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Thank you, Bob Herbert . Excellent column on the global village, and our mutual responsibility.

Greener Pastures , which I mentioned briefly below, is really nice. The writer's reasons for leaving the US are very similar to ours; you can read about them here . I especially liked this: "Isn't it running away and giving up?" Well, only if I thought that I could hop on the pendulum and alter its swing. Here's the thing. The U.S. is the land of opportunity. Economic opportunity. Creative opportunity. The whole idea is to give individuals the freedom to do whatever they want, and achieve whatever goals they set for themselves. The common good is not the priority. It's about individual success. Now, I'm not about to attempt to rewrite the mission statement of the U.S. I've been a good little participant in the democratic process; I've voted, even in primaries. I've demonstrated, I've canvassed door-to-door for causes I believed in. But at a certain point, I think it just makes sense to go to a place that's already a better match for you...

From the December 30 Globe and Mail : Canada is opening its doors to thousands of victims of Asia's deadly tsunamis, pledging to expedite immigration requests from disaster-stricken foreigners with relatives in this country. The move could bring as many as 5,000 newcomers to Canada, according to one estimate, as those left homeless by the disaster call on their Canadian relatives to come to their rescue. Canadians sponsoring spouses, common-law partners and children who are in disaster-affected areas will be given immediate priority, but Citizenship and Immigration Canada will also consider requests on a case-by-case basis to sponsor other relatives including aunts, uncles and grandparents, said Mark Dunn, spokesman for Immigration Minister Judy Sgro. "We think it will be most used in Sri Lanka, only because there are many Canadians [of] Sri Lankan descent living here," he predicted. "There is no discussion of a cap on the numbers of relatives who may be sponsored. T...

Good riddance 2004, and bring on oh-five. Other than baseball - a major exception, but existing in a separate universe - 2004 sucked. Would I feel this way if we were 19 days away from John Kerry's inauguration? There was something surreal about watching last night's forced hilarity in Times Square while the CNN crawl gave the number of Americans killed in Iraq and the latest tsunami death toll. Or I should say, more surreal than usual. The whole New Year's Eve thing just escapes me. We save our celebrating for our anniversary, January 3, an infinitely more significant day in our lives. Although we're not immune to drinking champagne and watching The Honeymooners before falling asleep. Is my timetable overly optimistic? Tamar , who is considering a move to Canada, tells me that her lawyer says it takes about two years from the time of application until clearance to move. Which would suggest that I started this blog - and my goodbyes - prematurely. For another woman Ta...

I haven't been doing very well on my New York exploring . I've decided I'm going to visit one place on my NYC To-Do list each week (weather permitting). Starting today. We're spending the day with a teenage niece, and I'm planning on finally seeing the inside of the Merchant House Museum . I've been walking past it for more than 20 years, but its odd hours never coincided with my desire to take a peek.

Loyal reader Nick pointed this out: The deadly Asian earthquake may have permanently accelerated the Earth's rotation, shortening days by a fraction of a second and caused the planet to wobble on its axis, U.S. scientists said Tuesday. and says Jesus Fucking Christ! An earthquake can change the planet on a global scale? ... Kind of reminds you we all share this big lump of rock hurtling through space doesn't it. I find this earthquake/tsunami event absolutely stunning. Many progressive bloggers are complaining about the media coverage, but I find nothing exceptional. CNN reporting that "celebrity vacations were shattered" was surreal, though predictable. But mostly it's been a lot of individual stories, which illustrate the vast numbers and make them real, which in turn motivates viewers to donate. There are the usual local angles (people killed from one's own country), the science info, the "could it happen here" scare stories. Carping about the f...

There was good news on the hawk front this morning. About 45 minutes after the scaffolding was removed from the cradle that will - we hope - support their new home, both Pale Male and Lola arrived. They flew over and around the site for about 10 minutes. Observers said it was clear the birds were checking out the new design. Everyone is hopeful that they will roost. pale male inspects the renovation