Desi In Toronto

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New Canadians will be required to remove veils before swearing the oath of citizenship, Jason Kenney, the minister of citizenship and immigration announced on Monday.

Mr. Kenney said he had heard concern from citizenship judges that some Muslim women wearing face-covering garments may not actually be reciting the oath when taking part in the ceremony.

“They told me last month that it’s a fairly common problem. Every week, in every region of the country, we’re dealing with situations where applicants arrive with a veil on,” Mr. Kenney said. “Frankly, I found it bizarre that the rules allowed people to take the oath with a veil on.”

In recent years, the face-covering garments worn by some Muslim women have come under increasing scrutiny, as governments and courts have wrangled over when women should be allowed to cover their faces.

Mr. Kenney, who made the announcement in Montreal, dismissed questions of religious freedom.

“When Muslim women do the Haj (pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia) they’re required not to wear a veil. They’re required to show their face,” he said. “The idea this is a religious requirement I do not accept.”

Additionally, Canadian law takes precedence over religious edict, Mr. Kenney said. He also announced measures to boost language testing for new immigrants.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

So far the headline and the articles I have read are “no veils allowed during the OATH CEREMONY”. Why? After the identities have been verified, the due process of citizenship is done, why is it truly necessary for a “no veil” policy?

I have been to a citizenship ceremony. It’s a CEREMONY. Nothing really happens there except your name is called and you are handed your
citizenship certificate and you may get your photograph taken with the judge. There are usually 300 people at the ceremony. Do we need ceremony monitors to ensure all the 300 people are reciting the oath? If saying the oath is so important, may I suggest that we recite the oath individually in front of the judge? That would make far more sense. But the armchair patriots want to throw up a tantrum over the fact that some from the crowd of 300 or so are not reciting the oath hence they are not Canadians! Absolute crock!

It’s this kind of stupid jingoism by the Tories that makes me cringe.

I am not part of the occupy movement. I do not go out in the camps, I do not write letters to my MP(s), I do not sit in protest in Bay Street, I do not approach random people and demand that they hear me.

However, I am part of the conversation about the movement.

The movement to me represents a sign of discontent by the masses (including me) about the natural order of the system as defined by capital. The small number of people deciding on what role everyone has to play is bound to crash and burn. This message is not lost on white collared workers like me. The disparity in North America between the rich and the poor, not as horrible as it is in the third world country, cannot be scoffed away in this continent. Anyway, working in a bank that keeps declaring losses every quarter is bound to affect my job as well. How much longer before I am trolling the roads for a job while the executive class lives off my taxes?

The attraction to the movement also stems from the reaction of the powers that be. “Health and safety concerns”, the main stream media’s parroting of the politician’s line of attack. And once the camps have been closed, FUCK YEAHs from these parrots suggests that the movement is over. Far from it.

The dysfunctional system in place in North America, favours the massively rich at the expense of the rest (the poor and the middle class) is too strong a message to be ignored.

Let’s begin!

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1045749–siddiqui-the-people-behind-the-prayer-protest?bn=1#article

The group demanding an end to Muslim Friday prayers at a Toronto school is militantly anti-Sikh and anti-Muslim.

Canadian Hindu Advocacy’s director Ron Banerjee has said: “In its entire history, Islam, the Islamic civilization has invented and contributed less to human advancement than a pack of donkeys.”

He wants to “fight the Islamization of our society” and, lately, of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). He’s demanding that Valley Park Middle School in Flemingdon Park stop giving space to Muslim students in the cafeteria after lunch on Fridays.

He does not live in the area but claims to have “received many complaints from terrified Hindu students and parents (who) felt that the TDSB was so thoroughly infected with Islamist sympathies that they would suffer consequences for speaking up.”

He does not say how many parents complained. Nor does he identify them. When I asked him that by email, and also inquired how many members his organization has and who funds it, he did not respond.

“Frankly, I don’t believe what he says,” principal Nick Stefanoff says. “I’ve not had a single complaint from any non-Muslim parents. We have dozens of Hindu students and we have a great relationship with them and their parents. When the Indian cricket team played Sri Lanka in the World Cup final (in April in Mumbai), Hindu and Muslim kids came to the school at 4 a.m. to watch it together. They had a great time.”

So, as you can gather, some students who on Fridays, instead of going to a local mosque, use the school canteen to pray. This is being done so that they avoid missing out on classes.

I am afraid that’s a big effing no!

If a student (or his/her parents) think that praying is more important than attending the classes, then please by all means go ahead and pray. But you cannot use a school for religious purposes. Period.

Now, regarding this person, Ron Banerjee who bought this whole issue to light. Haroon Siddiqui is bang on target when describing Banerjee and his activities. A racist to the core and one who proudly wears it on his sleeve. This guy is one of those low life parasites who has probably too much time on his hands and not enough distractions. Sounds like a typical mind set of a delusional right wing politics of India.

