The cat is out of the bag

Today in the Globe and Mail


"OTTAWA — The Harper government's controversial decision to ban the Canadian news media from ceremonies honouring repatriated war dead originated in the Prime Minister's Office and was made primarily for political reasons, multiple sources close to the government said yesterday.

"It was not [Defence Minister] Gordon O'Connor's idea," one said. "Exactly whose idea it was is somewhere in the Langevin Block."

Several sources close to the Prime Minister's Office said the strategy originated with Sandra Buckler, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's new communications director. She then sold it to Mr. Harper, arguing it would generate only "a week of bad publicity," after which it would be accepted as a fait accompli, sources said.

Asked whether it was her idea, Ms. Buckler replied in an e-mail: "Not true." She declined to say whose idea it was. [...]"

Harper the mini-Bush

Harper recently amended two decisions made by the former Liberal party.

Firstly, the flag will not be lowered for fallen soldiers. For Harper, this is a ‘return to tradition’. Secondly, he banned the media from attending at CFB Trenton the arrival of the Canadian soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan last week. According to O’Connor, this policy was implemented out of respect for families.

The reasons expressed above could all be sincere. They could also be part of a Conservative conspiracy to keep undesirable information out of public reach. Public opinion on the mission in Afghanistan is equally divided. The last thing the government wants is lose any support it may have. The media will report, but won’t show.

The U.S implemented a similar policy during the Vietnam War as the government was losing public support for the war. More recently, the Bush administration imposed a publication ban on images of coffins of American soldiers. There are 40 U.S. casualties a month in Iraq, who knew?

Unfortunately, none of the U.S. policies above were driven by family needs. Why would similar Conservative policies be motivated by family needs?

It saddens me that military families are being used as a political excuse to execute an unpopular agenda. The enormous sacrifices that soldiers and their family make daily for Canada should command no more than veneration from all, especially government officials.

“Out of sight, out of mind”? If the government starts controlling the information the public receives, we don't live a democracy anymore. What next?

Now Boarding Flight to San Francisco

The rain did not stop us from having a blast in San Francisco last weekend. On Friday, we did some shopping (Victoria Secret is a must!) in Union Square.

We had wine at the Nectar Wine Lounge and dinner at Delfina in San Francisco.

Early Saturday, we were on our way to Sonoma Valley.

The highlight of the day was Artesa Winery. The views from the winery are breathtaking.




We had a great lunch at Sonoma- Meritage Martini Oyster Bar and Grill and did some more tasting. The best wine we tasted was a 2001 Reserve Special cabernet sauvignon from Arrowood.

We then drove to St-Helena, Napa Valley for dinner. We had an amazing meal at the Culinary Institute of America.

Sunday morning, we started tasting before breakfast. Not good. I was drunk by 11am! We had lunch at Bouchon where I had the most amazing salmon tartar and mushroom crepe ever.

Most wineries were closed on Sunday (Easter Sunday) so we didn’t do much tasting. And this is why Napa Valley 2006 wine may not be the best!

We met R’s friend in San Jose where we had dinner at the Left Bank on Santana Row. Because I am huge Geek, I had to stop by Ebay!

We flew back on Monday morning. Short, but fantastic weekend!

For more pictures

Reproduction: Hardwired or upgradeable software?

The “nature vs. nurture” debate has generated much discussion in the past thousand of years. Most scientists would probably agree that both are accountable for human behaviour. Sociologists, my kind of scientists, would argue that nurture explains it better.

An instinct is an “inborn biological force that motivates a particular response or class of responses” (Shaffer, 1999). Instinctual behaviours are hardwired. Hunger is considered an instinct. What about reproduction?

I often hear people (well, women) say that having a child is so instinctual, so natural. I believe that these women are confusing the cause with the effect. Sex is the cause, babies are the effects.

Human beings seek pleasure. Sex is fun. Human beings naturally want sex. Sex is therefore an instinctual drive. In turns, sex leads to diseases and reproduction. Catching a STD is not instinctual. By that logic, having babies is not instinctual either.

Seriously, how long do you think it took the prehistoric man to realize that sex and reproduction were related, especially given the 9 months delay between the two? Hundreds of years later, when man finally put one and two together, his quest for contraception started.

Having children because of an urge to love is a product of our leisure society. Before, and still in many culture, much more practical reasons led people to have children. Among others, children were free labour and care for aging parents. The most egoistical reason of all, which is still very popular today, is that children carry your bloodline and your name. Yay, for Mini-Yous.

Because most people do reproduce at some point in their life, it is easy to wrongly assume that it is instinctual. In fact, society (e.g. culture, religion) puts an enormous amount of pressure on people to have children. After graduating, getting married, and buying a house, it is the next logical step. As our society becomes more liberal, the fertility rate decreases. It is certainly not because reproduction is any less ‘instinctual’ than it once was. Medicine and liberalism are allowing people to make a choice.

“Only humans rely on culture rather than instinct to ensure the survival of their species” -Marvin Harris, 1987.

Next time, he stays in the car

My dear husband is a little paranoid about my health problems. Every time I went to the emergency, he was away on business. He is worried that something similar will happen again.

Today, he came to my gynecologist appointment. Oh the embarrassment. I am not going to bring him to gynecologist appointments ever again.

First, he asked the doctor the same questions five times. FIVE times! He thought re-wording it would get him a different answer or something. No one knows what happened. No one knows if it can happen again. After answering the same question for which he has no answer FIVE times, the doctor finally said “just let it go” and laughed! Teehee.

The doctor asked me to show him my incision. As I am lying down, hubby gets ready to leave the room??? The doctor asked “where are you going?”.
Who knows!

Finally, hubby was so focused on his one and only question that he wasn’t paying attention to our conversation. Before we left:

Hubby: Did you have anything else to ask?
Me: No
Hubby: Yes, you had something
Me: Hmm no

[Now in French. The doctor does not speak French, but he sure understands it!!! ]

Hubby: Your period. [whispering]
Me: I asked about my period.

[Back to English]

Hubby to doctor: Is this normal? [That I have my period].
Doctor: [Laughing] Yes, she is allowed to have her period, once a month.

This was a 15 mins appointment. Thanks god my doctor is a young, super cool dude.

Back to Work

I went back to work last Wednesday. I REALLY didn’t want to miss my exciting structural equation modeling training. I am glad I went.

Friday, I had a doctor appointment. Apparently, I have anemia. Just what I needed. Buying iron supplement off the counter is about $7. Buying equivalent iron supplement with a prescription is $17, but my insurance will pay 80%. It comes up to less than $4 + paper work. How annoying is that?

I went out with ex-coworkers on Friday night. It was great to see everyone again.

I did a blood test on Saturday to check my evil white cell count. I am seeing my gynecologist on Thursday. He should have the results by then.

The home nurse should stop coming any day now. Apparently, because I haven’t looked yet, the wound looks “good”.

I am sick of talking about my sickness! It's crazy how being sick consumes your whole life.

We are searchable!

Searches for the month of March, 2006 that led to lasmarties.blogspot.com.

On MSN:

-political correctness gone too far (twice)
-holistic riding-near
-communism in cuba (five times)
-pregnancy risks at 34 years old
-everything about cuba
-infections caused by antibotics
-bug from antibotics

On Google:

-alimony ludicrous
-racism, otherism
-reasons for nick not to get alimony

On search-Blogger.com

-ovarian cyst
-appendix

The stuff people search for!