kiran’s pensieve

This is encouraging news for people who are compassionate towards all animals: KFC Canada listens to PETA.

I heard the most beautiful rendition of this poem by the poet Allama Iqbal on farheen beg’s myspace page. It’s the one called “Dua”. Here’s a translation I found:

A Child’s Prayer

My hopes and wishes come upon
My lips from inside my heart.
Oh God, My life should be
Like a lamp, never to go dark.

Let the darkness of the world
Disappear from my presence.
Let every place become bright
From my shining existence.

Just as the flower stands with others,
Improving the garden’s beauty,
Let my life stand with knowledge
And dignify my community.

My life should be built around
Those who seek the light,
Just as the moth loves the glowing lamp
In the darkness of the night.

Oh God, Make me strive
Constantly to educate my mind,
With the light of knowledge
That you gave me the power to find.

I want to dedicate my life to those
Who are in need of special care.
The old, the young, the ill, the hungry,
I want to be fair.

Oh God, You gave us choices!
Protect us from sins,
Lead us to the path of righteousness,
Help us to do good things.

Most people saw this coming years ago.

At 10:59 a.m., a cheer went up on trading room floor

Is that in Canadian or American dollars?
“It didn’t really matter,” Mr. Feig says with a laugh. “It’s the same price either way.”

Aging workforce a tidal wave ready to hit economy

This was an interesting article about Canada’s aging population, that is not being replaced with children at the same rate. RESP’s, child tax credits, public healthcare, open immigration policy, these are all methods in which the government is trying to raise the numbers of the Canada’s youth population. As a G8 country with universal health care and high living standards, it’s quite an ominous thought that if the human “refill rate” in Canada remains the same, that within the next 10 years, “Canada may have more people at the age where they can leave the labour force than people at the age where they can begin working,”.

That doesn’t sound good.

Extending the working lives of everyone over a certain age is not only not going to solve the problem, it could make things worse. Ever seen an 95 year old drive? But seriously, after having worked for all these decades, the generations of people approaching their later years should be allowed some rest and reprieve, wouldn’t you agree?

Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a news story I’ve been following for a while that has to do with a London, Ontario family of a same-sex couple who had a child with a male friend. The second female member of the couple (the non-bio mother) had applied to gain status as the child’s third parent, and as of a ruling yesterday, she now has this status.

“Boy can have two mothers and a father, Ontario appeal court rules”
A.A. and C.C. have been in a stable same-sex union since 1990. In 1999, they decided to start a family with the assistance of their friend B.B.

The two women would be the primary caregivers of the child, but they believed it would be in the child’s best interests that B.B. remain involved in the child’s life.

Not only is this wonderful news for the progressive, sophisticated community of open minded individuals paving the beautiful realities of tomorrow in the face of traditionalists who would rather see loveless nuclear marriages than happy open families, this is also excellent for the child who will get to enjoy the love and support of 3 parents, 6 grandparents and a much larger family base than most others in the world.

There are those who believe that the human race is headed for hell specifically because the traditional definitions of marriage, family and community are being re-written. I say to them, who came up with those traditional definitions? Do you think things were always so? No they were not. Our idea of the 2 parent nuclear family is very recent. In fact untill about the middle ages, the Church itself frowned upon marriage of any kind. Until the Industrial Revolution, children were raised by an interconnected network of familial bonds with both blood and non-blood relatives. Monogamy itself is a concept very recently enforced in human history, there are many cultures in the world where it’s still not the norm.

So what’s the big deal? I say let all children enjoy the benefits of having more people love them and care for them. I say let all adults enjoy the same benefits. Let’s stop thinking of love as a limited commodity that must be held back. Instead let’s free ourselves to be who we know we are in our deepest dreams. Lets love and let love.

These stories don’t even require commentary…

“NJ Supreme Court gives same-sex couples more rights”

The case that resulted in Wednesday’s ruling was brought by seven same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses in New Jersey. The dissenting justices, led by Chief Justice Deborah Poritz, argued that the majority did not go far enough, saying that only marriage would allow gay couples to achieve equal benefits.

In making its ruling, the court reflected on the changes that have transformed marriage during the last 200 years, such as granting women greater rights within marriage.

“The institution of marriage reflects society’s changing social mores and values,” the majority said in its opinion. “Although courts can ensure equal treatment, they cannot guarantee social acceptance, which must come through the evolving ethos of a maturing society.”

“Bush concedes depth of domestic unease over war but vows new tactics will earn victory”

With less than two weeks to go before midterm elections in which the Republican party is expected to suffer heavily because of doubts about Mr Bush’s leadership of the war, yesterday’s press conference at the Oval Office was intended to convince ordinary Americans that the president has a credible plan for Iraq.

“Apple Hacking Could Be Good for iTunes”

What will this mean for Apple?

It’s too early to say. The company will clearly mount a legal challenge, but some analysts believe Apple could end up selling fewer iPods but more music.

“It could be in Apple’s interest that when people download music from iTunes, that consumers will be able to import it to other places: your home, your computer, your car,” McSherry says.

And other lawyers say there’s a big difference between “reverse engineering” and hacking into a company’s internal, confidential information or a bank’s records, for example. That is clearly against the law.

“Radio host accuses Fox of faking Parkinson’s”

In a new embarrassment for the Republicans, Rush Limbaugh, the doyen of conservative talk radio hosts, has issued a graceless apology after suggesting the actor Michael J Fox might have faked the effects of Parkinson’s disease in an election campaign advertisement pleading for embryonic stem cell research.

And last, but not least…

“Canada troops battle 10-ft Afghan marijuana plants”

“We tried burning them with white phosphorous — it didn’t work. We tried burning them with diesel — it didn’t work. The plants are so full of water right now … that we simply couldn’t burn them,” he said.

Even successful incineration had its drawbacks.

“A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action,” Hiller said dryly.

You don’t know exactly what to think of her, but one thing’s for certain: we are thinking of her.

The G&M has an interesting life in pictures about the very unforgettable Belinda. From the captions:

“Likes sex. Worth millions. Forceful advocate for women’s issues, AIDS, same-sex marriage, anti-poverty initiatives. Liberal MP and former cabinet minister Belinda Stronach is a politician devoted to causes but also involved in many controversies, personal as well as political. But so was Pierre Trudeau. Is there a gender inequality here?”

Meanwhile, even the Conservative-friendly Macleans Magazine is slapping the hand that feeds it, in its article, interestingly titled “Peter MacKay puts Tories in doghouse with alleged sexist comment“:

“After depicting a woman as his dog, how can the minister of foreign affairs pretend to promote women’s rights in Afghanistan or anywhere else?”

Earlier this year, MacKay apologized to former NDP leader Alexa McDonough for telling her during the recent election campaign to “stick to your knitting.”

Which leads us to the final newsflash of the day: “Support for Tories among women deteriorating, new poll suggests“

Harper says he’s finished with Ottawa press corps
Oh no… the press wants to *ask* me things. Why can’t I have it cushy like my massa, King George …. nobody in the press asks him anything he hasn’t planned for! BOOOHOOO!!! WAAAAAAHHH!!

Klein threatens to abandon equalization
Equalization? EQUALization? We’re Albertans for God’s sake! We’re almost Texans! We’d like to be anyway. We don’t know what these fancy words mean and we don’t care… simply because we’re better than everyone else! Except the Texans. Please adopt us, Mama Texas!