Another day, another attack.

Another mindless bombing, innocent people dying.

It’s become the circle of life in Mumbai. I wonder how much can that city take before the psychosis of living with the fear that a bomb could go off next to you drives people over the edge. Already there are statements appearing on the web that border on mob mentality where you go where ever your anger leads you. Here are what some of my close friends are posting on their wall on Facebook :

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Time to get up and take control. If you agree let’s make this a movement. Hang that Kasab (Pakistani Islamic terrorist who was involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks) or I am not paying taxes to the government for them to sit and feed the man who injured the soul of Mumbai!! An appeal KILL THAT KASAB OR CHANGE THE GOVERNMENT!!

I understand you are angry and upset but I do not understand how killing Kasab will stop terrorism? Once Kasab is dead will the terrorists just stop? It did not happen when US go Osama Bin Laden so why would it work in this case?

And if the person is saying that we should hang Kasab because he is guilty and the government is just dithering by not hanging him right away, then I have to ask, do you want to be like the terrorists? In other words do you want to take Kasab in the back and shoot him just like the terrorists do or do you want to go through a process that are entrenched in a democratic society. Yes, they can be slow but that’s why it’s called a due process. Leave no stone unturned. That’s how you fight terrorism.

I have been very disappointed by the response to this later attack from fellow desis (some of them are my very friends). There have been shouts across the board for more security. What does that mean? Do you want an Orwellian police state? Do you want to be told what you can do each moment you step out?

If yes, then may I suggest you try North Korea.

I was also disappointed with the response to the bombing by the authourities. I mean, I do not expect them to have a police presence at every corner (I would hate that kind of society). My problem is that I saw pictures of injured being carried in the back of delivery vans, injured lying about with no professional help, no fire men, nothing. WTF! I thought after repeatedly being bombed, the authourities would have learned by now how to RESPOND to a bombing even if they cannot PREVENT one.

And the media. Oh my god! What is wrong with the desi media? The hyperventilating reportage from the scene of the blast with no concern for the privacy of the victims and their loved ones makes me want to puke.

I have no idea how to end this post on a positive note because there is nothing positive about this tragedy. It’s happened before and it will happen again.

Here is a news item sure to boil your blood. This is an example (horrifying pictures in the article, not for the squeamish) of why it’s become so easy to hate people with authority :

“BHAJANPURA, AN obscure village of Forbesganj town in Araria, one of the most backward districts of Bihar, has unwittingly become the epicentre of communal politics. On 3 June, police bullets and atrocities took four lives, including an seven-month-old baby, a pregnant woman and an injured man, who was heinously stomped to death. In a statement that makes a mockery of the irrefutable evidence against them, the police are justifying the killings as an act of “self-defence”. The silence of the Nitish Kumar government is also raising several uncomfortable questions especially since all four people killed in the firing on 3 June belong to a minority community.

The residents of Bhajanpura could never have imagined their demand for a road could take such a tragic turn. The brutality of the police emerged in a blood-curdling video of a cop, Sunil Kumar Yadav, literally jumping on a prostrate and injured man, pummelling him to death. This two-minute long video footage is so disturbing that one shudders to think of those who saw it with their own eyes. Fatkan Ansari, father of the deceased Mustafa, breaks down while talking to TEHELKA. “Who killed him? Why was he killed? How was he killed? What do I tell you? This will not bring back my son,” is all he can mutter, before lapsing into silence.”

And yes. There was a video. And yes the police man actually jumped on an injured man’s face killing him. And yes, the jumping and kicking lasted for 2 minutes. Not sure why the police had this need to pummel another human being to death. I think the police faced some amount of resistance (in the form of uppity language from the villagers or something to that affect) had to come back with “who’s the boss now” attitude which somehow culminated with them stomping another human being to death.

Why?

Is power so intoxicating that people will use it to justify any illegal activity by those in power? I guess so. This was demonstrated during the G20 summit here in Toronto where the police, normally a highly regarded law enforcement agency, went ape shit for a period of 4 days when they were given unprecedented power to arrest whomsoever they felt like in the name of security.

This case is disturbing mostly because there is an element of communal violence by police against minorities who also happened to be poor opposing the rich politicians. And then the public has the temerity to ask why is there terrorism in India.

Add to the fact that there is video evidence you have to wonder how many such cases have escaped scrutiny because there was no evidence? This is India we are talking about. The police there, with blessings from the politicians, have and will go to depths of in-humanity again and again. I can only hope the fucking mainstream media pays some attention to this problem.

