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Some months back, I learned I have something in common with Keith Richards: Keith wanted to be a librarian . Recently I've learned I have something in common with Superman, although the Man of Steel has gone a step farther than me. Superman announces that he is going to give up his U.S. citizenship. Despite very literally being an alien immigrant, Superman has long been seen as a patriotic symbol of "truth, justice, and the American way," from his embrace of traditional American ideals to the iconic red and blue of his costume. What it means to stand for the "American way" is an increasingly complicated thing, however, both in the real world and in superhero comics, whose storylines have increasingly seemed to mirror current events and deal with moral and political complexities rather than simple black and white morality. The key scene takes place in "The Incident," a short story in Action Comics #900 written by David S. Goyer with art by Miguel Sepul

As of today, I have a part-time gig as a research assistant. For the month of May, and possibly for June and July, I'll be working on a very interesting project with some terrific people, and making decent money, too. The project is spearheaded by Andrew Clement, a professor at University of Toronto who taught one of the core courses required in my first term at the i-School, "Information and Society". By coincidence, Dr. Clement knew my name from the War Resisters Support Campaign; he and his wife had housed a resister in the Campaign's early years. Clement does really interesting, important work around privacy issues, some of it through IPSI, the Identity, Privacy and Security Institute . For example, he and a graduate-student research team convened a national forum on the enhanced driver's license that can be used in place of a passport at the US-Canada border. The EDL, equipped with a radio-frequency identification chip, was supposed to save time at the borde

Diego is terrific. Tala is terrific. Only the mud is not terrific. This is without a doubt the easiest new-dog transition we've ever had. After adopting dogs, we've had near-fatal health problems (Clyde, Buster), serious behavioural problems (Gypsy, Buster), not life-threatening but still serious health issues (Tala), dogs not really getting along (Cody and Tala) and probably a few other headaches I've forgotten. This time, so far, the transition is as smooth as can be. Diego is very well behaved. He's house-trained, and really tuned in to our expectations. And he's so eager to please! What a big galoot. Tala and Diego are getting along great. They have the occasional squabble over a toy, but they quickly sort it out. They love to tussle and play-fight. Tala has met her match when it comes to chasing squirrels; I think Diego hates squirrels more than she does! Diego will actually jump straight up, all four paws in the air, and bark furiously at the little creatures

Bene Diction at Religious Right Watch asks, "Is Chapters Indigo playing politics with paperback release of The Armageddon Factor?". The answer is: it's highly possible. Chapters Indigo is owned by Heather Reisman (CEO). She is married to Gerry Schartwz who is the Board Chair, President and CEO of Onex. They are friends of Stephen and Laureen Harper, and have been Conservative Party backers since 2006. Nigel Wright, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, is on loan to Harper by the Onex Corporation. Wright’s appointment is noted in the afterword of the updated and revised trade paperback. Given the paperback was updated and out in time for the election I have a question. Where is it? Is the revised edition sitting in Chapters-Indigo warehouses? The chain is in approximately 131 cities across Canada and I can appreciate delays, but the next obvious question is this. Is Chapters Indigo holding back stocking this book until after May 2nd? As asked in the post headline. Is th

Further to my post here , Judith Timson in the Globe and Mail : ...But why should Canadian women believe Stephen Harper when he says he and his government won’t reopen the issue? Surely, by denying financial support to groups who support access to abortion, he already has reopened that debate. The Tories deny that a funding decision has been made; indeed, the IPPF has been waiting for 18 months for word of its funding and so far, nothing. This stealth approach to withdrawing funds to any group that doesn’t fit the Tories’ ideological framework could have made for a pointed campaign slogan: “It’s about the defunding, stupid.” The abortion debate took an intriguing turn this week when on the same day, both anti-abortion and pro-choice factions warned that a Harper majority may not have their interests at heart. (They can’t both be right, can they?) In an interview with the Globe’s Jane Taber, Charles McVety, evangelical leader and Christian activist said: “Frankly, my fear for Stephen H

