The Oxfam sexual exploitation scandal signals the arrival of the moment for an honest public conversation about charities’ role in society, the white saviour mentality, gender relations, charity accountability, and the impact of western aid and power in developing countries. The post It’s time to take our charities to the
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My journey with AIDS…and more!: It’s Bell Let’s Talk Day – let’s review
It is a measure of self-compassion on this Bell Let’s Talk Day when I can slow down and remind myself of where I am and where I’ve come from. I have a long history of, and recovery from, substance abuse – chiefly, but not solely, alcohol – begun shortly after
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Spotlight
Given that they are generally aimed at a younger demographic, I rarely watch movies these days. However, on the return leg of our trip, one of the films offered by Air Canada was the award-winning Spotlight, important for a few reasons. The winner of t…
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: Another important day for self-acceptance
If I have learned nothing else about my bipolar II today, it is that I am certainly not the only one in similar circumstances who has found photography to be a healing past-time. Facebook is teeming today with some of the creative works of the bipolar support community.
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: Another important day for self-acceptance
If I have learned nothing else about my bipolar II today, it is that I am certainly not the only one in similar circumstances who has found photography to be a healing past-time. Facebook is teeming today with some of the creative works of the bipolar support community.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Sunday Disservice – The Dark Side of ‘Shalom Aleichem’
A frequent dodge to avoid actually thinking about the issue criticism I have to deal with is that, as an anti-theist, I unfairly target Christianity and/or Islam. Why don’t I go around completely dismantling the vile B.S of other religions? Are their supernatural beliefs not just as irrational? Yes.
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Why Canadians Should Reject The Russell Williams Crime Movie
“An Officer and a Murderer” celebrates Russell Williams heinous crimes and violence against Canadian women, says The Canadian Progressive publisher, Obert Madondo The post Why Canadians Should Reject The Russell Williams Crime Movie appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: Post #1031: My latest ‘Aha!’ moment
I’m very close to finishing the book Survivor – Auschwitz, The Death March and My Fight for Freedom by Sam Pivnik and some two-thirds of the way through I was jolted by this passage: We could have run, could have made it, could have reached the welcoming arms of the
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: PETITION: Tell the RCMP you stand with B.C.’s abused Aboriginal women
By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive, March 3, 2013: A recent scathing report by Human Rights Watch accused the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) of excessive force, and physical and sexual assault of Aboriginal women and girls in northern British Columbia. Both Prime Minister Stephen Harper the RCMP responded to the report in a way human rights
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: National inquiry for missing Aboriginal women needed immediately: NDP
By New Democrats (Press Release) | Feb. 14, 2013: The NDP is standing with aboriginal leaders, civil society, and Human Rights Watch to demand a national inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada. “A national, open inquiry is the only way to get justice for the women who have
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The US Military – Fumbling Toward Accountablitly
The military, like any defined group in society, has a distinct set of extrinsic and intrinsic operational guidelines. Misogyny is still rather prevalent in the system as an article from wired.com points out: “The Pentagon has talked a lot about putting a stop to sexual abuse and harassment in
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: MiningWatch Canada: Rape Victims Must Sign Away Rights to Get Remedy From Barrick Gold
by Mining Watch Canada | Jan. 30, 2013 Ottawa – Washington, D.C. – Oxford – Following years of denial, Barrick Gold is implementing a remedy program for victims of rape by employees of its Porgera Joint Venture (PJV) mine in Papua New Guinea (PNG). In order to receive a remedy
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: There are at least a few, if not many, important people with whom I need to have my own conversation about…
…this! It’s certainly not too early to think about Mental Illness Awareness Week When I read the Ottawa Citizen article (linked above) I immediately thought, “Mom will have read that yesterday,” and what an opening it would give me to discuss my own mental health history with her. Not long
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Canada’s Shame: Acclaimed Inuit Artist Pregnant And Homeless In Ottawa
“We CAN look after each other better than we do today” and “Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity.” – the late NDP Leader, Jack Layton Emotional by nature, I am.
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: College sports governing body slams Penn State post-Sandusky, Paterno
The NCAA has handed down its sentence on Penn State University’s football program, as outlined in this news release: By perpetuating a “football first” culture that ultimately enabled serial child sexual abuse to occur, The Pennsylvania State University leadership failed to value and uphold institutional integrity, resulting in a breach
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: Jerry Sandusky guilty, now what?
In the hours following the conviction of their once-revered Jerry Sandusky, Penn State is most anxious to move on. After my exclamation on Facebook of “Yes! Yes! Yes!”, attached to a media account of the guilty verdicts on Friday, I wondered how the victim-survivors were feeling. Having invested my emotions,
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: Wherefore art thou, Cardinals – Oh!
This was a landmark day in the lives of Ontario high school students who have been exercising their democratic rights, without the vote even, for the passage of Bill 13, the Ontario provincial government’s gay-straight alliance (GSA) initiative. It passed in the Ontario Legislative Assembly with 65 votes in support,
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: No sentence could undo the harms caused by Graham James
I join the outcry today over the sentencing of convicted serial pedophile Graham James to two years in prison for the sexual abuse of Theo Fleury and Todd Holt. Counter-intuitively (because I knew it would just get me stirred up) I watched the news coverage of the lawyers’ statements and victims’
Continue readingRegan Wolfrom: SlutWalk Puts Shame on Display in Winnipeg
I am truly saddened by the ignorance on display in Winnipeg this past weekend. As part of the Winnipeg SlutWalk, a large group of women, men, and children — many of whom decided to make up some signs or get some from those people who printed my business cards —
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