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Today is the most special Cody Day of all, the one I thought I we wouldn't see . Eleven years ago today, we brought our quirky, lovable girl home from Jackson Heights, Queens. Cody is now older than any of her canine predecessors in the Kaminker-Wood family. She is definitely declining. Her hips are deteriorating, and there are some indications that her medications may have stopped agreeing with her. That is what happened to our first dog, the amazing Gypsy : she couldn't live comfortably (couldn't walk) without the medication, but her system couldn't tolerate it anymore. Of course that was a long time ago; there are more medication options now. But we're already on the third one. Cody's panic attacks and anxiety have also gotten worse, now triggered by any change of weather. That's the bad news. The good news is Cody is still clearly enjoying her life. She goes on short walks, has a good appetite, even plays with Tala a little in the backyard. At the dog p...

I was a huge fan of Los Lobos in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Allan and I saw them several times and he interviewed the band and wrote about them. I fell out of touch with them somewhere along the way, but have rediscovered them and now can't stop listening to a live download Allan found for me from last New Year's Eve at this New York City venue . On this fan video, you can just barely see my man Steve Berlin and his enormous contrabass saxophone, and can't really make out all the textures and rhythms going on. But cumbia is cumbia. I find it completely addictive.

The Canadian Border Services Agency has a public relations quandary on its hands. They want to deport people who are in sanctuary, but they fear pissing off too many Canadians, and need to "manage public opinion". We don't need CBSA to manage our opinions for us. We can stand up for justice on our own. CanWest filed access-to-information requests to get this story. Emphasis mine. The doors of a church have long served as the final barrier between desperate asylum-seekers and deportation. But, after at least two years of internal wrangling, the Canada Border Services Agency has come up with a formal policy, listing some examples of when the agency says it may be necessary to violate the tradition of sanctuary. According to documents obtained by Canwest News Service, the agency believes church-sanctuary cases, "pose a threat to the integrity of the immigration system." To date, CBSA officials have opted not to enter places of worship, even though there is nothing ...

Several people sent me this story. Could it have any more relevance to my interests? I guess the dogs could read Dickens or Orwell while attending library school. Here's to the day we stop creating new cases of PTSD from sending people to war. Until then, innovative programs like this deserve our time and attention. As always, cheers to Senator Al Franken, leading the way on this important piece. Click through for pics! Just weeks after Chris Goehner, 25, an Iraq war veteran, got a dog, he was able to cut in half the dose of anxiety and sleep medications he took for post-traumatic stress disorder. The night terrors and suicidal thoughts that kept him awake for days on end ceased. Aaron Ellis, 29, another Iraq veteran with the stress disorder, scrapped his medications entirely soon after getting a dog — and set foot in a grocery store for the first time in three years. The dogs to whom they credit their improved health are not just pets. Rather, they are psychiatric service dogs s...

I'm reading John Hagan's Northern Passage: American Vietnam War Resisters in Canada . The book is famous within the war resisters movement; John is a stalwart supporter of our Campaign . The book is out of print, but Allan found a used copy online and included in my birthday haul last year. It's wonderful to read about the movement that preceded our current fight for war resisters. It's also fun for me because I know and work with many of the people Hagan interviewed for the book. As soon as I started reading, I was overwhelmed with sadness at how Canada has changed, and a fierce desire to see the country once again reflect the values of the majority of its people. The Canada that welcomed between 50,000 and 100,000 Vietnam War resisters still exists somewhere. So does the Canada that wants to disassociate itself from US foreign policy and chart its own independent, Canadian course. But the ruling class does not reflect the will of the people. I'm sure I'll post...

When Shoppers Drug Mart, Pharma Plus, Rexall and the other big drugstore chains threatened to lay off staff , charge for delivery and reduce hours to compensate for proposed lower generic drug prices, it wasn't difficult to see through their blatantly transparent ploy. In the last three years, SDM's profits have increased by more than $250 million, from $300 million to $585 million. We don't need to further subsidize their profits with our health care needs. Now we see that SDM, Rexall and Pharma Plus are already cutting services - before the Ontario reform plan has even been adopted! Charging $8.00 for delivery is an outrageous ploy that disproportionately affects seniors and low-income people, who rely on public transit (shoddy in non-urban areas) or can't easily get around. Corporations protect their own profits; their only interest is their shareholders. But our publicly-financed health care system has to protect our interests. We must refuse and resist the pharm...

The Simone de Beauvoir Institute , part of Concordia University in Montreal, was Canada's first women's study department, founded in 1978. Last week, the Institute issued this statement in response to Bill 94, Quebec's proposed legislation to punish women who wear niqabs. It's a clear, concise, feminist critique of the hypocrisy and wrongheadedness of this bill. Simone de Beauvoir Institute's Statement in Response to Bill 94 On March 25, the government of Jean Charest announced Bill 94, an act that would prevent women wearing the niqab from accessing hospitals, daycares, schools, universities, and other public services, and would bar women in niqab from working in the public sector. In a press conference, premier Charest described the legislation as defending two principles: gender equality and secular public institutions. We oppose this legislation and strongly believe that it will restrict rather than enhance the rights of women. As we stated in November 2007 in o...