Sunday, August 14, 2011
Assad's reforms from A to Z
This is the video I linked last week that was removed from Youtube for being disturbing. I found it again but this time with English subtitles. It is disturbing but the World needs to see what the Syrian Regime does to it's own people.
Unbelievable the lengths a dictator takes to crush down his people
You know this entry is all about Syria again. Bashar's thugs seem to like using let's kill a fly with a machine gun approach. Overkill but does the job. Well now they have warships attacking the port of Latakia. Warships firing on innocent civilians. Warships that prevent those who would escape by the sea to a safer place from leaving by sea. I'm wondering how Bashar will explain the gangs firing from the sea?
What has me completely flabbergasted is that the Syrian government in response to the lack of tourists during tourist season, has reduced prices by 50% and are encouraging Syrians to travel!!! So if say you were in Hama and have had everything you own blasted to smithereens by Bashar's thugs, now you can travel to another part of Syria and experience it all over again!!! WOW such great travel opportunities!!!
One of the reports I read by a doctor in Hama, believes another 2000 people have been killed when the army stormed one of the hospitals there. That's an additional 2000 that has not been tallied. The numbers that get circulated in terms of deaths are very conservative. The LCC will only say someone is dead if their body has been clearly identified. People who's body were too badly injured who were not identified have not been added to the tallies.
There isn't a place in Syria where people aren't getting murdered to death by Regime sponsored thugs. In some areas it's worse then others. Like near the border of Turkey for the past couple of days, there has been a forest fire, that was started by the Syrian forces after storming a village. But the worries were that there was a large amount of people living in the forest. I guess the idea of the fire was to snuff them out? Wow nice way to deal with your people, burn them to death.
Yesterday someone was sharing this blog entry where he wrote about the threat to Syrian Churches. I guess his fear was that it was going to encourage more sectarian violence. What's for sure is that Bashar's thugs do not give a flying fig about religious buildings or institutions or people's religious rights. I have seen many different video's of Mosque's minarets being shelled and demolished. I have seem video's of what remained of the insides of Mosques after they had been shelled. At this point if churches were shelled people would assume it was Bashar's thugs too, not sectarian violence.
Let me tell you this will not end well for Bashar. Something tells me when it is all said and done, he will end up hopefully in as bad shape as poor young Hamza AlKhateeb. [May he RIP] Some articles are now comparing Assad to Saddam Hussain, and that a similar fate awaits him. May it come sooner then later. I think the world needs all those PEACEFUL Syrian people. God/dess bless them all!!
EDIT 16-08-2011: The article on Syria's tourism policies seemed to have disappeared. It sure was there the day I posted this entry. I found this article which is a subset of the one that disappeared.
What has me completely flabbergasted is that the Syrian government in response to the lack of tourists during tourist season, has reduced prices by 50% and are encouraging Syrians to travel!!! So if say you were in Hama and have had everything you own blasted to smithereens by Bashar's thugs, now you can travel to another part of Syria and experience it all over again!!! WOW such great travel opportunities!!!
One of the reports I read by a doctor in Hama, believes another 2000 people have been killed when the army stormed one of the hospitals there. That's an additional 2000 that has not been tallied. The numbers that get circulated in terms of deaths are very conservative. The LCC will only say someone is dead if their body has been clearly identified. People who's body were too badly injured who were not identified have not been added to the tallies.
There isn't a place in Syria where people aren't getting murdered to death by Regime sponsored thugs. In some areas it's worse then others. Like near the border of Turkey for the past couple of days, there has been a forest fire, that was started by the Syrian forces after storming a village. But the worries were that there was a large amount of people living in the forest. I guess the idea of the fire was to snuff them out? Wow nice way to deal with your people, burn them to death.
Yesterday someone was sharing this blog entry where he wrote about the threat to Syrian Churches. I guess his fear was that it was going to encourage more sectarian violence. What's for sure is that Bashar's thugs do not give a flying fig about religious buildings or institutions or people's religious rights. I have seen many different video's of Mosque's minarets being shelled and demolished. I have seem video's of what remained of the insides of Mosques after they had been shelled. At this point if churches were shelled people would assume it was Bashar's thugs too, not sectarian violence.
