How much of Earth's atmosphere must we contaminate? How much of our lands and waters must we pollute? How much of our resources must we plunder, deplete? How many species must we ravage, despoil, extinguish? How many people must we degrade, deprive, destroy with toxic wastes and wars, before we learn to respect one another, to live in harmony on this planet, our Home? "All living beings are brothers and sisters, nourished from the same source of life.." -- Thich Nhat Hanh
I was born in Eastern Europe during the height of the Stalinist regime's reign of terror. Thus, I know what it is like to live under a repressive, dictatorial regime. The fear and terror -- as dissident friends and family members were tortured, imprisoned and some were executed -- is indelibly etched in my memory. That is the reason I have always been an ardent advocate of freedom, social justice, civil liberties, human rights and a voice of peace. The way I see it, war is morally wrong, regardless of who wages it, for whatever reason. No piece of land or commodity is worth the sacrifice of one human life. We are all members of the same race - the "human race" - and must learn to coexist peacefully. Our planet cannot sustain us much longer if we do not stop our wars, nukes, polluting, deforestation, and the wasteful, gluttonous consumption and depletion of our natural resources.
Site Design & Affiliation:
Dale @ The Digital Memoirs Chris Floyd @ Empire Burlesque
|
|
 |
|
âA satisfyingly virulent, comical, absurd, deeply grieving true portrait of how things work today in the sleek factories of conglomerate book producers... A skillful novel of manners -- of very bad mannersâ
âHerb Gold, LA Times
Click to read author interview, reviews and blurbs, first pages of novel, or to buy. |
posted by Annamarie at
9:53 PM
|
0 comment(s)
Nationalism is our form of incest, is our idolatry, is our insanity.
"Patriotism" is its cult. It should hardly be necessary to say, that by "patriotism" I mean that attitude which puts the own nation above humanity, above the principles of truth and justice; not the loving interest in one's own nation, which is the concern with the nation's spiritual as much as with its material welfare—never with its power over other nations.
Just as love for one individual which excludes the love for others is not love, love for one's country which is not part of one's love for humanity is not love, but idolatrous worship.: Erich Fromm (1900-1980), U.S. psychologist.
posted by Annamarie at
9:07 PM
|
0 comment(s)
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
posted by Annamarie at
4:40 PM
|
0 comment(s)
posted by Annamarie at
4:29 PM
|
2 comment(s)
The UN climate change meeting ended in Nairobi with an agreement to take a small step forward to keep the world on track to start formal negotiations on the next round of cuts in CO2 emissions starting in 2007. Read what Keith Stewart, WWF-Canada’s Climate Change Manager has to say about this meeting in our climate change blog.
| THE HOLIDAYS ARE ALMOST HERE Get your shopping done early this year from the comfort of your own home. Shop online and help support WWF's vital efforts to save wildlife and wild spaces. Symbolically adopt a polar bear, owl or orca and receive a fun and educational adoption kit with a cuddly, Earth-friendly stuffed toy. And new this year, you can make even more of a difference by adopting their habitats – the Arctic, the boreal forest and oceans. There are other great gift items including calendars, golf shirts, ball caps, books and so much more! To order online or to browse in our Panda Store go to wwfstore.ca. For the wildlife photography enthusiast on your list – purchase a stunning Roger Hooper photograph from his latest Living Planet exhibit. All proceeds from this exhibit will be donated to WWF-Canada. |
|
|
| ANNUAL REPORT ONLINE WWF-Canada has had a very productive year on many fronts! Read our Annual Report online and learn how your support is helping WWF-Canada achieve globally significant conservation victories. | ||
| THE GREAT CANADIAN POLAR BEAR ADVENTURE The Great Canadian Polar Bear Adventure is a new television special that takes audiences inside the secret lives of polar bears. It’s a magical opportunity to experience life in the Arctic from a polar bear’s perspective, and understand how global warming is threatening their survival. Check it out Sunday December 10 at 7 p.m. (EST) on CBC TV. |
|
posted by Annamarie at
4:24 PM
|
0 comment(s)
posted by Annamarie at
2:54 PM
|
0 comment(s)
posted by Annamarie at
2:50 PM
|
0 comment(s)
Dear Friends,
You may be interested, or know someone who is interested in attending the "One Earth Community" conference next April. See:
http://tlc.oise.utoronto.ca/gathering2007/index.html
posted by Annamarie at
2:30 PM
|
0 comment(s)
posted by Annamarie at
10:07 PM
|
0 comment(s)
"/All things Considered /December 1, 2006 · Iraq's Health Ministry is controlled by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's movement, under an agreement struck by ruling parties, and sectarian influence has impeded healthcare, according to Dahr Jamail, an independent journalist who's been covering Iraq's healthcare system for Inter Press Service, a nonprofit news organization focusing on developing countries.
