Healing Our Spirit Worldwide

The "Healing Our Spirit Worldwide" movement began with Maggie Hodgson of the Carriere First Nation and her vision of creating an international movement to restore health and healing to indigenous communities across the globe. Hodgson wanted to achieve the affirmation of the right of indigenous peoples to live their lives in traditional ways through respect, integrity and honour. These are all things that have been taken away from First Nations around the world for too long.

Hodgson's idea was to start with health and healing for the family, and move on from there. This one woman with a big heart wanted to bring that healing through hope and empowerment. To that end, she began lobbying the International Congress on Alcohol and Addictions and the World Health Organization in the late 1980's.

The result was the first HOSW gathering in 1992 in Edmonton, which was attended by 3,300 people from 17 countries worldwide. The latest gathering was held last summer, again in Edmonton after gatherings in Australia, New Zealand and New Mexico.

Strengthening the family, the community, the nation and the world have become the themes of HOSW; themes relevant to us all. After a recent surfeit of media pap about spoiled brat Britney Spears and her belief that the world revolves solely around her, it was a breath of fresh air to learn about Maggie Hodgson. This newly appointed Officer of the Order of Canada is one of the women who should be presented to classes all across Canada during the month of March.

March 8 is International Women's Day, a day set aside to celebrate women of achievement and distinction, but one day is not enough. Idiots like Spears are out there in our daughters' faces every day. They take no time off from their stupidity and their profligate ways. We need our daughters to know about the Maggie Hodgsons of the world. We need them to know that being a woman is more than just about their cup size. It is also about the size of their heart.

Et Finalement, Égalité ?

Director Rachid Bouchareb, prompted as he said by his own family background, has crafted a film of power about the soldiers of Algeria and Morocco who fought for France in the Second World War. It is a film that should be required viewing in every high school across Canada, as well as France. Though it makes its point with characters from North Africa, its themes of prejudice and the brutality of war are relevant to every one of us. Shown here in Toronto under the title "Days of Glory", it was made as "Indigènes". The title is the French word for "natives" and makes reference to the Indigenous Code" established in Algeria in 1881, defining a native as "not having the same rights as a normal citizen." (emphasis my own) The title bespeaks a colonialist attitude still indulged in by far too many; something that the director and cast hope to change with this epic.
The film follows the fortunes of Said, Abdelkader, Messaoud and Yassir as they and 130,000 other indigenous soldiers wage their battle to free the "motherland" from the Nazis after the original French army's decimation at the war's onset. The four main characters fight in the campaign that takes them to battlefields in Italy, Provence and the Vosges before they make their final stand in a village in Alsace.

One of the characters in the movie was inspired by Algerian war vet Yoube Lalleg, who joined the French army at the age of 21. Lalleg appeared at the movie's debut, at the age of 87, to support the controversial film and the hopes of its director to break through the laissez-faire governmental attitude toward the pensions of vets like Lalleg. Bouchareb hopes to cure the "national amnesia" suffered by those who teach France's history to today's students and citizens. As the teacher's section at the movie's site phrases it, "In the history books and the collective memory the Liberation of France and Europe appears to be entirely the result of the landing in Normandy in June 1944, the actions of the Resistance, and the Soviet offensive on the Eastern Front. This is forgetting the offensive from the South", the offensive shown in "Indigènes".

The men from North Africa fought for France and died for her, but their sacrifice didn't change the ignoble way they were treated. They were denied leave, while their French counterparts were given leave. They were denied the same rations and equipment given to the French soldiers, and after the war they were given pensions sometimes less than one third of those given to the French soldiers.

One of the many powerful scenes in the movie shows a crate of tomatoes in the mess hall being denied to the Arabs, and the way in which this inequality is dealt with by them. Maybe the reality never matched the movie character's defiant challenge of the injustice, but it certainly roused an inward cheer from me when I saw his demand for fair treatment. Another scene shows one of the Arabs trying to warm his comrade's feet as they lay in the snow. The one had on only the sandals appropriate to the clime of his homeland, while around him the French soldiers all wore boots.

The final battle to save the village in Alsace from the approaching Germans comes to a devastating conclusion, one that brought tears to my eyes. The camera keeps rolling to show the white soldiers arriving after the fact and photographs being taken of the "liberators" that exclude the men from Africa. It doesn't stop, and the viewer is told they are about to see a scene that takes place 60 years after the battle in Alsace.

The camera continues its damming indictment of the French treatment of the vets from Africa with one survivor's visit to the war cemetery where his comrades-in-arms lie beneath grave markers that say "mort pour France". Although some of the markers have full names, one says simply "Yassir". He was consigned to eternity without France even knowing his name or making an effort to discover it. The survivor then goes home to his pitiful dwelling; a barren, dreary room where the toilet is mere inches away from the cot he lays down on. It is a scene perhaps more bitter and heartrending than any that preceded it.

To add further insult to injury, the paltry pensions of the indigenous soldiers were "crystallised" in official parlance, after France's colonies gained their independence. Veterans' groups have been fighting this injustice ever since. In 2002, a partial de-crystallisation adjusted the pensions to take account of the standard of living in the soldiers' countries, but they still lag far behind the amount given to their French counterparts.

The "mother country" continues to make shameful use of the men she has treated so unfairly. On August 15, 2004, those men provided a few good photo-ops for Jacques Chirac, who invited several African Heads of State to the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Allied landings in Provence. 20 African vets were made Knights of the Legion of Honour, and you can bet Chirac was smiling his best for the cameras as he shook their hands. The pension fiasco remains unresolved, however.

Chirac was supposedly moved to tears when he saw "Indigènes" and his wife Bernadette is quoted as saying "Jacques, we must do something". Chirac announced his intent to bring the pensions of foreign soldiers into line with those of the French as the movie was being released in France in September 2006. Will the government make all payment retroactive to the date of the first payment? Will they pay the amounts owing to the families of men who have died since the war, without ever being acknowledged as the heroes that they were?

