Konchok Rangdrol's Blog

Support the Massachusett's Death with Dignity Act

The Massachusett's Death with Dignity Act proposal will be presented to UUA congregation members at their June 2012 Annual Meeting. Members of the Board of Trustees of the First Unitarian Society in Newton (FUSN) voted unanimously to present this proposal to its members, which will also make it on the November 2012 Massachusetts ballot. 

Though there has been an outcry from pro-life Christian organizations who oppose the Massachusett's Death with Dignity Act, there are an even greater number of individuals and professional medical bodies who support the ballot initiative. One of those individuals is Dr. Marcia Angell who worked closely with the FUSN. Dr. Marcia Angell is the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, and Professor of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

It is clear that once again, pro-life Catholic groups, and members of varied Evangelical Christians, Orthodox Jews, and other religious entities will lead the opposition. Fortunately for patients around the US and in the state of Massachusetts, the work of the UUA and FUSN congregations across the US and the support of medical organizations, MDs, and other support staff in public and social health services will make a difference for patients who, as of yet, have not had the option of saying how and when they would end their lives.

The proposal would not force any medical doctors of staff to engage in the end-of-life decisions of a patient if they did not want to. This is an opportunity for voters to address end-of-life decisions and decide whether or not they believe others should be making decisions as to how they will end their lives.

Here are a few of the safeguards in the Act, taken directly from the website:

• Three requests must be made by the patient for the prescription, two oral and one written. There is a 15-day waiting period between the first oral request and the writing of the prescription, and a 48-hour waiting period between the written request and the writing of the prescription
• The terminally ill patient’s written request must be independently witnessed by two people
• Only the terminally ill patient may self-administer the medication
• Only adult residents of Massachusetts may receive prescriptions under the act

• The patient may change his or her mind at any time

I included this information after I had written the original blog, in response to the comments of a writer who was against the Act.

As far as I can tell, numerous safety measures have been implemented in order to make sure that patients requesting they be allowed to end their lives can do so. In fact, maybe too many safeguards have been implemented, including the fact that the deadly dose must be requested by the patient at least three separate times! Though this might be easy for a patient who is not dying, for someone who is terminally ill, these may prove difficult steps, and yet it is necessary that we take all these precautions.

Yet even with all these measures, there are those who continue to oppose the Act. How many more safeguards can there be? Quite simply, the only individuals who would still oppose the Act are those who believe that they must intercede, based upon their interpretation of religious texts which are more than 2,000 years old. One such individual commented on my blog, but I deleted her comments simply because I don't have time for the shake, rattle, and roll of the religious right. And these are the same individuals who are anti-abortion, and yet who strangely continue to vote for and support pro-death penalty candidates.

As a humanist, and as a practicing Buddhist, I believe that individuals must be given the choice and allowed to choose and examine end-of-life options for themselves, and their loved ones. We cannot allow the church, or any other religious entity, to enter into this debate. To date, unfortunately, only the state of Oregon provides end-of-life options for its citizens, and this is a great disservice to the rest of Americans.

Until the time when physicians effectively treat patients who live with chronic pain, the Death with Dignity Act should also be an option for those patients. Being one of those patients, I can already hear the vociferous demands by religious entities that patients like myself should continue to live, even if their quality of life is greatly diminished, however, the issue here is life and dignity. We must enable patients to make end-of-life decisions for themselves.

Whether we are for or against the Massachusett's Death With Dignity Act, we should wholeheartedly support the work of UUA members, and of compassionate individuals like Dr. Marcia Angell,  who continue to work tirelessly on behalf of all patients who are suffering. 

I include here a link to a Boston TV news program debate. It is presented here in a YouTube interview with both the views of the proponent and the opponent of the Massachusett's Death with Dignity Act.

In Response to "The Nation" Editorial of May 15, 2012

Lessons in Disloyalty: Eduardo Saverin and the Facebook IPO, by Ilyse Hogue,The Nation Blogger [http://www.thenation.com/blogs/ilyse-hogue]

 

I think that your view and comments about Saverin's nature are rather mean-spirited. 

When he came to the US he certainly had to file an application and pay fees to US Immigration, and there was nothing on that application that required that he share his wealth with the rest of us! After all, this is America, where capitalism rules!

Just because we acted—as we should have—out of compassion for a family whose children were at risk, suddenly they have to go around greasing our palms? Does anyone "owe" anything when they come here? No. All we ask is that they become law abiding citizens, and he has done that. Let's not get all sentimental about what immigrants owe the rest of us. And, if we looked closer, we would see that he has In fact, helped the US economy. If you were expecting a care package, you were mis-guided.If you are going to bad-mouth Saverin, then we must call out the thousands of millionaires and billionaires we could also accuse of being "callous". Thousands of them fled the country to go to countries like China, where they exploit their own, and have wiped out, in a genocide, an entire culture of Tibetans, sold their lands to international mining companies, etc. 