Let me tell you this will not end well for Bashar. Something tells me when it is all said and done, he will end up hopefully in as bad shape as poor young Hamza AlKhateeb. [May he RIP] Some articles are now comparing Assad to Saddam Hussain, and that a similar fate awaits him. May it come sooner then later. I think the world needs all those PEACEFUL Syrian people. God/dess bless them all!!
EDIT 16-08-2011: The article on Syria's tourism policies seemed to have disappeared. It sure was there the day I posted this entry. I found this article which is a subset of the one that disappeared.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Dragonfly on balcony lamp
About a week ago when I got home from work there was a really nice dragonfly waiting for me on one of the lights on my front porch.
Friday, August 12, 2011
UK Rioters hoods
We all figured the people who took to the streets in London were the poor, the disenfranchised, the youth, those from minority groups, in general all those affected by austerity cuts. Surprisingly once a percentage of the rioters were arrested, it was found some had jobs, some came from well to-do families and a large majority were white. What gives?
No matter what anyone says, going around, destroying other people's property and attacking the police is NOT a way to protest anything. Once you resort to violence, how can you have any legitimacy?
And then you have the Syrian Ambassador trying to compare the 'Armed gangs" rioting in London with the "armed gangs" protesting in Syria [Meaning peaceful protesters]. Besides the police in London has shown restraint. Although they have been authorized the use of rubber bullets, they have not resorted to using them. Unlike Bashar who uses Tanks, and anti-aircraft missiles and whatever else he can to attack peaceful protesters and civilians alike, including the infrastructure in many parts of Syria.
The brave people of Syria are still out there protesting peacefully in large numbers. There has been more then 2000 dead, more then 3000 disappeared, more then 20000 detained and 6000 wounded.
No matter what anyone says, going around, destroying other people's property and attacking the police is NOT a way to protest anything. Once you resort to violence, how can you have any legitimacy?
And then you have the Syrian Ambassador trying to compare the 'Armed gangs" rioting in London with the "armed gangs" protesting in Syria [Meaning peaceful protesters]. Besides the police in London has shown restraint. Although they have been authorized the use of rubber bullets, they have not resorted to using them. Unlike Bashar who uses Tanks, and anti-aircraft missiles and whatever else he can to attack peaceful protesters and civilians alike, including the infrastructure in many parts of Syria.
The brave people of Syria are still out there protesting peacefully in large numbers. There has been more then 2000 dead, more then 3000 disappeared, more then 20000 detained and 6000 wounded.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
We love freaky weather in Quebec....
Montreal should really consider fixing it's aging sewer system. It's not acceptable whenever it rains a lot in a short time, to have a percentage of Montreal's underpasses flooded. It makes it very difficult to get between one area of the city and another.
Last night an ambulance got caught in a flooded underpass. They had to dispatch a second one to the emergency as the first one was floating in the water that accumulated there. About 10 days ago there was another flooded underpass, and also in mid July. Here's a story from 2009 with flooded underpasses. I mean we should not have flooded underpasses each time there's a big thunderstorm.
What about the car that got lifted by a water geyser on July 18th?
Nothing beats the flood of July 14th, 1987 though, where 2 people died. I remember that day well I spent it alone in my basement condo with my eldest, who was 3 months old, watching the water rise from my patio door and wondering if my condo would flood. The intensity of the rain stopped, when the water level was almost flush with the door. I also remember worrying because the father of my daughter didn't get home till very late. I especially remember that the phone line was dead. It was the only time in my life I've seen the demand bigger then capacity. I've never seen it since, where you couldn't get a signal picking up the phone. My dad spent 3 hours picking up the phone every couple of minutes until he got a signal to call me to see if the baby and I were OK.
Here's a headline you don't get to see often, Tornado hits Lac St Jean area. I know every summer we get 4 or 5 tornadoes and most of the time they take out a barn in rural Quebec. Thankfully most of the time there are few injuries or deaths, just some property damage.
Last night an ambulance got caught in a flooded underpass. They had to dispatch a second one to the emergency as the first one was floating in the water that accumulated there. About 10 days ago there was another flooded underpass, and also in mid July. Here's a story from 2009 with flooded underpasses. I mean we should not have flooded underpasses each time there's a big thunderstorm.
What about the car that got lifted by a water geyser on July 18th?