Will France finally afford all her peoples the liberté, égalité, et fraternité that she so blithely promises, but so often fails to deliver?

Clean Up the Office - Throw Hurst Out With the Trash

Michael Hurst started more than he intended when he clicked on "send" a couple of weeks ago. The racist, hate material Hurst aimed at women that day was directed to 31 people, and someone in the group obviously decided they felt it was wrong, because the puerile misogyny he sent off into hyperspace made its way to public notice. Two women's groups, the Status of Women Council of the NWT , and the Native Women's Association of the NWT, contacted Industry Minister Maxime Bernier to ask that Hurst be fired.
The latest word is that Hurst, an Industry Development Officer with Industry Canada in Yellowknife, may be allowed to keep his cushy government job. Apparently a senior executive at Industry Canada has suggested that the slimeball should perform 75 hours of community service with three women's groups in the Northwest Territories. It has been proposed that he "do a project on discrimination". Sharon Thomas, executive director of SWC, has been quoted as saying that she would hope for it to be geared toward sensitivity training; adding, "That sounded like a pretty okay plan ... to have a man lead that (type of project) would be really good."
No. No. No. You're missing the point here entirely, Ms Thomas. Sensitivity training led by a man who would send those e-mails in the first place would be little more than a really bad joke.
Community service isn't likely to provide any epiphany for the mental midget, either. He would be just as likely to carry it out in a spirit of resentment at having been called to task, and then come away from the experience at best unchanged and at worst even more hate filled and racist than before.
Says Thomas, "I don't want him to lose a job. " Why not? Don't talk to me about healing. He has no understanding of the concept. If the women of the targeted groups are willing to be so accommodating and forgiving, the only end they are really achieving is being enablers. Why?
Are they afraid to make demands that will differentiate them from a doormat? Are they afraid to demand his job? Perhaps they are totally disillusioned and already know their demands will be futile.
I hope they don't cave on this issue. Sharon says that Hurst's hatefulness is not isolated. "It's a fairly common thing with the federal government, with everybody", she states. What a godawful situation to facilitate. I understand that the fight against systemic discrimination can seem unending, a fight that can not be won, but if the women involved here would just think for a moment about the story of that little boy and the dike in Holland, they might find some inspiration for their fight. That little guy found a hole in the dike holding back the ocean from swallowing his world. It was only a small hole, but he knew it was all the ocean needed to make its way in and devastate the countryside.
Remember that situation and rethink the Hurst incident. Hurst has provided a little hole in the wall of systemic discrimination. Don't allow it to be plugged up. Don't ask for anything less than Hurst's resignation. Keep that hole open and let the swirling waters of pride and equality make their way through that hole. Let them begin to wash away the filth that is Hurst and everyone like him.
He directed his e-mail against every woman in Canada. Every one of us should be joining our voices together to demand his resignation. So should every man who understands the concept of equality.
Hurst "doing a project on discrimination"? Give me a break.

Updating GULUWALK

INAUGURAL GULUWALK GALA RAISES OVER $50,000 FOR THE CHILDREN OF NORTHERN UGANDA

A sold-out crowd of over 300 enjoyed an unforgettable evening Thursday night at the first ever GuluWalk Gala, an event staged by Athletes for Africa in support of the abandoned children of northern Uganda. Aside from helping raise awareness, the event brought in over $50,000 that will be used to support programs on the ground in the war-torn region.

Hosted by CBC Radio’s Matt Galloway and held at the spectacular Barbara Frum Atrium (CBC Building) in downtown Toronto, the Gala featured a keynote speech by former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations Allan Rock, a performance by Juno Award-winning artist Donné Roberts, and an extensive live and silent auction.

In his speech Thursday night, Allan Rock applauded GuluWalk for its significant success over the last two years. “GuluWalk has given tens of thousands of us a way to stand up, step forward and speak out about the catastrophe in northern Uganda, with a message that’s loud and clear: protect the civilians. Save the children. Stop the war.”

For more information visit http://www.guluwalk.com/

The Cradle Scheme

The Indian government has announced a plan dubbed the "cradle scheme", that it hopes will save the lives of baby girls. They will be setting up a series of orphanages across the country specifically to raise unwanted girls. At the moment, starting life as a female foetus in India is almost a guarantee that you won't live to see the light of day. Many districts in the country are now reporting only 800 girls born for every 1000 boys. Families with enough money to do so are having screening done to determine the gender of a foetus and them aborting the unwanted females. Those without the money for the in utero tests have to wait until the birth and then murder the unlucky little girl when she appears.
For those who haven’t noticed, Indians are making up a larger and larger number of Canada’s immigrant population. The gender imbalance being recorded now in India will be making itself felt here soon enough, if a massive public education effort is not undertaken to change the Indian perception of value assigned to gender, both in India and here in Canada.
Try telling a Canadian-born woman that her gender is only worth the garbage bin. Try telling Roberta Bondar and all the people who view her as a role model worth emulating that she really should have been consigned to the midden upon birth, or aborted and tossed down a well like the 50 female foetuses discovered August 10, 2006, in Patran. This town in the Patiala district of Punjab houses a private clinic that has a 10-metre well behind it. The well is not used as a source of water. It has, instead, been used as a mass grave for girls unwanted by families that believe the female gender is inferior.
As long as this attitude is unchallenged, there will be more wells used in this manner and more female babies being murdered. When will it begin here? The National Crime Records Bureau of India states that the recorded cases of female foeticide increased by half in 2004. For every case recorded, of course, there are others that go unrecorded, so the number of females dying violent deaths in India every year would be staggering if it were known. Placing so little value on female life goes hand-in-hand with the violence perpetrated against women in India. One woman is killed there every 75 minutes, most of them burned to death for not bringing her loving husband a large enough dowry.
Let me tie all this back in with the furor over the code of conduct issued by the town council in Herouxville, Quebec. They took the steps they did in order to forestall any attempts being made by newly arrived immigrants to recreate the conditions they left behind in their country of origin. The people indulging in these casual murders of females in India are not all back-country ignorants. Many of them come from the Punjab area, one of the wealthiest areas in the country. They are people we might be seeing here tomorrow. Do we want them free to spread this vicious misogyny across their new neighbourhoods in Canada? I want to repeat my support for the people who signed that document in Herouxville.
I am Canadian born and raised, and the mother of two daughters, as well. I come from a society that values all its citizens. If it falls short of the mark, there are steps that can be taken to redress the issue and bring public censure to bear on the miscreants who fail to uphold our society's values. I do not welcome the idea of any new male Canadian feeling free to judge me or mine as inferior to them. I would ask the parents of other Canadian girls; do you want your daughters to be viewed as inferior? Would you be okay with them being burned for not bringing enough coins to jingle in their husband's pockets?
If we do not stop our wishy-washy "accommodation" of minorities, we may someday need a cradle scheme of our own here in Canada. Let's write more codes of conduct. Let's all support Herouxville.

