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.
But I don't want to delve into an argument about policies. That's not the issue. Dudley's tragic death should not be marginalized into a partisan debate about the merits of Conservative public policy verses Liberal verses NDP. Your efforts to twist it into one are just plain sick. Shame on you.
I suggest you review the findings of the Ipperwash Inquiry before you further embarrass yourself. Go read Dawg'sBlawgwhich has an excellent summary of the findings.
I am sick of First Nations politicians sucking it up for the allegedly greater good.
Nipissing University plans to confer an honorary doctor of letters on former Ontario Premier Mike “I want the fucking Indians out of the park” Harris in a June 11 convocation ceremony. Yes. June 11. (Two-year anniversary of the Apology for residential schools that is supposed to celebrate the beginning of healing between First Nations and Canadian governments. Sick eh?)
Chief Marianna Couchie of Nipissing First Nation says her community will withdraw funding support for a new university library over the issue and Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Patrick Madahbee says he supports that move.
However, AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo who is also receiving a honourary degree, considered declining, but after chatting with Ontario chiefs chose instead to snap it up because he didn’t want the whole Harris thing to overshadow the more important issue of First Nations education.
Harris’s actions inflamed a peaceful protest at Ipperwash Provincial Park and led to the fatal shooting of Dudley George in 1995. Harris has never accepted responsibility for the death nor admitted that he did anything wrong. Former premier Mike Harris wanted “the fucking Indians out of the park” so badly that he ignored recommendations of civil servants in Ontario, which closed off a number of options including negotiations, mediation, and other means of opening communications and dialogue with protestors in Ipperwash Provincial Park.
The above is not my personal view, but the actual findings of a public inquiry into Ipperwash.
My personal view is that Harris turned his back on advice that would have diffused the situation because he wanted to make an example of those “fucking Indians” and had the protestors been middle class non-native folk Harris would have paid more attention to his advisors who were calling for negotiations and mediation.
I am not one to run around crying racism every time there’s a confrontation, but this is one is just so fucking obvious.
But most importantly, Harris is not sorry. The day the public inquiry released its findings, Harris tried to save face by spinning the inquiry's findings in media statement which concluded that since he’d not been caught directly interfering with the OPP, Harris had "no influence" on George's death and was completely absolved.
So in my ever humble opinion, the fact that Harris is getting an honorary degree at Nipissing University does overshadow all other issues. And so it should. It’s outrageous that Nipissing University is honouring Mike Harris on June 11 and we should be responding with outrage. Damn right Nipissing First Nation should be yanking back their funding for a university library. Students should be threatening to withdraw, chiefs should be writing very angry letters letting the University know their youth will not be back in September.
And the National Chief should certainly be making a public statement by turning down this degree.
------------------------------full story below-------------------------------------
First Nations oppose honourary degree for Mike Harris The Canadian Press TORONTO — The fatal shooting of a First Nations protester in 1995 at Ipperwash Provincial Park in southwestern Ontario continues to haunt former Ontario premier Mike Harris. Nipissing University's plan to confer an honorary doctor of letters on Harris in a June 11 convocation ceremony isn't sitting well with the province's aboriginal groups. Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Patrick Madahbee says, in the view of Ontario's First Nations, Harris does not deserve any honorary treatment. "He doesn't deserve titles or tributes of any kind," said Madahbee. "I can think of some appropriate letters Mike Harris should have in front of his name, not after it," he said. Chief Marianna Couchie of Nipissing First Nation says her community will withdraw funding support for the new university library over the issue. Madahbee said he supports that decision. "You don't reward a person who was directly responsible for so much economic hardship and divisiveness in this province," he said. The "hostile relationship" between the Harris government and Ontario's First Nations "led to the death of Dudley George at Ipperwash on Sept. 6, 1995," said Madhabee. "That is what Mike Harris will always be remembered for." National Chief Shawn Atleo will be also be honoured by Nipissing University as a recipient of an honorary education doctorate. It had been reported that he would decline because of the former premier's involvement. However, after Atleo consulted with chiefs, it was agreed that education is too important an issue to be overshadowed the controversy over Harris.
After seeing the other less flattering definitions of "crazy bitch" defined on the online urban dictionary site, I got jealous that OUR definition was not included. So I added it. I just checked, and its it's up. If you want to pop by and make it your favourite definition of a "crazy bitch" just pop by at http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=crazy%20bitch&page=2 and click on the handy thumbs up button.
Bill C-3 aka the Sharon McIvor Bill is being threatened from an unlikely source: First Nations women, particularly Sharon McIvor and the Native Women’s Association of Canada. They have been lobbying MPs hard to kill C-3, sent every MP a letter and it looks like they have the support of the BQ and the Liberals to defeat C-3. Read Sharon's letter here.
