Environmental issues

 We watched a couple of episodes of Spooks. I went to bed to read, Beastly Things, book #21 by Donna Leon in the Inspector Commissario series. It does make me feel better about Canadian government! As I read, I could hear a cat murping. Not Cinnamon, he doesn't murp but meows. I heard JB laughing in the living room. Of course I had to get up. So much for sleep hygiene! 

Here was Nutmeg, proudly celebrating the mouse she killed. She'd dropped it right in front of him on the carpet. She was quite happy to share her treasure. I suspect it was in the basement. I find that the adult mice know that there are cats in the house, but the young ones don't quite get this. Or don't run fast enough. We seldom see signs of them.

Outside it is a different tale. The lilies are growing like mad. The hostas... not so much. Our one regular doe has trimmed them. Grrrr! Actually, she's a thin one, and I don't mind. It happens every year.

These two are nicely trimmed. Normally deer begin at the outside hosta, then a day later move to the other. Maybe I just didn't notice!

The fence works for some of the flowers.

We've been a bit dry. I watered the Canna. It was happier and stood up tall.

My orchid is finally showing signs of blooming. I've put some of my indoor plants on the back deck. The orchid gets morning sunshine, the other plants are hidden by the BBQ. A perfect spot! I accidentally broke off the previous bud branch. 

Provincial Politics

And in provincial news, our re-elected premier is trying to build a new highway, #413. It is, many believe, unnecessary. We should simply open up the toll highway, #407, to ease traffic. It makes me so angry. Highway 413 route threatens 11 at-risk species, provincial government documents reveal — Toronto Star (@TorontoStar) June 29, 2022.

We are hoping that the feds are going to get involved: 

"the highway could harm three species at risk that were protected federally but not provincially: the western chorus frog, the red-headed woodpecker, and a rare dragonfly called a rapids clubtail."

You'll recall that I have participated in Western Chorus Frog surveys, as they are at risk, and the ministry is seeking to establish an idea of their population numbers.

What else did Doug Ford do? Ontario's new minister of natural resources faces environmental charges

Smith is charged with harming or harassing Blanding's turtles, designated by Ontario as a threatened species, and with damaging or endangering the habitat of the turtles. The Town of Bracebridge itself and two senior municipal officials also face identical charges.

Premier Ford announced his new cabinet ministers. There are a couple of surprises. There is a new Minister of Red Tape. (I kid you not!) You know what this means: someone dedicated to reducing oversight, ignoring the environmental issues, and giving free reign to developers.

He chose Graydon Smith to be his environmental minister. This is the former mayor of Bracebridge, who is charged with paving over the endangered Blandings Turtle habitat in Muskoka, despite environmentalists making presentations to inform his council of the egregiousness of this act. They went ahead anyway. 

I leave you with this:

One must remember there are good people in the world. I watched the Canadian Indspire Awards the other day. They gave an award to a First Nations entrepreneur who has created this ethical company. Cheekbone Beauty is amazing. They give back so much and inspire! Rich white men build an empire. First Nations women take care of themselves, one another, their community, and the earth. They believe in sustainability. 

What a day! Elections, coughing, birding

Praise be: thanks to TLC, Rx. and taking it easy, I made it through the night without coughing! Thank you, all, for your kind words of comfort. I feel so useless, with much to do on the property to prepare for winter. This is the challenge when one is ill: accepting care, for there is giving in receiving.
Isabelle is home sick, too! We just had a Skype session, and she showed off her back of collected kleenex! She's really good about coughing into her elbow! She's been blowing her nose and watching movies, too!
About Time –excellent one, done by the Brits. Very thought provoking. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think.

Daisy & I took a slow walk around the frog pond Monday. The Muskrat house is growing.
Daise likes to sit with me on our logs.

Lots of election news: Ontario votes Alberta had provincial elections, too

Yes, it was our 4-year fixed date for municipal elections. Now, municipal have the most impact on our lives, but Ottawa, for example, had a 39.9% voter turn out rate.

• Perth's mayor, our closest town, and his deputy mayor, was acclaimed.
• Smiths Falls, Carleton Place, several near-by towns have new mayors.
  
• Ottawa's mayor was re-elected. Yes, Jim Watson - who? Despite being a mayor of a big city, most of us are happy he doesn't make the news too much!
• Doug Ford didn't get elected mayor of Toronto. Unfortunately, Rob Ford was elected into his old seat as Councillor. He's taking chemo. We'll see what happens. 

Unofficial Results Our little county doesn't have a mayor. We have 2 councillors and a reeve. They didn't tell us where to vote, or how many we can vote for. It was one candidate for councillor who sent us information on voting. Seriously. Our tax dollars at work - or not.

