Rose's Place

What are your Dreams for Women? Antigone Magazine C/O WILLA Box 61 – 6138 SUB Blvd Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z1 OR antigonemagazine(at)hotmail.com See more postcards here. *Postcards posted between May 1- Sept 4 were created by young women in The Young Women Leaders Program, a mentoring program sponsored by the University of Central Florida Women’s Studies Program. YWLP originated at the University of Virginia, and UCF launched the program in the Orlando community. YWLP promotes middle school girls’ leadership abilities, pairing collegiate women with middle … [Read more...]

Frankly I don't think we can be expected to write a whole new blogpost every time Flying Ace "Airshow MacKay" and his trusty sidekick Woodstock Kory climb up on top of the Con doghouse to fight off the Red Baron yet again in the Arctic, so this time we're just going with what David Pugliese reported last time 18 months ago (h/t Maclean's) :"The military officers I was talking to yesterday were full of kudos for Defence Minister Peter MacKay for a move that one described as “playing the media like a finely-tuned fiddle.”The officer was referring to the breathless Canadian news media coverage … [Read more...]

Via Dammit Janet: Crazy right wing lady conbot Phyllis Schlafly, self-styled as America's ''leader of the pro-family movement since 1972,'' exhausted from her travails against gays and lesbians, uppity women, healthcare advocates, liberals, anti-gun activists, etc. etc. etc., has now set her sights on that scourge of western society ... the single welfare mother! Unmarried women, 70 percent of unmarried women, voted for Obama, and this is because when you kick your husband out, you've... … [Read more...]

Longtime readers -- and I do appreciate your loyalty and patience during my absence from the blogosphere -- know that I have bitched loud and often about how US/Canada/NATO have used and abused women and their (human) rights as an excuse to continue the war in Afghanistan. Oh, it's never about the oil, the pipelines, the mineral rights, the regional hegemony, or anything like that. No no. It's always about the women. Save the women.... … [Read more...]

If you can make an issue out of the Census, you can make an issue out of anything.  But in the Season of Dumb all things are possible: The Tories’ indulgence in this melodrama shows we have more cause to worry about the ninny state than the nanny state. Indeed.  And what’s next on the Ninny State agenda? Phone Books:  Convenience?  Or naming names?  (Ma Bell:  Agent of the State?) Food Inspection:  Health?  Or an infringement on your right to host the parasites of your choice? I doubt it’s a coincidence that the Harper government went full-metal Freedom Fighter on the Census … [Read more...]

Seriously? The latest statistics show that 29 per cent of men admitted being distracted by short skirts and low-cut tops in the Summer weather, leading to record numbers of accidents on the roads. And according to car insurance company Sheilas' Wheels, the summer smash phenomenon is getting worse each year - in 2009 men made 16.4 per cent more claims during the Summer than in any other month. Behavioural psychologist Donna Dawson explained: "Research shows... … [Read more...]

CNN : WikiLeaks founder may have 'blood' on his handsReuters : WikiLeaks may have blood on its hands, U.S. saysBoth sources quote Admiral Mike Mullen :"Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing," Mullen said. "But the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family."Guardian : The War Logs :"...the marines opening fire with automatic weapons as they tore down a six-mile stretch of highway, hitting almost anyone in their way – teenage girls in fields, motorists in their cars, old … [Read more...]

Vancouver company The Cheeky.com says their humorous suitcase stickers featuring bags of cocaine, US bills, sex toys and a bound-and-gagged flight attendant will help you find your luggage more easily, but Transport Minister John Baird's spokesy says : ."Joking about potentially trafficking illegal substances, or worse, is not funny, and the government will use the full force of the law to ensure Canadians who travel by air are safe" ....from stickers presumably, and also from any rumour indicating we might not be completely humorless morons. Says The Cheeky.com : "Caution: Some of these stickers … [Read more...]

Pogge notes that last year RCMP Commissioner William Elliott "attended a $44,000 course in Arizona that dealt with behavioural barriers to success.He subsequently acknowledged to employees in a memo that he learned his actions "can and did have unintended, sometimes negative impacts."and generously offers "to explain to him what a dick he is for half that".If the RCMP is reading, Creekside would also like to enter the bidding fray at half again what Pogge is proposing to charge.Oh wait. There were no other bids considered last year in the decision to send three RCMP to Arizona to take "personal … [Read more...]

One of the Wikileaks war logs released yesterday contained a friendly fire report filed by the 205th RCAG U.S. military unit which states four Canadian soldiers were killed and seven other Canadians and an interpreter were wounded on Sept. 3, 2006, when a fighter jet dropped a guided bomb on a building they occupied during the second day of Operation MEDUSA. [bracketed explanations mine].At 030414Z Sept 06 received SAF[small arms fire] & RPGS from sawtooth building. returned fire 1x GBU[Guided Bomb Unit] dropped on it.Sawtooth building is heavily damaged. only 4x sections remain standing. no … [Read more...]

