Watching the news tonight and both CBC and CTV are talking about “Anger in the West” with lots of video of conservative talk show hosts in Calgary and folks in diners in Lethbridge mad as hell and not willing to take it any more.
So let me just say something, as a Westerner. The West is not a seething homogenous conservative backwater. It is not united on this issue and it not any more angry than it usually is. Callers to Dave Rutherford’s show in Calgary are always angry, because Dave Rutherford is always angry. People in diners are always cranky when you stick a camera in their face and interview them while their eggs get cold. The only time diner interviews are good news is when a local team has won a championship.
And with healthy Alberta First folks willing to shoot off their mouths at the drop of a hat, it’s fun to provoke the hypocrisy of Western seperatists who complain about Quebec seperatists, and are themselves quick to talk about taking their oil and leaving Canada in pieces.
So whatever. Are we served well by this kind of bluster and outrage? Not really.
Bottom line, is that there is anger everywhere if you look for it, but there is very little benefit gained in the midst of a Constitutional crisis by declaring the entire country west of Kenora “angry” and characteriszing us all as a bunch of reactionary rednecks. So lay off the stereotypes and let’s focus on the people on all sides that are trying to put a government together.
This week in the feedreader:
- Alison on why the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement makes us complicit in human rights crimes.
- Lovely little non-verbal film on hope and traditional teachings.
- Doug Germann on why he is a lawyer.
- George Nemeth on doing small things
- Matthew Baldwin reviews great board games for 2008
- Ravi Tangri’s blog, an Art of Hosting friend.
- Otto Scharmer on awakening the giant.
- Dave Pollard on what you can do to help Obama.
Received an email through the NCDD list asking for help in Texas…
Galveston is in trouble. That is almost as much as I can say about the community here. My name is Jimmy Mai and I’m a Member with Americorps’ National Civilian Community Corps. We’re stationed in Galveston, TX doing needs assessment post- Hurricane Ike.In doing this, we are walking door to door and stopping people on the streets to see what they may need. From that we are making notes on whatever support they require and enter it into a nation-wide database called the Coordinated Assistance Network (or CAN). CAN is a system that allows hundreds of Non- Profit organizations to come together and look at these individual needs and send out help respectfully.The problem is we- Americorps NCCC members- have no idea how this network is being managed. Case managers are supposed to overlook the people we are putting into this database, but that’s not supposed to be for another three weeks, and we have no idea why there is a postponement. We are told that organizations like Metro United Way, Salvation Army, and The Red Cross are apart of this, but we haven’t been told any information on what they are doing to use CAN to it’s potential.There is a hinder in the recovery process because of this and FEMA response. Although FEMA has helped a few, the number of untouched cases and unheard people are overwhelming. We go to the community and listen to their stories; unfortunately, there’s an agreement on camp that the amount of people being helped, compared to those not, is unacceptable.…These people need help. These people need a voice, and they need resources to help them through this. This community has many strong points; they are accustomed to bad weather, and have an amazing resilience and sense of hope. But Hurricane Ike is really testing them; lets help them fan the flames once again.If anyone knows anything that might help this area, please let me know. If anyone would like to call or meet for further discussion, don’t hesitate to contact me, because many corps members and I are in need of information and networking that might help these people. Americorps members are at an advantage in that we experience first hand what this community is going through. We’ve heard the stories, but now we need to get something done. Thanks so much for your time, and please contact me if you think you can help in the slightest bit. An alternate email address of mine is ncccgreen6pol@gmail.comJimmy MaiAmericorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC)Project Outreach Liaison- Green 6502-417-0524
Remember Hurricane Ike? That was before Sarah Palin, before the election, before the collapse of the market? All of twelve weeks ago. If anyone is in south Texas and can lend some facilitation and organization skills to Jimmy and the NCCC, that might be a nice Thanksgiving present.
With tears of gratitude in my eyes, I point you to Nancy White’s passionate observation that the future for peaceful societies lies with the women and the girls.
Since I was in Israel and Palestine last month, I have been struggling on how to write about my experience in a way that is not about judgement, but about reflecting what I saw. The tyranny of person over person is heartbreaking, regardless of the reasons and justifications we create. But from what I saw and learned about, women and children are victims as Israel and Palestine continue without a solution for sustainable peace. The statistics around maternal and child health paint a compelling picture that war, occupation, and the patterns that trigger them are bad for women and children. High levels of maternal depression correlate with poor child nutrition. Raising rates of stunting in children from persistent malnourishment (low nutrition and poor nutrition) are staggering. Cultural challenges that resist healthy patterns of breast feeding and trigger increased poor child health and adult obesity and heart disease in Palestinians.
Where is the hope for something better? For basic human rights of food, shelter, clothing, clean food and water and yes, even peace?
It is with the women.
That’s my daughter Aine at the top of this post. She’s one of them.
From the feedreaders this week
- Ashley Cooper and Thomas Arthur make a film about standing up for love.
- Inkmaster Cuttle slams the US election
- Andy Borrows finds a beautiful line
- Myriam Laberge on the importance of purpose in engagement
- My Metafilter favourite of the week is on vegetable woodwinds.
- A new blog in my reader: VizThink
- John Abbe is enthusiastic about a new document collaboration tool called EtherPad
Have a good weekend.