Have we entered a time warp?

It’s just a jump to the left…

Ah. That was lovely. Takes me right back, that does…

No…you wanna know what REALLY takes me back? Not the pelvic thrust that really drives you insa-a-a-a-a-ane. (My pelvis can handle that without me batting an eye.) It’s the fact that we still have to protest this shit. AND this shit.

Twenty-five years ago, I was a university student in her early twenties. Back then, it was the logging of the wonderful old-growth forest of Temagami, which is near where I spent the first ten years of my life, that we protested. We managed to save that forest, which was one of the last of its kind in Ontario.

And shortly after that, it was the Mulroney Government™ pushing new (and more restrictive) abortion laws in the wake of the Supreme Court striking down the crappy, unenforceable old one. This on the heels of the Chantale Daigle case, when an abusive boyfriend tried to get an anti-choice injunction against a woman who no longer wanted to see him. Chantale fled to Boston for her abortion, her ex’s injunction was dropped, and the government backed down when millions of women (and plenty of supportive men) marched through the streets of all of Canada’s major cities, chanting “Stuff your laws and go to hell! Each of us could be Chantale!”

And here we are again. The McWimpy government of Ontario is now going to allow Temagami to be mined (meaning, bye-bye protected old growth forest, we need to clear ground for the shaft, the roads, etc.) And the Fucking Harper Government™ (NOT of Canada!) is looking for ever new and more innovative ways of sneaking abortion laws back onto our bodies after a quarter-century without a single one.

Gosh, it’s like those 25 years never happened.

What a weird feeling this is, waking up to find I’m an angry young woman once more, but with an almost middle-aged body. Oh, I don’t look bad for my age; my hair is still beautifully red (with just enough streaky white to make it kinda badass), and despite my refusal to Botox, I’m not a walking roadmap of wrinkles. (I’ve been using SPF moisturizers for almost as long as there has been no abortion law. It paid off.) Thanks to yoga, my bike, organic gardening and long daily walks, not to mention sensible eating, I’m in good health. I’m still getting my period on a regular basis, too, which means I could still get pregnant at the drop of a panty. (In my case, a very sensible, comfortable cotton panty. To hell with thongs; even in my twenties I hated them.)

And I am, ironically or not, quite possibly the oldest woman in Canada to get the Gardasil vaccine, which is mainly being offered to middle-school girls, but is now being given in Canada to women up to age 45. I still qualify, so I’m gonna take it. Anything I can prevent, I’m hell-bound and determined to prevent.

Which leads me to this: If I can prevent the need for an abortion on my part, I’m gonna do that too; it’s why I had my tubes tied almost a decade ago. But even the best method fails, so I want there to be a back-up still available. As early as possible; as late as necessary. (Kind of like Gardasil, in other words.)

I like my bodily autonomy. Just as I love old-growth forests. There’s a lovely, healthy ecological symmetry about all that, which I still keenly appreciate. In that sense, nothing about me has changed since I was a Queen’s University English lit major, chilling my feverish mind between semesters in the Little Cataraqui conservation area. In my heart, I am still that girl.

But goddamn it, in every other sense, I am a grown-ass woman, and I really ought to be too old for this shit. I shouldn’t have anything left to protest. I should be passing the torch to the young, or yelling at them to get off my lawn, not joining the battle royal alongside them. I should be plump and complacent and ready to roll gracefully down the other side of the hill, with a nice fat RRSP to cushion my landing.

Instead, here I am, like Sisyphus, pushing that rock up the old slope yet again.

Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick. It really IS yesterday once more…

…shooby doo lang lang.

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Posted in Canadian Counterpunch, Environmentally Ill, Fascism Without Swastikas, Fetus Fetishists, If You REALLY Care, Isn't It Ironic?, Isn't That Illegal?, Law-Law Land, Not So Compassionate Conservatism, She Blinded Me With Science, The WTF? Files, Uppity Wimmin | 2 Comments

Strange bedfellows, but sincerely pro-peace

Here’s something you probably won’t see on your nightly news, tonight or any night:

Actually, this video is mislabelled. These are not Israeli leaders, but members of Neturei Karta — an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect opposed to Zionism. They oppose Israel in its current form because it was not founded on the laws set forth in the Torah. In other words, without the arrival of a messiah to herald the nation. (NK belief holds that not until the Messiah comes can there be a nation of Israel.) They also find Israel too secular and godless; a bit ironic, since other ultra-orthodox Jews are gaining increasing sway over the Israeli government, and THOSE guys are banging the drums for war against Iran.

