch that, the second most ideologically bankrupt. First place has got to go to the Green Party. At any rate, a rant about the Greens is a topic for another time. Everyone pretty much knew that Dion had won after the third ballot, when he moved ahead of Michael Ignatieff with the vast, vast, majority of Gerard Kennedy's delegates. It was certainly exciting, though the high-point of the tension was actually waiting for the third ballot results, rather than the fourth ballot, because it had to be seen how many of Kennedy's delegates would follow his lead.

This outcome is probably the best that could have come out of the convention for Canada considering who the top four were. Stephane Dion can likely win the next election, but it will (in all probability) be a third consecutive minority government, a string unprecedented in Canadian history. This means good things for the NDP, even if a Dion led LPC does horn in a little on NDP territory in Ontario and British Columbia. It is much better to have a minority governing party with whom the NDP shares at least some principles rather than an ideologically anathemic party whose arm must be twisted through threats in order to achieve the very smallest gains, or no gains as the Bloc proved this year. Additionally, the Dion-led LPC (and to an extent the Green Party) may draw environmentally conscious prairie voters who would never vote NDP away from the Conservative Party in seats that are NDP - CPC contests. This could very well result in seat gains for the NDP in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Obviously as a New Democrat I would have loved to run against an Iggy-led LPC, but as a progressive I could never wish that on Canada. Iggy was a menace, and it is good that he has been stopped. I hope he decides not to run in the next election. Because if he does run, and the Liberals win, Dion will feel a need to appoint him to Cabinet. And what an ugly thought that is.

A Dion-led LPC can still be made to wear the Liberal record of the 1990s: massive cuts to healthcare and education transfer payments, major corporate income tax cuts and most importantly reducing EI benefits while increasing premiums to create a surplus in a programme that was never meant to have one.

All in all, it will be an interesting next few months, and an interesting next election, which I will go on the record as predicting will be called in late-February or early-March, before the next budget comes down.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 782

The Liberal Leadership Convention

It's going to be an interesting weekend. Tomorrow, Liberals will choose a new leader for their party. The hope that this new leader will be the one to defeat Stephen Harper in the next election. Personally, I think that whoever is elected Liberal leader will be the next Prime Minister, but not because of anything that the Liberal Party will have done right, but rather because of what the Conservatives will have done wrong. What this means is that Liberals have to think very carefully before selecting their new leader. Do they want to be led by a man who has turned out to be the most anti-peace leadership candidate in decades, Michael Ignatieff, who endorsed/supported the war on Iraq, endorses torture of detainees, "didn't lose sleep" over the massacre of Lebanese civilians in Qana and is really an American? Do they want to be led by a man who has proven time and again that he has no principles, Bob Rae, who still bears the baggage of governing in Ontario during the worst recession since the Great Depression? Do they want to be led by a personally detestable unknown from Toronto, Gerard Kennedy, who has yet to prove that he has any significant traction beyond southern Ontario?

I want to see Stephane Dion as the next leader of the Liberal Party, because of the four front-runners he is the one who will do the least damage to Canada. He is committed to greenhouse gas reductions, reducing atmospheric and water pollutants and a United Canada. He has experience in a successful government at the federal level which is lacking in all three other front runners. Dion is also on the centre-left of the political spectrum, and will support universal medicare remaining sole-payer and sole-provider. I say that I want to see Dion win, despite the fact that he will likely damage the NDP's prospects to expand in the next election. And that is because in the next election removing Stephen Harper and his paleo-cons from office is so important.

Having said that I will never, ever, vote Liberal, because they are the party that allowed social programmes across Canada to go down the tube with the massive cuts made to the transfer payments to the provinces. They are the party that created a surplus in the Employment Insurance programme by cutting benefits and raising premiums. They are the party that would prefer to cut corporate income taxes rather than spend money on affordable and supportive housing, despite the fact that some of the most powerful people in the party recognize that there is a desperate shortage of affordable housing. No, I will never vote Liberal.

Cheers

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 783

An Admission of Disaster in Iraq

It's about time. Tony Blair has admitted to al-Jazeera that the occupation of Iraq has been a disaster. When veteran broadcaster Sir David Frost said that the war in Iraq has "been pretty much of a disaster", Blair agreed that "it has." It is refreshing to see some honesty from the leaders of the aggression in Iraq. Attacking Iraq and brutalizing it's citizens wasn't a good idea in 2003, and it is not a good idea now. This follows hard on the heels of revelations that a U.S. soldier formerly serving in Iraq has admitted that he and three other soldiers had premeditated the rape of an Iraqi girl, and the murder of her and her family. One of the four rapists and murderers, SPC. James P. Barker, plead guilty in order to avoid the death penalty. The reason that Barker gave for what he did: "I hated Iraqis, your honour." So by his logic, it is okay to gang-rape and murder a 14 year old girl, then murder the rest of her family because he hates the entire citizen-body to which they belonged? The details of the story can be found in a Washington Post story here. This is an absolute attrocity. And the Americans and British wonder why they are so virulently hated in Iraq, and around the world.

