This morning, the news is full of the story that "science has created synthetic life". There are a couple of issues, that arise for me, not the least of which is it requires a Live cell to make it happen - so, it is not entirely "synthetic", though the DNA that the cell contains is synthetic. As an editorial at the Winnipeg Free Press put it:
I am not opposed to genetic research, at least not on religious or moral grounds, but I find sometimes that geneticists seem to be a little arrogant - like they can predict with certainty what changing genes will do! In this case, the first story I read called Venter a "maverick biologist and billionaire entrepreneur"which is not very inspiring . .. and is worrying. Clearly his intention is not the betterment of human-kind and the planet ecology, but a dash to make as much profit as possible by patenting life-forms and processes to own them, and to keep them from being used by others if they turn out to be beneficial or they can be used safely.
I am OK with safe experimentation of this kind - but with safeguards in case one "accidentally" makes something dangerous, and with a non-profit intent - I think that advances in medical -science and health care would all be well outside capitalism and the profit motive - otherwise I am concerned (not that it keeps me awake nights but it is nevertheless still worrying) that we may all get wiped out by some accidental plague - or a bacterium meant to eat oil - will start turning water into something we cannot use - think Ice Nine -
So I am not anti-science just find science for profit, especially when dealing with DNA, to be a potential accident waiting to happen.
"It's quite a radically different approach," biochemistry professor Ann Simpson of the University of Technology, Sydney said.
"You've got to be very careful when you willy-nilly send something into the environment and you can't control its spread.
"And you can't control a bacteria spread once you release it."
Professor Simpson said this form of artificial life was unlike other form of biomedical advances, where changes are contained within an individual, drug or crop that could be carefully checked before they are released into the environment.
"Bacteria have been known to mutate and change, and [this could] change into something that they didn't predict, and it could be a problem."
I think of all the issues with GMO's used to alter food crops and the issues that arise around ownership of patents and seeds and how it is increasing starvation -- and this is a worry.
I was watching a movie, I adored, last night called Cairo Time. It made me think of a movie called India Song, by Marguerite Duras. Cairo Time is not so languorous as India Song and is more of a straight forward narrative, but the film has that quality of being a small snippet in time and is as much about the feel of Cairo,and the feeling of early attraction to another, as the story. . .
So thinking about those films started me thinking about the films that have had a major impact on me - the ones that stayed with me, have been integrated, in part, into who I am . . . So here's a list.
Movies from Childhood:
On the Beach (1959) - Surprisingly the first movie that I can remember seeing in a theatre - not likely the first movie I saw, but it is the first one that I remember - I would have been 6. I imagine that my parents just wanted to see the movie - but I don't know why they took me - I don't remember my sister, who would have been 4, being there. I was also incredibly bored and often had no idea what was going on (its about the end of the world after a nuclear war) but it was when I had a thought that church and movies were the same - dark places where kids had to sit still and "be good" I had thought it before but remember sitting in the movie thinking that god and Santa Clause were much the same - stories told to kids to make them be good. I think that those thoughts were the crux of all that I later became (rejecting religion early although I did try a number - Bahai Faith in particular - on in the early teenage years.) maybe even the movie made me think about justice ad preventing annihilation of the species?
Pinochio - 1940 Disney Feature - I do not know when I would first have seen it - maybe on TV, although I remember the theatre. What I do know is that I watched it with my sister, Geri, and, even today, Jimminy Cricket singing When YOu wish upon a star can make us both cry. I think I learned early to tell then truth and value it, and that school (and what a donkey you are if you don't do well) was a good place. I think this also contributed, surprisingly, to my sense of justice. When you wish upon a star made me want to, not just wish on stars, (which I still do) but also to reach for, strive for, your dreams and that was important. . . It is certainly a film that I remember from very early and that influenced me throughout my life (as I suppose did Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty - I certainly grew up with my masochistic construction firmly in tact, 'til Kaja Silverman at least partly saved me from it (more on her and that influence later in this list.)
The next two movies that had a significant impact on me and I can still sing most of the score from both are Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. Since the words and music are stuck so permanently in my brain - they must have had an inluence - though other than enjoying musicals I am not sure what. . . I may have learned that Nazi's are bad, and that being a nun is not for everyone, but I think I mostly learned not to complain and to be pure of, heart, and to work hard and play hard and to fall in love and to clean up my room and to laugh are all good things .. . I have seen the sound of music -sing along version! - recently but not Mary Poppins.