While I have long supported Sharon McIvor, I do not agree with these latest actions. So many of our people have been watching this Bill with hope and excitement. I cannot support any action that puts their chance to finally regain status at risk. Read my analysis, if you agree with me, you'd better start emailing MPs and fast. (I have email addresses at the bottom of this post.)
If you remember this bill is the government’s response to the McIvor court decision forcing the government to remove gender discrimination from the Indian Act. An estimated 45,000 individuals could gain status and see their rights restored. However Bill C-3 is not perfect. It does not end all gender discrimination in the Indian Act. For example issues of unstated paternity remain, and there are other limits as well, see Sharon’s Testimony here, and the Quebec Native Women Association’s analysis here.
Sharon and several other witnesses brought these issues to the attention of Parliament's Aboriginal Affairs Committee, however Parliamentary rules restrict how far a committee can amend a bill. Several changes the committee would have liked to make to address Sharon's concerns were ruled out of order.
So Bill C-3 would restore status to at least 45,000 individuals, but it's not perfect and because it's not perfect McIvor and NWAC want it killed. My understanding is that if it is killed Parliamentary rules will prohibit the conservatives from introducing a similar Bill. This means those 45,000 who were hopeful of regaining status will be delayed indefinitely and could lose their chance all together.
Some speculate that killing C-3 would even create a doomsday scenario allowing no new people to register as Status Indians at all until a remedy is found.
It's my opinion that trying to kill C-3 is a dangerous game and that too much can go wrong. I do not believe that the 45,000 people poised to gain status would support killing C-3. But some MPs I have contacted told me I am the very first person to email them in support of the Bill, and unless they hear from others they will do what NWAC and McIvor are asking and kill it.
My two cents: I know Bill C-3 is not perfection… but too many people have waited too long for their rights to be recognized for us to gamble on their chance for justice. We can continue to fight for our other brothers and sisters through other means. If you agree (or I suppose even if you disagree) here's who you can email at Parliament. You don't have to email them individually, one massive email telling them where you stand should be enough.
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 found these in the online urban dictionary. Very different from the definition we gave ourselves at the top of the blog, but I can admit that I probably fall under at least one of the categories below as well.
crazy bitch 173 up, 24 down (n.) A sexually crazy girl who loves to screw dirty, but will drive you mad otherwise through her bitchiness and insanity, you'll find many women fitting this description in hot night clubs. Did you see John pick up that crazy bitch? She'll probably leave bite marks all over his pecker!
2. crazy bitch A woman who after a break up slashes the tires on your car, burns your clothes, and tries to get you fired from your job then calls you the next day wanting to reconcile. That crazy bitch keyed my car and then called me for a booty call! by Krazy Karma Aug 22, 2007
3. crazy bitch 100 up, 50 down A crazy bitch is one of the female gender who will spontaneously attack you with their purse, kicks your ass when they sit behind you, looks up "hard core sex" on laptops, claims to be an angel, and many other things.
Police are investigating, but no charges have been laid against controversial Roseau River Chief Terry Nelson in connection with an alleged gun incident on the weekend.
Doug Palson, chief of the Dakota Ojibway Police Service, said the situation is still under investigation.
Chief pointed gun at teen, residents allege "We do our due diligence to investigate all matters, regardless which member may or may not be involved," Palson said in a telephone interview Wednesday from his Brandon office.
Several Roseau River residents allege that Nelson and two other men were seen racing around the reserve early Saturday morning in a grey-coloured truck armed with a firearm and wooden boards.
The residents allege that Nelson was looking for a group of boys who might have been involved in a fight with his son, adding that at one point Nelson pointed a rifle at one or more of the boys.
Nelson could not be reached for comment.
The Dakota Ojibway Police Service is based in Brandon and enforces all federal and provincial laws and band bylaws on five southern Manitoba reserves: Roseau River, Birdtail Sioux, Canupawakpa Dakota, Sandy Bay and Sioux Valley.
Nelson’s continued role as chief of the Roseau River reserve has upset many local residents. The Federal Court in June 2009 upheld a custom council decision in 2007 to remove Nelson and several councillors from office. But Indian Affairs recognizes Nelson as chief because he was re-elected with a large majority in a band council election in May 2009. Indian Affairs said the federal court ruling applied to the previous council term and didn’t affect the May 2009 election.
Roseau River is located about 93 kilometres south of Winnipeg.
I really appreciate that you are probably young, frustrated and appalled by a number of injustices in the world. I am too. I know I mostly blog about Indigenous stuff, but I get pretty outraged about homophobia, bigotry, environmental degradation, slave labour in the textile industry, and my son’s math teacher who was not especially helpful today. And that’s only my Wednesday rant. But I like to hone in on one issue when I write, and today, you are my issue.