Or we can look at the fashion industry, and those corporations who have also gone to China, India, and Mexico, deny US citizens jobs in those markets, here on our soil. Why single one individual out, simply because he happens to make the news today? Saverin attended Harvard, and he did that by himself, and doesn't owe me or any other American anything. That was HIS accomplishment. The really guilty parties are those who fled abroad, simply to save money, denying millions jobs here, but no one cared about that, then. It only became an issue when our economy went bust.

Let's face it, Americans are the world's largest consumers, and the "American dream" is about making money and buying stuff. Stuff we don't need. All we want is a cheap product, and as we are walking down the aisle at a Zayre's or at Home Depot, the only thing Americans care about is the cost of the things they are shoving into their mouths or into their shopping carts. It is sad, but it's the truth. Today, millions are homeless because it was more important to buy "stuff" which eventually meant that they would not be able to afford to pay their mortgages. A perfect example of the American capitalist is each and every victim of that system is featured in a TV show called "Hoarders". It may be a stretch, but in many ways, most Americans aspire to owning "stuff".

Several years ago I read about a woman who was the head of some office that dealt with banking regulations in the US government.Her job, and the responsibilities of those beneath her, was to root out evil in the banking industry. In the short period of two years she was there she drafted a report which enraged many in the banking and investment industries. Her report suggested greater controls were needed, and especially in the derivatives markets. She went to great lengths to depict the crash and economic strife that would ensue if investment managers were allowed to play with derivatives in the manner they had been. 

Not surprisingly, she was immediately fired. But not before she was publicly humiliated by those in power—and I believe that some of those included Bernanke, the Chair of the Federal Reserve. 

Bernanke's roommate at Harvard, now the head of Goldman Sachs, was Llyod Blankfein, was also a player at that time. Blankfein recently declared a $12.4 million salary! And it is no strange coincidence that Blankfein is again in the news. My point here is that changes need to be made in banking and investments. 

Saverin doesn't belong to that industry, and is not responsible for felling America to her knees, ruining our country and the reputation of the banking industry in the US. Perhaps, however, it is Harvard we should be looking at, which consistently creates these little capitalistic piggies. (LOL)
It is obvious that the two B's and their ilk have ruined the American banking industry, which was once based on trust and truth. And they have done so willingly, caring less about us, and more about their own personal accounts, the wealth of their families, friends, and personal portfolios. 


In order to change any of this, American citizens, students, mothers, daughters, workers, men from the left, men from the right, all of us will have to get out into the street, and hold Congress and Republicans responsible for failing to enact laws which would hold corporations and banks accountable, and exact punishment, demand payback. 


Until the day that Americans are ready to take to the streets, like students are doing here in Montreal, protesting the rise of university tuition hikes, Americans will continue to suffer under Republican values, as we have all done since Ronald Reagan took office. As such, we will remain powerless to effectively promote equality and honesty in these corporations. 


Those who are now in power are not concerned with ordinary citizens, but only with making more money, like Bernancke and Blankfein. The street throngs will threaten the capitalist system and force corporate moguls to initiate the necessary regulations, and increase taxes in those states where it is necessary—all measures the Democrats and Obama have been pressing Congress to initiate. 


As I evaluate the economic collapse and the real costs the middle class has paid, I wonder about that woman Bernanke humiliated, then fired, and how her predictions have come true, time and again, and how smug she must feel, right now—and she has every right to be! Instead of giving her credit for her brilliant work, she was humiliated and fired. And her tools were nothing special. She had no magic wand, no magic fairy dust. Like the rest of us, she ventured into her office every day with a sense of decency and the conviction that it was her responsibility to protect both investors and regular American citizens. Sadly, while she rooted out the evil at the highest levels of the banking and investment establishments, they then turned on her, like jackals, and no one from Congress came to her aid.


Singling Saverin out as the bad guy is purely ridiculous. It is time we stopped pointing the finger at this guy and that guy and take to the streets, and demand change, because it is evident our elected officials are incapable and unwilling to do what needs to be done. It is each and every one of us that must root out those monsters, wherever they are perched. And we must do so if we are to rid ourselves of the injustices facing Americans—who are, after all, the majority. And again, we must, in certain states like California, which is about to go bust, allow the increase of taxes. If we do not take these necessary measures, the culture and landscape of that state will forever be altered. 


Saverin is no Blankfein, no Bernancke, no Bokassa. Each and every one of us holds the power that is necessary to topple these industries and to force them to change their policies. Of course, it will mean getting out of our air conditioned offices, and out of our $1,000 designer office chairs if any real change can be expected. 

Just imagine what would happen if tommorrow, no one signed into Facebook!

Revenu Québec-27 Avril, 2012, 10:28 PM

 

Canadian and US Food Alerts

There have recently been many food alerts from the CFIA, Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

I decided to look at the cause of the more than 100 alerts from one food processing plant, a plant called 761 licensed by the CFIA.

