A Little Félicité News

I told everyone about Félicité Avice just a short while ago. She is a Kiva entrepreneur who was "born around 1969" in Togo. When I first learned of Félicité , she was seeking a Kiva loan for $575.00 to finance a travelling business selling soap.
While so many of us in the western world bemoan the latest financial ups and downs, and try to decide how best to cut our losses, she deals with circumstances most of us have never experienced. No matter how we complain about the latest stock market problems, most of us likely never will experience first-hand the daily difficulties of life in the third world. To find ourselves in such straits might well be more than we could handle, and yet this doughty woman soldiers on, doing her utmost to raise herself and her family to a higher standard of living. I received news just this morning about Felicite. Although it was late August before Félicité had her loan, she has already paid back 8 per cent of the money. This is one hard working, determined woman.
Go get 'em, Félicité ! I'm behind you all the way.

With a Clean Conscience

The public awareness of the environmental damage wrought by so many cleaning products is gradually being raised, and so the demand for eco-friendly alternatives is growing. Of course, one catch for many is that they want convenience. They don't want to bother with the measuring and fuss of DIY home cleaners. It's not hard to find websites that will tell you how and what to mix for totally natural cleaners, but, let's be real. How many people are really going to do that? Most still want to spray on or pour in something that's already in handy-dandy size, easy-to-use packaging. Enter "METHOD". Describing themselves as "people against dirty", they take pride in the way they conduct their business, saying, "Our cleaning formulas contain biodegradable ingredients derived from natural materials like soy, coconut and palm oils. Our packaging is made from the most readily recyclable materials. Our CO2 emissions from employee commute and travel are offset with carbon credits and the energy used in our manufacturing sites and our office is from renewable energy credits. And our products are never tested on animals. Because we believe guinea pigs should never be used."
They have a full range of products, but the latest one they're promoting is called "Smarty Dish", a non-toxic dishwasher detergent that really keeps the idea of convenience in mind. Made without phosphates and bleach, it comes in pre-measured dose tablets. What could be easier? Pop one of these babies in the detergent compartment and never give another thought to having the little door refuse to close on the overload after you've poured out too much powder. Made entirely from non-toxic and biodegradable ingredients, Smarty Dish also means you never have to give another thought to harming the environment when you press your dishwasher's "ON" button.
They have a great line-up of products, from bath and body care to laundry products; dish and laundry to baby care products. Still on the topic of convenience, visit the site and you'll see a listing of where-to-buy locations for the USA, Canada, and the UK, as well as online. It means just about everybody who really wants to feel better about their contribution to caring for the environment can do so with a minimum of fuss and bother.

Calling Out for Civil Rights

The voice that is calling out belongs to Parvin Ardalan, but the repressive regime in Iran seeks to silence it. They have jailed her three times in the last three years for "distributing propaganda". The latest sentence was handed down this past September, putting her behind bars for six months. Her crime is wanting equality for women; wanting to bring about an end to Iran's gender apartheid. The propaganda she distributed was her writing for the magazine "Zanan". After Ahmadinejad's regime shut down the mag, Ardalan continued to raise her voice by writing online at such websites as "Zanestan". That writing resulted in her latest jail term, imposed for "publishing information against the government", under article 500 of the Islamic criminal code. Apparently, calling for women to have rights is regarded as being against the government by the bright lights who currently run Iran, the country that ranked 166th out of 169 countries rated in the latest Reporters Without Borders' world press freedom index.
What an incredibly brave woman Ardalan is, to raise her voice against a regime that delights in persecuting those with intelligence. What a brave soul she is to call out for equality in a country where women's lives are regarded as expendable at best. She and the other Iranian women like her who continue to protest the conditions of gender apartheid imposed by Ahmadinejad's misogynist government are to be lauded. They need more than our respect, however. They need our support, as well. They need us to take a minute and sign the petition of the "One Million Signatures" campaign, demanding an end to discriminatory laws against women in Iran. Following the link here will allow you to access more information about Ardalan and her civil-rights colleagues, as well as the petition itself.
The work that she does in protesting the conditions in her homeland is desperately needed. One example alone of the systemic injustice imposed on females in Iran is to be found within the barbaric practice of charging and trying children as adults. The glaring lopsidedness in the midst of this particular government-sanctioned evil is that sentences are passed on girls in this way starting from the age of 9 years old, while the inhuman treatment does not start for boys until they are 15 years old.
Ardalan was recently awarded the Olof Palme Memorial Fund Award for her work, but her passport was seized just as she prepared to go and accept the award. The fact that she was given the award tells Ahmadinejad that the eyes of the world have seen Ardalan. That alone may be saving her at the moment from an assassin's bullets, but the Iranian government needs to be reminded that we are still watching.
Please, take a minute to sign the petition.

