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Linda McQuaig's appraisal of Stephen Lewis's beautiful eulogy of Jack Layton is worth reading. It will probably be a while before a Canadian prime minister again offers a state funeral to someone on the left. Of course, there aren’t many political leaders of any stripe who could pull at the country’s collective heartstrings quite the way Jack Layton did, especially with his stunning political achievement snatched so cruelly from him before he even got to locate all the bathrooms at Stornoway. Allowing Layton a state funeral was probably Stephen Harper’s most generous prime ministerial act. But it led to a nationally televised scene that will likely haunt him and surely inspire progressives for years to come: Stephen Lewis, the iconic elder statesman of Canada’s social democratic movement, standing in front of Canada’s most right-wing prime minister ever, speaking truth to power. Determined that the event be more than just a tribute to the goodness of one man, Lewis used the hef

Environmental activists in the US see an opportunity for real action against the tar sands pipeline. Since the oil-friendly and environment-hating Harper government won't listen to us on this issue, we owe it to North America to do whatever we can to try to stop this nightmare. See below for two important action links. They're separate petitions; please sign both. From NRDC: The [US] State Department is still rushing toward approval of the disastrous Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, which would enrich oil companies by transporting the world's dirtiest oil 2,000 miles from Canada to Texas. Please send a message to President Obama asking him to order Secretary Clinton to kill this dangerous project. The pipeline will drive horrific destruction of songbird habitat in the Boreal forest ... rev up excessive global warming pollution ... and threaten the drinking water of millions of Americans with toxic spills. The Keystone XL is a fossil fuel nightmare -- NOT the clean energy fu

Nothing remains to be said about Jack Layton, the man and the leader. I certainly can't say anything that hasn't been said so many times already. I can only continue to miss him, and to pledge my determination to his cause - to our cause. But I thought I would tell you about my day. The photos were taken by Allan on Friday, August 26 and by me on Saturday, August 27. Allan went to Nathan Phillips Square on Friday. He was amazed and impressed and moved, noting that it reminded him of the AIDS Memorial Quilt . Allan and I saw the AIDS Quilt displayed on the National Mall during a huge LGBT-AIDS demo, and it's a fitting analogy to the outpouring of love and remembrance for Jack Layton. I got to Nathan Phillips Square around 8:30 on Saturday, August 27. There were already several hundred people waiting to pay respects to Jack. I normally find coffin visitations a bit strange. This time, however, I found the action very meaningful and moving, especially the shared experience of

I missed this song in the 80s, along with the video, filmed on the streets of Toronto. Perhaps it was a Canadian thing that didn't cross the border very much, but I only know "Rise Up" from the 2011 NDP election campaign. Yesterday, like most of you, I found Lorraine Segato's rendition powerful and moving. I was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with thousands of other progressive people who had packed Picaud (Metro) Square to celebrate the life of Jack Layton. Stephen Harper and other dignitaries inside Roy Thomson Hall were awkwardly swaying and clapping, but I've heard that many people in the balconies - and certainly many of us outside - were punching our fists in the air. Rise Up! Rise Up! By the way, Rob Ford didn't clap, and he didn't rise up. We saw him leaving the funeral, walking down King Street with an eight-person police escort. I hope to write about my day celebrating and mourning Jack later today or tomorrow, with our photos of the memorials.

This earlier post - "we work to buy things that are built to die so that we must work to buy more things that will break" - was not meant to be about the trials and tribulations of my coffee maker, but I do want to finish that part of the story. Although the damn thing broke after only 13 months of use - and although I was very annoyed at having to ship it at my own expense to the service centre - and although I was even more annoyed that the warranty also required me to pay the return postage - a new Cuisinart electric percolator has just arrived on my doorstep, 14 days after we mailed off the broken one. The new one still includes Cuisinart's three-year warranty. Perhaps if they have to replace enough of them, they'll start making them more durable. Also, I did not have the receipt for the broken percolator. It seemed like I had every receipt for every item I've ever purchased, except that one. The coffee maker itself has a serial number, and from that the comp

