I was given passes to the preview showing here of Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story", which I saw last Thursday. I found it both a better-constructed documentary (albeit in classic MM style) & less funny than his average one. He almost sounded like he wished he didn't have to charge people money to see it at all. Almost.
Take away message? Capitalism = EVIL. My view = undecided, but inclined to agree that Military-Industrial-Agribusiness Mega-Corporations = EVIL at the very least.
Not being quite terminally depressed after the screening, I dug out a link to another film that I'd picked up on the recommendation of a friend:
The New American Century
I have to be careful to say that this is NOT a conspiracy theory film (at least, not in my opinion), since it does include bits that sound like it. However, it's an interesting film to watch & gives a decidedly different view from the usual. You'd never see this one on Faux News! And it's much more global in nature, trying to dig up some answers to the questions "what/who are the neo-cons, where did they come from & what the heck are they trying to do?"
I've never been one for conspiracy theories anyway, however as a sometime student of history I'm well aware that it is part of our culture to develop organizations that compete to be the ones who run things. At all levels. Thus, I find the whole ne0-con business not only mundane but all the more scary for being so.
Take away message? Neo-cons & all their works = EVIL. Well, d'oh. But it does no good to state the obvious, if nobody actually does anything about it. (Now I'm not only terminally depressed, I've got a pounding headache.)
What can be done, now that neo-con politicians, radical religionists & the military-industrial-agribusiness complex have all joined forces, and propagandized the unsuspecting (& unthinking) population at large? Sounds to me as if like-minded people from the other points of view need to be getting together & mobilizing our resources to prevent the juggernaut from crushing us all. (And all this without even thinking about environmental change or Gaia's revenge &c.)
Why? Because I still believe there are more people who don't want the kind of world the neo-cons are in the process of creating, especially not if it's run by them, than there are those who honestly do want it. But we need to be informed, & to inform others in a way that will get them both to take away the message & become more active against all that evil.
As a first step, I've locked up all the razor blades & sharp knives, at least until this headache goes away.
As a second step, I am joining the campaign against the version of the neoCons now infesting Canadian politics. My USAmerican cousins will have to pick up the ball south of the border.
This isn't paranoia, it's just rational thinking trying to emerge from the woodwork.
2009-10-05
2009-09-21
fall is definitely here
What with the cooler nights (great for sleeping) & the leaves definitely turning colour, fall is here for sure. OK, it's also the equinox, but that's purely incidental. In fact this is about the only season here that times out with those traditional quarterly dates. Winter here comes a lot earlier & lasts a lot later than the winter solstice or vernal equinox, & spring is more of a wave in passing as we flip the switch to summer...at least, most years.
It's time to think about putting the garden to bed. Cool nights spell the end of most new growth, although some of the zucchinis are still setting fruit & the tomatilloes continue to ripen. It was a poor year for hot peppers, with all the rain & cool weather in July, almost a crop failure really. Beans, sugar snap peas, greens & onions did well, as did herbs in containers. I passed on tomatoes this year to give my poor little garden a rest (very hard to rotate spots for them, & they're susceptible to soil-borne pests & diseases) but will try again next year.
Every year we say we're only going to buy plants at the market or garden centre, but when the seed catalogues start to arrive in November I can't resist getting seeds to start in March & April. I'm sure it will be no different this year. Hard not to want to get a jump on the season, with our winters as long as they are.
These pics are from 2007, but are pretty typical of what we're starting to see:
It's my favourite time of the year!
It's time to think about putting the garden to bed. Cool nights spell the end of most new growth, although some of the zucchinis are still setting fruit & the tomatilloes continue to ripen. It was a poor year for hot peppers, with all the rain & cool weather in July, almost a crop failure really. Beans, sugar snap peas, greens & onions did well, as did herbs in containers. I passed on tomatoes this year to give my poor little garden a rest (very hard to rotate spots for them, & they're susceptible to soil-borne pests & diseases) but will try again next year.