Please, People

I'm off on another rant about the criminal excesses the western world indulges in and caters to, after reading two recent news items dealing with exactly that topic. I know the news was not written with that intent in the writer's mind. I, however, am unable to do anything else but see these items through the shit-coloured lens of unforgivably culpable cupidity.
The first deals with J. Lo, Miss I'm-More-Important-Than-Everyone-Else. It seems that when the legend in her own mind was heading off to a recording session, she sent on ahead a list of demands that included dimmer light bulbs and a gourmet meat selection. The light bulbs were meant to make her look "desirable" and the meat was meant to - what? If she were a person who genuinely cared about the welfare of others, she would shine with her own inner light of compassionate beauty, making the type of light bulbs used a moot point.
If she were actually a person who could see past the end of her own nose, she might just brown-bag it, and there would be no beef or pork product at all in her bag because of the prohibitive cost of bringing those meats to the table - costs to the environment and to the others with whom little miss spoiled rotten shares it.
Of course, neither "if" holds true in J.Lo's case, not are they expected to. Her demands are met as though they are reasonable requests, and one more unforgivable excess is chalked up on the western world's score board.
The second item came from Italy, place of origin of my maternal forebears. It became a place of shame for me to have any connection to when I read about the February 18th carnival in Ivrea, northern Italy. The event is held yearly to remember a popular revolt that took place back when. People in traditional costumes stage a mock attack of others in horse-drawn wagons, and everyone uses real oranges as their ammunition. Thousands of the fruits are tossed about, and trampled in the "fun".
Food being made into garbage. For what purpose exactly, might I ask? If the general populace of Ivrea has simply got to commemorate the date, why not use something else to pelt each other with, something that could not be used in other circumstances as a nutritional food? While there are children starving to death, how can they possibly justify their criminal indulgence in stupidity? Why don't they consider revamping the whole occasion? Maybe they could do their commemorating by sending the purchase price of all the oranges to a different third world village each year. Maybe they could do something that would make them into worthwhile global citizens, instead of worthy targets of hate from those trapped in grinding poverty.
Please, people, please. We've got to change our profligate ways before it is too late.

Feeding the Idiot Alert Files

Many of the additions I make to the Idiot Alert Files are done with anything from disbelief at the stupidity of the entrant, to outright contempt for the mental moron. This one is done with all the above and a huge helping of disgust, too.
Maybe I should say, a huge helping of cheesecake, since this latest companion of the order of mental instability is a "competitive eater". I usually have little difficulty with finding the words I want to express the degree of distaste the idiots engender, but this one challenges my way with words.
I have written more than one mini-essay in this blog about the excesses of the west and how desperate the need is to change this situation. The incredible imbalance is a huge contributor to the problem of terrorism. Certainly, it is not the only factor, but on a globe that currently has enough resources to support us all, there are far too many still starving to death. When some have so much that obesity becomes an epidemic, and still they do not willingly share, there is no surprise that others feel forced to take up arms in an attempt to even out the balance.
There should never be even one mother who has to endure the heartbreak of putting her children to bed hungry. I'm not talking the kind of hunger most of us in the privileged world have experienced. You know the kind - the "hunger" that has many a child asking for one more cookie. That is not the kind third world mothers have to deal with. They deal with the kind that makes their little ones look like wizened old men before they are two. They watch their children's bellies hollow backward toward their spine, and see their ribs protrude. Too many of them are forced to witness the hunger that kills, while just across the globe, on the other side of the universe, competitive eaters indulge in their criminal ways with food.
The February issue of "O" includes one of these halfwits in an article that takes a superficial look at "firsts". The first I find so nauseating is "My First 11 Pounds of Cheesecake (in 9 Minutes) and the imbecile who tells us all is Sonya Thomas. For some reason, it is deemed important datum for the reader to know that Miss Moron weighs in at 105 pounds. Is that to tell us that in spite of her inexcusable excesses, she still has "a good figure"? She sure as hell has not got a good head.
The reader is told that little Miss Meathead holds the world record for the fastest criminal consumption of "cheesecake, deep-fried okra, hard-boiled eggs, fruitcake and 17 other foods."
I know Sonya is only one of a legion of defectives who make their living and get their sick kicks from outeating each other while equally pathetic spectators look on and cheer for their favourite. Since I don't know them all by name, however, and Oprah was so helpful as to provide me with this one's moniker, she will be my personification of this particular excess of western society. It is a shameful exhibit of poor taste for everyone involved in it.
I can not imagine the gutwrenching bewilderment of a third world mother who has had to endure the death of one of the children from starvation, if she were to see a video of Sonya Thomas gorging herself on 11 pounds of cheesecake and washing it all down with "four 16-ounce cups (of coffee) with cream and Equal." I can only barely begin to imagine the loathing that might sweep over the bereaved mother as she watched. I can not fathom standing in judgement on her if the experience convinced her that those who say the western world is evil are telling her the truth.
Sonya truly merits a front-rank position in the Idiot Files for her competitive eating.

Peace Be Upon You?

