100

That is the number of Canadian soldiers that have now been killed in Afghanistan. They are in the most dangerous part of the country fighting under NATO. I think we are mostly forgotten by Americans unless they need or want something from us. There has rarely been any coverage in MSM about the sacrifices Canadian military men and women make on their behalf, until now that is.

Two recent news events were surprising to me, the first was an NBC report about our repatriation of soldiers and the Highway of Heroes.

And today in the news U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was pretty much gushing about Canada's contribution to their war effort and hinting that we should stay.

I guess since President-Elect Obama won and he pledged to put more troops in Afghanistan, all of a sudden they remember us...think I should park my cynicism?

And The Winner Is???

I'm writing this on the day of the American election, you know, the one that will change the face of America and make the rest of the world love her. Somehow I doubt it though, maybe for 15 minutes or so and then it will be back to Yankee bashing. It's become a sport and nothing, not even an Obama win will make most of the world give that up. It's too much fun...

I'm not one of those people by the way, I happen to love Americans generally; I'm married to one and have cousins, stepsons and friends in the U.S. If it wasn't for health insurance, we'd seriously consider moving to sunny California.

Anyway, since I'm heading off to bed I'm going to predict that Obama will win.

Obama can not possibly live up to the expectations of the world, nor can he be the saviour of the U.S. in spite of the very liberal media wishing it so. It is the inhabitants of that country who must first come to terms with a very simple fact; they are not always the best, biggest, brightest and most superior in the world and when I hear him say that he will change the world I am struck by the sheer arrogance of it. Is this just election rhetoric or does he really believe it?

There have been many charismatic and eloquent world leaders, some good some bad and some very bad so I truly hope that Obama has more to offer. I suspect that within a year the shine will have worn off, kind of like an imitation "gold" ring that turns green with wear. Style without substance. I find it hard to believe that he can deliver on everything that he promised.

The world is watching and I hope for the best for my American friends...and now I'm going to bed confident that I'm not wrong and by tomorrow morning Obama will be the new president elect and all will be well in their world...

Al-Qaeda - Their Choice For President

Seems al Qaeda has an opinion on who should be the new president of the U.S. and their choice should surprise you. It did me...seems they would like McCain to win.

This makes for interesting reading.

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?

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.

High Gas Prices - One Way To Reduce Global Warming

As we head into the first real (family day in February doesn't count) long weekend of the year I shudder at the cost of gas. Hovering at around $1.27 a litre depending on where you are in this city, it is becoming prohibitive to most people to drive far from home. I suspect the regular Friday night exodus to cottage country will slow down. I know myself as I filled up my tank for $80 that doing this every weekend as we have in years past may not be possible. Of course that will reduce the amount of emissions and that's a good thing, but what about all the businesses in cottage country, small towns with small populations, that depend on cottagers for their income? What will happen to them, will they close up and do what? Go on welfare or move to cities for employment?

And where will they work. Figures out show that people are spending less money, everyone is so worried about the fallout from the American mortgage fiasco that they are tightening their belts so the speak. I'm not an economist, in fact my mathematical abilities suck but even I know that purchasing and travelling stimulate the economy and keep things humming.

So higher gas prices = less money for other things = less production or import = less use of electricity = less coal fired plants to produce electricity = ...you get the point. Where are we headed here. Am I looking at this too simplistically, will this all work out in the end?


Today it cost me 80 bucks to fill up the gas tank on my ridiculously inefficient vehicle, oh yes I already said that. Then there's this little gem, a carbon tax, that the leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition wishes to impose on us if elected in the next federal election; just what we need. It has been estimated that a carbon tax could add up to 50 cents to a litre of gas. Just what the economy needs.

Stephane Dion...read my lips, we don't need a carbon tax, meanwhile we're heading out to play with the blackflies...shudder.

THE DION TAX
Would Dion's Carbon Tax Save The Planet ?

