Well Bullying Awareness Week is over and as usual it didn't get the coverage it deserves. I checked Google News every night when I came home from work, but I was always disappointed. Just a couple of stories in small regional papers, and nothing on the blogosphere. I had almost given up when something amazing happened.The mighty CBC National News carried a story on bullying in Canada.
I found it hard to watch.The little redhead with his Spiderman toy. The small boy getting snow rubbed in his face.The girl with cerebral palsy who was tripped by the bullies. That kind of cruelty makes me wild with anger.
But I also practically wept with joy, because hopefully now more Canadians will understand that they live in a country with one of the worst bullying records in the world.
Canada is one of the developed world’s worst offenders when it comes to bullying, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) survey on Health Behaviours of School-Aged Children. The survey, which is based on children’s reports of bullying and victimization, ranked Canada 36th worst out of 40 developed countries for bullying. In Canadian schools bullying happens every 7.5 minutes in the playground and every 25 minutes in the classroom (Craig and Pepler, 1997). “The human impact of bullying and interpersonal violence is heartbreaking. Children who are victimized can be emotionally scarred for life...” One of the few developed countries with no national anti-bullying strategy. Where one of the few national organizations could be about to be crippled by a lack of federal funding. Despite these dismal statistics, organizations like PREVNet that work to promote positive relationships and combat bullying among Canadian kids are about to run out of federal funding with no new funding in sight, despite their being linked with 62 expert researchers from 27 Canadian universities, and 49 national organizations. Because the SoCons in the PMO don't want children to be taught that homophobia is bad. And of course, because those Harper Cons are the foulest gang of political bullies this country has ever seen.
And so many Canadians just don't care. Oh well. Can you believe that someone would trip a girl with cerebral palsy? Did you see the helpless look on the face of that small bullied boy wiping the snow off his face? When I next feel like giving up I'll remember THEM. Those poor children. Those cruel bullies. Those bastard Cons. Is this really happening in Canada? What a mad world...
I always knew this mission would end badly. We never had enough troops to do what we said we wanted to do. And the longer an occupation goes on the more it corrupts.
But I never imagined that a Canadian government would refuse to hold a public inquiry into allegations of mass torture.
Claim it didn't know anything about this atrocity...when it obviously did. And would attack the one Canadian who refused to be corrupted, and did the right and decent thing, in this foul manner.
MacKay painted Colvin as having been duped by the Taliban and said Canadians are being asked to accept the word of prisoners "who throw acid in the face of schoolgirls."
When by continuing this cover-up, these immoral Cons are corrupting the reputation of our army, dishonouring the dead, branding us as a Torture Nation in the eyes of the world, and making a mockery out of our mission.
Canada has had an image as a liberal Eden since Thomas Edison did his light-bulb thing. The image is not yet undone. One need only look at the big-spending, deficit-building spree of today's government. But the old conception of Canada is at risk, threatened by an emerging conservative consensus that no one 10 years ago could have foreseen.
Our old voice of moderation – on the Suez crisis, on Vietnam, the arms race, the Cold War, on peacekeeping – is no longer much in evidence. And Canadians don't seem to mind.
Quebec remains a bastion of traditional Canadian values, but everywhere else they are dying. Stephen Harper doesn't even have a majority yet, but I feel I'm already living in a country I don't recognize.
And worse than that....on days like today when I hear analysts on TV say that this torture scandal won't hurt the Cons...I think of that scene in Lord of the Flies.
When that other Simon stares at the pig's head, and asks who is The Monster who is scaring the boys? And turning them into savages.
And the pig says the monster is THEM.
Progressive Canadians really need to get their act together. We need to explore new ideas. We need to create a mighty coalition to clean out these corrupt alien Cons. Because our country is slipping away. Time is running out.
Did you notice it? Gap compares Christmas to the pagan holiday called "Solstice." Solstice is celebrated by Wiccans who practice witchcraft! Which makes me feel like saying do what ever you wannukah eh?
But if you can't wiccer or liccer yourselves. Why don't you go pray for a Wii?
Wheeeeeeeeee!!!
Because I LOVE that pagan festival. Presents, food, drink, debauchery.
Well I see that Sarah Palin is outraged...and I mean OUTRAGED...about this Newsweek cover picture. But of course I don't believe a word she says. I think she's just trying to compete with her bitter rival, the Christianist bigot Carrie "Booby" Prejean. Because although both are out flogging bad books, Booby's book tour is definitely more entertaining. And HAWTER...
And at least Little Miss Family Values is getting some one great reviews review. Vivid Entertainment Group, the world's leading adult film studio, has obtained a copy of the notorious sex tape made by Carrie Prejean and is ready to make a deal with the former Miss California. "The footage we saw is a series of very graphic and hot clips," Mr. Hirsch said. "Let's just say that she appears to be totally enthusiastic and is thoroughly enjoying herself. Carrie says the tape was 'the biggest mistake of my life.' That may be, but she can take this mistake and turn it into cold, hard cash. While Sarah Palin's book is getting panned.... for not revealing enough. Even though she and Booby are so spookily similar. Which no doubt explains why she would dress up in a pair of red hot pants, lean coyly on the American flag, and then accuse Newsweek of exploiting her. But who can explain this horror?
