Former University of Ottawa student and winner of the CBC Canada's Next Great Prime Minister, Amy Robichaud has put out a call for people to donate to the coffers of women who are running for Member of Provincial Parliament positions in the October 6/11 election.
The site is www.fundher.ca
To read about Ms. Robichaud's selection for Canada's Next Great Prime Minister, please go here:
http://www.media.uottawa.ca/mediaroom/news-details_1645.html
You can listen to Ms. Robichaud's speech inviting people to vote for her as our prime minister here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=22zkeR9rO8c
Bringing a new Canadian vision to the people.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Great Minds are Thinking Alike
Betty Krawczyk in BC thinks that the women of Canada should form their own party.
My goodness gracious me! What an absolutely superb idea!
From today's Rabble
http://rabble.ca/news/2011/08/meeting-build-womens-party-canada
My goodness gracious me! What an absolutely superb idea!
From today's Rabble
Meeting to build a women's party for Canada
| August 15, 2011Numerous women, in asking about our fledgling Women's Party, have wanted answers to specific questions such as: What are the goals for your party? What are the issues you intend to focus on? What populations are you aiming to reach?
When I answer that I don't know, they are nonplussed. I try to explain that these answers will emerge from the meetings themselves as women get to know and trust each other, that we are searching not only for answers to concrete questions but searching for a vision.
And who knows what we may find? All great movements start somewhere. And our world is sick. The waters and woods and top soils of this earth are sick. Over half the world's forests are gone and many fish are left trying to live and reproduce in oceans of accumulated plastics and industrial effluents in many parts of the world. Wild land animals are dying off and many of the ones raised for food are sickened in their growth by chemicals and hormones. Human populations on the other side of the world are torn apart by war, hunger, and early death, while depression, obesity, cancer and Alzheimer's darken our side of the world.
The pharmaceuticals are riding high. Many of us are attached to the pharmaceutical industry, begging for relief from pain, both psychic and physical suffering, while industry processing, whether of food, plastics or herbicides, use compounds that mimic sex hormones, specifically estrogen.
Sometimes, as in the newly manufactured salmon being groomed for the fish farms and stocked in B.C. lakes (this from Dr. Edward M. Donaldson, DFO), estrogen is applied directly to the fish to make them fat and infertile. A totally transgenic salmon (genetically modified) is being groomed for market (AquaBounty). And as soon as this salmon is accepted (dubbed FrankenFish by the media) there is a genetically modified pig awaiting introduction to the market (Revivicor.)
The fact that we don't even know how much genetically modified plant foods we women are feeding our families is an exceedingly shameful thing. Many of our little girls are having their first menses at frightening young ages and male sperm count has dropped 50 per cent in the last 50 years. Is there no end to this despoiling of the earth and the deliberate interruption of natural reproduction processes of her creatures?
Apparently not. Enter the idea for a women's party. What have women to lose from coming together to try to build a strong, common voice that can serve as an alternative to the run-amok alpha males who have brought the earth and all her creatures to the brink? There is nothing anywhere, except in religious scriptures written by men that say men must be the sole decision makers of war, peace, boundaries, banks, buildings and food supplies. Women have different brains, and usually different visions. In my opinion, it's past time for women to come together and ponder what kind of a society we really want, what kind of a vision we must have in order to create a new world.
But that's dreaming, you say? I don't think so. I believe women are tired of trying to make sense of the world men have created. Furthermore, it's lethal. Women are getting educated in higher numbers than men are now. The only thing that prevents women from demanding an equal say in running the earth ship is fear, fear of ridicule, fear of losing men's love, of losing other women's friendships, of losing jobs, apartments, cars, even kids... the fear factor latches onto everything. Fear was bred into us along with mother's milk, how to be quiet, smile, and even though it's okay now to be thought brainy, just don't flaunt it, remember men still run all the important agencies, they still have the police, the military, the prisons, the government, in fact... men still rule the world. But must they?
Things can't continue the way they are. Even if women did nothing, things can't continue the way they are. The male-dominated economic and social policies of the Western world are imploding as we speak of their own accord. Those of us interested in forming a women's party will be meeting again on Sept. 14 in Vancouver. To talk things over. To explore our inner visions of what a truly equal, compassionate and healthy society for all might look like. We have nothing to lose by doing this and more to gain than we might ever have imagined in our wildest dreams.
Why the need for a women's party?
Even after women gained the vote in the Western world, the old perception of women's brain power lingered for a long time. This perceived male concept of women's brains comparing negatively to men's, was one that acknowledged that while women's brains were somewhat like men's brains; they were definitely smaller and prone to unreasonable emotion. And because of the smaller, unreasonably emotional caveat put forth, it was still okay for men to speak for women. And this has been a hard perception to shake, even after the second wave of feminism in the 60s.