Yes, we Canadians can save the world (300)	13%
No, he's crazy as a bed bug (1916)	82%
I don't know, tough call (117)	5%

Total Votes: 2333

A Little Of This - A Little Of That

These were my recycling bins until this spring. They worked just fine and any excess recyclable material went into a clear plastic bag. Why fix what's not broke? Seems the City of Toronto just loves spending money, so...

They gave us these... They come in four different sizes and this one is one down from the largest one. Looks pretty nice right, there's only one problem. Whenever I need to take it down the driveway on recycling day, I have to move the cars to the street. It is so bulky it won't fit and I wonder how I will manage that in winter when there is nowhere on the street to put the cars. Snow removal as I might have mentioned before doesn't usually happen here, they just plow down the middle of the road creating huge snowbanks. After a winter like the one past our road was turned into a one way street with no parking. Lest you think I'm whining, let me assure you I'm not. These bins have created dissent all over town. A large majority of homes in the inner city don't have driveways, just a small walkway and the bins don't fit down those either. So they get parked on the front lawns for a really cool look, so much for curb appeal.

These bins cost the city about $80 per household and in my view were an unnecessary expense. Do you suppose the fact that the garbage collectors (whose union heavily supported the current Mayor) and no longer have to lift them might have something to do with it? The new bins are picked up automatically with a lever system.

And that's not all. Today I got my notice about the new garbage cans, again at a cost. But this time the cost is being passed on to homeowners. Guess apartment dwellers get a freebie on this.
These little bins comes in four sizes with the smallest being free. It holds one green garbage bag and gets picked up bi weekly. If you need a larger one say one and a half green garbage bag then it will cost you $39 per year and the largest one that holds four and a half green garbage bags will cost you $190 a year.

Now considering that our property taxes have been raised again to just under four percent I guess the city fathers might be feeling a little guilty and are giving us free, no charge, five free bag tags a year and if you need more you can buy them for $3.10 each.


I am incredibly vigilant about recycling and compost like mad so I'm getting the smallest bin. But what gets me in this deal is that our property tax money is being spent in ways not intended.

For example, homelessness and begging has become an industry in this city sucking almost 14 million dollars out of city coffers. Why not just make pan handling illegal? Nope, too easy, lets just hire a bunch more social workers to do what exactly? Sue-Ann Levy writes about this issue and explains it all. And then there are all the other city handouts that should not come from the tax base.

One of the more conservative councillors Doug Holyday commented...

"Holyday reckoned that if city officials are targeting just the 408 panhandlers they found last summer with an investment of up to $14 million, that works out to almost $35,000 a head."

Meanwhile, the dandelions take over the city, the garbage doesn't get picked up on time and potholes are just multiplying as I type... All chemicals have been banned in the Province of Ontario which doesn't bother me overmuch, but where are all the city workers digging them out. As soon as they go to seed my head clogs up and I sneeze continuously. Our city looks like crap. Pools in schools are being closed because the city says it can't afford to fund them. I wonder if some of the panhandlers might like digging up dandelions? There is something wrong here in T-Dot. Does anybody still want to visit or live here?

An I thought I had nothing to write about...I think I'm going to update my knitting blog, it's less stressful...

Will We All Starve?

As the cost of gasoline goes up and more and more farmers corn crops are going for bio fuels instead of food, the price of food also rises. Some stores are rationing rice in America, what will be next? I have personally noticed that flour has doubled in price and the cost of a loaf of bread has risen dramatically. From what I'm reading it can only get worse. Anybody else notice or am I too fixated on this.

I can still afford to buy a bag of flour and rice but some of the poorest people on earth will starve. There are riots in many countries around the globe and it may only get worse. Maybe we need to rethink ethanol, it may be causing more harm than good. Maybe I need to ask the offspring, he's a science kind of guy...

Standing Up For Canada

I have been following what is happening in the U.S. primaries with great interest. Whoever becomes the new President will have some effect on this country for good or bad. I don't write about it because it's really none of my business how my American friends choose to vote.