Every year we say we're only going to buy plants at the market or garden centre, but when the seed catalogues start to arrive in November I can't resist getting seeds to start in March & April. I'm sure it will be no different this year. Hard not to want to get a jump on the season, with our winters as long as they are.
These pics are from 2007, but are pretty typical of what we're starting to see:
It's my favourite time of the year!
2009-09-17
film recommendations from TIFF'09
I just spent the past week at the Toronto International Film Festival. This is a really quick list of films I saw & my impressions.
You can look up the basic blurb on these & other films at http://tiff.net
Excellent:
Creation (aka Nature) -- bio of Charles Darwin during the period he was writing Origin of Species; picked up by Canadian distributor but USA distributors a bit cagey owing to fears of reaction from "religious right" (hey, it's all good publicity) -- this is great & I plan to see it again
The Road -- good adaptation of the post-apocalyptic Cormac McCarthy novel; Viggo Mortensen carries this one & does a great job; bleak of course but not totally unbearable; may be a bit difficult emotionally for parents of young children; even better on the second viewing
Chloe -- Atom Egoyan's latest & one of his best; widespread audience reaction at end was "holy shit!"; excellent cast, story, directing
Pretty Good:
Harry Brown -- Michael Caine is excellent as an elderly vigilante in the London projects; a bit too gory for my usual taste
Up In The Air -- not your usual Hollywood treatment; George Clooney & supporting cast are very good
Whip It -- coming of age meets roller derby; purely entertaining, nothing profound here; it's fun
The Invention of Lying -- great premise, well done, perhaps a little dragged out but good overall, especially if you enjoy Ricky Gervais
A Single Man -- it's obvious why Colin Firth won the acting accolade at Venice for this one; adapted from an Isherwood story
OK:
Bright Star -- bio of John Keats (he's dead by age 25 so you know this can't end well); Jane Campion can do better than this
Don't waste your money:
Leaves of Grass -- pure shite, don't bother; waste of a good cast; degenerates into something similar to Straw Dogs (remember that piece of crap?)
Like I said, a pretty good festival -- 9 of 10 films were OK or better. There was only one I'd have walked out of if I wasn't boxed in the middle of a row.
TIFF is a fun festival, one of the few truly accessible to the filmgoing public. While their ticketing system is truly arcane & frustrating with it, once you clear that hurdle the event itself is great. This was my 5th year attending with a friend, & I recommend it to anyone who loves films. The chance to hear director & cast in Q&A sessions is unique. There are plenty of associated free events & of course Toronto has a plethora of galleries, museums, restaurants &c to add to the general enjoyment.
Added to which we had great weather!
You can look up the basic blurb on these & other films at http://tiff.net
Excellent:
Creation (aka Nature) -- bio of Charles Darwin during the period he was writing Origin of Species; picked up by Canadian distributor but USA distributors a bit cagey owing to fears of reaction from "religious right" (hey, it's all good publicity) -- this is great & I plan to see it again
The Road -- good adaptation of the post-apocalyptic Cormac McCarthy novel; Viggo Mortensen carries this one & does a great job; bleak of course but not totally unbearable; may be a bit difficult emotionally for parents of young children; even better on the second viewing
Chloe -- Atom Egoyan's latest & one of his best; widespread audience reaction at end was "holy shit!"; excellent cast, story, directing
Pretty Good:
Harry Brown -- Michael Caine is excellent as an elderly vigilante in the London projects; a bit too gory for my usual taste
Up In The Air -- not your usual Hollywood treatment; George Clooney & supporting cast are very good
Whip It -- coming of age meets roller derby; purely entertaining, nothing profound here; it's fun
The Invention of Lying -- great premise, well done, perhaps a little dragged out but good overall, especially if you enjoy Ricky Gervais
A Single Man -- it's obvious why Colin Firth won the acting accolade at Venice for this one; adapted from an Isherwood story
OK:
Bright Star -- bio of John Keats (he's dead by age 25 so you know this can't end well); Jane Campion can do better than this
Don't waste your money:
Leaves of Grass -- pure shite, don't bother; waste of a good cast; degenerates into something similar to Straw Dogs (remember that piece of crap?)