Piling on the masochistic construction through film. . . Dr. Zhivago Franco Zefferreli's Romeo and Juliet Brother Sun, Sister Moon
The Miracle Worker (1962) Made me want to be like Ann Sullivan or maybe a little like Helen. Certainly inspired or educated me about the struggles of others. I am not sure when I saw this - I have a feeling that I saw it a few years later than the theatrical release maybe on TV?
So much talk about such a tiny country. Of course Haiti, the poorest country in the "western" hemisphere had a big earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010, and although the news is that the rich countries of the world beat a path to their door with "Aid" - somehow it seems badly coordinated, militaristic and lets face it - Aid that comes too late.
Up to 200,000 people have died - that's as many as the Tsunami in south east Asia - which seemed extreme! This is one of the greatest natural disasters every to happen on the planet. BUT, why is and was Haiti so poor, and why was this such a great tragedy? Just natural disasters? NO, it was caused and there is blame. So many people died, because buildings collapsed - why did they collapse? Because they were build poorly, with poor materials - with what was available, because the country is so poor. So that brings us to why the country is so poor. . . Is it Haitian's inate laziness or because they are stupid? No, it is because they have been systematically discriminated against and pillaged since the origins of the country in slavery and extermination of the original indigenous inhabitants.
The blame for Haiti's historic woes and for it's current poverty lies not with Haitians but with us Europeans and North Americans. Others have covered the story in detail. See Bruce Wark's great article in the Coast, which says, in part:
Since the 2004 coup, Haiti has suffered devastating hurricanes and floods, but instead of rebuilding the country, foreign aid donors like Canada have focussed on so-called "security." A United Nations military force continues to occupy Haiti, killing pro-Aristide demonstrators and conducting routine beatings. "People are sick and tired of the millions being spent, having guys riding around in giant tanks pointing guns at them," says Haitian journalist Kim Ives.
Sebastian Walker, a journalist with Al Jazeera, told viewers that a week after the earthquake, heavily armed UN troops were racing around the streets of the Haitian capital in armoured personnel carriers. "UN soldiers aren't here to help pull people out of the rubble; they're here, they say, to enforce the law," Walker reported. "Most Haitians here have seen little humanitarian aid so far. What they have seen is guns, and lots of them."
But mostly this meeting is promoted by those who like to call themselves, and whom the media will call, the donor countries. What is important to note about most donor countries, including Canada, is that they have always extracted far more from the poor recipient countries than they've contributed. Poor countries, in reality, have been net donors to us rich folks.
On top of the fact that we owe Haiti for what has been extracted without payment or illegally, is the current media coverage. . . "and what's wrong with that?" you might ask - since Haiti has been getting a lot of "sympathetic" coverage. Well see this article at CNN about coverage and particularly the use of the word looting.
Haitians put a strong premium on dignity. To take something for which you have not paid does not only offend your sense of legality but also your sense of personhood. It is undignified. But not only are you starving, so is your only surviving child. You would prefer to pay, but whom? What would you pay with? You'd prefer to wait, but for whom? How long can you afford to wait?. . .
So you take. You take just enough for a couple of days and a couple of family members. You take and you run to feed those for whom the only measure of fortune is survival in Haiti, post-earthquake. You take and you run.
Are you a looter? Try as we might to prevent it, the answer to that question is inevitably racialized. We cannot separate the word looting from its racial implications or the supposed crime of looting from its racial origins. In the throes of the civil rights movement in the United States, many states made looting a crime. Almost all of these states were southern states that had a history of criminalizing behavior that they associated more with African-Americans than with whites.
Another "explanation" of what is and has been going on in Haiti is to be found in a blog called "Right Testicle of Hell - History of a Haitian Holocaust" by Greg Palast via Democracy Now. Another history of Haiti and the U.S.A. this time. . .
What Papa and Baby didn't run off with, the IMF finished off through its "austerity" plans. An austerity plan is a form of voodoo orchestrated by economists zomby-fied by an irrational belief that cutting government services will somehow help a nation prosper.
