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You know I never post celebrity gossip, because I pay less than zero attention to any of it. I never even know what the tabloid headlines are referring to. But when Allan sent me this item, well, it just had to go up. For a time in Brooklyn, we lived next door to actor Kelly McGillis . She frequented the cafe where Allan waited tables, and was sometimes seen there with Jodie Foster. Everyone knew McGillis was gay. This was no big deal, as half the people in our neighbourhood were gay, and it was New York City in the late 1980s, and no one really cared. But McGillis wasn't out, and seemed to have male beards hanging around, so that was sometimes a topic of conversation. Today Allan sent me this story: Kelly McGillis has come out . She's 51 years old and she's an actor and a beautiful woman and she's gay. It's never too late to be yourself. I applaud McGillis for taking what was obviously a huge, scary step into the unknown. Get out there and be yourself.

This week, when Michelle Obama unveiled the statue of Sojourner Truth in Washington, DC, it marked the first time a black woman has been honoured in artwork at the US Capitol Building. The creator of the sculpture, Artis Lane , was born in Ontario and grew up in Canada . For most of her 81 years, Artis has lived and worked in the US, but when a Canadian-born talent makes good, Canada will claim her as its own, forever. I liked how Obama connected the pioneering abolitionist and feminist to her own experience. I hope that Sojourner Truth would be proud to see me, a descendant of slaves, serving as the first lady of the United States of America. . . . One can only imagine what Sojourner Truth, an outspoken, tell-it-like-it-is kind of woman...would have to say about this incredible gathering, just looking down on this day, and thinking about the legacy she has left all of us -- because we are all here because, as my husband says time and time again, we stand on the shoulders of giants li

According to peace activist and lawyer James Branum , Cliff Cornell's one-year sentence was longer than the punishment meted out to 94% of US soldiers who go AWOL. It's clear that's because Cliff isn't being punished for desertion: he's being punished for speaking out against the war. Soldiers, check your right to free speech - and your right to your own moral compass - at the door. This is from the Montreal Gazette ; it also ran in the Nanaimo Daily News and the Georgia Straight . If you live in Montreal or BC, now would be an excellent time to write a letter to the editor in response to this story. The Campaign's media release about Cliff is below. U.S. war deserter, who lived in B.C., sentenced NANAIMO, B.C. — The U.S. army deserter who spent nearly three years working near here at a grocery store has been sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to desertion. It ends a saga that began in 2005 when Cliff Cornell walked away from the 1st Battalion

Many thanks to Dharma Seeker for sending this inspiring and educational story. Please click through to the original for photos! The story of Daisy Mae the pit bull is like that of any other survivor — she suffered pain, got back on her feet, and is now living a sweeter, more meaningful life because of her experience. Daisy Mae, formerly part of a dogfighting operation, is now a therapy dog in Santa Barbara making weekly rounds at Cottage Hospital's pediatric ward and Villa Riviera retirement home. Gentle and affectionate, the three-year-old cuddles with the elderly and frail, and even allows small children to hold her tight when they are undergoing painful medical procedures. Her miracle of rehabilitation mirrors that of the dogs rescued from the Michael Vick fight farm, where only one dog had to be euthanized for being vicious. Of the remaining 47 Vick canines, most have been placed in homes, many with children, other dogs, and cats. While Daisy Mae and the rehabilitated Vick dog

Less than one hour after the Supreme Court of Iowa's ruling making marriage available to all people took effect, Melisa Keeton and Shelley Wolfe became legally wed. Same-sex couples in Iowa began filing marriage license applications Monday after a state Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay unions took effect, and the first legal gay weddings took place shortly afterward. Melisa Keeton and Shelley Wolfe were declared "legally married" by pastor Pat Esperanaza during a ceremony in front of Polk County administrative offices in Des Moines. It didn't take long before they were referring to one another as "wife." "It's not very romantic is it?" Melisa Keeton joked about the location and media attention at the ceremony. Story here.

