Full Body Scanning

If security at Canadian airports is already making exceptions for full body scanning, then what is the damn point?

"The scanners will not be used on minors and only on passengers selected for secondary screening, the federal government said Tuesday."

On secondary screening: The man who recently blew up his underwear had been passed through security without secondary screening.

On minors: Our federal government refuses to repatriate Omar Khadr who, at the time of his alleged offences, was 15. By refusing repatriation, Canada's government has effectively and without trial, found Khadr guilty of terrorism and murder. In the government's view, such a minor would entertain blowing up a plane.

The Harper government continues to expose itself as run by a bunch of idiots.

Recommend this post

Feds Urged to Help People Buy Cars

Another $350 million this program would cost, to encourage people to trade in their old jalopies for a new auto. Nothing like pouring more money after bad, nothing like embalming the harmful, dead culture around which our society has been built.

Until we let dinosaurs like the auto industry die, we can't move forward to a better future.

Recommend this post

Church blames strike for loss in attendance - cancels Sunday service

Headline reads: Ottawa transit strike strands worshippers; Faith communities forced to cancel services [my emphasis]

Oh, ye of little faith!

In my community, the transit situation has only very lately improved. Until about six months ago, we had no Sunday service at all. Zero. Zilch. Zippo.

During a project I did on women in poverty in this community, one woman told me of walking five miles every Sunday to get to Church. Each way. She has scoliosis and arthritis. Of course, she'd likely do that even with Sunday bus service. She and the majority of women I interviewed had to walk everywhere regardless: public transit is a luxury few of them can afford.

Recommend this post

On Economic Stimulus and Empowering Communities

Have written about this issue before and no doubt will do so again. Last time it was within the context of addressing the Liberal Party's urban caucus committee report.

This time it's to comment on this report.

The mayors of Canada's largest cities ... have written an open letter to premiers and territorial leaders to say that cities are ready to invest in such things as public transit, roads, affordable housing, libraries, community centres and recreational facilities. But they want the money to be delivered in the same way as the federal gas-tax fund, which lets them decide at the municipal level which projects get funding - as opposed to applying for the money on a case-by-case basis...

The gas-tax fund ... goes straight to municipal priorities, [Toronto mayor David Miller] said. "The municipalities choose the future that their citizens need. That's democratic and it's absolutely right."

...When asked how the federal government can be sure that infrastructure money delivered in the same way as the gas tax would go to projects that create jobs, Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay said cities are both responsible and accountable.

Sounds reasonable to me! Of course it would, given that I consider the political power structure in this country to be ass backwards.

IF municipalities fail to fund projects which their citizens need and want, you can bet said citizens will go after them post-haste. There'll be reams spent in letters to the editor, citizens parked on doorsteps and council meetings over-populated with irate voters. Citizens in communities can reach their local politicians faster and more effectively than they can provincial and federal politicians who live and hold power in distant realms.

It's amusing that ALL but one of the comments over at G&M (mine) - we may assume commenters are over-represented by conservative types - argue against the mayors' request.

Instead, these folks would prefer that the reins of power be held firmly by Daddy Harper and family. He is to be The Decider.

Recommend this post

If Feds declare public transit an essential service

... which looks to be about to happen, then mustn't the feds ensure public transit is provided to ALL Canadians, not just those in Ottawa?

Just sayin'.

Recommend this post

Strengthening Community by Riding the Bus

They call it a community on wheels but its reach travels further, to the community without wheels.

A group of Sooke bus riders has put a new twist on their hour-long work commute to and from Victoria every day on the No. 61.

Instead of spending the ride in solitary silence, nosing into a book or staring out the windows, the commuters race against each other to complete crossword puzzles, buy and sell wares, and plan social events with each other -- which they get to by bus, of course...

B.C. Transit spokeswoman Joanna Morton said this is the first time the company has heard of the community-on-wheels aspect of bus commuting.

"It's given us a nice warm fuzzy. The bus isn't just for getting you from point A to point B," Morton said. "It's giving you the opportunity to get to know people in your community."

The sociable aspect has turned the bus ride from a time to be endured into a vital part of the commuters' day.

"You wouldn't think a bus is more than a piece of equipment," Wright said.

"But you can't sit on the 61 and not somehow get involved."

Now if the public transportation up-Island could be improved, there's a large number of additional small to middling sized communities which would love to follow Sooke's most excellent example.

Look at all the smiles in this photo. Sure beats the glum expressions transit riders usually wear.

Recommend this post