Nothing beats the flood of July 14th, 1987 though, where 2 people died. I remember that day well I spent it alone in my basement condo with my eldest, who was 3 months old, watching the water rise from my patio door and wondering if my condo would flood. The intensity of the rain stopped, when the water level was almost flush with the door. I also remember worrying because the father of my daughter didn't get home till very late. I especially remember that the phone line was dead. It was the only time in my life I've seen the demand bigger then capacity. I've never seen it since, where you couldn't get a signal picking up the phone. My dad spent 3 hours picking up the phone every couple of minutes until he got a signal to call me to see if the baby and I were OK.
Here's a headline you don't get to see often, Tornado hits Lac St Jean area. I know every summer we get 4 or 5 tornadoes and most of the time they take out a barn in rural Quebec. Thankfully most of the time there are few injuries or deaths, just some property damage.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Police to focus on individuals not on racial profiling.
I hope that the police makes good on it's changes with it's anti-gang unit to stop racially profiling youths and people in general. I've written about it several times, that despite living in one of the most multicultural cities in the world, the police still did racial profiling. This article talks about the changes the Montreal police has made since the unfortunate dead of Freddy Villanueva in Montreal-North on August 9th of 2008.
I didn't blog much in 2008, with a total of 17 entries but I was troubled enough by the events in a part of Montreal where I was born that I blogged about it.
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Special talent with traumatized Children...
This morning I could ramble on about Syria and the fact the Lebanese are finally standing in support of their Syrian brothers, and not the government that is murdering them, or I could talk about Libya and the fact Gadafy is still crazier then ever, or about Yemen where things are getting ugly, heck I could even ramble on about the 3rd day of riots in London, which won't go away - because they are part of that same malaise the youth is feeling everywhere, but it's all too depressing!
Instead I'm going to write about Rosie, a golden retriever named after Rosa Parks. Her gift in life has been to help out children who have gone through traumatic events. She's great to have in a room where a child is telling about abuse they have been through. Recently she made headlines in New York because she was allowed in court to 'hold the hand" of a young woman testifying against her dad, who had raped her.
Dogs and pets in general are great companions. They are great when you are upset and can't talk to another human. My cats will know when I'm really upset and they will all take turns making sure I'm ok. They will listen to anything I can ramble on about and offer cuteness :)
Some are arguing that Rosie adds an element of cuteness into the courtroom. That she might be encouraging people to believe whatever the witness with the dog is saying as the truth. Personally I'm thinking the dog is helping a child who otherwise might be too traumatized to give a full account of what happened. The dog sure is not testifying. The dog just seems to help children to keep talking.
Here's hoping Rosie continues to help out children in any capacity she can. Children who have gone through something traumatic can definitely use the company of a friendly dog who seems to know when to prod the child with her nose to encourage them.
Instead I'm going to write about Rosie, a golden retriever named after Rosa Parks. Her gift in life has been to help out children who have gone through traumatic events. She's great to have in a room where a child is telling about abuse they have been through. Recently she made headlines in New York because she was allowed in court to 'hold the hand" of a young woman testifying against her dad, who had raped her.
Dogs and pets in general are great companions. They are great when you are upset and can't talk to another human. My cats will know when I'm really upset and they will all take turns making sure I'm ok. They will listen to anything I can ramble on about and offer cuteness :)
Some are arguing that Rosie adds an element of cuteness into the courtroom. That she might be encouraging people to believe whatever the witness with the dog is saying as the truth. Personally I'm thinking the dog is helping a child who otherwise might be too traumatized to give a full account of what happened. The dog sure is not testifying. The dog just seems to help children to keep talking.
Here's hoping Rosie continues to help out children in any capacity she can. Children who have gone through something traumatic can definitely use the company of a friendly dog who seems to know when to prod the child with her nose to encourage them.
Monday, August 08, 2011
Potty equality
Apparently locations that have equal facilities for men and women in terms of bathrooms are doing the women a great disservice. I've accepted the fact that in most large public places, you have to wait in line to use the bathroom. I've seen it everywhere in the world where I have travelled. Apparently women take more time in the bathroom and have more bathroom needs. Some States in the USA and some countries have made laws that says there should be twice as many bathrooms for women as there are for men.
I work in a company where the ratio of women to men is greatly skewed. There are also less bathrooms for women then there are for men and I suspect it is the cause of some of the appalling tantrums that some of us have witnessed at work in the woman's bathroom.