I know that in these award shows contestants pander to their audience especially the judges (who in turn pander to the television audience) but that’s no reason to be such a fucking moron. How can you be such a creationist and still stand amongst the finalists? Kudos to the 2 (out of 51!!!) girls who were all out for science. Quite a few said “both sides should have equal”. I hate fence sitters! 

(Edit : And I believe one of the two ultimately won the contest.)

For those living under a rock, Wikileaks began releasing diplomat cables from governments around the world. Wikileaks has promised release of 250,000 cables (they have released around 700 so far) and politicians have begun operation CYA (Cover Your Ass) in full earnest everywhere. Wikileaks and it’s founder, Assange, have been trashed quite a bit in the mainstream media here in the west and prominent politicians and talk show hosts have asked for Assange’s blood. Interpol issued a “Red Notice” based on rape charges being pursued by the Swedes.

First of all does Assange control the Wikileaks foundation? No one knows. Some say he is just a figure head while some say he is the founding member. Either way the problem is that the politicians are only looking at the
person and not trying to understand what Wikileaks stands for!

Wikileaks has done what all newspaper journalists used to do since the advent of journalism. Pry open government secrets and lay it out in the open for everyone to see. The only difference is that Wikileaks has pried open government secrets in an unprecedented amount instead of a leak hereor a leak there as it used to be a few years ago. So why exactly is this a problem? I have no answer for it. This is just posturing by politicians who need a reason to posture. This leak harms no one but embarrasses the hell out of all the major governments around the world. And I love it.

Which is why when Amazon.com kicked wikileaks off Amazon Web Services at the behest of J. Lieberman. So I did what a good citizen should do, abandon Amazon. I have cancelled my account from Amazon.ca and Amazon.com and I hope you do the same. These phuqers need to be kicked where it hurts, the bottom line. Here is the text I sent :

Please close/delete my account with amazon.ca and amazon.com.

The reason is your irrational decision to kick away wikileaks from AWS. So much for "freedom of expression". I will not buy from Amazon anymore and will make sure that I advertise your pitiful politicking to everyone I know. Good bye.

Please confirm you have deleted my account and all my credit card information.

Here’s why I hate the Harper’s government (link coming up soon) :

The Conservatives have used their clout in the Senate stacked by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to kill an NDP climate change bill that was passed by a majority of the House of Commons.

It is the first time that the unelected Conservative senators have used
their near-majority to kill a bill passed by elected politicians. The
absence of more than 15 Liberals from the Senate allowed the bill to be
defeated by a margin of 43 to 32.

Wow! So much for “Transparency” and “Accountability”.

I think the only reason he is getting away with this kind of shit is
because there is no leader to oppose him. I mean the Liberals have Iggy.
Canada’s version of Sen. Kerry. I mean his speeches are so devoid of
charisma that they are used to put babies to sleep. And Jack Layton of the
NDP? He is basically your “do as I say and not as I do” kinda guy.
Canadians need to remove Harper’s administration from power but I cannot
see anyone better taking his place.

Sad, sad day for Canada.

Here is an outrageous post from blogger from Malaysia. Here is a snippet of the post to understand the context of my response.

As I said : there is little care or concern for the human being in Indian society. Despite India being an old civilization, being a land of sages and stuff, they really don’t care too much about human beings.

I could not have agreed with you more about the CWG until you started to make inane statements like “little concern for human beings in Indian society” AND “Tens of millions of Indians still sleep out in the streets at night. No one cares for them” OR how Indians have a space program but no flushable toilets AND the icing on the cake, comparing how better off Chinese are in China as compared to Indians in India.

These statements demonstrate what a class A moron you are. Painting an entire population of India as pathetic and unintelligent and snobbish after meeting a few Indians in conferences. Wow! What a leap of conclusion!!

Are you telling me there are no poor in Malaysia and China? Please!

Malaysia has been shoving the poor under the carpet for years. And China? “Oh no, how can Chinese be poor, they have the fastest growing economy”. If that’s your attitude, please get your prescription medication refilled as soon as possible. Read this article and open your rose coloured eyes.

Are you telling me that the politicians of Malaysia and China actually put the welfare of the citizens of those countries before their own power? That’s a phuqing laugh. Chinese people enjoy limitless freedom with respect to politics, press, reproductive rights and…..oh man, must have dosed off and started to dream! And Malaysia? Malaysian politicians do not believe in coruption, or a firm hold to power. Do you want to ask Anwar Ibrahim what he thinks of the Malaysian politicians?

