"Ocean Pearl" - Not what 54-40 had in mind

"II-I-I-IIII got an ocean pearl..." Ha! How 'bout some Lake Ontario pearls?

*Disclaimer*: If you have issues with "female products", you may have issues with this post. But really, get over it. :)

I'd like to find out who thought creating Tampax Pearl and other plastic-applicator tampons was a good idea. I truly would. Aside from it being a bad idea to put plastic in your vag (even briefly), guess where the applicators end up?

On the shores of Lake Ontario! And in oceans, of course. Five... FIVE! in just one tiny little spot on Sandbanks Beach last weekend.

*Ladies!* Whatever you stick up your hoo-haw is your own business, but it becomes the world's business when the remnants end up in our water system. PLEASE, choose cardboard applicators if you use tampons! They biodegrade. Simple little decisions we make everyday have tremendous impacts later on. The proof is in the pudding... or on the beach.

The island of garbage and plastic in the Pacific Ocean (the North Pacific Gyre) is a giant, albeit not often talked about, problem. Well folks, the problem is also right in your backyard, on our beloved beaches.

Ugh, guess I'll have to take some garbage bags next time...

Two quotes from Mr Jacques Cousteau for this posting. They are both so relevant, I couldn't pick just one.

"Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans."

"We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one."

Sex, Love & Mutiny

Whilst riding the bliss that came in on wave after wave of democratic revolutions overseas, I realized two things; 1) when I'm not angry, I am not inspired to blog, and 2) due to this, I am a terrible blogger...

Not only do I ignore my own blog, but I submit things to other blogs instead of my own. However, once you witness the site I speak of, you will understand.

A talented young man by the name of Christopher Palmer is the mind behind the blogzine entitled Sex, Love & Mutiny. He has skillfully built an informative and intense web-based 'zine that deals with everything from art and culture to socio-political commentary. Not surprisingly, one can read about sex and love as well (there's some really juicy stuff there... go!).

Blogzines such as SL&M create important forums for discussion and creativity - necessities for looking outside of our own little bubbles. It's what I hope I contribute to whenever I post something on here (that sounds so ick, but I'm serious, haha).

So go... read it, take it in, enjoy. *Shameless plug alert* You can also find some poetical contributions from myself on SL&M. Thank you to Chris for unleashing my more creative side to the interweb.

"All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom."

- Albert Einstein

Story of Bottled Water

I'm so thrilled about the Story of Stuff Project! Their first video was simply entitled "The Story of Stuff" but has since branched out into more specific 'stuff-iness'. I recommend them all, and will most likely share them when my brain is shot (for instance, right now).

Bottled water stinks. (click me!)

Enjoy!

"We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one."

- Jacques Cousteau

Every Day is New

I know that some folks do not recognize January 1st as the beginning of a new year. Some celebrate later in January (example, the Tamils - their calendar restarts on the first day of the month of Thai), some even in June (the Kutchi people who follow the Hindu calendar).

But whoever you are and whatever you believe, and whichever calendar you choose to follow, it is a created-by-us, written account of seasonal, lunar and solar change - and it has a beginning and an end. This has significance in our lives, whether we like it or not.

So, since I am an avid follower of the Gregorian calendar (whose order of months of January-December have been in place since 700BC), I rang in a new year a week ago today.

This blog was never meant to be a look into my life, but it may just go down that route this year. My intention in creating it was to post about things I care about, therefore think everyone should care about, but I didn't intend on it being focussed on me - just the issue at hand.

However, starting a new year of blogging by breaking tradition seems almost fitting.

I won't start a list of 2010 disappointments, or moments looking back, but instead, I will share with you my look into the future. I do not make grandiose plans, months in advance, but I do create intentions. I also don't think all can be accomplished in the span of 12 months. That being said, this 2011th year, I intend on continuing my life intentions by doing the following:

• Changing my attitudes towards many things
• Becoming a healthier person; spiritually, physically and mentally
• De-cluttering life
• Becoming my true self
• Blogging (haha, not the highest priority on this deep list)

It all sounds rather hippie-dippy, but I wish that all of these things happen for you, too - honestly. I figure if everyone can strive for the above, the world would end up being a better place for all. *cue the violins*

"Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning, but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us."

