Of Rights, Shelter & Government-Imposed Classes

This post is in response to MetisRebel's Survey THIS Homeless Medication.

The issue of pets touches me personally. Many people who live isolated lives, by choice or otherwise, have animal companions. A number of them, in turn, are extremely poor.

For those with animal companions, their lives may well depend on that association. Pets can help the lonely or the isolated maintain their humanity. The animals are someone to come home to, someone to care for, someone who appreciates their human's affection and ministration. The presence of an animal can be the only thing left that mediates between life and death.

Trapped in a province that allows property owners to deny others' rights they themselves have, in a province where less than 1 in 20 rental units are pet-friendly, I am paying over 70 percent of my income to stay in this bachelor apartment. With the cost of rental units soaring and the vacancy rates plummeting below two percent, nothing else is available.

BC's Residential Tenancy Act essentially supports at least 12 different classes of people. Listed in order of those having the most to the least rights in terms of housing or shelter, they represent people who:

1. own their own home and have property they rent out.
2. own a freehold home.
3. own a strata home.
4. singles or couples who rent and have no children or pets. This group has choice among 100% of rental units available.
5. couples who rent and have children.
6. single people who rent and have children - unless they are known to be on welfare, in which case they join group 7.
7. renters who are non-white, openly LGBT, or are members of other groups that are targets of discrimination.
8. people who rent and have animal companions.
9. street people with children - more likely to be sheltered than 10, 11 or 12.
10. street people living on their own who are not known addicts.
11. street couples - shelters often separate the pair.
12. street people with pets - shelter almost always denied the animals.

As to the welfare of homeless animals, I've not seen any animal with a street person who is other than cherished and cared for - see, e.g., these photos of a 'homeless' community.

I'd choose living on the street with my companions than give up either of my cats in order to be housed. Their companionship is essential to my health and the continuance of my life.

ETA: Firefighters recognize the importance of animals, as evidenced in this story just reported in the Victoria Times-Colonist.



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I think I'm in love

Well, not really.

But the social justice issue which comes closest to my heart is homelessness, and the books and films that draw my greatest favour are science fiction. So imagine my joy i) on discovering the person who wrote this beautiful piece on homelessness, ii) on finding her writing over at Homeless Tales, and iii) on reading that her latest post is titled 'The SciFi of Homelessness'.

Sigh.

Through a comparison of two science fiction TV series, Farscape and Battlestar Gallactica, MetisRebel makes points about homelessness that are rarely considered by anyone other than those affected.

As I've said before about this writer, she's a treasure. I encourage you to visit Homeless Tales. Go there with an open mind and prepared to reject all that you've been told. Read what MetisRebel and others have to say. Learn about homelessness from the experts.

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Google AdSense: Poor need not apply

... because they won't get paid.

From an email I received in May from Google Adsense:

In an effort to protect the accounts of Google AdSense publishers, we've starting using automated telephone number verification to ensure that your information is accurate and up-to-date. As a result, you should see a Required Action on your Payment History Page to 'Please verify your phone number' after you log in to your account. To initiate this process, click the 'Please verify your phone number' link and follow the instructions.

I haven't a phone.

My response at the time? Bye-bye AdSense.

Thought that was the end of it...

UPDATE 1 - May 12

AdSense is back! Had to go start the process of closing my AdSense account, which got Google's attention. For the reason for closing the account, I wrote: "Your policy excludes very low-income bloggers, including those living on the streets, the very people who could most use AdSense income. I haven't a phone."

Google is sending me a PIN by snail mail, so I can verify my account that way. Why the hell they didn't include that option in their original 'Please verify your phone number' message I've no idea, except to suppose they're as oblivious as most other people are - including the vet, local retailers, the manager at my doctor's office, all creators of online submission forms who make the telephone field mandatory...

As I told an online friend, who tried to help me with this, I get weary trying to educate people about this kind of thing. It's depressing to be reminded of one's own marginalization, which makes it that much harder to fight back against the assumptions which marginalize. There are times I just can't push myself to do it. But thanks to the gentle support of my friend, this time I pushed back and with good results.

