|
Lesbian U.S. deserter appeals for refugee status
I wish her good luck and every success in her legal battle to remain in Canada. Smith/James' claim strikes me as perfectly justifiable given the spirit of the Canadian refugee process. She fled the U.S. army to escape persecution and a real threat of worse to come after trying to get out of the army legitimately and ending up being retained in violation of American military law. U.S. soldiers have been murdered for being gay. Seems she has reasonable grounds for a refugee claim in Canada given our legal commitment to protecting homosexuals from persecution on grounds of their sexual orientation.
The comments being left on the CBC piece, by the way, are pretty sad and sorry stuff.
The negative commentators are focusing on the fact that she enlisted voluntarily and deserted, with many bitter references to the hardships faced by our own soldiers in Afghanistan. There's also a lot of the generic "back to your own country" crap that gets thrownaround by immigration opponents. Of course, what these commentors are ignoring is the fact that she didn't desert to avoid duty, she deserted to flee threats to her personal safety. Threats her superiors did nothing to prevent. Threats inspired by prejudice and hatred -- of the sort Canadian law strictly prohibits and condemns.
I don't care that this woman enlisted voluntarily in the army of a state allied to Canada. (Last time I checked, being considered an ally to Canada is no exclusive club reserved for nations with spotless human rights records.) What I care about are the circumstances under which she deserted. I care about the fact that she was and is facing a legitimate threat of harassment, persecution, and physical abuse and intimidation that could be a threat to her life and that her own government will not protect her because it is the threat. In those conditions, any intelligent person would have said "nuts to this." And anyone in that situation with access to a system dedicated to protecting vulnerable foreign nationals in a supposedly compassionate nation such as Canada would have been a fool not to try to seek safety.
Canadians are oh so fond of talking out of both sides of their mouths. So very proud to tout our country as an enlightened modern nation committed to protecting the vulnerable, yet how very quick we are to turn against those vulnerable people when they come seeking to avail of that promise of shelter. |
|
|
Mar. 26th, 2009 @ 05:04 pm
|
|---|
|
St-Pierre residents lobby for return of freighter link with Newfoundland
I would of course say something of this sort, having studied there at the Francoforum for three months*, nonetheless: Bonne chance aux Saint-Pierrais et les Miquelonais pour cet effort!** Then again, it should be an easy enough opinion to be held by anyone from this province, regardless of ties to the French archipelago.
I don't know what if any role Canadian officials might play in applying pressure on the French government to replace the Cap Blanc*** but if there is any means for this province to lend itself to this endeavour to maintain the traditional and economic link between Newfoundland and Saint-Pierre, I say it should be done. The commerce of a tiny string of islands with not much more than 6000 people in total population mightn't seem like much, but in these times there are towns in this province that cannot afford to lose the income. Which is to say nothing of the priceless nature of the historical connections of sentiment and tradition that exist between these communities.
All that being said, I don't imagine it likely that I'll find a very powerful chorus of support in championing the Saint-Pierrais cause on this particular front, but I intend to do so nonetheless:
France, Canada poised for battle over Atlantic seabed rights
The Canadian federal government, along with the Newfoundland and Labrador provincial government will naturally fight tooth and nail to stop this issue from even being reopened, let alone negotiated -- as well one would expect. Once we get into this, it's natural to assume that France will exploit every means possible to obtain the greatest profit possible in its own best interest. However, saying I think it incumbent upon our governments to do battle with the French government in order to prevent them from claiming too much, is not the same as saying I hope that the French, and specifically the Saint-Pierrais, score nothing in this.
I have considerable sympathy for the Saint-Pierrais and Miquelonais, and not just because I spent some time there. For my part, I see in the struggles of the Saint-Pierrais many echoes of longstanding fight of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to win our own place; seeking improved economic conditions on our terms from the environment that has shaped us (and which we have shaped) for centuries. It occurs to me that, more than just self-interest and callousness implied by Newfoundland involvement in outright quashing the efforts of the Saint-Pierrais, such a stance is to invite hypocrisy as well.
The French government cannot be allowed to make a resource grab such that France displaces our own exploitation of the seabed off our coasts, but that's not to say that there isn't room for negotiation. If there is a means of settling this dispute that will lead to increased prosperity for the people of Saint-Pierre-Miquelon, without harming the overall prosperity of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, I would welcome it.