My gf seems to share same bathroom hours as a tech from another department. This tech sighs really loudly, huffs and puffs, stomps feet and even sometimes leaves slamming the door behind her if she arrives and my gf is using the ONE sink. This bathroom has 2 stalls and 1 sink! What kind of genius designs a bathroom with more toilets then sinks? If you have 2 bathrooms you should have 2 sinks, like DUH! The tech is a bit OCD and feels the need to wash her hands often. If someone is using the sink when she enters the bathroom she has a conniption.
At work we've had the bathroom Nazi, part of the cleaning crew who would chase women out of the bathrooms, including the showers at the gym bathroom, to clean them. We also have the bathroom Diva, who has hissy fits if the sink or "her stall" is occupied when she walks into one particular bathroom.
The thing that amuses me about the bathroom Diva is that there are 3 other bathrooms, equidistant from this one, that she could also use. Heck I have days where I want to be alone in the bathroom, if someone is already in, I just go to one of the other three. I don't sigh, huff, puff, stomp feet or slam doors in disgust either!
I work in a company where the ratio of women to men is greatly skewed. There are also less bathrooms for women then there are for men and I suspect it is the cause of some of the appalling tantrums that some of us have witnessed at work in the woman's bathroom.
My gf seems to share same bathroom hours as a tech from another department. This tech sighs really loudly, huffs and puffs, stomps feet and even sometimes leaves slamming the door behind her if she arrives and my gf is using the ONE sink. This bathroom has 2 stalls and 1 sink! What kind of genius designs a bathroom with more toilets then sinks? If you have 2 bathrooms you should have 2 sinks, like DUH! The tech is a bit OCD and feels the need to wash her hands often. If someone is using the sink when she enters the bathroom she has a conniption.
At work we've had the bathroom Nazi, part of the cleaning crew who would chase women out of the bathrooms, including the showers at the gym bathroom, to clean them. We also have the bathroom Diva, who has hissy fits if the sink or "her stall" is occupied when she walks into one particular bathroom.
The thing that amuses me about the bathroom Diva is that there are 3 other bathrooms, equidistant from this one, that she could also use. Heck I have days where I want to be alone in the bathroom, if someone is already in, I just go to one of the other three. I don't sigh, huff, puff, stomp feet or slam doors in disgust either!
Sunday, August 07, 2011
Join movement to expel Syrian Ambassador to Canada
On Facebook, page dedicated to send the Syrian Ambassador back to Syria.
Apparently, someone hacked the Syrian Army Website :)
Apparently, someone hacked the Syrian Army Website :)
Video showing some of the attrocities committed by Al-Assad's thugs.
S.N.N | Shaam News Network: Video showing some of the crimes of Bashar's regime since the beginning of the revolution in Syria in 2011
Warning - Some parts are graphic!
EDIT 09-08-11 - I can't believe it was removed from YouTube. It's OK that Bashar Al-Assad kills people but it's not OK to put it up on the WEB??? I'm appalled.
Edit 10-08-11 - I found it again on Youtube at another location. Do search on "Assad regime reforms from a to z"
Riot in London
Saturday night a peaceful protest in front of a police station in Tottenham, North of London turned violent into a riot like London hadn't seen in years. The protest was over the shooting death of Mark Doggan by police.
It sucks when people's good intentions turn into a violent force that inspires the worst out of us humans.
It sucks when people's good intentions turn into a violent force that inspires the worst out of us humans.
Saturday, August 06, 2011
Canada welcomes it's immigrants
Compared to other countries we Canadians have a much more positive attitude towards immigrants and immigration.
It is suggested in this article that it is far less likely for what happened in Norway by the right wing man, who set off a bomb and shot young people, killing a total of 76, to happen in Canada. This is because immigrants are far better integrated into Canadian society. The article also suggests that we cannot become complacent as racist attacks have become more common place across Canada.
For all people might say that French Quebecois are racist and not particularly welcoming, this isn't true. Sure Quebecois have issues with people who don't speak their language and are suspicious of people who's culture they don't know [Like all other peoples btw], but it takes little for them to open their hearts and homes to their new neighbours.