UPDATE 2 - Bye-bye AdSense - Today, July 17.

Went through the process of PIN verification and STILL the phone verification notice has not come off my account. Which means PIN verification was a useless exercise.

So once again I began the cancellation process with the hope that SOMEONE at Google AdSense would HELP with this problem.

Well, good luck with that!

NOTHING but the same old stupid response. I am instructed either to complete the verification process - in other words the respondent didn't READ my reason for proceeding with cancellation - or to submit a form accepting that I won't get paid what I am owed.

Google AdSense owes me $14.58. But I won't get it because I haven't a phone and cannot verify having what I don't have.

So went ahead and submitted their stupid form to cancel without payment.

Am angry, frustrated, in tears, and incensed by societal assumptions which forever are placing barriers between those who have and those who don't.

... and I've just received another auto-reply to the effect that I can NEITHER cancel my account NOR get paid. I'm in an auto-reply nightmare and of course, because I haven't a phone, there's not a hope in hell of talking to a REAL LIVE PERSON.



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Ten Rules for Good Health

If you're lucky, you will be able to follow them all and live a long, contented life.

1. Don't be poor. If you can, stop. If you can't, try not to be poor for long.
2. Don't have poor parents.
3. Own a car. [Or live in a community that provides excellent, affordable, public transportation.]
4. Don't work in a stressful, low paid manual job.
5. Don't live in damp, low quality housing.
6. Be able to afford to go on a foreign holiday and sunbathe.
7. Practice not losing your job and don't become unemployed.
8. Take up all benefits you are entitled to, if you are unemployed, retired or sick or disabled [and hope the eligibility criteria aren't designed to prevent 60% of applicants getting the benefits they paid for].
9. Don't live next to a busy major road or near a polluting factory.
10. Learn how to fill in the complex housing benefit/asylum application forms before you become homeless and destitute.

From Social Determinants of Health: Canadian Perspectives.

I would add: Don't have experienced long-term child abuse, or be a member of a minority, or have a disability, or be a woman, or...

ETA: See also this side-by-side comparison of conventional vs. social-determinants tips for good health. My thanks to subscribers of the SDOH listserv for sending me this list. It's my understanding it has been circulating since 1999 and was originally conceived and distributed through email by Dave Gordon, Townsend Center for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristol.

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The colours take my breath away

They surround a shed which could as easily be converted into a tiny house. What a gorgeous setting! Sigh...




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Tube Steak

Test tube, that is. Coming soon to a grocery store near you, meat that is designed in Petri dishes then transferred into large vats to grow.

Rapidly evolving technology and increasing concern about the environmental impact of meat production are signs that vat-grown meat is moving from scientific curiosity to consumer option. In vitro meat production is a specialized form of tissue engineering, a biomedical practice in which scientists try to grow animal tissues like bone, skin, kidneys and hearts. Proponents say it will ultimately be a more efficient way to make animal meat, which would reduce the carbon footprint of meat products.

Researchers can currently grow small amounts of meat in the lab, and have even been able to get heart cells to beat in Petri dishes. Growing muscle cells on an industrial scale is the next step, scientists say.

So, for all you meat eaters out there, here is a way to eat animal flesh and be able to say that you are no longer contributing to animal cruelty or environmental degradation.

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Arizona Senator: Earth 6,000 years old

For real. On tape:



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Mushrooms

It's highly unlikely to see mushrooms in the summer season around here, but the past weeks a few brave specimens have popped up around the boles of a number of the larger evergreen trees. Their arrival indicates that rain is on the way, for reasons still unknown to mycologists.

Agaricus Agustus, also known as 'The Prince' is a highly-prized edible variety, if you can get to the mushrooms before fly maggots invade their tender flesh. They are a relative of the kind you find in some grocery stores, sought by food junkies.

Seeing these large-topped fungi prompted me to grab my camera and put pen to paper.

Woodland Den

The ground surrounding this wee cottage
Are strewn a minefield of mushroom montage
Each step set anywhere must first explore
The delicate condition of the forest floor
For fungi frolic rain plashed and cool
A few pretentious, more yet minuscule

They burst the earth in hues abundant
The odour off them robust and pungent
Therefore, place your feet so gently when
You go strolling in this woodland den.

