Antigone Magazine: The Woman Who Isn’t Afraid of Anything… by Adina Taralik Leger

you know what the woman who isn’t afraid of anything…
is afraid of?
written by a woman cowering in her size __ jeans. sunday, february 28, 2010. 5:59 am because it needs to be said.
she is afraid of that scale.
she is afraid of that jean size, cup size, “size you up in a second” size…
thats what she [...]

Antigone Magazine: Northern Blogger meets with Minister Guergis

This post is part of a series on the 54th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Click on a link to read further.
Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 4 , Part 5 , Part 6 , Part 7
This morning Minister of State, Junior Cabinet Minister for the Status of Women met with [...]

unrepentant old hippie: Gold medal men’s hockey final

Today’s the big day — the final day of the 2010 Olympics, and not a moment too soon. It all wraps up with the Men’s Hockey final: Canada vs. USA!USA!USA!, where we once again prove the superiority of our culture, our country, our health care system, our beer, and most importantly, assure our sovereignty [...]

Antigone Magazine: Sporatic Northern Blogger, Trip to the UN

This post is part of a series on the 54th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Click on a link to read further.
Part 1 , Part 3 , Part 4 , Part 5 , Part 6 , Part 7
Before I start blogging, I just wanted to take a moment to mention the Chilean [...]

unrepentant old hippie: Like we needed a study to tell us

Whoops!  A study has concluded that liberal atheists have higher IQs than religious conservatives.  And among men, they’re more likely to be monogamous (*cough*family values*cough*):
Political, religious and sexual behaviors may be reflections of intelligence, a new study finds.
Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa at the the London School of Economics and Political Science correlated data on [...]

unrepentant old hippie: If it’s Saturday

…it’s time for Hate Mail-a-palooza at Kos. Here’s my favourite for today:
Die painfully and enjoy your weekend — makes sense to me!
Sadly, there’s more.

unrepentant old hippie: Techxxx

Here’s what happens when the geeks in R&D spend too much time surfing pron sites on the job.  Stand back: it’s the newest, or should I say lewdest, thing in mouse technology — the “G-Point”:
Top view:

This design could only come from a company named “Yanko”.

Creekside: 2010 Olympics spawns a further armouring of NAFTA

Well, colour me surprised. Who could have guessed that security arrangements for the 2010 Olympics would spawn a further militarization of North America and U.S.-Canada security integration?

G&M :

Canada and U.S. authorities are talking about extending cross-border security measures that were implemented for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and were to end with the closing of the Winter Games.
The joint patrols [RCMP and the U.S. Coast Guard] will end with the Paralympics but spokesmen from the two agencies said yesterday legislation that would allow joint maritime policing on a permanent basis is on the agenda of both the U.S. and Canadian governments.”

That’s just an Olympic rebranding of Bill C-60, the amusingly named Keeping Canadians Safe (Protecting Borders) Act, tabled in Parliament in November.

The Cons actually sidelined C-60 when they prorogued Parliament, but as The Library of Parliament helpfully points out, not passing parliament didn’t prevent its implementation during the Games because C-60 is but the legislative arm of the earlier Security and Prosperity Partnership inspired Shiprider Projects and the Canada-US Framework Agreement on Integrated Cross-Border Maritime Law Enforcement Operations signed in May 2009 by Canadian Minister of Public Safety Peter Van Loan, and the US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet “9/11 terrorists entered the US from Canada” Napolitano.

Fun quote from that 2009 signing :

Van Loan said the pact shouldn’t be viewed as Americans encroaching on the jurisdiction of Canada because it’s a joint effort.
“Because of the integration of our North American economies … effective management of the border is essential to the health of both of our countries’ economies.”

At the time we were advised that the Canadian border proved an unmanageable obstacle to the US ability to pursue bad guys into Canada, conjuring up memories of old movies in which a car chase ends in an obligatory squeal of tires and a cloud of dust before a government road sign that reads “You are now entering ….”.
It was always crap of course as even Stockwell Day acknowledged back in October 2006 that “U.S. agents carry out investigations in Canada without the knowledge or approval of the Canadian government” but we just retroactively approve them anyway.

C-60 seeks to embed part of that practise into Canadian law. Clause 11 :

“In the course of an integrated cross-border operation, every designated officer is a peace officer in every part of Canada and has the same power to enforce an Act of Parliament as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.”

In every part of Canada. Same power as the RCMP.

The Library of Parliament page on C-60 also advises that passing C-60 will necessitate changes to “the Criminal Code, the Customs Act, the Export and Import Permits Act, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act.”
I’ll bet.

Then there’s that big fat Homeland Security Olympic Coordination Center in Bellingham built to augment NorthComm’s bi-lateral Civil Assistance Plan, which already “allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a civil emergency.”

The collaboration of “40 U.S. federal, state and local agencies, including military intelligence groups, the navy, national guard, air force, coast guard” and assorted Canadian security agencies was mandated to “specifically co-ordinate the U.S. response to any terrorist attack or domestic emergency during the Winter Games.”