Trebuchets and Pumpkins

My Sunday morning peace and calm was shattered this morning by the Weather Network. The announcer was narrating a short film clip showing an outdoor gathering that was supposedly good family fun for the fall. Where it was happening is not the point. What was happening, is. Everyone was gathered around a functional trebuchet, watching and cheering as it was used to launch pumpkins into flight. They would, of course, smash to the ground at whatever distance away, and then someone would run over to measure the distance achieved.
I was immediately struck by what a comment the whole scene makes on the wastefulness of North America. While there are children starving to death every minute elsewhere in the world, we are raising food crops here for no other reason than to play with the food before we discard it. We waste myriad pumpkins every autumn, although they are edible. We do it just to pass a little time, just to have a laugh. It is shameful.
When I went to the web to look up the practice, I found that it was not uncommon. I also found one site wherein the author said, "The looks on the kids faces as they pulled the trigger... made the day, for me." Give your a head a shake, people. Dear God, give it a shake.
We dedicate so much acreage, so much water to raising pumpkins solely for the purpose of waste. If these people want so badly to see smiles put on a child's face by launching something from a trebuchet, could they not do it with small boulders? It's really not that difficult to think of an alternative. Let each child point out the rock they want launched as theirs. Measure and record the length of its flight, and do the same with every child there. Even if you don't have an unlimited supply of boulders, the good thing is you can reuse them, unlike pumpkins which are likely to split apart on impact. When all the children are accounted for, the one whose missile travelled the furthest could be sent home with a year's supply of pumpkin pie, if Farmer Brown really can't think of anything else to do with the food crop he has raised.
In north america, it seems that all one has to do to justify just about anything is phrase it in terms of bringing smiles to children. Think about the smile it would put on the face of some poor little one, beset with starvation, to find themselves holding a bowl of that pumpkin, cooked up and fragrant with spice. Think of the smile on their face when they felt their poor distended little tummy filled up with food for the first time in how long.
Dear God, think about it, north america.