Like I said, a pretty good festival -- 9 of 10 films were OK or better. There was only one I'd have walked out of if I wasn't boxed in the middle of a row.
TIFF is a fun festival, one of the few truly accessible to the filmgoing public. While their ticketing system is truly arcane & frustrating with it, once you clear that hurdle the event itself is great. This was my 5th year attending with a friend, & I recommend it to anyone who loves films. The chance to hear director & cast in Q&A sessions is unique. There are plenty of associated free events & of course Toronto has a plethora of galleries, museums, restaurants &c to add to the general enjoyment.
Added to which we had great weather!
2009-09-08
Recommended reading: James Lovelock
The writings of James Lovelock are of special relevance for anyone who has been feeling reassured by the media hype & political/corporate disinformation about "renewable" or "alternative" energy vs. nuclear power, or who still thinks the human species can continue to increase (or even renew) its population with disregard for the biosphere & the carrying capacity of the planet. But it's also worth more thought from everyone. And action, if one so desires after thinking about it.
There are others who write on the subjects of planetary ecology & climatology & our species' impacts on them, but the clearest, most succinct & well-balanced voice for a general audience is that of the multidisciplinary scientist James Lovelock. He is the originator of the Gaia theory (briefly, that the Earth is a living biosphere, with life as a whole exerting dynamic effects on climate & the composition of the atmosphere/oceans/soils, which systems are as yet poorly understood & subject to multiple feedbacks that may be beyond our means to actively control). You can find more about the man & his work at http://www.jameslovelock.org, http://www.ecolo.org/lovelock, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Lovelock.
Now, Lovelock is human, capable of error as we all are. He's also quite the iconoclast, which in my view makes him more interesting, but he does have a tendency to argue the opposite of almost any commonly held view. Not that this necessarily makes his views incorrect. Frankly this is one of the things that makes him a good scientist. Unlike most iconoclasts, he does offer some possible, partial solutions, although not with much optimism. I don't happen to agree with everything he says because of my own opinions on certain subjects, & I'm sure other readers won't either. But his views on population & the benefits of nuclear power ring true to me, as do his remarks on the amount of misinformation & outright disinformation about so-called renewable energy sources.
In the short term, generation of electricity using nuclear power plants makes very good sense, & the arguments against it are mostly paper tigers. I'm disappointed that the Ontario provincial government has scrapped a planned new nuclear generating station, when one is so sorely needed. But then, politicians are really good at short-term thinking.
I also find it discouraging that so many individuals still believe it is their right to have as many children as they want, including the unwarranted use of in vitro methods resulting in multiple births. In my mind, it is the ultimate in selfishness to propagate our species unthinkingly. Bad enough for it to continue in parts of the world where women are repressed both socially & politically, & where education & access to cheap & effective birth control are both inadequate. For politicians & religious leaders in developed countries to condone or even encourage population increase is irresponsible when considered on a planetary basis. But then, politicians are really good at local thinking.
Until we can find ways to make long-term, planet-wide planning & action sufficiently attractive to those who make the decisions & write the cheques, it seems we are doomed to slide down the slippery slope into a Malthusian solution. It's not nice to think about, & we probably can't do much about it, but the signs are not good that we're even trying very hard. Maybe it's better this way -- our species has survived drastic reductions in population & survived through evolution in the past. Perhaps this time around the species will emerge more empathetic & sensible.
This is Lovelock's latest (& possibly final) book:
"The vanishing face of Gaia: A final warning"
Worthwhile reading, available everywhere, including your local public library. Go ahead, read it (it's not a lengthy book), I'm interested in other opinions & rational discussion.
