For standing up for ourselves, our beliefs, and folks we love, women are often called a bitch.
When we demand social justice, women are often called a crazy bitch.
Just goes to show you conservative men lack both imagination and decent comeback lines.
I just note I think it's an important story because of all the haters on the Globe and Mail and CBC sites that have posted ugly, racist and totally unsubstantiated claims in the comments section, blaming the Attawapiskat residents about the condition of their homes.
Of course true racists never let the facts in in the way of hating, do they?
In case you missed this one in the Globe and Mail, excellent editorial well worth reading.
Gerald Caplan The Conservatives the Liberals can’t be bothered with
With myriad other worthy targets among Stephen Harper’s ministerial ranks, why must the opposition waste its time on Rahim Jaffer and Helena Guergis?
With the most reactionary and unpleasant cabinet in history facing them across the aisle, the opposition in Ottawa is consumed with two fallen Canadians of no public consequence. No wonder the public is rewarding Michael Ignatieff with poll numbers that rival Stéphane Dion’s.
Day after useless day, week after week, for all eternity, it seems, Mr. Ignatieff and his team waste their time and public resources trying to prove something, anything, that links Helena Guergis and Rahim Jaffer to the Prime Minister in a harmful way. The apparent needle, if it can be found in this haystack of wasted energy, is to cast doubt on Stephen Harper’s judgment in firing Ms. Guergis based on unconfirmed rumours. Presumably his judgment on other matters is impeccable.
This perverse strategy creates an unexpected and singular symmetry that may well earn a place in future Canadian school texts – perhaps the most ineffectual opposition in history facing the most dangerous government.
Look at the high-level democracy and sophisticated public policy debate that this pursuit offers. The Liberals are demanding the release of a letter about Ms. Guergis sent by Harper chief of staff Guy Giorno to Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson.
“Come on,” a senior Ignatieff official dares. “Let’s see that letter from Guy to Mary Dawson.” The Prime Minister's director of communications, Dimitri Soudas responds: “Come on, let’s see where the missing $40-million from the sponsorship scandal is.” For the freedom to conduct such an exchange, which makes the notion of childishness seem precocious, men and women have given their lives.
The Prime Minister’s real sin, of course, was appointing a minister for the status of women’s in a government that repudiates gender equity. But that’s par for the course in a government where the labour minister would love to destroy the labour movement, the justice minister promotes egregious injustice, and the environment minister watches CNN all day to learn the U.S. government’s latest environmental move.
These examples lead to the obvious question: Are Mr. Harper’s ministers damaging the public good more by doing nothing or, under orders from the Big Dog himself, by doing their worst.
The Canadian PressDefeated Tory MP Rahim Jaffer and disgraced former cabinet minister Helena Guergis, shown in a file photo, are a favoured target for Michael Ignatieff's opposition Liberals in the House of Commons. I don’t pretend to know all his ministers. After all, from his original cabinet of 27 – “designed for work, not for show,” as he put it – the Prime Minister now finds he can’t do without the current 38 members. No one can say who most of them are or what they do because they are compelled to remain silent and invisible. But a few are a proud refection of Harper conservatism.
Look at the extraordinary riches the Liberals could choose from if they weren’t uncontrollably obsessed by Guergis-Jaffer:
Bev Oda, likely the worst CIDA minister in history and one of the few ministers who has ever publicly attacked the competence of her own public servants.
Peter MacKay, who repeatedly and categorically asserted that diplomat Richard Colvin was wrong about what happened to Afghan prisoners taken by Canadian soldiers.
Peter Kent, who looked shiftily into the camera and announced that Hillary Clinton’s famous statement rebuking our government on women’s health was personal and not official. I saw it with my own two eyes.
Jason Kenney, who’s made himself the court favourite of hate-mongers and Jewish community leaders by politicizing and cheapening the eternal fight against genuine anti-Semitism.
Rob Nicholson, whose idea of criminal justice is to do the exact opposite of what all authorities say actually works – adding billions to the budget in the process.
John Baird, who single-handedly makes a mockery of Parliament each and every day he’s in the House.
Lawrence Cannon – yes, that loose cannon Minister of Foreign Affairs – who, under the guidance of his Great Helmsman, has reduced Canada’s reputation in the world to somewhere lower than a snake’s belly.
Peter Van Loan, who is eagerly negotiating trade deals he doesn’t understand with Colombian human-rights abusers he warmly embraces.
And even though he’s not a minister, we mustn’t ignore Pierre Polievre – a one-man rat pack and the Prime Minister’s personal choice as his parliamentary assistant (there are no accidents), named by peers, the media, NGOs, the churches, professional associations, ethnic groups, civil society and 33 million other Canadians as one of the most insufferable, self-satisfied young men on Earth.
Some faithful readers may be blissfully unaware that Parliament has actually been on break this week. But alas, the honourable members return in a few days so the Liberals and Conservatives can continue their determined conspiracy to undermine respect for our governance system. What if they held an election and no one bothered to vote?
The public good, building a more just society, relief for the vulnerable – none of these are on the main parliamentary agenda. Game-playing, manoeuvring for petty advantage, preparing gotcha points for an election that both parties fear – these are the preoccupations of the government and opposition alike. There are many limits to democracy at the best of time, and these are not the best of times.
I just read the comments page on the Globe and Mail re: McIvor. I have promised myself, time and again that I will NOT READ THE COMMENTS SECTION ON ANY FIRST NATIONS STORY. It's like a cast call for ignoramuses, red-necks and losers (and certainly from what I can see the groups are by no means mutually exclusive).
I usually get upset enough to post something back. Admittedly my responses are angry and pointed, but I believe they fall far short of the abusive, racist comments that I am responding too. Yet, my comments are usually reported and removed within an hour, while far worse ones are allowed to remain, uncensored, under the guise of political opinion.
