Why Not?

It's time for a couple of hero citations, and an execution after the homicide that took place on a Greyhound bus about 18 km west of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, on Wednesday. The medals go to the bus driver, the truck driver, and the passenger, Garnet Caton, all of whom tried to go back on the bus to check on the victim. They did this after having first fled the bus in fear of their own lives. They did this in spite of having witnessed seemingly random, robot-like violence.. Since the attacker was still armed and on the bus, they were facing personal danger to do what they did.
Because Caton and others witnessed the attack and the bloody aftermath, there should be an execution, post haste. I know very well that there are those who will begin to sound the bleeding-heart alarms of capital punishment sometimes being inflicted on the wrongfully convicted, but there is an absolute safeguard against that possibility in this event and it comes in the person of the bus driver, Caton and the other passengers who witnessed the gory scene - including a six-year-old and some other children - and can therefore identify the murderer beyond any and every shadow of a doubt. Because the murderer had killed in front of multiple witnesses and then gone on to mutilate the corpse of the man he murdered, using part to taunt the police with, there simply is no chance an innocent person would be wrongfully punished. There is, however, a chance that a murderer could get to live another day, a day to which he has no rights.
The police are investigating, so the news coverage says. On my wish list for this scenario would be an investigation that takes less than a day, maybe less than an hour; a short trial in which witnesses able to voice the horror they saw tell the judge about the images seared onto their brains, (the images they now need professional help to deal with, so they can eat and sleep again); and then the prisoner being marched out back of the courthouse and stood up against the wall. Skip the last meal nonsense. Save the money and give it to some charity. Skip the blindfold routine. Just treat the homicidal maniac like a bear or any other wild animal that has killed a human. Put a bullet in his brain, and call it a day.

To Overthrow Oppression

I just finished reading "The Moon Pearl" by Ruthanne Lum McCunn. An easy enough read, it details the efforts of three young women to be masters of their own fate in nineteenth-century China. Rather than choosing to become nuns or wives, the two options generally regarded as the only ones available, they choose to form a sisterhood and support themselves with their own embroidery and silk production skills. They are attacked by the people of the village, vilified by the gossips and even ostracized by their own families, all of which leaves them barely able to survive for a time in a hand-to-mouth existence. They persevere through the worst of it until they begin finally to win a grudging acceptance, but it means 311 pages of molar-grinding annoyance for any reader like me who sees this book as present-day reality rather than just an interesting look into history.
While the women of China may no longer have to learn how to sing weeping songs in preparation for their wedding day, or meekly accept the treatment accorded to one character by her vicious husband and in-laws, there are still far too many of the global sisterhood for whom such sad destinies are the only ones they will ever know.
The "Moon Pearl" is prefaced by two quotes, one being from Frederick Douglass, who said, "The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." One of the many lamentable things about misogyny is the incredible capacity of women to suffer in silence and endure the oppression it inflicts, sometimes even going so far as to help perpetuate it themselves.
Recently, the family of Omar Khadr joined with hundreds of other Canadians to protest his continued detention at Guantanamo. That protest is just as it should be, here in Canada, where all the citizens have rights and freedoms. The thing that was so very wrong about it was the fact that the only part of his sister that was visible at the protest was her eyes. Dutifully accepting the tyranny that declares her unworthy to be visible, she was accepting the continuation of an oppression that strips her of the very rights and freedoms she wants for her brother, the very rights and freedoms that she should be unwilling to give up to anyone. Oh, sister, you have been cruelly duped. Cast off that veil and set limits to the oppression your men and your society want you to accept.
It is an incredibly difficult row to hoe, seeking to throw off the yoke of tyranny, but there are women brave enough to take on the struggle. If Khadr's sister and others like her presently burdened by the unjust weight of the burqa were to rise up, they would find themselves in excellent company. Women like 16-year-old Samiya Yuusf Omar would welcome them into the ranks of heroines.
Samiya comes from a destitute family in Somalia, where more than 17 years of civil war and lawlessness have turned her homeland into one of the current hells on earth. Her mother, a former national-level athlete, has passed on the genes that have resulted in her daughter's being named to Somalia's Olympic team earlier this year. Samiya's age and her being from a minority ethnic group would have seemed to preclude her taking such a position, but she has conquered those odds. Now she has to face the misogynistic tyranny that would seek to put her back in her dutiful, downtrodden place.
When she is able to, Samiya practises her running on a track at Mogadishu Stadium, and the mortar craters do not stop her. What does stop her is the intolerance of the Muslim militiamen who man roadblocks and prevent her from getting through. What would try to stop her is the pressure put on her by friends and relatives to stay out of training. These are people who accept the tyrannical lies that paint "girls as corrupted if they join in with things like sports and music." When Samiya jogs on the streets of Mogadishu, the militiamen intimidate her and others call out insults, warning that no man will want to marry her if she continues with athletics. Their taunts are nothing more or less than rephrasing of the verbal abuse heaped on the self-sufficient women of the "Moon Pearl". Maybe being unable to find a Somalian man who would accept Samiya as a wife would not be the worst fate that could be dealt out. Maybe there is much, much more for Samiya to aspire to in life. It is to be hoped this young heroine can continue to muster the strength she needs to fight the odds.
Tell me,what has really, really changed for womankind since the days of the "Moon Pearl"? Is there any real hope that all the sisters will someday be free of the tyranny imposed on them by misogynistic societies in which their only value is as walking wombs who can cook and clean and wipe the snot from the noses of their husbands and sons? Will the women of the global sisterhood ever rise up as one and throw off all the veils and symbols of inequality? Will they ever stop training their daughters to endure and teach them instead how to overthrow oppression?