Jamail says that in his interviews with doctors at 13 hospitals in and around Baghdad in 2004 and 2005, he discovered a highly politicized healthcare system in Iraq, as well as other challenges facing the country's ailing hospitals.
Michele Norris talks with Jamail."
posted by Annamarie at
9:53 PM
|
0 comment(s)
posted by Annamarie at
9:37 PM
|
0 comment(s)
DRUMS OF THE WORLD SUPPORT SIX NATIONS
Water drum, Djembe, Taiko, Tabla & more
A Fundraiser for Kanenhstaton (The Protected Place)
6pm, Thursday December14
CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY
10 Trinity Square (Behind the Eaton's Centre)
Suggested Donation $25
No one turned away
Food & Refreshments will be sold.
Silent Auction featuring:
Aboriginal CD/DVD package
Aboriginal Authors Book Package
Spirit Magazine Subscription + 10 back issues
Aboriginal Crafts
New television set
Raise the Rates DVD
Drumming Lessons
Fair trade coffee
... and more!!!
Bring your drums for a jam after the performances.
EVERY CENT RAISED GOES DIRECTLY TO THE LAND RECLAMATION.
Organized by:
Coalition in Support of Indigenous Sovereignty
For info: the.i.c@hotmail.com
Dear Friend(s):
As you know, the members of the Six Nations of the Grand River community have been engaged in a land reclamation near Caledonia, Ontario since February 28, 2006. This historic action impacts all First Nations on Turtle Island (North America) and beyond; it has advanced indigenous struggles to a level not seen since the start of colonization.
HOWEVER, IT CANNOT SUCCEED WITHOUT YOUR HELP.
The monthly cost of maintaining the camp over the winter months totals $19,000. This is for fuel to keep the generators going, a snow blower, food, clothing, supplies, etc.
A further $10,000 is needed to retain a team of lawyers to defend Onkwehonwe people (indigenous people) who are facing criminal charges for participating in this action.
The Coalition in Support of Indigenous Sovereignty is comprised of diverse solidarity and community groups led by an Indigenous Caucus that has come together to support First Nations Sovereignty on Turtle Island. WE ARE SPEARHEADING A CAMPAIGN TO RAISE $29,000 FOR THE SIX NATIONS RECLAMATION BY DECEMBER 31, 2006.
Please consider supporting this important action. Cheques can be made payable to JANIE JAMIESON and mailed to 10 Britain Street, Toronto, ON, M5A 1R6.
For more information and the latest update, please see http://www.killingtrain.com/archives/csis.htm.
Skennon (Peace)
Coalition in Support of Indigenous Sovereignty.
PS: EVERY CENT COLLECTED GOES DIRECTLY TO THE RECLAMATION PROJECT.
