Protest in support of "Shoe Thrower" held in Montreal and Toronto

The Canadian Press reported that yesterday protest were were held in Toronto and Montreal to show support for the shoe thrower who tried to hit outgoing President George Bush with both of his shoes.

40 or so protesters in Montreal went to the US consulate and threw shoes at black and white pictures of the president. One of the first to do this was new elected Amir Khadir who ran for the separatist party Quebec Solidaire. Protesters spoke to anyone they could find in the media and made sure to mention that this was a "humorous protest". After the shoe throwing was over the Montreal protesters walked over to the Canadian Armed Forces recruiting Center and protested something else.

In the Toronto group of protesters was an Iraqi refugee by the name Ahmed Habib who stated he hopes that Canadian journalists start throwing shoes at Stephen Harper.

Normally, I like protest and I'm really happy that as Canadians we have the right to protest. I just wish people would pick their causes a little better. Don't get me wrong I was the first to laugh when the reporter threw his shoes at Bush but holding protests in solidarity of him and trying to equate his actions towards Bush as something that should somehow be done against our Prime Minister? I don't think so, I'm pretty sure if you asked the shoe thrower himself what he though of Stephen Harper he wouldn't even know or care about who he was.

Also, I just think the manner in which this protest was conducted, especially in Montreal, exhibited a complete lack of control and is a black eye on this city.

Not to mention that if any protest should be in Canada right now it should be about having blogger and fellow Canadian Hossein Derakhshan released from jail in Iran for speaking his mind. This seems a little bit more important to me then showing your solidarity for the shoe thrower. Just my two cents.

Muchacho Enfermo

China block access to NY Times website

As of late last Friday the New York Times website has been unavailable in China and could only be accessed from a virtual private network. As we all know China has taken great pains to try to explain to the world that it has the right to censure material it deems illegal or offensive. I'm guessing the Times had reported on something China didn't like.

For more see the Globe and Mail or Reuters.

Muchacho Enfermo

"There is no cholera"

"There is no cholera" is what Robert Mugabe was saying late this week at a three conference he holds weekly outside of Zimbabwe's capital. This comes on the tail of a declaration of a "cholera disaster zone" in a neighboring region of South Africa.

Mugabe was also quoted at this same meeting as having said: "Zimbabwe is mine". He also went on to say that among growing pressure from the rest of the African Union and the world, the only people who could remove him from power were the people of Zimbabwe.

All I have to say is this: They did Mr Mugabe, they told you to leave last time you held an election. You just refused to go anywhere.

Muchacho Enfermo

Mariela Castro and US agree on Human Rights

The US this week was the only western nation to vote a against a non-binding declaration proposed by the UN to decriminalize homosexuality. In voting against this motion the US is sending a clear message that although it has signed the Declaration of Human Rights 60 years ago, it seems that it considers homosexuality to be outside of that declaration and that sexual preference is not a basic Human Right.

In Cuba, Mariela Castro (daughter of Raul Castro and director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education) was holding a conference on the inclusion of homosexuals and transgendered people into Cuban society. At this conference she was asked by Yoani Sanchez (author of Generation Y)if Cuba's acceptance of gay and transgendered rights would open the door for a more widespread reform on Human Rights, such as giving Cubans the right to have political opinions. Mariela answered that this was outside her field of responsibility. Later in a letter she wrote, she more or less indicates that a discussion about gay rights is in no way related to a discussion about greater Human Rights.

So.... without even talking to each other about it both Cuba and the US seem to think that sexual preference is not really related to Human Rights. Maybe these two feuding nations have more in common then they like to admit.

Muchacho Enfermo

Castro: Wants to trade political prisoners for the "Cuban Five"

In Brazil today President Castro, little brother of Fidel Castro, has said that he is willing to send political prisoners and their families to the US in exchange for the "Cuban Five". The Cuban five are currently imprisoned in the US for espionage and attempted murder.

Castro has stated that he do "gesture for gesture" as a show of goodwill to the president elect Barack Obama and hopefully spur talks about ending the embargo. This comes on the heals of the other 32 South American and Caribbean nations having urged the US, last Tuesday, to end the embargo against Cuba.

We will have to wait and see if this pans out for Castro. If it does it would mean a major image boost in Cuba for his regime that has done their best to portray the "Cuban Five" as the "Five Heroes".

Nobody knows how this will play out on either side. Will Cuba hold their end of the proposed deal? Will the US cave and make the trade? This could be a chance to help the US rebuild their international reputation that has suffered worldwide in the last few years. International pressure has been mounting in the last few months for the US to lift the embargo, since both the UN and the EU have both voted to oppose it.

In my opinion, nothing will come of this, both sides are too entrenched in their self-righteousness to make a move and both sides have to deal with tremendous opposition pressure from within. I think this was just another volley in an ongoing war of words between the two nations.

For more information please visit Reuters.

Muchacho Enfermo

Why Danny Willaims is awesome.

Good morning everyone, I just wanted to get this off my chest. Danny Williams is awesome. He is the most interesting person in Canadian politics since Jean Chretien or Brian Tobin.

I remember about a year ago Report on Business had an interesting exposé on Mr. Williams called: That's Danny Billions to You.
Which is basically a short biography of Danny's adult life. Now Danny is back in the news, seizing the assets of AbitiBowater in Newfoundland-Labrador. When Danny heard the company wanted to close a plant, put people out of work, leave the province and sell off its natural resource rights Danny Williams stepped in and said that the “honourable thing” would have been for the company to have handed over its assets “free of charge.”

I don't always agree with Mr Williams and I most certainly don't usually with seizure of assets by governments. I just think Mr Williams is immensely entertaining and it's nice to see someone in Canadian politics with such fire. The last time I remember someone this dedicated to the voters was Brian Tobin standing in front of the UN on a pile of fish defending himself for having shot at Portuguese fishermen.

Another thing that I love about Williams is that everything he does he does for his voters or to get re-elected which is pretty much the same thing. Like the time he had all the Canadian flags taken down from government buildings in protest when he felt that Newfoundland-Labrador wasn't getting their fair share of equalization payments.

All that to say love him or hate him, Danny Williams is still awesome!

Muchacho Enfermo

New legislation in Russia brings back ghost of the KGB

New Vladimir Putin backed legislation would make it treason to pass "state secrets" to an NGO. Now we all know Russia and we all know Putin so the term "state secret" is a very loose term. Basically it means that anyone who criticizes the government or opposes them would be punishable by a 20 year term in prison. Russia has over 200 thousand NGOs according to wikipedia.

Let me put this in perspective: If this law were put in place in Canada, I could be arrested for my blog. Or if I criticized the government and donated money to Canadian Feed the Children.... Bam! 20 years in prison.

Between this law, the state appropriation of almost all the oil fields, that whole Georgia business and the talks of having a military presence in Cuba it feels like we're almost back in the bad old times of the Soviet Union.

Also check out The Jurist for a short and very concise explanation.

Muchacho Enfermo