In the past two months since I signed up to receive alerts, there have been over 100 meat product alerts.

And when I looked at Plant 761, a Saskatoon based DBA, New Food Classics, I saw many frightening issues. 

First of all, athough Plant 761, DBA New Food Classics, is a company that is responsible for "boning" and "cutting" of chicken and beef products, and the processing of many brands, Plant 761 also serves as a holding station for the Canadian Immigrations and Health Canada, where seized and illegally imported meat products are stored, and examined.

This just doesn't sound right. It would be like housing hanta virus patients in a hospital maternity ward.

New Food Classics has many other dbas: "THE FOODSERVICE COMPANY : OVER THE EDGE : GRILLHOUSE : BBQ PERFECT : GROUND & BROWNED : BENTO : OVEN PERFECT : ABSOLUTE FAVOURITES : MICRO PERFECT : CANADIAN GOURMET : PUBPAN : MASTERCUT : SUPER CLUB : RECIPE READY" 

In any case, Plant 761 is guilty of producting over 100 different products, and is now part of an on-going e-coli infection.

The on-going inspection is a complicated but necessary meaure if Health Canada and CFIA are able to discover the source of the e-coli.

I am not certain how they will do this, simply because there appear to be hundreds of tainted products, all produced at Plant 761.

Many of these products are beef products, including frozen beef patties. These products are not only sold retail but are sold in bulk to hotels, restaurants, and other institutions. These patties are sold in restaurants but where else? Are they sold in universities, or in high school cafeterias? And how are consumers supposed to know about this?

The incident at Plant 761 is dis-arming, and there are potentially thousands of infected products on shelves in grocery stores, or ready to be served in high schools, or nursing homes.

Maple Lodge Farms, Grillhouse, Country Morning Gold, Calgary Stampede, Best Value, Exclusive Selections, PC, and PC Blue Menu, PC Butchers Choice, and Zabiha Halal are just a few of the many brands that are affected. Though Plant 761 does not seem to be licensed to sell either Halal or Kosher products, it appears, with one of its last entries, that they do practice ritual slaughter.

That product, the Maple Lodge Farms'  "Halal Burgers", and yet the plant does not appear to be licensed to perfom ritual slaughter. The other issue is this, are customers made aware that these products are Halal, or Kosher? Because quite often, as we learned, recently, in Montreal, customers are kept in the dark about ritual slaughter. Quite often, chickens and other products are slaughtered ritualistically and sold at an increased price, without telling the consumer.

As a Buddhist, I don't agree with Jewish or Muslim ritual slaughter. Buddhism believes that animals should not be killed, but if they are, every possible effort should be made to cause them the least amount of pain. The ritual slaughter of animals is cruel, and should be abolished, however, since it is generally accepted by society, and embraced by certain religions, we should at least demand that ritual slaughter not be performed in the same plants where other products are being processed.

Likewise, I assume many non-Buddhists woulld share this belief. 

"15 choses que vous devriez abandonner pour etre joyeux"

Voila une traduction de l'original, (for English version, click on this link)  "15 Things You Should Give Up to Be Happy" par l'equipe "Finer Minds"

La traduction et toutes le fautes sont les miens. Je partage cela pour mes amis Québecois et Francais.

En fait,  je veut aussi dirent que toute les idees presenter ici sont des points instrumental du Bouddhisme, et toute les idees presenter sont utiliser dans les praticques de meditation Bouddhiste.

Personne ne peut "acheter" et ne devrait pas s' approprier de les enseignments du Bouddha sans donner une reference et je trouve que l'ecrivain de ce blogue aurait du dirent qu'elle etait aussi influencer par les enseignments du Bouddha. Mais, si elle aurait fait ca, comment presenter ses idees comme les siennes? Est-ce que j'ai tort?

Peut-etre je devrait dirent que il ya plusieurs de gens qui on "reformer" les idee Bouddhiste, et qui on profiter, d'une maniere ou d'autre, de les enseignments. Je le voit avec des gens qui ont former de grande organismes financieres, en utilisant des idees qui devrait rester gratuit, pour toute le monde. Il faut aussi savoir que d'etre honnetre c'est aussi une maniere d'etre joyeux.

"15 choses que vous devriez abandonner pour etre joyeux "

L'article qui suit a été écrit par l'un de nos propres membres de l'équipe MindValley, Dana, et est un "morceau du cœur". Après avoir reçu un stupéfiant 318.000 parts nous avons pensé qu'il était juste de partager cela avec vous afin que vous aussi, vous pouvez identifier les 15 pratiques, croyances et habitudes qui peuvent vous empêcher d'être heureux. L'article est un peu plus longtemps que d'habitude mais il est assaisonné avec des aperçus percutants et parsemé de citations inspirantes. Amusez-vous!