In the last several years, Conservative MPs have submitted one anti-choice private member's bill after the next . Prominent Conservative Jason Kenney has a long history as a self-described "anti-abortion activist" . In 2002 Harper boasted, "I'm not ashamed to say that, in caucus, I have more pro-life MPs supporting me than supporting Stockwell Day." Last year, through the G8/G20, Harper imposed an international "maternal health plan" that excludes abortion. Each year 70,000 women die from lack of access to abortion services. It's not at all unreasonable to say that a Conservative majority will re-open the abortion question in Canada, to potentially disastrous results. Tomorrow, April 29, Harper makes one of his last stops in the Federal Election, a huge blue rally. The majority of Canadians are pro-choice and pro-women's rights. Let's show him a little piece of our majority. Please watch the above video, and come to Brampton if you ca

Great headline, eh? Got to love The Onion. Army Holds Annual 'Bring Your Daughter To War' Day

Globe and Mail : Poll projects 100 seats for surging NDP Ekos Politics: Orange Crush: Are Jack Layton and the NDP redrawing the boundaries of Canada's political landscape? Wouldn't this be amazing??? And wouldn't it be the biggest comeuppance to Michael Ignatieff ever ?? And wouldn't the Liberals dump his sorry ass immediately? Plus Harper wouldn't get a majority, so the Conservatives dump him, too. There would be many reasons to celebrate! Go, Jack, go!! Ekos, please be right!!

Meet Diego, the newest member of the Kaminker-Wood family! According to the people at Toronto Animal Services, he is about two years old. You can see Shepherd, Boxer, Rottweiler and Staffie in him, and who knows what else. In other words, he's a mutt! To satisfy the burning question at the dog park, we will say he's a Shepherd-Boxer mix. Diego has a shiny, smooth, black coat, with a white blaze, white paws, and a white line down his head; the tip of his long tail looks dipped in white paint. If you look closely, there is some brindle on his legs, face and ears. One ear stands straight up, the other folds down at the tip. He's male, big and strong. We haven't been to the vet yet, but judging from Tala's 58 pounds, I'm guessing Diego is a fit 75 pounds. Tala looks small-boned and delicate by comparison. I think the shelter staff probably named him after this cartoon character , but we like the name, so there's no reason to change it. I keep speaking Spanish to

In several wmtc threads over the last few weeks, there have been discussions of whether or not to vote strategically in this election: here , here , here and here . I've gotten into similar discussions both on Facebook (before I went on Facebook hiatus for the duration of the election) and in person. I live in a riding where the NDP will not be elected, where the Conservatives made gains in the last election and are hoping - not unrealistically - to make more this time out. The 905s, traditionally Liberal, are now increasingly Conservative. There's no doubt that I'm a natural NDP voter. They are the party whose values line up most closely with mine. Many times Jack Layton's NDP has been too centrist for me, and I am further to the left. Yet here I am, voting Liberal. I've been feeling a strange peer pressure from my Toronto activist friends. It's not what anyone says; it's what they don't say. There's a chilly silence. A few people have told me, &qu

Oops! The Conservatives didn't register the name of their campaign slogan as a dot-ca website. Naturally, somone else did. Here For Canada: Fear For Canada . I'm probably the last progressive in Canada to find this. It's the price I pay for giving up Facebook for almost a month. It's been very liberating, but I miss a lot.

And deporting US war resisters is the last straw! Thanks to friends-of-wmtc Stephanie, Wendy and Beth.

What a convenient little microcosm of the Harper Government™. Tory crowd drowns out question about support from man acquitted in Air India By Steven Chase Conservative partisans deliberately drowned out a journalist’s question to Mr. Harper during a Greater Toronto Area campaign stop Saturday as he was being asked about a Vancouver candidate’s endorsement by a man acquitted in the Air India bombing. The Tory Leader stood quietly while members of his staff and a crowd of about 500 at a Coptic Christian centre clapped and cheered loudly to prevent a CBC reporter from quizzing him further on his defence of Vancouver South candidate Wai Young. The Liberals have complained about an early April parents’ meeting at Khalsa School in the Vancouver area, saying Ripudaman Singh Malik was present and urged attendees to vote for Ms. Young and not Grit candidate Ujjal Dosanjh. Ms. Young has said she didn’t know of Mr. Malik’s background or his relationship with the Khalsa school, which he helped fou