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Meat-Free Monday

Okay, Okay, I know I go on a LOT about a meat-free diet, but the proof shows up in our bodies. Eating without ingesting animal flesh is definitely beneficial to our health.

[T]he fact that eating meat leads to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, and lethargy, I'll skip extended analysis of these facts, other than to say: When Johns Hopkins, Columbia, the American Dietetic Association, and dozens of other health organizations argue that the less meat you eat, the better off you'll be, it's worth listening to them.

To get you started, two well-known Public Health schools in the USA are promoting a Meatless Monday campaign. It is a positive step in the direction of overall health for each individual and the entire planet.

[S]cientists tell us that if all Americans switched from eating chickens and pigs to eating beans and grains for just one day per week, that would stop as much global warming as if everyone in the U.S. shifted to ultra-efficient Toyota hybrids (which is the weekly equivalent of using 12 billion fewer gallons of gasoline). Of course I have to point out the obvious: If we all stopped eating animals completely and shifted to vegetarian foods, that would save 84 billion gallons of gas per week (and all the troubles that go with that kind of consumption).

Today is Monday. Today is the day to eat a meat-free diet. If you have already committed to one-day-a-week of meat-free eating, now is the day to add another. Your body will thank you, Mother Earth will thank you and all the animals that were not slaughtered to supply you with their flesh will thank you.

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Have You Seen My Childhood?

... a song by Michael Jackson that I'd never heard before, which has become my instant favourite. It's haunting, evocative, especially for anyone whose childhood has been far from ideal. I've not seen MJ as expressive in any other video.



Have you seen my childhood?
I'm searching for
The world that I come from
'Cause I've been looking around
In the lost and found
Of my heart
No one understands me

They view it
As strange eccentricities
'Cause i keep kidding around
Like a child, but pardon me

People say i'm not okay
'Cause I love such elementary things
It's been my fate to compensate
For the child
I've never known

Have you seen my childhood?
I'm searching for
That wonder in my youth
Like pirates and adventurous dreams
Of conquest and kings on the throne

Before you judge me
Try hard to love me
Look within your heart
Then ask

Have you seen my childhood?
People say I'm strange that way
'Cause I love
Such elementary things
It's been my fate to compensate
For the childhood
I've never known

Have you seen my childhood?
I'm searching for that
Wonder in my youth
Like fantastical stories to share
The dreams I would dare
Watch me fly

Before you judge me
Try hard to love me
The painful youth
I've had
Have you seen my childhood?

Makes me wonder if all the surgery wasn't about trying to find a white ideal, but about trying to stave off becoming a man, an adult. MJ wanted to be the child he never was, to never grow up. That would account for his Neverland Ranch, surrounding himself with children, his bewilderment at sexual abuse charges ('sex is for adults, not children'), a diet which kept his weight and musculature down, surgery that reduced the size of his features....

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Monument to "Victims of Communism" Planned

The Harper government is planning a monument to "victims of Communism." (Note capital 'c'.)

Three years ago, Jason Kenney - then secretary of state for multiculturalism, now federal Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism - says he met with the Czech and Slovak Association, who brought him to a small memorial for communism's victims they had built in a private Toronto park. It was a Christ-like figure crucified on a hammer and sickle. "I said to them, sort of half jokingly, 'Any chance we could move this to Ottawa as a national monument?'" he recalls. "They said, 'That's a brilliant idea, why don't we do that? Why don't we create a monument for the victims of Communism in Ottawa?' And we immediately got to work."

Harper waxed enthusiastic in his support:

"I would strongly support the idea of such a monument to recognize the 100 million people who died violent deaths under communist regimes, as well as those who escaped these totalitarian regimes to build new lives in Canada." He suggested it belonged near Ottawa's war museum, "ideally" to be unveiled in time for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, this November.

Way. To. Go. Harper! Canada's current resident of the PMO supports the erection of a monument for victims of a political ideology of which there are several variants. Might we also erect a monument for victims of neo-liberalism? How 'bout market capitalism?