I do find some of the rhetoric over the top though, especially when both Clinton and Obama speak of renegotiating NAFTA.

Today in New Orleans Prime Minister Stephen Harper was quite clear that he wouldn't mind so much. I tend to agree with him on this one. A lot of Americans are complaining about the price of gasoline these day but I wonder if they would like to pay what we pay. I assure you it's much more and considering that we ship a lot of our oil down south that seems kind of unfair to me.

"Canada is the United States' number-one supplier of energy. We are a secure, stable supplier. That is of critical importance to the future of the United States," he said

Nuff said...

Tibetan Monks

In case anyone missed it Beijing Wide Open, a blogger I follow has a video clip of what happened today during a tightly controlled tour for western journalists. Pay her a visit and look at the video.

Do we boycott the Olympics? I read today that Nicolas Sarkozy (France) is the only world leader considering it.

Back to my knitting...

To Boycott or Not - Beijing Olympics

I have been wanting to offer up an opinion on China and the Olympics but decided to wait a little, read some more and try to understand the issue better. My offspring on the other hand, having been there has written a good post of his view on Tibet and also offers his video clip of the region.

It is my view that maybe the politicians of the world ought to boycott the opening ceremonies and let the rest of the games go on. I think maybe China would take notice, maybe...ya think?

I've Got The Flu - I Think!

Well it's either the flu or a relapse of Fybromyalgia and I won't know until tomorrow which one ails me they are both kind of similar in the beginning. For the first time in 5 years I didn't get my flu shot, it just didn't work out time wise in the fall. I had bronchitis, I had the gallbladder thing and I just kept putting it off. So it is possible that it's the flu. Usually my first symptoms with both is that my skin hurts. Isn't that bizarre, I can't touch my skin anywhere so I'm crawling into a hot bath with my carefully hoarded Lavender Bath Salts from the Healing Garden and then to bed. I may resurface in a few days.

Meanwhile just to keep you busy there was an interesting story in Saturdays Globe and Dope, which is Canada's premier newspaper. This is a six part series and is available online and it's about the Taliban. All done kind of under cover and very interesting reading. You can find it here... I've always said that Canada should get out of Afghanistan. It is an un winnable war and unless we are prepared to be there forever the moment we leave the Taliban will be back.

And then there's this. For those out there who would like to blame Bush and the Americans in totality for the Iraq war they might like to read this and find out the the Germans had a hand in it. It's called intelligence and if it's bad you get into a lot of trouble.

Of course then there's China and Tibet and I'm still watching that one. China is not know for it's human rights and I'm absolutely surprised they were awarded the Olympics. For me, I just don't buy goods made in China, it's really all I can do.

And now I'm off to bed... we're getting another snow storm.

Political Opportunism?

The case of Brenda Martin who sits in a Mexican jail waiting to be rescued, is getting more convoluted by the day. There are accusations by the Liberal party that the current Conservative government is not doing enough to free her.

What I am still finding interesting with this story, is why did this woman not leave Mexico long before she was arrested, and why did she not hire one of the lawyers that was on the list presented to her by the Canadian Embassy.

When our previous Liberal Prime Minister, the Right Honorable Paul Martin, who last time I checked is still a sitting member of the government went to Mexico to visit her, it was not called a photo op. When Jason Kenney from the Conservative government goes to Mexico to actually try help her, the oppositions calls it a photo op and he is criticized. Brenda Martin is not showing any gratitude, if anything she has become almost belligerent. You can read the full story here.

Just a little reminder that it was the Liberal Government of Canada that allowed a Canadian, William Sampson, to sit in a Saudi Arabia jail for years facing beheading and it was actually the Brits that got him and his 5 co accused out.

And then of course there's the Maher Arar story. He was taken off a plane in New York and shipped to Syria where he spent a year in jail being tortured. If it was not for the strength and determination of his wife he'd probably still be there, or be dead.