For more info: http://www.killingtrain.com/archives/csis.htm
posted by Annamarie at
9:26 PM
|
0 comment(s)
1. Currently there are 49,700 nursing home beds of which about 10,200 are non profit. Currently there are 24,700 homes for the aged and rest homes beds of which 16,700 are public (municipal) and the rest are non profit (8,000). (Total figures: 39,500 for profit, 18,200 non-profit, 16,700 public.) These beds are governed by three Acts: The Nursing Homes Act, The Charitable Institutions Act, and The Homes for the Aged and Rest Homes Act. Under the Harris government, the Red Tape Commission recommended that the three existing Acts be rolled into one. Since then, there have been reports that the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care has been drafting a new Act. Bill 140 - An Act Respecting Long Term Care Homes is the new Long Term Care Act which repeals the three existing acts and replaces them.
posted by Annamarie at
9:19 PM
|
1 comment(s)
This is the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty's blog. OCAP is a direct-action anti-poverty organization based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We mount campaigns against regressive government policies as they affect poor and working people. In addition, we provide direct-action advocacy for individuals against eviction, termination of welfare benefits, and deportation. We believe in the power of people to organize themselves.
posted by Annamarie at
7:02 PM
|
0 comment(s)
|
Dear friends of United for Peace & Justice, The Iraq Study Group report calls for major changes in U.S. policy in Iraq -- but doesn't call for the only change that will help solve the horrible crisis there: Bringing all the troops home, now. Join us in the streets of Washington, D.C., on Saturday, January 27, to deliver a resounding message to the new Congress: We don't want half measures that will only prolong the bloodshed. It's time to bring an immediate end to the war!
* Volunteer in NYC and/or Washington, D.C. * Endorse this critical action * Make a much-needed donation today * Offer or request transportation to D.C. * Offer or request housing in D.C. * Order your official J27 t-shirt Please be sure to forward this email widely; post it on your blog, or your MySpace or Facebook profile; and talk to friends, family, and colleagues about this politically crucial event. We'll post the details about the march route, starting time, the Congressional Lobby Day on Mon., Jan. 29th, and other logistical matters on our website as soon as they're available. See you in D.C.! Help us continue to do this critical work: Make a donation to UFPJ today. ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE |
posted by Annamarie at
6:25 PM
|
0 comment(s)
[Note for Tomdispatch readers: Be on the look out -- former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega, who took over the Tomdispatch site last week, is tentatively scheduled to appear on The Colbert Report this Thursday. Don't forget to be the first person in the neighborhood to "indict" the President by picking up a copy of her Tomdispatch.com book, United States v. George W. Bush et al., either at Amazon.com or at the website of its independent publisher Seven Stories Press. While you're at it, prepare for winter by stocking up on good company -- bring Chalmers Johnson, Barbara Ehrenreich, Katrina vanden Heuvel, and Mike Davis home for a little conversation by purcha! sing Mission Unaccomplished: Tomdispatch Interviews with American Iconoclasts and Dissenters.]
As of this morning, new polling data about American public opinion on Iraq is on the table. The Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), through its WorldPublicOpinion.org, has just released its post-election poll. On crucial issues, especially the matter of setting a timetable for withdrawal and the Bush administration's (in all but name) permanent bases in Iraq, American and Iraqi public opinion are in remarkably similar places; that the Bush administration, as the election results indicated, is now distinctly a minority regime; and that the Democrats are still largely lagging behind public opinion on Iraq, as is the media, as is James Baker's Iraq Study Group (ISG), which today releases its "consensus report" to the President.
The PIPA numbers indicate that, even if George W. Bush remains adamantly in his no-longer-mission-accomplished, but stay-until-the-mission-is-accomplished dream state, Americans have largely awoken. Yes, they do agree with the ISG recommendations by whopping proportions. Three out of four Americans (including 72% of Republicans), according to PIPA, believe that the U.S. should be engaged in conversation and negotiation with Iran and Syria; and they even more massively favor a major international conference on the Iraqi catastrophe. However, those aren't actually the most interesting figures. Here are some of those:
In the poll, 54% of Americans believe that attacks on U.S. forces are approved by half or more of all Iraqis; 66% (including a near majority of Republicans) believe that a majority of Iraqis oppose the establishment of permanent U.S. bases in their country (only 28% disagree); and 68% (including a majority of Republicans) believe that, in any case, we should not have such bases. This is an especially remarkable set of figures, given that permanent bases have received next to no attention in the American mainstream media.