Voici une liste de 15 choses qui, si vous les abandonnez, vous rendra la vie beaucoup plus facile et vous vous sentirez beaucoup, beaucoup plus heureux. Nous nous accrochons à tant de choses qui nous causent beaucoup de douleur, le stress et la souffrance -- et, au lieu de les laisser tous aller qui pourrait nous laisser sans stress et heureux, nous nous accrochons à eux.

Eh bien, pas plus. A partir d'aujourd'hui, nous allons renoncer à toutes ces choses qui ne nous servent plus, et nous allons embrasser le change. Etes-vous prêt? Allons y!

1. Abandonnez votre besoin de toujours avoir raison. Il ya tellement beaucoup d'entre nous qui ne peut pas supporter l'idée de se tromper -- Vouloir toujours avoir raison -- même au risque de mettre fin à d'excellentes relations ou de causer de grand stress et de douleur pour nous et pour les autres. Il vaut simplement pas la peine. Chaque fois que vous vous sentez besoin de sauter dans un combat de qui a raison et qui a tort, posez-vous cette question du docteur Wayne Dyer:

"Aurais-je plutôt à droite, ou devrais-je plutôt genre?" Quelle différence cela fera t'il? Est-ce que votre ego est vraiment si gros?

2. Abadonnez votre besoin de toujour avoir le contrôle. Soyez prêts à renoncer à votre besoin de toujours contrôler tout ce qui vous arrive et ce qui arrive autour de vous -- des situations, événements, personnes, etc. Qu'ils soient proches, vos collègues, ou tout simplement des gens inconnus que vous rencontrez sur la rue -- il suffit de leur permettre d'être. Laissez tout et à chacun la permission d'être comme ils sont et vous verrez combien mieux que vous vous ressentez.

"En laissant aller, il se fait tout. Le monde est gagné par ceux qui le laisse aller. Mais lorsque vous essayez et essayez. Le monde est au-delà de la victoire. " Lao Tseu

3. Abandonnez le blâme. Il faut renoncer votre besoin de blâmer les autres pour ce que vous avez ou n'avez pas, pour ce que vous ressentez ou ne ressentez pas. Arrêter de donner vos pouvoirs et commencer à prendre la responsabilité de votre vie.

4. Abandonnez vos idees auto-destructive. Ah oui! Combien de personnes se sont blesser en raison de leur négativité, idees polluée et vouée à l'échec répétitif état d'esprit? Ne croyez pas tout ce que votre esprit vous dit - surtout si elle est négative et autodestructive. Vous valez mieux que cela.

"L'esprit est un superbe instrument s'il est utilisé à juste titre. Utilisé à tort, cependant, il devient très destructive." Eckhart Tolle

5. Abandonnez vos croyances limitantes sur ce que vous pouvez ou ne pouvez pas faire, ce qui est possible ou impossible. A partir de maintenant, vous ne va plus permettre à vos croyances limitantes pour vous tenir collé au mauvais endroit. Déployez vos ailes et envolez-vous!

«Une croyance n'est pas une idée détenus par l'esprit, c'est une idée qui tient l'esprit." Elly Roselle

6. Arreter à vous plaindre. Donnez votre besoin constant de vous plaindre de beaucoup, beaucoup, des choses. -- Ni personnes, ni les situations ou les événements vous rendent malheureux, triste ou déprimé. Personne ne peut vous rendre malheureux, aucune situation peut vous rendre triste ou malheureux, sauf si vous les permettez de le faire. Ce n'est pas la situation qui déclenche les sentiments en vous, mais c'est plutot comment vous choisissez de les regarder. Ne sous-estimez pas la puissance de la pensée positive.

7. Abandonnez le luxe de la critique. Abandonnez votre besoin de critiquer les choses, les événements ou les gens qui sont différents de vous. Nous sommes tous différents, mais nous sommes tout pareil. Nous voulons tous être heureux, et nous avons tous envie d'aimer et d'être aimé et nous voulons tous être compris. Nous voulons tous quelque chose, et quelque chose est souhaitée par nous tous.

8. Abadonnez votre besoin d'impressionner les autres. Arrêtez d'essayer d'être quelque chose que vous n'êtes pas juste pour etre comme les autres. Il ne fonctionne pas de cette façon. Au moment où vous arrêtez d'essayer d'être quelque chose que vous n'êtes pas, le moment où vous abondonnez tous vos masques, et le moment où vous acceptez d'embrasser le réel, vous trouverez que les gens seront attirés vers vous, sans effort.

9. Abandonnez votre résistance au changement. Le changement est bon. Changer vous aidera à passer de A à B. Le changement vous aidera à apporter des améliorations dans votre vie et aussi la vie de ceux qui vous entourent. Suivez votre bonheur, embrasser le changement - ne lui résiste pas.