Still, it’s heartening to see that the media image of Iran (and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad!) as dangerously anti-Semitic is really a steaming load of bullshit. As is the idea that all Jews support war against Iran. Seeing as Iran is the home of the third-largest Persian Jewish population in the world, it would be self-destructive and counter-productive to wage war against it; Iranian Jews and Muslims alike would be killed. As odd as the NK may seem, I get the impression that they are sincere in their wishes for peace.

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Posted in Angry Pacifist Speaks Her Mind, Isn't It Ironic?, The United States of Amnesia, The War on Terra, The WTF? Files | 1 Comment

Photo du soir

“Store owner in Madrid refuses cop entrance and access to protesters seeking refuge in his shop. S25” Courtesy Occupy Chicago, via Facebook.

Just another thing about the Spanish revolution the major media don’t want you to see.

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Posted in Economics for Dummies, EuroPeons, Fascism Without Swastikas, Heroes for Today, Socialism is Good for Capitalism!, The Bold and the Badass, Under the Name of Spain | Comments Off on Photo du soir

That iPhone line just got longer.

Looks like Apple’s gonna have some sourcing problems, if this keeps up:

A brawl involving as many as 2,000 workers forced Foxconn to close its Taiyuan plant in northern China late on Sunday, and left a number of people needing hospital treatment.

“The fight is over now … we’re still investigating the cause of the fight and the number of workers involved,” said Foxconn spokesman Louis Woo, adding it was possible it involved “a couple of thousand workers”.

A police statement reported by the official Xinhua news agency said 5,000 officers were dispatched to the scene.

The violence was brought under control after about four hours and 40 people were taken to hospitals for treatment, the Taiwanese-owned company said. It said several people were detained by police.

The violence did not appear to be work-related, the company and police said.

“Did not appear to be work-related”? I call bullshit. Remember this? Foxconn workers have been driven to suicide by the conditions at their sweatshops. And it is far from the first time that this has happened.

This is the same factory that produces the new iPhone 5. Yes, the one that people are lining up for, even camping out so they can get their hot little hands on it. (Ironically, the cops won’t arrest them; it’s apparently acceptable to occupy a public sidewalk in defence of rampant capitalism.)

Now, once more, the Chinese workers are rising up in protest. What else could it be? One does NOT send 5,000 police officers to put down a mere “brawl” between worker factions from two different parts of the country (yes, that’s the excuse). The last time I saw a deployment of cops in the thousands, the G20 was on in Toronto, and there were over a thousand protesters being “kettled” in the streets by those armored stormtroopers.

They are lying to us. Lying in an effort to keep working conditions — and workers — down. All so that we’ll keep on buying things we really don’t need. And all so that it won’t hurt Apple’s stock.

I won’t be buying an iPhone anytime soon.

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Posted in All the Tea in China, Economics for Dummies, Environmentally Ill, Fascism Without Swastikas, Filthy Stinking Rich, If You REALLY Care, Isn't It Ironic? | Comments Off on That iPhone line just got longer.

Quotable: Margaret Atwood on war

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Posted in Angry Pacifist Speaks Her Mind, Canadian Counterpunch, Quotable Notables, Uppity Wimmin, Writer Lady Sings the Blues | 1 Comment

Music for a Sunday: Random love and abandoned love

The hurt gets worse, and the heart gets harder.

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Wankers of the Week: The Week the Wheels Went

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Crappy weekend, everyone! Well, looks like there’s gonna be right-wing losers in both North and South America in the next month or two. Because the right-wing candidates in the US and Venezuela both seem to have lost some wheels off their campaign buses. I imagine this will be more amusing than all those violent movie scenes where a car goes over a cliff in slow-mo (or into the Grand Canyon, better still). And here are all the train-wrecks I couldn’t stop rubbernecking at this week, in no particular order:

1. Mike Fucking Hayhurst. Maybe this rodeo clown should stick to sight gags, because he’s clearly no master of verbal wit. His racist “joke” about Michelle Obama being offered $50 to pose for National Geographic is about as tasteless and out of date as it gets. And his petulant tirade at the “insensitivity” of a reporter daring to question him on it when he was in hospital but still able to talk doesn’t help him any, either.

2. Mitt Fucking Romney. So, 47% of the US populace is a bunch of “dependent victims” who don’t pay taxes? This would be a good time to press Mittens yet again on those tax returns he’s not releasing. What do you suppose they’ll reveal? I have my educated guesses, and I’m sure you’ve got yours too. PS: Ha, ha. Kiss your presidential aspirations a definite goodbye, Mittens. You just soiled yourself worse than your own dog did when you strapped him to the roof of the car. And it looks like even your fellow Repugs are running from the stench. PPS: Plus, your foreign policy sucks, because you don’t have any. None that people in Latin America or Palestine LIKE, anyhow. PPPS: Urkh. PPPPS: Double-urkh.