Mental Midgets in Malaysia

Apparently, Malaysia's main body of Islamic clerics has issued an edict banning tomboys, claiming that girls who act like boys violate the tenets of Islam. How bloody stupid can those morons possibly be?
Harussani Idris Zakaria, the mufti of northern Perak state, spoke after attending Thursday's meeting of the National Fatwa Council and said it was the council's decision that tomboys should be banned because their actions are immoral. Although the council's idiocy was not passed into law, the Muslims who make up 60% of Malaysia's 27 million generally follow the council's edicts whether they are national law or not. These idiots have set the stage for some more woman bashing, haven't they? Harussani says that tomboy behaviour is forbidden in Islam and that it is a sin.
Can you just see the headlines that could come out of Malaysia now that the council has declared girls should not "dress, walk or act like boys". I mean, since they didn't offer guidelines on just exactly how it is that boys behave and precisely which aspects of masculine behaviour are verboten for females, just about anything done or said by a female could be decried as unnaturally boy like by some misogynist, and then the way is clear for a stoning. After all, why shouldn't a good Muslim male go for the glory of cleansing the landscape of female blights? Why not secure for himself an added houri or two to enjoy when he finally kicks the bucket after a lifetime of hounding women for more and more imagined misdemeanors?
Why don't these fucking idiots ever put two and two together and figure out that they wouldn't even be here if it weren't for having been given birth by a woman? Why don't they realize that they actually need the female half of the population and start trying to get along with them, instead of constantly wasting so much time and energy to perpetuate the sad little myth of male superiority? How endlessly insecure can these twits be?
Some girl tossing a baseball around, or cutting her hair short, or even looking a man straight in the eye isn't going to end the world. It isn't going to do dick all, except allow women to do more of what they are every bit as able to do as men. It isn't going to jeopardize any one's soul, but it might actually get around to saving some of the souls of men who would otherwise jeopardize them by indulging in the sin of hate.
Look at the women who strive for gold at the Olympics, after all. How many times has Allah sent a fireball hurtling toward any Olympic venue in order to cleanse it of the corruption supposedly to be found there among the women athletes? If he were actually incensed by the physical prowess of the distaff side, he wouldn't need any insignificant mortal to act for him. He could just lower one mighty foot from the clouds and stomp on all the athletes, like humans stomp on anthills. Maybe the fact that this particular event has not yet taken place at any games venue indicates that the deity is OK with the whole thing of women "acting like men". Maybe it indicates that he actually could care less, or maybe that he isn't even there at all.
Maybe those brainless jerks on Malaysia are all a few cards short of a full deck and the truth of the matter is really the other way around. Perhaps the fatwa should be issued against men behaving like women. After all, every man in the world has imitated his mother simply by breathing. Yes guys, the mother breathes first, before the fetus is ever capable of doing so. If a woman doesn't carry the fetus to full term, it will likely never start to breathe, even if it is a male. If, however, it does make it successfully down the birth canal, one of its very first actions will be to draw a lungful of air, just like its mother has been doing for the first nine months of its life. Shouldn't that lead to all men being banned, for acting like women?
All we have to do now is appoint a fatwa council comprised solely of women. Of course, you'd want to include some good ol' tomboys on that council, some women of strength;, and then set them to work out the definition of "banned". Could be fun, don't you think?

You Said It, Sara!

Here in Canada, athletes are largely on their own when it comes to covering the costs of training, a situation which can lead to some innovative means of raising cash. Take the two women cross-country skiers, the Canadian women's rugby team and now the five female biathletes who have all tried their hand at the same fundraiser. Actually, it was more than just their hands that got involved, since the method they've all used is posing nude for calendars. Of course, it's been quite tastefully done, with the rugby team members strategically positioning Canadian flags and rugby balls, and the biathletes using their rifles for much the same purpose.
While the team does get some funding, they lack a major corporate sponsor, so they're still underfunded. Says biathlete Zina Kocher,"To put it in perspective, when I'm standing on the start line with a German athlete, she's receiving in support what our national team budget is." This past summer, two team members had to come up with $4,000. to attend a training camp. They paid it out of their own pockets. Thus, the calendar.
The women are hoping to sell 5,000 copies of "Bold Beautiful Biathlon" at $25. each, including shipping, thereby raising $80,000 to help cover travel and training expenses for the 2010 Olympics.
What can you expect from the calendar? Well, according to the team's Megan Imrie, "We're not just sitting around looking pretty. We're showing we have muscles and we worked hard for them." There's more than one reason why (hopefully) 5,000 people will buy the calendar, which shows the women in strong, athletic poses. The women themselves say that their goal in making this calendar is to "empower women and girls through inspiring quotes and expressing the beauty of an athletic body."While there will be those who reach into their wallets for a laugh, prurient or not, hopefully there will also be some who will buy one for the teen aged girls in their lives. Cross-country skier Sara Renner put it really well when she said, "As the mother of a daughter, I would be proud to see pictures of these role models on my child's wall as opposed to a synthetically enhanced Hollywood star."