"Suivez votre bonheur et de l'univers vous ouvrira les portes où il y avait seulement les murs." Joseph Campbell

10. Abandonnez les étiquettes. Arrêtez l'étiquetage des choses, les gens ou les événements que vous ne comprenez pas comme étant bizarre ou différent et essayez d'ouvrir votre esprit, peu à peu. L' Esprit ne fonctionne lorsqu'il est ouvert.

"La plus haute forme de l'ignorance, c'est quand vous rejetez quelque chose à propos que vous ne savez rien." Docteur Wayne Dyer

11. Il faut renoncer à vos peurs. La peur est juste une illusion, il n'existe pas -- vous l'avez créé. Tout est dans votre esprit. Corrigez l'intérieur et l'extérieur se mettra en place.

"La seule chose que nous avons à craindre, c'est la peur elle-même." Franklin D. Roosevelt

12. Abandonnez vos excuses. Envoyez-leur emballage et dites leur qu'ils ont tiré. Vous n'avez plus besoin d'eux. Un grand nombre de fois où nous nous limitons à cause des nombreuses excuses que nous utilisons. Au lieu de cultiver et de travailler sur l'amélioration de nous-mêmes et nos vies, nous sommes coincés et on est pret a mentir à soi, en utilisant toutes sortes d'excuses -- des excuses que pour 99,9% du temps, ne sont même pas réel.

13. Abandonnez le passé. Je sais, je sais. Celui-ci est difficile. Surtout quand le passé ressemble tellement meilleur que le présent et l'avenir s'annonce si effrayant. Mais, vous devez prendre en considération le fait que le moment présent est tout ce que vous avez et tout ce que vous aurez jamais. Le passé que maintenant vous avez envie pour - le passé a que maintenant vous rêver -- a été ignoré par vous quand il était présent. Arrêtez de vous leurrer. Soyez présent dans tout ce que vous faites et profiter de la vie. Après tout, la vie est un voyage, pas une destination. Avoir une vision claire pour l'avenir, préparez-vous, mais soyez toujours présent dans le moment présent.

14. Renoncer à l'attachement. C'est un concept qui, pour la plupart d'entre nous, est si difficile à saisir et je dois vous dire que c'était pour moi aussi (il est encore), mais il n'est pas impossible. Vous obtenez de mieux en mieux avec le temps et la pratique. Le moment où vous vous détacher de toutes choses (et qui ne signifie pas que vous renoncez à votre amour pour les autres --. Parce que l'amour et l'attachement n'ont rien à àvoir avec l'autre, L'attachement vient de la peur, tandis que l'amour ... eh bien, l'amour est véritable pur, naturelle, et désintéressé; où il ya l'amour il ne peut pas avoir de la peur, et de ce fait, l'attachement et l'amour ne peut pas co-exister), vous devenez si paisible, si tolérant, si gentil, et si sereine. Vous arriverez à un endroit où vous serez en mesure de comprendre toutes choses, sans même essayer. Un état-delà des mots.

15. Renoncer à vivre votre vie à des attentes d'autres personnes. Beaucoup trop de gens vivent une vie qui ne leur appartient pas. Ils vivent leur vie en fonction de ce que pensent les autres est le meilleur pour eux, ils vivent leur vie en fonction de ce que leurs parents pensent être le mieux pour eux, à ce que leurs amis, leurs ennemis et leurs enseignants, leur gouvernement et les médias pense que le meilleur est pour eux . Ils ignorent leur voix intérieure, cette vocation intérieure. Ils sont tellement occupés avec tout le monde agréable, avec la hauteur des attentes des autres, qu'ils perdent le contrôle sur leurs vies. Ils oublient ce qui les rend heureux, ce qu'ils veulent, ce dont ils ont besoin ... et finalement, ils oublient eux-mêmes. Vous avez une vie - celle-ci dès maintenant - vous devez le vivre, se l'approprier, et surtout ne laissez pas les opinions des autres vous distraire de votre chemin.

Dana est le directeur du développement produit pour MindValley et le fondateur de "Purpose Fairy Blog". Un étudiant de l'art, l'économie et la psychologie, Dana puise son inspiration dans les romans de Lao Tseu avec le Tao Te Ching à la vie des dirigeants tels que Wayne Dyer et Carl Jung. Elle insuffle la vie en évolution constante et de l'esprit-de transformer les approches dans les travaux qu'elle fait, un défi aux gens de se remettre en question.

Canadian, E-coli & Clostridium botulinum Infections not Limited to Meat and Fish Products.

Today I want to talk about the many alerts I have been receiving lately concerning tainted food products in Canada. These products include meats, bean sprouts, lettuce and vegetables, and today, a fish called mullet, in the Canadian food chain.

These reports are from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The website is provided in both official Canadian languages, French and English. 

Every time  C-Difficile, Clostridium botulinum, or E-Coli infects a food with a bacteria I am sent an e-mail alert. To receive the CIFA alerts, click here.