Just a little reminder that the Liberals don't have such a good record for helping Canadians in trouble.

Canadian In Mexican Jail - Who Can Help?

It is a real problem when Canadian citizens get themselves in trouble in foreign lands. The laws are quite different and mostly you are guilty until you can prove yourself innocent. Negotiating the legal system in lands where bribes are the order of the day can be difficult and mostly our Charter of Rights means nothing.

Brenda Martin is such a case. She has been in jail in Guadalajara since February 17, 2006. Her crime was working as a cook for a man now serving a prison sentence in the U.S. for perpetuating a 60 million dollar Internet investment fraud. What disturbs me a little about this case is why didn't she get out while the getting was good, after all her boss managed to get himself to the U.S.? She was not arrested right away, she had time. She was also not a tourist, she was living there.

The Prime Minister of Canada has gotten involved in this case but even he admitted on national television that there's not a lot he can do. Mexico has it's own justice system and is it's own country. Predictably the opposition parties are screaming for blood and blame the Conservative government of not moving fast enough to get her out. Short of sending in the troops I'm not sure what else can be done. Boycotts maybe, travel restrictions, or maybe I'll stop buying Mexican tomatoes? Most Canadians seem to favour such boycotts.

But it's never going to happen...Canadians suffering through long cold and snowy winters just love their holidays in Mexico and will never give them up. A year ago a boycott was called for after the murder of a Toronto couple who where there for the daughters wedding. A killer has never been found but two Ontario women were accused by the Mexican government of being the killers. The Mexican government has made no real effort to find the real killer or clear their names.

Government not responding to Canadian citizens caught in other lands fast enough has been in the news before, most notably during the Lebanon crisis. When Canada did finally get them home they weren't particularly grateful if I recall and wrote about it at the time.

Travel is a tricky thing, we all want to visit foreign lands, we think we're immune to anything bad happening to us and when it does we are shocked that our government cant immediately come to our assistance. Should we really be that surprised? It can be a lot of fun out there in the world, but it can also be very very bad...

Lets Treat Our Seniors With Dignity

One of the things I always promised to my Mother was that she would never have to live in a seniors residence. Fortunately it was promise I was able to keep. Here in Ontario and I'm sure in a lot of other places, unless you have a lot of money and hire private caregivers, the standard of care is pretty poor. One of the very first things they do is put these poor people in diapers, even if they are not incontinent. The reason for this to save time and money. It takes older people longer to negotiate themselves and their walkers and canes to the loo and generally they need assistance to get there. Diapers are easier.

The problem is this; they do not change them very frequently, in fact the standard is that the diaper has to have a minimum of 2000 ml of liquid to qualify for a change. The new ones come with a little blue strip that shows how much liquid has been absorbed. This is friggin bizarre.

This is not only done in nursing homes, it is also as I discovered pretty standard practice in hospitals with senior patients and they did the very same thing to my Mother over my objections. My Mother was not incontinent prior to her what was to be her last hospital stay. When I asked to have her changed and cleaned up I was told she'd have to wait they were busy. They expected her to eat her meals in that condition.

So George Smitherman, the Minister of Health for Ontario is considering wearing one of these diapers and testing them himself to see how uncomfortable they are. I would suggest that he fill them up with water first and see how easy it is to walk around in one without it falling down. I mean, that becomes a pretty heavy diaper. He is making a mockery of this horrible problem and he's been forced to apologize. Doesn't solve the problem though.

He should be doing a lot more than testing diapers, he should be ensuring that our most vulnerable citizens receive proper care and personal support. No one, absolutely no one in our society should be sitting eating their dinner in a dirty diaper. That's not my Ontario and not my Canada.

A very good friend of mine always tells me that when she gets to be that old, she'll just go play in the traffic. Almost seems preferable to a nursing home somehow...

When In Rome...

