Shame on you Canada!

Twenty Two countries have pledged to donate .7% of their GNI to feed hungry people around the world. Five countries have already exceeded this goal, and most of them are Scandinavian (Sweden, Norway, Denmark). The Netherlands and Luxembourg also exceeded this goal. Most of the countries have at least a schedule to meeting the goal: many are aiming for 2012. Six countries, several of which are the richest countries in the world, have no schedule. Among them are Japan, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Canada. Canada has only reached .28% of our GNI, and is 16th out of the 22 countries. Shame on us!

What can you do about this? Bug your MP. To learn more about this, and to print out a form letter to send to Steven Harper (along with form letters for other countries), go to www.freerice.com. You can also play a fun vocabulary-building game there and donate rice to hungry people as you play.

Thank you, and have a good day.

Competitive Salary!

So the Goodwill on Roncesvalles is hiring. They are offering a competitive salary. Competitive with what? How on earth can a salary be competitive? Ok, got it. It's the company that is competing with other companies. Right, they're just copying this grammatical idiocy from everyone else. Shouldn't blame them, right? Gotta beat that Sally Anne, you know. For those of you just hopping aboard the S.S. thrift shop, Sally Anne is the Salvation Army. Cuz your soul is in jeopardy, you know, and the poor are mostly fools.

Who really cares if your salary is competitive? The Indiana Pacers are competitive, but they suck. They round out the bottom of the NBA on a regular basis. My question to you, Goodwill, is are you winning? It's a battle for souls out there, and is your will good enough to hunt the top prize? Are you ready to round out your days with right hooks to your St. Vincent de Paul neighbours?

Jesus was a Pinko

Death in the Family

when you told me, i was unprepared
knife put down, pared apple rolling
across the counter, falling in the
sink.

she died on a tuesday

somehow the shock wears off enough
for tears to run their runneled
course down my face.

but this was a week later.

you ask me what happened
in that week.
i don't know.

novocaine routine. wake up.
miss breakfast. make coffee.
pee in the toilet. wonder where grief ends.
lie still. don't think too hard. it hurts.
sleep.

finally, fast broken, an apple's skin
parts under my teeth.
it's juice jumps up
into my eye.

my seeing-eye dog whimpers in the corner.