Today's alert was for the Lotus brand of whole fesikh mullet (a "salted and cured fish") — a fish that Jewish people eat regularly, if I am not mistaken—and while I am not someone who eats mullet, I have seen it sold in varied my local fish market and kosher food stores in my hood. If I lived in the area mentioned, in Ontario, however, I would be concerned.

A few weeks ago, I was very worried when I noted that my trusted brand of organic seed sprouts, (Mumm's brand) were mentioned as having possibly been tainted with E-coli. The alert erroneously stated that the product was sold in only a couple provinces, failing to mention that it is also distributed in Quebec province. I quickly ran to chekc to see if my package was a culprit but it was not—luckily, the Mumm's Bean Sprout seeds I had were purchased many months ago.

I have noticed a serious increase in number of infected meat, beef, chicken and fish products however, and the infections are not limited to proteins. Many different vegetable and fruit products have also been cause for concern.

In a recent alert, I noted an alert of more than  50 Canadian companies selling frozen meat products —mostly beef patties—which are regularly sold in major Canadian supermarkets. This specific alert, focused on beef patties, is worrisome because we all know these patties are a summertime grill favorite!

Un Jeune qui a Fait $165,000 Sur YouTube: "Caine's Arcade"

 

Une tres belle histoire!

Toute droit d'auteur a Nirvan Mullick, 2012

Bed Bugs-Punaises Montreal

Here is a shocking look at the bedbug problems at the Hotel Le Prestige, which should be called Hotel la Punaise (the Bedbug Hotel), on Sherbrooke Street in Montreal.

Very sad.

Unfortunately, I lived in a building with bed bugs and it took me 1.5 years to get INTO the Housing Court!

Montreal Housing Court is as dysfunctional and an unfair system. It joins the Quebec Health Care system as one of the province's worst offices. (Take for example the fact that Red Cross Quebec infected thousands with HEP C years ago, and now, with results in, independent studies showed that more than 150 women were misdiagnosed when they went in for mammographies. Those 150 women had some form of cancer, and they were told that they did not!

But that list goes on and on.

I want to get back and talk about the Quebec Housing Court, aka Le Regie.

Years ago, I lived in a building on Victoria Avenue that was infested with bedbugs.

One day a young man came to my door and asked me if there were bedbugs in the building. I could not lie. Yes, there are three different tenants who have told me, and shown me that they had bedbugs.

He then told me that he had just spoken with the landlord and they had told him they did NOT have bed bugs.

That is very sad.

Not only do we have a really poor and unfair housing system in Quebec, which only looks out after the interests of the landlord, but now we have to deal with landlords who lie about their properties—like the one I just moved into a few months ago, and now I have to wait for another year to go to housing court.

This is a link to a YouTube video about a Montreal hotel with bed bugs.

If you go to www.bedbugregistry.com , you will, however, note that there are hundreds if not thousands of homes in Montreal that have bedbugs.

When landlords are allowed to rent dirty, mice, cockroach, bedbug infested properties, without any sort of penalty, then this will continue. Once tenants have moved in, it is not like in other cities, or states (I am from Massachusetts) where one could, within a month, go to court and order that the landlord fix the problems. Here it takes at least a year, or more, like it took me, to get into the Housing Court. Even WITH bedbugs in my old apartment, the Housing Court did not find that sufficient enough to bring myself and the landlord in earlier!

If that had happened in Boston, I would have received three free months FOR EACH VIOLATION! That may sound harsh, but is it? I don't think so. If Montreal had similar laws, then landlords would adopt adequate measures and ensure that their properties MET WITH CITY AND PROVINCIAL HEALTH AND INSPECTIONAL SERVICES GUIDELINES.

But this is not the case.

Television shows and news shows in the province regularly feature news stories, as they did last week, about the poor conditions of apartments in Montreal. Families living with black mold, families living with walls exposed down to the very skeleton of the wall, rats, mice, bedbugs, cockroaches, holes in the wall.

Likewise, the City of Montreal is as guilty as the Province. When the city ordered my old landlord to install a locking front door to our building—that's right, we could not lock the front door, meaning everybody did and could walk in— and asked them to install ringers, for the apartments, again, yes, none of the tenants had ringers, so if we were expecting people after 10pm, the concierge had locked the front door, and we then had to hang out or wait for our friends to call us.

Though it has been more than a year, no door has been installed and no buzzers have been installed for tenants!

I write about the bed bugs because we need a working version of www.bedbugsregistry.com . For some reason, the site is not functioning very well right now. 

What we really need is for the city to update its housing laws, making it a fairer system. If a tenant doesn't pay his or her rent, you can be assured that it won't take a year for the landlord to get that tenant into court!

"Your God is My God"

Greetings folks!

I just wanted to share a recent Sam Harris blog with you.