They’d like to extend that now too.
Well we knew that.
As the FBI Special-Agent-in-Charge announced back in Sept. 2008 :

“This facility will provide a strategic response platform to facilitate critical response efforts during the Olympic Games and beyond.”

And beyond. We’ve now reached ‘and beyond’.

h/t Dave : Told ya so.
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Broadsides: Going Guergis on you

Ah what is there to add to the airport rage incident involving our friend Helena Guergis, Minister of State for the Status of Women? That, had it been you or me throwing our footwear around we probably would have been tased? And so, I’ll leave it to my sister and brother bloggers. Here’s a brief round-up: Best with the dirty details: Kady Best headline kudos go to Dammit Janet! Best musical score: Green Assassin Brigade….

Broadsides: Speaks for itself

I don’t like to give politicians free reign rein but I have to say that I endorse every word of this Liberal party of Canada news release, posted here without any edits. I did add some links.Today, Liberal MPs Carolyn Bennett, Maria Minna and Anita Neville released the following open letter to International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda: Dear Minister Oda: We are writing today to urge you to reconsider your ill-advised decision to not include…

unrepentant old hippie: Glenn Beck keeps it klassy

Regular viewers of Olbermann will be aware that KO’s father has been very ill for several months.  On Wednesday night’s Special Comment, he told a heartbreaking story about his father’s illness, in the context of health care reform and end-of-life discussions:

The segment hit me especially hard — 6 years ago, my mom asked me to [...]

unrepentant old hippie: Girls behaving badly?

The nerve of those Olympic hockey hussies, celebrating their gold medal!
The International Olympic Committee will investigate the behaviour of the Canadian women’s hockey players who celebrated their gold medal at the Vancouver Games by drinking alcohol on the ice.
Several Canadian players returned to the ice surface at Canada Hockey Place roughly 30 minutes after their [...]

unrepentant old hippie: CSPAN totally psyched about covering US healthcare summit today

Thursdaaaaaaay!  DeeCeeeeeeeeee!

Creekside: Max for PM? You betcha!

Antigone Magazine: Political Mavens, Suzanne Anton

Introducing, Suzanne Anton, a member of the Vancouver City Council! She took some time to answer a few questions for us. An avid volunteer, athlete, mother, math teacher and Crown prosecutor, Councillor Suzanne Anton clearly has a broad set of skills that she brings to the political arena. Before her position as Councillor, Suzanne served on many [...]

Creekside: Rights and Democracy gone rogue

Go, Paul Wells!

A good overview of the Rights and Democracy debacle : Paul Wells from Maclean’s, Chris Selley from the National Post, Payam Akhavan who recently quit the R&D board of directors, and David Matas who was reappointed to the board in November after having previously served on it from 1997 to 2003.

The Cons’ attempts to align Canadian policy with that of the far right in Israel began with their 2006 support for Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and the seige of Gaza and their boast of being the first country to cut off aid to Palestine for democratically electing the ‘wrong’ government. It continued with the banning of George Galloway from Canada, the defunding of KAIROS and UNRWA, the political flyers insinuating that the Libs are soft on anti-Semitism, and the establishment of the orwellian Canadian Parliamentary Coalition on Combating Antisemitism.

A week ago the media reacted with astonishment when Junior Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Kent told a Toronto publication that “an attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada,” despite the fact there is no military treaty between Canada and Israel to back that up.

Hey guys, wake up. This is not the first time he has said this. Peter Kent on his own website, July 2009 :

“We have only one policy on Israel and that is to stand with the only true democracy in the Middle East. We have, as you know, proclaimed many times Canada’s position that an attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada.”

An attack on Rights and Democracy or even just on plain old democracy, not so much.

Kudos again to Paul Wells and also Dr. Dawg for all their stellar investigative journalism here.

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unrepentant old hippie: Another day, another retraction

A sweaty, graphic description of the mechanics of anal sex might be appropriate in some venues, but it’s probably wrong for an executive session of the New Hampshire state government.
The most prominent difference between Democrats and Republicans is rapidly becoming the number of retractions they’ve been forced to make after saying something mindblowingly dumb or [...]

unrepentant old hippie: Miscarriage of justice

Anyone who doesn’t believe the extreme right’s obsessive focus on the fetus renders women little more than ambulatory incubators need look no further than this bizarre story out of Republican-dominated Utah, where a bill criminalizing miscarriage is one signature away from being the law of the land:
A bill passed by the Utah House and Senate [...]

Broadsides: Yahoo, Another reproductive Rights Round-Up

Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as to war … Let’s begin in the Sunshine state of Florida where Southern Baptist theologian, father of eight and Republican rep Charles E. Van Zant proposes all citizens, especially of the wombanly persuasion, share his upright way of thinking. Here’s his way of thinking though: Rather than punish the maternal units, go after the doctors who perform the evil abortions, even in cases of rape and incest. An expansive measure…

Antigone Magazine: The Sporadic Northern Blogger is going back to where it all began! (the United Nations)

This post is part of a series on the 54th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Click on a link to read further.
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
A few years back I met the amazing Amanda Reaume in New York City while attending the 52nd UNCSW. During this experience I blogged (via facebook) [...]

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