Speak your mind even if your voice shakes
I wonder if Benny looks back fondly on the days when a pope had real authority. Now, just like the Queen, there is more pomp than power.
Why these days a pope can’t even threaten the church members without some spin doctor coming along to say, “Look Benny doesn’t always mean what he says. Smile, nod make him feel good but don’t take him too seriously.” [Read more…] about Infallable? Well…..maybe not..
Don’t let your kid learn about guns from just any gang, have them learn from one which is well established and has lots of street cred.
Cale Northey went to a Scouts Canada camp to learn about gun safety. He came back with a “licence to kill.”
That’s how his parents view the badge the 11-year-old brought home from a target shooting event in Oshawa last weekend.
The badge features an Agent 007-type figure pointing a gun with a red target over his heart.
“I think it’s terrible,” said Cale’s mother, Jane Northey. “We’ve got kids shooting up everyone these days. What kind of message are we sending them? This badge is a licence to kill sponsored by Scouts Canada.”
The event for Whitby Scouts involved a target-shooting competition using pellet guns and included instruction on safety.
“It was exciting because my mom never lets me use guns,” said Cale, who’s been a Cub for three years. “We learned you have to be really safe with them and not point them anywhere else besides the target, and that they’re very dangerous.”
Northey, a teacher, said she wrestled with the decision to let Cale attend but relented so he could learn “just how dangerous these weapons really are.” She was shocked when she saw the badge.
When she complained to Debra Yeomans, Whitby-area commissioner for Scouts Canada’s White Pine Council, she was told the badge was voted on by leaders who perceived it as something “cool” the youngsters would love.
The national office has asked for the badges to be returned, however, the gun training is still part of the program. The good news is they will have already received some training to go fight America’s wars!
An interesting article at Women’s Enews on mothering and the value placed on it. While much lip service is given to the undertaking, little is done to actually support those choosing to have children.
(WOMENSENEWS)–The news media loves stories about highly educated mothers opting out of rewarding careers to stay at home with their young children.
Anecdotal evidence unsupported by serious research is also constantly drumming home the idea that women consider themselves the best providers of child care. For example, a 2006 Salary.com survey of what mothers do “on the job” leads with the headline “Dream Job: Stay at Home Mom.” Although the survey claims that equal numbers of working and stay-at-home mothers participated, quotes from the happy, at-home mothers dominate the report.
For instance, working mothers are “horrified” at the thought of hiring strangers to care for their children, they believe that mother’s care is “priceless” and that motherhood is the “greatest job in the world.” It’s easy to stay on message: Women must choose between work and family.
But the opposite message is sent to low-income mothers.
The recent debate over the welfare-to-work provisions of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families–or welfare–captures this difference. Congress did not debate the best means to provide even minimally adequate day care to the children of single parents. Instead they wondered whether or not the required hours of paid work should be increased!
Why does popular sentiment portray some mothers as virtuous when they drop out of the labor force to care for their families, while others are responsible only if they work for pay outside the home?
With Mothers Day coming up and the usual platitudes running rampant trying to get you to spend spend spend to show mom how much you love her, and with the forced pregnancy folks all creamed up about Bushie and company and their anti choice stance, I thought it might be interesting to see just how much mothers are valued once those sacred womb contents are born. [Read more…] about Mothers
I was honoured to have been chosen by Peri’s Wrinkle for this award. If this blog isn’t on your reading list it should be.–see how I managed to make her part of the list and still keep 5 mwhahaha–
You can read about me here {I feel all narcissistic!}
The rules are as such;
The participation rules are simple:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn’t fit your blog).
That was that! Please, remember to tag blogs with real merits, i.e. relative content, and above all – blogs that really get you thinking!
Narrowing down to five eek, if I missed you I deeply apologize it is hard to only pick five out of the hundreds of blogs I read.
in no particular order then
1. POGGE, always a thoughtful and informative narrative. Reading this blog is both a pleasure and an education. If I may I would also like to single out skdadl and pogge who are both fine* writers and we get to read them for free.