Most important of all, given the arrival of the Iraq Study Group's "consensus" proposal for a "phased withdrawal" that is to begin without a timetable in sight, 58% of Americans, according to PIPA, want a withdrawal of all U.S. troops on a timeline -- 18% within six months, 25% within a year, 15% within two years. Moreover, if the Iraqi government were to request such a withdrawal on a year's deadline, 77% of respondents (including 73% of Republicans) think we should take them up on it. In this they agree with the Iraqi public. As Middle Eastern expert Robert Dreyfuss wrote recently, "Polls have shown that up to 80% of Sunni Arabs and 60% of Shiite Arabs want an immediate end to the occupation."
These new numbers should act as a wake-up call. Without much help from anyone, politicians or the media, the American people, it seems, have formed their own Iraq Study Group and arrived at sanity well ahead of the elite and all the "wise men" in Washington.
On one other matter, Americans have reached a remarkable conclusion that you're not likely to find either in your local newspaper, on the nightly news, or in the ISG report. On the question, "Do you think the US military presence in Iraq is currently a stabilizing force or provoking more conflict than it is preventing?," only 35% opt for "stabilizing force," while 60% have reached the reasonable conclusion that American forces, rather than standing between Iraq and a hard place, are "provoking more conflict than [they are] preventing." Michael Schwartz, who has been arguing just that for a long time at this website, offers a canny explanation for exactly why this is the case. Tom
Click here to read more of this dispatch.
posted by Annamarie at
6:03 PM
|
1 comment(s)
Last week, someone slipped New York Times reporters Michael R. Gordon and David S. Cloud the secret memo finished by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld just two days before he "resigned." It was the last in a flurry of famed Rumsfeldian "snowflakes" that have fluttered down upon the Pentagon these past years. This one, though, was "submitted" to the White House and clearly meant for the President's eyes. In it, the Secretary of Defense offered a veritable laundry list of possible policy adjustments in Iraq, adding up to what, according to Gordon and Cloud, is both an acknowledgement of failure and "a major course correction."
Think of this last zany, only semi-coherent Rumsfeldian document -- part of Washington's grim ongoing silly season over Iraq -- as Rumsfeld's last stand. In it, he quite literally cycles (as in bicycles) back to the origins of the Bush administration's shredded Iraq policy. It is, in a pathetic sense, that policy stripped bare.
Here are just three last-stand aspects of the memo that have been largely or totally overlooked in most reporting:
1. "Begin modest withdrawals of U.S. and Coalition forces (start ‘taking our hand off the bicycle seat'), so Iraqis know they have to pull up their socks, step up and take responsibility for their country."
From the early, carefree, "stuff happens" period of the occupation comes the wonderfully patronizing image embedded in this mixed metaphor of a passage -- though I suppose Iraqis perched on bike seats could indeed have crumpled socks. The image of the Iraqi (child) learning how to ride the bike of democracy -- or whatever -- with the American (parent) looming behind, hand steadying the seat, was already not just a neocolonial, but a neocon classic by the time the President used it back in May 2004. (In fact, in an even more infantilizing fashion, he spoke of taking the "training wheels" off the Iraqi bike.)
Many others in the administration proudly used it as well. Rumsfeld in his rococo fashion elaborated wildly on the image in a speech to U.S. troops that same year:
Click here to read more of this dispatch.
posted by Annamarie at
5:57 PM
|
0 comment(s)
Last week, someone slipped New York Times reporters Michael R. Gordon and David S. Cloud the secret memo finished by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld just two days before he "resigned." It was the last in a flurry of famed Rumsfeldian "snowflakes" that have fluttered down upon the Pentagon these past years. This one, though, was "submitted" to the White House and clearly meant for the President's eyes. In it, the Secretary of Defense offered a veritable laundry list of possible policy adjustments in Iraq, adding up to what, according to Gordon and Cloud, is both an acknowledgement of failure and "a major course correction."