What can you do? Join the international campaign to convince world leaders to cancel Haiti’s $1 billion international debt and give the country a chance for significant and lasting recovery. How? Go to this site and sign the petition:
Dear Finance Ministers, IMF, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and bilateral creditors, As Haiti rebuilds from this disaster, please work to secure the immediate cancellation of Haiti’s $1 billion debt and ensure that any emergency earthquake assistance is provided in the form of grants, not debt-incurring loans.
More links with facts about Haiti that let us analyze and make decisions about how to "help" Haiti with more than a donation. Raj Patel, one of my favourite writers of the moment, suggests who you should donate to Partners In Health or to others that work directly with Haitians helping themselves rather than to Aid agencies who are doing their best, but who are from outside and not improving the capacity of Haitians.
And one last item - now that the worst has happened, 200,000 are dead and we are waiting for the aid to be distributed, it is obvious to everyone that women and girls are the most at risk in the situation. Imagine if you were very pregnant, in labour or about to have a baby.
Today , there was a large anti-prorogation (really anti-Harper) demo in Halifax of maybe 700-1000 people. 10,000 marched in Toronto and more in cities all across Canada.
Sometimes it is OK to cry isn't it? I am sometimes accused of crying too much, and at times when it is not appropriate. I have no control over it - I think I could squelch it only by getting armed, and I am a pacifist. I resist anger, I try to hold it back, I worry that if I let it go I might become homicidal, and so I cry.
Today I cry for the women massacred on December 6th but also for all the women experiencing violence - not just here but all over the world.
There are the women at the hands of soldiers and warlords, and mercenaries and corporatists - women being raped in Congo, (and children driven to despair mining metals, and accused of being witches, and recruited as child soldiers) driven from their homes (and raped) in Darfur, poisoned and drenched in acid for going to school, or running away from husbands 30 and 40 years their senior, in Afghanistan.
In Canada, although the long gun registry reduced the number of women killed by their partners - the numbers are too high and the weapons remain - and now they want to (are about to) eliminate the registry. As a recent Vancouver Sun article puts it in context --
The biggest risk for Harper's Conservatives will be how women react, since women are predominantly victims of murder by long gun, a fact conveniently overlooked in mostly male anger over the registry.
Yet an Ipsos Reid poll in 2006 found three out of four Canadians want stricter, not more permissive, gun controls. Most agree the gun registry is flawed. They want it fixed, not dismantled to appease special interests. . .
Eighty-five per cent of domestic homicides involving firearms were committed with a non-restricted rifle or shotgun. According to a 2007 study of family violence by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, the victims of murder or attempted murder by a spouse or ex-spouse were women 87 per cent of the time.
Seventy-four per cent of firearms recovered from suicides and suicide attempts were unrestricted rifles and shotguns.
These statistics tell us that the decision by parliamentarians to scrap the long-gun registry is ideologically based pandering to a self-serving myth held by a minority of Conservatives and amplified by intense lobbying from a special interest group.
People in positions of power - teachers and priests but also Doctors and Psychologists and professors, and bosses, use their position to abuse their power and sexually abuse women and even children.
First nations women have disappeared in droves and who really cares? Where is the press?
Most days I am struggling to right wrongs, as I see them - I go to demos, I write hundreds of letters (OK they are emails) I organize, and I used to be angry. But anger has simply turned to sadness, even despair. Things have not got better as my life proceeds inevitably toward the end - but seem to be worse. Not worse for me necessarily. . . but worse overall, and nothing I have done seems to be working to improve things. I think in the future they will look back n this time (if we have a future on this planet) and say - ah -0 the worst of all possible times. Times of alienation (even if you are rich) times of despair and to many suffering from mental illness - why? Because we have lost shared values, community, and lost faith and trust in each other. I believe that all of this results in giving in totally to a system based on profit - capitalism. A system based on exploitation, a system based on atomization of individuals (every "man" for himself), and alienation and making us shop to feel better - See; www.thestoryofstuff.com
I wake up and find that we are heating up the planet and are not willing to do anything about it. Copenhagen starts tomorrow and all the news is that "nothing will come of it". . . Too many people drive big gas guzzling cars, and somehow feel OK about it.