Are we indeed "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic"? It may well be so. Perhaps it's selfish, but I'm very glad I have no children. It's not going to be a pretty world in 50 years. Maybe not even in 20. Or less.
There are others who write on the subjects of planetary ecology & climatology & our species' impacts on them, but the clearest, most succinct & well-balanced voice for a general audience is that of the multidisciplinary scientist James Lovelock. He is the originator of the Gaia theory (briefly, that the Earth is a living biosphere, with life as a whole exerting dynamic effects on climate & the composition of the atmosphere/oceans/soils, which systems are as yet poorly understood & subject to multiple feedbacks that may be beyond our means to actively control). You can find more about the man & his work at http://www.jameslovelock.org, http://www.ecolo.org/lovelock, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Lovelock.
Now, Lovelock is human, capable of error as we all are. He's also quite the iconoclast, which in my view makes him more interesting, but he does have a tendency to argue the opposite of almost any commonly held view. Not that this necessarily makes his views incorrect. Frankly this is one of the things that makes him a good scientist. Unlike most iconoclasts, he does offer some possible, partial solutions, although not with much optimism. I don't happen to agree with everything he says because of my own opinions on certain subjects, & I'm sure other readers won't either. But his views on population & the benefits of nuclear power ring true to me, as do his remarks on the amount of misinformation & outright disinformation about so-called renewable energy sources.
In the short term, generation of electricity using nuclear power plants makes very good sense, & the arguments against it are mostly paper tigers. I'm disappointed that the Ontario provincial government has scrapped a planned new nuclear generating station, when one is so sorely needed. But then, politicians are really good at short-term thinking.
I also find it discouraging that so many individuals still believe it is their right to have as many children as they want, including the unwarranted use of in vitro methods resulting in multiple births. In my mind, it is the ultimate in selfishness to propagate our species unthinkingly. Bad enough for it to continue in parts of the world where women are repressed both socially & politically, & where education & access to cheap & effective birth control are both inadequate. For politicians & religious leaders in developed countries to condone or even encourage population increase is irresponsible when considered on a planetary basis. But then, politicians are really good at local thinking.
Until we can find ways to make long-term, planet-wide planning & action sufficiently attractive to those who make the decisions & write the cheques, it seems we are doomed to slide down the slippery slope into a Malthusian solution. It's not nice to think about, & we probably can't do much about it, but the signs are not good that we're even trying very hard. Maybe it's better this way -- our species has survived drastic reductions in population & survived through evolution in the past. Perhaps this time around the species will emerge more empathetic & sensible.
This is Lovelock's latest (& possibly final) book:
"The vanishing face of Gaia: A final warning"
Worthwhile reading, available everywhere, including your local public library. Go ahead, read it (it's not a lengthy book), I'm interested in other opinions & rational discussion.
Are we indeed "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic"? It may well be so. Perhaps it's selfish, but I'm very glad I have no children. It's not going to be a pretty world in 50 years. Maybe not even in 20. Or less.
2009-09-03
brief note on word play
In making a comment on a post by Kanuk on Open Salon, I noted that "Christian charity" has become an oxymoron in the hands of the religious right or so-called "moral majority", a more mean-spirited bunch than I've come across in Lo! these many years.
That got me to thinking about oxymora (that's the plural of oxymoron) in general, & I found this fun article by Richard Lederer under the heading "Oxymoronology".
It quotes a lot of good ones, including the well known "criminal lawyer", one of my all-time favourites. I also love that the word oxymoron is itself an oxymoron. How much fun is that?
I was reminded that this was a common theme used by the late, great George Carlin, a few of which I found on this little YouTube collection (for some reason, this didn't want to show up as a video link, I'll try to fix it later).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6deudS3t7E
And now, it's a lovely sunny day & I'm out of here! Got to go take care of my "low-maintenance garden".
2009-08-25
a shameful state of affairs
I really never intended for this blog to be so political. Honest.