Talking about a tempest in a teacup, there has been one brewing over a little incident that happened at YouTube. It seems the powers-that-be at the popular site felt it necessary to suspend the account of one Nick Gisburne. The question is why.
Gisburne posted two videos there showing quotes taken from the quran and the bible. Each video was simply nine minutes worth of verses that shone a spotlight on the less than gentle side of both christianity and islam. The quotes from the quran began with the greeting "peace be upon you" which you were given a moment to view before you saw a question mark added to the end of it.
YouTube yanked the video of quotes from the quran. It left the one from the bible. Gisburne put the offed video back up. YouTube yanked it again and then suspended his account.
The believers in free speech have been busy little bees, however, and the video YouTube tried to suppress has been copied and made available at many sites. It's simply a total bore. Google Gisburne's name and you'll find a copy, but you might also find the thing is a total bore. It's just one quote after another that tell the faithful how vengeful a deity allah is. One of them tells the reader that if the almighty is out of sorts on the judgement day, he might just throw everyone into the fires of hell, just 'cause he can. There's a loving god, for you. There are also many exhortations to hate the "disbeliever" and kill them whenever opportunity presents itself.
What Gisburne didn't include in his video is any of the verses that exhort the reader to acts of benevolence. I am sure there are just as many in the quran as there are in the bible, just as there are as many verses advising the believing reader of the bible to lash out in the fervour of annihilating non-believers.
The point here is that the video based on the quran is the one that drew the punitive measure from YouTube. Who worries about offending christians, right? We just all have to tiptoe around muslims. YouTube didn't excoriate Gisburne for any possible lack of accuracy in his quoting from either book. They didn't take him to task for targeting religious folk in general as perpetrators of violence. They simply yanked the one about the quran and left the one about the bible.
Is YouTube beginning to fancy themselves as some kind of a big brother guardian of morals? Are they developing delusions of censorship grandeur? Or are they caving to the growing western fear of the muslim wolf at the door? More and more, westerners are being forced to bend over backwards to "accommodate" the sensitivities of those who worship allah at the expense of the ideals of freedom we have espoused as a society for many long years, all in an effort to stave off terrorist reprisals for perceived slights. When you tread on the toes of a fundamentalist christian, s/he will likely sermonize at you, thundering threats of hellfire and brimstone. You can listen if you're so inclined or simply walk away, unfazed and unhurt. When you are perceived as stepping on the toes of an extremist muslim, however, they'll whack off the whole goddamned foot and then chide you for calling them violent.
Any holy book that exhorts its followers to violence needs to be questioned, big time. Exposing wrong to the light of day is not anti-anything. It is simply a chance to right it; to clean up the dirt before it muddies you too.

Les Conditions Qui Les Ont Fait Fuir Leur Pays

The title is a phrase taken from the letter to Diane Finley, Canada's minister of Immigration, posted on the website of Herouxville, Quebec. It deals with the code of conduct the town decided to publish on January 27 for the benefit of recent immigrants, (a version of the code is available on the town's website in English) so that "the conditions which made them flee their country" would not be reproduced in Herouxville. The code of conduct, as the English-speaking are calling it, is better referred to as the French-speaking authors of it do. They refer to it as "les normes de vie", the norms of life. They're talking about the norms as we know them here. They're talking about the norms we should all want new arrivals to live by. There has, however, been a great hue and cry raised about the posting of those norms, so much so that Quebec Premier Jean Charest felt it necessary to launch a formal government commission last week to investigate.
There are much, much better ways to use the work time of those who will be involved in that commission. They will be wasting it while they "investigate" the necessary refusal to allow any immigrant to recreate the conditions s/he left behind when they left their country of origin.
Who would deny that there are already established, peaceful norms of life here in Canada? Would anyone deny that burning women with acid or stoning them to death are not among those norms? Why would anyone argue the fact that a person who comes from a part of the world where such behaviour is accepted needs to be informed that we will not tolerate such conduct in Canada?
One of the norms of life in Canada posted by Herouxville included the ability of female officers to arrest male suspects. Apparently this has been an issue for some men who feel it is beneath their dignity to have a female officer reading them their rights. Because they think they are superior to the distaff side of the population simply by virtue of what dangles between their legs, they are getting their vas deferens all tied up in a knot by having to cooperate with a female officer. They expect the police to play nice and bring a male officer around just for them.
Let's try a little something here, shall we? I want you to picture, just for a moment, one of us heading off to the country of origin of one of those sensitive suspects. Imagine us waving around a picture of the prophet, first of all. Then visualize us taking out a black marker and using it to blacken the holy one's front teeth and add a cartoon moustache. Now see if you can manage to picture the local constabulary arriving and inquiring solicitously of us which gender we would prefer to be beheaded by. I can't see it. Can you?
When Canadians travel to any of the countries of origin of the immigrants coming here, we are expected to conform to their norms of life. A Canadian woman would be taking her life into her hands to wear a midriff-baring outfit in some of those countries, but we are expected to say not a single word in protest when immigrant women in Canada are forced to continue wearing restrictive clothing based on the misogynist preaching of the supposed inferiority of the gender.
Why are there so many voices being raised in outcry against little Herouxville and their norms of life? What is wrong with their wanting to limit the accommodations made for minorities when the minorities they are addressing are those who would limit the freedom of us all if they were allowed a free rein?
The writers of the Herouxville code named no names, yet the Canadian Muslim Forum and the Canadian Islamic Congress have both taken it upon themselves to denounce the code as "deliberate hatemongering". Methinks that each doth protest too much. It's as though they interpret every word as aimed directly at them. Why? If they are part of any group, religious or otherwise, that accepts the stoning of women, then they need to admit they are part of hatemongering themselves. If they are not part of such a backward group, why would they want to align themselves with one in any way?
What the people in Herouxville did was only what any town or country anywhere in the world is viewed as having the right to do. I think Herouxville has it exactly right when they tell prospective citizens of their town that they can not expect to recreate the conditions they left behind. This is Canada. Period. We are not the country they left. If they are desperate to recreate it, they should stop wasting their time, and simply go back whence they came. If they chose to come here, it must have been because they looked for conditions to be better here. The conditions they view as better are the ones that specify we are all equal. There is no government sanctioning of the supposed inferiority of any group here, or of either gender.
I don't view my country through rose-coloured glasses. I know we fall short of the mark in many ways, but overall we are miles ahead of many of the countries those who complain about Herouxville's code left behind. We don't want to take the huge step backward that so many of them would like to see Canadian society take. We need to stop making so much accommodation for minorities that want to drag the rest of back to the dark ages. We need to work for a unified country of citizens who all respect the rights of each other, male and female, as we have already detailed in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
To all those stirring up such a storm in a teacup over the code of conduct, I would say; if the shoe fits, wear it folks. Otherwise, get over it. Herouxville did nothing wrong.