There is so much confusion of terms in that quoted National Post article it has fogged up my lenses and I've gone cross-eyed.

Help! Is there a doctor (of logic chopping) in the house?

ETA: Ah huh! The good doctor answers my call. I recommend people read his post.



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Church Flies Gay-Pride Flag

This atheist has always had a soft spot for the United Church of Canada. Here is one reason why.

A church might not be the most likely place to see a gay pride flag flying, but that's exactly what's happening at the James Bay United Church.

The church, part of the United Church of Canada, raised the rainbow flag in honour of Pride Week, which ends today with a parade downtown. It's the first year the church has decided to display the flag.

One of my few fond memories of childhood involves the UCC. As a foster child, I attended craft classes in one of their lovely old stone churches in Toronto. The people there never, not once, tried to indoctrinate me. As a result, I felt welcome.

One memory is of being in an upper room, my head bent to my task, and the sun shining through a narrow leaded window on my right, lending comfort, light and warmth. That day, I relaxed long enough to paint and to let go of some of the unhappiness and stress I always carried with me.

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Cool New Firefox Extension

... called Dispute Finder, helps you find alternative views on any given issue, including the ability to rank the quality of arguments on all sides.

Here's a video of how it works:



You can get the Firefox extension here.



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About Those Acronyms

Ever wondered what an acronym used in an article meant and searched, in vain, for its written-in-full introduction?

The Tyee, at least, has got the message from frustrated readers. For your morning smile, go read Rex Weyler's hilarious article.

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Parliamentary Games

James Travers lists ten reasons why Parliament no longer serves the people. Among them:

Happiness here is reducing complex problems to a bumper sticker. "Do the Crime, Do the Time" resonates, but it doesn't make Canadians safer any more than cutting the GST made us noticeably richer. Keep it simple, stupid, is the rule, not the exception. So stick this on your subsidized Suburban: "Don't just vote, think."

I've a better suggestion for that bumper sticker: "Think, don't vote."

Only THEN, provided enough of us choose NOT to vote, will politicos start to worry about their legitimacy to govern. Only THEN will politicos get serious about accountable and representative government.

We need to turn our backs on the whole lot of them and the system they've managed to despoil.

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Vatican to Probe US Nunneries

Over the past three decades, the number of nuns in the US has dropped from 180,000 to 60,000. So what does the Vatican decide to do about this? Investigate orders that have adopted a modern lifestyle, including allowing nuns to wear regular garb and engage in professions previously taboo.

The Vatican is quietly conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns, a development that has startled and dismayed nuns who fear they are the targets of a doctrinal inquisition....

The more extensive of the two investigations is called an Apostolic Visitation, and the Vatican has provided only a vague rationale for it: to “look into the quality of the life” of women’s religious institutes....

The visitation focuses only on nuns actively engaged in working in society and the church, not cloistered, contemplative nuns....

The investigation was ordered by Cardinal Franc Rodé, head of the Vatican office that deals with religious orders. In a speech in Massachusetts last year, Cardinal Rodé offered barbed criticism of some American nuns “who have opted for ways that take them outside” the church.

Given this backdrop, Sister Schneiders, [a] professor in Berkeley, urged her fellow sisters not to cooperate with the visitation, saying the investigators should be treated as “uninvited guests who should be received in the parlor, not given the run of the house.” She wrote this in a private e-mail message to a few friends, but it became public and was widely circulated.

I hope the Cardinal's ambitions succeed. That would only hasten more women turning their backs on Catholicism and the Vatican.

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Cons do unto DFAIT what they did unto SWC

Recall when the Harper Conservatives began changing the language - and thus mandate and eligibility criteria for grants - used for Status of Women Canada? These changes were seen on its website and other materials, and heard in any references the Cons made to the department. Words like 'equality' were erased.

Well they've not been idle when it comes to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade either.

DFAIT insiders tell Embassy that since the Conservative government took power in 2006, political staffers have directed rank and file Foreign Affairs bureaucrats to stop using policy language created by the former Liberal government.