So, I saw that video where you fire-bomb a bank in the Glebe and I read the message at the end about stolen native land and the Olympics. It’s true that First Nations people hate people taking our stuff without asking, especially land, and especially when its not returned promptly or in the same good condition we left it in. But the Olympics? Most First Nations loved the Olympics. We had all those youth torch-bearers, APTN broadcast segments in Cree and Ojibwa. The Four Host First Nations were happy about everything. And FYI a large majority of those protestors who advocated “No Olympics on Stolen Native land” were non-native folk who weren’t listening very well to what most of us wanted. Frankly, I felt a little exploited by that whole protest thing.
Also...most of our stolen land has nothing to do with the Olympics. Most stolen land is not in even in Vancouver or BC.
So I think your communications plan could use a little tweaking on those key messages. But the bigger problem I see is with your implementation plan.
First: blowing up banks doesn't get our land back. So your actions are not reaching the objectives you've set. See the logic problem? But there's more. You're being a little counter-productive. Let me explain.
Indigenous people in Canada have a lot of issues that we really need to cope with: child welfare, education, water, health care access, housing, citizenship, and yes land claims.
It’s very hard for us to work these issues out with Canadians because most Canadians know so little about the bizarre legal framework that the Indian Act imposes upon us or much about our history and how we got in the mess we are in today. First Nations issues are not taught well in school, nor covered well in the media. Fortunately most Canadians are very nice people, who are concerned about social justice issues, and they do their best to understand and even pitch in to help when they can.
(Naturally there are also some truly hateful people out there – the homophobic, racist chemical-dumpers who shop at Walmart and – whom I strongly suspect – teach Math at my son’s school. But they are a minority.)
Which brings us to my point: you are not helping. Fire-bombing banks is inconvenient, a little scary and turns people off. Then when you upload a video bragging about the bombing and talking smack about the Olympics and native land.. Well people assume we did it. Suddenly people who felt kindly toward us are too nervous and angry to work with us anymore.
So I think you shouldn’t bomb things anymore. That’s my advice. And stop the whole native Olympic land thing. It’s inaccurate and you know, if we have something to say, we’re usually pretty good at speaking up for ourselves.
(PS. Your video also mentioned something about other RBCs? Please spare one in downtown Ottawa and one in Toronto. I travel back and forth a lot, and I get charged something like a buck fifty if I use another bank’s ATM.)
Call it a tempest in a teapot. Pat Martin accused Rahim Jaffer last week of having “lied his ass off” to a parliamentary committee; now a parliamentary committee is accusing the salty-tongued NDP MP of “steeping his ass off.”
Mr. Martin, known for his sometimes over-the-top questions at the committee investigating with the Guergis/Jaffer affair, has some secrets of his own. It seems he steals tea – green tea, no less – from the House of Commons natural resources committee, which meets next door to his third-floor West Block office.
At least one Tory does not appreciate the light-fingered socialist tea drinker. Here’s an exchange from committee this morning (the chairman is Conservative MP Leon Benoit):
The Chair: There's a point of order, Mr. Harris.
Mr. Richard Harris (Cariboo—Prince George, CPC): Mr. Chairman, Nathan may not appreciate this, but ever since I've been on the committee there's been a shortage of green tea, and I had to think that somebody has been taking tea.
Now, we just saw the phantom tea-snatcher walk in and take a bunch back to his office next door.
Could I ask the clerk, with the agreement of the committee, to send him a letter, tell him to buy his own bloody tea?
Some honourable member: Hear, hear!
Mr. Richard Harris: I like green tea and he takes it every time we're here.
The Chair: I'm not sure this is a point of order, Mr. Harris, but I think it's been noted. Your comment has been noted.
Another honourable member: I beg to disagree, he's not a phantom, he's very obvious.
The Chair: We have another motion on the floor, so if you wish to...
Mr. Richard Harris: He's steeping his ass off.
The Chair: Thank you, Mr. Harris.
Okay, back to the issue. If you'd like to deal with that, we could deal with it later.
The Winnipeg New Democrat, however, was more forthcoming than Mr. Jaffer after he was busted.
“I will confess to a proclivity towards green tea, and even to grazing the committee rooms in search of complimentary beverages,” Mr. Martin told The Globe in an email. “But it’s almost matter of tradition...
“I represent the riding of Stanley Knowles who in his latter years survived almost exclusively on a diet of Arrowroot biscuits and tea bags that he pilfered from committee rooms and the opposition lobby. Legend has it his suit pockets were always stuffed with complimentary tea bags, so there is good parliamentary precedent for the pursuit of complimentary beverages.”
He added: “In fact I'm told the Algonquin word 'Ottawa' actually means 'complimentary beverages.’”
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