Are you telling me that a country should put a halt on all progress with respect to science, space exploration, nuclear exploration and put all it’s effort on poor?  This is a very difficult question to answer. In my view India’s efforts in this matter have been negligible and that is what worries me the most. No matter how well India does as a whole, some it’s citizens are in a fierce cycle of poverty that cannot be broken. Does that mean that India should neglect all areas and focus on solely on poverty. That my friend is called, a small vision. What good would it be for the poor in India if the country has no solid infrastructure, no industry, no scope for growth after poverty issue has been addressed? I have no illusions that poverty is one of India’s main problem in this centuary.

The main problem I have with your post is your portrayal of a typical Indian as being inhumane. How you arrived at that conclusion is beyond me. I agree with you completely that Indians by and large are apathetic people. But I would say that that is a global issue. Not only Indians, human beings by and large are apathetic, and yes, that includes Malaysians and Chinese.

So cut the BS with name calling. It is very easy to blame but difficult to look in the mirror and recoganise your own faults.

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Before he signs a new band to his independent music label, Franz Schuller usually gives aspiring musicians bad news: They’re probably not going to be famous. This bitter pill is briskly followed by another: “Whatever they think they knew about the music industry from what they’ve heard, or read, or seen on television, that really doesn’t exist any more,” says Mr. Schuller. “It’s really, really hard for artists out there now. It’s an insanely huge challenge to actually make a decent living playing music these days. That’s the reality.”

Ok, I do not know much about the music industry but right away this statement by a music industry insider put me off. If this is true then all the musicians are doomed and it’s the end of the indie music industry and we will all be listening to manufactured pop from the major labels from now.

But wait. Is that what’s really happening? No. We consumers of indie music are not being forced to listen to manufactured music at all. There are tonnes and tonnes of choices of indie musicians who are  creating superb music. I am a child of the 90s but I can say without any doubt in my mind that the indie music scene at the moment has been the best EVER.

Schuller thinks that bands will never make it in the real world.

“For all the massive opportunity that the Internet and mobile phones and devices give us by reaching millions and millions of people, there’s also a gazillion bands. It’s really hard to get noticed or to get anyone’s attention,” says Mr. Schuller. “It’s allowed people with absolutely no business competing in the same space to complicate the careers of people who do have a lot of talent. There’s way, way too much stuff out there.”

So, the reason you are not making money because untalented people are taking up your space??? What the fuck? That is one of the crappiest statements I have ever heard. You will get noticed if you are good and if you think you are destined to be famous then tap on the shoulder of your management not the technology. No one is asking you to be a technology genius. Just be smart about how to connect to people. If you can’t do it, ask your friends, family, your fans or just google it. I cannot believe that the reason why you are not successful is because you think someone else it taking up your space. What nonsense.

And then there is this :

This rings true for Tim Baker, lead singer of the burgeoning Newfoundland-based band Hey Rosetta!, which made the shortlist for this year’s Polaris Prize. As social networking technologies grow more popular, bands are put under pressure to communicate with their fans in a way that didn’t exist a decade ago.

“I just want to create a clone who actually enjoys being online,” he says with a laugh. “What a band is historically supposed to do is tour, and write music and put on shows. When you get home, your time off is actually way more work than being on the road.”

Again. What nonsense. If you do not like to spend time on line – Don’t. Please. Spare us.

Just make sure your music is easily accessible (iTunes, emusic, amazon) and put up shows in different parts of the country to stay in touch with your fans. Stay away from Twitter and facebook if it bugs you so much. I want to hear your music and I will pay for it and your shows/t-shirts. I do not want to hear about your life. I have no interest in it.

I think that’s what bugs some of the musicians these days. Gone are the days where a musician could define a fan, now it’s the fan who defines a musician.The fan decides what he/she wants to hear, what he/she wants to share and what he/she wants to spend money on. The musician should focus on what they do best, play music and leave the business of making money to the quality of their music.

Watch this video to learn the business model of the new music industry.

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Abousfian Abdelrazik is suing the government – and Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon personally – for $27-million over Canada’s role in his arrest and alleged torture in Sudan and for violating his constitutional right to come home.

Mr. Abdelrazik, who spent nearly six years in prison or forced exile while his attempts to come home were thwarted, returned to Canada in June after Ottawa was ordered by a federal judge to repatriate the 47-year-old Sudanese-Canadian.

I knew it was a matter of time before Abdelrazik sued Ottawa but what’s surprising is the lawsuit includes Cannon! Good for Abdelrazik. Cannon has displayed over and over again that he is all about “CONservative compassion” – of course, he means only for the non-dark skinned folks.

I don’t know why some anglo-Canadians do not reconcile with the fact that Canada (and USA) is changing. Both these countries are now going to be different shades of colours and to stay fixated on “your own kind of folks” is small mindedness and stupid.

Having said that, this statement is also true for Canadian or other colours. I mean, we Canadians from north India are one of the most racist folks in the world!! Try having a conversation about south Indians (who are a shade darker than north Indians) amongst people from Delhi and Punjab (northern states in India). Oh boy, some of the things I have heard said are so politically incorrect that they would be down right hate speech!!