Stupid comments made by various Quebec Politicians in particular those from the parti Quebecois who blamed "maudits immigrants" for not voting for independence, while offensive are also correct. Most who come to this country come for it's stability and safety. They might come from a country which was unstable and for them the unity of Canada is important to continue ensuring it's stability so it is true they will vote federalist and against Quebec leaving. It is completely logical and no one should blame them for this.
Ironically some of the most racist people I have met in Canada were new arrivals!!!! I used to have a neighbour that my native-ex [The one I am no longer on speaking terms with] befriended. This neighbour moved to Toronto for several months and when he came back, he had nothing but vitriol to spew about Toronto. "Toronto, is so fucking full of immigrants he said". This guy was NOT even born in Canada. His family had come to Canada from Europe when he was a small child. I could not believe his comments. I tore him a new one. I asked him what rights he thought he had as a person NOT even born in Canada to criticize other people, who he perceived as new comers because of the colour of their skin but who might in fact actually be born here, unlike his sorry ass.
I went on to say that the only person in the room who could complain about immigrants was my native-ex, who by definition was a 'Native of Canada'. That even myself who has an French ancestor who arrived in Quebec in 1667, was still an immigrant in comparison. So if he wasn't happy with Canadian "Immigrants" he could go back to the country where he was born, and where it was obviously so perfect. Because Canada is a country built on immigration. It started off with the Natives, and the arrival of the French and the English, but now has become a nation where EVERYONE is welcome.
It sucks that in some immigrant communities they continue to fight internally like they have not left their own country and I strongly believe that those who attack other members of their nationality should be sent back home. Last week I linked an article where some pro-democracy Syrians in Montreal have been threatened by pro-Assad factions. Those in pro-Assad factions should be warned that in this country everyone is entitled to their opinion and no one goes out and beats up people for having a different opinion. If they don't get that, they are welcome to find a country who tolerates this abhorrent behaviour.
One of the things I love the most about Montreal is it's multicultural international flavour. It's wonderful that you can meet people from all sorts of different countries. I love it that at work I've had opportunity to work with people from just about everywhere in the world. Of late the students that apply for internships are mostly from the old European eastern bloc, North Africa, the middle East, and Central Africa. A percentage of those who apply from those countries are often new arrivals to Canada, with a degree in their own countries re-doing an engineering degree in Montreal in a COOP program to get the benefits of a Canadian education and Canadian work terms, which give them that Canadian experience which helps them find work.
The majority of the students that I've had working for me in internships are very grateful to have the internship and are thrilled to be in Canada. They praise the education system, and the Coop programs. One of the questions I often ask is why they chose the University and program they are in, and also ask how the Canadian university compares to the university they previously attended. It's the kind of question that's not very personal and should make the candidate relax as it's an opinion and there is no right and wrong.
Every last one will tell me that they were impressed at our school system here and they have learned so much even if they are doing the program for a 2nd time. There's a percentage who just feel everything here is better, if nothing else they might be saying it to convince themselves and look appreciative, but there's another percentage that can give you great details as to why our Engineering programs rock.
The thing I like to remember is that unless you are fully a North American Native [Also wrongly labelled Indian], you are an immigrant and from immigrant roots. Even if your family has been in Canada 400 years. By keeping that perspective it makes it far easier to accept new comers and help them integrate into Canadian society.
One of the stories we were told in school was that Canada is a mosaic, and the USA is a melting pot. Canadians are proudly Canadian but also retain a little bit of their previous identity which I think makes for a far more diverse country and I love that about Canada.
My daughters grew up in a very diverse neighbourhood and were exposed to people from all different nationalities. At some point in her late teens, my eldest dated briefly a boy from Drummondville [or was it Valleyfield - always mix those? ]. The biggest shock my daughter had travelling to meet her beau in his home town, was the fact everyone was homogeneously white and french-speaking. Having always lived in Montreal she had never seen areas that were so uniform in language and people's ethnicity.
Even though I grew up in a less ethnically mixed area, where I grew up in Montreal North and Riviere-des-Prairies, we were a mix of French-Quebecois, Italian-Canadians [first/second/third generation] and Haitian-Canadians [mostly first generation]. The English schools I went to had students who where 95% Italians, 3% French and the remaining 2% included everyone else! That was my experience until about age 15, when my mother placed me in a private school downtown. It was there I was exposed to Montreal's more varied English community, as well as Montreal's diverse Jewish community.
