Death of an Innocent Man - Canada's Shame

This picture shows Robert Dziekanski in Poland where he worked as a construction worker. I realize he died over a week ago, but I wanted to wait till the furor had eased off so that my blog on this tragedy wasn't overridden by the thousands of other bloggers who've already commented on his death.

Regular readers know that I'm pro-police (having been one) and pro-military. I told myself I wouldn't watch that terrible video showing his death - "the original Canadian snuff film", as someone called it. Being human, I finally watched it on the Globe and Mail main page and was sickened by it.

Back in the dinosaur age when I was a police officer, we were taught certain strategies in a) self-defense, b) defusing situations with mentally/emotionally/distraught people, and c) using *real* police techniques like "talking a person down" and entering into a situation in a way that safeguarded us and the person in question.

RE: a) self-defense. If someone came at you with fists, or hit you in any way, you pulled your baton. I became quite good with my baton, as I only weighed a measly 120 lbs. at the time and let's face it - when you're a cute but skinny woman in uniform, it's every rednecks dream to take you on in front of his drunken buddies. But, I digress. If someone came at you with a tire iron, plank, or other large weapon, you pulled your revolver. (yes, back then we carried .357 Magnums) IF you pulled your revolver, you had to be prepared to use it. And no, we weren't taught to shoot someone's knee out or hit their shoulder, we were taught to aim at center mass and shoot to kill. Most people don't realize that alot of people who're shot will still come at you - it can take several shots, even emptying your weapon, to put down a suspect who's drunk or high. Their adrenaline's flowing and they don't feel pain.

RE: b)defusing situations with mentally/emotionally/distraught people. Unless there was immediate danger to someone's life, or the person was about to jump off a bridge, you took your TIME. You ASSESSED the situation, and you sure as heck TALKED to the person(s). You gave them SPACE so they didn't feel cornered; you called them by name (if they gave it to you, or someone supplied it) so you could connect with them. Your *best* weapon was your mouth and how you used it: no macho talk, no threats, and you told them whatever was necessary to calm them down. Sometimes you might tell a white lie, but if it defused the situation, who cared?

These skills required THINKING on the part of the officer. Also, being able to think quickly on your feet - both in connecting with the person and engaging them in eye contact and emotion. My best weapon was my mouth - I was a good talker, had been great in theatre arts and various stage plays, so I could *act* and put myself into whatever role was necessary. It was something that boggled the guys I worked with, and sometimes ticked them off too, as I was very good at defusions.

RE: c)I think I've already covered the main points in "talking a person down". The main thing is: you WAITED. No pressure - get the wife there - we took off our hats so we weren't an authority threat, we took the bullets out of our guns before getting out of the car so if the person managed to get our gun off us, no one would get shot. Does this seem foolhardy? No, it was common practice back then, and even if we were scared, we STILL dealt with the person humanely. If they eventually (or suddenly) needed to be jumped on and subdued, that's where four guys and a baton came into play. And usually me, being the smallest of the pack, on top of the persons' back putting handcuffs on him/her. (seriously though, I never lost a fight -even one on one - and I *always* got the arrest. I got injured plenty of times - broke my wrist twice for eg. - but I always used a) and b) and got the job done.)

Now, contrast the good ole days with the RCMP debacle committed at the Vancouver BC airport in regards to Robert Dziekanski.

If you saw the video, you saw several people try to calm him down. God bless the woman who came up to him, gesturing with her hand, and putting her hand out to him. She deserves a medal for her compassion.

The security guards were useless and obviously had no training to do any of the above. THEN, we have four RCMP cowboys on the scene, and we hear a male ask them as they go by, "are you going to taser him?"

We can't hear the answer, but hello, in they go, force Dziekanski up against the counter with his back to the glass and immediately zap him with 50,000 volts of electricity. Then, because he's screaming and rolling around on the ground, the guy zaps him again for good measure. THEN, the four of them jump on top of him, hit him with a baton (once or twice) and when he finally stops moving and screaming, get up and decide - hey, maybe we should check his pulse!

Dziekanski was a) obviously agitated and emotional so he falls under the category of a mentally/emotionally/distraught person. Did they do b) above? or c)? No, too trigger-happy with the latest technical toy, they figured zapping a grown man at point-blank range would solve the situation when all the guy had done was put a few chairs in front of the door, and throw a computer (not even a harddrive) on the ground. He was sweating, speaking a foreign language, and trembling. Did even ONE of the four officers (they looked quite young, so I'm guessing they might've been inexperienced) do a), b), or c)? Obviously, they weren't looking at him for clues as to his emotional state, they didn't listen to what the people looking on were telling them ("he speaks Russian" and "can somebody get an interpreter down here?") - they didn't give him space or time.

They just Tasered him. In my day, they would never have lasted on the street. Someone would've chucked one of them under the nose and then sucker-punched him. And he would've deserved it. Why? Because he didn't have the skills necessary to survive on the street - no common sense, no ability to connect with people, no ability to *listen* and *learn* about what was happening before he decided to take action. Sometimes you only had a split-second - but more often, you had plenty of time - 2-3minutes would get you all the info you needed to deal with a situation.

If you saw TV reports, or read reports about journalists who "volunteered" to get Tasered in order to "prove" how safe they are, remember this - NONE of them were Tasered without being held UP by two officers. They didn't feel the full effect of 50,000 volts hurling them backward to the ground, and once hitting the ground, it would have the same effect as a lightening bolt hitting a metal pole. It would be nothing like what Robert Dziekanski experienced in his last four minutes of life.

He wasn't screaming because he was afraid, or at the cops to scare them. He was screaming because of the pain. Anyone feel like volunteering to get zapped with 50,000 volts of electricity, just for the heck of it? I didn't think so.