_____
*the spokesperson for the Saint-Pierre lobby group quoted in this story is one of the profs working there, as it happens.
*Translation: Good luck to the people of St-Pierre-Miquelon for this effort!
*The French cargo ship that serviced St-Pierre-Miquelon from ports in Newfoundland until it foundered early last December, when I was in Saint-Pierre. All four crew members -- Saint-Pierre locals -- were lost. |
|
|
Mar. 19th, 2009 @ 12:26 pm
|
|---|
|
After spending a lovely evening with them, I parted company with Rob and Matchim last night just in time to catch the last bus towards home. Once the bus passed the Pitts Memorial Drive overpass downtown, we hit a slowdown in traffic; in the opposing lane, a cordon of cop cars, utility vehicles from some transport company, and black SUVs flashing their hazard lights was approaching. The explanation for the spectacle spread back through the bus: crawling along behind the escort was a flatbed with a large container on it. Clearly visible, protruding above the plastic sheeting, were rotor blades and other pieces of tortured helicopter wreckage from last week's crash.
It was eerie -- like watching a funeral cortege where the casket was propped open and a disfigured corpse partly visible.
Matchim mentioned that he went to the inter-faith memorial service for the crash victims held at the Basilica this evening. Williams was there, of course, as well as national politicos including Harper, Peter MacKay, and Justin Trudeau.
Speaking of MacKay:
Now not the time to debate N.L. search and rescue readiness: MacKay (CBC News)
Let's say we just ignore, for the moment, the fact that I still find it ridiculous to call MacKay "our" minister in cabinet for Newfoundland and Labrador, such that I don't have to get into the issue of what business a mainlander has in judging the propriety of debating this issue, for the moment. That being said, it's been more than 27 years since the sinking of the Ocean Ranger. Though conditions have arguably improved since, crucial proposals for improving safety in Newfoundland's offshore industry (such as posting an emergency response helicopter in St. John's on 15 minute daylight, and 45 minute night-time readiness) were never enacted. Still we find our offshore emergency response preparedness to be lacking. How could it be seen otherwise given that there wasn't even a Cormorant in the province that day (costing an extra hour on top of the normal response when time was most precious)? Let's not forget that the sole survivor was rescued by one of Cougar's own aircraft rather than an official emergency rescue aircraft.
If now isn't the time to discuss this, when is? Will we ever see the day? |
|
I decided to go in to the lab today to get some work done, since I'd slacked off this weekend, but I didn't expect it to cost me so dearly. Thanks to an icy sidewalk next to a downed stop sign, I'm now short one large piece of flesh out of the palm of my right hand, plus one large rip in the right thigh of my favourite jeans (not to mention the skin under the rip, which is scraped up pretty nicely)! The flesh on the palm of my hand and on my thigh will grow back, the jeans will not. :oPCurrent Mood:  pissed off |
|
50 die as plane crashes into Buffalo, N.Y.-area home (CBC News)
My feminist senses are tingling.
There are two pilots mentioned here, that of the crashed plane and that of another flight who the control tower asked if they had a visual on the troubled plane. The pilot of the downed plane is noted as female while the other pilot is identified as male. This begs the following question: Of what relevance is the gender of either pilot to this story?
The pilots mentioned are both clearly identified as having been on different planes -- the Continental Airlines flight that crashed and a Delta Airlines flight that happened to be in the area. It's not as if they're trying to differentiate between two pilots on the same flight and gender just happens to be a convenient way of distinguishing between them. So, what is gained by identifying the pilot of CA Flight 3407 as "a female pilot" and the pilot of the DA flight as "a male pilot"? Could it be that someone would like to implicate the pilot's gender as a factor even before we have any evidence to indicate that pilot error contributed to the accident?
EDIT: I posted this same news story to Facebook and a friend took umbrage with the severity of my tone. The criticism served to raise an even more interesting point to mind.
Criticism: You could be possibly be reading too much into what they meant Lindsay. Just a possibility.