Gulu Walk 2008

Thousands of people in more than 80 cities around the world are preparing to walk this Saturday, October 25 -- to raise their voices for peace and stability in northern Uganda.
Online registration at www.guluwalk.com closes on Thursday, Oct. 23 at 6 p.m. EST, but anyone can register onsite the day of the walk.
The following cities are walking to raise awareness of the current situation in northern Uganda, where sustainable programs are instrumental to rebuilding the country and providing a future for the children in the region:
In Canada: Antigonish, Burlington, Calgary, Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Fredericton, Goderich, Grande Prairie, Guelph, Halifax, Hamilton, Kelowna, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Montreal, Oshawa, Ottawa, Regina, St. John's, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Windsor, and Winnipeg.
In the United States: Albion, Atlanta, Boston, Boulder, Chapel Hill, Charlottesville, Clemson, Colorado Springs, Dallas, Grand Rapids, Greenville, Iowa City, Kansas City, La Crosse, Lawrence, Lewisburg, Los Angeles, Memphis, Nashville, New York, Norfolk, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, Raleigh, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Slippery Rock, South Bend, St. Augustine, St. Louis, and Washington.
Internationally: Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Beijing (China), Birmingham (England), Cardiff (Wales), Flekke (Norway) Gulu (Uganda), Gwangju (South Korea), Jerusalem (Israel), Kampala (Uganda), Lome (Togo), London (England), Manchester (England), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Perth (Australia), Tweed Heads (Australia), and Uzice (Serbia).

For more information on route specifics, follow this link to the Guluwalk website. There you can learn about the history of the walk, info about the war-affected youth helped each year by Guluwalk. Through partnership with War Child Canada, Guluwalk currently funds two Ugandan projects, the Northern Uganda Child Legal Defence Project and the Gilrs Education Initiative Project. In the first year of the latter project, 25 families received educational support. Girls from 13 to 26 years old who are heads of households and/or child mothers were included in the education initiative, and their children and dependents aged 3 to 16 were also provided with educational opportunities. Visit the website to learn more about Guluwalk and to download posters or buy merchandise.

FYI

If you're interested in exploring the web's largest green audio download site, click here. You'll find yourself at the homepage of Radio Ecoshock, where you can access, among other features, a list of friendly links, and audio on demand on topics ranging from alternative energy and climate change to genetic modification and toxic chemicals.
Educating yourself is empowering yourself, in a way that big business would never help you to. They won't trip over themselves in any effort to get the truth to you, so seeking it out yourself is the way to go. The examples of what the corporate giants don't want you to know are myriad, but just to make the point, let me zero in on one.
I've waxed eloquent before about "room fresheners", but I have since learned more about them. The Natural Resources Defense Council has recently conducted an evaluation of 14 air fresheners, but have you seen any ads, say for Febreze, that give you info about the NRDC's findings? Of course not.
What the NRDC did find resulted in their filing a petition calling for all air-freshener products to be tested for consumer safety and regulated by the government. Why would they do that? Again, you have to ask yourself, have you seen any ads for Glade or any of the others that tell you 12 of the 14 tested by the NRDC contain varying amounts of phthalates, chemicals that may affect fertility, cause cancer, and trigger developmental abnormalities in infants? Of course not.
In case you're wondering why you should pay any attention at all to the findings of the NRDC, you should know a little bit about them.
"NRDC is (America's) most effective environmental action organization. We use law, science and the support of 1.2 million members and online activists to ... ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things ... NRDC was founded in 1970 by a group of law students and attorneys at the forefront of the environmental movement. NRDC lawyers helped write some of America's bedrock environmental laws. Today, our staff of more than 300 lawyers, scientists and policy experts -- a MacArthur "genius" award-winner among them -- work out of offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing. The National Journal says we're "A credible and forceful advocate for stringent environmental protection."
Visit the good folk at the Natural Resources Defense Council and sign up for their newsletter. Keep yourself one step ahead of those who want you to part with some money more than you want you to be safe. The immediate environment for you and your family is the one you call home. Of course, you want it to be the healthiest environment you can make it. You'll get a lot more help doing so from organizations like the NRDC and websites like Radio Ecoshock, than you ever will from the corporate giants who want you to open up your wallets.

Morality in Trade

October 17th is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. What can you do to contribute to the day? Maybe something to consider would be curling up with a good book, in this case, "The No-Nonsense Guide to Fair Trade" by David Ransom, co-editor of the New Internationalist magazine. The book takes a close look at the difference between "free" trade and "fair" trade and examines the conscience of trade. Chapters in the book deal with various trade commodities from bananas to blue jeans; cocoa to coffee, and introduce the reader to some of the people behind these items.
Having a solid understanding of fair trade could help you to make an ongoing contribution, rather than one just act of conscience undertaken on one day a year.
According to Ransom, a technique every consumer should use before opening their wallet is to ask themselves who is accountable for the product and who will benefit from its purchase. Certainly, the answer to the first question is that all too often no-one is really accountable for the product, and the answer to the second query is usually that the "haves" will end up having even more, while the "have-nots" gain nothing.
Those who believe in fair trade believe that it is the best way to bring morality to trade, and that this will be the best way to help alleviate poverty.

