April Reign

Speak your mind even if your voice shakes

Politics

A song of Peace

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Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon

My name is Francis Tolliver, I come from Liverpool.
Two years ago the war was waiting for me after school.
To Belgium and to Flanders, to Germany to here
I fought for King and country I love dear.
‘Twas Christmas in the trenches, where the frost so bitter hung,
The frozen fields of France were still, no Christmas song was sung
Our families back in England were toasting us that day
Their brave and glorious lads so far away.

I was lying with my messmate on the cold and rocky ground
When across the lines of battle came a most peculiar sound
Says I, “Now listen up, me boys!” each soldier strained to hear
As one young German voice sang out so clear.
“He’s singing bloody well, you know!” my partner says to me
Soon, one by one, each German voice joined in harmony
The cannons rested silent, the gas clouds rolled no more
As Christmas brought us respite from the war
As soon as they were finished and a reverent pause was spent
“God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” struck up some lads from Kent
The next they sang was “Stille Nacht.” “Tis ‘Silent Night’,” says I
And in two tongues one song filled up that sky
“There’s someone coming toward us!” the front line sentry cried
All sights were fixed on one long figure trudging from their side
His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shown on that plain so bright
As he, bravely, strode unarmed into the night
Soon one by one on either side walked into No Man’s Land
With neither gun nor bayonet we met there hand to hand
We shared some secret brandy and we wished each other well
And in a flare-lit soccer game we gave ’em hell
We traded chocolates, cigarettes, and photographs from home
These sons and fathers far away from families of their own
Young Sanders played his squeezebox and they had a violin
This curious and unlikely band of men

Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France once more
With sad farewells we each prepared to settle back to war
But the question haunted every heart that lived that wonderous night
“Whose family have I fixed within my sights?”
‘Twas Christmas in the trenches where the frost, so bitter hung
The frozen fields of France were warmed as songs of peace were sung
For the walls they’d kept between us to exact the work of war
Had been crumbled and were gone forevermore

My name is Francis Tolliver, in Liverpool I dwell
Each Christmas come since World War I, I’ve learned its lessons well
That the ones who call the shots won’t be among the dead and lame
And on each end of the rifle we’re the same

Foodbanking Women’s Issues

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I’m sure when foodbanks first started popping up they were considered a stop gap. A temporary fix to a major problem.

I’m sure there was an assumption that advocacy and research would be done to target the reasons for and solutions to most of the underlying causes.

Of course capitalism itself requires a certain level of poverty and unemployment to continue, it therefore, owes something to those upon whom the illusion is built.

Of course we know that despite the studies and proposed solutions the Liberal and Conservative governments have seen fit to reward corporations with tax cuts, and creating class warfare upon the poor.

The Conservative government has now taken the same approach to women’s issues. [Read more…] about Foodbanking Women’s Issues

“Why Canada needs the NDP”

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Taking up the challenge from Accidental Deliberations.

I have lately had some issues with the party, nevertheless, to highlight the good;

We need a party which believes that human rights are the fundamental building block of democracy and any functioning society.

We need a party with a strong commitment to women’s rights, up to and including the right to reproductive choice.

We need a party that recognizes that “gay rights” are “human rights” and that who you choose to share your bed with does not make a difference.

We need a party that believes that everyone has an equal right to education, healthcare, a liveable wage.

We need a party that believes that all children have the right to good quality daycare and are willing to put their budget where their beliefs are.

We need a party that doesn’t cause an 11 year old to ask such questions as, why does that party think they should say what I can do just because I’m a girl, or why does that party keep making promises but never keeps them or what does that party stand for?

A party which instead creates comments like, I can’t wait till I’m 12 so I can become a member, how come they are the only party that comes to our door? How come the other candidates won’t talk to me just because I’m a kid?

For all the things we need to change the NDP is still the only party that really represents the values Canadians time after time identify as being important to them.

Email hoax

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An email has been circulating claiming to come from Jennifer Bernier, President
Abitibi-Témiscamingue NDP, it basically calls for new leadership for the NDP.

I phoned and confirmed that this was indeed sent out without her knowledge.

As is confirmed in the email shown here

You can also view the original email there.

Someone must be feeling very threatened indeed to have perpetrated such a hoax.

Rebick showers on May

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Judy Rebick is no stranger to the abortion debate.

She is one of those who helped in the fight to provide women with a choice.

Ms. Rebick is seen here fending off an attack on Dr. Morgentaler at the opening of a clinic in Toronto.

Too bad the debaters club doesn’t realize that this sort of thing still happens. It happens to ordinary women making perfectly legitimate choices for themselves and to the doctors who provide needed medical procedures.

In Ms. Rebick’s own words;

Dear Elizabeth,

I would have written sooner but I have been travelling.

Since I got back, I have carefully reviewed your statements on abortion and I have to say that I am sorry but I will no longer be supporting you or the Green Party in any way.

As you know I was very supportive of your running as leader of the Green Party and despite my differences with some of the platform of the Party I have up until now felt that your presence added a great deal to the federal political scene. But now you have questioned the most important victory of the women’s movement of my generation.

If you had said that you personally oppose abortion but you support a woman’s right to choose, I would have been fine with that. Instead you said that a woman’s right to choose, something tens of thousands of Canadian women fought for for decades, was trivializing an important issue. It felt like a slap in the face.

Since you have so little respect for me or for the women’s movement which mobilized for so long to win this hard-earned right, I hope you will understand that I ripped up the cheque I had written to the Green Party and you can no longer rely on me for support.

ETA:Apparently someone at this site either thinks I am anti abortion or that it would be a hoot to send the anti choicers my way. Why do the anti choice crowd make it so easy to question their intelligence?

Professionalism or control?

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Robert Cox wants to bring some professionalism to the blogosphere.

As president of the Media Bloggers Association, Cox is about to unveil new membership policies designed to help bloggers who see themselves more as journalists than freeform diarists.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project finds that about eight per cent of American adults keep web journals, most of them personal in nature even though the most high-profile ones may be about news, politics or technology. It’s the more serious efforts that Cox is courting.

Among the planned criteria: members would have to take an online course offered by the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank, covering legal issues related to blogging.

Members also could seek credentialled status by undergoing training or demonstrating other work as professional journalists. They also must agree to the organization’s ethical standards and adopt formal editorial and corrections policies. Doing so could give them the backing they need to obtain review copies of books and access to newsmakers and events, Cox said.

Of course, having credentials from Cox’s organization won’t guarantee access. The question of whether to treat bloggers as journalists has come up repeatedly at major events such as the Olympics and national political conventions.

You have to take a course, pay for memberships, and a think tank decides what passes for acceptable journalism.

Isn’t this in part what the blogosphere was trying to get away from?

Wasn’t the idea to open up an avenue where those who couldn’t afford a journalism degree could still speak to the issues of the day.

Recognition of the personal being political.

Being able to shed light on things like the recent cuts the Harper government made that the “Professional Press” doesn’t deem noteworthy.

Thoughts?