"There are phrases you are not supposed to use," said one Canadian diplomat, on condition of anonymity. "Anything that smacks of the previous government is totally verboten.

"There is this tendency, almost like a knee-jerk reaction, to discount or ignore or change whatever it is the Liberals did and let's put a new Conservative face on it," he added. "There's a whole range of words and expressions that are being depopulated out of the documents, and are replaced with ones that are more to the [Conservatives'] liking."

Chief among the forbidden phrases, multiple DFAIT insiders have told Embassy, are "human security," "public diplomacy" and "good governance." Preferred key words include "human rights," the "rule of law," and "democracy" or "democratic development."

When you change a language, you change a culture.

The Cons are transforming Canada one word at a time.



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Canada No Longer Popular Among Canadians

This post over at Stageleft should be getting more attention.

Canadians across this land are increasingly feeling unrepresented and powerless - and powerless to change that situation. There's good reason for this and it's not just about our cruddy electoral system, vicious attack ads, parliamentary pissing contests, elitist party financing, and so on.

More crucially than any of those, it's the assumption that, as Canada continued stretching its boundaries east, west and north to include hugely diverse regions whose very diversity partly stems from their geography, the federation could remotely (literally) fairly represent and serve the diverse interests of all the people who live within it.

Federations are fine for geographically similar or smaller countries. They don't work for countries as large as Canada.

Go read Stageleft. He states it better than I.

See also this post which Daphne and I wrote back in January, and this one written by James Bow.



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Scott Feschuk on Senator Mike Duffy

What a hoot! Apparently, Mike Duffy's been doin' some learnin':

"Once you get in there, you realize that every piece of legislation passed by Parliament has to go through the Senate prior to adoption.... And the Senate rules are different than the House of Commons. Senate committees can’t sit while the Senate is in session, so that puts you in the situation of having some pretty long days."

Where's that roll-eyes icon when you need it? (Read the whole thing. It gets better - or worse - depending on your point of view.)

I said it once and I'll say it again. Mike Duffy is an embarrassment to the Senate, an embarrassment to journalism and an embarrassment to Canada. Might we send him off as an export somewhere?

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Ocean's Twitter Follow Policy

For all you Twits out there, please be guided by my Twitter follow policy before hitting that magic button.

My interest in Twitter is primarily to connect with people who have interests similar to mine, but I also welcome making connections with people who live nearby, regardless of their interests. (I'm on Vancouver Island, so 'nearby' includes all of BC, the Yukon and Washington state.)

Please do NOT follow me if:

1. your life is peachy-keen and you are busting to share the news of your good fortune. (My life is rather miserable and you know what they say about misery loving company.)
2. you are selling something, including home-based business ideas; promoting yourself; or you are pushing religion, 'faith', 'family values' and similar twaddle.
3. you are a company or a bot.
4. you are a do-gooder who wants to 'save' me. (I prefer to save myself.)
5. you tweet for the purpose of promoting social media, Twitter apps, or number of followers.
6. you use an autoresponder to welcome new followers.

ETA: Why do I give a damn who follows me? Because I want to do my bit to discourage the proliferation of spam, bots, inane commenting, religiosity....

I am LIKELY (no promises!) to follow you if:

1. you care about and advocate for human rights.
2. you care about and advocate for animal rights.
3. you are a Canadian political junky of the social libertarian persuasion (see here and here).
4. you are a writer (blogger, journalist, author).
5. you are using Twitter to communicate with others rather than only to spout your own spiel.
6. your profile includes your real name, location, primary interests - or a link to a site where such information can be found.

Of course, exceptions will occasionally apply.

@tidewaters

This page was inspired by the Twitter follow policies of @RayBeckerman and @dianelevin.



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Soooo Cute! Tiny House, Tiny Yard - Updated

This is so cute, tucked snug between two larger homes.



I love the little yard. Together with the backyard, it's ample space to grow one's own herbs and veggies.

Here's the The Tiny Life blog from which that image comes.

ETA: The little house has its own website, writes a commenter! And the house is in Toronto!

But I find this interesting: "Current value: priceless." Does that mean no one lives there? That no one is allowed to buy it?