Way back in the early days of this blog, I wrote a lot about voter suppression and election fraud in the US, posts under the general category election fraud - fraud in the general sense of "fraudulent democracy". Since then, a few states have passed a few laws mandating oversight of electronic voting, but other than that, little has changed. Voter suppression, voter intimidation, election disinformation campaigns, vote stealing, vote switching and other purposeful, malevolent attempts to undermine what's left of democracy in the US remains rampant. Right now, a wave of voter suppression laws are being passed all over the US — laws designed to keep huge numbers of voters away from the polls in 2012. And what a surprise, these laws disproportionately affect African-Americans, seniors, students and people with disabilities. The ACLU counts 18 states that have either passed or or are threatening to pass restrictive voter ID bills in this legislative session alone. These law

Some of you may have recently received this somewhat cryptic email from Maureen O’Reilly of the campaign to save Toronto Public Library . In a few days, I will be announcing an exciting new contest called My Library Matters to Me. . . . Some of the biggest names on the Canadian literary scene are involved. Famous novelists and story tellers are stepping up to defend the Toronto Public Library, donating their time to raise awareness of the great importance of our libraries and to stimulate public discussion on this vital issue. Each author will take a group of contest winners on a tour of some of the locations in Toronto that are set in their books or have other literary significance, followed by lunch at their fave restaurant. Imagine. You could spend a few hours strolling and chatting over lunch with a celebrated author about their latest work! For a chance to win, you must submit to www.OurPublicLibrary.to/contest a short written statement on the topic of “Why My Library Matters to M

The enormous outpouring of emotion on Jack Layton's passing continues unabated. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians are leaving messages and flowers, and making donations to the Broadbent Institute . Millions more are writing tributes online, through the NDP website , Facebook , Twitter and elsewhere. The love and appreciation, the loss and grief that we're expressing and witnessing are not only for Layton the man. Jack was loved, we know that. For sure, we found him personally engaging - determined, hopeful, charismatic, sincere, caring. And for many Canadians, it was Jack's personality and style that first drew them in. But after that, it was Jack's vision - the NDP's ideas and platform - that kept them interested. Let's reflect for a moment on the results of the election of May 2, 2011. We know that 5,832,401 million Canadians voted for the Conservative Party, an increase of slightly less than two percent (1.96%) over the 2008 election. Support for the Conse

The United Nations Security Council will soon meet for a second time to discuss Palestine's bid to become the world's 194th country. While I personally don't believe that "two states for two peoples" is a path to peace and reconciliation, I do know that Palestine must be recognized as a nation, no matter what. Avaaz is circulating this petition, on which they hope to gather one million signatures. We urge you to endorse the legitimate bid for recognition of the state of Palestine and the reaffirmation of the rights of the Palestinian people. It is time to turn the tide on decades of failed peace talks, end the occupation and move towards peace based on two states. Sign here.

These are Orbees, very special dog toys made by the excellent Planet Dog . We call Orbees "Planets". Tala loves her Planet more than anything on the planet - except squirrels. Now that Tala can't chase squirrels, she likes to have the Planet with her at all times. When Diego runs off to chase squirrels, Tala grabs her Planet, and runs in little circles in her pen, squishing the ball in her jaws over and over. Diego loves to steal Tala's Planet. He works at it, tearing off the continents one at a time. We would say, "Diego is destroying the Planet!" To keep the peace, we ordered Diego his own Planet, and got a second one for Tala, too. I don't know what it is about these Orbees, but our dogs are crazy for them. Even when Tala is just relaxing in her pen, she likes to have her Planets nearby. If we let Diego in the pen, he immediately grabs Tala's toy. Eventually we have to ask Diego to leave. He goes back to his own world. But he's still got his

Corn and tomato salad: tomatoes (our gardenette) corn (Ontario) scallion cilantro lime juice Friends over for dinner and baseball tonight. The menu is a little slice of summer: - grilled lime-garlic-marinated chicken, local/organic/ethically raised from Beretta Farms , - corn and tomato salad, see above, - grilled asparagus, local... if you're Peruvian, - sourdough bread, Whole Foods, - pineapple/strawberries/cantaloupe/nectarines, - and of course plenty of Ontario wine. Our first gardening experience has left us completely amazed. We never thought these plants would grow so huge or yield so many tomatoes. We're keeping track of how many tomatoes we pick. (I know this would normally be done by the pound, but we have nothing to weigh them on, so we're just counting.) We've picked 35 so far, and there's a few dozen still on the vine.

