Letter to OneMillionMoms.org

To whom it way concern at your organisation:
I am disgusted and saddened by your response regarding the coming out of 2 comic characters.
In this day and age, when gay people are finally seeing some respite from homophobic groups, including the Hollywood entertainment industry, which you disparage so much.
Can you not put down your strict moral code and see that there are millions of gay teens and young people who can not help their sexuality? The suicide rate among gay teens is more than four times that of straight teens. Your organisation perpetuates ignorance and defamation, which leads to more hate and fear.
Marvel and DC should be proud to allow their characters to finally be free and not be living a secret, double life, in fear of people and groups such as yours.
At a time when some churches are ordaining gay ministers, when the US military has scrapped it's harmful 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy, at a time when the President and the Vice President have come out in support of same sex marriage, your organisation is promoting old world, archaic values, which are exclusionary and harmful to young people.
Every time someone wants to teach a young person about the adversities of life, there is a group like yours trying to shield them from the harsh realities of life. The reality is that you are in a minority. If you want to be ignorant, keep it in your own house or church group. The rest of us are just trying to get by without being persecuted by your puritanical ilk.
Good day.

BLAMMO!

Hush now, baby, don't you cry...

the next shot came from a gun

The Kmer Rouge killed 2 million people. Give or take. Every person they executed was given the opportunity to have their photo taken. In the moments before they were shot by firing squad. This little girl was one of them.

More Pictures

 Dream

 Oak tree in field

Kanaka Creek, Fraser River

letter to German Minister of Justice;

Dear Minister,
I am writing to implore you to thoroughly examine your position of the extradition of Paul Watson to Costa Rica. I am happy that bail was granted, however, Mr. Watson is seen as a hero to thousands of activists worldwide and his extradition to a country whose justice system may be influenced by organized crime, will be viewed as a regressive slap in the face.
Your country is seen as a global leader when it comes to progressive environmental policy. I live in Canada, where we have been slipping backward for some time. I often look to Germany for hope when it comes to our future.
So, I must admit, I am puzzled by your decision to extradite a global hero for the crime of standing up for marine wildlife. This man should be seen as nothing less than a global crusader and receive nothing less than a hero's welcome when he arrives on foreign soil.
Please consider your decision, as it will not be taken lightly. 
Thank you.
Tony Durke.

Word to the CPC Minister of Fisheries and Oceans;

Hello, Right Honourable Minister of Fisheries and Oceans,

I am writing you today to voice my continuing displeasure at this country's determination to continue the barbaric and economically pointless annual seal hunt in Newfoundland and Labrador. The majority of Canadians oppose this practice, as well as the rest of the world. The EU has banned it, the US banned imports years ago, even Russia, the champion of human and animal rights, has now declared their opposition.

Oh well, I guess there is still China. Canada is happy to facilitate the needs of China in any way, even at the expense of Canadians, the environment and animals. That's the CPC way, though, isn't it? One of the ministers, just the other day, claimed that , "this country has been run by progressives for long enough". What a statement! Like being progressive has hurt Canada in some way and now that the (regressive) CPC has a majority, Canada will slide backward into the ways of the past. 

The quota was set this year at just under 400,000 seals. Where will all these seal pelts be going? Surely, it will be difficult to move these pelts, now that nobody wants them.

I find it ridiculous that your government touts free market economics and then heavily subsidises failing industries, using tax dollars. Should the laws of supply and demand not dictate this market? If they did, this archaic industry would be long gone. But, would also be long gone, your government fears, is those few seats you garnered by propping up a few communities of fishermen and their families.

It would be a lot cheaper, in the long run, to just buy out those licenses. Just think, there were probably once people in Newfoundland and Labrador that were employed by a telegraph service but times changed and those same people eventually got jobs with the telecom companies, or maybe they became broadcasters. 

There was a time when the end of the slave trade in the US was being protested vehemently by the landowners because they said America would be bankrupt without all the subsidies of free labour to prop it up. You see where I am going with this. If you absorb the loss of 'revenue' from the end of the seal hunt, you will be hailed as heroes.

I know, the Federal Government has never been too popular in Newfoundland and Labrador. They never have, Liberal or otherwise. The Feds can never seem to do right by Newfoundlanders. So why do you care? The Liberals were blamed for the collapse of the cod fishery, even though if they had placed limitations on quotas, they would have been hated for that too.

The fact is, people who rely on resources tend to blame governments for all that goes wrong. I once was a commercial fisherman for many years and I can tell you, they are an ignorant bunch, willing to take up arms against anything new that they may not fully understand. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. But that is what they are: exceptions. This group will find something else to cut down or kill if the seal hunt is discontinued. In the meantime, your government will look like heroes, the seals will be seals and the small group of fishermen can re-train under a government sponsored program. It is the same program I trained under many years ago, when I made my shift from a resource based industry, where I was a repetitive EI user and a constant liability in the workforce. 

Think about it.

Sincerely,

Tony Durke.