At a "media availability" he called this morning, Taliban Larry was blindsided with questions on the publication of the Wikileaks war logs. Echoing U.S. National Security Adviser James Jones, Cannon said :"Our government is concerned obviously that operational leaks could endanger the lives of our men and women in Afghanistan."Cannon then went on to repeat several times that the "leaked American documents" have "nothing to do with Canada."Ok then.Asked by the G&M if the leaks indicate the government has "misled the Canadian public", Lawrence replied that they have been very "transparent" and … [Read more...]

Julian Assange on Wikileaks release of 91,000 classified Afghan war documents from 2004 to 2009 to The New York Times, The Guardian, and Der Spiegel."This is the story of the war since 2004. Like most of the accidents on the road are the result of cars not of buses, most of the deaths in this war are the result of the every day squalor of war not the big incidences."Among other disclosures, the US gives Pakistan $1-billion a year to help fight the "insurgency" in Afghanistan but these reports indicate that the Pakistani spy service ISI, which works in concert with the CIA, is guiding the attacks … [Read more...]

.Francis Silvaggio : Notes from Afghanistan, July 2, 2010"While I doubt Ipsos would approve of the collection process, the data was interesting. Out of 26 respondents, only 7 thought progress was being made. 18 people marked “No” and 1 person ticked “HELL NO!!!” That means 73 per cent of those polled think the mission is failing.Anywhere else, this may mean very little. But this poll was done in a military bathroom, in the middle of a war zone, by soldiers.". … [Read more...]

What are your Dreams for Women? Antigone Magazine C/O WILLA Box 61 – 6138 SUB Blvd Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z1 OR antigonemagazine(at)hotmail.com See more postcards here. *Postcards posted between May 1- Sept 4 were created by young women in The Young Women Leaders Program, a mentoring program sponsored by the University of Central Florida Women’s Studies Program. YWLP originated at the University of Virginia, and UCF launched the program in the Orlando community. YWLP promotes middle school girls’ leadership abilities, pairing collegiate women with middle … [Read more...]

NaPo : Vindication for Taliban Jack (h/t : Boris)"So now it’s time to talk to the Taliban.Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon told reporters on Tuesday that the Taliban has an important role to play in laying the foundations of a new Afghanistan. “We encourage a reconciliation process that is inclusive of all Afghans, no matter their ethnicity,” he said.Now cup your hand to your ear and listen for the caterwauling of the uber patriots here on the home front decrying the minister’s capitulation to the enemy. Hmm. Oddly quiet. Could this minster really represent the government … [Read more...]

Or, as Boris put it in comments over at The Beav :"Sometimes I don't even think there's an ideology at work. Just a bored kid in the garden with firecrackers and a BB gun. Being elected was like getting grounded for them."Next time, Canadian electorate, please use Con-doms.. … [Read more...]

h/t WestEnd Bob, who knows that goodness is sexy.Long and short versions of Wikileaks "Collateral Murder". Assange has said he was more appalled at the shelling of the surrounding buildings than at the more widely shown event.From the blog of Ethan McCord, the US ranger who pulled the two surviving children out of the van that was shelled for stopping to help the "Collateral Murder"survivors. h/t Wikileaks .. … [Read more...]

I have said it many times over the last couple of years, and unfortunately I’m sure I’ll have occasion to say it again: something rotten is happening in the frenzied nation to our south.  For the most recent proof, look no further than this week’s systematic sliming of an innocent and honourable public servant, Shirley Sherrod. American politics, a blood sport to say the least, has always been entertaining to observe from afar.  But thanks to glaringly dishonest citizen *cough* ” journalism” and a TV channel that does shit-mongering and character assassination with … [Read more...]

Munir Sheikh, head of Statistics Canada today:"I want to take this opportunity to comment on a technical statistical issue which has become the subject of media discussion. This relates to the question of whether a voluntary survey can become a substitute for a mandatory census.It can not.Under the circumstances, I have tendered my resignation to the Prime Minister."Cue ShamWow Tony from last Friday :StatsCan recommended move to voluntary census, Tony Clement says“So I went to StatsCan. They’re the experts. I said to Stats Canada, ‘Give us some options. Is there a way that we can have a balance, … [Read more...]

From StatsCan today : The numbers, rates and severity of crimes reported to police dropped again last year, continuing a 10-year trend. StatsCan Tables here. Aha! say the Harperclones, that's because people aren't reporting the crimes. Yeah. Sure.The crime rate, a measure of the volume of crime reported to police, fell 3% in 2009 and was 17% lower than a decade ago.The Crime Severity Index (CSI), a measure of the seriousness of police-reported crime, declined 4% in 2009 and stood 22% lower than in 1999.Violent crimes, which range in seriousness from harassing phone calls to homicide, accounted … [Read more...]