Could You Wash Your Hands, Doc?

I just saw a CBC Marketplace that dealt with the killer hiding in so many Canadian hospitals. The news was disturbing, but really nothing new. After all, who hasn't heard/said that old line, "you go to the hospital to get sick"? To learn that the number of times it happens per year is an average 250,000 was not comforting in the least, but for me what was even more upsetting was the best advice given on how to protect yourself from becoming #250,001.
The killer is the unwashed hands of the medical personnel on whom we rely for caring and curing. The lax attitude toward cleanliness was exposed on camera by CBC's Erica Johnson and her hidden cameras in one hospital after another, most of whom then refused to talk to her after learning of the film. The advice, however, was not so much an aggressive education campaign aimed at the offenders, or a system of punitive measures to be taken against offenders, either. It was instead one more burden to be placed on those suffering from a load that may already be more than they can handle.
If you find yourself in a hospital bed, the best thing you can do is to keep a foot-pump-size bottle of hand sanitizer beside your bed. You're expected to insist that any and all medical personnel who enter the room use a liberal helping of it before they come anywhere near you. Easier said than done.
If the person is unconscious, are they up shit creek because the demand for clean hands isn't made at the bedside? What if the person is still conscious, but in such pain or fevered delirium that demanding a doctor or nurse clean their hands is the last thing on their minds?
Finally, what if the person is in a totally capable state, but they find themselves confronted by someone who firmly believes that M.D. stands for "medical deity"? You and I have both met them. They are people who will slice you up verbally for daring to even think of questioning their being beyond the reproach of any mere mortal. To willingly dare a confrontation with the personnel who might by picking up a scalpel some time in their near future is more than many, many patients would have the nerve to do. So where does that leave them?
While I understand the advice given on this segment of Marketplace is not necessarily what Johnson and her filming colleagues might think is the best answer, I think it is pathetic that is should be given at all. That even one person in Canada should be placed in the position of needing to take personal action to keep themselves safe in any of our hospitals is wrong.
Why isn't all the onus immediately placed on the medical personnel? Understaffing, budget cuts, etc. - none of it justifies medical personnel allowing themselves a personal laxness that could cost a life. If cameras were made omnipresent in our hospitals, it would help greatly in the assignment of blame. That in turn would facilitate the imposing of punitive measures. Salaries could be attached for the rest of a person's working life in order to help pay for the burden of care dumped on a patient infected with a chronic, debilitating condition by unwashed hands. There is also the possibility of a guilty party being fired and barred for life from any involvement in any health care position.
I am sure some would immediately accuse me of wanting to impose Big Brother measures on personnel whom we can trust to take the right steps without the threat of an omnipresent watching eye. The number 250,000 is the answer to that response.
Some might also accuse me of wanting to create an atmosphere of fear among already stressed medical personnel. In answer to that I would say first, there is nothing to fear from being monitored for certain behaviours if they are already something you make second nature. The guards who work in bank vaults with totally honest intent, for instance, do not live in fear of the cameras that film their every movement. Secondly, if there is an atmosphere of fear created for the health workers by being monitored for necessary behaviour, what of it? Too many hospital patients already live in fear of a stay there.
Free everyone from the worry, or impose it equally on everyone. Let's not play favourites around a question that could have a life or death answer.

Yanagisawa Joins the Idiot Files

It's a wonder to me how many men are constantly coming forth to claim a spot in the Idiot Files. The latest schweinhund to be jumping up and down, yelling "pick me, pick me" is Japan's Health Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa.
It seems Hakuo the Halfwit let it slip on Sunday just how he views the other half of his species. Discussing Japan's falling birth rate, he said that the country needed the best effort it could get from its "birth-giving machines".
Cultural historian Riane Eisler talks about the historical shift in attitude toward women that took place as ancient societies began their march toward the establishment of empires. Women, who had once held much more equal positions in society's power distribution, were relegated to positions of subservience to men. To use Eisler's phrasing, they were made into "male-controlled technologies of reproduction." Is that how the worthy Hakuo thinks of Japan's women?
The demeaned half of Japan's population is up in arms over this moron's statement, as well they should be. His resignation is being demanded, but he is refusing to honour the demands, falling back on that tired old cliche of the voters having chosen him for the duties of the post. They just didn't know for whom they were voting. Who would actually waste their ballot on someone who honestly declared themselves before the election to be from the shallow end of the gene pool?
Hakuo also indulged in another trite non-action, giving a supposed apology for his utterance. Anyone who buys the blockhead's declaration of contrition is a few cards short of a full deck themselves. Mouthing empty words does not give them the content of truth. His apology is worth no more than a three dollar bill.
A sentiment like the one expressed by Yanagisawa is not a bad thing for the rest of us to hear, in that it at least gives us the heads-up about his real attitude toward women. The only letdown in all of this is what a shame it was that Yanagisawa's mother didn't experience a malfunction in her birth-giving machinery before the little worm made it to full term.

Burn Your Burqinis, Ladies

Above are pictures of the "hot" new swimwear being offered to ladies of the muslim faith who wish to dip their toes in the water. Hot is just the right word for this stuff. It'll cook the women imprisoned in it damn near as effectively as an honest-to-god burka will do. And to what point, I might ask? Wearing one of these lovely outfits is not going to do a complete job of concealing the femininity of the wearer. I mean, just look! You can see their feet. Such a show of skin. I fear it might be enough to lead some good muslim mama's boy astray.