1995, the year i left town

The bejewelled, bedevilled defector
got out while the going was good
Ran away with the baby
Out into the day
eventually the night
It was the right
thing to do
It's me
not you
who
should explain
the way things got away
when you expected me to stay
at least for a while
a day
or two
I packed up my books again
I am looking for friends
To agree with me
but not too much
It's the out of touch
that makes me wince
I set a truce from all the abuse
I'm amused at my use of excuses
Caught out on the border
by the protectors
and preachers
The teachers all went for coffee
and left us with a bad taste
It was a waste of a good youth
And to tell you the truth
I made haste
just to leave and be free
or at least
to find longer chains
It was the music that saved me
again and again
let's refrain from repetition
but it's true
It's those years left behind
and the time to unwind
or unravel
I travelled and tried
and sometimes I cried
in the lateness of day
or at something I'd seen
that left me without breath
like fear of death
or public speaking

 1970s home furnishings, front street

tug and barge on fraser river

 High Line windows

 department store escalators

boxcar and building

 house and sky, friday, after work

 crumbling building, new west

three train tracks

Jobs Jobs Jobs Jobs Jobs Jobs Jobs

Enbridge and the Feds are right about one thing, the Northern Gateway Pipeline will bring jobs, that's for sure.

Free Paul Watson.

Please sign the petition below to free Paul Watson. It is obscene that a man who has given his entire life to the defence of the animals of the sea, would be the one in jail and not the people who perpetrate criminal acts of poaching and finning of sharks. 
A single man has pushed conservation ahead by a measurable percent and we all owe him at least the time it takes to sign your name. Paul Watson shall fall on the good side of history, whatever his fate. When will now become history? I don't want to wait.
As he says, "For the Oceans"...

http://bit.ly/KdLr0a

:-O

The news is out again
The story is preferable to the action
left alone, we start to think
and we all know where that leads
next thing, you'll want change
and not just for yourself
but for others
walking the tightrope of us and them
enemies and friends
Deck chairs and all that
It's the clouds that release the rain
not the death of a spider
When will we learn to read between the lines?
In faces and pages we rage
and lose ourselves
if even just for a second
And then stand with our caps in hand
demanding to be vanquished
in the face of our masters
the disaster is our cash

On a bathroom wall...

Dear Government...

Dear Government: It's me, Tony. Again. I must be sounding like a broken record over this whole seal thing. It is something that I really feel strongly about and I am not going to go away. Neither are all the other people that know the commercial seal hunt is a mistake for this country.
It is not just me that is saying this, though, is it? The voices are becoming louder and bigger every day. The EU has banned it, Russia has banned it, the US banned it years ago.
But, good old Canada just keeps trucking along, don't we? Our heads up our asses.
What are we possibly gaining with this? Please, let me in on the secret, because I cannot figure it out. We cannot possibly be making any money on it anymore, what with all the markets no longer buying. Are you buying votes with seal pelts? I mean, a few votes from fishers and trappers in Labrador can't be holding this government up.
Why don't you buy out these licenses? It makes good economic sense. And good political sense. The world won't hate us anymore. Well, there is still the Kyoto thing but we won't get into that right now.
I know you guys are concerned about those fishers out there in the Gulf, but why don't you send them out here to BC, where they can be re-trained as software developers?
EA is huge here and Microsoft is opening a thing here.
Maybe they can develop a game called "seal clubber", where you get to go out on the ice and club fictitious baby seals. Everyone wins. The seals don't suffer, the fishers get new jobs, the government pats itself on the back and says, "Look what we did!"
And that, my friends, is politics.
Think about it.
Stop the hunt. Seriously. Do the right thing.
Sincerely,
Tony Durke

Re-edukation

Welcome to the Conservative Party of Canada's re-education weekend seminar. You may not fully agree with our policies, but by the end of this training session, we will have you canvassing for the party. In an NDP stronghold riding. You will be so stoked about all the new stuff you learned, you will do anything for the party.
Now, how about that Saanich/Gulf Islands riding?

Another letter to the moronic feds:

I'm writing to urge you to support Sen. Mac Harb's bill to end Canada's commercial seal slaughter and transition Canadians in sealing regions into sustainable economic programs.
Now that Russia--which had been importing 95 percent of Canadian seal pelts--has joined the U.S., the European Union, Mexico, and others in banning seal fur, there are no markets. Sen. Harb's bill benefits all parties: seals, sealers, and Canadian taxpayers, who pay millions to prop up a dead industry when many are struggling just to pay their bills.

What an absolutely ridiculous thing to pour funds into such a cruel, antiquated and embarrassing practice. As a Canadian, I am horrified that this country is still partaking in this theatre of pain.
And please do not insult our intelligence by repeating the erroneous information that the sealers are adhering to laws regarding cruelty-free slaughter methods. We have all seen countless videos and photos and have even heard testimony from the sealers themselves, that many seals suffer a horrible and painful death, getting skinned alive and left on the ice to bleed to death. Or the pups are just drowned.

Most of these pups are under 8 weeks old!
Keep in mind that these are warm blooded animals, who have live births and most definitely feel pain.

Stop making this country an imbecile on the world stage. Stop continuing this cruel and inhumane practice. Stop the world's largest mass killing of sea mammals every year. Canada is better than that. We are better than that.

Sincerely,
Tony Durke.

Granville Bridge

Red Planet

Kopman shoots Durko

Top 10 Deathbed Films

If I only had 10 more movies to watch before I kicked it, the following would be my list:

The Darjeeling Limited, Wes Anderson

The Big Lebowski, The Coen Brothers

The New World, Terrence Malick

Blade Runner, Ridley Scott

Magnolia, PT Anderson

Inception, Christopher Nolan

The Princess Bride, Rob Reiner

Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels, Guy Ritchie

Good Will Hunting, Gus Van Sant

12 Monkeys, Terry Gilliam

There is nothing scientific about this list. It is pretty accurate though. For what I think about movies.