I have many problems with the Globe and Mail , but I thank them for this excellent, unequivocal editorial supporting the right of Abousfian Abdelrazik to come home to Canada, and decrying the continuing, shameful behaviour of the Harper Government. Please read. His name is Abousfian Abdelrazik, but it could as easily be Joseph Smith, a Canadian Everyman. He is a citizen denied the right to return to his country by the Canadian government without explanation; for the past year he has languished in Canada's embassy in Khartoum. If Canada can dismiss his citizenship so arbitrarily, the currency of Canadian citizenship is devalued, and the rule of law degraded. Mr. Abdelrazik, an Everyman? Some Canadians may object. It is not every Canadian who has been publicly labelled an al-Qaeda recruiter by the United States government, as he was in 2006. It is not every Canadian who would be jailed – twice – in Sudan, and at Canada's request. But any Canadian who leaves this country to work,

War resister Cliff Cornell, who was forced to leave Canada under threat of deportation, was court martialled today. Cliff was sentenced to 12 months in the brig (military prison), and received a Bad Conduct Discharge. That makes three war resisters - Cliff Cornell, Robin Long and Daniel Sandate - now serving prison time because the Harper Government refuses to respect the will of Parliament and implement the motion allowing war resisters to stay. James Burmeister also served time in prison, although he left Canada voluntarily. This is a disgrace, and it has to end. More details to follow.

I received a press release this morning from ADAPT , a network of grassroots disability-rights activists. Although right now ADAPT is focusing on health-care reform, they are a civil rights and human rights organization, fighting for the rights and dignity of people with disabilities. The members of ADAPT are committed activists who use every means available to them, including civil disobedience. For many years, their struggle has centered on health-insurance reform. In the US, in many states Medicaid will cover the cost of keeping a person in a nursing home, but will not pay for long-term personal attendants. Often, people with disabilities who could live in their own homes and attend school or work, if they had a personal attendant, are forced to live in nursing homes, because of the disparity in coverage. This includes children and teenagers, forced to grow up in institutions because of this ridiculous rule. And it is ridiculous: personal attendant care actually would be less expens

How long does a blog go unchanged before you decide, "This person's not blogging anymore"? I'm updating my "who links to wmtc" blogroll, something I haven't done in a very long time. I'm removing blogs that no longer link to me, updating URLs that have changed, also removing blogs that have been made private. (There were a lot of those, something I found surprising.) I have a dead blogroll category: still linking but no longer blogging. In your opinion, how long do I wait for someone to update a blog before I move them into that category?

Omar Khadr is not a person. He's a human being, of course. But legally, a US Court of Appeals has ruled, Khadr and the approximately 500 other prisoners who have been held illegally by the US, without charges, for more than on seven years, are not "persons". Note that the Obama administration agrees. From the Center for Constitutional Rights, emphasis mine. Court Of Appeals Rules Detainees Are Not "Persons" in Guantánamo Torture Suit Court Agrees with Obama Administration that Detainees Still Have No Constitutional Right Not to Be Tortured April 24, 2009 Washington, D.C. – In a suit brought by British men imprisoned for two years at Guantanamo, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today reaffirmed its previous ruling that Guantanamo detainees lack the fundamental constitutional right not to be tortured and are not "persons" under a U.S. statute protecting religious freedom. Last summer, the Supreme Court directed the Court of Appeals to reconsider its pr

I've been derelict of my duty. There are some gaping holes in the how-to-move-to-Canada function of this blog, but as Citizenship and Immigration Canada has become the nemesis of the War Resisters Support Campaign - and many other smart, right-thinking people - I've been loathe to post anything that emanates from that Ministry. But Jason Kenney won't be the face of the CIC forever... and there are some important updates to the How To Move To Canada file. First, a major, long-anticipated change to the Citizenship Act has gone into effect, changing who is automatically a Canadian citizen. The changes repatriate the so-called " lost Canadians " - people who lost their citizenship through some weird loopholes and rules. Beginning on April 17 of this year, people living outside Canada whose parents are Canadian are automatically Canadian. If this applies to you and you want to live in Canada, you still have to go through an application process, but you are considered a

In case you haven't heard, a pair of US war criminals will soon visit Toronto. George W. Bush and Bill Clinton will be in Toronto on Friday, May 29 , to deliver an invitation-only talk. Those of us without invitations will be coming out to greet them. If you want to be part of the organizing efforts for what promises to be a large and spirited protest, come out this Monday night. Details: Monday, April 27 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Steelworkers Hall 25 Cecil Street (south of College, east of Spadina) The meeting and protest are organized by the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War . War Criminals Not Welcome Here! Bush Out - Resisters In!