Some issues really do need more exposure, though, & since I have this place to vent, might as well use it.
Racism continues to rear its ugly head in Canadian life. I'm ashamed of our current federal regime, led by Harper & his band of neoCons, and of everyone (including some of my own family) who voted for them. They're doing their utmost to ruin our country's international reputation, and sadly, they're succeeding all too well. I'm also ashamed that the opposition in Parliament has been so ineffectual in protesting against their actions. What we need most is for the opposition to coalesce so that their minority government is ousted & can be defeated at the next election. I'm not holding my breath, though.
Two major cases ongoing now:
1) The federal government is appealing a ruling of a lower court that would bring home Omar Khadr from Guantanamo.
Khadr was all of 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan, after allegedly throwing a grenade that killed a USAmerican soldier, and has been interned in Guantanamo Bay for the past 7 years, awaiting trial for murder, conspiracy & support of terrorism.
This man deserves a fair trial, and as a Canadian citizen (born in Toronto), it should be in a Canadian court. After so long a denial of due process, our Federal Court of Appeal ruled that his Charter rights had been denied and he should be brought home. Our mean spirited neoCon government is appealing this ruling to the Supreme Court, who have yet to decide if they will review the case. It's to be hoped they won't.
How can this one man, who was 15 at the time of his alleged actions, be considered such a threat to our national security that it warrants an appeal to the Supreme Court to keep him incarcerated in a foreign internment camp? How can our elected officials continue to bully this individual in such an ugly way?
We have jailed mass murderers & other violent offenders for a shorter time than he has already served, in what is known to be dire conditions, where torture has been a factor in treatment of detainees.
A key quote from a recent article: "In his decision, O'Reilly pointed out that Khadr is the last citizen of any Western country held at Guantanamo. Other countries have repatriated their citizens." I'm ashamed that Canada has not seen fit to do so, & continues to emulate the now (thankfully) defunct Bush/Cheney administration in their illegal & immoral acts.
2) At least 2 Canadians have been stranded for lengthy periods in African countries on spurious passport issues.
Suaad Hagi Mohamud, a Canadian citizen, was stranded in Kenya for 3 months because embassy officials thought she didn't look enough like her passport photo & she was accused of being an imposter. It took her insistence on a DNA test to prove her identity and get them to back down. She is now suing our federal government (i.e. the taxpaying citizens) for their negligence & failure to support her. I hope she wins, even if I'm paying for part of the settlement.
There is at least one other Canadian citizen, Abdihakim Mohamed, who has been stranded, also in Kenya, for 3 years. Clearly, the staff of the embassy in Kenya need some serious retraining, at the very least. (The "diplomat" in charge has been recalled -- it's a start.)
It's no coincidence that all 3 of the cases here involve Canadians who are also Muslims.
And this from a regime that claims it is innocent of ethnic profiling. Appalling.
Some issues really do need more exposure, though, & since I have this place to vent, might as well use it.
Racism continues to rear its ugly head in Canadian life. I'm ashamed of our current federal regime, led by Harper & his band of neoCons, and of everyone (including some of my own family) who voted for them. They're doing their utmost to ruin our country's international reputation, and sadly, they're succeeding all too well. I'm also ashamed that the opposition in Parliament has been so ineffectual in protesting against their actions. What we need most is for the opposition to coalesce so that their minority government is ousted & can be defeated at the next election. I'm not holding my breath, though.
Two major cases ongoing now:
1) The federal government is appealing a ruling of a lower court that would bring home Omar Khadr from Guantanamo.
Khadr was all of 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan, after allegedly throwing a grenade that killed a USAmerican soldier, and has been interned in Guantanamo Bay for the past 7 years, awaiting trial for murder, conspiracy & support of terrorism.