Expect a lot of "what i'm reading" posts this spring and summer, because I am planning on doing a lot of reading! The thing I dislike most about being in grad school is not having time and energy to read what I want, only being able to read for school. Yet something good must be happening, because two books in my immediate future were inspired by my library and information classes. Most of my top to-read list is non-fiction, but I began with fiction: The Dead Republic by Roddy Doyle, the third book in The Last Roundup trilogy, after A Star Called Henry and Oh, Play That Thing . With each book, the trilogy has gotten better: more meaningful, more layered, and even more enjoyable. With The Dead Republic , Doyle surpasses anything he has written before. I don't say that lightly. I'm a huge Roddy Doyle fan. I discovered him with 1993's Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha , went back and read the Barrytown Trilogy - The Snapper , The Van and, of course, The Commitments - a

1. Project Democracy now says my riding is "a safe Liberal seat" and advises, "vote your preference". If I could trust this, I'd be very happy to vote NDP. Can I trust it? 2. Is it possible the NDP will form the Official Opposition? The most recent Ekos poll suggests that is possible. Wow, wouldn't that be exciting! And wouldn't it give Mr. Ignatieff his comeuppance. 3. Why is Election Almanac projecting the Tories at 188 seats?? WTF?

I thought I'd blog while I was away, but never sat still long enough. I had a lovely visit with my mother, who is doing really well, and a terrific time with my sister, gabbing, drinking wine and touring her beautiful new home. I spent one afternoon and evening in New York, a quick fix but a great one. The people, the noise, the grime, the energy, I was drinking it all in. It looks like much of the development that was driving me nuts in the late 90s and early 00s - the big box stores, the homogenization - has been halted, at least on the Upper West Side. Things looked as haphazard and disorganized as ever, and I mean that in the best possible sense. Taking the usual inventory of which restaurants and stores have disappeared and which ones have survived - this is not recession-related, just the normal flux of a constantly changing city - I thought my favourite diner had disappeared, but it turns out the owners renovated and changed the name . Whew. I met NN at the Peacefood Cafe ,

Search string of the day the first: Have ethnic persons in Canada started a movement against Conservatives since they asked Arabic perso We can only hope that they d Search string of the day the second: could I move to Canada to live with my aunt? Find out.

I'm on my way for my annual NY/NJ spring visit. Happily, I was able to fly from Toronto this time, rather than Buffalo, making Allan's life much easier and using a whole lot less gas. And more good news: I breezed through US customs, the second consecutive trouble-free pass since the hassles began in late 2009 . The real test will be the next time we cross at Buffalo or Lewiston. But this was very welcome. My delayed flight means more time to follow the Patriot's Day game at Fenway! Now to find out who won the wheelchair division of the Boston Marathon.

From Mediaite : In the wake of Japan's recent massive earthquake and accompanying tsunami, the daily Ishinomaki Hibi Shimbun , based in Japan’s Miyagi Prefecture, found itself without power. So it produced new issues during a crucial time using what was available to editors – paper, and pen. For six days, six of the paper’s staffers researched stories before passing them on to three others, who then meticulously hand-wrote the news on poster-size paper, using flashlights when natural light was not available. These “newspapers” were then published, so to speak, by pasting them at the entrances of various relief centers, so that survivors could keep up to date with the day’s headlines, free of charge. What a beautiful throwback to a time when newspapers were the only source of information about the outside world. I found this not only extraordinary for its low-tech resourcefulness, but also moving - that journalists and editors, as providers of information, would take their roles so