Breaking a Huge Undertaking Into Small Success-Sized Bits

So what's keeping you busy today? If you have a minute to spare from your schedule, you might want to check out this easy little way to help accomplish a huge task. The task is how to change the world, and one place to do it is at Kiva, the first person-to-person micro-lending site in the world. If it interests you, you'll be keeping company with the likes of Bill Clinton who featured the registered charity in his book "Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World".
The organization was originated by Matt and Jessica Flannery of San Fransisco, after Jessica learned about Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank and recipient of the Nobel Prize for his efforts to end poverty with micro credit. Kiva is following hard on his heels with a track record that includes the facilitating of more than $35 million in loans made by about 311,000 lenders to more than 50,000 entrepreneurs in 43 countries. The website states Kiva's mission is "to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty". With a repayment rate of 98.13%, it's a no-worries mission to involve yourself in.
If you feel the urge to climb on board this train to success, you'll probably like knowing that Kiva will direct 100% of your donation to directly to the entrepreneur that you can select yourself from a list of possible recipients who are profiled on the site. Each one is introduced to the reader with a bio snippet and details of what they hope to accomplish with the loan. The info will tell you their country of origin and everything you could want to know about the Field Partner organizations who distribute the loans and collect the repayment, as well as often providing training and other assistance to "maximize the entrepreneur's chances of success." You'll see how much the individual or group is asking for, how much they have raised and how much time is left in which you can still direct your $25.00.
That's the beauty of this scheme. They ask for just $25. Of course, you could give more, if you so choose, but if your money for doing good is a little less than abundant, you can dole it out in amounts that will not hurt your pocket, but could be part of changing the world forever for someone with no other opportunity to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. If you try it once, and decide you like it, then after your first donation is repaid, usually within months, you can take it back and call it quits or redirect it and keep on helping. Talk about recycling! You will not receive monetary interest on your loan, but you will be joining a group that takes an average of just 85 hours to come up with the full loan once it's posted on the website. This is a group of world-changers par excellence! Kiva stats show that about 76% of its borrowers are women, and if you take the time to read through a few entrepreneur profiles, you'll see that many of them are the sole support for their children.
Rather than go on and on about this incredibly worthwhile way to spend $25.00 and why you might want to get involved, I think I'll give Julian the chance to wrap it all up in a beautifully succinct way. A student from Nashville, he gave his reason (and maybe yours) for donating, saying it is "to help people and pursue justice."