Too bad no one took those four losers back to the detachment garage and Tasered them.
I'm not always pro-police. When a travesty occurs such as this, and innocent people are killed/hurt, the police should be held to a higher standard then the general public. If they were under my command, these four would be suspended without pay, and about to face a police tribunal. At least Stockwell Day, our Public Security Minister, called for a complete inquiry. How could he not? The rest of Canada and the world saw every mistake those four cowboys made, and we're ashamed of them.

May Robert Dziekanski rest in peace.

Veteran's Week and Not Writing

Yes, I missed blogging on Remembrance Day - I know, unheard of for me to let a military highlight go by. I claim innocence by the fact that I actually had 3 days off work, one of them being Remembrance Day, and that was my last weekend off till after Christmas.

However, this is "Veteran's Week", so I thought I could throw something against the wall and hope it sticks. We attended the city-wide Remembrance Day ceremony at Winnipeg Convention Centre, with my dh in full dress blues, as was everyone else - army and air force. Funny, only Sea Cadets in attendance out here on the Prairies - no Navy.

It's actually a good thing I'm blogging about this late. I was offended and irritated at the same time by the hour-and-a-half long ceremony that was obviously put on for political purposes to satisfy every special interest group in the city, and NOT our vets. It was put on by some "Joint Veterans Committee", so maybe that's where the problem started.

It took an actual twenty minutes to lay the wreathes; every Nurses Association, Kiwanis, whoever, had to lay a wreath. Ridiculous. The speaker's remarks were cut to almost nil, but there were so many people "participating" that it strung out the service to the breaking point. The final insult was the traditional "March Past". Normally, it's made up of a Colour Party (military personnel carrying flags), veterans, and military people serving now. This travesty included not only the Air and Sea Cadets (okay, maybe if you stretched it, they're "serving" members), to Girl Guides, Brownies, Sparks (5 yrs old), Cub Scouts, and Boy Scouts. These children "marched past" the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, supposedly to pay tribute to his office and the solemnity of the day.

It was an insult to everyone there wearing a proper uniform, and serving in the Canadian Forces. I've never seen anything like it. Perhaps the idea was to teach the kids about what Remembrance Day stands for, but seeing parents take pictures of their kids as they marched by left a bad taste in my mouth.

It was bad enough that no acknowledgement of our current war in Afghanistan was made, nor the names of our dead veterans of this war read out, but the whole thing smacked of everybody fighting to get in their little bit. Contrast this to the ceremony held in Ottawa on Capitol Hill, where the crowd chanted "We support our troops! We support our troops!" at the end.

That is the sentiment of Remembrance Day - remembering what came before and the sacrifices made for all of us, and remembering the current soldiers fighting in the cold of Afghanistan (it's winter over there - people I know are sending mittens for the local kids) and facing IED's every day.

Off my soapbox now.

Re not writing - I have no idea what's wrong with me. I know I'm curdled by my wicked hours at this job that started out part-time and has grown two heads. I know we've had two cross-country moves in two years, and the stress is starting to show. But, I also know of other authors who've been able to write through tragedy, illness, and divorce. So, what's my problem?

I have to refocus. Start remembering when I found joy in writing, and wasn't just churning out yuck. (well, it's yuck to me anyway) With having to work up to and including Christmas Eve I doubt the "Christmas spirit" will inspire me very much. I'm lucky to have good friends around me, who still encourage me, and believe in me. I'm going to focus on that, and write down the many, many stories that could come out of this job experience.

The other day I confronted two identified "cruisers" from a professional theft-ring and made sure they left my store without stealing anything. It gave me great personal satisfaction, and the thrill I used to feel back when I wore a uniform and gun to work. And it felt good indeed. One for the good guys!

We Mourn Another Slain Mountie

Two of our RCMP officers have been murdered this month in our remote Northwest Territories. For those of you who haven't been in touch with the news yesterday, Constable Douglas Scott was shot in the head at approximately 11 p.m. Monday night, while answering a possible impaired driving call. He had been in the village of Kimmirut, on Baffin Island in the Arctic, for only six months and had just graduated from RCMP Depot in Regina, Saskatchewan. His picture above is his graduation photo from Depot. He was only twenty years old.

The RCMP have announced that they were intending to put "through" a policy next month that would make it essential for two officers to answer nighttime calls in remote regions. Kimmirit is only a village of four hundred people. It proves again that it only takes one person with a gun to undue all the great work Cst. Scott had done with the village youth, at the school, and in his daily contact with friends and villagers alike.

This new policy comes too little, too late, for Constable's Worden and Scott. It's another example of the government's actions well after the fact of a tragedy. I'm sure it'll be little consolation to Cst. Scott's family and friends.

They announced that he worked in this tiny village with an "experienced Sergeant". Two officers to two hundred people, so it was deemed appropriate staffing. When I began policing in 1984, there were forty-four officers on our municipal force, with a ratio of one officer to one thousand people. However, although we were one-man cars, we could count on back-up from anybody else on our shift, and we were obviously in a smaller area.

An inexperienced officer - with only six months service - shouldn't have been stopping an impaired driver without back-up. We don't know yet whether this man was impaired, mentally ill, on drugs not alcohol, or why he felt compelled to shoot this officer while he had his child in the car. So far, he's in custody but not charged, which raises a number of questions I won't go into here.

The fact remains - another young Mountie's life has been cut short. A young man who'd dreamt of being a police officer since he was ten years old, and who comes from a family of police officers - a long, and proud, tradition.

If you want to send Cst. Scott's family your condolences, you can go to Canada.com, find his name, and sign the guest book. I'm sure his parents, siblings, and extended family will appreciate it.

Rest in Peace.