When I first moved to Canada, I could really hear my neighbours' "accent" - their Canadian-sounding speech. Now I no longer notice it. People still sometimes ask me if I'm from the US, and occasionally someone recognizes my speech as New York- sounding. Recently, though, I've noticed the sound of my own language changing. My "sorry" now sounds more like "sirry" than "sahry". The other day, I said "zed" without thinking. It's interesting to me how this just happens, some kind of linguistic osmosis. As far as I know, I never sounded like this video, but some of it is irrefutable. "They're not usually quiet people." I recently read this review of You Are What You Speak - Grammar Grouches, Language Laws, and the Politics of Identity by Robert Lane Greene. Greene makes it his business to dispel popular misconceptions, large and small. (Politicians and pundits, please note: the Chinese word for “crisis” is not

File this under things I never thought I'd say: here I am agreeing with Michael Ignatieff again. Canadians must rise up against these dangerous, anti-democratic Conservatives, if this country is going to have a chance of staying a good and decent place to live. I hate to see the Liberals appropriate the language of revolution - I doubt Michael Ignatieff would appreciate the rising up I have in mind - but I hate apathy and complacency a whole lot more. Macleans has a good story about Ignatieff's speech. I've seen people say we must "vote red" in order to defeat Stephen Harper's Conservatives. This is just not so. In some ridings, a vote for the Liberals will help the Conservatives. By all means vote Liberal if that's the most likely party to beat the Conservatives where you live. Vote NDP if they have the better chance in your riding. If you live in Québec, you have even more choices. But whatever you do, vote smart. If you're unsure of which non-Con

In case you haven't seen this yet, have fun clicking: ShitHarperDid.ca .

With everything that's been going on in the world, in Canada, and with me personally, I've neglected to post about something I usually touch on every year. On the ice off Newfoundland, seals are being slaughtered for their fur right now . It's called a hunt, but it's really an outdoor abattoir. The excuses just don't add up anymore. The ice is melting; pregnant seals are having trouble finding places to give birth. The bottom has dropped out of the world market for seal fur. The EU has banned trade in seal products. But Canada is still subsidizing the slaughter. Indeed, the Harper government increased the legal kill limit by 80,000 seals. There is an alternative. Many environmental groups are calling for a federal buyout of the sealing industry: pay a fair price for sealers' licenses and invest in economic alternatives for the communities involved. Polls have shown that a good half of Newfoundland sealers support this plan. You can show your support for an end t

The predictions of a Conservative majority on the front page are a bit out of date ( she says optimistically ), but this is a very useful organizing tool: Project Democracy . Put in a postal code (or click on a map) to see projections for a riding, broken down by party. From there, you can see the projections from all different polls, plus past voting. It's quite an extensive tool. Project Democracy . Many thanks to James for sending, and to Margaret Atwood for tweeting!

To Stephen Harper, Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton, Gilles Duceppe, Elizabeth May and Auditor General Sheila Fraser: We call on all party leaders to urgently file an official request with the Auditor General to publicly release the G8 spending report before election day on May 2nd, and we call on the Auditor General to comply with that request. There is no legal barrier to this release, and Canadians have a right to know the truth about G8 spending before we choose our next government. Sign here. From Avaaz: This week, a leaked report alleged that the Harper Government illegally handed 50 million taxpayer dollars to a single Conservative riding – and then covered it up as G8 summit spending. With Canadians heading to the polls in mere weeks, we need to know the truth about Harper and his loose-fisted ministers. Parliamentary experts say that no law bars the Auditor General from immediately releasing this report to the public. In fact, it would serve our bruised democracy to reveal the

The first invitation Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:26:47 -0400 Subject: Opportunity - Thursday night with the Prime Minister From: zzidaric@gmail.com Hello, On Thursday night, the Prime Minister will be in Etobicoke for a big rally. Here is the link for the event http://www.conservativeevent.ca/toronto We, at the Etobicoke Centre riding, are trying to create a photo-op about all the multicultural groups that support Ted Opitz our local Conservative candidate and the Prime Minister. The opportunity is to have up to 20 people in national folklore costumes which represent their ethnic backgrounds. These people will sit in front row behind the PM – great TV photo op. We are seeking representation from the Arab community. Do you have any cultural groups that would like to participate by having someone at the event in an ethnic costume? We are seeking one or two people from your community. Please let me know by Wednesday afternoon – 5:00 pm at the latest. I apologize for the short notice. Thanks