Throw Another Bug on the Barbie

In the spirit of today's eco-friendly entries, let me send this last one about entomophagy, or insect eating. It's definitely not something I'm ready for, whether it's ecologically sound or not, but my opinion is not shared by everyone. I have not eaten any quadruped in over twenty years, but I'd rather replace their presence on my dinner plate any day with tofu than with bugs. Certainly, David Gracer would argue with me. This teacher of composition at a community college in Rhode Island is doing his best to convince Americans to get more of their protein from six-legged providers, rather than the more traditionally four- or two-footed variety. A United Nations report released recently certainly provides fuel for Gracer's claims that insects are a much better protein source than livestock. The UN report cites livestock as a "significant contributor to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global".
One of the proofs Gracer cites for the above condemnation of throwing beef on the barbie is that it takes 869 gallons of water to produce enough beef for one large hamburger, while all it takes to produce the same amount of mouth-watering crickets is a paper towel placed in the bottom of their tank and kept moistened. Those are facts hard to argue with, but they still don't make me eager to rush out and purchase a creepy-crawly burger for my next meal. Does it provide the inspiration for you?
Gracer runs the company Sunrise Land Shrimp to educate the populace about the culinary delights to be found in munching on insects and will happily visit high schools to talk to the students about trying the taste temptations of protein that makes its way about on six legs, or more - think caterpillars! He has also appeared on The Colbert Report and attended United Nations' workshops on entomophagy, but I think the man has really got his work cut out for him in his efforts to get North Americans rethinking their habits of protein procurement.

A Net Zero Carbon Footprint

Can travel be accomplished with such a footprint? The answer, as provided by Earthrace, is a resounding "yes". Just as with the concept of Earth Hour, the people involved in Earthrace want to inspire the rest of us to minimize our impact on our environment. The crew of the powerboat, and the boat itself have certainly demonstrated that it can be done.
Leaving Sagunto, Spain, on April 2008, the eco-boat set a new world record by June 28th for a powerboat seeking to circumnavigate the globe running completely on renewable biodiesel fuel and leaving behind a net zero carbon footprint. It took almost 14 days off the previous record, travelling 24,000 nautical miles to prove a point about the potential for alternative fuel sources. Earthrace is now continuing on a two year promotional tour during which it will visit Europe, the Caribbean, the United States and Australia. This weekend will see the boat and crew anchoring at the Halden Vannsport Festival in Norway.
Billed as one of the most eco-friendly boats ever made, the list of examples of its living up to the boast include its lubricants being made from vegetable oils and its bilge water being pumped through special filters to remove any oil or hydrocarbon, among other things.
The boat's skip, Peter Bethune, wants to increase the awareness of the use of renewable fuels in as many young people as possible and so, to further that goal, interested teachers are encouraged to send an email asking the Earthrace crew to visit their school during the tour. There are great teacher resources available at the website and links to free lesson plans to facilitate bringing awareness to the next generation of movers and doers. You don't have to be a teacher, however, to spend some interesting time browsing Earthrace's site. Take a little time to explore there and you might come away with even greater inspiration to get involved. As the site states, "The philosophy of earthrace is we can still lead amazing lives, but we can also take greater care of the environment at the same time. Everything we do leaves an environmental footprint behind. Some things leave a large footprint and some small. By working on reducing our footprints, we help in reducing our impact on the environment, and in so doing, leave future generations with the same amazing planet we've been able to enjoy."

Earth Hour 2009

Plans are already underway, of course. You probably guessed that, but you might also be interested to know that Saturday March 28, 2009 will begin its Earth Hour a half-hour later than was done this year. The thought is that beginning at 8:30 P.M. will allow for more darkness during the hour in all locations, thus allowing for more dramatic visibility of people's efforts. If you want to know more, or want to start getting involved sooner rather than later, click here to view the goings-on at the Earth Hour website. As of 4:30 P.M. today, July 25th, 2008 306,671 people have already signed up to take part in the big Hour 2009. Add your name to the growing list and they'll send you regular updates, as well as helpful hints to "get you even more involved".