- Hal Borland

(no, not the guy from Home Improvement)

Democracy in Action/Inaction

Photo By

0NAU

Pfft, I say! Democracy schemocracy. We are currently living in nothing less than a thinly veiled dictatorship. What I've heard some refer to as a "Harperocracy". Excellent word. *If you disagree with my first word - dictatorship - feel free to comment. I will explain. :)

Well I'm pissed off about it. Not only were civil liberties stripped from thousands of people in downtown Toronto in late June, 2010, and democracy was bashed with batons, pepper sprayed and pushed to the ground, but it's once again being stomped on. Our system seems to be broken. Law breakers are a-okay for this prime minister and his cronies!

Part of me wishes I had been in Toronto for the G20 demonstrations. I wish I had been there, standing beside fellow Canadians, speaking out for something I believe in - truly, I very well could have been amongst any of the many groups that were there demonstrating peacefully.

Most of all, I feel that maybe I could have done something about the injustices that happened that day. Injustices done to many youths who were exercising their social activism muscles for the first time; injustices to hard working freedom fighters of groups such as Amnesty International; injustices done to mothers and fathers, who spent the weekend terrified because they hadn't heard from their democratically-minded children for over 24hrs; injustices done to our forefathers who had a vision of our country that included the right to gather in public spaces as a people with a common goal; the disgusting joke of a temporary prison that INNOCENT PEOPLE were treated worse than loathed animals in; injustices done to the smaller store owners downtown due to residual vandalism from the small group of people the police AVOIDED arresting...

That weekend was an injustice to all Canadians. Yeah, you too. As I keep saying - if it's happening to anyone, it could happen to you. You know... the whole Common Fate thing?

*Tell me honestly... what would you have done? This image impacts me

tremendously. It's the infamous blockage of passage on Queen and Spadina.

These people were eventually rushed by the police and arrested. Really...

what would you have done? Comment, please.

It wouldn't have mattered if I had been down there, I'd just be more frustrated, enraged and hurt than I already am. We all got Conservatively screwed that day. I bring in the political party because it was in their hands to host this bullshit meeting in the first place. They got it WRONG.

Anyway, this news story is something we should all be up in arms over. Though from other things I've heard, two officers were charged with something? I could be wrong... but two out of 10 000 police officers seems only slightly laughable. Especially since only 6 out of the 1 100 demonstrators arrested have ACTUALLY BEEN CHARGED! Grrrrrrr...

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/11/25/siu-officers-injuries352.html#socialcomments

But COME ON! As IF they have the audacity to cite the excuse that they can't identify the officers... HELLO!?!?! A lot of them had no identifying markers on them!! How about you charge the people who allowed hundreds of officers to go out into the streets without badges or name tags on?

Someone needs to learn a lesson. I have nothing against police officers in general, but I have something against a politically created mob mentality within the police forces that were present that weekend - and the heavy handedness that ran rampant.

I *rarely* pull this card... like extremely rarely... but it's true, so:

We have people we love over seas that are there specifically to deliver our democratic values to the populations of the oppressed and war-torn. How the fuck can we be so pious?

I have to start writing e-mails, I can feel ulcers forming.

I know you all love JFK, so here are wondrous words of wisdom from the man:

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent

revolution inevitable."

- John F. Kennedy

These people look like the comic revolution types, ha! Sorry if you're afraid of clowns.

I don't think the cops were. :P

Electronics... *sigh*

HURRAY! A new video from the folks at StoryofStuff.org!

(Click here!)

I have looked into who to contact about this... I am not having a lot of luck for this topic specifically, BUT! Two fairly obvious contacts come to mind:

1) your local MP (if you do not know who yours is, FIND OUT, damnit!)

2) contact the companies themselves - they all have easy feedback forms and addresses.

What I DO have for you is a link to the Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics. It's pretty fantastic, and full of loads of info for your electronic shopping. (It's pretty, too.)

I really suck at blogging... So as I attempt to improve my blog-skillz (mainly just frequency), I will throw this out there and try to get back into my groove. I swear I'm trying! Thanks to folks who ARE reading.