However, today more women are in science and have kindly pointed out to their male colleagues that women as a rule, women are smaller than men and human brains are weight sensitive. A person's brain, male or female won't grow disproportionally to the person's body. Just as women doctors have pointed out that women shouldn't be strapped down in childbirth with their bottoms pointed to the ceiling so the male doctor wouldn't have to bend over to catch the baby as was the practice for my generation. But there are two areas in which the male and female brain diverge widely and in my opinion, why women must start applying for world leadership. These two areas? War and male one upmanship.
Male one upmanship is a terrible thing. It almost wiped out the entire human race in 1962 when U.S. President Kennedy and the Russians squared off over the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Any woman interested in coming together and contemplating such a group for discussion and action can email me: betty.krawczyk@gmail.com
Betty Krawczyk, born American 82 years ago, but reborn as a Canadian in 1966, fell in love with the old-growth forests of British Columbia at first sight. Now a great-grandmother, she lives, breaths, writes and speaks of the necessity of saving our public resources for the people of British Columbia and Canada. She has spent over three years in B.C. jails and prisons for blockading corporate logging trucks in public forests. Krawczyk is the author of three books: Clayoquot: The sound of my heart, Lock Me Up Or Let Me Go and Open Living Confidential. She has a new book coming out on June 19, 2011, entitled This Dangerous Place: My journey between the passions of the living and the dead. Krawczyk lives and works in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, and can be contacted at www.bettykrawczyk.ca.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Addressing the Politics of Women's Rights
From unequal salaries to a
poor national childcare policy,
there isn’t alot being done for
women in Canada, and many
organizations that served
women have been demolished.
perhaps it’s time for a
new political reform.
Esther Matharu and Shannon Lee Mannion in Ottawa
Addressing the Politics of Women's Rights
by Pauleanna Reid
photo by Krishen Matharu
In January 2011, Shannon Lee Mannion
and Esther Matharu formed
the Women’s Alliance Party of Canada
(WAP). Although the WAP was
founded by women, for women, Mannion,
spokesperson and founder, clarifies
that the party’s political involvement
is not exclusive to women. She
explains that men are welcome to
participate however; the WAP’s main
focus remains the lack of concern
for women’s issues. “Someone needs
to stand up and say you know what,
there’s a problem here,” says Mannion,
whose proactive voice sheds
light onto key issues that have been
over looked.
Read the rest of the article here:
http://doc.mediaplanet.com/all_projects/7392.pdf
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
A Precipitous Turn to the Right?
Leo Panitch certainly things so as he says in an interview with Real News' Paul Jay.
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?r=1664&c=905375&l=36646&ctl=168EFB9:DAE159C4C9D0D30DD6052EDC9F87083FEDC3615173C7E546&
http://premiere.whatcounts.com/t?r=1664&c=905375&l=36646&ctl=168EFB9:DAE159C4C9D0D30DD6052EDC9F87083FEDC3615173C7E546&
Leo Panitch is the Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and a Distinguished Research Professor of Political Science at York University in Toronto. Panitch is also the author of "Global Capitalism and American Empire" and his most recent release "American Empire and the Political Economy of International Finance". In addition to his university affiliation he is also a co-editor of the Socialist Register the latest volume of which is The Crisis This Time
Our Party Has a Forum - PARTICIPATE!
Good morning,
Must admit, I've not been participating in the party forum either but today, I registered and now join Mireille and Esther as contributors.
What a great opportunity for everyone to have a say, to express our political interests and to generate discussion.
Registration is very easy. Simply go to our website www.womensallianceparty.com
click on Join the Conversation (one up from the last entry under Issues) and follow the easy instructions. Don't forget to confirm your registration by returning to your email and following the direction to "click here".
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Must admit, I've not been participating in the party forum either but today, I registered and now join Mireille and Esther as contributors.
What a great opportunity for everyone to have a say, to express our political interests and to generate discussion.
Registration is very easy. Simply go to our website www.womensallianceparty.com
click on Join the Conversation (one up from the last entry under Issues) and follow the easy instructions. Don't forget to confirm your registration by returning to your email and following the direction to "click here".
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Dennis Kucinich Just Says No
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/282-98/6025-saying-no-to-permanent-global-war
Saying No to Permanent Global War
By Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Reader Supported News
23 May 11
The House is expected to vote soon on a bill that hands over to the president Congress' constitutional authority to declare and authorize war, substantially altering the delicate balance of powers that the Founding Fathers envisioned. The annual reauthorization of the Department of Defense contains unprecedented and dangerous language that gives the president virtually unchecked power to take the country to war and keep us there. This bill significantly undermines the Constitution, the institution of Congress and sets the United States on a path of permanent war.