Once, we had no cars, (living in Toronto) but in search of a simpler life we moved to the country in Nova Scotia, and now, have two cars (both gas efficient) as there is no transit and I need a car for work every day (I drive around for work not just to work) No one seems at all driven (as they are in places in Europe) to reduce their piles of consumer goods (and, we all have our foibles, I buy used, try to fix, do not "shop" for fun ever, don't do Walmart - ever- and try to avoid "Made in China" but we all have our foibles - I am not willing to give up Xmas presents for my children and grand children, and so there is always what feels like a lot of excess for Xmas).
Corporations have, slowly . . . over the last 25 years taken over the rights of individuals and now they have more rights than I do. See: Growing Gap
Somehow taxes were collected to keep soldiers in good equipment and to make sure that they economy gets "bailed out" (I wanted the jobs bailed out but not the investments - isn't that the point that it was all a big gamble to be in the "market'?) but not for a national daycare program, health care, employment and social services. They are all just too rich for us. Who is actually making that decision? Who decided that taxes - the way that we all share in the price of things that we all need or might need - are toxic or acid rain or just generally a bad thing. I watched the first iteration of Poor No More (a Canadian film, in development, about poverty) last week and the Swedes are all on camera saying - taxes? - taxes are a good thing . . . and I agree taxes are a good thing, but I want them spent on programs for people, not subsidies for the tar sands or a slight increase in taxes on the poor (e.g. GST AND HST) in order to continue to afford tax breaks for the rich and corporations. There was a great editorial in the Toronto Star a while back, on taxes, written by Hugh MacKenzie from the CCPA - see: editorial
And so I cry. I cry because my co-workers and members of organized labour unions (people I think should be progressive) too often think only of themselves, shop at Walmart, (some live in communities with no alternatives - but some have alternatives, and can afford NOT to shop there) drive gas guzzling beasts and think it is not racist to resist/oppose affirmative action for African Nova Scotians or First Nations, along with some being highly suspicious of so-called benefits (ha!) for newcomers. I cry because my friends who work in progressive non-profits see unions as "fat cats" instead of a way to organize people out of poverty. I cry for the women who say "I am not a "feminist", I cry for the men (and women) who think that pregnancy should be compulsory and for the women around the world with no access to contraception, abortion or education (and yes I think they are linked).
Sometimes, sometimes, like this morning, I just cry.
Tomorrow, though, tomorrow is another day. Tomorrow I will return to the fray. Today I will just be kind and compassionate and loving.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
This column by Gerald Caplan, in the Globe and Mail, this morning, spoke words I have been thinking. . .
My country seems to be slipping away in front of my very eyes. Our proud identity, our cherished core values – never mind the vast gap between aspiration and achievement – are being turned upside down. Gun control advocates are out, gun apologists are in. Peacekeeping is out, warriors are in. Preventing war is out, killing scumbags is in. Demonstrations for peace are out, demonstrations of a martial spirit are in. Thoughtful, restrained Canadianism is out, hand-on-heart Yankee-style patriotism is in.
What happened to "my Canada" and to "Canadian values" as I thought they existed? . . . in fact they still seem to exist. My mother who regularly listens to radio and watches TV news (can no longer read the paper due to macular degeneration) within the last year expressed a view that our soldiers in Afghanistan were "peace keepers" - they are not. I now wonder if the average Canadian "gets it". Maybe the values have not changed and people just don't get the slow erosion of them because they are too busy trying to find daycare for their kids, or working hard to stay in place, (cannot get ahead) or trying to figure out how to get out of debt, or where to move where things will be better?
Very few seemed to "get it" when, this year, I questioned Remembrance Day. I wanted tio know what it was people thought we were remembering? I am OK with the second world war as it appeared (although still a colonial/imperialist war) to hold back aggressor nations and mad men (or that's the story as I learned it - even though some continents were carved up afterwards) but I did not want to be wearing a poppy for the First World War, Korea or Afghanistan, although I would if I could wear one remembering the sacrifice as idiotic and without purpose and saying "never again", instead of as noble. . My white poppy was considered an affront although for me I wanted to remember the sacrifice of those who died in wars (civilians too!) but to pray for/wish for/hope for/work for peace.