Response: Well of course -- that's always possible. However, even assuming that I'm reading way too much into the intent of the reporter, it's still an irrelevant detail to have written into a story like this. The gender of a pilot has no bearing on a plane crash. Besides, assuming that I'm completely out to lunch, there's still an interesting question waiting to be asked: If the situation had been reversed, if the pilot of the crashed plane had been male and the other pilot a woman, would their gender have appeared in the story? Think about it. That's all I'm saying.Current Mood:  cynical |
|
|
Feb. 3rd, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
|
|---|
|
I concur! Best hat ever, indeed! It makes me covetous, particularly since I've lost track of my own winter hat (which I don't care for too much, anyway -- I still miss ol' floppy, the winter hat I lost a few years back. :oP)Current Mood:  chipper Current Music: Momentum -- Aimee Mann |
|
Yesterday I finished the last of my exams for the semester, I got three of my final marks back before I left Saint-Pierre and yesterday after I'd done the exam my prof passed me back all the work I'd submitted to him since he came to visit us in Saint-Pierre (some of us were doing a course with him by distance). Looks like I've probably got at least four As, possibly five. ^_^ |
|
Sunday my sister came over with the kids, seeing my nieces and nephews (the first time I saw Kelly's oldest since I got home -- he has his first girlfriend, now o_O) is always a source of happy. ^_^ |
|
For 8 days you have to post something that made you happy that day.
Crap, I forgot about this (studying for a final, and all), so make-up entry:
Friday I finally got the haircut I've been wanting for at least two months. For a laugh, I had my hairdresser straighten it when I was done. The plan was to drop in on some friends and capture their reactions. Unfortunately, the straightening didn't last more than two hours -- it was clammy out and my curls tried to reassert themselves in a bushy, wavy mess. All that survived were some pics I took before leaving the mall. Saturday I posted them on Facebook after along with comparison shots of what it looks like properly curled, after a shower.
The straightened hair got praise from a couple of friends -- including raves from two of the girls I went to Saint-Pierre with. It also got this reaction from a friend from last year in Jonquière:
It looks good...but you still look like you will sacrifice my first born
This made me laugh quite a bit, and laughter is a good thing. ^_^ |
|
|
Dec. 13th, 2008 @ 12:54 pm
|
|---|
|
For 8 days you have to post something that made you happy that day.
Last night/this morning I went out to a Zazou/Funky Dory show at the Rockhouse. I got in some dancing and ran into some folks I haven't seen in ages, in addition to hanging with Matchim. More importantly, I've been wanting to see music like that for the better part of six months -- I saw one decent show in Saint-Pierre, but otherwise my life has been devoid of really great, dance-inducing music since May-ish. It did me a world of good to hear one of my favourite St. John's bands, as well as to get introduced to another really good one. :oD
Erm, [Unknown LJ tag] already tagged most of the people I know who might want to participate in this . . . so in place of a normal tag, I'll just say anyone reading this who wants to do it themselves, can consider themselves tagged. ^_^ |
|
RCMP admits error, orders probe into slaying of Fredericton professor (CBC)
So, basically the RCMP have been lying to the public about this one -- for like a week. Brillant.
In St. John's, the RNC whisked away a prof immediately after they were alerted to an anonymous threat against his/her life (no report that I've read actually mentioned which prof was threatened), something like 10 minutes after the threat was posted. Meanwhile, our national police force was in extended contact with McKendy and his family about their troubles with his soon-to-be killer, including death threats, and it wasn't acted on. Ever. They were denying that McKendy and his family had made any allegations of threats up until today.
What can peaceful, law-abiding citizens do when the people charged with their protection fail them so completely? Why do we have police at all if they can allow something like this to happen inspite of prior warning? |
|
Have-not is no more: N.L. off equalization (CBC News)
Welcome news! All of my politically-aware life I've wanted to see the day when our province would escape have-not status so that we could stand on our own feet and all those who'd ridiculed us for so long would no longer have our dependency on equalization to use against us; it's a day I never expected to see come this soon, really. Still, I can't help but voice the following fear: With the upturn in our economy tied so heavily to oil revenues, and the global economy under extreme threat due to the American subprime mortgage crisis, how long will this turn in fortunes last? Will our economy remain healthy long enough for Newfoundlanders and Labradians to derive real benefit from this fact? Now that we're finally off equalization, will we be able to stay clear of it in the long run?