The Fiscal Year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) declares that the United States is in an armed conflict with not only al Qaeda and the Taliban, but "associated forces" and individuals, organizations and nations that support such forces. The president could then have the full legal authority to send American troops to engage in acts of war anywhere - Yemen, Somalia, Iran, even the United States - without constitutionally required Congressional authorization and, consequently, without any restrictions or oversight from the American people or Congress. This bill would also make permanent the degradation of law and human rights which has become Guantanamo. It imposes bans on the transfer of any detainee held at Guantanamo, including those who have been cleared of any charges. This means that the United States would be forced to keep imprisoning men who are known to be innocent or are not a threat. This bill not only allows the imprisonment of innocent people, but could mandate it. The bill also prevents the use of Article III federal courts for the trial of most terrorism suspects. This circumvents our system of justice and our protections under the Constitution, showing a lack of faith in US law enforcement and courts which are the constitutional venues for stopping terrorism. Our federal courts have a long history of trying terrorist suspects, while military courts are untested, lacking in legitimacy and of questionable effectiveness. Since 9/11, federal courts have prosecuted over 400 terrorism-related cases, while military courts have convicted only six.
It's as if the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan never happened. These wars cost thousands of lives of our men and women in uniform, and perhaps a million civilian lives, with long-term costs approaching $5 trillion. Yet, in light of the attempt to try to make permanent an authorization for war, it is as if the consequences of the wars we are in have not occurred. It's as if our "humanitarian" military intervention in Libya, which has helped create full blown civil war and which has ensnared us in yet another military stalemate in the region, never happened. It is as if centuries of evidence of the ramifications of the military overreach of empires never happened. It's as if the Constitution, which requires Congress to have a say in when and where we go to war and which guarantees U.S. citizens the right to a fair and speedy trial, was never written.
Congress must protect the American people from the over-reach of any Chief Executive who is enamored with unilateralism, pre-emption, first strike and the power to prosecute war without Constitutional or statutory proscriptions. Permanent, global war is not the answer. It will not increase our national security. Far from ridding the world of terrorism, it will become a terrorist recruitment program.
Saying No to Permanent Global War
By Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Reader Supported News
23 May 11
The House is expected to vote soon on a bill that hands over to the president Congress' constitutional authority to declare and authorize war, substantially altering the delicate balance of powers that the Founding Fathers envisioned. The annual reauthorization of the Department of Defense contains unprecedented and dangerous language that gives the president virtually unchecked power to take the country to war and keep us there. This bill significantly undermines the Constitution, the institution of Congress and sets the United States on a path of permanent war.
The Fiscal Year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) declares that the United States is in an armed conflict with not only al Qaeda and the Taliban, but "associated forces" and individuals, organizations and nations that support such forces. The president could then have the full legal authority to send American troops to engage in acts of war anywhere - Yemen, Somalia, Iran, even the United States - without constitutionally required Congressional authorization and, consequently, without any restrictions or oversight from the American people or Congress. This bill would also make permanent the degradation of law and human rights which has become Guantanamo. It imposes bans on the transfer of any detainee held at Guantanamo, including those who have been cleared of any charges. This means that the United States would be forced to keep imprisoning men who are known to be innocent or are not a threat. This bill not only allows the imprisonment of innocent people, but could mandate it. The bill also prevents the use of Article III federal courts for the trial of most terrorism suspects. This circumvents our system of justice and our protections under the Constitution, showing a lack of faith in US law enforcement and courts which are the constitutional venues for stopping terrorism. Our federal courts have a long history of trying terrorist suspects, while military courts are untested, lacking in legitimacy and of questionable effectiveness. Since 9/11, federal courts have prosecuted over 400 terrorism-related cases, while military courts have convicted only six.
It's as if the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan never happened. These wars cost thousands of lives of our men and women in uniform, and perhaps a million civilian lives, with long-term costs approaching $5 trillion. Yet, in light of the attempt to try to make permanent an authorization for war, it is as if the consequences of the wars we are in have not occurred. It's as if our "humanitarian" military intervention in Libya, which has helped create full blown civil war and which has ensnared us in yet another military stalemate in the region, never happened. It is as if centuries of evidence of the ramifications of the military overreach of empires never happened. It's as if the Constitution, which requires Congress to have a say in when and where we go to war and which guarantees U.S. citizens the right to a fair and speedy trial, was never written.
Congress must protect the American people from the over-reach of any Chief Executive who is enamored with unilateralism, pre-emption, first strike and the power to prosecute war without Constitutional or statutory proscriptions. Permanent, global war is not the answer. It will not increase our national security. Far from ridding the world of terrorism, it will become a terrorist recruitment program.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
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