From Hockey Pucks to Deserters

These are a couple of numbers that I quite like. The first is the 71% of Canadians who put hockey, our sport in 3rd place out of a possible list of twelve institutions and features that make them proud. Queen Liz and her tired retinue of inbred royals garnered the support of only 36% or the respondents in a recently conducted public opinion poll.
It seems that having post-secondary education does distinct damage to one's ability to feel any pride at all in Camilla and her big-eared hubby. Rather telling, that. The thing that roused more responsive pride among my fellow Canucks than any other was our beautiful flag. 86% of us take great pride in its beloved red and white. Although income has impact on the feeling of pride the flag elicits, the difference was not a huge gulf. 91% of respondents with yearly household incomes of $100,000. or more are proud to see our flag waving in the breeze, but 85% of those in households with less than $50,000. still feel the same. Canada must be getting something at least a little bit right.

The other number I like concerns the 200 U.S. military deserters thought to be hiding here north of the 49th paralell. If returned to the home of the free, they are likely to be incarcerated for five years. They will also face dishonourable discharge and lose all their pay and benefits. All this for making the decision - which they are apparently not regarded as free to make regardless of the claim otherwise in their anthem - that they could not in good conscience go to fight in Iraq.
Apparently, 64% of the Canadians surveyed online said they would agree with the recent motion passed in the House of Commons asking the federal government to grant permanent residence to any and all U.S. soldiers who have fled here seeking refuge from being forced to take part in America's wrongful war in Iraq. If these men and women want to walk away from the stars and stripes and take up a life lived under our proud flag, I have no problem with that. How about you?

A Parochial Addition to the Idiot Alert Files

The latest addition to the Idiot Files is the power(s)-that-be at Saint Paschal Baylon Church at 92 Steeles Avenue West.
Since my 86-year-old aunt will be moving into that area very soon, I made a few calls recently, scouting out seniors' groups in the neighbourhood. I made my first call to Bayview Glen Church, at 300 Steeles Avenue East. The pleasant-voiced woman who answered was a veritable gold mine of information about all the goings-on held there on a regular basis for seniors. The list includes a blood pressure clinic every month, a Fellowship at Noon group that meets every month and brings in such events as a performance by the York Region Police Choir in celebration of this last Canada Day. There is a knitting group that sends their woolly efforts to needy recipients. I liked that one because giving a feeling of purpose to an activity is a great way to help the senior performing that activity feel as though they're still making a difference in the world. "Bring your aunt in and I'll show her around," the woman said to me. "We can definitely help her stay busy!", she promised. I thanked her, and hung up with a wonderful feeling of having found something really good.
The next place I called was the office at Saint Paschal Baylon Church. My aunt was actually a member of the parish when it was first formed, decades ago. The call here was as different from the first as night from day. The voice on the other end of the line intoned its "hello" in dour male tones. I told him the information-gathering purpose of my call and asked what the parish might offer for its seniors. "We have a mass once a month," said he, "followed by a lunch." When I asked if they had anything else to offer, he simply repeated his first statement in a flat, uninspired voice. I thanked him as well, and hung up.
Now, as you can see, there is no choice left to me about whether or not to induct the dummies at Paschal Baylon into the Idiot Files. They obviously have not figured out that seniors are alive every day of the month, not just one, and that they might need a little more than the mumbling of the mass followed by food before they are shown the door and expected to dutifully disappear for another thirty days. One of the reasons the response I got at the RC church so annoys me is that I know they have their "collection envelopes" made up for anyone and everyone who registers as a member of the parish, and it is expected that the appropriately dated envelope will find its way into the collection basket every single week with money tucked inside. What the hell do they use the money for, if not in service of their own parishioners? They should be ashamed of themselves, offering so bloody little to the seniors, many of whom have spent decades faithfully tithing to the church which now, basically, turns its back on them.
I do hope someone in the office at the aforementioned disgrace-of-a-church reads this entry. Welcome to the Idiot Files, you sorry-assed morons.

