kar0ling

 This week saw all three bikes in use.  Tuesday night, Idid not listen to the little voice that suggested I ask if I could bring my bike in tothe lobby at Cinematheque. I was really late for the movie already and I don't know how to use the elevator while the stairs are tall and high so it is prohibitive to carry her up.  When I came out 1 hour and 40 minutes later, I swung my bag off my shoulder to put it on my rack only to discover the rack was gone, my cables were dangling loose from being cut and the front fender was loose.  After bellowing in rage and cursing loudly and repeatedly, I began a cold and angry walk home. A short chat with a homeless guy huddled in an alcove (beginning with a probably unwise "did you take stuff off my bike?!") cooled me down a bit as I realized how grateful I was to have a warm home to go to with food in the fridge to eat and no relationship drama preventing me from seeing beloved family members. The futility of the theft still makes...

Another adapted form letter:  As ICE invades American cities, schools, and workplaces, I am joining Microsoft workers and concerned citizens to demand that Microsoft stop aiding mass kidnappings in the U.S. and stop powering genocide in Palestine. All over the world, people are using Microsoft products daily, just trying to get tasks done, not thinking they are contributing to genocide.  Yet research from your workers and former workers has uncovered $20 million in third-party contracts through Dell for ICE.  This is on top of millions of dollars of support for the Israeli government and military.  This is unacceptable to me -- and probably most Microsoft users whose payments for your products add to the profits that allow you to build out these services for even more profits at the expense of lives.  I implore you to stop supporting ICE and Israel's ongoing genocide.  Click to send your own letter

Another letter calling for Canada to close the loopholes. This time, it’s Greenpeace getting in on the action. Mostly them, a little bit of me: Dear Prime Minister Mark Carney/ Minister Anita Anand, Although a ceasefire has been called, Israeli forces continue their assault on Palestinians while they are trying to rebuild from the ruins. What kind of ceasefire is that? Not surprising, though, from a government that lies frequently and fails to keep their side of the bargain. Ninety-two percent of human beings in Palestine have no home to return to; hundreds of bodies are still being pulled from the rubble; and 85,000 children have been orphaned. Let that sink in. Imagine your own children or grandchildren with no bed to sleep, no parents to comfort them, or worse, dead under a pile of rubble.  Prime Minister Carney, “peace” in name alone is not enough. Furthermore, the violence will not end with this ceasefire even if it is ever observed by Israel. Canada has a *lega...

Carney's budget sounds like a plan to destroy Canada, not to build it.  There is no future in oil and gas – and Carney knows it. Canadians by and large oppose this, which is why he wants to bypass their input. Stop it. We clearly voted *against* the politics of the Orange Man to the south. Why then is that exactly what Carney is giving us? Here’s what Environmental Defence Canada says: Bill C-5: Climate Action  is  Nation Building!  Building up Canada as a strong nation means being a strong climate leader, not backpedalling on progress in favour of polluting industries.  Yet that’s what our federal government is at risk of doing in response to Trump’s attacks. The Prime Minister has committed to making Canada an ‘energy superpower,’ but what does that  really  mean?  The rushed  Building Canada Act  or Bill C-5 gives the federal government sweeping power to fast-track mega-projects of ‘national interest’ without environmental re...

A very nice form letter to send to the Canada Pension Plant Investment Board about the egregious – in fact, possibly illegal – continued investement and abandonment of net zero targets. Can you tell which part I added? ;)  To CPPIB directors and senior leadership, As one of the 22 million Canadians whose retirement savings you manage, I’m beyond disgusted to learn that CPPIB quietly abandoned its already pathetically weak and ill-intentioned net-zero by 2050 commitment in May 2025. This reversal signals that CPPIB is only interested in short term financial gain while the world literally burns. You know better than I how quickly oil and gas will stop being viable, but you're trying to bamboozle Canadians into thinking you have their long-term interests at heart with your villainous investments, rather than the reality that continued fossil fuel investment feeds the swiftly approaching climate catastrophe that will be utterly unaffordable for all of us and will not be assuaged by th...

This letter with a few KB personalizations is from World Beyond War.  Send your own letter here. I am extremely concerned about the upcoming budget.  Government announcements over the past few months point to a budget that will steal tens of billions of dollars from health, education, public services, and climate action, and pour it into buying American weapons systems and quadrupling Canadian military spending to record-breaking levels. This is appalling. War causes destruction, harms ordinary people and is a terrible place to be spending money when crucial services that improve life for people are being cut.  I am upset that this budget will bring tax cuts for the wealthiest corporations and individuals in the country while the rest of Canadians find life increasingly less affordable; increased border militarization and attacks on migrants at a time when our neighbours to the south are being menaced by their own government and more people than ever have their homes made...