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2 1/2. Ann Fucking Romney might want to shut up now, too. Her condescension and snappishness aren’t helping to dispel that rich, racist and out-of-touch image in the least.

3. Todd Fucking Akin. Oh dearz. Someone is still in the running…and hasn’t learned a thing from the strategies of Herman Fucking Cain, I see. Why do misogynists hide behind women’s skirts? Especially when everyone already knows what they are?

4. Lulli Fucking Akin. And if you wondered how #3’s missus feels about all this, now you know. She’s just as fucking clueless about the meaning of rape as he is.

5. Carlos Fucking Romero. I agree that Florida is a backward state, although not because they ban bestiality; that’s frowned upon everywhere. And really: sex with a donkey is asinine enough, but a mini-donkey? Dude, are you a fucking jackass?

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6. Bill Fucking Graves. Who died and made YOU God? You don’t get to decide what gender a transsexual person is assigned; that’s between them and their doctors. And if you’re going to be talking about God’s will, you might want to look at the latest neurological research, which bears out the notion that LGBTs are born that way. Meaning that, if you believe God makes people according to a divine plan, GOD MADE THEM WHO THEY ARE. And it’s YOU who are defying God by not letting transgendered people live authentically.

7. Yunel Fucking Escobar. Eres un imbécil de la gran mierda. Menos homofobia, por favor.

8. Steven Fucking Crowder. Unfunny “comedian” (whom I never heard of, and by the looks of things, haven’t missed out on) gets all smug about his no-sex-till-yer-married thing. And he feels the need to shame all the “floozies” and doozies who didn’t make the same supposedly awesome choice. Just you wait till the novelty of the honeymoon wears off, fella. Then you’re gonna be all like “Dude, where’s my fuckin’ divorce?”

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9. Cecilia Fucking Giménez. Gotta hand it to her, she’s got chutzpah. But that’s about all you gotta hand to her. After all, she’s the woman who ruined the Jesus fresco she was supposed to be restoring. It’s gonna cost good money to make Jesus look like he’s not wearing a fur hat again.

10. Paris Fucking Hilton. No, you homophobic try-hard, most gay men don’t have AIDS. Not even “probably”. What fucking decade is this again? (Also, somebody needs a gay buddy — her taste in clothes is terrible.)

11. Pamela Fucking Geller. Figures that she and her trashy blog would be raising funds for a shitty movie that the actors are now disavowing because they were tricked, and words they did not say were literally put into their mouths. I hope they sue the shit out of her for this.

12. Margaret Fucking Wente. Not only is she lazy-minded as fuck in general, she is so much so that she even plagiarizes her own crap. Why is she not on the unemployment line by now? You know, as in ZERO job, ZERO pay — in short, a ZERO for plagiarizing, just like she herself advocates for students who cheat?

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This image just says it all: Lazy, draping herself in faux patriotism, and underneath it all, a naked sellout. Phooey.

13. Virginia Fucking Heffernan. Meet the new sex segregation, same as the old sex segregation. Right down to the “we’re only doing it to protect you delicate ladies from all the rapey rapey rape” rationalization. And who better to wave the pom-poms and cheerlead for this nonsense than she, a sheltered scioness of Dartmouth professorial stock? Oh…I see they couldn’t find anyone else to further distill all the hog-snot about how women really do have it so much better than men, even as there’s a full-scale war against women actively raging on every legal front. And whatever the fuck next…a rah-rah for back-to-the-kitchen, perhaps framed as another “how women are kicking men’s butts everywhere” piece? Gimme an F, gimme a U…

14. Paul Fucking Ryan. Not only can he not get the order of his platform straight (he keeps putting himself ahead of Mittens — how Randroid!), he also can’t find a convincing plant to stick in the audience. Whoever that weepy woman is, I don’t believe she’s been to Harvard. Or been disadvantaged based on the color of her skin (white, natch). Much less given $1.5 million to “help” others. If she had that kind of education, she’d be more articulate, and if she had that kind of money, she might have thrown some of it in the general direction of better clothes. She claims to have graduated Harvard in 1993, but it looks like she hasn’t had a new dress since then. Not a very good advertisement for Paulie and his Virtue of Selfishness philosophy. And REALLY not a good way to dispel the impact of Rick Fucking Santorum’s rare moment of truth, because it underscores the whole point — that you’d have to be seriously stupid to vote Repug based on “values”!

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15. John Fucking Sununu. Yeah, Jimmy Carter’s sharp-eyed grandson is the one to blame for Mittens saying all those horrible, bashy things on that leaked video. When all else fails, shoot the messenger! As for that class-warfare bit, the Repugs have been at it forever. Only now do we see how blatantly they’re going about it. Very disingenuous of Snu-Snu to lie about that, but totally typical of him to project it onto the other side.