Snippets

We here in Canada may be experiencing a tight time financially, especially with what's going south of the 49th parallel, but it might feel just a little bit better if you put the situation into perspective. Our inflation rate as of this June is 3.1%. Compare that to the inflation rate as of this June in Zimbabwe. Theirs stands at 11.2 MILLION per cent. Maybe we still have it better than we think.


In a variation on the theme of car washes, P.D. McLaren Limited, a Burnaby self-serve car wash manufacturer is producing dog-wash bays. The two are basically the same, with the dog washes being on a slightly smaller scale than those for the family chariot. In the smaller version, you can shampoo Rex or Fido, give 'em a flea and tick wash, disinfect them and even use a skunk-spray deodorizer. After you've given your four-footed friend the works, you can use an air hose to dry him or her off. Apparently, the various models available are selling well, in places as close as California and as far away as New Zealand. Now, who's going to scale it all down a little further still for the family guinea pig?



Two giants from the world of arts have been hit with diseases that seem especially cruel, given who the two are and the ailments that have attacked them.
David Levine, the pen-and-ink artist whose work has appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, Esquire, Time, and the New York Review of Books has been hit with macular degeneration. This disease of the eye will likely take Levine into the dark, before it is finished with him, leaving him unable to see the beauty of the world around him or to add to it with his artistry.
Terry Pratchett, originator of the Discworld series of novels, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. This vicious disease will not only drag Pratchett into the darkness of dementia. It will also consign all of his wonderful characters to the living death of Alzheimer's before death itself swings his sickle to sever Pratchett's life line. I watched my father sink deeper and deeper into the morass of mental inertia that characterizes this disease, and I hate to think of what it will do to the list of personalities who will drown in its depths along with the author. The impending loss of Granny Weatherwax, and Nanny Ogg seem especially sad to me. If you are a fan of the discworld, you will know that they will both go bravely into the dark, but those of us left behind know they will have to die twice - once, when Pratchett's mind ceases to function, and once again when his body finally gives up the struggle.
Truly sad.

The Pope's Marathon Yawn

This past weekend Pope Benny started off a marathon reading of the bible which will last seven days and six nights; will be broadcast live on Italian TV; and will involve about 1,300 readers before it is done. The readers will include jews and muslims, because the first five books of the bible make up the Torah, Judaism's holy book, and the bible, in its entirety is regarded as the precursor to Islam's Quran.
Supposedly, the reason for this marathon is "to bring the listening and reading of the Bible to a wider public of every age and condition," according to Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office. "The church encourages the faithful to read and understand the Holy Scriptures. . . . The pope, therefore, intends to give a personal example . . ."
If Benny really wants the faithful to read the bible more, he could do a whole lot better in his mission to bring the scriptures into peoples' homes. His personal example, rather than being to read a little in a live video link broadcast from the Apostolic Palace, would be much better if he started it off with a little thought given to the place from which he read. How many of his flock live in the palatial surrounding he does? How many of them have to spend the hours of each day in a struggle simply to stay alive, with no time left over for the pursuit of the written word? How many of them have no idea of how to read, even if they did have a bible and some spare time in which to peruse its contents? There are far too many, mired in numbing poverty, who will have no idea that this marathon is even taking place, and would certainly have no electronic gadget on which to view it if they were aware.
If the pope really meant it when he claimed that he wanted the bible to belong to everyone, then he should have made a very different appearance last weekend. He should have come out onto his balcony and told the world that he was about to host a garage sale and that the items for sale would include all the art, all the books, all the jewels and filthy lucre the vatican has accumulated over the centuries. He should have stood there and announced his intent to take the profits and hand them over to an establishment to be set up which would work toward ensuring that everyone, down to the least of his flock would be taught how to read; would be given an education that would enable them to have a life just a little bit more on a par with J.C.'s supposed rep here on planet earth. Benny should put a little more effort into following the example of Jesus, and living from day-to-day with nothing more than the clothes on his back while he strives to ameliorate the conditions under which his flock toil. I think that would mean a whole lot more to the faithful than a marathon reading of some book.