I've been slacking *so* much that I thought I'd seek out and provide a nice quote. Enjoy.

"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."

- Dan Quayle, former US vice president

Too Late For Justice

I can't begin to express my anger and frustration at the recent headlines surrounding the Omar Khadr trial. Not only should this trial never have been on the plate in the first place, but it's too late for any meaningful amount of justice to be done. As a matter of fact, the trial itself is injustice incarnate.

Even though the psychiatrist witness mentioned in the above news story link is clearly a stupid, racist fuck head, I agree that rehabilitation is less likely now for Omar. But like it's a surprise?! DUH!?! What chance would you have after eight years of your young life being wasted in a centre for all things Al Qaeda, not to mention having all of your human rights stripped from you??

Let's try something (fun game time!!!)... Imagine yourself at the age of 15. Now try to picture yourself in a war zone at this age (high school was bad enough, eh? EH?), dead bodies around you, guns firing at close range, grenade blasts all around you - one sending shrapnel into your left eye, rendering it useless for the rest of your life. Can you even begin to speculate your state of mind? Or what your actions might be?

Here is an image of Omar the day he was taken into illegal custody by the U.S. military (see below for an explanation of his injuries):

BACKGROUND!

What is said to have happened is this: firing was happening from both sides (war zone, and all), a grenade was lobbed over a standing wall and killed a U.S. soldier. Another soldier positioned himself with a good view inside, saw a man with a pistol and shot him in the head. As he approached, he saw a boy on his knees, wounded, facing away from the firing, and he shot him twice in the back. When the boy regained consciousness, he begged to be killed.

Because he spoke to them in English, paramedics rushed to save his life, only to send him to a prison of terrorists and destroy the rest of his life slowly, ruining his fixable, young mindset along the way. Only now, 8 years later, has Omar expressed admittance in causing the death of Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer. No one knows what actually happened.

The main cause of my rage? Both Canada and the United States signed and ratified an optional protocol under United Nations international law of human rights called the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict in July of 2000. The overview of the commitments we agreed to can be found here. Here's a little taste for you...

"11: To ensure that children under 18 years of age who are or who

have been unlawfully recruited or used by armed forces or groups

and are accused of crimes against international law are considered

primarily as victims of violations against international law and not

only as alleged perpetrators. They should be treated in accordance

with international standards for juvenile justice, such as in a frame-

work of restorative justice and social rehabilitation."

I don't care who his parents are, I don't care what ties he has to Al Qaeda because of them, he was a CHILD! We have laws that protect children, regardless of who they were born of or what their parents or uncles want them to do for a living. Not to mention he was and still IS a Canadian citizen, no matter which way you slice it. This was all wrong from the get go, confirmed by our own Federal Court who released a statement that Omar's imprisonment was a CLEAR VIOLATION of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that he should be extradited immediately - to which our lovely Prime Minister and our lovely minister of Foreign Affairs thumbed their noses (GRRRRR! I CAN'T STAND ANY OF THEM !!!!).

Of course Omar has little chance in life now... He has spent 8 years stewing in anger and being given reasons day after day to truly believe his childhood brainwashing. We can't even confirm he injured anyone! And even if he did... honestly, if someone were attacking me in a war zone, or my family, or friends, and a grenade was nearby, I can't say for sure that I wouldn't use it myself.

No quote for this one, I am spent.

Won't somebody please think of the beer?!?

It does my little heart good to know that some things I write letters/e-mails/blogs about are actually important... BPA was recently declared toxic by the government of Canada! Eat that, BPA website!

Unfortunately, we actually ARE still eating it, and drinking it too. It's going to take a while to actually ban BPA from production, but who wants to have to label their product toxic? Bit of an advertising conundrum, I'd say! (Check out the week-old story below... damn, I'm terrible at keeping up with this!)

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/10/13/bpa-toxic.html

Woooooo hoo! Now, let's start getting it out of our canned goods... and beer! BPA is readily soluble in alcohol, which means it's a floatin' around in your brewski (personally I prefer bottled or draught anyway... but when all else fails, cans do the trick). Mmm, now I want some Keith's.

Come on, BPA, why can't you be more like other chemicals?

"Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer." - Dave Barry