Think of this last zany, only semi-coherent Rumsfeldian document -- part of Washington's grim ongoing silly season over Iraq -- as Rumsfeld's last stand. In it, he quite literally cycles (as in bicycles) back to the origins of the Bush administration's shredded Iraq policy. It is, in a pathetic sense, that policy stripped bare.
Here are just three last-stand aspects of the memo that have been largely or totally overlooked in most reporting:
1. "Begin modest withdrawals of U.S. and Coalition forces (start ‘taking our hand off the bicycle seat'), so Iraqis know they have to pull up their socks, step up and take responsibility for their country."
From the early, carefree, "stuff happens" period of the occupation comes the wonderfully patronizing image embedded in this mixed metaphor of a passage -- though I suppose Iraqis perched on bike seats could indeed have crumpled socks. The image of the Iraqi (child) learning how to ride the bike of democracy -- or whatever -- with the American (parent) looming behind, hand steadying the seat, was already not just a neocolonial, but a neocon classic by the time the President used it back in May 2004. (In fact, in an even more infantilizing fashion, he spoke of taking the "training wheels" off the Iraqi bike.)
Many others in the administration proudly used it as well. Rumsfeld in his rococo fashion elaborated wildly on the image in a speech to U.S. troops that same year:
Click here to read more of this dispatch.
posted by Annamarie at
5:57 PM
|
0 comment(s)
Finally, the President and the New York Times agree. In a news conference with the Iraqi Prime Minister last week, George W. Bush insisted that there would be no "graceful exit" or withdrawal from Iraq; that this was not "realism." The next day the Times, in a front page piece (as well as "analysis" inside the paper) pointed out that, "despite a Democratic election victory this month that was strongly based on antiwar sentiment, the idea of a major and rapid withdrawal seems to be fading as a viable option."
In fact, in the media, as in the counsels of James A. Baker's Iraq Study Group, withdrawal without an adjective or qualifying descriptor never arrived as a "viable option." In fact, withdrawal, aka "cut and run," has never been more than a passing foil, one useful "extreme" guaranteed to make the consensus-to-come more comforting.
On Wednesday, at the end of a gestation period nearly long enough to produce a human baby, the Baker committee -- by now, according to the Washington Post's Robin Wright, practically "a parallel policy establishment" -- will hand over to the President its eagerly anticipated "consensus" report, its "compromise" plan that takes the "middle road," that occupies a piece of inside-the-Beltway "middle ground," and that will almost certainly be the policy equivalent of a still birth.
Whatever satisfaction it briefly offers, it might as well be sent directly to the Baghdad morgue. At a length of perhaps 100 pages, evidently calling for an "aggressive" diplomatic engagement with neighboring Iran and Syria -- even unofficial American officials advocating diplomacy just can't seem to avoid some form of "aggression" -- it will also, Washington Post reporters Wright and Thomas Ricks assure us, call for "a major withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq" (no timetables, naturally).
It will evidently suggest the following: Talk to those hostile neighbors; "embed" swarms of still-to-be-trained military advisors with Iraqi troops where, so far, they have had little luck except in generating scads of complaints; pull out (or back into our massive Iraqi bases) American "combat forces," except for those slated to be part of an in-country "rapid reaction force," not to speak of all those American trainers and logistics experts; and accomplish this by perhaps early 2008.
All of this will be termed a "short" period of time to change U.S. policy and the path to be headed down will be labeled "phased withdrawal" or the beginning of an "exit strategy." Oh, and while we're at it, make sure to suggest that we embed many of those "redeployed" troops just "over the horizon," probably in Kuwait and some set of small Gulf states, where they can theoretically strike at will in Iraq if the government and military we plan to "stabilize" there turns out to be endangered (as, of course, it will be).
Click here to read more of this dispatch.
posted by Annamarie at
5:56 PM
|
1 comment(s)
The rate of child and family poverty in Canada has been stalled at 17-18% over the past 5 years despite strong economic growth and low unemployment, according to a new report by Campaign 2000. The 2006 National Report Card on Child & Family Poverty finds that 1,196,000 children - almost 1 in every 6 children - live in poverty in Canada. In First Nations communities the child poverty rate is higher: 1 in every 4 children.