Also, I notice that the backyard has been paved over. What a shame! From the History page on the website:

After his wife passed away, [architect and builder] Mr. Weeden, 77 years of age, ... lived in the house for 6 more years, during which time he tended to the vegetable garden in the rear of the house, growing tomatoes, cabbages, Swiss chard, rhubarb and some flowers.

That's more like it!

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Oh, for steady employment!

I was speaking to a friend the other day. I've been very depressed lately and it has been getting worse. For years, I've craved steady employment but as I've aged and poverty has taken a more solid footing, my disabilities have worsened. Almost all of the employment available in this community is retail and that involves standing for long periods of time, stretching, twisting, lifting... In other words, I'm no longer employable. And I feel so damn worthless because of it.

Contrary to the stereotype, most people of very low income yearn for a job. It's not about the income. It's about having stability in one's life, a daily routine. It's about giving and getting back, and being valued for one's reliability and the quality of one's work.

Here's Tatum, one of the WISE storytellers, talking about the importance of routine and doing paid work:

I really enjoy waking up in the morning and getting dressed up nice. It makes a whole difference to my wellbeing throughout that day. I’ve learnt that I need to get a job in the morning hours. I want a routine: shower, get dressed, go to work. That’s real important to me that it work out that way.

Listen to her story, as told in her own words:

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Friday Night Chuckle: Canada Apologizes to US

Courtesy This Hour has 22 Minutes:





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Per Vote Party Financing & Election 41

It's another Harper double-dare, coming to an opposition party of your choice.

Whenever the election does come, Harper has one plan in mind for afterward: the elimination of public funding to political parties. A punishing blow to his opponents. Sure, the idea caused a showdown last autumn, [a Harper] adviser said. "But in retrospect, we should have stuck to our guns. It was strategically smart. It's still strategically smart. We're going to run again on it. And we're going to do it, if we win the next election. It's coming."

Yes, indeed. No surprise here.

As noted previously, for low-income voters who are unable to donate to their party of choice, this would be one more blow. For members of the electorate whose only remaining reason to visit the polls has been that $1.75 contribution to their party, it's a further disincentive to vote. For certain opposition parties, removing the subsidy could well see their demise; hence, it would likely contribute to further erosion of our democracy.

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Farewell, My Friend

My Friend has died.

The four to six month prognosis turned out to be a mere six weeks.

Friend stayed at home for one month before a decision to move to an 'end-of-life' bed in a tiny Care Home in a small community twenty miles from his residence was made. His room there was as home-like as possible, with windows that were left open at all times, as he requested. His dog was allowed to visit, jumping up on the bed to be close to him. His large community of friends kept a constant vigil by his bedside, day and night. All his medical requests were met, even to ensuring no heroic life-saving measures were applied.

The day he died was a mild and sunny day, typical for the West Coast this time of year. I was around all morning while his last lover spent hours tending to him. When she said her goodbye, I sat with him, holding his hand and telling him that all was well, that it was safe to go. And he did.

To a 'better place'? To be with 'god'? To meet up with others who have 'passed on'? To where 'we'll meet in the sweet by and by'? Was it a 'mystical experience'? A 'spiritual' one? Was it 'an honour' to be present when Friend died? Unanswerable questions, all. It was a great relief to see him come to an end of his physical suffering. It was also overwhelmingly sad, as Friend was only 56 years old.

For me, it brought a sharp awareness of life's short and fragile existence, of the exquisite beauty in nature, of the love given and received from family and friends.

Friend's death is an acute reminder that I, too, have to die.

Farewell, my Friend.

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Health Effects of Abuse Last a Lifetime

First mental illness, now cancer.

A stunning discovery by University of Toronto researchers indicates a profound link between cancer and child abuse. Adults who were physically abused as children have a 49 per cent higher chance of developing cancer, shows their study, which will be published in the July 15 issue of the journal Cancer. This was true even after the team controlled for variables such as childhood stress, adult smoking, drinking, exercise and socioeconomic status. The research is especially important to helping doctors identify risk factors for cancer in their patients. There may be psycho-physiological reasons why this happens. Future studies will examine how the production of cortisol, the stress hormone, affects the cancer-abuse connection.