In the meantime, a more petty question: Why is the story on Ontario receiving equalization being ranked higher in CBC's main and national news headlines than the story of our getting off it? :oPCurrent Mood:  cautiously hopeful |
|
Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test... Balanced, Secure, and Realistic.10 Impressionist, 7 Islamic, -8 Ukiyo-e, -12 Cubist, -7 Abstract and -4 Renaissance! 
Impressionism is a movement in French painting, sometimes called optical realism because of its almost scientific interest in the actual visual experience and effect of light and movement on appearance of objects. Impressionist paintings are balanced, use colored shadows, use pure color, broken brushstrokes, thick paint, and scenes from everyday life or nature. People that like Impressionist paintings may not alway be what is deemed socially acceptable. They tend to move on their own path without always worrying that it may be offensive to others. They value friendships but because they also value honesty tend to have a few really good friends. They do not, however, like people that are rude and do not appreciate the ideas of others. They are secure enough in themselves that they can listen to the ideas of other people without it affecting their own final decisions. The world for them is not black and white but more in shades of grey and muted colors. They like things to be aestically pleasing, not stark and sharp. There are many ways to view things, and the impresssionist personality views the world from many different aspects. They enjoy life and try to keep a realistic viewpoint of things, but are not very open to new experiences. If they are content in their live they will be more than likely pleased to keep things just the way they are. Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy Current Mood:  blank |
|
I should be heading to the airport in about a half-hour to an hour, then it's three hours or so after that that I take off. Souhaitez la bonne chance!
EDIT FROM SAINT-PIERRE:
Je suis bien établie chez ma famille d'accueil à Saint-Pierre (où j'ai l'internet sans fil, heureusement ~_^). Madame Marie-Josée Plaa et son copain, avec qui je reste ici, semblent très gentille et je crois que moi et mes colocs du programme allons aimer bien y habiter. Ça semble comme nous sommes chanceuse, en fait -- les étudiantes de la session d'hiver du programme nous ont dit que c'était une bonne pension et, jusqu'ici, je suis convaincue qu'elles ont eu raison. ^_^
La seule chose qui me derrange jusqu'ici est qu'il y a des choses que j'avais oublié à St-Jean, comme:
-une paire de jean (j'ai oublié à retrouver le jean de chez Maaike et Helme avant d'aller à l'aeroport)
-des savons de plus
-mon rasoir
-ma montre numerique
Version Anglaise/English Version:
I'm settled in here with my host family in Saint-Pierre (where I have acess to wireless internet, thankfully). Marie-Josée Plaa and her boyfriend, whom I'm staying with, seem very nice and I think that my roommates from the programme and myself are going to like living here. It looks like we're pretty lucky, actually -- the students from the winter session of the programme this year told us that it was a good boarding house and, thus far, I think they were right. ^_^
The only thing bothering me at the moment is that there are some things I forgot in St. John's, such as:
-one pair of jeans (I forgot to pick them up from Helme and Maaike's place before I went to the airport)
-extra soap
-my razor
-my digital watch
I'll just have to learn to do without, I suppose!Current Mood:  nervous |
|
Why don't the Conservatives just come out with it and drop the writ? We all know Harper's hungry for another election -- if for no other reason than to avoid the bloody nose he might be dealt if he were to permit the current slate of by-elections to go ahead. We all know his whole "fixed-election" law is a crock and that we'll wind up with an election whenever he feels the Conservatives have the best chance of knocking down the Liberals a few pegs and of capturing a majority; or, vice versa, it'll happen when the Liberals think they have a chance at snatching government from the Conservatives.
Today, someone called our housee doing political polling on behalf of the Conservatives. There lists were out of date (typical), so they asked only for mom, dad, or Bryce (who no longer even lives here). Mom answered and was asked if she'd be voting Conservative in the upcoming election -- mom replied that she hadn't known that there was a federal election, sort-of chuckling as she said it. The girl on the phone replied that there was going to be one soon and so re-posed her question -- mom replied "Not likely", thankfully. Looks like no one here will be voting CPC in any forthcoming federal election, gladly -- dad even says that he'll be voting NDP.