New World, Different Time

I'm supposed to be doing a 50K word novel this month during National Novel Writing Month. I've joined up, and am reading and responding to alot of threads on historical fiction. I haven't gotten much writing done, due to the new job and my inability to concentrate as I try and pull the family into another "Mommy's working" routine. I likely will get something written, as I'm an over-achiever and don't want to admit I've missed this golden opportunity. But, having a day job (which really means working till 11 p.m.)sure is a kicker for your Muse! Only having half an hour for lunch doesn't allow for any creative scrawlings, even on a napkin.

My big interest today is the revealing of King Tut's full mummified body. Now we know the poor King had buck teeth and an underbite. That he was nineteen and probably not murdered, although the anthropologists haven't figured out yet how he died. (If they have, plse point me in the way of an article, because Egyptology truly fascinates me.)

What struck me is that the body didn't look any different than the creations of such bodies on shows like BONES. My husband and I never miss a show, and I've read all her books, including Bones to Ashes. Obviously, their special effects team on that show have done their homework! King Tut could just as well be a corpse on Tempe's autopsy table.

The ancient Egyptian obsession with life after death, and preparing for life after death, has no equivalent in history. You were "wealthy" if you could prepare a reasonable family tomb for yourself and your extended family. The treasures in King Tut's tomb have been eulogized for the past 85 years. Whatever he died of, his family and immediate people around him loved him very much to have ensured he would show up in the land of Seth (right god?) with such an extravagant face mask, gold, and treasure even our modern world has trouble calculating. The beauty of his tomb lends a beauty to his mummified face, if I can put that idea forward. Most mummies are horrible charicatures of the people they once were - how can they not be?

King Tut, on the other hand, has lost none of his majesty because his Egyptian guardians have removed his death mask and robes. A boy of 19 years, not a fabulous King, but likely destined to rule quietly and justly. A peek into a 3000 year old past, brought to life again with modern day technology.

This is why I love time travel novels so much. We get the joy of a look at the past, along with a good story in the present. Hmmm, maybe there's something there for NaNoWriMo!

At any rate, I hope his mummified body survives in that air-controlled glass case, and we can learn more from him about his culture and his life.

Dumbledore Is Gay...

Sorry, I've been away for awhile, adjusting to a new day job (and probably have lost half my readers!), but I couldn't let this go by.

Before anyone accuses me of being homophobic, I'd like to weigh in on JK Rowling's US/Canadian tour, and her "huge" revelation that all this time, inspite of never mentioning it in her seven books, Dumbledore is/was gay and in love with Gellert the wizard.

How's that for a publicity stunt? Because, that's all it is - a way of shocking/stimulating people into talking about her books again, and hopefully, buying more to go back and read where she may have dropped "hints" about this so-called love relationship. I suspect she fought with her publisher over the idea of having the teacher/wizard gay relationship, and lost to them. Now, she's happy to spread the "news" that she really had gay characters all along, and stir up some much-needed publicity for Deathly Hallows.

I mean, PULLEEEZE! The woman is the richest author/woman in the world. Isn't that enough? She has to have the last word on her characters, despite the fact her publisher's made her deliriously wealthy?

The Toronto media is busy wasting ink and web space on this mighty revelation - wondering how it'll "affect" the children who've read the books, whether it'll bring a "new generation" into accepting homosexuality as a responsible lifestyle.

I can't wait to see Craig Ferguson (comic) make fun of JK in his monologue tonight. Anybody with any common sense can see this for the cheap trick it is, and how shallow it makes her seem. Because she's going for shock value - not true compassion about gay people - and she's trying to broaden her market to sell even more books.

I'm all for promotion and publicity - but it would be nice to see someone with her kind of success go for the high road, especially when she's dealing with the children's market. Just my humble opinion, of course!

An Unknown Tragedy

Woman Arrested in Airport and later died in police custody

When I look at this video, the first thing I notice is that you can't see what the woman is doing to cause a commotion. No one's looking at her; people are walking by her with their suitcases; suddenly we see a couple of cops approach her and talk to her. This quickly turns into one grabbing her right arm, one her left arm, and before you know it, she's face down on the floor.

You'll also note that it takes about four officers to "subdue" her, before she's raised to her feet, in handcuffs, and taken off to "wherever" - likely a cruiser waiting outside. I also note with interest, how many airport security guards stood around and watched the police "arrest" her.

With no knowledge of what "disorderly" conduct the woman was doing at the time of her arrest (that was the reason given for her arrest), we can't tell if she was "high", intoxicated, suffering from a diabetic or epiletic seizure, or other health problem. That she was only in police cells for 6 to 8 minutes, allegedly yelling her head off, and it was only when things got quiet that a cop went to investigate why she'd suddenly shut up, is a very small amount of time to transpire.

The fact that officers were in the vicinity but not looking directly at her contravenes just about every normal police department protocol I've ever heard of - even back in 1984 we stationed an officer on a chair, within 3 feet of the person in the cell, in order to assure their safety. Later, video cameras where set up in the cell block, so that officers were protected from legal action in cases that were "he said/he said".

This report makes no mention of a video camera being used, and that is in itself suspicious. A police department the size of Phoenix should be able to afford video cameras, and not doubt the family's lawyer is busy asking the hard questions.

This should never have happened, and regardless of what life-saving measures were taken to save her, the autopsy results should prove interesting.

Having been an officer wearing a blue uniform and having to cuff a suspect facedown on the floor, I know that it frequently takes four or more people to subdue someone who doesn't want to be arrested. Did they check her over for health issues *before* putting her in the cell? Was she searched properly to see if she carried pills, small items to choke on like paper clips, pins, gum, small pieces of paper (you'd be surprised what people will swallow to bring attention to themselves)...you get the idea. My guess is neither was done, or not done well or according to procedure.