*Of superior quality, skill,
2. Unrepentant Old Hippie. An irreverent straight shooter jj doesn’t pull any punches. She writes with humour but if you’re not careful you just might find yourself learning something.
3. Birth Pangs I sometimes write to this blog but won’t discount it for that reason as the main writers are fern hill and deBeauxOs. Their dedication to women’s rights and women’s choice combined with their fantastic writing talents make this blog a must read.
4. Verbena-19 Verbena’s blog is an amazing resource for those concerned with activism and human rights. I’m going to sneak liberal catnip in here too for the work on behalf of Kevin and because she has a damn good blog.
5. Betty’s Early Edition I actually only found this blog yesterday. However, this is written by a woman who truly puts “her money where her mouth is” I hope I have half her passion and courage when I grow up.
If you can, take a minute and send her a message or a few funds.
As I said at the beginning this was very hard. Took hours in fact. There are so many great writers, researchers and activists out there, this is but a sampling.
For more great blogs check out my blogroll, Blogging Change, and Rose’s Place.
In an interview with AR media when Mr. Layton was asked if he had stopped beating his wife he replied no.
Full Transcript follows;
AR Media: Mr. Layton, have you stopped beating your wife?
Mr. Layton: Well since I never started beating my wife and in fact believe strongly in ending domestic abuse, I would have to say no.
AR Media: Mr Layton some might opine that by saying no you are in fact aligning yourself with those who see nothing wrong with such activity. How would you answer those people?
Jack Layton: Well to repeat I am against domestic violence and this question is one which has no winning answer to say yes I have implies support for an activity I condemn, to say no implies that I am going to continue on with an activity which in reality I have never been a part of.
AR Media: Can you explain further?
Mr. Layton: Look it’s much this vote on Afghanistan. If we vote to support a partial pull out in 2009 we are seen as saying we support our troops being there until that time, if we vote against it we are seen as saying that we support a war effort completely and without timetable.
It is much like your first question, one in which there is no way not to come out smeared by an accusation of an activity I was never involved with in the first place.
AR Media: Thank you Mr. Layton
_____________________
Edited to add there was an NDP ammendment proposed
In an effort to try to find common ground, let me propose the following amendment to determine whether or not the House would be willing to take the appropriate actions. The amendment would read as follows: “That the motion be amended by deleting the words after ‘operations in southern Afghanistan’ in the preamble and replacing them with the following: ‘This House call on the government to begin now to withdraw Canadian Forces in a safe and secure manner from the counter-insurgency mission in Afghanistan and call upon the government to notify NATO of this decision immediately’”.
I saw this quote in a CTV article about Kyoto rallies and it exemplified perfectly my thoughts regarding the environmental debates and plans.
At the Montreal rally, McInnis said she’s noticed the many little ways governments discourage people from putting the environment first, since her family decided to go without a car.
The price of using Montreal’s subway system has steadily rose while she discovered how inaccessible the subway is. Each trip she must drag her stroller and 15-kilogram baby up and down dozens of stairs.
“It’s disgusting,” she said. “It’s bad with a stroller, imagine if you’re elderly or in a wheelchair.
“When you make environmentalism a priority in your life, that’s when you begin to see how the government puts up barriers.”
Yes we need governments to actually and properly regulate business to ensure they are taking responsible efforts to use less energy and create less pollution, but we also need real incentives to allow and encourage the average citizen to make better environmental choices.
Regulating light bulbs is all very well, but creating greater access to transit, planning “self contained” communities, keeping community hospitals (instead of expecting people to drive hundreds of miles to a hospital which has been chosen to specialize in a procedure) creating bike lanes, helping low income home owners and renters to make homes more energy efficient, creating more accessible recycling facilities for toxic waste products, creating community gardens and composting areas, these are the types of things that help divert from landfill, use less energy and make everyday choices which are environmentally friendly.
It is easy to talk about light bulbs, and carbon credits and targets and goals most people don’t really understand, it is another thing to actually implement programs that make a real difference, have real life consequences and allow the voter to see clearly where their tax dollars are being spent.
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