So, we all know what's what; we all know we're headed for another election. Why not cut the games and all the crap and just get it the hell over with?Current Mood: cynical |
|
Maple Leaf Is Food-Poisoning Source, Expands Recall
Once, while debating the role of the government with a young neo-con in favour of total/extreme de-regulation, I presented the food processing industry (and the monitoring thereof) as one example of a vital regulatory function of the government. He responded by saying that he saw no need -- that the market, even in this instance, was capable of monitoring itself. Since it would be bad for business to allow contaminated meat into the market, business could be trusted to monitor itself and keep us all safe.
The thought of allowing every operation out there, from the neighbourhood butcher right on up to the commercial processors, police themselves with piecemeal, individual standards for what was safe, horrified me at the time. Now, however, in light of this listeriosis outbreak, I'm not so sure of my point. With the current Harper government at the helm, at least, it would seem that government oversight hasn't kept us any safer than the good graces of the Maple Leaf company (who seem to have conducted themselves as well as can be expected in the circumstances, even if our government should never have allowed these circumstances to arise in the first place) would grant us.
Our current Minister of Health, Tony Clement, is quoted in the article I've linked to above as saying of the current outbreak: "This is a case where the surveillance system worked."
Really Tony? And just how the hell do you figure that? How did the surveillance system work when some reports have the death toll related to the food contamination as high as 15 -- so far (the bacteria has an incubation time of something like 70 days, so we may not have seen all that we're going to see of this). If the "surveillance system worked", wouldn't they have caught this sooner, or better yet, prevented it from happening in the irst place?
Seems to me that THIS is a case where the surveillance system FAILED -- big time.Current Mood: let down, but not surprised |
|
Last night before he went to bed, dad asked me if I'd seen Simba -- at the time, I'd just wrangled her into my room and was getting her used to me again.* Today I asked mom about it and apparently Simba spent most of the time I was gone in hiding and started going outside more. At one point, she went missing for something like a week. Dad eventually went looking for her in the last direction he'd seen her going. He found her hiding in the long drainage pipe that runs through our property and empties into the ditch by the walking trail/old rail bed. Rachel tried bringing Flipp down there to coax her out, to no avail, but eventually she came out on her own. I don't know how she's going to handle it when I leave for Saint-Pierre in three weeks. Pauvre petite!
_____
* She's used to me again, all right. She's been following me everywhere I go in the house (the bathroom included) and she cries at me everytime I'm still long enough to potentially pet her.
( Kitty enjoys her cuddles ) |
|
|
Jul. 29th, 2008 @ 09:03 pm
|
|---|
|
I arranged a few days off to celebrate my birthday and then today, on my first day back to work Julie (the only one of us not on today) dropped by with a birthday cake and we all had a slice before the next tour. :o) C'est une belle gang à la Pyramide des Ha! Ha! |
|
Il fait longtemps, non?
So a few weeks ago, my laptop adapter gave out without warning and lacking any obvious signs of damage -- my computer-eating-field strikes again! :oP Without the convenience of my computer and the wonders of wireless, getting access to the internet has been a bit of a pain in the ass, lately. The past-week was pretty rainy at times and Friday saw the end of my week+ of eight days in a row on the job, so much of the time I just haven't had the energy to make my way even as far as UQAC to use the internet lab.
My apologies to anyone who might have marked my absence as odd.
I don't think there's anyway in hell that I'm ever going to get around to describing what went on during our programme. No great loss to the world, but it means I won't have a record of this year as I did last year, for when I get old and nostalgic, with the events farther removed from me.