Do as the Romans do, seems logical right? Those of us who have travelled to or live in foreign lands fully expect to follow the laws of that country, or do they? Maybe they expect the country to change the laws for them.

Well yes, maybe, if you live in Canada you have a heck of a chance of getting the laws changed. Just cry "charter rights" and away you go. Here is an interesting take on the subject from an interesting columnist who also happens to be a visible minority and an immigrant. I don't always agree with him but he is an interesting read and this time I agree with him.

Those Darn Cartoons - In The News Again

Those cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad are in the news again. More rioting and flag burning are happening in Denmark over this issue. The issue seems to be whether or not images of Muhammad can be shown. Since I'm not Muslim I have no idea whether or not that's true, my main issue is and always will be freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

So here through the Sandmonkey's blog and Wikipedia are some interesting opinions on the subject. Seems not all Muslims agree on this one.

Read this stuff if it interests you and please don't send me any hate mail.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

I think I might have used this title before, but what the heck, it fits my problem. I was thinking about this today while remembering some ex pat bloggers both in Greece and Germany who occasionally speak about being unable to get items that they used to have at home. Even being away from Canada for seven weeks last year had me saying, "what, you don't have .... in this country?" So Here is something I can't get in Canada.

Now this is not a hint for my European friends to send me some, it would never get through customs, it's a drug. Instead the next two friends of ours who are going to Greece have orders to bring back two tubes each which should see me through until September when I will be back there myself.



Last year I broke my foot and left it untreated due to some bad circumstances. When the shit hit the fan, so to speak, my foot hadn't healed properly and I could barely walk. At that time I got a shot of cortisone in the foot which relieved the pain for a few months.

With all the walking I did in both Germany and Greece last fall it did ache from time to time and my German friend turned me on to this product. It works wonders, it's like a miracle gel, but not available in Canada. This product costs about 6 Euros (around 10 bucks) a tube and the main ingredient is Diclofenac. This can be prescribed in pill for here in Canada, but pills bother my stomach. There is a similar product with the same ingredient available in Canada called Pennsaid but this requires a prescription and costs $59.00 plus dispensing fee. I hate the big pharmaceutical companies that overcharge and I dislike government for not allowing lower cost products into the country.

I'm being really careful with my last tube of this stuff and I am probably going to need another cortisone shot real soon. But I think the long term solution is to see an orthopaedic guy about a longer term solution. I hate not being able to walk...

Leaving Afghanistan?

Maybe the rest of the NATO countries will sit up and take notice that Canada has every intention of leaving Afghanistan unless other countries start pulling their weight. Germany in particular is one of the countries that has taken notice. Yesterday Prime Minister Stephen Harper made it very clear, there can be no misunderstanding. Unless other countries contribute, we are out of there.

This fight against the Taliban is not our fight alone yet Canadians, Brits and Americans are doing most of it and Canada has lost the most soldiers. So many Canadian soldiers come home in caskets that they have named the stretch of highway that the hearse drives along, the "Highway of Heroes".

The latest Canadian to die in Afghanistan was repatriated on Sunday and the total now stands at 78. Canadians are fighting in the toughest part of the country and cannot and should not be shouldering the burden alone.

I'm sure on some level it's a worthwhile fight if only to make life for women and children easier but, and here is the big but...when we all finally leave will things revert back to the old ways, will the Taliban come back? It is a tribal nation and I have my doubts that lasting change is possible.

Toronto The Good - Gone Bad

For the second time in a week an innocent person has been caught in the crossfire of a shootout and died. It was confirmed on the late news tonight that this man was indeed just going about his business during the supper hour on a busy east end Toronto Street.

The area of Broadview Ave. and Gerrard Street is an area filled with renovated and restored homes close to the downtown and an area I know well. I sold real estate in that part of town for 25 years. It has always been a safe neighbourhood and one I would not hesitate to walk in.

Guaranteed by tomorrow morning our Mayor Miller will be calling for a gun ban again. Maybe it's time for judges to get tougher?