Expect more studies to focus on cortisol and its effects on health. One obvious, likely finding: high levels of cortisol in people whose household incomes are in the lowest decile.

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India can/will do it. Canada? Not on your life.

It's well known that India has among the highest number of people living in desperate conditions. Many haven't homes at all or don't make enough money to buy their own.

So now Tata, the maker of the $2,500 Nano, a small car, has plans to build tiny apartments that even people of low income might manage to buy.

Tata, the Indian conglomerate that launched the "world's cheapest car," announced last month that it plans to build 1,000 apartments in an industrial enclave outside Mumbai. And like the $2,500 Nano, the units in the Shubh Griha development will be sold at rock-bottom prices.

Real estate prices in Mumbai are among the steepest in the world—apartments in South Mumbai, for example, can fetch up to $1,200 a square foot. Tata’s apartments, by contrast, will go for between $10,000 and $16,000 apiece. The catch? They’ll be downright tiny. The smallest dwelling will come in at 228 sq. feet, with the largest topping out at 465 sq. feet. Along with the Nano car, they represent one of the most aggressive attempts by a major company to corner the market on goods aimed at what management guru C.K. Prahalad calls the “bottom of the pyramid”—that is, the world’s hundreds of millions of poor people.

Could something like this happen here? No.

Why? NIMBYism.

The only way it could happen in BC or Canada is if such housing projects were created in undeveloped areas.

Tata Housing CEO Brotin Banerjee describes the Shubh Griha development as a “continuation of the group’s commitment to providing quality, innovative products for the common man.” So far, Tata’s had no trouble finding “common men” interested in scooping them up. Just two weeks after announcing the project, the company already had 8,000 applicants.

I would LEAP at the chance.



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"Conformists may kill civilizations"

Well, duh! It shouldn't take a whole lot to realize that. Still, this article raises interesting points.

Hal Whitehead of Dalhousie University ... and Pete Richerson of the University of California, Davis, have modelled how different learning strategies fare in different environments. They found that conformist social learning - imitating and emulating what the majority are doing - may also cause the demise of societies....

Behaviour that is genetically determined can adapt to environmental change by the slow process of natural selection, but only when that change is also slow. Rapid change puts a premium on the capacity of individuals to learn through exploration and experience, and to adapt their behaviour accordingly.

Figuring things out for yourself can be time-consuming, however, and a waste of time when others around you have already acquired the relevant knowledge....

"[1] Societies should promote individual learning and innovation over cultural conformity, and [2] the models for social learning should be individuals who have demonstrated that they understand how to live with the current environmental trends," says Whitehead. [my emphasis]

Translation of the second point: If you must follow someone else's example or be instructed by them, then make your role model a present-day environmentalist. That is, adapt your behaviour and learning to our changing environment. If enough of us do that, then we MIGHT yet save our civilization.

Alternatively, carry on as you are; the planet will do just fine without us.

Regarding the second point, post-secondary institutions must look seriously at what the hell they've been doing. "Higher learning" has become an industry and post secondary institutions little more than diploma mills whose aims are to provide a labour force to big business.

Moreover, far too many graduate students have discovered that conformity is THE ONLY WAY they'll be permitted to climb the academic ladder. Innovation and originality are taboo, given that these challenge the academics already in power. Modern post secondary institutions effectively discourage, weed out and reject non-conformists. It wasn't always this way and is anathema to the way education should be.

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So, You Wanna Eat Meat?

Our long evolution from primate to man has shown that humans are herbivors. And the science is there to prove it. Our bodies are not equipped with large fangs to rip flesh from bones, our hands are not (and never have been) designed to catch and kill prey and our large intestine does not provide for easy passage of ingested flesh.

Don't take my word for it. Read what the professionals have to say.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine President Dr. Neal Barnard says in his book, The Power of Your Plate, in which he explains that “early humans had diets very much like other great apes, which is to say a largely plant-based diet, drawing on foods we can pick with our hands. Research suggests that meat-eating probably began by scavenging -- eating the leftovers that carnivores had left behind. However, our bodies have never adapted to it. To this day, meat-eaters have a higher incidence of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other problems.”