Haliburton Wolf Centre, March 27, 2011 Photo by JH Story and more photos below * * * * In the summer of 2009, Allan and I and two friends went to the Haliburton Forest Reserve Wolf Centre ; my post about it is here and a small sample of photos from that day are here . We all love animals, but J is extremely knowledgeable about animals and shares my fascination with wild canines. (These are the same friends with whom we've visited Jungle Cat World more than once.) Driving back from Haliburton that day, we vowed to return in winter, when the wolves are more active and sporting their gorgeous winter coats. Last year we were all set to go, when we discovered that the Wolf Centre is only open on weekends through the winter, when I'm working. Well, this winter I couldn't stand it anymore, and used a vacation day. Allan and C couldn't make it, but J, CB and I had a great day - driving and talking, and marvelling at the wolves. There are only four wolves now. Smudge, the old

From the NRDC : I am dismayed -- and heartbroken -- to report that the last-minute budget deal agreed to by Congressional leaders on Friday night will strip endangered species protection from gray wolves across most of the Northern Rockies, leaving them at the mercy of states that plan to kill hundreds of them. This stealth attack on wolves -- which circumvents the will of the courts and good science -- was inserted by Representative Mike Simpson (R, ID) and Senator Jon Tester (D, MT). It was approved by the leadership of both the House and the Senate, and it was okayed by the White House. It is a shameful day for this nation when both parties unite behind the slaughter of an endangered species -- without public hearing or debate. And there is another victim here as well: the Endangered Species Act. Congress has never before removed an animal from the endangered species list. By replacing scientific judgment with political calculation, the House and Senate have struck at the very hear

Last night's leaders' debate, in my view, was no small triumph for the Liberal Party. If I didn't know anything coming into the debate - if I didn't know that liberals always sound progressive at election time - if I didn't know how weak Michael Ignatieff has been in Parliament - if I based my vote only on the debates - and with the one very significant exception of their support for the war in Afghanistan - I would be voting enthusiastically for the Liberal Party. Ignatieff was strong, articulate and effective, while still seeming warm and human. For the first time, he seemed to me Prime Ministerial. I particularly liked him denouncing Harper's characterization of Parliamentary opposition as "bickering". Although there's always a risk when three people gang up on one - Stephen Harper is not exactly an underdog! - Harper seemed on the ropes through much of the debate. Whether or not the public will believe his responses lies is another question. I

Go, George, Go! Outspoken former British MP George Galloway has made good on his threat to sue Canada's immigration minister. A statement of claim served on Jason Kenney and his assistant Alykhan Velshi alleges they abused their official powers by banning Galloway from Canada in 2009. The document, which asks for $1.5 million in damages, also claims that Kenney and Velshi defamed Galloway in British newspapers. Galloway, an outspoken supporter of the Palestinian people, had been planning to stage a cross-country speaking tour about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kenney barred him from the country for his alleged financial support to the Palestinian group Hamas, which Ottawa considers a terrorist organization. A lawyer representing Galloway says the former MP will argue that the allegations of terrorism lost him his long-held seat in the British House of Commons. This Canadian Press story doesn't say that Galloway has repeatedly pledged to donate any judgment from this suit t

How happy are we about yesterday's leak of the Auditor General's report and the revelations that the Conservatives lied about Sheila Fraser's statements? Hurrah for Joan Bryden and double hurrahs for whatever partisan angel leaked the Auditor General's report. And a special hurrah for the Conservatives' unlimited hubris and appetite for deception, which gave them the temerity to recycle and misuse Sheila Fraser's quote! Yes, chalk one up for Mr. Transparency and Accountability. This one is a bit difficult to spin away. Joan Bryden, Canadian Press: [Auditor General Sheila] Fraser's confidential Jan. 13 draft says the government misinformed Parliament to win approval for a $50-million G8 fund that lavished money on questionable projects in Industry Minister Tony Clement's riding. And it suggests the process by which the funding was approved may have been illegal. ... Among the questionable projects funded were: * $274,000 on public toilets 20 km from the s