Sarah Palin...the redneck from Wasilla... brought Andrew Sullivan's mighty blog to a crashing halt? OMG. When the Mayans said the world would end in 2012 did they know the results of that year's Presidential election? And did the CBC do this on purpose?
A CBC spokesman confirmed that the network mistakenly put up a graphic depicting the cover of "Going Rouge: Sarah Palin An American Nightmare."
Because you really can't remind people enough. Booby the bigot is just a Christianist wanker. And her 15 minutes of exposure...bzzzzzzzzz...are hopefully OVER. But Sarah Palin isn't just a rogue redneck.
She's an American nightmare who could tear that country apart. And she can't be exposed enough...
Meet Will Phillips who is refusing to pledge allegiance to the flag until there really is justice for ALL.
A substitute teacher tried to make him stand, but Will refused. He continued to refuse for several more days until the teacher became angry. At this point, Will admitted he had told her to "respectfully … go and jump off a bridge". Meanwhile at Wingnut Central they're gumming themselves KRAAAAZY. And this is in rural Arkansas, no less ... I shudder to think about the places we've lost to the Left. Muahahaha. You heard it first here eh? There is still hope for Amerika. Bigots are fuck-wads. And Will is my HERO...
Golly. I used to believe that when Stephen Harper and his ReformCons said anything they were just lying.
But now I believe that they just mean the opposite...or are faking it.. The federal transport minister's office privately pleaded with Canada's big airlines to step up their lobby campaign to kill a proposed passenger bill of rights even as the minister publicly rallied behind the popular initiative, according to internal documents obtained by Canwest News Service.
"Gentleman, you're going to have to do some lobbying to stop this motion in its tracks," the minister's senior policy adviser at the time, Paul Fitzgerald, told officials at Canada's largest airlines in March 2008. Which explains so much. Like why when they said they were helping women with the Porky Daycare Plan, they were actually destroying a national daycare system... to try to keep women at home, barefoot and pregnant.
Or when they say their Porky Action Plan is designed to help us, it's actually a plan to help themselves....to a majority.... with OUR money.And why when Great Fakir Faker Leader says he's in India to help improve trade relations. There is no doubt the Conservative Party will give Harper a sixer for his performance, once the video and photos turn up prominently in Indo-Canadian media outlets back home.
He's actually just on another expensive photo-op to improve HIS polls. And of course, we're paying for it...in the middle of a recession. Oh boy. These sneaky porker Cons. If we can't arrest them we simply HAVE to find a way to defeat them. Because when I saw the cold, wooden, nerd Harper pretending to go Bollywood.
I couldn't help thinking of one of my favourite Bollywood productions...
And in particular of the sinister Blue Condom...
And his apparently reassuring claim: I am a shield. I will protect you. But now that I understand Con Opposite Speak, obviously means..... run for your lives !!! Because he's the one we need to be protected from. And if he ever gets a majority we'll be SCREWED. Oh boy.Those nasty cheaty rubbery Cons. When will we finally flush them?
Today is the beginning of Bullying Awareness Week in Canada, and once again this humble campaign's biggest enemy is the indifference of so many Canadians.
As Rick Mercer said in a video last year, for those long out of school Bullying Awareness Week can seem at bit like National Nutrition Week.... and is easily ignored.
Until you google BULLYING and SUICIDE and you realize it's a huge problem. One that can ruin lives or end them way too soon. Or you read what Michaëlle Jean recently wrote:
"Bullying is not only about threats and intimidation, it is foremost about contempt and injustice.”
Or you know that 60 percent of boys who are bullies in elementary school will have a criminal record by the age of twenty-four.So it's EVERYBODY'S problem...and we all have to stand-up to bullies whoever they are.
Which is why I'm so happy..and proud... to see Montrealers like Nico Archambault doing just that.
I was the only guy in the dance part of the sports/dance program and was surrounded by hockey players, divers, gymnasts and swimmers. I was automatically labelled as gay and experienced homophobia first hand.
Cruel jokes, intimidation, insults. People ignored me, pretended I wasn’t there and had no respect for what I had to say. They would steal or damage my belongings and people would team up to hurt me physically. I took a couple of beatings.
And all the parents and teachers and kids who are trying to do something to fight this horrible problem.
This campaign for a kinder, gentler Canada still doesn't have enough support or resources. It's still an uphill struggle in the face of public indifference. For too many kids, like gay teens, school is still a war zone
And of course Stephen Harper's Con government is doing nothing to help gay kids or all the other victims.
Despite these dismal statistics, organizations like PREVNet that work to promote positive relationships and combat bullying among Canadian kids are about to run out of federal funding with no new funding in sight, despite their being linked with 62 expert researchers from 27 Canadian universities, and 49 national organizations. Because these Cons are not just homophobes, they are bullies themselves. Which is the main reason I dislike them so much.
But thanks to people like Nico Archambault and thousands and thousands of others we are making some progress. We just have to do more.