The past five weeks have been pretty all right -- not without their rough spots, but it's been coming along. My job is tougher this year (have I already mentioned? I'm a tour guide at the Pyramide des Ha! Ha! in La Baie -- I'd say at least 90 percent of my tours are in French, maybe a little less since I do all of the English tours if I'm working as my co-workers aren't comfortable enough in English for us to each take our proper turn when Anglophone clients show up). I've been under stress at points and besides which I've been having a streak of a bad luck that peaked (I hope) when I left the keys to the Pyramide back at my apartment, Thursday morning. Still, it has been good experience, and the work is pretty rewarding and fun when things are going well. My tour has actually gotten rather good, if I do say so myself -- my customers generally seem to enjoy themselves and get all of their questions answered -- and it has been good for my French (if not as dramatically-so as last year). My customers have been very kind in complementing the quality of my French and the father of one family held me up to his children as a good example of someone who wanted to learn their second language ("comme il faut") and has succeeded with some personal effort; evidently, his son is no eager student of English. ^_^ Plus, it's been great seeing everyone at the musée again, and I'm not nearly so lonely this year, outside of work. Unlike last year when it was just me and my cold-fish roommates, this year I've got people to spend time with. I still have a couple of friends at the residence from the spring session (regular students of UQAC as well as Peter -- up until he left last night -- who was a studente in the spring session who paid to attend the shorter, three-week summer session as well), and I've gotten to know and made friends with some of the kids in the residence who're doing the summer session; plus, we haven't really hung out much outside of work or anything, but the anglos working at the musée this year are a lot more sensible and nice -- one of them is even from home, and friends with Emily's brother Tommy.
I even had enough good people around me to party it up proper for my birthday.
Friday evening marked the start of my three day weekend (which I arranged in order to celebrate my birthday as well as to get some needed rest.) I returned to Chicoutimi, tired beyond imagination but triumphant (after a pleasant day spent working in the airconditioned-offices of the musée, the product of which was an preliminary, rough English-translation of the info pannels inside the Pyramide, as well as a rather good English translation of the Pyramide guided tour script). À la suite of which I gathered up some beers and provisions and made my way to the UQAC residence, where J-F finally broke out the barbeque from the Spring session which I'd gifted him (it was meant to go to the students of the summer session, but they'd already bought a smaller, cheaper one on their own by the time I met them.) A fun, if relatively quiet, evening was had by all; other than the ones who headed off to Le Pub and the Agriculture Expo/Fair, but I hung back with a few folks in the hopes so as to save my energies in order to party on La Veille de ma Fête.
Got a little wilder on Saturday.
After hanging out for a few hours at the residence, I beat it home while a bunch of people made their way to the Bistrot du Fjord (favoured stomping grounds of Explore students on the grounds of it's proximity to the campus, ridiculous cheapness, and fun). After changing into something more appropriate and dropping off my stuff in my room, I bee-lined it to the Bistrot myself, in order to join everyone and take advantage of the $5 open bar on Labatt draft. I decided that my goal was to hit at least six (so as to have paid less than a dollar-a-beer) and I managed eight before the 1am termination of the deal.
Then came the dancing.
It was odd. While the drink special was on, most of us didn't hit the dance floor -- the dance floor itself wasn't that hopping, anyway. Just when I was finishing my last drink, thinking about doing a little dancing, maybe, but still seated as I awaited the return of a friend, a young, cute québécois in a green t-shirt asked me what I was doing and when I told him "J'attends juste mes amis". He then asked me if I planned to dance after, and when I responded in the affirmative he told me to look for him when I hit the floor.
It was sometime later before I did finally hit the floor (I went out for a breath of air, a puff, and a chat with J-F and some of his acquaintances, before a random anglo in town for a wedding convinced me and another girl to start dancing.) Sure enough, sometime after the visitor left, the québécois and his friends found me on the floor and started dancing with me. It was fun and hot (even though I bet they were really way too young for me) and went down a treat -- until I noticed they were taking pictures. :oP I was in no mood then to stop or change what I was at -- caught up in the moment I suppose -- but in the sober light of le lendemain de la veille I now can't help but worry and be at least a little embarrassed that there are probably drunken pictures of me dancing inappropriately with borderline-jailbait floating around in far-flung corners of the internet.
But what's a birthday without a good funny, embarassing story, hey? ^_<
All in all, not a bad birthday by half. Tired-or-no, I set out to mark the occasion of my turning a quarter of a century-old (closer to thirty than to twenty for the first time) by partying it up like I was still 20-years-old and I think and for better or worse, I think that's just what I managed to do.
For now, on the day of my birthday I've been taking it easy -- currently chilling out in one of my favourite cafés in the Saguenay. I plan on doing more of the same, tomorrow, before it's back-to-work on Tuesday. :oP
I'll see all of ye in St. John's in three weeks!Current Mood: amused |
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
onelessthing's journal