Foreign troops should be immediately withdrawn from Iraq. The current rationale for why there are there is to stabilize the country and provide the groundwork for a democracy. Well guess what. That isn't happening and isn't going to happen. Eventually the Americans are going to have no choice but to fall back on the true reason for the war, to get American hands on the oil taps. Eventually the argument will be made that if America pulls out then the supply of oil to the economy will be jeopardized. And on that day, I hope that the majority of people in the United States, who cursed anti-war protesters in 2003, will realize, we were right. War is not an acceptable means by which to settle international disputes, let alone to manoeuvre for economic advantage. In 2003 we said, "no blood for oil." We say it still.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 797

The Democrats Win the Congress and Rummy Resigns

Oh, it is a good day. The Democrats have won control of the House of Representatives and they have won control of the Senate (all be it with the slimmest of margins). On top of that good news, Rummy has "resigned." Ding dong the witch is dead. It is going to be a glorious two years, watching the investigations into the shenanigans that the Emperor and his team got up to. I am upset that Nancy Pelosi has promised not to impeach the Emperor, but it is only a minor tarnish on the glory of this day.

Hopefully the Emperor will take a message from this election that it is time for the United States to withdraw it's occupation forces from Iraq. Iraqis don't want them there, and Americans clearly don't want them there. You would think that the Emperor could take a hint.

Also good, the Emperor will not have an easy time appointing new justices to the federal bench in the States, and this is only just in time. Many justices are reaching the age when they could die any time, and if the Emperor got to appoint even one more justice, then the Supreme Court would have been skewed for years.

Hopefully, Canada can take a lesson and kick our own corrupt neo-cons to the curb as the Americans have done. I live in hope.

Cheers

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 813

Ontario Plans Referendum on Voting Reform

The Ontario government has announced legislation that will see a referendum on the recommendations of the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on voting reform. This is a good thing, because the Assembly will likely recommend a system of Proportional Representation. There are a number of problems however.

First, the Assembly does not report until May 15 of 2007. This leaves less than five months to educate the people of Ontario on the option chosen by the Assembly. The BC experience shows that five months is not enough, especially if one of the more complicated PR systems is chosen, for example single transferable vote.

Second, an artificially high bar has been set for the success of the referendum. The government will require that 60% of voters province-wide, and 50% of voters in each of at least 60% of ridings, vote in favour of the referendum before it is considered passed. It is the height of hypocrisy that a government elected to a massive majority of seats with a total of less than 50% of the vote and won more than 50% of the vote in less than 60% of the ridings. By their own standard, they do not have a mandate to govern.

Taking these two issues together, this bill needs major tweaking. It is good that we are being given a chance to vote on our electoral system, but we need more time after the report is made. I would much prefer to see a special referendum vote on the issue, perhaps in the spring of 2008. This would mean there would be time to have a proper debate and to make sure that everyone is educated on the pros and cons of the proposed new system. There would also be time to take to implement the new system before the subsequent provincial election, presuming that the next Ontario government is not a minority that falls prematurely. The requirements for success of the referendum also need to be lowered. Much more realistic is a simple majority of province-wide votes along with a simple majority of voters in a simple majority of ridings.

At least the Ontario government is on the right track here, and I hope they are willing to tweak the law to take into account the concerns that I mentioned above.

Cheers

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 828

"Clean Air Act" Tabled

The Conservative "Clean Air Act" was tabled today. What a waste of space. On the issue of greenhouse gas emissions, easily the most important environmental issue facing Canada today and one of the most pressing issues period, the Conservatives have basically said wait 44 years and we might do something. The plan calls for emissions to be reduced 45%-65% below 2003 levels by 2050. By that time, I will be a senior citizen! This plan is a joke, but a joke in very bad taste. This is like telling a patient with a terminal heart condition that they face a 45 year wait for a transplant!

What we need to do is get started on reducing emissions now! If the government had the intestinal fortitude to face down powerful industries such as oil/gas, petrochemical and automotive, there would be a chance to do something. We simply do not have 44 years to wait.

All that the Conservatives have accomplished with this proposal is to shift responsibility. They know full well that they will not be in power when any of the deadlines come up. For shame on Harper and Ambrose.