In fact, our hands are perfect for grabbing and picking fruits and vegetables. Similarly, like the intestines of other herbivores, ours are very long (carnivores have short intestines so they can quickly get rid of all that rotting flesh they eat). We don’t have sharp claws to seize and hold down prey. And most of us (hopefully) lack the instinct that would drive us to chase and then kill animals and devour their raw carcasses.

We seem to be hung up on the idea the we HAVE to eat meat! This is learned conditioning which is continually reinforced in our society.

Top nutritional and anthropological scientists from the most reputable institutions imaginable say categorically that humans are natural herbivores, and that we will be healthier today if we stick with our herbivorous roots. It may be inconvenient, but it alas, it is the truth.

Be brave, folks, break through your conditioning; do some research; get out the alternative cookbooks; enhance your health and that of our little blue planet by eliminating flesh from your diet today.

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What's Next to Fall Under "National Security"?

To prevent Canadians from learning the financial costs of Canada's presence in Afghanistan, the Harper government is citing national security concerns.

In a significant policy shift, the Canadian government now believes that telling the country's taxpayers the future cost of the war in Afghanistan would be a threat to national security....

The Defence Department cited a national security exemption when it censored a request under Access to Information by the federal NDP for the military costs of Canada's military participation in the ... military mission to Afghanistan.

When the NDP asked for the identical figures last year, the military made them public.... The yearly incremental cost of the war would top $1 billion.... This year, military censors cited Section 15 of the act in blocking out the figure.

What has changed is not any threat to national security, but fears by Harper government that revealing the figure would be harmful to its health or further survival.

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24 Journalists Detained, includes Newsweek Reporter

From Al-Jazeera English:

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released the names of 23 Iranian journalists, editors and bloggers arrested since June 14 and said several others were believed to have been detained or had gone into hiding.

"The regime has been visibly shaken by its own population and does not want to let this perception endure. That is why the media have become a priority target," RSF said.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran now ranks alongside China as the world's biggest prison for journalists."

It said that jailed journalists were under pressure to make filmed confessions and that there were allegations of torture.

Newsweek said that Maziar Bahari, who has been living in Iran for the past decade, had been "detained without charge by Iranian authorities and has not been heard from since."

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Cannon Hypocrisy

Re Iran, here's Lawrence Cannon, our Minister of Foreign Affairs:

"The Government of Canada continues to support freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Iran."

Here at home, however, such a statement needs some tweaking:

The Government of Canada supports [some people's] freedom, [sham]ocracy, [certain] human rights and the rule of [some] laws - excepting particularly those laws which pertain to politicos.



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Foreign Affairs Responds re Assisting Injured Iranians

From an email received by me today:

From re-sos@international.gc.ca
Date Sun, Jun 21, 2009 at 11:40 AM
Subject Canadian Embassy in Tehran, Iran
Mailed-by international.gc.ca

Hello,

In response to your concerns regarding the situation in Iran, we would like to share the following with you:

Reports on Saturday that the Canadian Embassy in Iran was turning away people seeking sanctuary are false. The Embassy was closed Saturday and there were no Canadians at the Embassy when the protests began.

We have been advised by other Embassies in Tehran that they did not provide shelter to injured Iranians, as has been alleged.

Embassy staff has made every attempt to ensure services, particularly consular, remain unaffected by the situation. Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, including the Canadian Embassy in Tehran, continues to provide consular assistance to Canadian citizens in-person, on the phone and through email.

In case of emergency consular assistance regarding Canadian citizens in Iran, please contact the Embassy of Canada in Tehran at +98 (21) 8152-0000 or the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada’s Emergency Operations Centre by calling collect to 613-996-8885 or by sending an email to sos@international.gc.ca.

Regards,

Operations Officer/Agent des opérations (CEC)
Emergency Services Division/Direction des services d’urgence
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada /
Affaires étrangères et du Commerce international Canada
sos@international.gc.ca

In other words, the embassy is prepared to help Canadians, not injured Iranians if they should turn up on its doorstep.

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