Do Not Stand Idly By

The title for this entry is a slogan to be found on the website of the Jewish World Watch, an organization working to "combat genocide and other blatant human rights violations around the world through education, advocacy, and refugee relief." Their Solar Cooker Project has been undertaken specifically to help protect and empower the women of Darfur. Readers who navigate to the site are told that "women and girls who have fled the genocide in Darfur are particularly vulnerable to rape while performing the critical task of collecting firewood for cooking." Their search for firewood takes them outside the relative safety of the refugee camp and leaves them helpless victims of what Stephen Lewis calls the war on women.
Since the camps are in an area that receives an average 330 days/year of sunlight, the conditions are just right for the use of solar cookers. Using these cookers means the women must search for wood much less frequently and so their vulnerability to attack is greatly lessened. Two solar cookers, actually, can save one ton of wood each year and since there is no need for a woman to stay and tend a fire, she is freed for other tasks. Hand-assembling these inexpensive cookers out of cardboard and aluminum foil gives the women at the refugee camps an opportunity to generate income that they can use to care for their family. What's not to like in all this?
If any of this is sounding good to you, and you have $30.00 to spare, follow this link to the online donation form. Think of it in terms of passing up just a few lattes, or a couple of nights at the movies. You could rent one or two videos instead, or bring your own coffee from home in a travel mug a time or two. It wouldn't take very many noble gestures to set aside the price of one CooKit, and then you could proudly declare that you didn't just stand idly by when these women and their children needed you.

Bloody Expensive Library Books

I was charged $30.00 yesterday for the privilege of taking out some library books, although it is generally thought of as something one does for free. Let me fill you in on the details.
The parking lot of the Fairview Library, the local branch of the Toronto Public Library, abuts that of the Fairview Mall. A walk through the north-west side of the mall takes you to the subway entrance. Yesterday, since my daughter wanted to head out on that subway, and I wanted to go into the library, we combined the two trips into one and she came with me when I drove to the library parking and pulled into a space there. Since the library was not due to open for half an hour, I decided to walk with her across the two adjoining parking lots and say my "Good-bye and have a good day." at the mall door. I then walked back across the two lots and joined the growing group of other library patrons, waiting on the steps for the library door to be opened.
It was during those five to ten minutes that my car was ticketed for "parking on private property without consent". While I was waiting for access to the library, I was joined in conversation by a gentleman who bemoaned the current price of gas and told me he had parked his car in the library lot, then walked over to the mall to run an errand before he came back to the library. I wonder if his car was ticketed, as well? The thing is, I should not have been slapped with a parking infraction. Neither should he, if indeed he did get one. I feel quite confident in saying that because when I returned home, I immediately called the number on the back of the infraction notice to direct my enquiries to Parking Tag Operations. The woman to whom I spoke agreed that the issuing officer might have been a little overzealous and said she was sorry she could not rescind the notice. However, said she, if I called the library and asked the supervisor there to sign the slip of paper stating the books I borrowed and showing their due dates, then she felt sure there would be no difficulty in taking the ticket to a court date and having it overturned.
That brings us to the lovely Ellen, supervisor at the Fairview Branch of the Toronto Public Library. I spoke to her at 10:10 this morning. She listened to my explanation and my request for her signature to verify that I did go into the library and did not just park my car there to go off somewhere else. She listened, and then she refused. "We get so many people parking here to go to the subway," she said when I asked the reason for her refusal. Period. Ellen is not interested in the possibility that I might just be telling her the truth. Ellen is not interested in the fact that I have that slip of library paper showing I was there, borrowing books, just the right sort of thing to be doing, given that I was parked in the library's lot. When I spoke to Ellen, she actually felt the need to lecture me and say that my going off the lot was no different than people parking right under a no-parking sign and thinking no-one will notice while they go off to do whatever. I would love to know if I actually was talking to the second incarnation. She was talking as though the parousia had happened and she was the one who had come down to earth. "You went off the property", she said, "You deserved the ticket." News flash, Ellen. No-one actually died and made you the resident deity. You're just a peremptory virago with no interest in anything but your sacred regulations.
Someone said to me that I was "too honest". They insisted I should have maintained that I never left the property and then it would have come down to my word against that of the issuing officer. I can't do that. The truth is that I did leave the property, for all of the five to ten minutes it took to walk across the two lots, say goodbye to my daughter and then return. If Ellen can not see her way to allowing such use of the precious parking lot at the library, then I am stuck with paying the $30.00 infraction fee, and I will do so, even those boooks have now become my most expensive ever library reading.
I see this whole situation as coming down to Ellen's holier-than-thou attitude. It's rather sad when someone like her is so unable to give even a little. She may not think so, but the library will survive even when she kicks the bucket someday. It will survive without her to take such fanatic good care of its parking lot. Since my fine will be paid to the City of Toronto, Ellen is not zealously bringing in funds for the library with her refusal to affix her all-important signature to my library slip. Perhaps, just perhaps, she is power tripping. The bottom line is that my parking infraction won't make any great difference to anything, but Ellen's learning how to smile and be a little more human might make a difference in her life. If her highness can ever manage it, that is.