Mind you what do we get for our taxes?

• You get up in the morning and brush your teeth with town/city water. (We're on a well.)
• You flush your toilet. (We're on septic.)
• You put out your garbage, recycling and compost. Yes, we have garbage and a moderate recycling program. Mind you, a lot of us have the room to compost and we have little garbage, the two of us. The landowner across the road dumps his construction dirt and rocks across the highway, on his land.
• You hop on the bus for work. We are 5 km from Perth and must drive, or take a $25 taxi ride. Still cheaper than a 2nd car! You get the picture.

Funerals abound

Today, I expect to watch TV coverage of our young soldier shot dead on Parliament hill last week. I'm sure it will be a moving experience. The feds expect are tabling a new bill to give more power to our CSIS. This will allow them to work internationally, like MI-6 and the CIA. Having been watching Homeland on DVD (excellent!), I shudder. This bill was deferred with the shooting, ironically. However, the two men who murdered our two soldiers last week seemed to have been motivated by politics, but no more than the TV shows and movies that motivate many.

The man who shot the 3 RCMP dead last June is being sentenced today in N.B. He spoke at his trial and he was remorseless, rambling on about various topics, revealing a lack of respect for authority, and the law. He played the 'it's not fair' card: not fair he has a rotten job, and no women in his life, as he embraced violence, and brought guns into his family home. I pity the parents of these men, whom I shall not name.

I turned off the news, waved as hubby went out to vote, and sat and fed the birds. Daisy decided to help. The blue jays were unfazed. The first photo was cool, Mr. Jay mid-hop! The Horse chestnut tree still has some leaves. I flung a peanut into the frog pond, just to see what the Jays would do. They didn't bite. I'll keep on with that experiment later!

The junco pick up the scattered seeds, avoiding the Blue jays altogether.
The Woodpeckers go at the feeder while I distract the Jays!
The Goldfinches have lost their brilliant yellow, and are ready for winter.

Leave it to a retired musician -turned radio host- to complain about the media!

Yes. Leave it to a retired musician -turned radio host- to complain. He who interviews simple-minded actor/musicians like Billie Bob Thornton.

Q Essay: Forget Rob Ford for a while | Q with Jian Ghomeshi | CBC Radio

www.cbc.ca

With a devastating typhoon in the Philippines, sectarian violence in Iraq, the uncertain future of the Senate and a huge child pornography bust in Toronto, there's no lack of stories to talk about. In today's opening essay, Jian talks about how we should focus on something other than Rob Ford's trou...

One story is NOT dominating news agenda. (Who else, but media, to blame if that is your opinion.)
We've seen much in reputable newspapers on Obamacare, the tragic events in the Phillipines, and so on. We can read about Toronto, Ottawa, Ontario, Canadian and other subtopics in the news.
This is why newspaper index pages have the following sections:Home

• News
• Opinion
• Business
• Investing
• Sports
• Life
• Arts
• Technology

Live coverage of the voting was good
for voters.

It is important that media focus locally, municipally, provincially, and on a national and international basis, on all significant stories.

Intelligent J. Q. Public can focus an many issues. What we want journalists to do is to present issues on a neutral basis, and interview those with the education and intelligence to understand them, and present solutions or interpretations.

We can see who is in Council,
who is absent, and how they voted.

Good politics demands that
voters know who and how they voted.

There is something seriously flawed with a City Act, City of Toronto, that hasn't the ability to remove a Chief Magistrate of the largest city in Canada, who has been caught on Guns & Gangs surveillance doing drugs, and in Toronto Police interviews been seen to be drunk driving.
Municipal politics has the most profound effect on women, children, the most vulnerable in society, in terms of housing, drug abuse, gangs, all the way to water and sewer. This is AS important as national and international news of disasters.

Interesting note:
I wrote a piece of this on FaceBook, after CBC Ottawa flogged Ghomeshi's rant, with a note on its front page, and it was dumped. It simply has disappeared!

We must laugh at the situation, at the same time we can learn from it!

See John Stewart’s reaction below, or click here to watch last night’s full episode.

From the Globe and Mail:

Public editor: Rob Ford did what? Why the media keep pushing for the...

The Globe and Mail and other media believe what the police had uncovered about the mayor and his friend were in the public interest.

Andrew Coyne ‏@acoyne20h

It's come to this: The Rob Ford Opera http://www.cbc.ca/day6/blog/2013/11/14/ford-opera/ …

Dr. Brian Goldman ‏@NightShiftMD15h

Rob Ford's intoxication affected his job: former staff http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2013/11/15/rob_fords_intoxication_affected_his_job_former_staff.html … Use despite harm is evidence of alcohol dependence.