Holy cow!!!

I have no idea where to go with this….

Creation, which opened the Toronto International Film Festival last week, might be winning favourable early reviews, but its still-controversial protagonist — naturalist Charles Darwin — has prevented the film from snagging U.S. distribution, according to one of its producers.

The Jon Amiel biographical drama stars real-life couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as the evolution theorist and his devout wife, during the period when Darwin struggled with his faith, the loss of a beloved daughter and with the decision to publish his seminal On The Origin of Species.

Though Creation has scored deals to screen in movie theatres around the globe, U.S. distributors have been reluctant.

I guess progressives and liberals are really not controlling Hollywood? So, a graphically violent movie like The Passion Of The Christ based on a fairy tale is ok with the distributors but a biopic on one of the greatest scientist in the history of the world, is a big NO.

Absolutely pathetic.

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Twitter, with its 140 character per message limitation, is no match for the capacity to put a lifetime online the way a member of Facebook can or the ability to watch the Michael Jackson funeral online the way viewers of CNN.com can.

It would probably be hard to get the average user of Twitter to say much about what he or she would lose if the service disappeared. Obviously, research shows that many of these people are Twitter members in name only. Many others seem to use the service infrequently. That leaves some number of “hardcore” people who spend a substantial part of their time sending each other Tweets for the better part of some or, in unfortunate cases, most days. Twitter is for them, a cell phone without a voice. Based on that analogy most of the time spent on Twitter has no redeeming social or economic value, unless it connects the agoraphobic or the desperately lonely.

It may be old fashioned to look at the value of a business based on whether it provides any real service to the people who are its “customers.”  The best way to evaluate that may simply be to ask what would happen if Twitter suddenly went away. In the case of McDonald’s (MCD), Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), or Wal-Mart (WMT) a sudden disappearance would be a really big problem for its customers.

If Twitter closes, or ceases to operate because its service is constantly interrupted, no one would be really affected.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Douglas’s article, What If Twitter Folds, is just awful. He basically compares twitter to cellphones and then goes on to explain how twitter is useless except for “the agoraphobic or the desperately lonely”. (I find it fascinating how morons who do not comprehend a technology immediately assume it’s for the losers of the society).

A brief rant about twitter.

The first thing you have to understand is that twitter is not new. It’s been around in the form of IRC (Internet Relay Channels) for quite a while now. Ask enterprising journalists how they got their news during the parliament troubles in USSR in 1991.

I agree that most of what’s on twitter is mindless chatter. But once you see signs of mindless chatter, it is your fault if you encourage it or participate in it. You can easily ignore the mindless chatter and if you do not do so, please don’t complain about being told what your friend had for breakfast. Mindless tweets are something that journalists love to brandish about again and again and I swear, it’s these journalists who encourage idiots to continue broadcasting their life.

What I find fascinating about twitter is the ability to streamline the tweets as per your requirement. I want to hear from some news organisations, from the popular bloggers, from close friends, from people who share my passion for running, passion for tennis, passion for formula 1 racing etc.

The company I work for is following the trends on twitter closely and wants to integrate it within the company platform. How that will work? No clue but the point is that companies are paying attention to this technology and just because 40.5% of tweets are about what one did a few minutes ago, does not mean that MSM dismiss the rest of the tweets which continue to inspire and entertain.

So, to go back to the question, what would happen if twitter folds? I can only answer that question with another question : Dougie boy, did you ask the Iranians that question, Douglas?

……..the State Department asked Twitter not to go down at its original time last night in order to allow Iranians to tweet out what’s happening in their cities. It also seems that U.S. officials are watching the chatter on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and elsewhere to keep up-to-speed with the situation on the ground.

UPDATE : I just noticed the header on the article bashing twitter. FAIL……Hilarious!!!

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Tim Hortons is scrubbing its hands of a Rhode Island event opposing same-sex marriage after an online outcry went viral yesterday.

The iconic Canadian coffee shop was listed as a sponsor for a “Marriage and Family Day” hosted by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), an organization that campaigns against gay marriage.

Tim Hortons had agreed to provide free coffee for the Aug. 16 event in Warwick, R.I., but pulled out yesterday as the news spread and complaints came flooding in.

Tim Hortons said it would no longer be a sponsor, citing a policy not to sponsor events “representing religious groups, political affiliates or lobby groups.”

Well this is really good news. I was ready to ban Timmies from my life is they had not withdrawn the sponsorship. It would have been difficult but I would have done it. And here is a statement from the organisers :

“We had no idea that we would cause an international incident by having coffee donated,” said Chris Plante, director of the Rhode Island chapter of NOM.