What's in Your Food?

The question is beginning to be publicly asked - is the use of sludge as fertilizer for food crops such a good idea? Sludge, also called "biosolids" is what remains after a 15-day process that begins with the water being filtered and reclaimed from the raw waste in sewage plants. The official position, of course, is that the sludge is tested and safe, and that there are no documented cases of adverse affects from its use.
There are others who call it "toxic stew" and view its farmland use with alarm. One such person is Ellen Harrison, the recently retired director of Cornell University's Waste Management Institute. She cites the dearth of health studies that have been conducted to examine the issue. One study recently published by researchers from the University of Toledo found a significant increase in problems such as abdominal bloating and jaundice among those exposed to fields treated with this toxic stew. A 2002 review conducted here in Canada by the city of Ottawa found that "a surveillance system for monitoring health effects from biosolids does not appear to exist in any jurisdiction. Such a finding would not bolster confidence in the official position that the sludge is tested and safe for use on our farm fields.
A similar lack of confidence would result when a government decision like the one permitting the use of sludge on karst topography is taken directly in violation of the drinking water protection bylaw of Melancthon, the area in question. Can a government that so freely undermines Ontario's water protection really be trusted when they declare the use of sludge as farmland fertilizer to be safe?
I remember when I was teaching an intermediate level class in the late 90's, when the government of Ontario really began to up their promotion of sludge as a viable alternative to chemical fertilizers. I taught the class about the process of waste water filtering and reclamation. I taught them about sludge and what could comprise the evil substance. I tried to encourage them to question its safety and not just accept the official stance simply because it was "official". I remember the other staff members who belittled my efforts and laughed at what I was teaching my class. I wonder if any of them remembers their scornful rejection of my concerns when they read today about such concerns as sludge introducing heavy metals, radioactive waste and chemicals into the food chain.
Food giants Del Monte, Gerber and Campbell Soup all have a no-biosolids policy in place, saying that since not enough is known about the substance's safety, they will not take chances. Del Monte put its policy into practise in the early 80's, a decade or so before the mental midgets teaching at that school laughed at my concerns. Toronto toxicologist Doctor Anne Mildon says the provincial government is in a "state of denial" about the question of sludge as a safe fertilizer. In a 2007 interview, Mildon said "It’s a stew and you cannot possibly know from one day to the next exactly what’s in that stew.It all depends on what comes down the pipe to the sewage plant." Since Mildon has been a member of the toxicology field in Canada for over 35 years and she is the one who developed the Mildon-French Equation or air quality index used internationally, it would seem that she has firmly established herself as an expert to heed when she sounds a note of alarm. Maybe it is time for the rest of the population to take their heads out of the sand and stop being as blindly trusting as my former colleagues were. Maybe we need to echo the alarm of Mildon and others like her, and let the government know that we are more than just unquestioning sheep they can blithely lead to the slaughter.

