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Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010: SOLID & HRV Rally: POLICE OUT OF HEALTH CARE!!
(photo from Nancy Raycroft)
Time: 3:30pm - 5:30pm
Place: Victoria Police Department, 850 Caledonia
Members of SOLID (Society of Living Intravenous Drug Users) and Harm Reduction Victoria (HRV) will be addressing the Victoria Police Board on Tuesday, December 14, 2010.
Join us to make sure the Police Board hears us loud and clear:
POLICE OUT OF HEALTH CARE!!
HRV is attending Victoria Police Board meeting to demand that the Victoria Police Department (VPD) retract its position of excluding harm reduction health services from certain areas of the city, particularly those where people who use drugs are at higher risk.
Recently, the VPD has increased its efforts to prevent people who use illicit drugs from accessing safer drug use supplies in the 900 block of Pandora. Many people who use this area are impacted by the failure of coordinated leadership by the City of Victoria, Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) and Provincial authorities to adequately address homelessness, poverty and the devastating impacts of stigma, discrimination, and poor-bashing.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
originally published here - Mass demonstrations by thousands of students and trade unionists in central London against an increase in tuition fees, are growing more violent. It's the latest and the largest in a string of rallies against sweeping austerity measures and budget cuts across Europe. What started as a relatively peaceful march later turned into violent clashes with the police, which is largely outnumbered by the demonstrators.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
cancun climate summit - for the capitalists, by the capitalists
it's no wonder the climate convention isn't going to accomplish anything. i think these gatherings are really just an excuse to assimilate big enviros into the mix so the capitalists can privatize whatever they haven't yet. they really only want to take care of their own. check this partial list of participants (available on the it's no wonder the climate convention isn't going to accomplish anything. i think these gatherings are really just an excuse to assimilate big enviros into the mix. check this partial list of participants (available on the website) and watch democracy now to see what the regular people are doing:
Association of International Automobile Manufacturers of Canada (AIAMC)
Mr. David Adams
Australian Uranium Association (AUA)
Mr. Michael Angwin
Australian Coal Association (ACA)
Mr. Peter Morris
Australian Aluminium Council (AAC)
Mr. Miles Prosser
American Nuclear Society (ANS)
Ms. Connie Cherry
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE)
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Mr. James C. Maxwell
Friday, December 3, 2010
still crazy after all these years
Hot and sweaty takes on a whole new meaning when you’re facing menopause.
Why’s it called that, anyways? What do “men” have to do with menopause, or menstruation? What do they know about having their entire bodily chemistry change entirely, twice in a lifetime, like salmon who swim out at sea and then return to face their imminent demise? All they know, typically, is that we’re “bitchy.” Well let me tell you, dude, if we’re bitchy it’s for a damned good reason. Not only do we go through this incredible transformation without any significant cultural support or understanding, we have to credit “men” when we discuss it (in hushed tones, so as not to admit our age and vulnerability).
Yesterday I spoke with an elder woman (loudly and proudly) who experienced these night sweats and hot flashes for fifteen years. Fifteen years !!! I can trace the beginnings of my own personal transformation back about six or seven years, I remember that the time shift for the dispersal of the monthly eggs freaked me right out. I had no idea that a person in their early 40s would begin to experience symptoms, I had no idea what the symptoms would be. I was certain that this was the first sign that the apocalypse must surely be nigh.
I didn’t start this blog entry intending to give voice to the nightly puddles of sweat I awaken to, or the waves of intense heat that pour over my body, and my sudden insight into why men go all “midlife crisis” rather than help change the sheets several times a night. I began writing today because I felt compelled to share some insight into mental health and street issues, something else I discussed with my friend yesterday.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
maybe there's hope for the species after all
kenny's small one bedroom apartment is furnished, and barb from the cnib showed him around it. he'll have a lifeline bracelet, so if anything happens to him staff will be instantly alerted. the building is one of many baptist housing projects around town (almost makes me a believer ... in people, at least), it's subsidized, they provide sheets and towels, meals, and social activities. there are small amounts of furniture in kenny's apartment and he said, repeatedly as he was being shown around it, "i'm gonna live like a king!"
kenny knows that he's got to be careful who he lets into the building. the supervisor told me "we're willing to give him a chance," and said she felt he'll be a welcome addition to the building because of his sparkly personality.
it doesn't take much to change a person's life. click here for photos.
i want to like rick mercer ....
... but sometimes it seems he just doesn't get it. he did an awesome job exposing the anti-democratic nature of the appointed, pensioned, elitist senate (see video), but on last night's show he really missed the boat. a segment that left people thinking heli-logging in bc is cool (click here for the reality show version) followed by the construction of a wooden habitat for humanity home gives the impression that destroying our precious ancient rainforests is okay because people get houses out of them. what's left out of this story is the devastation that's already happened in our forest valleys forcing helicopters into the remaining hard to reach areas, the real impacts of heli-logging on endangered environments and the mudslides and flooding that results, the closure of mills and jobs throughout bc so corporate fatcats can earn more millions more for themselves by shipping those raw logs out of the country. most likely the wood used to build the habitat for humanity home in last night's rick mercer segment was not processed in canada, though it was likely extracted from ancient rainforests that are invaluable for myriad forms of life, to transform carbon dioxide into oxygen, to maintain some climate equilibrium on our planet, to preserve the heritage of indigenous people who never surrendered this land. this is the story rick did not rant about. perhaps that is the difference between west and east. people in oregon likely have more of an understanding what i'm upset about than people in eastern canada.
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