Harris is an author and proud scholar-atheist with a number of really great books on the subject. The two I have purchased and read included "The End of Faith" and "Letter to A Christian Nation". Both are five-star books on the topic. 

In "Your God is My God" Harris writes a fictitious letter he suggests Mitt Romney should write and how in doing  he  "...could probably appease the Republican base and secure his party’s nomination if he made the following remarks..."

Again, from Harris, another brilliant piece of writing. Enjoy!

 

 

Another Example of a Failing Democracy and the Emerging American Kakistocracy

Some complained about my use of the word kakistocracy ("The government of a state run by the very worst of its citizens." OED) when commenting on a piece in Wired on the merger of Wikileaks and Anonymous, several days ago.

I should note here that while I admire the work of Anonymous, I do not condone illegal activity and it deeply saddens me to hear that one of the men arrested allegedly stole $700,000. If this is true, then he should face the music. By and large, however, the work of Anonymous appears to have been a service afforded the rest of us, and it is those actions and that philosophy that I applaud. 

As is customary, the OED provides us with a literary quote, and the quote for kakistocracy comes from one of America's greatest writers, James Russell Lowell, a leading proponent of the writers' movement known as the Romantics.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts poet, novelist, linguist and literary theorist was also a Harvard graduate. He even graduated with a law degree. In addition, he served as editor of the Atlantic Monthly, and was a popular abolitionists.

Lowell's interests matched his wit and his heart, and so it should come as no surprise to learn that he was a gifted psychic and a medium; he was also an important figure in the spiritualist movement, and is said to have regularly communicated with "spirits" and participated in what we would call "automatic writing", a trait still popular today, and an important tool in the work of another Cambridge, Massachusetts poet and channeler and psychic, Kurt Leland.  I met Kurt many, many years ago, and though I have not stayed in touch with him, I know that he is a published poet and a gifted psychic. 

Lowell was also an important linguist and was a founder of the American Dialect Society, which later influenced HL Mencken to start American Speech an important "Quarterly of Linguistic Usage" in the US, which is still in print, nearly a century later.

If Lowell could inspire a literary beast like Mencken, it was because he also had many good friends in the world of literature, and sadly, many of them, according to Wikipedia.org, including "Quincy, Longfellow, Dana, and Emerson," died before he did.

Lowell was a jack-of-all-trades and it is surprising how he could have done so much given the lack of iPads, iPhones, Blackberry's and computers. (LOL) All kidding aside, he really was busy. An editor for the Atlantic Monthly, he also worked as an abolitionist. His work took him to Philadelphia, and if poets are prophets, as I believe them to be, and as Lowell himself believed them to be, then his greatest prophetic moment came when he wrote ["1876 Lowell Lett. II. vii. 179, "Is ours a government of the people, by the people, for the people, or a Kakistocracy rather, for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools?"]

Today I received an email and therein a call to action from the Keystone Progress. Keystone Progress has as affiliates, a great number of socially responsible organizations including Moveon.org, Change to Win, Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club, My Rural America, Democracia USA, AFL-CIO, and AFSCME, to name just a few. 

Keystone Progress wrote urging members to contact their Senators, and to request that they repeal the PA Voter Suppression Bill (House Bill 934).

The Voter Suppression Bill (House Bill 934), would target Philadelphia individuals who do not have state-issued photo ID cards, and prevent them from voting! Once again, Republicans are desperately trying to target the poor and a variety of other communities, in order to prevent them from voting.

And they are candid about their beliefs: as one of the founders of the Bill states, “They want everybody to vote. I don’t want everybody to vote. . . . As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

Again, this is just one of the strangest attempts by Republicans to crush democracy. According to Keystone Progress, the Pennsylvania Senate will be voting on this bill soon and KP is working hard to make sure that the bill is repealed.

I, for example, have not been driving since I moved to Montreal, would not be able to vote because I neglected to have my Massachusetts driver's license renewed, a few months ago. Likewise, non-drivers would also be impacted, and others, like the handicapped, who cannot drive.

Keystone Progress acknowledges that many of the elderly, and the poor, who rely on public transportation, and don't have cars, would also be affected. 

To contact your Senator, in the US, or for more info, send an email: info@keystoneprogress.org or contact them via their website. http://keystoneprogress.org/

The American Kakistocracy

(This was originally a comment on Disqus, in response to an article about the recent merging of Wikileaks and Anonymous.)

The American kakistocracy is the real threat, making it nearly impossible for US citizens to continue to live the lives we once did, given the letter of our Constitution. The Christian right, right-wing Conservatives, and now the military, continue to commit the real crimes as they seek to limit all manner of expression, especially that speech which is critical of US policies, either at home or abroad. It is these crimes, committed by the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, and varied US governmental bodies, which should worry every American citizen.