On the other side of the equasion, the officers involved will all be suffering from shock and fear concerning what happened. In a case like this, there are no good answers, and only the tragic early death of a woman who didn't even look like she needed to be arrested in the first place. Was she screaming obscenities? The video doesn't let us hear that - was she delirious? Delusional? Hallucinating?

If you ever use a similar situation in a MS, you can be sure that the human element of inaction, over-emotion, negligence, or officers relying on others to do what they should be doing in the first place, are all things that are realistic. On the other side, the fear and "what could I have done?" haunt most officers that find themselves in such a situation.

For the "suspect" who dies, their final moments haven't been seen, but we can only add our imaginations to what might have been, what did happen, and what should've happened.

Rest in Peace, Carol Anne...

Canadian, eh?

Well, it's official. There's a full-time cop patroling my kids high school hallways, and the city's putting full-time cops in most high schools across the city. What seemed to be an American phenomenon has finally reached our fair cities, and we now work with "lockdown" procedures in case of stabbings or shootings.

Last week, a student was stabbed in the chest with a butcher knife at a local high school. Over a girl, no less. Kids seem to be carrying knives, machetes, and brass knuckles as their weapons of choice - to "feel safe". Schools are clamping down on Facebook accounts, and cell phones for their picture-taking abilities. Kids bully other kids by setting up Facebook "groups" to target unfortunate kids, and put cell-phone pics on YouTube and the net in general, as bullying tactics.

A teenage girl was attacked in the bush are behind her school, by a 14 yrs old, 16 yrs old, and another 18 yrs old. They tortured her, and beat her face so badly she's almost unrecognizable. This also happened back in Barrie, Ontario when I was running the street crisis shelter for youth. That particular young teen was attacked at a "party" because she refused to take an Ecstasy pill. She was beaten to a pulp also.

I have no answers, only prayers that my kids, and all the kids at their high school will be safe.

When we put violence in our novels, it's imaginary, happening to characters who're fictional even if they seem "real" enough to us as writers.

When the violence reaches out to our kids, it becomes something different. It feels like a Steven King novel, except that every time you see your kids get on their bus, you know they're not "characters" in a fictional world. They're your kids, your flesh and blood, the ones you love more than anything in the world.

And violence takes on a whole new meaning.

PRISON BREAK

Prison Break premiered last night - did you catch it? Another heart-pounding episode guaranteed to suck you back in to the story. The writing on this show is tight, the dialogue smooth and exactly the way editors tell us to "do it", and I love the characters and their conflicts.

Last night's highlight for me was the FBI agent intervening in Michael's fight and killing the henchman. Maybe that sounds bloodthirsty on my part, lol, but the set-up to his saving Michael was solid and made me think about some of my foreshadowing and character actions. Watching a show like this can teach you alot about writing. JMHO.

And if fall and winter have to come upon us all, at least fall brings all the great shows back to help us get through another long, dark, winter.

What's your favourite TV show in the current line-up?

Sweet, sweet, Madeline....

I know I'm not the only blogger to post about this ghastly situation involving Madeline McCann, the four year old all of Europe has been looking for since May. The kidnapping of a child is a parent's worst nightmare.

As an ex-police officer, I knew immediately that the Portuguese police would be looking at her parents in regards to her disappearance. Parents and close family are always the first suspects in a family members disappearance. They're normally grilled for hours - right away - and the only explanation I can think of for the McCann's not making it into the interrogation room before this past weekend, is that the police had their suspicions but no hard evidence. They obviously do things differently in Europe, or the McCanns would have been held for a bail hearing and not allowed to return to England. And I think the McCann's will find out that the DNA evidence is damning at best. But for the police and prosecutors, knowing something is true, and proving it to be true, are two different things.

Their pitiful story about leaving Madeline and their 2 yr. old twins asleep in their hotel room while they went to dinner, would earn them a "child endangerment/abandonment" charge in Canada. People do all kinds of stupid things, but leaving three children four and under alone in a strange hotel, has to be #1 on David Letterman's Top Ten List of "Reasons Some People Shouldn't Be Parents".

I've heard people on the news say that "no mother could have pleaded so convincingly" for her child to be returned. Ridiculous. Susan Smith did it, and she'd pushed a car containing her 3 yr old and 1 yr old boys into a lake and watched their frantic little faces screaming at her as they went under the surface. Diane Downs, a famous US killer, murdered one daughter, paralyzed another, and traumatized her 4 yr old son when she pulled over on a dark, back road, and shot them point blank in the rear seat of their car. Her story was that a black man had tried to car-jack them (on an unlit and untraveled road), and shot her in the forearm (it was later proven she shot herself, giving herself a flesh wound) while she was trying to protect her kids. Strangely, he disappeared in to the bush and didn't take her car after all.

So, is it so bizarre that these parents would try to palm off the story that an u/k kidnapper took their four year old out of a locked hotel room, and she hasn't been found in the past four months?

I only wish the "kidnapping" had happened in Britain, Canada, or the US, where our laws would prevent them from being out on bail, and they'd face the investigation they undoubtedly deserve. Whether Madeline died "accidently" or not, these two doctors have had a part in conspiring to hide her body, have hid her body, and at the worst, have murdered her.

It's Jon-Benet Ramsay all over again. And in the justice system, it's unfortunately true that some people can get away with murder. If in later months, I'm proven wrong, I'll gladly say the same on this blog.

Collateral Damage

Eleven year old Ephraim Brown was slain this past weekend when two gangs opened fire on each other outside a kid's birthday party. Ephraim had the misfortune to be standing on the wrong spot on the sidewalk, and was shot in the neck, dying almost instantly.

His older sisters were interviewed on TV asking the North End Toronto gangs to break their code of silence, so police could find the killer(s) of their little brother. So far, the police have arrested one suspect, Akiel Eubank, aged twenty-one. "Mr." Eubank's well-known to police as a gang-banger with a long criminal history.