But I am not writing this because I hoped to win a prize for being the biggest prick on the comment page. There’s a bigger issue here. The comment pages have completely opened my eyes and changed my world view about racism in Canada.
I believed that racism was waning in Canada. I didn't think we'd eradicated it, by any means. (Certainly we have racists in Indian country as well.) But I really believed that racists, having failed to adapt their thinking to globalization and an increasingly cuturally mosaic, mutually dependant world, were a dying breed condemned to extinction in ironic blaze of social Darwinism.
Comment pages have convinced me I was naïve and wrong.
People who are deeply racist seem to have the smarts to lower their voices and self-censor their words when their bare faces are showing in public with names and identity attached. That’s why we don’t know they are out there.
But given anonymity and a chat room, they find each other and pool their hatred. They help each other reinforce stereotypes, and spend hours, even whole weekends building ‘house of cards’ arguments, like it’s an addiction. In fact, as they cheer each other on with reply posts “thumbs ups” they seem gleeful.
This community of people whose happy past time is hating me, my family, and my friends are not, as I once hoped, fading from existence. Their way of thinking is old and may be a poor fit for the global community, but they have managed to modernize and revolutionize hatred.
At one time this community would have covered their faces with white sheets, today a computer, a pseudonym, and a lenient webpage moderator does the trick. And their message is reaching a wider audience than in those bad old days, or even the late 80s when racists were segregated onto websites where normal folks would never hang out, like Heritage Front and White Pride. Comment pages have allowed them to crawl from the darker corners of the web, back into the mainstream with absolutely no risk to their day jobs.
So lately, whenever I am buying lettuce, or choosing a seat on a bus, I wonder – could that be “Saskatchewan River Pirate" by the tomatoes? Is that dude in the window seat giving me the stink-eye "Joe Technicality"?
While I’m munching buttered popcorn at the movies, I pause to wonder if the guy sitting next to me is fantasizing about kicking my pink half-breed ass. Did the clerk who sold me those red pumps wish she could give me a piece of her mind when I asked for PST exemption? Is my mailman pausing to spell-check prairie n****r before he hits the “publish” button?
I wish comment pages had never been invented. I was happier when I blissfully ignorant. I swear.. and I mean it this time… I am not reading them anymore.
PS, if you came to this site looking for an update on McIvor/Indian Status, Click Here
The H1N1 virus was the first time I've seen Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq quoted in the news since her appointment. For the most part she seems content to let her press secretary Josée Bellemare do her public speaking for her. I am not the only one to notice: Rookie minister praised for quick, open response Globe and Mail OTTAWA — It is the first test for the rookie health minister: a flu, with early cases reported in Canada, that could evolve into the pandemic predicted by medical experts for so many years. Leona Aglukkaq has been one of the least visible cabinet ministers since her swearing-in last winter. She rarely gives interviews. She has made few national policy announcements. She has seemed content to let other ministers take the limelight.
So while I agree with the Globe and Mail that Leona Aglukkaq has been invisible, I fail to understand their interpretation that her behaviour is some how a cutesy/endearing/bashful/modest attempt to allow others to take the limelight. It's not cute at all. It's irresponsible, unaccountabile, and inept. She needs to step up and do her job and address the issues.
Allow me to give a few examples. Ottawa leaves marijuana issue in limbo The federal government is not saying when it is going to comply with a court ruling nearly 16 months ago that struck down a section of its regulations regarding the medical use of marijuana.The regulations restricted designated producers to growing cannabis for no more than a single approved user of marijuana.Federal Court Justice Barry Strayer ruled in January, 2008, that the restriction is "arbitrary," not "rationally related to legitimate state interests" and violates the principles of fundamental justice. It is estimated that more than 400,000 people in Canada use marijuana for medical reasons, according to evidence presented in a case in British Columbia. Less than 20% of the nearly 3,000 people approved to smoke marijuana for medical reasons access it from the government-approved supplier, because of complaints about the quality."Our government is now looking at a range of legal options and will come forward with a policy response very soon," said Josee Bellemare.
Chief begs Ottawa for better health care Another infant from Garden Hill is fighting for her life in a Winnipeg hospital under similar circumstances that contributed to the death last month of a six-month-old baby from the northern reserve.The incident occurred less than a month after six-month-old Chace Barkman died of meningitis. His parents were sent home from the nursing station repeatedly with instructions to treat his fever with a cool bath and Tylenol. By the time he was finally medivaced to Winnipeg it was too late and he died eight days later, on March 27. On Tuesday, the parents of the year-old baby tried repeatedly to have their daughter seen by nurses at the nursing station in Garden Hill, but the overworked staff sent her home. Harper said he has repeatedly asked Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq to visit Garden Hill and see for herself the poor state of health care delivery but the invitations have been ignored. He hoped to meet with her in Ottawa but instead met with Health Canada bureaucrats and Aglukkaq's chief of staff. Aglukkaq's spokeswoman, Josee Bellemare, said the government is committed to providing quality health care in Garden Hill. "We are currently looking into Chief David Harper's concerns," she said. She said Garden Hill has a new nursing station, built in 2004, which provides primary health care, public health and emergency services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Toronto to host global meeting on fighting TB ...And the Inuit, their TB rate is 90 times higher The most recent numbers from Statistics Canada suggest at least 70 people died across Canada in 2004 of TB-related causes. Newly minted federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, who hails from Nunavut, knows the issue all too well. "She does recognize that tuberculosis is a big problem," said her press secretary, Josee Bellemare.
Wakey wakey Ms. Aglukkaq. Do your job or resign and gve your job to Bellemare. And while we're at it let's give the Globe and Mail a shake too. Since when did it become their job to write government press releases instead of news?
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