It is suggested in this article that it is far less likely for what happened in Norway by the right wing man, who set off a bomb and shot young people, killing a total of 76, to happen in Canada. This is because immigrants are far better integrated into Canadian society. The article also suggests that we cannot become complacent as racist attacks have become more common place across Canada.
For all people might say that French Quebecois are racist and not particularly welcoming, this isn't true. Sure Quebecois have issues with people who don't speak their language and are suspicious of people who's culture they don't know [Like all other peoples btw], but it takes little for them to open their hearts and homes to their new neighbours.
Stupid comments made by various Quebec Politicians in particular those from the parti Quebecois who blamed "maudits immigrants" for not voting for independence, while offensive are also correct. Most who come to this country come for it's stability and safety. They might come from a country which was unstable and for them the unity of Canada is important to continue ensuring it's stability so it is true they will vote federalist and against Quebec leaving. It is completely logical and no one should blame them for this.
Ironically some of the most racist people I have met in Canada were new arrivals!!!! I used to have a neighbour that my native-ex [The one I am no longer on speaking terms with] befriended. This neighbour moved to Toronto for several months and when he came back, he had nothing but vitriol to spew about Toronto. "Toronto, is so fucking full of immigrants he said". This guy was NOT even born in Canada. His family had come to Canada from Europe when he was a small child. I could not believe his comments. I tore him a new one. I asked him what rights he thought he had as a person NOT even born in Canada to criticize other people, who he perceived as new comers because of the colour of their skin but who might in fact actually be born here, unlike his sorry ass.
I went on to say that the only person in the room who could complain about immigrants was my native-ex, who by definition was a 'Native of Canada'. That even myself who has an French ancestor who arrived in Quebec in 1667, was still an immigrant in comparison. So if he wasn't happy with Canadian "Immigrants" he could go back to the country where he was born, and where it was obviously so perfect. Because Canada is a country built on immigration. It started off with the Natives, and the arrival of the French and the English, but now has become a nation where EVERYONE is welcome.
It sucks that in some immigrant communities they continue to fight internally like they have not left their own country and I strongly believe that those who attack other members of their nationality should be sent back home. Last week I linked an article where some pro-democracy Syrians in Montreal have been threatened by pro-Assad factions. Those in pro-Assad factions should be warned that in this country everyone is entitled to their opinion and no one goes out and beats up people for having a different opinion. If they don't get that, they are welcome to find a country who tolerates this abhorrent behaviour.
One of the things I love the most about Montreal is it's multicultural international flavour. It's wonderful that you can meet people from all sorts of different countries. I love it that at work I've had opportunity to work with people from just about everywhere in the world. Of late the students that apply for internships are mostly from the old European eastern bloc, North Africa, the middle East, and Central Africa. A percentage of those who apply from those countries are often new arrivals to Canada, with a degree in their own countries re-doing an engineering degree in Montreal in a COOP program to get the benefits of a Canadian education and Canadian work terms, which give them that Canadian experience which helps them find work.
The majority of the students that I've had working for me in internships are very grateful to have the internship and are thrilled to be in Canada. They praise the education system, and the Coop programs. One of the questions I often ask is why they chose the University and program they are in, and also ask how the Canadian university compares to the university they previously attended. It's the kind of question that's not very personal and should make the candidate relax as it's an opinion and there is no right and wrong.
Every last one will tell me that they were impressed at our school system here and they have learned so much even if they are doing the program for a 2nd time. There's a percentage who just feel everything here is better, if nothing else they might be saying it to convince themselves and look appreciative, but there's another percentage that can give you great details as to why our Engineering programs rock.
The thing I like to remember is that unless you are fully a North American Native [Also wrongly labelled Indian], you are an immigrant and from immigrant roots. Even if your family has been in Canada 400 years. By keeping that perspective it makes it far easier to accept new comers and help them integrate into Canadian society.
One of the stories we were told in school was that Canada is a mosaic, and the USA is a melting pot. Canadians are proudly Canadian but also retain a little bit of their previous identity which I think makes for a far more diverse country and I love that about Canada.
My daughters grew up in a very diverse neighbourhood and were exposed to people from all different nationalities. At some point in her late teens, my eldest dated briefly a boy from Drummondville [or was it Valleyfield - always mix those? ]. The biggest shock my daughter had travelling to meet her beau in his home town, was the fact everyone was homogeneously white and french-speaking. Having always lived in Montreal she had never seen areas that were so uniform in language and people's ethnicity.
