Tag: Canada

So Proud to Be a Canadian

Yesterday on Democracy Now!, Maude Barlow, perhaps “the most important water justice activist in the world,” was interviewed about Wednesday’s UN declaration calling water a fundamental human right;

The United Nations General Assembly has declared for the first time that […] clean water and sanitation is a fundamental human right. In a historic vote Wednesday, 122 countries supported the resolution, and over forty countries abstained from voting, including the United States, Canada [to my country’s credit, if a silver lining can be seen in “our” abhorrent behaviour, at least “we” didn’t vote against this resolution] and several European and other industrialized countries…

I urge all my fellow country people to wander over and bask in the pride of what it truly means to be a Canadian…

Nearly 6 Month’s Later

With the all too predictable absurdity of the G8 and G20 Circus’ behind us, and life returning to normal — for both the privileged minority and, sadly, a disadvantaged majority — it’s business as usual, as they say. Nothing productive has or ever will result for the masses from these meetings. In fact the opposite is more likely the case (see Naomi Klein’s piece, Sticking the public with the bill…, published in the Globe and Mail, today).

However I think it’s much more productive — more than getting into a low stakes pissing contest with disgruntled city citizens who have little to no understanding of what’s being protested — to highlight an issue that is most definitely related to the policies that were discussed, over the weekend, and have largely been forgotten by mainstream media. That being Haiti. The aftermath of the January 12th earthquake. And the reality facing Haitians, nearly 6 month’s later…

Continue reading Nearly 6 Month’s Later

Shame On You!

A majority of my time over the last 12 years, say, has been spent “working” away, poking the various keys on a computer keyboard. Doing everything from fooling around to perfecting a craft. That craft has been, more or less, building websites.

Now, granted, it hasn’t been a primary focus of mine, that is, up until very recently. That’s largely why I haven’t been blogging with a familiar frequency as of late. And last month, especially. However, the need to have the web I use be accessible to the widest possible audiences imaginable, has constantly been an interest of mine, throughout my computing career.

After all my “career,” if you will, started with a giant computer screen and a single head switch, which I used for access, in a lonely hospital room a long 13 years ago. So, at the very least, not being interested in the subject would be mighty irresponsible of me, but not learning and implementing everything I could, toward such an involved practice such as web accessibility, would be even worse…

Continue reading Shame On You!

Canadian Pride

As “we,” like my being a Canadian citizen has anything to do with the Canadian Olympic Hockey Teams performance, prepare to face the Slovakian squad in a semi-final match for the gold this evening, I’m painfully reminded of everything Canadian Pride involves.

You can’t pick and choose what to be patriotic about. It’s all or nothing. So before celebrating Canada’s potential victory tonight, read Yves Engler’s piece, Canada’s Neoconservative Turn, and actually consider everything being a proud Canadian really entails;

“‘Preemptive action’ is likely a euphemism for a bombing campaign. Canadian naval vessels are already running provocative maneuvers off Iran’s coast and by stating that ‘an attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada,’ Kent is trying to create the impression that Iran may attack Israel. But isn’t it Israel that possesses nuclear weapons and threatens to bomb Iran, not the other way around? Of course that would be a reality-based analysis, not something George W. Bush’s Canadian clones favor…”

I guess the two positive’s this article brings up, for me, is, 1) I hadn’t previously known Yves Engler had a new book out, Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid. Great news, that he wrote another book, not that he thought he had to. And 2) Don Cherry has, potentially years of further reason, ahead of him, to praise his main interest. The Canadian Military.

I can’t wait…