My opinion

Iceland Volcano Update

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Met Office: Iceland Volcano Update.

The volcano in Iceland continues to sputter and spew, sending plumes of ash skyward. The random winds distribute over Europe, and aircraft fly or they don’t. The meteorologists suggest it will go on for months – including, I suppose, the weeks we will be in Spain. Prudence suggests money in the bank account, space on the credit cards and a sense of adventure. There could be worse places to be stranded than Andalucia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1ztg0wUqKY

The link above is to a youtube video of the volcano in April.

NASA has a new satellite picture of the cloud available at:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=43945

The effects of continuing volcanic eruption at the current level remains uncertain. The European Geosciences Union currently is meeting to discuss the volcanic eruptions, among other topics. One speaker, whose remarks are reported at the link below, spoke of the need for improved remote sensing in order to better define the risk to aircraft, and the environment.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8663884.stm

Volcanic eruptions, sinkholes, earthquakes – Mother Nature is restless this spring.

And now the funding cuts.

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Women’s groups decry Tory funding cuts – The Globe and Mail.

Eleven women’s groups have had their funding cut in the last two weeks , plus three more who are  silent  for fear of further repercussions, according to this article in the Globe and Mail today. All these cuts were then followed by Senator Ruth’s advice to “shut the fuck up”. The Globe in its editorial supported the notion that there are other ways to support women’s health besides focussing on the reproductive issues.

They just don’t seem to get it. All the other measures don’t matter if a woman is burdened by a pregnancy every year. The body just wears out. Reproductive choice is the starting point, the foundation for women’s health. Not much worry about heart disease if you die in childbirth.

The Globe makes the valid point that there are other conversations worth having. Are we only allowed one at a time? And does the Tory caucus decide which conversations we can have when, and only the ones that don’t offend them?

Now they’re telling us to shut up.

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CBC News – Politics – Tory senator to women’s groups: shut up.

Nancy Ruth, appointed Conservative senator, philanthropist, failed politician(several election tries) and high-profile supporter of women’s equality rights tell the international groups assembled for a conference on those rights to”shut the fuck up” about the inclusion of reproductive rights in the Canadian proposal to the G8.

Senator Ruth sits in the Conservative caucus and she is quoted as saying that if more pushing goes on there would be a backlash from the government. Unspecified threats but it sounds that at the least she meant that the inclusion of contraceptive rights would be removed, or the government funding these groups may receive. (Government, from me and you, not just Conservative supporters.)

Those rights were only included because of pressure from women’s groups. She thinks the Canadian people have no time for such altruistic matters as the provision of reproductive health care to women in other countries. Apparently the Canadian people only have time for mortgages and other personal concerns. She also declared that  ” we still have the right to abortions in this country.” What does she mean “still”?  Another threat?’

Senator Ruth has a background that includes education at a prestigious Christian college in Washington State, and a degree in political science from York, as well as theological diplomas, unspecified. She has been a member and supporter of many groups active in the area of women’s rights. It would seem that the atmosphere in the Tory caucus is so schoolyard that the chief bully can convince even a woman with the Senator’s activist credentials that she has to toe the line.

I am surprised that someone with her background would suggest that the way forward for women is to sit quietly and wait for the government ie Mr. Harper to do the right thing. That hasn’t worked out well so far in this and many other issues. Silence never works for women, ever.

No, it doesn’t, Mr. Harper

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CBC News – Canada – Maternal plan should unite Canadians: Harper.

Apparently Mr. Harper doesn’t believe that those of us who are pro-choice have strong feelings about it. He thinks we will ignore those feelings in order to “unite” with those who are anti-choice. I don’t care to do that. And I don’t care to “unite ” Canadians by ignoring the realities of women’s life in the third world.

No abortion in Canada’s G8 maternal health plan

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CBC News – Canada – No abortion in Canada’s G8 maternal health plan.

The Harper government is in a minority position. Lucky for all of us who remember the fifties and early sixties – the backroom abortions, the deaths, the infections and resultant infertility, the pregnant thirteen-year-olds. what happens if they achieve a majority next time?

They are prepared to condemn women in the third world to much worse than went on here years ago, but after all, they’re  “prepared to talk about family planning.”  No sense that multiple imposed pregnancies break down maternal health, lead to early mortality for women and children left motherless. No sense that is only when the number of children are controlled that women are able to contribute to the economy. No understanding that women drive the micro-economies in the third world as well as managing the family.

Family planning: make the itinerant trucker in Africa use condoms; keep his hands off other women in his travels; support the family he leaves behind; buy the contraceptives for his wife; indeed believe that contraception is allowed by his god. Good luck with that.

The Harper government appears to believe that they have a mandate from the Canadian people to take us backwards. After all, if they think that is the right thing to do internationally, won’t they have to do the same here? This has always been the hidden agenda of the Conservative Party and their fundamentalist supporters, the ones who think that their view of morality is the only one, and should be imposed on the rest of the world.

Abortion is a choice that women and young girls should have. Remember the pregnant eight-year-old rape victim in South America, denied abortion, because her life is less valuable than her embryo. Remember her when you vote next time. Remember them all. This link takes you to a Wikipedia entry of youngest mothers. Please note the incidence of rape, and remember that countless others are unknown. Or dead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_youngest_birth_mothers

Nature or Politics

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One modest belch, endless green moralizing – The Globe and Mail.