As usual, I'm "preaching to the choir", as I did last Dec.26th, when I say that until the black community comes together and does something about their gang problem, more shootings and deaths will continue. Ephraim's sisters are correct - the black community must stop living in fear of retaliation from these animals, and take back their neighborhoods. Easy to say, maybe not easy to do. Ephraim's not the only child to die this year from a gang shooting. If the black community leaders who lobby City Hall constantly for other considerations do their job, Ephraim will be the last child murdered by Toronto gang-bangers.

A BELATED 'HAPPY CANADA DAY' !!

On Saturday, June 30th, Margaret Wente, a columnist with the GLOBE AND MAIL - one of our national newspapers, wrote "254 Solitudes, and Counting". It was a dreary, depressing, and cynical essay on why Canada's not working, and why we've lost our "values and aspirations". Let me quote:

"If Canada has one claim to fame, it is as the immigration country that works. Wherever I travelled in Europe last fall, people would ask me, "How do you do it?" And I would smile sweetly and pretend that Canadians are simply more tolerant, more welcoming, and more eager to celebrate diversity than any other nation in the world. Let's hope they don't find out the truth...In 1981, Statistics Canada identified six "ethnic enclaves" across the country - communities where a single visible minority group made up more than 30 per cent of the population. Twenty years later, there were 254."

Margaret doesn't list which 254 minorities comprise Canada today, but she has alot to say about how "the job of civic society is to overcome these tribal resentments (she's talking about how people of one ethnic group tend to live together and resent the "majority"), and replace them with a set of values and aspirations that are shared. But our age is all about accentuating differences. We're supposed to not just recognize and tolerate these differences, but to embrace and celebrate them."

Hmmm, good thing you "smiled sweetly" last fall, Margaret. It is a fact that Canada has the highest immigration rate in the world. It's also a fact that yesterday on CTV Live, I saw many, many, different races of people, and their children wearing red and white hats, wash-off tattoos of our flag, and waving flags vehemently as our Governor-General arrived on Parliament Hill. Why were they all waving flags and happy to be here?

Because Canada does have strong values and aspirations that our immigrants have come here for,and for good reason;

1) Freedom of speech, liberty, and safety of persons. Ask anyone from Afghanistan, Somalia, the Czech Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba (need I go on?) how they feel about residing in a country where they're not afraid of soldiers taking away their children, they can practice their religion in freedom, and don't have to submit to policed road checks, whether they enjoy living here. Bet they'll say "Thank God!", Margaret.

2) Class-free education for everyone, universal health care, and suitable housing. We Canadians put a high price on our educational system, health care, and keeping our homeless off the streets.

3) We value dignity for all, the *inclusion* of all in our society, and educate our children to value this as well.

Margaret Wente would have us believe that the only values taught in our schools today are "anti-bullying and recycling. These are good things, to be sure. But maybe not quite enough to build a whole society on."

A "whole society"? We have a whole society, Margaret. We're not perfect, and there is some inherent racism, as there is in any society. But I'd submit that by celebrating and tolerating the differences in the immigrants who come here, we're preventing the repression of the second and third generations of immigrant's children who rise up in search of their "real" identity. The UK and Europe have taught us that much.

Our "whole" society allows people to be who they are - and if they feel divided between being "Afghanistan-Canadian" or "African-Canadian" or "First Nations Canadian", then that is their personal problem, not the society they live in.

If we fail to tolerate each other's differences, we are on the slippery slope to something the '40's called "Nazisim" - the idea of a supreme race over every other race. And that is something Canada will never tolerate - our Charter of Rights and Freedoms attests to that.

I know several family members, and friends, who don't share my views. They're afraid of the "Asian incursion", the "al Quada kids" who live in the projects (referring to Muslims, of course), etc. They feel they're in the minority where they live. Well, there's a solution for that - if you don't like living in "Chinatown", then move. If you can't stand the sight of little girls walking to school wearing head scarves, then move somewhere else.

The first immigrants to this country were French and English. Then later, the Irish, the Hutterites and Mennonites running from religious prosecution, the Germans and Ukranians who populated our Prairies, the Chinese who built our trans-Canada rail road, the blacks who came North during the Civil War...they built this countries economy, infrastructure, and developed it into what it is today.

Let's face it, Margaret, the only people who weren't immigrants, were the First Nations peoples. And their history and inclusion in our society is our only weak link in an otherwise empowering, tolerant, and compassionate Canada.

But that's the source of another blog! I hope everyone had a great Canada Day and long weekend!

WAL*MART BABY

This wasn't what I was going to post - that post is lost somewhere under "drafts" and I can't get Blogger to publish it (another sign of how computer illiterate I am)...but this is a topic that combines my love of social justice, adoption, babies in general, and my favourite store. Yes, I confess! I love Wal*Mart and shop there all the time.

In Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, a woman gave birth to a baby boy weighing about 8 lbs., in the Wal*Mart's washroom. A video clip showed her coming into the store wearing a bulky coat, and exiting just under fifteen minutes later. A woman in the next bathroom stall saw/heard what was happening beside her, and in her words "I've given birth before and I knew what was going on..."

The mother left her baby boy IN the toilet, and departed out the front doors. The spooked woman in the stall beside her, pulled up her particulars and ran for the Customer Service desk, which is right beside the washroom and front doors in every Wal*Mart. The assistant store manager was able to clear the baby's airway and keep doing CPR till the ambulance came. This little baby is stable and holding his own in hospital.

The big news today? His mom came in to the police, along with family members, after the paper printed the story from the "woman-in-the-next-stall". Mom isn't from Prince Albert, but from La Ronge which is way north of PA. So she would've needed transportation to get there.

Now, tell me how a woman a) can define her labour enough to walk into a store, give birth in the washroom, and walk out all in under fifteen minutes?, b) be out of her mind enough to leave a baby IN THE TOILET??? and c) couldn't have driven to the PA hospital instead of the store.

