Laws Schmaws

You gotta love the CBC, they don’t let the law get in the way of a good story line. Tonight’s episode of "Little Mosque on the Prairie" takes a light hearted look at the Muslim custom of polygamy. Nice. You see, the mother-in-law of our young Muslim man, so the radio ad goes, is “special” and needs a second wife. His present wife, rather than point out the little fact that it’s FREAKIN’ ILLEGAL, takes issue with his mother and says it’s either her or his mom. Choose. Now that’s cultural understanding.

What isn’t so nice is how the CBC takes such a superficial view of one of the stronger methods of subjugating women in Muslim culture. What’s next? An understanding look at female genital mutilation?

***WARNING - The Last Link is GRAPHIC

Young, Urban, and Ignorant

It's not easy being green. It's a cliche, but it's also true. The toughest part is realizing that as a young, urban greenie in TO, you haven't got a clue as to how you really maintain that urban lifestyle. You can calculate all your carbon emissions 'till the cows come home (a cliche, too, but where are those urban cows???) but just living in an Eastern urban centre hurts mother earth. Afterall, where does that vine-ripened organic tomato come from, in February, in frozen Toronto? How did it get there? Or the organic milk in your fair-trade coffee? How much energy did it take and how much bad, bad carbon was spewed so you could live in your downtown condo and still eat like a central american peasant? Just the fact that you can survive in sub-arctic Toronto is a testament to your disdain for Gaia, for you must heat your abode in winter, cool it in summer, reduce the humidity most of the time, pipe in your water (after chlorintaing it), buy synthetic clothing so as not to freeze on your commute, and generally use massive amounts of unclean energy just to survive.

I am so much better than you just because I live on the West Coast. I barely have to heat my apartment at all, I don't need to buy four different season's worth of clothing, humidity just isn't a problem, and my organic, vine-ripened tomato is grown a couple of kilometers from here. Yup, it's not easy being green, but it's not too hard being me.