Freedom Of Speech Is Alive And Well In Canada

After a grueling four hour drive through thunder, lightening and a massive downpour, we did eventually make it to the cabin. I have spent the last four hours doing some serious cleaning in the studio preparing for tomorrow when I shall try to "throw" some pots.

Took a quick peek on line, and discovered that the human rights case against Macleans Magazine has been thrown out. Good...not that I agree with everything that is written but the right to do so is paramount. A lot of journalists and bloggers were watching this case carefully since the repercussions on opinions could have been huge. Heck, I might have even found myself there some day since I tend to be a bit opinionated from time to time.

I've take a lot of pictures but with dial-up it would be painful to load them. I'm lucky I guess that here in the "bush" I even have a phone. Later...

From Here to There

We're leaving town for a few days, albeit not quite like below...

But really, with the cost of gas at $1.34 a litre (5 bucks a galon) this could be our future travel mode.

Bass season open this weekend and my sweetie can hardly wait to get out on the lake and do battle and find the big one that got away last year. Me on the other hand, will be cleaning and opening the studio and trying my hand at making some pots. I used to be very good and prior to my hip replacement four years ago made and sold around 5 thousand dollars worth of pottery every summer. Nice little supplementary income and lots of fun meeting new people.

Those were the days when the town of Haliburton had lots of American visitors every summer. Sadly this year there will not be so many. The high price of gas is destroying this little cottage town. The only other thing this town offers is the Haliburton School of The Arts, where courses on everything from pottery to lingerie designing and everything in between. It is were I learned my craft. I am taking my knitting though, just in case.

We will be gone for a few days so no postings until next week with hopefully some nice photos of my work and a fish or two...

Happy Canada Day

Honor Killings?

An update to this story comes in todays news. The brother of Aqsa Parvez has now been charged with first degree murder along with his father. The police suspect this may be a case of honor killing. Very sad story...

Back in December a father murdered his daughter. I wrote about it at the time here.

At the time the father was charged with second degree murder. These charges have now been upgraded to first degree murder. At the time Aqsa Parvez was murdered her mother, brother and sister were at home. Why were they not protecting her? She was only 16 years old. I am a mother and I would protect my child with my life, why didn't her mother step in and stop this murder?

I just it all hinges on whether or not he intended to murder his daughter and it seems the police seem to think so. This is the first time in my memory that a young Muslim girl was murdered by her relative in this country and I hope it is not the beginning of a trend.

This is nothing new in other countries with large Muslim populations, most notably Germany, which has had quite a few over the years. It must be incredibly difficult for these young girls who just want to fit in and be Canadian to discover that their families won't allow it. The price of freedom could be death...

Wearing My Heart On My Sleeve-Nope On The Car

Update - in the final minutes of the game Germany scored to make it 3-2, bit of a nail biter though.

For my late father who was an absolute soccer fanatic. I will be cheering for Germany today and I apologize to my Portuguese friends in advance for their loss.


Go Germany go...

U.S. Mayors Call For Boycott Of Alberta Oil?

In the news today, Mayors of major American cities are calling for a boycott of Alberta oil. Are they nuts, do they really think it is better to get it from the middle east? Heck, they don't have to invade us to get it, we sell it willingly under NAFTA. According to this article, it would be difficult to enforce so is it a publicity stunt? To what end?

One would think that getting their oil from a "friendly" nation would be a good thing...then again, maybe it's an election strategy.

A River Runs Thru!

Yesterday marked the 11th day out of 12 that we have had severe rain storms but it was by far the worst.
The white stuff in the photo below is hail, lots of it and by the time it was over there was an inch or so on the ground. There are a few dings on my car and most of the garden was flattened. I hope that with a few sunny days some of the plants will recuperate.

The Human Right To Not Be Offended!

One of the more sane voices in the legal community speaks out on the ongoing human rights case currently before the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. Edward Greenspan, admittedly one of the top legal minds in this country offers his view here. The complaint is against Maclean's magazine by the Canadian Islamic Congress and he calls their efforts to hijack freedom of the press "an administrative fatwa". I will watch the outcome with interest. Could this also affect bloggers who have opinions and from time to time may offend someone?

Rain Rain, Go Away...

It has been so stormy here in T-Dot the last few days with torrential downpours that seem to come out of nowhere. Well not really, just seems like it. Bright and sunny one minute and a few minutes later lightening, thunder and of course the rain. Today while driving home from the grocery store the rain was so heavy we couldn't see ahead of us. By the time I got myself in the house I was literally soaked through. It's time for a little nice weather don't ya think.

The garden though is surviving it all...

I'm going to try and soak these Irises to make a dye for my yarn.

The Columbine...



A perfect rose...can't you just smell it.

More Hazardous Products?

When was the last time you bought a new shower curtain or changed the liner on an existing one? Did you notice the nice smell, you know the bouquet of new plastic? Turns out this is another thing that can be harmful to your health.

Blogging With Risk

There is currently a human rights trial happening in Vancouver, British Columbia with the subject being a hate crime.

Will bloggers who write about these things also end up in front of the tribunal?

I link you to this .

We don't always have to agree with everything that is written but I believe that we must guard against the loss of freedom of speech. The man who is at the centre of this complaint is Mark Steyn who wrote a book, of which an excerpt was printed in Macleans magazine. I don't particularly like this writer but taking away his freedom of speech is wrong.

Today I Contributed To Global Warming

Today we drove 412 km round trip to spend 5 hours with this little girl. Was it worth it, you betcha. My grand daughter Elliotte, who lives three thousand km away was in the neighbourhood, so to speak with her Mom visiting her other set of grandparents. Couldn't miss my chance to have a few hugs. I haven't seen her in one year, it was time...to heck with global warming.