They had planned for 250 cups of coffee, he said.

On the brochure, the iconic “Tim Hortons” signature is printed next to the event’s intended purpose: “To take a stand for marriage as it was created to be.”

“Oooooh, it’s just coffee”. “Why would anyone be offended by having coffee served to gay hating, homophobic people?” I am glad that the TDL corporation nixed in the bud (even though they took their own time to do it).

And for all those twitter naysayers :

News of the sponsorship set off a furious stream of angry “tweets” about what appeared to be the Canadian company’s partisan involvement in a controversial political battle.

Many of the comments, which were coming at a rate of a dozen every minute, were demanding the company pull the sponsorship. But others went further, accusing the company of homophobia and saying they would boycott the company.

Yesterday afternoon, Tim Hortons released a statement saying the sponsorship had been cancelled and that the franchise owner had run afoul of corporate policy. The company does not allow sponsorship of religious, political or lobby groups.

Nope there is no “hidden” agenda from the conservatives. It’s business as usual.

A gay and lesbian arts festival that was told it met all government criteria under a new tourism stimulus program learned today it was rejected for funding.

The news arrived at Montreal’s Divers-Cite a few weeks after tension swept the Conservative caucus over funding for Toronto’s Pride week, and just days before the beginning of their event.

“We met all the criteria – this is a democracy,” said Girard. “They changed the rules as they went along.

“I feel like I’ve been had.”

Clement’s office was not immediately available for comment Tuesday evening.

Clement took over the new tourism funding envelope late last month, after members of the Tory caucus complained that junior minister Diane Ablonczy had approved funding for Toronto’s Pride week festivities.

MP Brad Trost told a socially conservative news website that Ablonczy had been stripped of the portfolio. The government said the plan was to move the envelope to Clement all along.

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The federal government is telling the courts to back off when it comes to the Omar Khadr case and leave foreign affairs decisions to the Prime Minister and his cabinet.

In a hearing yesterday, Justice Department lawyer Doreen Mueller urged the Federal Court of Appeal to reject the Federal Court’s April ruling that the government should request Mr. Khadr’s return from the United States.

Ms. Mueller said the Crown rejects the view that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies when Canadians face charges outside the country.

“There is clearly no duty to protect citizens under international law,” Ms. Mueller told the court.

“No duty to protect citizens under international law”? Wow!! And then they ask me why I detest conservatives. So, the government is not interested in defending it’s own citizens. This guy may be a monster, but he is our monster and we should deal with him they way our constitution demands. But, oh no, that’s not a-ok by our piss-in-pants conservatives. And here is why:

Ms. Mueller argued that it is constitutionally inappropriate for the courts to interfere in foreign policy, which she said is the exclusive jurisdiction of the executive branch of government. The executive is made up of the Prime Minister and cabinet.

What. The. Fuck.

“Inappropriate for courts to interfere in foreign policy.” May I ask what happened to your cojones when this issue came up last week ?

After weeks of pressure by his supporters, the federal government said yesterday it would comply with a court order to bring Abousfian Abdelrazik back to Canada.

Moreover, newly declassified documents revealed yesterday that the Montreal man, who has been stranded at the Canadian Embassy in Sudan for more than a year, was placed on a United Nations no-fly list at the request of the U.S. government.

A scathing Federal Court ruling ordered the Conservative government on June 4 to repatriate Abdelrazik, a Sudanese-born Canadian citizen, within 30 days, and it gave them until today to come up with a travel plan for his return.

So, in this case, your conservative government acquiesced to a court’s “interference in foreign policy” but when it comes to a similar situation, they say “oh nos. We cannot piss of the US”.

What a bunch of cowards.

In Delhi in 1996 to make a long distance phone call, you’d either have to be very rich or use one of the private maintained phone booths. Basically you’d walk to the booth, give the head honcho the number you want to reach and then sit and wait for your turn because, invariably, there were quite a few people waiting to make a call.

The one I used to frequent was a small room that had opened right next to my apartment. The phone was in a small make shift booth in one of the corners of the room. It was a glass booth with curtains to give the caller perceived privacy. Perceived? Because people in the room could clearly hear the entire conversation of the person in the booth even though no one could see in the booth.

So one evening I went to the booth to call my folks for my weekly call and gave the number and waited for my turn amongst 5-6 other people. I knew it would take time so I had taken a book along which proceeded to read. Inside the booth was a woman who, maybe because of a bad connection, was talking fairly loudly. So, even if you did not want to hear her conversation, you had no choice.

And this is how the conversation was going :

“Yes mum. Life is really hard here working all the time.”

…….

“Yes mum he helps out as much as he can but his work sometimes takes him away for a few days and then it becomes very hard to handle the kids and my work”

…….

