We’re having a baby…?

May 6, 2003

Thomas Friedman writes in his May 4 NY Times editorial that America “has assumed responsibility for rebuilding Iraq,” and he compares the task to adopting a baby named Baghdad. I just know that Mr. Friedman is a great dad because several months ago I heard him use the expression, “Well, up your nose with a […]

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Translation

May 5, 2003

In a recent OpenDemocracy article, Lost in translation: the narrowing of the American mind, K.A. Dilday notes that Americans seem to read only other Americans, perhaps throwing in some Brits and Canadians and Aussies, but at any rate rarely anything not originally written in English. Only about 3% of the fiction and poetry published in […]

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Saving Private Jessica — the sequel

May 4, 2003

“Until such time as she wants to talk — and that’s going to be no time soon, and it may be never at all — the press is simply going to have to wait.” – U.S. Army spokesman Lt.-Col. Ryan Yantis commenting last week about Priv. Jessica Lynch, recovering behind closed doors at Washington’s Walter […]

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Mother’s Day

May 4, 2003

Mother’s Day is coming up soon. You might want to visit a Spanish Amnesty International petition to save a Nigerian mother, Amina Lawal. She is to be buried up to her neck and then stoned to death. She was found guilty of adultery, the baby is considered evidence of the adultery, and she has only […]

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The Ents are near

May 3, 2003

Because protest should be fun, too, look at the pictures of Greenpeace protestors dressed as “Ents” — ancient trees from Lord of the Rings that start to rise up against evil Lord Sauron — marching on the Parliament Buildings in Victoria, British Columbia last Thursday (1 May). (See previous blog entries for more B.C. ancient […]

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Drug Wars

May 3, 2003

Canada needs to stick to its guns (decriminalize marijuana possession) and not be bullied into following the US’s strategy in the war on drugs. (See yesterday’s blog entry.) An article by Sanho Tree, The War at Home, about America’s war on drugs, exposes the problems with US strategy, and might interest Canadians who worry about […]

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Pot-addled sodomites? Or just a better idea?

May 2, 2003

Since Jean Chretien’s announcement on Wednesday that Canada will decriminalize marijuana possession by June 2003, the US has predictably gone into a tizzy. David Murray, special assistant in the Office of National Drug Control Policy (US), came to Vancouver yesterday to tell us in so many words that we were on the slippery slope. (To […]

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Grateful for an afternoon off

May 1, 2003

May the First, Labour Day the world over except in North America. I spent a leisurely afternoon nonetheless, catching up with an old friend whom I hadn’t seen in a long time. We talked about families, dogs, addiction, not necessarily in that order. Towards the end of my visit, I mentioned Caroline Knapp’s Drinking: A […]

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Chretien announces that marijuana possession will be decriminalized

April 30, 2003

Myself, I don’t smoke, but I’m glad to hear that my federal government plans to decriminalize marijuana possession by June 2003. I’m glad that tax money in Canada will no longer be wasted to prosecute users, to bring them up before the courts, and to have them take up space and resources in jails where […]

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My Son’s Blog

April 29, 2003

Of course it was inevitable: first, the younger sister Emma starts blogging (scroll down to that day’s 2nd entry), then the first-born older brother gets into the act, too. Read about war games for the computer from a 12-year old’s point of view on Adam’s blog, aka My Son’s Blog, today. And I promise that […]

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