She was smart to pick Wal*Mart, and I'll tell you why.

1) It has a huge amount of traffic and you can bet that if someone wasn't in the ladies room, there'd be someone or several ladies coming in every two minutes at least. Therefore, baby would be found quickly. (doesn't explain the "leave him in the toilet" part though)

2) Wal*Mart's have highly trained first aid staff on duty on every shift. All managers, and at least one regular staff are highly trained for any emergency situation. Maybe she knew this, probably not. But, it certainly played a factor in saving her son.

3) Wal*Mart's big on community efforts, and this one's already held a fund-raising BarBQ, and has a 4 ft. donation box filled with baby items, a stroller, and car seat.
At least the baby will get them, even if mom doesn't get the baby back. (Pray to God she doesn't!)

In February we had another infant abandoned - this one a baby girl left on the back steps of a house in a suburban neighborhood in Saskatoon. They found the mother in that case as well, and didn't lay charges as she agreed to counselling.

Why would any mother abandon her baby when so many parents languish on adoption lists? I don't care if she's a crack addict, there's no excuse for it with the number of social agencies both north and south of our border, ready to help anyone who's pregnant and doesn't want to be a mom.

It always amazes me that the police don't lay charges in these cases. The law is on the books - but it seems easier to get them medical treatment (temporary insanity, perhaps?), and counselling. I agree that these are both necessary and good things to do. However, when people are charged for leaving their infants/toddlers/children in hot cars during the summer - how is this different from leaving your baby in a box, or a toilet? One is careless, thoughtless, and stupid. I'd like to think that the second one is as well.

(In case this photo is copyright, I've taken it from "Off The Beaten Path", which I've also linked to as the author has some interesting things to say re philosophy)

SIX CANADIAN SOLDIERS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN EASTER WEEKEND

This is the heaviest loss of life since Canada joined NATO forces in the war in Afghanistan. It was particularly bittersweet and ironic that it happened on the weekend Canada remembered the 90th Anniversary of our victory at Vimy Ridge during the First Great War.

Two of the soldiers killed in their armoured vehicle were only 20 years old - during the Vimy ceremony, Prime Minister Stephen Harper noted that most of the Canadians killed at Vimy Ridge were between the ages of 17 and 23 years old. And yet, 90 years between these horrible wars, our young men are still dying for what they believe in.

A retired General and military analyst stated the purpose of the Afghanistan war so succinctly yesterday when speaking of these six dead soldiers. He said that Canadians are fighting in that region to take over the poppy fields (opium = heroin) that supply the money to the Taliban and other Jihad extremists. Many people in Canada think that this war is about "tribal civil war". It certainly is not - it's about fighting against the Islamist Jihadist Ideology that threatens the Western world.

This Ideology is as evil and insidious as Nazism, or the Totalitarianism that was part of the First World War. The only difference is that the "enemy" is less visible - we aren't fighting them in Europe as we did the Germans. NATO forces fight all over the world to combat this Ideology; Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, the list goes on.

Let us all honour our fallen soldiers in all NATO Forces, and never forget the lessons of history.

For those who say that we "shouldn't be there", I can only say that you don't have a clue about current world politics. Be thankful for all in our military, and the agencies at home that protect us from terrorists and those who would destroy our way of life. We did it 90 years ago, and 50 years ago, and our soldiers are protecting us again. Let's support them in any way we can.

May these six families be comforted, and may their fallen loved ones rest in peace.

IN DEFENSE OF MY PROVINCE SASKATCHEWAN

You probably haven't seen this on the news because most of you are Americans. Saskatchewan is a beautiful Prairie farming province, in between Manitoba which is a mixture of Prairie and treed/Canadian Shield, and Alberta which is a mixture of Prairie, oil fields, and the start of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Saskatchewan is the "Bread Basket" of Canada, producing nearly 100% of our own and exported wheat, canola, and smaller crops of rye, and barley. Up north we have lakes, rivers, and forests for hunting that are so dense you have to fly in in bush planes in the fall. Up north it's big tourist country, where Canadians, Americans, and some rich Aussies etc. pay big bucks to fly up there for a couple of weeks to hunt enormous Elk, Bear, and Moose. Not to mention the incredible fishing.

The City of Saskatoon, one of our largest cities, is hosting the Junos this year. The Junos are the Canadian version of the Grammy's and have become a Very Big Deal. Saskatoon came up with a prize package for Two, including two nights stay at their best hotel (sorry, forget the name), all meals, flight, and tickets to the Juno. They asked a radio station in Vancouver BC to help promote the contest and all listeners had to do was send in the ending to the sentence: "You know you're in Saskatchewan when..."

They got answers such as: "You know you're in Saskatchewan when...

"your prenup has chickens in it."
"you can reason with a barnyard animal"
"when you fill up your pick-up with gas and it doubles in value"

The radio host who did the promotion in Vancouver said in an interview, "Well, in BC we have the Rockies, the valleys, the vineyards!" (in an indignant, we're-so-much-better-than-you-guys type of voice)

Well, that's geography, buddy. We have a booming economy with 10 consecutive months of increasing oil and gas revenues and job growth. And we know how to take a joke. As one person who called into a REGINA, Saskatchewan radio station put it: "You know you're in Saskatchewan when you live near a Co-op. You know you're in BC when you live near a grow-op."

Right on. And personally, I'd kill to win a trip for two to Saskatoon to see the Junos. Problem is, I already live in this wonderful Province!

THE URGE TO PURGE

I'm going to borrow this title from Ian Brown, of the Globe & Mail, because it's perfect for the domestic drama that's been going on in our house over the past month or so.