Even though I grew up in a less ethnically mixed area, where I grew up in Montreal North and Riviere-des-Prairies, we were a mix of French-Quebecois, Italian-Canadians [first/second/third generation] and Haitian-Canadians [mostly first generation]. The English schools I went to had students who where 95% Italians, 3% French and the remaining 2% included everyone else! That was my experience until about age 15, when my mother placed me in a private school downtown. It was there I was exposed to Montreal's more varied English community, as well as Montreal's diverse Jewish community.
Friday, August 05, 2011
His thugs crave blood
Apparently you cannot criticize Bashar Al-Assad anywhere. There was a peaceful protest in front of the Syrian Embassy in Beirut on Tuesday, peaceful until Bashar's thugs showed up and beat the living daylights out of everyone there, because they refused to be intimidated and go away.
The UN is about as useless as tits on a man with the crisis in Syria. Their resolutions always short of being meaningful. Assad lost his legitimacy months ago, and yet he's still able to kill people with no consequences. The Arab world sits in silence as people are being slaughtered like sheep in Hama, to use the expression people in Hama have used. Some of the video's coming out of Syria are incredibly disturbing, and the fact the world sits and watches without intervening just blows my mind. I'm not sure what the best method of intervention is but there has to be a way to get him to stop his killing.
This Friday's protests in Syria are dubbed "God is with us". All I have to say is Yalla irhal ya Bashar!
The UN is about as useless as tits on a man with the crisis in Syria. Their resolutions always short of being meaningful. Assad lost his legitimacy months ago, and yet he's still able to kill people with no consequences. The Arab world sits in silence as people are being slaughtered like sheep in Hama, to use the expression people in Hama have used. Some of the video's coming out of Syria are incredibly disturbing, and the fact the world sits and watches without intervening just blows my mind. I'm not sure what the best method of intervention is but there has to be a way to get him to stop his killing.
This Friday's protests in Syria are dubbed "God is with us". All I have to say is Yalla irhal ya Bashar!
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Great blog about self-defense
This guy has a great entry in his blog with self defence tips for women, and men too! Always good to have awareness on what to do if you are attacked. I have to look where to get bear repellent and at least have some in my purse and in my truck.
CBC video on the protests in Syria
For the protection of those who are in Syria, this video is ONLY viewable in Canada :)
Bashar Al-Assad has the audacity while pounding Hama every day since Sunday to announce reforms. What a joke? Who does he think he's fooling? Other then his followers and his thugs, no one believes a word that comes out of his mouth.
What about Lebanon, distancing itself from the UN resolution? It's watered down enough as is, with Russian's interference. One of the lines Russia wanted added was there should be no violence towards the state. The only one destroying the state is the regime! They are continuing to flatten out Hama. However I have nothing but admiration for the Syrian people and their restraint as well as the people of Hama.
If they had spent half of the money used to squash the uprisings to actually implement reforms, Syria would be doing great at the moment. But it makes so much sense to pay militia to do your ugly work, your killing, and feed them, and provide them with weapons of human destruction. I stand by my comment the other day that Syria has more Tanks then Canada!!!
Bashar Al-Assad has the audacity while pounding Hama every day since Sunday to announce reforms. What a joke? Who does he think he's fooling? Other then his followers and his thugs, no one believes a word that comes out of his mouth.
What about Lebanon, distancing itself from the UN resolution? It's watered down enough as is, with Russian's interference. One of the lines Russia wanted added was there should be no violence towards the state. The only one destroying the state is the regime! They are continuing to flatten out Hama. However I have nothing but admiration for the Syrian people and their restraint as well as the people of Hama.
If they had spent half of the money used to squash the uprisings to actually implement reforms, Syria would be doing great at the moment. But it makes so much sense to pay militia to do your ugly work, your killing, and feed them, and provide them with weapons of human destruction. I stand by my comment the other day that Syria has more Tanks then Canada!!!
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Manitoba first Nation needs new home
I've been blogging a lot about Syria and the Arab Spring/Summer whatever you want to call it now. But I haven't blogged much about Canada recently. There are people in Canada who's rights are ignored or eroded for the most part. That would be the people from Canada's first nations.