16. Rush Fucking Limbaugh. The Pigman could never find his peanut, because his belly was always in the way. Is he ever going to do anything about it? NO! Personal Responsibility is for OTHER people. It’s for the poor, the non-white, and anyone else who doesn’t vote for the guy who’ll screw them. Rusty blames the usual: FEMINAZIS! And his new, and even dumber, buzzword: CHICKIFICATION! Never mind that machismo has never left us, and that there’s now a war on women raging to make sure it never does. No, Angry Inch Rushbo doesn’t want to shoulder the burden of cleaning up the environment, losing the cigar, or even minding his own fucking diet. He just wants to blame it all on the uppity wimmin. If Wife #4 doesn’t last, we’ll all know who’s really to blame, eh? PS: OMG, now I know what brought that on. Now it all makes sense!

17. Oliver Fucking Stone. It pains me to include this one, as he’s usually so much smarter, but…Ollie, Ollie, Ollie…you no touchy the boobies. Especially not when there’s a camera on you.

18. Bud Fucking Johnson. Whoever said Jim Crow was dead probably hasn’t met this charming chair-lyncher from Texas. Where everything’s big, including Teh Stoopid.

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19. Paul Fucking Gros. You know what? When “free speech” impinges on our right not to hear crap spouted at us on every street corner, I say FUCK IT. Nobody has the right to compel me or anyone else to hear bullshit. Sue all you want, you big fucking homophobic crybaby. I hope you lose.

20. Rick Fucking Perry. Crotch Goodhair blames Satan for the separation of church and state? I didn’t know Satan was a framer of the US constitution! When did THAT happen?

21. Bret Fucking Easton Ellis. So, you’re a gay guy who uses Grindr…and you kind of think #10 has a point? Point being that you’re horny and disgusting and gonna die of AIDS? Well, maybe you need to get off of there and find yourself some steady companionship in a better venue, instead of kinda-sorta agreeing with an idiot who gave her own sex-tape “co-star” a raging case of genital herpes. Just a thought.

22. Chris Fucking Brown. Are Lamborghinis some kind of signifier for general douchebaggery? I dunno, but the case for it came one step closer to being made this week. Surely a hideously tricked-out one (like his, for example) would qualify…

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And finally, to the Fucking Harper Goverment™. Yes, all of it. And if you wonder why I said that this week, perhaps their response to the deportation of Kimberly Rivera might be a fucking clue. They CHEERED when she was deported, no doubt to be arrested for her war-resisting, when she touched down on US soil. And despite a pious e-mail I got from Jason Fucking Kenney’s office this weekend, I do not believe for one minute that this government has an iota of compassion for Iranians, either. If they did, they’d have kept some diplomatic ties, instead of mongering for war against Iran (at Israel’s behest, natch) and leaving Iranian women facing execution in the lurch. And now they have the cock-swigging nerve to “debate” when human life begins, no doubt with an eye to “protecting the unborn”? What about the already born? Oh yeah, we already know. The SupposiTories say fuck ’em, unless they’re old, rich, white male cronies with big bucks to donate at their war-chest fundraisers. These people are disgusting, despicable sadists of the scummiest order. If hell is real, there’s a special circle reserved for them in it. And I hope they all get sodomized by a daisy chain of demons until the end of fucking time.

Good night, and get fucked!

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Posted in Wankers of the Week | 2 Comments

Festive Left Friday Blogging: Evo Pueblo

While searching YouTube for news about Evo, I found this…which I’ve been waiting to see for literally years now:

The complete film. Your Friday night movie is on me!

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Posted in All About Evo, Festive Left Friday Blogging | Comments Off on Festive Left Friday Blogging: Evo Pueblo

Quotable: Sarah Silverman on “voter fraud”

Granny, get yer gun.

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They have some nerve.

This arrived in my mail yesterday:

It came courtesy of my local MP, a SupposiTory no doubt looking to shore up support for the unpopular Harper Government™ and its disgusting immigration policies.

And, seeing as Kimberly Rivera is due to be deported today, and things are also looking bad for an Iranian woman facing a stoning death in her former homeland, well…let’s just say that the timing could not be more opportune. So I filled out the attached pre-paid response coupon, minus name and address, but using all available space to let them know how Canadians of conscience really feel.

If you got one like it, I suggest you do the same. Won’t cost you anything but five minutes’ time and a trip to the nearest mailbox. They might have the chutzpah to slur war resisters and legitimate refugees as criminals, and wash their hands of humanity like Pontius Pilate, but this is a good way to let them know that far more Canadians see through their bullshit.

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Posted in Angry Pacifist Speaks Her Mind, Canadian Counterpunch, If You REALLY Care, Isn't It Ironic?, Karma 1, Dogma 0, Law-Law Land, Uppity Wimmin | 1 Comment