Mr. Brown's article centres primarily on throwing out books, and how men especially find they cannot, when push comes to shove, while women can trash an entire library in a day and come up with clean shelves. (I'm paraphrasing here) He uses examples such as Edgar Johnsons's Charles Dickens: His Tragedy and Triumph which you've had for 25 years, but are unable to part with because Charles Dickens was the subject of your Masters in English or something.

I've already cleaned out my paperback 6 shelf-deep, nearly floor to ceiling bookshelves, and ended up with a clear plastic grocery bag for the Sally Ann. I parted with several collections of Highland historicals I know I'll never read again, collections of authors I'll never read again because I've outgrown them, and ancient research books. I purged a 2-shelf cart full of books too.

This, alas, is not enough for my dh! He wants us to go through every "box" we have in our basement and garage that we haven't opened in the past year and either pitch, purge, or Sally Ann it. We likely won't have a garage when we move to Winnipeg at the end of summer, and he's already scoped out an 8'x6' collapsible shed with a floor we can buy. (I know we'll have a bigger house, therefore bigger basement, but Winnipeg's built on a flood plain and we've been told the house will flood every spring, thus the need to put everything up on pallets). SO, the necessity for a PURGE.

Mr. Ian Brown states that a four drawer filing cabinet holds 18,000 pieces of paper. Also, statistically speaking, that once people "get organized" with totes, bins, and files, nothing in them is ever looked at again. (I can attest to 2 x Rubbermaid totes per child in the garage that are filled with toys we couldn't part with on our last move, that have never made it into the house)

My DH wants me to go through 10 boxes in the basement, and I've already told him the baby clothes, silver chasing dishes, sterling silver-anything, wedding gifts (ok, we've been married 19 yrs, I guess if we havent used them by now we should re-gift them or Sally Ann them, or something!), my spinning wheel, and all my scrapbooking stuff - the final items do NOT count as boxes - are staying. Personally, I think all his boxes of college papers & textbooks could disappear, along with at least 50% of our kids videos that they never watch, maybe 75%, and most of his "mug collection". Okay, that's sacrosanct!

Is it true that if you haven't opened a box in a year, or worn a piece of clothing in a year, it's time to dump it/purge it/give it away? I disagree heartily. Ridiculous. Those baby clothes are going to fall apart at the seams before they get thrown out or Sally Ann'd. And I kept the dress that I wore on my first date with my DH for 12 years, until I knew *for sure* that I'd never, ever fit into it ever again.

Proving that you can write about murder and mayhem, and still have a few sentimental bones in your body after all.

GLOBAL WARMING, EXERCISE, AND OTHER MUSINGS

The front polar bear in this picture looked like I did this a.m. after I got home from the gym. Completely laid out and "fashed" as my gramma used to say. One thing about Hands-on-the-keyboard-Butt-in-the-Chair writing is that your Butt tends to get alot bigger then you want it too. Working your gluts on the elliptical machine beside girls who weigh about 110 lbs. is just plain depressing. The last time I was 110 lbs. I was in high school and the school nurse was sending home notes for my mother to put me on this powder called "Wate On" that you added to milk. I was 13 yrs. old and 5'8" tall.

Back to my lovely polar bears. I read that President Bush, as if he doesn't have enough on his hands with a Democratic Congress, trying to pull out of Iraq, and his dog running around the White House taking pictures of everyone - has decided to SAVE our Canadian Polar Bears. Or, as he calls them THE Polar Bears. Aha.

Save the Polar Bears because he thinks they're HIS Polar Bears. Like everything else in the world. (okay, he did a good job on that island off the coast of Somalia, but we're talking terrorists, not conservation)

Hello, George Dubya! (I get to call you that, coz you called my Prime Minister "Steve") The Polar Bears live in Canada, on Canadian ice, in Canadian waters, so guess what? They belong to us! Just like the seals, the whales, the fish, and the rest of the ecosystem up there. I know "Steve" hasn't done a fabulous job with the environment so far, except to prove that the Liberals were liars with the Kyoto Accord and that Canada couldn't possibly meet the targets the Liberals promised we would meet. But I'm sure he has a plan in his pocket, he always does.

One thing that's high on his list is Canada's Arctic sovereignty. And if we're going to protect our Arctic from international incursions of any kind, you can bet we'll be protecting our polar bears too. So if you and the First Lady want to see any - you know, if you ever bother to make a State Visit up here before you leave office - "Steve" will be happy to take you both up to Churchill, Manitoba where you can see Polar Bears frolicking beside your snowboggan tour vehicle. You can take all the pictures you want! But that's all you can take.

And hey, thanks for finally getting it right and knocking al-Quaeda out of Somalia. Your allies appreciate it. :) Now, if we can just keep Iran under control - really George, you've got more to worry about than our Polar Bears.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING - Part Two

For those of you who don't think I'm a total Grinch stay with me on this one, because today we're going to talk about totally useless gifts. And maybe, some gifts you might want to go with that are "untraditional". Here's some gifts I think are absurd at best, and "whacko" at worst:

1) PJ's for women that sport Tweetie Bird, Winnie the Pooh, Tinkerbell, Kelloggs Apple Jacks, or Thumper. Or any other Disney creature. Mickey Mouse a few years ago was bad enough...now we're supposed to entice our man with the message that we're entering our second childhood with Tweetie Bird? Puleeze...*he'll* be the one getting a headache...

2) Slippers. For anyone in your family. At any age, even if it's Great-great Aunt Elspeth in the Nursing Home. She's lived that long, she deserves a pound of Kickass Donkey Coffee and lunch out with you at her favourite restaurant. Be kind.

3) A curling iron, blow dryer, iron, toaster, toaster oven, kettle that turns itself off, coffeemaker for 24, foot sauna, make-up mirror with three light display, or electric ladies razor set. Am I getting my point across here?