“Yeah. That’s why I am calling. Please send me some body who will help out with the house.”

Here in North America such help is very expensive but in India, personal help is within the budgets of everyone. Even I as a student had a maid help me (and my flat mates) with cleaning and cooking everyday. Anyway, on with the conversation :

The woman says “can you please send someone from (ed : I forget what city she says here but I remember thinking, boy that’s far off) as soon as you can? But can you make sure that he is not more than 15 years old”

At this point, my head went up. I was mildly shocked. How can she ask her mom to separate a kid from his parents to look after her kids??? And then she said something that made everyone in the room look up from their magazines and books with shock.

“Please make sure that he is not into studying or learning. Or that he is looking into coming to Delhi and think I would be responsible for his well being.  I don’t want to have to deal with that crap.”

She continued with this line of conversation for a good minute or so and the whole time we were all looking at each other in shock and I know what everyone was thinking. Here is an educated woman talking about getting help for her kids from another kid and she wants this help not to be inquisitive or have a education-oriented mind. She just wants a servant. Someone at her beck and call.

And that’s what I hate about India. This subjugation of a population because they are of a different social strata. Of a different caste. Of a different region. This is very common in India and is prevalent among the so called educated class as well. India will forever be mired is bickering amongst it’s population as long as such attitudes exist.

What brought about this rant from me? This :

Sunil and Arvind Parmar, owners of a tea stall in Surendranagar, Gujarat, break
for lunch while their servant Mangal, an 11-year-old Dalit boy is made to sit under the table.

How many times are we going to have to point to globeandmail the obvious? On a personal level I have no idea what kind of person she is but on a professional level, Christie Blatchford is dumb fucking stupid.

Here is her latest shit regarding the controversy surrounding taped conversations of Lisa Raitt (the minister for Natural Resources) :

On the tape, Ms. MacDonnell said the isotope issue is confusing to a lot of people. “But it’s sexy,” Ms. Raitt replied. “Radioactive leaks. Cancer.” It was clear as a bell she wasn’t talking about cancer being sexy. About Ms. Aglukkaq, Ms. Raitt said, “Oh. Leona. I’m so disappointed.” Ms. MacDonnell said, “I wonder if it’s her staff trying to shield her from it or whether she is just terrified.”

Ms. Raitt replied: “I think her staff is trying to shield her. Oh God. She’s such a capable woman, but it’s hard for her to come out of a co-operative government into this rough-and-tumble. She had a question in the House yesterday, or two days ago, that planked. I really hope she never gets anything hot.”

This is irresponsible? Disparaging? Disgusting? This is what prompted Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe to yesterday invoke the spectre of breast-cancer patients needing tests being told that a cabinet minister called their disease sexy; now, that’s disgusting.

Irresponsible – errrrr, yes.

Disparaging – errrrr, of course.

Disgusting – errrr, yeah.

I don’t think Christie has a clue what the fuck she is talking about. And hearing her use that screeching voice on The Bill Carroll show (another apologist for Lisa Raitt and the conservatives in general) this morning to say over and over again “she did nothing wrong” is  moronic on many levels.

The minister WAS referring to cancer as being a sexy ISSUE for her which, in political jargon means, “lots of public attention for me”. How the hell can anyone be idiotic enough to talk about an issue of life and death for the advancement of her political career in such a cavalier way in front of her aides, driver, etc.? I have listened to the conversations and it was fairly obvious she is trying to say – this is a great issue as it will get a me a lot of publicity as soon as I fix it.

The problem is, a few months later from that conversation, she is nowhere near fixing it. In fact, Canada is ready to bring in private parties and transfer the knowledge of isotopes production to them!! Instead of fixing the problem, she has ended up mucking it further and that’s why we on the progressive side are having this fit of outrage.

And, Christie, please don’t throw her brother’s death by cancer in our face. We are not exactly stupid to immediately say “oooooh her brother died of cancer so she is never going to use any issue with cancer to advance her career”.

From what I understand from your nonsensical piece on the globeandmail.com today, you are saying “oh what the hell. She was just being herself. We are all like that so leave her alone”. And if that really is your defense, then you are more idiotic than I thought.

Because all said and done, there is nothing on that tape that can’t be put to rest with the correct apology. All the minister had to say was, it was a private conversation and she is sorry if some people got hurt because of it. That’s all. But conservatives being blockheads, they had to put on a display of sheer arogance. They went to the court to try and stop the release of the tape!!! Why? Because the public might hear a private conversation??? BTW, it’s not private when you are talking in front of a driver as the judge has confirmed.

This is what is wrong with this whole issue. The conservative government is not trying to govern Canada. Rather they are trying to RULE Canada. They want their agenda, their policies, their opinions thrust on everyone even though 65% of the Canadian population opposes them.