As another factor of this, they claim that the programmes will harmonize with U.S. standards on such things as pollutant controls. So much for the made-in-Canada plan. As Gilles Duceppe put it, this is a written-in-Washington-and-Xeroxed-in-Canada plan. Harper should be ashamed of himself for so blatantly selling Canada and Candians down the river.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 834

Garth Turner booted from Conservative caucus

Garth Turner, the maverick MP from Ontario, has been given the boot from the Conservative caucus. He says that he will be sitting as an independent.

The Conservatives claim that Turner's booting came as a result of concerns that his blog was breaching caucus confidentiality. But what seems more likely is that he was booted for criticizing the leadership of his party, for example over the defection of David Emerson.

I will be very interested to see what Turner does over the next while. He has generally been seen as a red-Tory on social issues while being a fiscal conservative. In this regard he would seem to be a good fit for the Green Party. It would have profound political ramifications if Turner were to decide to sit as a member of the Greens. Such an action by Turner would provide much more impetus to the demands of the Green Party to be included in the televised leaders' debate.

Should be an interesting next few months.

Cheers

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 835

Stevie's Hypocrisy on Arrar File

So, Stevie Harper is going to send a diplomatic note to the US government demanding that they come clean on the Arrar affair. I would have more confidence in this if Stevie was actually willing to apologize to Arrar. Until the Government of Canada issues a formal apology to Arrar, this country is in no position to demand anything from the US.

The government must apologize, because what happened to Arrar is Canada's fault. The RCMP sent false information to the FBI, leading directly to Arrar's deportation and torture in Syria. Until Stevie is prepared to offer an unconditional apology on this, there is no reason to expect the US to do anything at all. Stevie has no moral authority on this issue. His Public Security minister, Stockwell Day, expressed a belief, while Arrar was in Syria, that Arrar was a terrorist and chastized the Liberals for "siding with" an al-Qaida terrorist.

For shame, Stevie. Put your own house in order before demanding that anyone else do the same with theirs.

Cheers,

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 847

Another School Shooting

There has been another heart-wrenching school shooting. This one was at a tiny Amish schoolhouse in rural Pennsylvania. The man who attacked the school reportedly sent all of the boys outside before tying up all the girls and shooting them, execution-style, at close range. Three girls were killed, and seven other badly wounded girls were transported to nearby hospitals. The attacker killed himself.

This is a despicable crime on many levels. The killing of innocent people. The fact that the dead were children. The fact that the killer only wanted to kill girls. This is a sick and disgusting crime that should never have happened. I cannot comprehend what might drive a grown man to execute girls who had done nothing to him. This is only too reminiscent of the shootings in Colorado last month in which a grown man took six girls hostage, raped them and killed one of them. It is reminiscent as well of the killings of 14 women at l'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal in 1989.

I don't know what can be done to stop these crimes, but we have to find some way to understand what could possibly have driven all of these killers to do what they did. There must be some way to stop this kind of thing from happening. I just wish I knew what that was.

In this case, banning guns would not have helped. The killer was armed with knives as well as guns and could just have easily used those weapons to carry out his crime.

My deepest sympathies and condolences go out to the families of the three girls killed, and my wishes for a quick recovery go out to those girls injured. The killings and attacks in the last month make it all the more important that every man do his bit to end violence by men against women and we should all do everything we can to aid the White Ribbon campaign coming up.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 851

Iggy Takes the Lead in LPC Delegate Selection

Ignatieff seems to have won about 30% of the elected delegates, with Rae, Kennedy and Dion finishing fairly close together, but significantly behind Iggy at about 19, 17 and 16 percent respectively.

These results will be modified by some ridings in Quebec that have allowed mail-in ballots, as well as the approximately 1500 ex officio delegates are not bound to vote for a particular candidate as the elected delegates are. But these results give a fairly good idea of how the first ballot results will look.

As an NDPer, Iggy is the person I would most like to face as LPC leader. As a Canadian, the best Candidate to have as Liberal leader and likely next PM is Dion, since he seems the most left-wing with some commitment to the environment.

Stevie must be scared of running against Iggy, because Iggy will poach many of the centre-right voters from the CPC. He will also drive a number of left-leaning LPC voters to the NDP because of how far right he is. This pattern could lead to another LPC minority government, and the NDP could pick up a number of very close seats, such as Kenora, Thunder Bay - Superior North, Beaches - East York, Dartmouth - Cole Harbour, Regina - Qu'appelle, Regina - Lumsden Lake - Centre, Saskatoon - Rosetown - Biggar, Yukon and some seats in BC. Obviously this is optimistic, but it is within the realm of possibility.

We shall have to see how the voting goes, and whether an obvious Anyone-But-Iggy candidate emerges.

Cheers,

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 852