Nothing to Be Proud Of

Just a couple of items I've come across recently.

The first is that Ontario is only managing to recycle or reuse 27% of its electronic waste at the moment. On Thursday July 10, Environment Minister John Gerretsen signed a regulation that will put in place per item fees for all television and computers sold in the province. The fees will be paid by producers and importers and will take effect on April 1, 2009. The money will be used to fund the collection and recycling of the products. The question is why only TV's and computers? What about all the other electronic products like cell phones and pagers, modems and cameras, to mention just a few? Why does it have to take so long for us to get around to doing the smart thing? Why does it take so long for the general public to realize that it's all going to benefit them directly, so much so that to bitch and whine about the cost is only to prove that the IQ of those who complain is obviously a great deal lower than might have been thought. Of course, there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth over the cost of covering the program and whether or not the cost should be passed on to the consumer, but those who complain the loudest would do well to remember Mark Twain's words: "It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt."

The second hang-your-head-in-shame item comes from the Olympics. How sad to find out that it was not until the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney that women competitors were no longer required to prove that they were, indeed, female. The men have never been placed under such humiliating duress. Female athletes have been required to walk naked in front of a panel of doctors;(Sounds a bit like an officially organized peep show, doesn't it? I wonder why the word of one doctor would not have sufficed? I also wonder if they bloody well made popcorn and munched while the women paraded?) submit to gynaecological examinations; and have scrapings from their cheeks tested for male chromosomes. Although I did look it up, I was unable to find any record of an Olympic meet at which all the supposed male athletes had to parade naked to prove they had the right protuberances dangling from the appropriate locations.
It's not as though the Olympic record is rife with male athletes masquerading as women. The only real example of it comes from the 1936 games, when Hermann Ratjen, (who did his little true confession in the 50's) was supposedly forced by the Nazi government to compete as a women in the high jump. The master Aryan plan to scoop up the medals was a miserable failure anyway, since the redoubtable Herr Ratjen was bested by three women in the event.
Before the congratulatory pats on the back begin because the testing is now history, it should be noted that the ground gained has only been made available to some female athletes. The IOC continues to condone the male-only teams being sent by such countries as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. They know full well that the women are absent only because of the misogynistic inequality perpetrated by the governments of those countries, and yet they accept the one-gender teams. Games that really stood for the equality of all athletes would not accept teams from any country that excluded capable competitors solely on the basis of what does or does not dangle between their legs.
We may have come a long way, but we women still have such a very long way to go.

Should a Passport Cost an Arm and a Leg?

The Saturday July 12 issue of the Toronto Daily Star carried a story about "terps", the Afghan men and women who work with the American and Canadian forces stationed there, often as interpreters. It focuses on Hasham, one of the terps who has paid a heavy price for the privilege of earning $600.00 a month for allying himself with the Canadians. Hasham lost his left leg from below the knee to a roadside bomb in April. Since the accident, he has avoided returning to his home, answering his mother's enquiries about his next leave with made-up stories about a new mission or patrol that needs him. He tells an interviewer he is afraid to go home now that he has lost a leg. The injury would mark him as someone who has involved them self with the foreign forces, someone on whom the Taliban would take revenge by either killing him and/or his family. A Corporal Tim Laidler is quoted in the article as saying that he hopes the Canadian government will find a way to help injured employees like Hasham.
Shouldn't that be a government priority? Of course, the Afghans who take on this job do so with no delusions about the dangers of the position, but they do it because of the pay, if not for altruistic reasons, as well. Nonetheless, those who sustain injury in the line of duty should be regarded as having paid their dues. Surely they should be regarded as having met any and all expectations set on those who seek entry to Canada. Hasham and any others like him should have the process of immigration to Canada immediately expedited for them. A lost limb is more than enough to pay for a passport.