These ridiculous burqinis are obviously outfits dreamed up by some poor woman who has bought into the crapload of constraints placed on the distaff side by intolerant misogynists. They look like the kind of restrictive wear women of the western world left behind in the earlier 1900's. We've come a long way since then, actually being able to do things like compete in swim meets without a ton of extra fabric weighing us down, giving the advantage to the other swimmers in the competition, and proclaiming to the world that we are still accepting being the downtrodden.

Why should any woman be expected to wear such an eyesore, if the men are going to be wearing a speedo? What's the difference between them being able to see the outline of breasts beneath a woman's swimwear and a woman being able to see the outline of some guy's dangler beneath his swim trunks? The one is no different than the other, unless you accept the bullshit that the one gender is in some way inferior to the other.

If every woman sweltering under one of these god-awful excuses for a swimsuit (or any other restrictive outfit, for that matter) were to declare "screw you" to the men oppressing her, there would be just too many of us; too much strength for the misogynists to overcome.

When is it ever going to happen, sisters?

WGARA?

The Chippewas of the the Nawash First Nation have been leasing land on Hope Bay in the Bruce Peninsula to cottagers for years, with the federal government administering the rentals for the band since 1965. The People have just decided those days are over. Notice was given to 68 cottagers who had been leasing there to clear out, something they were originally given one month to do. Chief Paul Nadjiwan, being a nice guy, gave them an extension to the end of February.
Some cottagers even built the dwellings themselves, on this leased land. Now they're moaning about the loss of their "housing investment". They knew they were leasing land, not buying it. They knew all along there's always a chance that the rightful owners of leased land might decide to do something else with their own property.
One cottager, Karen McCulloch, was interviewed about the situation, which she describes as "devastating" and "very stressful"; whining about how her father-in-law built their cottage as "a legacy for children and grandchildren". God, you're breaking my heart, woman. Once again, I have to say, it was made clear from the word 'go' that the land was being leased, not bought, so if someone was so stupid as to assume they would be allowed to squat forever on another person's land, what are the rightful owners supposed to do about it?
Actually, now that word "squat" is in here, does it ring bells for anyone else, or is it just me? How many times during the history of our country have natives found whites squatting on their land, land they were forced to leave forever? While I am sure that Chief Nadjiwan is above such pettiness as enjoying the turn-the-tables aspect of this whole situation, I am not held back by such niceties. I rather think the situation has a nice little touch of irony to it, and it's fun to see it happening.
I saw some film footage of a couple of the cottagers on a news program. They were bemoaning the band's decision and carrying on about how they had been there so long. Yeah, so? Yesterday has never been a guarantee for tomorrow.
The woman looked right at the camera at one point, with her best lost puppy expression and a tremulous little catch in her voice when she said, "We don't know what we've done wrong." I was soaking the rug with my tears by the time she finished.
You know what? Bottom line, who gives a good goddamn about them and their years of "doing whatever we want" as the whiner's hubby put it? There are issues much more worth anyone's attention going on in the world right now. If those cottagers want to give their kids and grandkids a legacy, why don't they send some money in their names to worthwhile causes involved in the fight to save the environment? Having a hand in saving clean air for their offspring to breathe or safe food for them to eat would be to leave quite a legacy indeed.
Just get out of the cottages, and get over it folks.

Climbing Mount Sustainability

After last week's release of the paper signed by 2,500 scientists affirming that global warming is a fact, I added my voice to the chorus of those asking for more immediate action in the quest for sustainability. If the video above caught your interest, follow the link here and you'll find lots of fascinating reading about Interface and its founder Ray Anderson, a man dedicated to "climbing Mount Sustainability".

Go Get 'Em, Deadria!

This being Black History Month, it's a good time to wish the best of luck to Deadria Farmer-Paellmann in her fraud claim against 15 corporations. Her suit claims that any corporation which fails to disclose its slave-era roots is guilty of defrauding its customers, some of whom would not willingly do business with a company that had such a history.
Lloyd's of London and New York Life, among others, are some of those first named in an original suit filed against 19 corporations on behalf of 35 million descendants of Africans enslaved in the U.S. The suit claimed that as insurance companies underwriting 1800's slave insurance policies, they helped to perpetuate the abhorrent institution by letting owners profit from fatalities caused by brutal treatment. Phrasing the claim in that way, however, led to a dismissal of the suit back in 2004 due to the statute of limitations, so Ms Farmer-Paellmann rephrased it, gave it the new angle of consumer protection, and brought the suit back to court.
Deadria is an activist, a lawyer, and executive director of the non-profit Restitution Study Group. In 2000 she confronted AETNA with evidence she had gathered herself that it had insured the lives of slaves for their owners. In March 2000, AETNA actually issued a public apology. After that first sweet success, Farmer-Paellmann has determinedly involved herself in a quest for the reparation that has eluded the blacks of North America for far too long.
The "40 acres and a mule" promised in 1865 never materialized, and that failure has so far been the closest it has ever come to official apology being given or reparation being made. There is much debate about this reparation, since many aver that it will only perpetuate the "victim" mentality. Others feel it is a matter of justice being served, of a rightful declaration of mea culpa being made.
A step was taken toward the making of that admission of guilt in the U.S. Court of Appeals when Judge Richard Posner said that major American corporations may indeed be guilty of fraud if they hide past ties to slavery from their customers. In mid-December the fraud claims against 15 of the corporations were upheld.
The question in my mind is what action can be taken as a result of the court's decision? Posner's ruling means that the claimants can return to the District Court to address the defendants' violations of state consumer fraud statutes, but I'd like to see something a little more out there in the public's face, right now. Could the companies be made, for instance, to change their ad campaigns?
I get this great image of ads reminding prospective customers that the company has a proud history of serving its customers being amended to include "and bankrolling slavery" for the last x-number of years. Most ads love to show scenes of an anxious-faced customer being reassured by a company rep. As the rep explains how much the company will help, a smile of relief spreads its way across the customer's face. I see that ad being changed just a little, if you'll indulge me for a moment while I explain my idea of a new ad campaign to be mounted by one of the companies named in the suit.
They could present a series of cameos, each one showing a scene from the company's history. The first one might show a rep attired as a contemporary of Ben Franklin, assuring the lightning-struck and frizzle-haired Ben that the company would spring for the cost of a new kite. The next scene could show a customer at a slave auction, bending back to consult with a rep on which one he should choose to replace the slave he whipped into the ground, while the rep smiles and passes him some cash. The following scene might show a rep being ever so considerate of a customer who's had their barn broadsided by some early 1900's flyboy. Etc, etc; you get the picture.
What do you think?