People said - leave "politics" behind for one day - this is the day to remember their sacrifice - and by the way - they died for you. . . Really what is a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan doing to protect me? or my freedom, or my way of life? If it means saving women and children in Afghanistan - I will change/am willing to change my way of life. I was ambivalent when that war started because I wanted to save the women of Afghanistan but we have not done so - we have bombed their weddings, and put them between the Taliban, warlords of a number of "stripes", and "western" soldiers. I wish we could have built, staffed and kept open more schools, and built more hospitals, and kept it all from crashing, but we are losing the hearts and minds battle.
Anyway, this is not about Afghanistan, it is also about gun control - how can we be letting registering guns slip away? Yes the registry was a boondoggle and I will never know why it cost so much - but why can't we keep legal weapons, properly stored and registered so that we know where they are? It reduced the killing of women and I do not understand why it is onerous for the owners of the weapons? It is not expensive or time consuming I understand - so what's the issue? Why do people want to have unknown weapons in their home? And why did Peter Stoffer vote to end the registry? I am at a loss. I don't even have a party candidate in my riding ( still ADORE Megan Leslie!!!) that I can vote for (don't get me wrong I will, but I will hold my nose doing so, and if there are a whole lot more mis-steps - long gun registry, sending to committee the bill on the rights of the unborn - I mean COME ON Peter - I may have to review!) I am sure not voting Lib or Con - spoiled ballot here I come - Peter - get with the program!
On some other fronts I don't know where we are heading - we are heading to US style jails - consideration is being given to private, for profit prisons and to faith based programs/units in prisons, and yet we are increasing the time for minor drug offenses but not for rape?
There is decreasing access to abortion across the country and controlling family size is how one leads to liberation for women. Educating women makes them want to reduce the size of families/number of children (without pressure) and leads to peace and prosperity. When did we start moving to punishment in principle - oh and by the way that's what the "new" prisons are about.
I haven't always been lauding these sought after "Canadian values" -- I often thought I was ahead of the curve - I fought for equal access to abortion, women's rights, gay marriage, union contracts and workers rights at many times when they did not seem to reflect the mainstream "values", but there were certain things that one could take for granted - now, instead of peace, order and good government we get war, chaos and no safety net, and politicking in the house of commons.
Like I said - my values are not being reflected in Canada anymore - I think I would like to work outside the country for a while - not necessarily anywhere where these values are more espoused but somewhere where it will not wrack me with guilt and surprise that my values are not reflected since I will be a visitor or newcomer and not a long established citizen. Maybe that will let me appreciate that there is peace here even if we are exporting war, and that there is rape and femincide here but at least the police will pursue the perpetrators (oh, if they find your story credible and you are not a sex trade worker) and you will not be stoned, or that you can eat from a foodbank, or have shelter from the cold - though sometimes only in a bed with bed bugs. . .
Anyway - off today to participate in a pension and pre-retirement workshop for union members - way to improve women's lives in this country. . . JOIN A UNION! - get economic independence and education. . .
Here's what I think is funny - I have facebook friends from all over - Brazil, Ireland, U.S. and Canada and today many of them posted the link to this
youtube video of the Muppets doing Bohemian Rhapsody - there must be a link but I wonder what it is. . . It must have been posted somewhere ele, or maybe it is just a high scorer on youtube?
On another bizarre front - from CTV comes this story of a deer in donwtown Toronto that was tasered to capture and reloacte it. See the story here.
And one last thing that had me amused today was this story from the NY Times. . .
Click on the poster for the link to the story. . .
I did not see her when she was here in Halifax (had a class, and they are booked 6-9 months in advance - so no way to change) .
Hope someone gives me her book for Christmas.
She wants all the troops out of Afghanistan . She says in the article: Yes, she says, there is a risk of civil war, as happened when the Soviet Union gave up the fight against U.S.-backed Afghan Islamists 20 years ago. But it would still be better than "night raids, torture and aerial bombardment" that killed hundreds of Afghan civilians while the Taliban made steady gains.
"Liberation was just a big lie." Joya believes Afghans are now better prepared to battle the Taliban alone – if the warlords are disarmed, and the international community helps build a society that can push back against extremism.
I so want Canada to be working for peace, again, and not engaging in war. It was why Remembrance Day troubled me so much this year.