Ottawa Bus Driver Should Be Fired

Sarah Pacey was ready to go home on Saturday after being out and about with her two daughters, two-year-old Aimee and seven-month-old Lea-Marie. The vehicle of choice was one of Ottawa's public transit buses, but when one stopped for them, the normal routine went badly wrong. The bus doors opened and little Aimee made her way up the steps, as she had learned to do, expecting her mother to follow with her sister. There was, however, another woman waiting at the same stop who had a stroller as well. This prompted the driver to announce to the two women that only one would be allowed on. Pacey began protesting that she had no knowledge of there being a one-stroller policy, but the driver would not change his mind. As Pacey began lifting up her stroller and telling the driver that she wanted to speak to his supervisor, he closed the bus doors and drove away. The two year-old was on the bus, and crying for her mother, who by this time was running along the sidewalk, praying the stroller wouldn't tip, and yelling for the bus to stop. Another woman, Nicole Carriere, joined her in the pursuit while passengers on the bus began protesting what was happening. About 100 metres down the road, the driver pulled over, but left it to a male passenger to pass the distraught toddler to her equally upset mother.
According to City of Ottawa spokesman Michael Fitzpatrick there is no official transit policy limiting buses to one stroller. An internal investigation into the incident was launched and the driver was suspended, but Pacey wants to see this despot-wannabe lose his job. There is certainly no lack of witnesses to his arbitrary nastiness.
I agree with Pacey completely. After what he did, taking off with that little girl, there really is no good reason why he shouldn't be fired immediately.

Putting Nature Front and Centre

If you feel like the environment is one of the biggest issues in Canada's upcoming federal election, you probably want to know where the various political parties stand on this issue. If you don't already have that info at hand, this is a great site to visit. You can watch "the Doc Speaks" and find out what David Suzuki says on the topic of keeping the environment front and centre this election. You can also find some great suggestion on how to get involved yourself in the cause, starting with posting an article on the site's community blog. You'd be in great company. Suzuki himself has posted as article there, "When Greenwashing Becomes a Crime", about businesses "bragging about some product or something they've done that seems green without a real commitment to what being green means." Give the site a minute or two. The worst thing that could happen is you'll come away even more aware than you already are.
If you're a little unsure about the whole issue and you'd like to learn more, here's another site you'll find really worth a visit. Treehugger, in their own words, "is the leading media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream. Partial to a modern aesthetic, we strive to be a one-stop shop for green news, solutions, and product information." Be aware, in case your reaction might be to dismiss Trehugger site-unseen as yet another preachy, holier-than-thou collection of nature lovers, the site addresses that issue in a very live-and-let-live manner. They say they sympathize with the fact that "most people aren’t willing to compromise their current lifestyle in order to improve our shared environment, so we have created a place where you can discover how to maintain or improve your quality of life while reducing your harmful impact on the earth ... TreeHuggers live in the 21st century ... Knowing that apocalyptic predictions tend to paralyze the masses instead of mobilizing them, we also prefer an enthusiastic, upbeat outlook."
Make yourself a cup of joe, and settle in for a little learning fun. What's not to like?

The Right Sentence

48 years in prison have been handed out to the Denver woman who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the starvation death of a seven-year-old boy. That will make the now 23-year-old Sarah Berry 71 when she next steps out into the light of day as a free woman. It seems only right to me. Given that she and her husband locked the seven-year-old for hours at a time into a closet denying him food, water and toilet facilities, I think she's actually getting off easy. Her husband, the boy's father, was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.
Shouldn't someone in the Canadian justice system should be taking notes from the Americans, on this one at least? Canada is far too soft in its handling of killers.

