Thursday, March 11, 2010

Message to Ontario NDPers: do not be an activist within the party

Do you care about the Middle East or want the Catholic and public schools systems to combine?  If you are a member of the Ontario NDP, do not bring these ideas to the party.  If you support other causes, your concerns may not get heard in Andrea Horwath's party (unless she gives approval).

In about a year and a half, Ontario will be having an election.  I think the hidden message that Ms. Horwath has sent to her party members and supporters is that she will be setting the party's agenda--not the activists.


http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/778152--ndp-divided-over-mideast-schools

NDP divided over Mideast, schools

New Democratic leader urges MPPs not to attend debate on cutting funding for Catholic education

Friday, March 5, 2010

The perfect anthem

Originally, I thought Harper should have sold the Canadian anthem to CTV.  Then, the CBC could have held a contest for a new Canadian anthem with the prize for best anthem being $100,000.

Here's something better. (Courtesy of Ren and Stimpy)

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Isræl

Someone named Larry Derfner writes in the Jerusalem Post the following:

Another brightly-lit sign that Israeli Arabs aren’t living under anything like apartheid is their wall-to-wall opposition to becoming citizens of a Palestinian state – even, as Israel Beiteinu proposes, after a change of borders that would allow them to remain on their land. Israeli Arabs aren’t Zionists, and they have altogether legitimate complaints aboutdiscrimination , but the overwhelming majority are not out to dismantle the Jewish state, only to make it more fair and equitable. (As much as I wish foreign anti-Zionists knew this, I wish even more that Israeli Jews did.) 

When I read the words Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews, I feel that there is a sense of division--that these two groups of peoples do not belong in the same universe.  Arab Israelis live in Israel; they don't seem to belong in Israel.  When I envision Israeli Arabs, I see them being compared to Egyptian Arabs, Syrian Arabs, and Algerian Arabs.  I envision Israeli Jews being compared to Russian Jews, French Jews, and Canadian Jews.  In my opinion, there is no commonality between Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews unless they are redefined as Arab Israelis and Jewish Israelis.  The difference in using Israeli as an adjective instead of a noun may not seem like much.  The semantics are very different.

I do find in interesting when I read Larry Derfner, who I assume is Jewish Israeli, state that the Israeli Arabs are in opposition to bcoming citizens of a Palestinian state.  That may be true.  I just wish I could read or hear Arab Israelis tell their own stories about living in Israel rather than just getting the information from Jewish Israelis and their overseas Jewish kin.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

You know that things are bad in Vancouver when...

...Hanukkah gets cut from eight to four days.

See larger photo of the Olympic cauldron.


Happy early or late Hannukah to my Jewish friends!  Let's hope for more days and move Hannukah back to December.

Friday, February 19, 2010

1-866-564-2427: Rogers, stop calling me!

I wish the Rogers telemarketer would stop calling me.  This number 1-866-564-2427 has called me three times today!  I finally called the number and a recorded message told me to leave my number if I want it off Rogers' list.  Unfortunately, the recorded mailbox was full so I could not leave my number.  Aghhhhhhhhhh!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

What's on TV?

Let me see.

CTV is showing the Olympics.
So is TSN.
I get CTV in high definition,
But not TSN.

I get all the Rogers SportsNet channels in high-def.
They're all showing the Olympics.
I get RDS, the French version of TSN
I do get the French version of TSN in high definition.

APTN is showing the Olympics in English, French, Oji-Cree at different times of the day.
I do get APTN in high-definition.
OMNI1 and 2 from Toronto show the Olympics in English, Italian, Portuguese, Cantonese, and I think Mandarin.
I get these in high definition.

I get some V channel from Quebec showing me the Olympics in French,
In high definition.
I get CPAC English and CPAC French showing me the Olympics in French.
They also broadcast the V channel in French,
But not in high definition.

OLN has Olympic stuff,
But not CityTV in Toronto and Vancouver.
CityTV is airing UEFA soccer that would normally be aired on Rogers SportsNet.
I am getting the soccer game in high definition.

NBC usually has delayed coverage of highlights of the Olympics.
The coverage is in high-def.
Fox Buffalo has Olympic caliber coverage on the Jerry Springer Show.
It's on a high definition channel,
But not in high-def.

There's so many choices.
I've made up my mind.
I choose the Olympic events of different men and women all fighting for first.
Or is that men and men?

It's Springer for me.