Majikthise

The Vancouver Olympics is a triumph of human civilization

Listen up, Canada Customs: The Vancouver Olympics will be the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful international sporting event I've ever seen. Is that clear?

I don't want to end up like U.S. journalist Amy Goodman, who was detained at the Canadian border by guards who were concerned that the host of the popular radio show Democracy Now! would speak out against the 2010 Olympics to be held in Vancouver, British Columbia. (via Melissa Lebo in Vancouver.)

For more international news, check out the latest edition of Morning Coffee.

US dollar reaches parity with Canadian

The US dollar and the loonie were trading one-to-one on Thursday. The US and Canadian dollars haven't been on par since 1976. [AP]

Crabby

Crab, originally uploaded by Lindsay Beyerstein.

This one's mine...

Don't worry, I'll be my usual even-tempered Canadian-bred self shortly.

It's nothing to do with the blog world. Offline stuff has me down.

No crisis, just some regrets.

Charter guarantees collective bargaining

old flame, originally uploaded by *Meredith.

The Supreme Court of Canada says that collective bargaining is protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms!

Not surprisingly, the government of British Columbia is miffed that the high court took away their power to negotiate contracts with unions and then legislate them away.

The Big Snit

One of the funniest animated shorts of all time: The Big Snit. "Stop sawing the table!" has become a catchphrase in my family.

Welcome, Jasper Bickle!

Congratulations to my dear friends Jen and John Bickle on the arrival of their first child, Jasper!

Jasper joined the esteemed ranks of Canadians at 23:50pm on Friday, April 20th, 2007.  He weighed in at 8 lbs. 2 oz. and measured 20 inches.

I'm very pleased to report that the whole family is elated, if tired.

Judging by the adorable preliminary baby pictures, little Jasper has inherited the radiant smiles of his parents.

Canadian taxpayers pay to rescue seal hunters

The Canadian Coast Guard is sending its heaviest icebreakers to rescue 450 seal hunters whose boats have been trapped by floating ice off Northern Newfoundland. [WaPo]

Update: I admire the Coast Guard for undertaking this mission and I'm proud that Canada has such advanced capabilities for rescuing people. I certainly don't bear the sealers any ill-will. I'm ambivalent about the hunt itself, but that's neither here nor there. These guys are in trouble. The Canadian way is to help first and ask questions later.

I just think it's important to keep track of the public and private costs of the hunt. The companies who profit shouldn't be allowed to quietly outsource occupational safety to the Canadian government.

If the Canadian taxpayers are footing the bill for an elaborate rescue mission, that's a precedent (and an ongoing liability) that should be taken into account when we assess the costs and benefits of allowing the seal hunt to continue--especially if there were any indication that these types of crises might become more common in the future due to climate change.

Canadian giant squid cartoons

Squid vs. Cat, II (061226_gsvc), originally uploaded by cephalopodcast.

I got yer Canadian giant squid cartoons.

Happy Friday!

FOX grooms Rachel Marsden as next Ann Coulter

Fox News loves immigrants, as long as they are right wing Canadian pundits. According to this Salon article by Rebecca Traister, FOX is grooming Rachel Marsden to be the next Ann Coulter. This should be interesting... I was at Simon Fraser during the great Marsden/Donnelly stalking controversy.

Marsden pursued swim coach Liam Donnelly for years and later accused him of sexual harassment when he rebuffed her advances. The feminist community at SFU rallied behind her. Donnelly was fired, only to have his name cleared.

I know several of the SFU people Traister interviews for the article. Patricia O'Hagan, the sexual harrassment coordinator who resigned over the scandal, was my demography professor. Neil Boyd, the criminology professor who was harrassed by Marsden and later wrote a book about sexual harassment on campus, is a close colleague of my dad's an a longtime family friend.

While I was at SFU, I worked at Starbucks. One morning a woman came in and handed me a sheet of paper as I was working the till. It took me a second to figure out what it was, partly because I'd gotten up at 3:45 to work the opening shift, but mostly because it was such a bizarre-looking document with red hearts and garlands and several different fonts. It was a resume, Rachel Marsden's resume. I dutifully handed it off to my assistant manager, relishing the look of confusion and revulsion on my supervisor's face. She didn't get the job.

After leaving SFU, Marsden was charged with stalking former radio personality Michael Morgan between Oct. 1 and Nov. 14, 2002. In October, 2004,  Marsden plead guilty to criminal harassment and was sentenced to one year's probation.

Forget Coulter. I think FOX is grooming Marsden to be the next Bill O'Reilly.

Pharma spam

I love the heroic pose of these "Canadian pharmacists." According to the unsolicited bulk email I received this morning, these selfless professionals will supply me with high quality prescription drugs "instantly."

"Order anytime, even if is 3am. Buy and cure yourself!"