Brendan O’Neill writing in the Globe and Mail this morning expresses the opinion that the crisis in the sky resulted from  the EU’s usual risk-avoiding reaction.

I’ve heard that same opinion about the recent pandemic: too much hype, too much money spent, not a “real” pandemic. Tell that t0 the people who languished in emergency rooms or intensive care units, or who watched their children die. I admit those events happen in any regular flu season as well. But if no immunizations had taken place, and the population had developed wide-spread illness, and the subsequent bacterial infections, would that have been serious enough?

The same journalists who suggest the government over-reacted would have been the ones to call it to account if  one plane had fallen from the sky, its engines clogged with volcanic dust. It was the airplane manufacturing firms that wrote the specs and  manuals. Were their cautions to be disregarded?

The pandemic is over; the skies are clearing; tragedies averted or farce?

The Internet Review of Books

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Bob Sanchez reviewed my novel, Murderous Roots, today for the Internet Review of Books.
The Internet Review of Books is a great source for information about both fiction and non-fiction. Check it out before making your next run to the bookstore, or the download site. Murderous Roots is my first novel, and I’m grateful for the review.
My short story, Freddie’s Athabaska, was published today in The Other Herald, an arts broadsheet from Northern New York state.
I’ve finished editing the galley proofs for the print-on-demand version of Murderous Roots, coming soon to Write Words Inc.
Amazon has been granted the right to a “bricks and mortar” facility in Ontario. This is a warehouse they will use for their Canadian customers. As I live in a small town, I’ve used Amazon frequently(except during the period when our son owned a bookstore). I can appreciate the problems of the small bookseller who faces the competition from giants like Amazon and Chapters. When you buy the book from these guys, remember that they have used their vast buying power to bully the publisher into a 40% discount, while your neighbourhood bookseller is paying the full wholesale price.
The publisher and the author pay for your convenience.
All that being said, the publishing trade is in a state of flux, with the fastest growing segment that of electronic books. Does this mean the days of books in paper are coming to an end? I hope not, at least for the small format paperback that is the easiest to read in bed! I read for many reasons: to be entertained; to be informed; to learn my writing craft; to pursue an interest in the arts. Most of these are better served by a book on paper, I think now. I’m going to have a look at a friend’s ipad today, and perhaps my view will change.

Pardoned sex offenders evade record checks due to tighter privacy – The Globe and Mail

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Pardoned sex offenders evade record checks due to tighter privacy – The Globe and Mail.

This article suggests that the government has tightened the privacy act to such an extent that only the person involved can give permission for the record to be released. So it should work like this: Mr. X wants to work as a hockey coach in September. He applies for his police check in August, giving permission to release the contents of any record found. But when the records are searched, he has no record, because that 2 years for child sexual abuse has been pardoned and that record is not released, at least not without his permission. So it would seem that there is no protection. Clearly if the RCMP are just following the directives, then the legislation has to be looked at again.

Deep in this article is a reference to a Real Time Identification Program of automated finger-printing that would decrease the current 120-day  waiting period. According to the article the RCMP is working on a Real Time Identification Program.

The website for the RCMP is clear that this system all ready exists and is in use daily by police services for their routine work. The system requires that the fingerprints being checked are in electronic format.

In order to get a police background check,for a civilian, a full set of fingerprints must be provided. If these can be done electronically at the local police station, the checking time is dramatically reduced. Reduced, that is,  until there is a hit on a criminal record. If a criminal record is found, checking can extend over 120 days.

It seems to me, that if an individual wishes to have a police background check done, the first step should be to review the steps of the process on the RCMP website. The directions are clear. Making sure that the fingerprints are sent electronically should reduce the wait time.

Pardon for Sex Abuser

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Ex-coach Graham James pardoned for sex abuse that rocked NHL – The Globe and Mail.

This is a shocking story. In my 33 year career as a pediatrician I have talked with many children who suffered sexual abuse. All of the children I have seen were abused by someone they trusted or who was in a position of power over them –  a parent, a step-parent, a coach.

When an adult suffers an horrific event, he or she may suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, seek treatment and eventually go on, the event fading further into memory. With children, it is different. With each stage of development, the trauma can surface again – as the child becomes more able to understand what has happened, and as psychosexual development reaches anther stage.

I recall one boy whom I saw first when he was seven, sitting in an emergency room cubicle, with a frozen attempt at a smile on his face. That boy suffered throughout his childhood from a father who continued to stalk him. When he was 16 the boy laid a charge and the father was convicted. Imagine if he was now pardoned, because pedophilia is not as serious a crime as murder. The victim would be traumatized yet again.

This is what the parole board has done, in allowing the abuser of all those young boys to be pardoned. It has denied the importance of their suffering.

Retiring: The Last Day

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Tomorrow is our last day of seeing patients after almost 40 years. I started my internship in July of 1970, and my practice in 1976. I remember so many of the children and I’m going to miss seeing them. However, I’m also going to enjoy not waking up in the middle of the night worrying about a decision I had made, or some test I didn’t order, or whether the parent had understood my instructions.
The work isn’t over yet. We still have to finish closing down the office, making provision for the charts, getting rid of furniture, shredding, taking out the trash. Not as exciting as setting up.
But it’s spring. We have work to do in the garden. I have a book to edit, and another to polish. We’re going to Spain in the Fall. This year at least is looking good.
My last patient is a well child, the grandson of an old friend. A good way to end.