Part one here. I never had any trouble accepting my own atheism. I was never part of a religious community - my childhood synagogue was not my community - and I was never rejected or even criticized for being atheist. As I got more involved with progressive activism, being an atheist was the norm, or at least not at all unusual. But even in very mainstream settings - at work, for example - I never hesitated to say I was an atheist, if it came up in an appropriate context. It's raised a few eyebrows, but nothing more than that. Reconciling atheism with my Jewish identity was a little more challenging. Once I left home, I stopped going to synagogue completely, feeling it was hypocritical. My family no longer had religious holidays together, so that wasn't an issue. But for some time, I wasn't sure how much Jewish identity I could claim. But I've since made total peace with that. I have absolutely no conflict over it anymore. Many people are made to suffer when they leave

We've just heard that the federal court has handed down a negative decision in Jeremy Hinzman's case. That is, the judge upheld the negative decision in the Hinzmans' Humanitarian & Compassionate application. The bad news comes late on a Friday, as usual, locking us out of an immediate media response. This is a real blow, even more so because the decision was rendered by the same judge who recently granted Kim Rivera leave to appeal, Justice James Russell. At this time, we don't know what legal options remain for Jeremy and Nga. Our job is to get the word out and keep the pressure on. Today, Jason Kenney was confronted by mothers and children at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. He was there for some government PR, but he got nailed about the case of a Korean woman who is facing deportation. Minister agrees to review mother's deportation> Mothers and children confront Jason Kenney at Sick Kids media conference Immigration Minister Jason Kenney agreed today to re

I've never blogged about my atheism before, because I've never felt the need. Just as I've never blogged about not having children. If I wrote this blog when I was in my 20s and early 30s, when I was still defending and justifying my decision, I'm sure it would have been a frequent topic. (In those pre-internet days, I wrote essays and tried to get them published; these days it would be on wmtc.) Similarly, if I were still a teenager and young adult coming to grips with my atheism, I'm sure I'd be blogging about it. But being an atheist is a deep part of my identity, not something in question or in flux. I've never had the need to hash it out in public. Lately this has changed - not because my atheism has changed, but because I find myself getting annoyed at the arrogance, self-righteousness and proselytizing of some atheists. I get extra annoyed when I see atheists adopting some of the worst qualities of some theists. And I find myself in the odd position o

The Federal Court has ruled that the Harper Government must seek the repatriation of Omar Khadr. Harper - unbelievably, but for him, completely believably - will seek to overturn the decision. This government doesn't give a crap about human rights. Especially if Muslims are involved. From CBC: Prime Minister Stephen Harper is required to press the United States for the return of Omar Khadr to Canada from Guantanamo Bay to "comply with a principle of fundamental justice," a Federal Court judge ruled Thursday. Unmoved, Harper said the government may try to overturn the judge's decision on Khadr, who is accused of killing a U.S. army soldier with a hand grenade during a gunfight in Afghanistan in 2002. "The facts, in our judgment, have not changed," he told MPs during question period. "We will be looking at the decision very carefully and, obviously, considering an appeal." Justice James O'Reilly ruled in favour of Khadr's charter challenge

This Toronto Star story about the recent, excellent development in Kim Rivera's case represents a breakthrough for the Campaign to Let Them Stay. It may be the first mainstream media story that mentions - not in a quote from the Campaign - the motion, now passed twice in Parliament, in favour of the Iraq War resisters in Canada. Jason Kenney continues to prejudice the entire refugee process with his totally inappropriate announcements in the media. He continues to display his disregard - his contempt - for an impartial process, and for democracy. In case you missed it, when asked about the war resisters on a recent visit to Calgary , this was Kenney's response. It's repeated in the Star story. We're not going to contort the refugee laws to suit some people's political agenda. Who's contorting what, Mr. Kenney? Who's got the political agenda? Parliament has voted twice to stop the deportations and let war resisters stay in Canada, but your government igno

The recent federal court decision in Kim Rivera's case , granting the Riveras leave to appeal the negative decision in their Pre-Removal Risk Assessment, gives the family several more months in Canada, and a new legal avenue on which to fight. It also demonstrates - yet again - that the IRB and the Ministry of Immigration are not properly considering all the evidence in the war resister cases. And how could they be expected to, when the head of that agency, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney, has made his animosity towards these cases a matter of public record? Every refugee case is supposed to be decided on its own merits. But how can we expect impartiality, when the Minister of Immigration - the IRB's boss - has declared all the cases "bogus"? We are still waiting for a decision in Jeremy Hinzman's case, the hearing I blogged about here , appealing the negative decision in the family's Humanitarian and Compassionate application. Patrick Ha

Great news!!! The Federal Court has granted war resister Kimberly Rivera and her family leave to appeal the decision in her Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA). The Federal Court will hear the appeal on July 8. This is very unexepcted, and very welcome news! More soon.