People from the Lake St. Martin First Nation have had to be displaced yet again due to flooding. It happens frequently that they are displaced due to flooding but this year's disaster has doomed the reserve. It's no longer fit for habitation. The people want to move close by to where they used to live, far away from white settlements, which just brings drugs and alcohol along with the problems that go with it, into the native community. They want out of Winnipeg at the moment, that's for sure.
I don't know how this will be addressed by Harper's government, as they seem to think natives are just like any other Canadian and don't need special services. When are people going to realize that not all humans have the same needs and lumping everyone into the same pile is not helpful to anyone?
People from the Lake St. Martin First Nation have had to be displaced yet again due to flooding. It happens frequently that they are displaced due to flooding but this year's disaster has doomed the reserve. It's no longer fit for habitation. The people want to move close by to where they used to live, far away from white settlements, which just brings drugs and alcohol along with the problems that go with it, into the native community. They want out of Winnipeg at the moment, that's for sure.
I don't know how this will be addressed by Harper's government, as they seem to think natives are just like any other Canadian and don't need special services. When are people going to realize that not all humans have the same needs and lumping everyone into the same pile is not helpful to anyone?
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Cats can be entertaining
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| They all want the primo spot on the window sill. |
I'll settle for warm and furry. Here are photo's of my cats excited over an opened window, so they congregated. Who says cats aren't sociable?
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| And then there was 3 |
Video of Global Syria day 2 in Montreal
One of the video's of the Rally in Montreal in support of the Syrian people on July 30th, 2011 If you're really observant and know what I look like you can spot me briefly in one frame among the crowd.
I'm asking myself what the Syrian regime hopes to accomplish by the continuing crackdown, especially during the holy month of Ramadan. One article I read in the middle of the night while I couldn't sleep was from the Jerusalem Post The journalist made allusions that those Syrian tanks couldn't do much harm to an Israeli brigade but it's perfectly adequate for attacking unarmed civilians. I get amazed when I see the footage of all those tanks. I doubt Canada has that many tanks! [Then again the lack of adequate military equipment in Canada is always a running joke, and frankly I think I'd rather we were poorly equipped. I'd rather see our army as a peace keeping force.]
Bashar now faces indictment in international criminal court. However I can't help but wonder how much good the International Criminal Court can do. It's certainly not stopping Bashar's goons from shelling Hama.
I'm asking myself what the Syrian regime hopes to accomplish by the continuing crackdown, especially during the holy month of Ramadan. One article I read in the middle of the night while I couldn't sleep was from the Jerusalem Post The journalist made allusions that those Syrian tanks couldn't do much harm to an Israeli brigade but it's perfectly adequate for attacking unarmed civilians. I get amazed when I see the footage of all those tanks. I doubt Canada has that many tanks! [Then again the lack of adequate military equipment in Canada is always a running joke, and frankly I think I'd rather we were poorly equipped. I'd rather see our army as a peace keeping force.]
Bashar now faces indictment in international criminal court. However I can't help but wonder how much good the International Criminal Court can do. It's certainly not stopping Bashar's goons from shelling Hama.
Crumbling infrastructure
Some of my fellow Quebecois seem to think we have the worst infrastructure in the world. I think people exaggerate. Admittedly when concrete slabs fall on highways it makes all of us nervous. It gives me more reason to take the train downtown. The last chunk of cement who fell was in the Ville Marie tunnel downtown Sunday morning. Thankfully no one was hurt.
I think the crumbling infrastructure is also a Canadian problem and probably a north American problem. Our governments built highways, tunnel and bridges 50-60 years ago when we had a 10th of the volume of traffic. I don't think we ever expected the sheer volume of cars on the road that we're seeing today.
It doesn't help either that some of the construction companies around Montreal and/or Quebec were suspected of being mobbed up. This means that while the projects were completed, many were completed with inferior materials and many corners were cut so as much money as possible was pocketed. This is presumably why the Quebecois think we have the worst infrastructure. But I'm sure we're not the only ones with this problem either.
It doesn't help either that some of the construction companies around Montreal and/or Quebec were suspected of being mobbed up. This means that while the projects were completed, many were completed with inferior materials and many corners were cut so as much money as possible was pocketed. This is presumably why the Quebecois think we have the worst infrastructure. But I'm sure we're not the only ones with this problem either.
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