August 20, 2011, Toronto, Ontario Dear Friends, Tens of thousands of Canadians have written to me in recent weeks to wish me well. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful, inspiring and often beautiful notes, cards and gifts. Your spirit and love have lit up my home, my spirit, and my determination. Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue. I recommend that Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel continue her work as our interim leader until a permanent successor is elected. I recommend the party hold a leadership vote as early as possible in the New Year, on approximately the same timelines as in 2003, so that our new leader has ample time to reconsolidate our team, renew our party and our program, and move forward towards the next election. A few additional thoughts: To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives

I learned the terrible, shocking news of Jack Layton's death a bit late, and only because friends texted and emailed me. I tend to be in a news bubble on Monday mornings. I'm heartsick. We all are. My heart breaks for Olivia and all of Jack's family, and for all of us, his extended family. I'm also so happy he was able to lead his party to historic victory in his lifetime. What a terrible loss.

Hallelujah! A Whole Foods Market has opened in Mississauga, not five minutes from where I live. My life is complete. Most Canadians don't know Whole Foods; there's one in Toronto, one in Oakville (just west of Mississauga) and a few in Vancouver. And now there's a one in Square One, Mississauga Central. I've never lived right near a Whole Foods, even in New York. I should just go over there and give them my credit card right now. For the conscious consumer, Whole Foods is a decidedly mixed bag. The CEO, John Mackey, is notoriously anti-union and has actually spoken out against public health care . On the other hand, the company is a very good employer (which doesn't excuse union-organizing obstruction, but is still important), has almost single-handedly normalized the market for organically grown produce, and its huge buying power has made a real difference on issues like the sale of live lobsters and cruelty-free personal care products. Whole Foods is one more thi

"Can anyone on Capital [sic] Hill read?” demanded a sign held by a protester at one of the first Tea Party rallies, back in February of 2009. " If so read the Constitution As Americans we do not have the right: To a house To a car To an education Americans have a right to per sue [sic] happiness not to have it given to them!" The sign intrigued me, and so I took a picture of it as its author held it aloft. Nobody’s entitled to the good things in life, her sign seemed to be saying, and so presumably we should stop crafting policy to make home ownership, travel, and education affordable — a curious demand in the middle of an economic catastrophe. But I was also taken by the surface-level irony: accusing others of cultural illiteracy while herself apparently mixing up the Constitution with the Declaration of Independence, the document that actually mentions the “pursuit of happiness.” I filed it away and eventually forgot about it. Until a year and a half later, when I was

I'm reading Life , Keith Richards's autobiography, written with journalist James Fox. I believe this is the first celebrity memoirs or autobiography I've ever read - or ever wanted to. I'd say I'm an unreptentant, unabashed Keef fan, but there ain't no other kind of Keith Richards fan. (Not coincidentally, Keith Richards was the first interest Allan and I learned we had in common , probably less than an hour after we met.) The book is terrific - engrossing, entertaining, and revealing, not for the dirt and gossip, but for the man's mind and heart. You've probably heard how Keith wanted to be a librarian ; turns out he was a Boy Scout, too. And he became a junkie because he was shy and uncomfortable with fame, and because he loathed the idea of being a pop star. The crazy stories are fun, the birth and trajectory of the band from Keith's perspective is fascinating. Thinking about this teenager in a working-class British town hearing Elvis Presley sing

Two weeks ago, my coffee maker broke. It was a electric percolator ( I wrote about my preference for it here ), made by Cuisinart. It's the third such percolator I've had in a six-year span. One day they just stop working. I purchased this particular coffee maker 13 months ago. After digging through my receipts and warranties and instruction booklets, I learned Cuisinart has an unusual three-year warranty. To access the warranty, we had pack up the coffee maker, ship it to a service centre, enclose a $10 cheque for return postage , and wait an estimated two weeks. Meanwhile, we had to buy another coffee maker, which, if it will last long enough, could be our back-up for the next time the electric percolator breaks - but is more likely to break well before it is needed again. The broken percolator was inconvenient, and annoying, and wasteful. But at least I can - presumably - get a replacement from Cuisinart. * Last week, after inflating the Aerobed for my mother (we try to give