Wearing the "C"

The Vancouver Canucks have named their goaltender Roberto Luongo as the new captain. Good choice. Coach Alain Vigneault says Luongo can't wear the "C" on his jersey since he is a goalie. Dumb decision.
I know it is not a decision made specifically by the coach, but by those who wrote the NHL rule book, where rule 6.1 states that "No playing coach or playing manager or goalkeeper shall be permitted to act as captain or alternate captain." It's still dumb.
The theory is that the goalie can't wear the "C" because the person sporting that particular letter is the one expected to skate out to discuss calls with officials. The last goalie-captain of the six the NHL has seen was Bill Durnan of the Montreal Canadiens in the '47-'48 season, after which the league passed their rule to prevent goalies from being named to the position. Apparently, Durnan sallied forth from his crease so often to collar the ref that it was felt his team was being given the unfair advantage of unscheduled timeouts. To stay within the league's rules, the "C" will be conspicuous in its absence from Luongo's jersey. Maybe they can velcro it to his locker, instead.
Says Vigneault, ""In our mind, for this organization, this is the right thing to do. Roberto is the right individual to be captain." If the coach feels that strongly about this being the right choice for the team, why can't the rules allow enough leeway for Luongo to have a "C" stitched on his jersey? After all, he is the captain. If it just me, or does it seem so obvious that the captain should wear the traditional insignia of the captain? Let one of the assistant caps be the one to skate out to discussions with the officials, but let the captain wear his letter. If this just can't work, then the team should choose another captain and everyone should stop playing stupid games.

Go 'Way, Britney, You Draw Flies

In the give-me-a-break category, Spears has already won top honours, but this time around, she may even have outdone her own record for mind-boggling inanity.
Having just released "Womanizer" the first single from her new album, Ms. Dodo announced on a New York radio station that she personally likes the "song" because "It's a girl anthem." (Pardon my use of quotation marks around the word song, but it's just that it just feels wrong calling her efforts by the same name as graces actual music. Now, back to the anthem horseshit.)
It is a little difficult for me to type this, since I'm unable to keep my eyes from rolling to a boogie beat, even thinking about this idiot trying to portray her brain-numbing lyrics as empowering in any way for females. Says Spears, "It's basically saying, 'We know what you're up to.' It's about guys cheating on girls." If anyone could actually explain how warbling words that suggest all men are dishonest and untrustworthy enables women in any way, I'd like to hear it. If writing some rather straggly lyrics suggesting that women can only expect men to cheat is more empowering than, say, singing about a woman of real power, "I'll retire to Bedlam," along with Ebenezer. I'm sure it would be far too much to expect that Britney could maybe do a little research and try to write a song about someone the likes of Anna Mae Aquash. Aquash was a woman who fought for freedom and real empowerment, a worthy role model, among all the many others that the distaff side of the species has produced. Does little Miss Britney know about any of them?
Unfortunately, Spears actually has influence. She herself is looked to as a role model by some females, sad as that might be. She could do some good with that influence, if she could just stop thinking of a woman's worth as limited to sexually servicing some male. Too bad she doesn't seem able to see women, herself included, as individuals capable of intellectuality.
Britney, have you ever considered going back to school and actually using your brain for more than just taking up space in the head you sit your hats on?

In Honour of Latchmin

Latchmin Singh is the mother of Guyanese-born David Singh, chairman and CEO of Destiny Group of Companies, "an international business conglomerate committed to the concept of 'Profit with Purpose'." So says the blurb at their website, and so says David Singh himself, speaking with his actions. "Destiny's diversified portfolio is designed to meet client's needs and enhance their quality of life and the lives of those who are less fortunate." When the CEO sets the example that Singh sets, surely you can expect good things from his company. This September just past, Singh added a hostel in India to his other philanthropic works.
Making the gift to AIM, the All India Movement, Singh announced he was doing it in honour of his 78-year-old mother. What a perfectly wonderful gift for her to receive. Such a gift can change the life of the children who will benefit from it, and help to make the world a better place, indeed, since it is the gift of education. The hostels provide more than the three R's, however, including health care and medical facilities while they serve as a nucleus around which an infrastructure is built to provide all the people of the hostel's region with instruction on nutrition, diet, hygiene and sanitation.
AIM has been working in remote areas of India to provide the needy children there with the sheltering hostels and education. At present, there are 48 such hostels in India, housing approximately 2,500 students. Another 22 hostels are under construction.
Education is the only real, effective weapon in the fight against poverty, and hate. Singh's gift to honour his mother is a gift of hope for the future of us all.