And that’s what you fail to understand, Ms Blatchford. And that’s why you are dumb fucking stupid.

Update : She finally apologised. I think we can now put the matter to rest.

<Link>

In India, China and sub-Saharan Africa, millions upon millions of women are missing. They are not lost, but dead: victims of violence, discrimination and neglect.

These are excess deaths: women “missing” above and beyond natural mortality rates, compared to their male counterparts.

Women who are dead because their lives were undervalued.

Around the world boys outnumber girls at birth, but in countries where women and men receive equal care, women have proved hardier and more resistant to disease, and thus live longer. In most of Asia and North Africa, however, Sen found that women die with startlingly higher frequency.

His research began a flutter of activity in academic circles and by 2005, the United Nations produced a much higher estimate for how many women could be “missing”: 200 million.

“Previously, people had thought that they (the missing women) were all at the very early stages of life, prenatal or just after, so before four years old,” Anderson says. “But what we found is that the majority are actually later.” Female infanticide has been endemic in India and China for some time, which she says led researchers to assume that it was the source of all the missing women. But the truth is much more complicated.

Once she and Ray broke down the numbers by age group, they found that the majority of excess female deaths came later in life: 66 per cent in India, 55 per cent in China and 83 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa.

Female infanticide is a huge issue in India. People just do not want girls. The government has tried to step in but what do you do when majority of the population does not desire baby girls.

And this is not a poor-educated issue. My mom is a teacher in a secondary school catering to the well to do families and she sees the gender gap in the classroom. She just does not comprehend why the gap exists. Why would a family opt for a boy to a girl?

And this is just plain sad……

“Why would there be excess mortality of, let’s say, 45-year-old women versus 45-year-old men?” asks economics professor Kevin Milligan. “And what they find is … they have the same set of diseases, they just seem to die more frequently. The explanation that seems most consistent with that is differential access to health care. And so that’s a really striking finding.”

Anderson says that lack of health care is likely a big part of the problem, but that there are numerous cultural and social factors at play that can be difficult to pinpoint.

…..in India, a category called “injuries” yielded ominously high figures: 86,000 excess deaths in the age group 15-29 in 2000 alone. Anderson has done extensive research in India, and says the numbers beg the question of exactly how many deaths were so-called “kitchen fires” – often used to mask dowry-related killings, the result of a new bride being tortured by her new family until her parents pay their debts.

Jim Flaherty Then :

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was facing a deficit of $5.9-billion in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010, according to the fiscal update he released last fall. To achieve a surplus, Mr. Flaherty pledged to reduce government spending by $4.3-billion and predicted the government would earn $1.6-billion from changes to public sector compensation and the gains on purchases of insured mortgages from banks.

Jim Flaherty Now :

Mr. Flaherty revised his projection again this week, citing a deeper-than-expected recession, higher-than-anticipated employment insurance payments and the rescues of Chrysler and General Motors.

Lisa Riatt Then (UPDATE : here she is trying to sound the alarm bells about how the isotopes shortfall is a “really, really” bad thing)

“Ensuring that the Canadian medical community receives a consistent and reliable supply of medical isotopes has been of critical importance to me,” (Lisa) Raitt said

Lisa Raitt Now (UPDATE : Here she is saying, a few months later, “not to worry. There is no shortage of isotopes in the world”)

During this extended outage at Chalk River, other isotope-producing countries have the capacity to assist in minimizing production shortfall.

These countries all have different sets of constraints and capacity, and we will need to work through those. There is good will amongst all and a willingness to be helpful. They also fully recognize that Canada stepped up to the plate and provided a significant amount of additional isotope capacity when the Petten reactor in the Netherlands was down.

I know it’s very easy to beat up conservatives because they waffle sooooooooooooo much but I think Flaherty got a raw deal. The poor guy probably made inane statements about how everything was a-ok after being asked to by the big guy PM Harper and now he is paying for it. It’s not Flaherty’s fault that we have a deficit of $50 billion, but he is at fault for saying Canada is at a better state than it really was.

It’s not Lisa Raitt’s fault that she inherited a leaky and crumbling nuclear reactor but then to go claim that the safety would be reviewed and a plan would be put into action which is TO SELL THE NUCLEAR PLANT TO A PRIVATE PARTY!!!! That’s the dumbest thing I have ever heard. So much for ensuring a ensuring safety and a steady supply of isotopes. Let’s shut down the reactor and find some buyer who would restart the reactor as it is now.

Just go through the interview (Liveblogging Lisa Raitt on the sale of AECL’s reactor building division) and get ready to swear over Lisa’s incompetent handling of the crisis.

And when the National Post is making fun of the conservatives, then you KNOW there is trouble brewing.