4)Camping gear, air hockey games for the family room, drum sets, trampoline, and a portable ice making machine.

5) A cell phone for your elderly mother because you worry about her highway driving - but you don't buy her the monthly service. Now, that's just miserly! And why does she need a cell phone that takes pictures anyway?

6) Any robotic dog, cat, puppy, etc. that does anything, anything at all. Do - not - buy - it. You - will - lose - your - mind.

7) A "2 chicken/rooster", "2 rabbits", "2 goats", "cow", or "donkey" out of the World Vision catalogue. We support 2 World Vision children and 1 Compassion child, have for years. We believe strongly in this program. But please don't send your money there and call it a gift to me. It's a gift to them. And I appreciate you supporting them. Tell you what, I'll send them 2 goats, and still take you out for Christmas lunch, ok?

Cool Christmas Gifts:

1) The iRobot Roomba robot vac. If you want to give your wife an appliance, this one'll light up her eyes! It won't bother you to run it around a few rooms either.

2) For him: the sexiest lingerie you can find with the biggest red bow on top. Why buy him tools? He doesn't use them anyway. THIS he can use! And don't stop there, adult shops have feathers, love dust, and games for even the most shy among us.

3) Microsoft Webcam with Live call button. Better than any beauty appliance you were thinking of getting her.

4) Not just for your techno-teens, the nexXtech 512MB MP3 Player that fits in the palm of your hand; comes in black, orange and lime green (my personal favourite). And for teen stocking stuffers, JVC has Gumy headphones in black, silver, lime, and orange to match for only $15.

5) So your husband won't yell at you on your next vacation trip - a no-subscription-fees GPS Garmin in-car unit, loaded with Canada and US maps. Full colour, and anti-glare for easy reading. How cool is that?

6)Anything out of the Zeke's or People's Jewellers Catalogue. Diamond's truly are a girl's best friend. My husband bought me a ruby and diamond ring to celebrate the year 2000 and I haven't taken it off since.

7) Old, old, photographs of past family members, letters, or diaries. War medals, scrapbooks, etc. that you don't know what to do with and want a home for - because I'm a writer and I'll do the research to put it all together into a family history. What a wonderful present that would be!

8) A magazine subscription to Writer's Digest, The Atlantic, Time, Macleans, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Ellery Queen, The Beaver, Creative Memories Scrapbooker. I'd remember you every time it came in the mail.

9) A home-made book of coupons with all my favourite activities on them, that you HATE to do; eg. "one day at your favourite craft fair with $50 to spend", "one day at the local dog show", "one day Christmas shopping without whining", "good for one foot massage", "good for winning one argument", etc. Get creative people, you can make it last all year and be giving each other a coupon a week!

Happy weekend Christmas shopping!

CHRISTMAS IS COMING - Part One

Tis the Season to be giving - as the last 11 days of shopping fall upon us it's time to be thinking of the "what", the "how", and "how much" is in our budget for our loved ones this year. I've only just begun to shop for my family. This year I'm trying to NOT do all of the things that I've come to hate over the years, in the matter of getting gifts. Here's what I mean:

1) No, I'm NOT giving you a gift receipt so you can exchange it for something you'll like better for the same amount of money. THIS is what I spent my time thinking about, deciding on, schlepping the malls for, and THIS is what I decided you'd love. SO, I hope you love it. Merry Christmas!

2) No, I'm NOT giving your adorable 12 yr-old-who's-an-incredibly-off-the-charts-genius a $100 present when I can't afford to give my own 14 yr-old a $100 present. She'll have to be grateful for what she gets from me in the family gift exchange.

3) No, I'm NOT giving your wonderful ..... (fill in the blanks) child a $50 gift certificate to ...... (fill in the blanks) because he prefers to pick out his own gifts. When I was 15, I learned that it was important to appreciate what others gave me when I opened a present and to thank them for it...maybe it would be nice if you gave your son the same learning experience. I'm just saying?

4) PLEASE don't ask my for my "Christmas Wish List" again this year. I know you won't buy anything on it, and I'll just be disappointed. I know I'll love whatever you give me, so let's not play the charade, ok?

5) When I tell you I'm a size large in sweaters, tops, cardigans, tank tops, loungewear, PJ's, camisoles, pants, etc. that means a size LARGE. Buying me a size medium, or god forbid, a size XL is only going to make me cry Christmas morning when I pull out that gorgeous cashmere sweater that I can't return because you bought it in New York last July.

6) When I tell you my taste in clothes lean towards Old Navy and Marks Work Wearhouse for "everyday", please don't buy me stuff from Holt Renfrew or Harringtons to "brighten up" my look. The only one who'll see it is my dog who lies beside my desk while I write in my basement.

7) PLEASE do not give my special needs daughter any more colouring/sticker books/markers/glitter pens/or feather craft kits. She's into make-up, nailpolish, boys, and MuchMusic videos now, and while that may offend you (lol) she's "delayed", not dead.

8) The same goes for my special needs son. He doesn't need anymore Bionicle sets, Legos, wooden boats, or SpongeBob stuff. If it's not Spiderman or some other Superhero, it'd better be something to do with XBox. And oh yes, he'll beat you, no matter what game it is. :)

9) PLEASE do not REGIFT me with any of your leftover gifts. If you want to find a home for something - give it to Goodwill, a homeless person, or the nearest Women's Shelter. There's nothing more uncouth, rude, or disgusting than receiving a Christmas gift from someone who says, "I got this from so-and-so and it didn't suit me so I thought of YOU. Merry Christmas!"


I know that many of you just haven't had the courage to say these things. Now I have! This is just Part One of some Christmas Trend Observations...tune in tomorrow for Part Two.

And any of you out there who are guilty of visiting these sins on your family, think again! You are not a popular person at Christmas time!