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Here's to - one day - welcoming Cliff home to Canada.

Tolerance has its limits! From (where else?) The Onion: "Gay Teen Worried He Might Be Christian". Faber's parents, although concerned, said they're convinced their otherwise typical gay son is merely going through a conservative Christian phase. "I caught him watching The 700 Club once when he thought he was alone in the house, and last week, I found some paperbacks from the Left Behind series hidden in his sock drawer," his mother, Eileen Faber, said. "I'm sure he'll grow out of it, but even if he doesn't, I will love and accept my son no matter what." Faber's father was far less tolerant in his comments. "No son of mine is going to try to get intelligent design into school textbooks," Geoffrey Faber said. "And I absolutely refuse to pay his tuition if he decides to go to one of those colleges like Oral Roberts University where they're just going to fill his head with a lot of crazy conservative ideas." He a...

Why are we protesting on January 23? Here's the long answer. Most of us who oppose Stephen Harper's prorogation of Parliament know that this is not the first time the Prime Minister has thumbed his nose at democracy. My own passion, US war resisters in Canada, has been up against it for years. The House of Commons passed a motion calling on the government to stop deporting war resisters and to allow them to stay in Canada, then reaffirmed it with a second majority vote - and both times the Harper government ignored the will of the majority. It's maddening, and it's wrong . In April 2005, as leader of the Opposition, Harper said, "The Prime Minister has the moral obligation to respect the will of Parliament." Indeed, he does. Of course the war resisters issue is but one example of many. No one can remember every instance - unless we're keeping track. Lucky for us someone was. Redsock found this amazing post from the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament ...

My heart breaks when I read stories like this. From the ACLU: "17... and in solitary" . State-sponsored child abuse and torture of a young person already mentally ill from childhood abuse. I just cry. And support the ACLU. And ask everyone to do the same.

Jane Taber calls it a "breathtaking shift". Stephen Harper's Conservatives would lose 33 seats if an election were held today and only maintain a tenuous hold on minority government, according to a new EKOS poll. "From comfortable majority and kudos in October to the razor's edge of losing government altogether," says pollster Frank Graves, whose new survey finds that Canadians simply don't like the Parliamentary shutdown. "Clearly it has a significant impact. It has become a proxy and a catalyst for a whole bunch of broader frustrations and anxieties that the public are feeling about the government." Indeed, the EKOS data is consistent with two polls released yesterday showing the Tories and Michael Ignatieff's Liberals effectively tied for support and that Canadians are displeased with Mr. Harper’s decision to prorogue Parliament. . . . More interesting, however, is Mr. Graves's seat projections based on the latest numbers. If an elec...

Today, Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, war resister Cliff Cornell will be released from prison! It's fitting that Cliff sees freedom on King's day, as Dr King made the connection between racism and the US's imperialist wars, between poverty and the draft, between peace and justice. Cliff joined the US Army in 2004 but refused to deploy to Iraq. He came to Canada in 2005, and lived for several years on Gabriola Island, off the coast of Vancouver Island. In February 2009, the Harper government deported Cliff, despite the expressed will of the majority of the House of Commons, who twice called on the government to allow US war resisters to stay in Canada. In the US, Cliff was arrested, court-martialed and sentenced to a year in military prison. His crime: refusing to participate in a war of aggression against a civilian population. It's been a long road, more difficult than we know, I'm sure. But he's a survivor, and he made it through. He's had steadfast...

I'm having so much trouble getting my head back into studying mode! Last week I had an assignment due, so I had no choice. Not that it was easy, but a deadline is a deadline, and an oral presentation provides a strong incentive. But once over that little hump, I haven't yet found my studying rhythm. I'm in the final week of preparation for the war resisters event in Mississauga that I'm co-organizing. I also have at least a dozen good topics to blog about, not including the stuff that comes up daily. And you know what? That's what I want to do! I want to work on my war resisters stuff, and I want to blog. I don't want to do schoolwork! (OK Laura, quit whining and get to work...)