Thank you, Impudent Strumpet , who found it on James Bow .

Have you been following the case of Ian Tomlinson? On April 1, Tomlinson, a London (UK) resident, was on his way home from work, walking slowly with his hands in his pockets. He passed by the G20 demonstrations. Apparently he got in the way of some London police - who threw him to the ground and clubbed him. A few moments later, he died. It appeared he suffered a heart attack, and an initial autopsy confirmed that. The Guardian published video of the incident on their website. As you can see, Tomlinson's hands were in his pockets when he was thrown down. Two weeks later, London cops attacked and beat people who attended a vigil for Tomlinson . [Thanks to James for this one, which I would have missed.] Last Friday, April 17, a second autopsy revealed that Ian Tomlinson did not die of a heart attack . The cause of death was internal, abdominal bleeding. The doctor who performed the second autopsy found evidence of arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) around Tomlinson's

If I had as much success in my writing career as I do with my letters to newspapers... I won't even finish that sentence. It's too awesome to contemplate. A few days ago in the Globe and Mail , it was reported that civil rights lawyer Clayton Ruby, representing a dog owner fighting Ontario's hysteria-based pit bull ban, has filed for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. The lawyer for a pit-bull owner fighting Ontario's ban on the dogs is hoping the Supreme Court of Canada will reverse a decision allowing the law to stand. Civil rights lawyer Clayton Ruby has filed an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court on behalf of Toronto dog owner Catherine Cochrane asking for a review of an Ontario Court of Appeal decision last October that upholds the province's ban. "It's important to take every step we can against breed-specific legislation which assumes that it's the nature of the breed that creates danger when in fact it's the owners who c

Check out this interview with crew members of the Maersk Alabama, who survived an attack by Somali pirates. Leaving aside for now how these so-called "pirates" are desperate people, abandoned by the rest of the world, trying to protect fishing waters for their own survival, here's the salient quote: Q: How did you retain control of the ship? CRONAN: We're American seamen. We're union members. We stuck together, and we did our jobs. And that’s how we did it. Watch the interview here , via ThinkProgress . Many thanks to James for sending this! * * * * If you don't already know who the so-called pirates are, Johann Hari, a columnist for The Independent , explains. The words of one pirate from that lost age - a young British man called William Scott - should echo into this new age of piracy. Just before he was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina, he said: "What I did was to keep me from perishing. I was forced to go a-pirating to live." In 1991, th

A few months ago, we celebrated the two-year anniversary of adopting Tala . Today is the ten-year anniversary of our adopting Cody. Cody now is probably older than any of our dogs ever were. We think she was between one and two years old when we got her, probably almost two, so that makes her around 12. For a rescue, especially a larger dog, that's quite senior. I've been sad about Cody lately, wondering if today is our last Cody Day. But she's doing well, enjoying her life, and we're enjoying every day with her. Cody is an odd duck. I sometimes say she's a cat dressed up in a dog costume, the least "doggy" dog I've ever known. She's strange, quirky - and so sweet. * * * * Cody's been through a lot; she's a survivor. Someone found her living on one of the busiest streets in Jackson Heights, Queens. A man selling "meat on a stick" - that's what it's called! - threw a chunk of meat into traffic so she would chase it. A woman

I'm sorry I didn't do this sooner, but there's no time like the present. WWF media release dated April 14: Mediterranean bluefin tuna stocks collapsing now as fishing season opens As the Mediterranean's bloated fishing fleets ready themselves for the opening of the bluefin tuna fishery, WWF has released an analysis showing that the bluefin breeding population will disappear by 2012 under the current fishing regime. Global conservation organization WWF reveals that the population of breeding tunas has been declining steeply for the past decade – and will be wiped out completely in 3 years if fisheries managers and decision-makers keep ignoring the warnings from scientists that fishing must stop. "Mediterranean bluefin tuna is on the slippery slope to collapse, and here is the data to prove it," said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean. "Whichever way you look at it, the Mediterranean bluefin tuna collapse trend is dramatic, it is alar