Actions against whistle-blowers by those who have secrets, like Bush, Clinton, and now the Obama administration, are just as real a form of terrorism and criminal activity as any that is being levied against us by any foreign body. It is these covert actions, committed against us by our own government, and not the actions of Manning, which should be cause for closer scrutiny. Manning, in my honest opinion, should be given the Nobel Peace prize.

How little Christian Evangelicals and Conservatives know or care about the real behind-the-scenes antics and unethical actions of their own government! Politicians enjoy talking to the working class about the economy and taxes, but those citizens seem not to care about the fact that their government has been monitoring them for decades.

According to freedom of information documents gathered for the past twenty years, the government has been spying on American citizens, tapping their phones, monitoring both individuals and groups. It is clear that these violations are of little importance to mainstream Americans, many of whom are the bible-thumping, right-to-life observers, who seem, for some odd reason, to care so much about these other issues, and yet have no interest in the rights granted to us by our Constitution. And why is that?

If, as Americans, we believe in liberty, why are we willing to part with it so easily, without a fight?  With each passing day, the American landscape looks more like a Russia under Putin, and less like the America depicted in our Constitution.

The stories that are being "leaked" are stories which show just how poorly, how unethically, and illegally our elected government officials have been behaving, on the world scene: it is no wonder they want to put Manning in jail for the remainder of his lifetime! Why is it that Americans are not infuriated by the fact that their President, and his administration, have taken to cloak-and-dagger drone attacks around the world, and why does the assassination of an American citizen on foreign soil remain buried in a New York Times centerfold?

Instead of imprisoning whistle-blowers, isn't it clear we need more patriots like Manning, WikiLeaks, and Anonymous, now more than ever? Given the lack of ethical, moral, and educated responses to events facing the current administration, I find it particularly refreshing that it is secular groups and individuals like WikiLeaks, Assange, and Manning who have stepped in to do the work our elected officials have shown themselves incapable of doing. Sadly, it is important to note that it is American politicians, spouting the importance of religious values and ideals, who are incapable of acting ethically.

Manning is far from a criminal, yet our politicians and legal minds are working feverishly on behalf of the military to draft laws which will see him imprisoned for the rest of his life. We want to make sure that he is punished, but are unsure why. Though we know of no lives which have been lost due to the release of WikiLeaks documents, the recent torching of the Koran on a military base has led to chaos and death for westerners; and certainly, we have not seen the end of the carnage. Why is it that Americans in charge of this operation could not see how insensitive their actions were? This act is a direct reflection of the American mindset, and shows the religious and ethical beliefs of those at the head of the Obama administration.

As Americans we are quick to portray ourselves as heroic cartoon figures, but we are far less the defenders of humanity and democracy than we would like the rest of the world to believe, even if we have somehow convinced ourselves we are. Mrs. Clinton, in her new role, speaks of selectively levying charges like crimes against humanity against this government or that government, here and there, and yet neither she nor the department, past and present, have taken the initiative act in the same manner we ask other nations to.

When presented with an opportunity to bring honor to the United States, the Bush administration launched an illegal attack on Iraq.This is just one example of deceitful politicians suddenly cowering in the shadow of the Constitution. Given the option of war or peace, the Bush families illegally invaded Iraq, going so far as to lie to Hussein when he questioned them about their intent, shortly after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. This would have been the time for the Bush administration to step up.

The Obama administration, which proposed a different agenda for the United States during the elections, is speaking of an imminent Iranian attack. Newt Gingrich, flaunting his Catholic, family, and leadership qualities, openly chastises the US President for apologizing to the Muslim community for the burning of the Koran on a military base. Sadly, the Gingrich approach is a perfect example of the scantily clad religious values espoused by many like him in Conservative-Evangelical circles.

Mr. Gingrich, always on the verge of becoming a cartoon character himself, just has. Instead of creating a space for an intelligent conversation with the worldwide Islamic community, the Republican-Catholic-Conservatives' voice rose to a quivering queek, alternating between the hawkish, anti-Iranian language that has defined both the Republican and, of late, the Democratic parties.

No one, not the 2012 politicians, or those who have elected them to office, appear willing to take responsibility for anything they say or do. Personally, I tire of the religious indoctrination and dribble; that God is responsible for every success, whether it is goal at a soccer game, a home run, or the fact that a once homeless youth is now a world boxing champion, all because of God. Yet I tire more of the politicians who hold public office and how they feel free to broadcast their religious beliefs in a public setting.

Though our leaders seem so righteous, American citizens are quiet about the continued, clandestine assassinations of American citizens on foreign soil. These atrocities, whether by the CIA, Homeland Security, a drone attack, or work with foreign intelligence agencies around the world, have become acceptable losses to the American people.

Until another country decides to take on the role that America has, claiming it is the preeminent world leader, the democratic messiah of sorts, the work of Anonymous, WikiLeaks, and of whistle-blowers like Manning will remain productive, social tools which must be maintained, ensuring the rights of every American.