This man deserves a fair trial, and as a Canadian citizen (born in Toronto), it should be in a Canadian court. After so long a denial of due process, our Federal Court of Appeal ruled that his Charter rights had been denied and he should be brought home. Our mean spirited neoCon government is appealing this ruling to the Supreme Court, who have yet to decide if they will review the case. It's to be hoped they won't.
How can this one man, who was 15 at the time of his alleged actions, be considered such a threat to our national security that it warrants an appeal to the Supreme Court to keep him incarcerated in a foreign internment camp? How can our elected officials continue to bully this individual in such an ugly way?
We have jailed mass murderers & other violent offenders for a shorter time than he has already served, in what is known to be dire conditions, where torture has been a factor in treatment of detainees.
A key quote from a recent article: "In his decision, O'Reilly pointed out that Khadr is the last citizen of any Western country held at Guantanamo. Other countries have repatriated their citizens." I'm ashamed that Canada has not seen fit to do so, & continues to emulate the now (thankfully) defunct Bush/Cheney administration in their illegal & immoral acts.
2) At least 2 Canadians have been stranded for lengthy periods in African countries on spurious passport issues.
Suaad Hagi Mohamud, a Canadian citizen, was stranded in Kenya for 3 months because embassy officials thought she didn't look enough like her passport photo & she was accused of being an imposter. It took her insistence on a DNA test to prove her identity and get them to back down. She is now suing our federal government (i.e. the taxpaying citizens) for their negligence & failure to support her. I hope she wins, even if I'm paying for part of the settlement.
There is at least one other Canadian citizen, Abdihakim Mohamed, who has been stranded, also in Kenya, for 3 years. Clearly, the staff of the embassy in Kenya need some serious retraining, at the very least. (The "diplomat" in charge has been recalled -- it's a start.)
It's no coincidence that all 3 of the cases here involve Canadians who are also Muslims.
And this from a regime that claims it is innocent of ethnic profiling. Appalling.
2009-08-23
celebrating a life well-lived: Muriel Duckworth
Muriel Duckworth, a lifelong peace activist, has died aged 100.
She lived her convictions, becoming a Quaker and participating in numerous humanitarian organizations & causes related to social justice.
While strong in her own views, she remained open-minded, often bringing a note of realism & compassion to her activism. She refused to mount protests during Remembrance Day celebrations, understanding that to do so would make light of the honest mourning of those dead in conflicts around the world, regardless of the underlying justice of the causes in which they had died.
Her achievements have been well-cited elsewhere, so I won't burden this post with them. If you are interested, these are good places to start:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/women/002026-299-e.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muriel_Duckworth
http://section15.ca/features/people/2000/05/10/muriel_duckworth/
If I were arranging her wake, I'd be sure to include Buffy Ste Marie's "Universal Soldier", along with Bob Dylan's "With God On Our Side" and "Masters of War". She might not agree entirely with my choices, but I think they're fitting ones. I don't agree with her religious convictions, but I admire her dedication & the causes she supported.
Thanks, Muriel, for a life well-lived. We need more like you.
She lived her convictions, becoming a Quaker and participating in numerous humanitarian organizations & causes related to social justice.
While strong in her own views, she remained open-minded, often bringing a note of realism & compassion to her activism. She refused to mount protests during Remembrance Day celebrations, understanding that to do so would make light of the honest mourning of those dead in conflicts around the world, regardless of the underlying justice of the causes in which they had died.
Her achievements have been well-cited elsewhere, so I won't burden this post with them. If you are interested, these are good places to start:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/women/002026-299-e.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muriel_Duckworth
http://section15.ca/features/people/2000/05/10/muriel_duckworth/
If I were arranging her wake, I'd be sure to include Buffy Ste Marie's "Universal Soldier", along with Bob Dylan's "With God On Our Side" and "Masters of War". She might not agree entirely with my choices, but I think they're fitting ones. I don't agree with her religious convictions, but I admire her dedication & the causes she supported.
Thanks, Muriel, for a life well-lived. We need more like you.
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