The Three Day Work Year

No mistake in the title. Approximately three days of work is all it took the average Joe in the top 0.1% of American wage earners to make what the average guy in the bottom 90% worked all year to earn in 2006. For working a whole year, that "average Joe" up at the top made $2.1 million, according to analysis conducted by the Economic Policy Institute. Kinda' makes you want to just roll over tomorrow and go back to sleep when the alarm rings, doesn't it? Well, depending on which group you're in, that is.

Idle Talk

Toronto city officials are talking of limiting the amount of time drivers will be allowed to idle their vehicles before they run afoul of the law. Under Toronto's current bylaw, cars can idle for three minutes, but the proposed change to the law would chop that right down to 10 seconds.
According to T.O.'s chief medical officer, Dr. David McKeown, pollution kills 1,700 Torontonians a year, and vehicle emissions contribute heavily to that toll. The current bylaw states that, "Contaminants from vehicle exhaust are major contributors to deteriorating air quality in Toronto." At the moment, the penalty for breaking the idling bylaw can be a fine of up to $125.00, but enforcing the bylaw is difficult because the officer has to stand and time the idling for three minutes before they can do anything. Enforcement generally takes place only during the occasional blitz. Part of the city's proposal that I like is their urging of the provincial and federal governments to investigate requiring new vehicles to have devices that would automatically shut off the engine after it has idled for a set period of time.
I have recently seen more than one car left idling in a parking lot while the owner did whatever in some store. The most recent was a Nissan Murano SL AWD with the Ontario license plate AXJY 263 that idled for at least ten minutes while I stood watching. Since I saw that one in June, there wasn't even the possibility of the moron who left it running claiming they were doing so to keep it warm against winter's cold. They were simply choosing to ignore all the information made public about the dangers posed by idling engines to the environment and to other people, in order to suit some stupid purpose of their own. Such people are morons, and since there is at the moment no way to prevent brain-dead idiots from purchasing vehicles, it gives me great pleasure to think of the engine being programmed to be more intelligent than such an owner.
Another proposed change to the bylaw would be to remove the exemption granted "for idling during extreme outdoor temperatures to ensure heating or cooling inside a vehicle." That's a great idea. In winter, people should wear clothing sufficient to guarantee warmth during the few short minutes it takes for the heater to temper winter's worst. Likewise during the summer, anyone so frail as to be unable to survive the couple of minutes it takes for A/C to cool off the car's interior belongs inside a hospital or some such sheltered environment anyway.
One hope for the idling prohibition to finally be accepted by such mental midgets as the Nissan owner mentioned above lies in the prices at the pumps. Since they have gone up yet again, the government should mount a public education programme. As well as detailing pollution facts, they need to be sure to inform everyone of the following: ten seconds of idling uses more fuel than turning off your engine and restarting it. Maybe that will help the simple-minded to finally see the light.

HAPPY CANADA DAY

I just came back in from my yearly observance of a family Canada Day ritual, and I'm feeling good! Each year, my daughter and I head out for a 40 minute walk along a busy street right by our home. As we walk, we wave Canadian flags over our heads, and call out to everyone near, "Happy Canada Day". Although it has previously been only myself and my younger daughter, today she and I were joined by her older sister, and so the three of us made our way along our usual route, laughing and feeling proud of our country; feeling the pleasure of the blessing it is to live here in beautiful, peaceful Canada. Each year, the responses we receive run the same gamut. There are those who don't give us a second look and many who do, waving from inside their cars, or shooting a hand out the window to give a thumbs-up. The ones we like best are the ones who honk their horns, especially those who do so repeatedly in a joyous refrain of O! Canada. As we waited to cross the last intersection before we were back home, we were given the loudest, longest chorus ever of happy honks and cheers.
Oh Canada!