Toronto's Guluwalk Gala

STEVE NASH, CHANTAL KREVIAZUK & GEORGE STROUMBOULOPOULOS
ALL CONTRIBUTING TO THE GULUWALK GALA ON FEBRUARY 22

At a time when peace remains elusive in northern Uganda, GuluWalk continues to be a voice for the children and on Thursday, February 22, the city of Toronto will come together to tell their story and raise money for a generation of children being left behind.

The GuluWalk Gala, an event being staged by Athletes for Africa, will be hosted by Matt Galloway, host of CBC Radio's 'Here & Now', and will feature a keynote speech from former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations Allan Rock and a performance by Juno Award winning artist Donné Roberts.

You will also have an opportunity to mix and mingle with a growing list of special guests including Halifax MP Alexa McDonough, who has just returned from a visit to northern Uganda, Ugandan born Edmonton MP Rahim Jaffer, former Olympic swimmers Jen Button and Liz Warden, TSN soccer analyst Dick Howard and GuluWalk co-founders Adrian Bradbury and Kieran Hayward.

Media passes are available for the event by emailing media@guluwalk.com or by calling 416.686.1533.

The event will take place at the spectacular Barbara Frum Atrium at the CBC Building in downtown Toronto and will include fine food, great music and an extensive silent and live auction.

Just some of the auction items up for grabs include two signed jerseys from NBA MVP Steve Nash, two tickets and exclusive after-party passes for a concert with Juno award winners Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida at Massey Hall on February 24, and an afternoon with George Stoumboulopoulos including front row seats and a behind the scenes tour of ‘The Hour’. The auction will also include Raptors and Leafs tickets, art, photography, cottage getaways and so much more.

Visit www.guluwalk.com/gala for all of the details on the GuluWalk Gala or call 416.686.1533.

Tickets and tables are selling fast. Make your purchase online today!

The 2007 GuluWalk Gala is being presented by AstraZeneca Canada and includes support from Artez Interactive, the Canadian Auto Workers Union, the Elementary Teacher of Ontario, Pepsi Canada, Silver Lining Ltd. and Heenan Blaikie LLP.

GuluWalk Gala - Thursday, February 22, 2007
CBC Building (Barbara Frum Atrium)
250 Front Street, Toronto, Ontario Canada
www.guluwalk.com/gala

6 pm - Reception & Silent Auction
7 pm - Dinner, Entertainment & Live Auction

- GuluWalk -

GuluWalk and the GuluWalk Gala are international events of Athletes for Africa, which is a registered Canadian charity (#85950 1975 RR0001).

A Mountain Higher than Everest

A 21-page report on climate change was released on Friday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It was compiled by 2500 scientists from 130 nations, working from the results of 16 climate modelling groups from 11 countries operating independently. For those with a mind, it ended the debate on whether or not global warming is really happening. The report declared it to be "unequivocal" that the change is occurring. Predicting that temperatures would rise 3.2 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit by 2010 and that sea level would rise from 7 to 23 inches, or more, the report brought immediate response from governments worldwide, even though it pointed no fingers.
Susan Solomon, a U.S. government scientist and lead author of the study, said she felt that such action would be beyond the scope of the scientists involved. "... not trying to make policy prescriptive statements, but making policy-relevant statements'' is what she felt to be the study's best chance to "serve society". Even though the study refrained from accusations, there were those who reacted as though they'd had their fingers burned by it. "We are a small contributor when you look at the rest of the world" said U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on Friday. Really? That would explain why the U.S. is single largest contributor to global warming, producing about a quarter of world's carbon dioxide emissions, would it? Either that, or it would explain Bodman's statement as one issued by a naughty boy who knows someone has seen him with his hand in the cookie jar.
Others reacted like little brats, determined to do what they want and refusing to take direction from anyone. Read the response from India's Ministry of environment and Forests and tell me if you can't just imagine the foot-stamping and yelling "you're not the boss of me" when Pradipto Ghosh said "(the report) doesn't commit governments to any course of action".
I am sure there is no country that can really claim innocence for itself, but some certainly seem more ready than others to quit the caviling and finger-pointing; ready to get down to action. Italy's environment minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio phrased it well when he said, "While climate changes run like a rabbit, world politics move like a snail: either we accelerate or we risk a disaster".
Canada's emissions are a third higher than the levels the country had agrees to reach by 2012, and our P.M. has been busily turning his back on Canada's commitment to Kyoto. Unfortunately, our Prime Minister is on record as having said that the Kyoto protocol is "a socialist scheme" to steal the wealth from the rich countries and give it to the developing nations. Harper says Kyoto's goal is unachievable, and declares that anyone who proposes immediate change is dreaming. He insists that first his government needs to "stabilize emissions" a little bit of babble-speak for "we ain't about to do dick-all".
The only thing is, the precedent for immediate change has already been set. It has been proven to be very possible, by more than one example setter, although I'd like to be able to direct Harper's attention to one in particular, if I could. I'm talking about "InterfaceFLOR Commercial", a corporation involved in the design, production and sales of broadloom carpet, panel fabrics, and upholstery fabrics, that sets itself the goal to become the world's first "environmentally restorative company" by 2020. Their website makes for some fascinating reading; some real food for thought. I wonder - if Stephen could picture his children caught in the web of global woes that he is contributing to; could he use that picture as impetus to sit down for some research and reading at Interface's site?
Interface has been in business for more than 30 years, so you know for sure they've got something right in the world of flooring. Something else they really have right is their vision. They vow to become a company that "shows the entire industrial world what sustainability is in all its dimensions", a company that has achieved its "Mission Zero" and eliminated "any negative impact our flooring and fabric companies may have on the environment by the year 2020". A lot of pretty words, so far, but the proof is in the pudding, right, so take a look at what Interface is doing to back up those words.
On October 25, 2006, Interface announced its partnership with Subaru to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions associated with Interface's light duty fleet. In the partnership, Interface switched to Subaru's Outback, the highest rated small SUV in the EPA's "Green Vehicle Guide". The burning of fuel in Subaru's vehicles is so efficient that the exhaust from the tailpipe can actually be cleaner than the air people are inhaling in some of America's smog cities. Subaru, in their part of the partnership, is sponsoring the planting of thousands of trees to make the operation of the vehicles "climate neutral" for the first 60,000 miles, since the planting will equate to the sequestration of 21.6 metric tons of carbon per vehicle.
In November 2006, Interface's new facility in Shanghai received LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in its Commercial Interiors category. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification was given because of such factors as 60% of the Shanghai facility's furniture being reclaimed or re-used, as well as its level of water conservation and energy efficiency.
If you've got the time and an interest in the future of your planet, click here and you can browse the articles detailing the achievements made by Interface in their implementing of MissionZero . If, by any chance, you are in the market for some new flooring, and the report issued on Friday last has you wondering how you can turn your purchase into a contribution to saving the environment, you might like to know the following: InterfaceFLOR announces: "Even after you are done with them, FLOR products can be cleaned and repurposed with a charitable organization. We offer recycling and disposition options for all of our products to avoid landfilling."
The founder of Interface, Ray Anderson, doesn't whine about how impossible it is to reach the goal of sustaining the environment. He acts on his conscience, and remembers the children of tomorrow, at the same time as his company continues to turn a good profit. If for no other reason than to show the money-minded Stephen Harper that making a profit and good stewardship of the Earth our children will inherit do not have to exclude each other, he needs to spend some time learning about Interface.
As Anderson says, the work to save the Earth is daunting, a "mountain to climb that is higher than Everest" but it can be done, and it can be started right now.