Because whether it's in the schoolyard... or the workplace... or the seniors home ... or wherever. Every life COUNTS...
I am the person who says bullies are cowards, and will fight them FOREVER.
I am the person who believes indifference KILLS. I am the person who says bullying is cruel and EVIL.
I don't think I can ever really understand why Stephen Harper hates Omar Khadr so much. Because I'm not a psychiatrist. But it sure is a creepy Hate Story. The Prime Minister with the cold dead eyes, and the Canadian kid in Guantanamo.Who is slowly going blind, and who just got some more bad news. I used to think it was because Harper wanted to impress George Bush, and show him that he likes torture just as much as he does. Even though there was always more than enough evidence to show that Khadr was innocent. But now I realize that Harper is just feeding his rabid Reform base, who howl with excitement at the pain of others...especially if they're brown,or gay,or women. And who hate the Supreme Court above all Canadian institutions. Because when the Cons roll out the dickhead Pee Wee Poilievre... Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre told reporters that "any decision to ask for Mr. Khadr’s return to Canada is a decision for the democratically elected government of Canada and not for the courts.”
You KNOW they are talking to the crazies... or the morons who think it's OK to torture a Canadian kid because they don't like his family. And after today's hearingone thing is clear: the Cons have run out of arguments and are just extending Omar Khadr's agony, so their rabid base can scream like banshee bigots and keep funding their Perpetual War Fund.
Which makes Stephen Harper look like even more of a psycho. A sadistic freak who would play cheap politics with the life of a Canadian kid. Who was first horribly wounded.
Then tortured. Left to rot in a hell hole like Guantanamo. And is now getting another raw deal. In other words, a Canadian citizen who was captured as a child soldier in Afghanistan, who was dragged over there by his jihadist father, who has rotted without charge for years, will be afforded less fairness and due process than the man accused of masterminding the worst attack on innocent civilians in American history. To repeat: Omar Khadr is a Canadian citizen. Oh boy. I know why he's doing it, but why does Stephen Harper seem to enjoy torturing Omar Khadr so much? When he asked that CBC journalist whether she liked handcuffs I thought he was joking. But now I really wonder.
In the name of human decency when will these foul pervert Cons finally be defeated? Before they corrupt us all...
There are some things I like about Jason Kenney's new Con citizenship guide. Like the big colour picture of Les Canadiens at the top of the sports section. And this. "In Canada, men and women are equal under the law," the document says. "Canada's openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, ‘honour killings,' female genital mutilation or other gender-based violence. Those guilty of these crimes are severely punished under Canada's criminal laws. Because it's about time. But as for the rest of this Con Canada Guide it's just another crude attempt by the Harperites to remake the country in their image. As even John Ivison admits. It might easily be dismissed as a glossy brochure, but that under-estimates the thought and effort that went into it. This is not tinsel, it's symbolism and is yet another incremental step in the re-branding of Canada into a conservative country, full of people more inclined to vote Conservative. Full of nods to their rabid Reform base, and ethnic communities they hope to win over. Lots of stuff about religion and religious freedom. And absolutely nothing about the human rights of gays and lesbians. Even though some immigrants come from countries where it's OK to persecute them...or even kill them.
So you'd think that the government might want to protect gays. Like the government of the Netherlands did. But not our Cons because they are homophobes themselves. They are not only openly discriminating against gay and lesbian Canadians, and fuelling a violent anti-gay backlash. Now they're trying to write them out of the fabric of Canadian society. And there's no bigger SoCon homophobe than Our Lady Lord of Perpetual Chastity Jason Kenney.
The fact is that homosexuals aren't barred from marrying under Canadian law. Marriage is open to everybody as long as they're a man and a woman."
Jason Kenney 2005
And no bigger IDIOT...
Except that it's not funny,because his failure to screen out homophobes could endanger OUR lives. And deprive us of the right to live and love in peace in our own country.
You know I'm surprised that more people didn't notice how gays and lesbians had been erased from the Citizenship Guide.
They are changing our country beyond recognition. Anyone just weeks removed from steerage who reads the new guide will think Conservative values of unabashed patriotism, pride in the armed forces and support for the rule of law are synonymous with Canadian values. And the divided left is too IMPOTENT to stop them. But at least nothing these Con thugs do surprises me anymore.
Another good reason to avoid Vancouver during the Winter Olympics. If you don't end up in jail for complaining about this massive waste of money. Or aren't tasered. You could end up deaf.
The device — which is a compact version of its predecessor, the Long Range Acoustic Device — can be mounted on top of a vehicle. It is capable of emitting a blast of directional sound measuring an estimated 146 decibels at one metre away and an estimated 99 decibels at 500 metres.
Sound above the range of 120 to 140 decibels is considered painful and damaging to human hearing.
Or worse...
Some fear it could cause fatal aneurysms. Welcome to the party folks. Welcome to the most expensive loudspeaker in Canada. "The primary function we're using the device for is its ability to communicate with very large groups with respect to crowd control, evacuations, tactical situations where we may need the loudspeaker portion of it," Welcome to the police state they call the Olympic Games...