I got quite excited yesterday by a columnist in the Toronto Star - She has amazing blogs, too. . . It is just odd for me to find in a daily newspaper someone who is a outraged as I am about the same things. I encourage you to check her out - but start with the July 2nd Blog.
In her Canada Day Column in the Toronto Star - she talked about the things that Canada stands for in her mind and how they are being eroded, whether by changes in the media or legislation -
She says:
Collective bargaining floats all our boats. Without it, there would be no minimum wage, no paid sick leave, no health and pension benefits, no vacations. Do you honestly believe workers would still get a fair break if the bottom liners had nothing to keep them in check?
It's not workers who drove us into this economic mess. Workers weren't paying themselves multi-million-dollar bonuses for running companies into the ground. In fact, as executive salaries were rising, workers' wages were falling.
This isn't the time to get rid of unions. This is the time to be strengthening them.
She also says:
Public Broadcasting: Fully funded public broadcasting is good for Canadian culture, which includes tens of thousands of workers who perform and produce programming. . .
I'm talking CBC.
I'm talking excellent original and thought-provoking programming on CBC Radio's Ideas.
I'm also talking The National, which is now riddled with commercials and no longer has the weight or authority it used to have.
That's because, to sell ads, it has to produce eyeballs. That means more Michael Jackson, less Stephen Harper.
And that's not good for Canada.
I hate to say it but The National is too often pre-occupied with trivia. And CBC no longer has the resources to do consistent hard-hitting investigative journalism that answers to no advertisers.
And She says:
Freedom of Expression: Excuse me but since when did the interests of Zionist lobby groups determine who or what Canadians can see and hear?
Now comes word that the only way the respected Al-Jazeera English news service, currently applying for TV distribution in Canada, can win the support of these same Jewish groups is to have them become consultants.
Journalistically speaking, that is hardly kosher.
Hoo-boy, did I hear about this one. The usual slurs of anti-Semitism, etc.
My answer? What part of this isn't true?
And lastly she talks about:
U.S. War Resisters: Canada's proudest moment this century was when it refused to join George W. Bush in his attack on Iraq. . .
Those kids were hoodwinked, both by their government and its lapdog media, into thinking they were joining up to protect their country from terrorism and Saddam Hussein's non-existent weapons of mass destruction.
Rather than welcome them, we send them back over the border and to certain prison sentences.
When John Lennon and Yoko Ono chose Canada as the venue for their Give Peace a Chance bed-in in 1969, they did it in part because they considered this country as the embodiment of anti-war values.
So you can see why I enjoyed it - I have edited it some for length but linked to the original at the top -- hope you enjoy her posts as much as I have. . .
As will be obvious from the history on these blogs, I have been a faithful NDP supporter for many years. I am also a feminist, a trade unionist and am anti-oppression, and anti-poverty activist.
Today, shortly I will be attending the swearing of the NDP cabinet. A first cabinet for the majority NDP government recently elected in Nova Scotia. I have not seen many people playing the who will be in cabinet game -- I'm planning to play but more from a regional breakdown than truly knowing the skills of many of the players.
Of course, we don't even know what the Departments are going to be - are they going to change them? I am assuming yes. I think a Minister can have two portfolios and keep the Dept's separate or they could combine activities into larger/differently structured departments.
I tend to think that one should not make the Minister someone who knows about the Department, though I don't know the history on that score, so I would not put Ramona Jennex as the Minister of Education, or Sterling Beliveau in fisheries. I would give Howard Epstein the environment but I have a feeling that he is likely persona non grata. . .
So I am betting on Premier Dexter who is going to serve in cabinet apparently ( that is giving himself a cabinet portfolio in addition to Premier) plus: 1. Marilyn More 2. Maureen MacDonald 3. Percy Paris 4. Frank Corbett 5. Becky Kent 6. Brian Skabar 7. Graham Steele 8. Joe MacDonnell 9. Clarrie MacKinnon or Charlie Parker 10. Bill Estabrooks 11. Either Vicki Conrad or Sterling Belliveau
Oops - have to go to get to the swearing in. . . I'm probably dead wrong, because I haven't got time to check the Bio's and I don't know of the experieinced MLA's who are "trusted" by Darrell. We'll see!