Michael Hurst Should Be Dismissed

Industry Canada's top Yellowknife official has just been caught being a bad boy. It seems Mr. Hurst likes to spend some of his work hours amusing himself by sending offensive e-mails. He sent one recently to 31 people inviting them to "pick" Miss Northwest Territories from four photos of naked or nearly naked women. Three of the women were young blondes. One was an older aboriginal woman. Since part of Hurst's job requires him to work with aboriginal women, Hurst has been offensive, no matter how you look at it.
I am quite sure that if someone blew the whistle on a subordinate of Hurst for the same sort of behaviour as Hurst himself indulged in, there would be an immediate dismissal. There has to be policy in place regarding the sending of hate mail from government computers, and I am quite sure it would be a strict forbidding of such action.
Hate mail is defined as correspondence that expresses the sender's animosity and prejudice. The e-mail Hurst sent wasn't forwarded because someone had a gun to the racist's head. It was sent because Hurst wanted to proliferate the disparaging attitude toward native women that the originator of the e-mail espouses. Hurst obviously shares that racist attitude.
The word "offensive" is defined as meaning "repugnant to moral sense and good taste; characterized by aggression and attack." The e-mail Hurst sent constitutes an attack on native women that should be repugnant to every Canadian, without exception. Every one should be asking themselves who Hurst might feel like victimizing next. If he will single out any one group, there is no guarantee that anyone else is safe from his aggression and hate.
As a government official, for him to be sending e-mails that show nude women is for him to publicly declare his total lack of respect for the other half of his species. For him to send the specific e-mail that he did is for to have made a public declaration of his total lack of respect for native women. He has, indeed, been a very bad boy.
In case you think I'm making light of his action, let me assure I am doing anything but. It's just that Hurst's reaction to the brouhaha resulting from the exposure of his ignorant and cavalier attitude was to say that he realizes he "made a mistake". That reminds me of the years I spent trying to teach naughty little children that to say "it was just a joke" is not a justification for a wilful action that could hurt someone else. I spent endless hours on that, every single year I was in teaching. I banged my head against that "just a joke" brick wall set up by the good ol' boys' club and sanctioned by society. I fought against the gutless-wonder principals who would do nothing more than tell some nasty little piece of work that they should apologize and then be good.
I watched as too many kids made their way toward an adulthood where they would turn out to be just like Michael Hurst, thinking that taking the offensive even further against their victim and accusing them of being unable to "take a joke" was the way to go if the target of their nastiness made so bold as to complain. They learned from principals like the useless types I worked with that mouthing empty words of apology should be more than enough. Their victim should gratefully accept the meaningless words and get the hell out of their face to they could be freed up to go about the job of looking for the next person to pick on. I can imagine Michael Hurst spent untold time in the hallowed halls making them places of torment for schoolmates, and now he's been caught continuing his hateful habit in a job that is supposed to be a position of trust.
The Status of Women Council of N.W.T., the Native Women's Association of the N.W.T., and the Yellowknife Women's Centre have all written to Industry Canada Minister Maxine Bernier. calling for Hurst's dismissal. Every Canadian over the age of majority should add their voices to the chorus. Everyone of us is either female, or has at least one female of significance in their life. We've all got a mother. Some of us have daughters. Imagine Hurst and his ilk sending photos of you yourself, or of the women significant in your life, solely for the purpose of maligning and denigrating them. How can we as a people allow such vermin to hold a government position? Raise your voice in protest, Canada. The "mistake" Hurst made should be more than enough to cost him his position of trust.
Bernier, open the windows of the Industry Ministry and let some fresh air in by kicking Hurst out.