BC Supreme court

BC Supreme Court denies same-sex marriages.

In a decision released on Wednesday, the province’s highest court ruled that Canada discriminates against gay and lesbian couples by not allowing them to marry, but that the discrimination is justified under the Charter of Rights because marriage is “the institution on which the family is built” and largely exists to provide a structure for raising children.

Uh yeah. Whats the marriage/child rate these days? I doubt it’s even 60%. I want to get married. I don’t think I want to have kids. And I think of marriage as a sacrosanct declaration of love for one’s partner. This is also incredibly insulting to single-parent families. According to the above, they’re not really families either.

The Algebra of Infinite Justice

There’s an interesting read at the Guardian.

Author Arundhati Roy talks about tempering the American quest for vengence:

In his September 20 address to the US Congress, President Bush called the enemies of America “enemies of freedom”. “Americans are asking, ‘Why do they hate us?’ ” he said. “They hate our freedoms – our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.” People are being asked to make two leaps of faith here. First, to assume that The Enemy is who the US government says it is, even though it has no substantial evidence to support that claim. And second, to assume that The Enemy’s motives are what the US government says they are, and there’s nothing to support that either.

More Gordon Campbell

This comes from Brishen. From where he got it, I admit, I’m none too sure…:

Over the last few weeks the B.C. Liberal government has quietly cancelled or

suspended millions of dollars worth of important programs around the

province.

There were no news releases. No press conferences. The government is simply

hoping that you won’t notice.

Here’s a list of the cuts they don’t want you to know about:

ELIMINATED:

– new science building at the University of Victoria, which has been planned

for over a year ($28 million)

– community archives grants program, which helps community groups foster the

development of historical records ($175,000)

– a program to provide additional financial support to low-income people

temporarily unable to work for medical reasons; about 4000 British

Columbians would have been helped by the program ($6.8 million)

– two of the province’s six residential tenancy offices, which provide

information and dispute assistance to landlords and tenants, will close in

Vancouver and Nanaimo

SUSPENDED:

– $9.41 million construction of Northwest Community College in Prince Rupert

– $5.31 million expansion of Douglas College in New Westminster

– $10.73 million classroom replacement at University College of the Fraser

Valley’s Chilliwack campus

– $1.37 million in renovations at the College of New Caledonia in Burns Lake

– $1.64 million renovations at University College of the Cariboo in Kamloops

– $1.1 million classroom addition at North Island College in Courtenay

– $3.09 million for the Justice Institute of B.C. in New Westminster

– $3.5 million for Kwantlen College’s Cloverdale site

– $3.37 million for Northern Lights College in Dawson Creek

– $1.9 million for the College of the Rockies in Cranbrook

– a program to support low-income AIDS and cancer patients with an

additional $300 in cash, vitamins and minerals each month ($6 million)

More cuts to important programs are expected. B.C. Finance Minister Gary

Collins has repeatedly downgraded the province’s economic projections,

making it ever more clear that the B.C. Liberal’s reckless tax cuts will not

be able to pay for themselves.

Uh yeah. That’s what I call not cutting education or healthcare too.

Other Campbell news found within 2 minutes of surfing.

Continue reading “More Gordon Campbell”

Kudos to Jean

I’m normally not the biggest fan of Jean Chrétien normally. However, this is I think the third occasion since Sept. 11th that I’ve been proud of him. I was also proud when he said something during his fundraiser speed about Canada’s role is to give hugs, and he expressed reticence to agree to sending Canadians to battle in this upcoming ‘military event’ (I won’t call it a war).

Nobel for Bush?

From the Globe and Mail:

‘A group of Norwegian academics on Tuesday nominated U.S. President George W. Bush for the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, but only if he can bring suspected terrorists to justice without starting a new war. Writing in the Norwegian daily Dagbladet, they said their proposal is designed to make people look beyond tit-for-tat violence as a way to resolve conflict. The winner of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Oct. 12. The group said its nomination is for the 2002 prize — allowing the world to see how Mr. Bush tackles the crisis.’

I really like the thought, but I don’t really see that happening, do you?

Racial profiling

Never in a million years did I expect John Ashcroft to sound like voices of reason right now, but their responses to U.S. Rep. John Cooksey (R-Monroe), are. Of course, I didn’t expect an elected congressman to refer to say this:

“If I see someone (who) comes in that’s got a diaper on his head and a fan belt wrapped around the diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over.”

Alternatives to War/Act Locally

The following is an email message in it’s entirety. Some of this applies to people at large, some of this is direct action that is occurring in Vancouver. I encourage people everywhere to get involved in demanding alternatives to war. At the very least, that the upcoming military action, which appears inevitable, be VERY limited:

Thanks to Brishen for forwarding this on to me.

Continue reading “Alternatives to War/Act Locally”

Terrorism by any other name

From the New York Times (free subscription required):

‘Mr. Cheney warned that the coming conflict would have to be fought “in the shadows” with the help of unsavory intelligence sources, and despite a 1976 executive order banning assassinations by the government, said he saw nothing to prevent the United States from killing Mr. bin Laden if it could find him. Asked by the “Meet the Press” moderator, Tim Russert, if he would like Mr. bin Laden’s “head on a platter,” Mr. Cheney replied, “I would take it today.”‘

A war by unconventional methods? I should think so. And these comments coming as Bin Laden denies a second time that he has had anything to do with these attacks. When CNN reports than the US is widening it’s probe to include other, non-Al Queda suspects. Essentially, it sounds like the US government is telling the media to not track every move, so that they can act as they will. Use covert operatives, etc. Perhaps stretch ‘the rules of engagement’. The last thing America needs right now is the media to find out that it is committing war crimes, or that it is slaughtering innocent civilians, regardless of what country they live in. I feel the US population might turn against them at this point. Americans are highly aware of the cost of civilian casualties at this point, annd probably won’t support them. No matter who they are. Or maybe I’m just idealistic, and as along as the deaths aren’t American they won’t care whether the deaths are military or not.

Dubya

“make no doubt about it, we will win” – George W. Bush.

With those words, George W. has effectively declared war on … who? there is no enemy yet. No one knows who did this. Sure, they’re pointing fingers at Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist group, but American foreign policy has always needed A Person to blame (Stalin, Mao, Castro, Hussein, etc) for all sorts of various things. But a terrorist organization is not a country. Just like you can’t go to war against a drug cartel, you can’t go to war against a terrorist group – they do not have borders, capitals, etc. to bomb. They may have the odd camp somewhere, but more often then not, they have apartments in cities in countries.

Several politicians and pundits have likened this attack to Pearl Harbour, calling this ‘an act of war’. Get over it, buddy. There is no similarity here, apart from the fact the US had no idea it was coming, and lots of americans died on American soil. There is not an expanionist empire trying to ward off later attack by cowing a potential enemy. There is not a world war going on. There is no country attacking you that you can declare war on. And for the record, no this does not allow you to bomb ANYONE to oblivion, in the manner of Hiroshima.

“All we are saying is give peace a chance” – John Lennon

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