“These disturbing findings demonstrate that we need political commitment to a Poverty Reduction Strategy for Canada with targets, timetables and funding. Countries like the United Kingdom have done this with success and Canada can too.” stated Laurel Rothman, National Coordinator for Campaign 2000.
You can voice your concern about child poverty and call for government action by going to http://www.campaign2000.ca and click on Take Action to send a message to the Prime Minister.
Add your voice to the growing call for a poverty reduction strategy
One of the specific things the Make Poverty History platform calls for as a way to end child poverty in Canada is “involving groups where poverty is predominant, such as Aboriginal People, women, minorities and youth in the design and implementation of a domestic poverty reduction strategy.”
Now there is a way you can contribute to designing such a strategy. The National Council of Welfare, an independent body established to advise the government on social development, has recently launched a web-based survey to seek input from Canadians on developing a poverty reduction strategy for Canada. They want to hear from individuals and organizations about why you think there is so much poverty in Canada and what you think we can do about it.
To participate click on: https://media6.magma.ca/www.leverus.com/ncw/?refererid=12
The more people who participate in this survey, the more the results will have to be taken seriously by government.
posted by Annamarie at
4:12 PM
|
0 comment(s)
posted by Annamarie at
3:59 PM
|
0 comment(s)
His Excellency Omar Samad
Ambassador of Afghanistan to Canada
"Afghanistan: A global project in security and development"
posted by Annamarie at
3:48 PM
|
0 comment(s)
posted by Annamarie at
3:36 PM
|
0 comment(s)
(A report will be available on the Ploughshares website in the new year.)
On 4 November 2006 Ploughshares Executive Director John Siebert provided a short briefing on Canadian Forces in Afghanistan to the Justice, Global and Ecumenical Relations (JGER) committee of the United Church of Canada that was meeting in Toronto. Choice Okoro, a JGER staffperson and Project Ploughshares board member, introduced the session by describing the work of the United Church of Canada’s Peace Task Group and their work to develop a comprehensive policy on appropriate actions in support of peoples living in conflict.
On 8 November 2006, Ernie Regehr was one of two presenters at the second of three briefing sessions on Afghanistan held by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. The other presenter was Professor David Bercuson, Director, Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, University of Calgary. Ernie’s presentation is available online. On 11 October 2006 Ernie was guest speaker by telephone at an event organized by Project Ploughshares Calgary on Canada’s role in Afghanistan.
On 24 November 2006 Ernie Regehr spoke at the Annual General Meeting of Mennonite Central Committee Canada in Winnipeg on the responsibilities, pitfalls, and challenges of the resort to force in response to situations of extreme violence and human rights violations against vulnerable populations.
Small arms control and development – a joint Ploughshares-CIDA project
In mid-2006 Project Ploughshares launched a joint project with the Policy Branch of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to translate experience and knowledge regarding the control of small arms and light weapons into guidance for the integration of small arms control into Canada’s development programming. On 6 November 2006 Ploughshares organized the second workshop in this project for CIDA and other Canadian government officials, with John Siebert, Senior Program Associate Ken Epps, and Program Associate Lynne Griffiths-Fulton participating from Project Ploughshares. The workshop heard from Folade Mutota of the Women’s Institute for International Development in Trinidad and Tobago, and Amb. Ochieng Adala of the Africa Peace Forum (APFO), both partner organizations of Project
Ploughshares. Ken Epps made a presentation on the project to a 30 November – 1 December 2006 international workshop in Oslo, Integrating Small Arms Measures into Development Programmes, organized by the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers.
Read more of this Project Ploughshares e-Newsletter here:
http://www.ploughshares.ca/libraries/Newsletter/IssueTwoDec06.htm
posted by Annamarie at
3:12 PM
|
0 comment(s)
posted by Annamarie at
3:06 PM
|
0 comment(s)
