From Pivot Legal Society:
“Civil City Slam”
Tuesday, May 22, at 7 pm at First United Church 320 E. Hastings St, at Gore Ave.
This forum is being organized as a result of an initiative undertaken by 16 Vancouver progressive elected representatives, representing 3 levels of government, including MP Libby Davies; MLAs David Chudnovsky, Adrian Dix, Jenny Kwan, Gregor Robertson, and Shane Simpson; City Councilors David Cadman, George Chow, Heather Deal, Raymond Louie, and Tim Stevenson; School Board Trustees Allan Blakely, Sharon Gregson, and Allan Wong; and Parks Board Commissioners Spencer Herbert and Loretta Woodcock.
David Eby from Pivot Legal Society will speak at this event.
Read Pivot’s reaction to the appointment of former B.C. attorney-general Geoff Plant in today’s papers, including the International Herald Tribune.
Where is Ottawa?
Wednesday, May 23, at 7 pm – 9 pm at Unitarian Church 949 West 49 Ave.
“Stop homelessness for now, for 2010, forever.” Organized by the Carnegie Community Action Project in cooperation with The City Wide Housing Coalition.17 Members of Parliament from Vancouver and the GVRD have been invited to discuss what the role does federal government have in solving homelessness and housing crisis.
Come and say hello to the Pivot volunteers and staff at the Booth table!
HOPE IN SHADOWS: Can you help?
We are full-steam ahead in organizing this year’s HOPE IN SHADOWS photography contest, exhibition and calendar. Every year we need corporate sponsors, and this year is no exception. We are hoping to expand on the successful training we offered last year, but we need a few more businesses interested in supporting us. If you know of any company that has a policy of helping the community, please let Paul Ryan know. We accept all levels of sponsorship, from the purchase of a month by to in-kind donations. Please e-mail Paul at pryan at hopeinshadows dot com or call Paul on 604 782 2861 if you can help, even if it is just telling us about a company you think would be suitable, and we will contact them. HOPE IN SHADOWS now has its own website: http://www.hopeinshadows.com
———————-
About Pivot Legal Society
Pivot’s mandate is to take a strategic approach to social change, using the law to address the root causes that undermine the quality of life of those most on the margins. We believe that everyone, regardless of income, benefits from a healthy and inclusive community where values such opportunity, respect and equality are strongly rooted in the law.
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
It seems the US military is running short of personnel…something to do with the fact that they’re running out of people who are okay with the idea of being shot at for no particularly good reason or something. But, frankly, we never thought they’d get this desperate.
Sure, they’re sending soldiers with psychoses and traumatic stress disorder back into the front lines (hey, what’s the worst that could happen?). Sure, they’ve revoked the right of discharged or retired personnel to actually refuse to be re-deployed any time up until and/or including death. They’ve sorta kinda quietly starting redeploying people, even Reservists, up to four or five times. Sure, they’ve been caught on tape lying to would-be recruits about their chances of being sent to Iraq. They’ve been caught on camera coaching recruits how to fill in the answers in selection tests. And yeah, they’re even recruiting in malls full of white people now.
But no-one thought it would come to this.
They’re calling in teh gays.
From the Stars and Stripes:
Under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, he was quickly discharged from the service.
But now — whether through a clerical oversight or what some claim is an unwritten change in policy to keep more gay servicemembers in the ranks at a time of war — Jason Knight is back on active duty.
Since promoted to petty officer second class, Knight is finishing a scheduled one-year tour in Kuwait with Naval Customs Battalion Bravo. And, already kicked out of the Navy once, he sees no need to hide his sexual orientation.
“I thought it was a joke at first,” he said, remembering the day he received his recall orders. “It was the ultimate kick in the ass. But then I thought, there isn’t much they can do to me they haven’t done the first time.”
It was comments by Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that spurred Knight to come out publicly a second time. In defending the military’s policy, Pace called homosexual acts immoral and contrary to military values.
“Though I respect [Pace] as a leader, it made me so mad,” Knight said.
“I spent four years in the Navy, buried fallen servicemembers as part of the Ceremonial Guard, served as a Hebrew Linguist in Navy Intelligence, and received awards for exemplary service,” he wrote in a letter to Stripes. “However, because I was gay, the Navy discharged me and recouped my 13k sign-on bonus. Nine months later, the Navy recalled me to active duty. Did I accept despite everything that happened? Of course I did, and I would do it again. Because I love the Navy and I love my country. And despite Pace’s opinion, my shipmates support me.”
Dear god, what a sailor! If they’d hire a few more of those and let them finish their terms without discharging them, they’da won this bloody thing by now.
:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
Surfing randomly for a photo of a mother for some other blogging project, I was floored to come across the Tsunami blog, which is a record of the Boxing Day Tsunami in Thailand. The picture pages (20!) are astonishing. Unfortunately, the page is copy-protected and I can’t post image links, you’ll just have to follow the text link. The images here are authentic, but from other sites.
Yes, some of the images are hard to look at, but some of them more than make up for that, like picture number one on the Tsunami blog, which shows the tsunami approaching like a blue wall crested with clouds, and a Swedish mother running straight towards it, into the surf to save her children.
They all made it.
While you’re there, check out the images of the 2002 Chinese tidal bore. Some of these were circulated in 2006 as “tsunami pictures” but they are actually old photos of a rare occurrence where a river encounters an unusally strong incoming tide and the result is a tsunami-like wall of water that travels rapidly upriver. Apparently, it’s an annual occurance in that Chinese city and people just love it; they hang around the riverbanks and when it comes roaring their way they go all Running of the Bulls, giggling and jogging out of reach.
You know, I really hope they get cable in China soon, and free up the internet, because these people are obviously STARVED for entertainment.
:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
It seems so long ago that legendary beauties Kate Moss and Sophie Dahl were discovered in England; things are apparently very different now.
Ladies and gentlemen, stop what you’re doing. While we have all been going mindlessly about our daily business, perhaps dropping a dime into a beggar’s cap, writing a cheque for Darfur, protesting the Iraq invasion, or tithing to Greenpeace, a silent crisis has been brewing in the United Kingdom.
Your dollars, your rubles, your rupiahs: they will not solve this terrible problem. Indeed, they seem to have pounds galore, more than they know how to spend properly: this commodity is more precious. Money cannot solve this. There is only one thing that can.
Gentle readers, click upon the link I shall give you, and as you do so, realize that in the land that gave the world the Spice Girls, this is what currently rents for £640 an hour. Keep the eyewash handy, people.
Book your flights now: do your part for England. Or at least, share your parts with England.
:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::
raincoaster 