Remembering...

I wish we didn't have a reason for Memorial Day to exist. But, alas, it does.

We must not forget:

WAR DEAD

Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq began on March 20, 2003:

In Iraq
• 4,296 U.S. troops killed*
• 31,256 U.S. troops injured*
• 182 U.S. military suicides*
• 1,123 U.S. contractors killed
• 100,361 to 1.2 million civilians
killed***
• $670.7 billion cost of war

In Afganistan
• 685 U.S. troops killed*
• 2,828 U.S. troops injured*
• $188.2 billion cost of war

* through May 18, 2009; source: icasualties.org; some figures only updated monthly
** sources: icasualties.org, defenselink.mil
*** highest estimate; source: iraqbodycount.org; based on confirmed media reports; other groups calculate civilian deaths as high as 655,000 (Lancet survey, 2006) to 1.1 million (Opinion Research Business survey, 2008)

When will it end?

You can take the girl out of Texas...

It's Memorial Day weekend back in the States. Which means one thing...BBQ!!! And in Texas, BBQ means one thing...brisket!

What's a Texas gal to do when she's got a hankerin' for some BBQ beef brisket, but she lives far from the Lone Star State, and more importantly, she's a committed vegetarian?

Well, she improvises. And being an experimental cook, she comes up with a kick-a#! vegetarian BBQ brisket. Here are photos of tonight's dinner...

BBQ Brisket (seitan)

brisket, mac & cheese, coleslaw, and asparagus*

Let me know if you want the recipe...

*The asparagus isn't traditional BBQ fare, I know, but it's in season here and SO yummy!

National Day of Prayer

Today is the National Day of Prayer in the US. In honor of this day (which I feel pushes the boundaries of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the US Constitution), Unreasonable Faith published this quote by a "Founding Father".

When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, ‘tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.
—Benjamin Franklin

Thoughts?

Tortilla Soup

Today is Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican holiday that commemorates the Mexican victory over the French army in 1862. In my native Texas, Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexican heritage, culture and pride. And we celebrate in style: mariachi music, ballet folklorico, and food, food, food. Growing up, Cinco de Mayo was a favorite holiday. Imagine my surprise when I learned from my native Mexican friends that it's not really a big deal in Mexico. In Pueblo, my friend Abelardo's hometown, they celebrate it. But for the rest of Mexico, it's a minor holiday. But I still like to celebrate it.

So how does a Texan celebrate a minor Mexican holiday in Canada? Going out is not really an option since Mexican food is tough to find here (and vegetarian Mexican is nearly impossible). So I made it myself. I didn't have the energy for making mom's amazingly delicious green enchiladas, so I opted for my "famous" tortilla soup. The recipe is surprisingly easy. And the results are so yummy. We have even served this for company. Without them knowing how easy it was.

Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, coarsely chopped (I like bite-sized pieces)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 T. paprika
• 2 t. ground cumin
• 1 t. ground coriander
• 1 t. chili powder
• ¼ t. cayenne pepper
• 1 ½ q. vegetable broth
• 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 t salt
• cilantro leaves (1/4 cup fresh or 3 T dried)
• one corn tortilla cut into thin strips (this will get all mushy in the soup and help give it it's yummy flavor)
• 1 14 oz. can beans (red kidney is what I used
• 1 14 oz. can whole kernel corn
• 1 c. shredded seitan or other fake meat (optional)

Preparation:

1. In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat.
2. Add onion and garlic. Cook for approximately five minutes, until onions are nearly translucent.
3. Add spices. Cook onions and spices for another few minutes stirring often.
4. Add broth, tomatoes, bay leaves, salt, cilantro, and tortilla strips. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add beans, corn, and seitan (if using). Return to a simmer. Cook on low heat, stirring occasionally for another 10-15 minutes.
6. Serve with crispy tortilla strips*, grated cheese (optional), and fresh cilantro.

* to make my low(er) fat crispy strips, cut corn tortilla in thin strips, mist with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, then bake at 200º F until crispy.

Please leave a comment and let me know if you try this recipe.

Torture

In case you have missed the news all a-twitter around the blogosphere, Sean Hannity, conservative windbag (in my opinion) and advocate of torture, has volunteered to be waterboarded - for charity. Such an offer came about in this way...

Charles Grodin, political commentator and actor (The Great Muppet Caper), appeared on Hannity's Fox News show on Wednesday. After some teasing and banter, Grodin brought up the subject of torture, which Hannity supports.

Grodin: You're for torture.
Hannity: I am for enhanced interrogation.
Grodin: You don't believe it's torture. Have you ever been waterboarded?
Hannity: No, but Ollie North has.
Grodin: Would you consent to be waterboarded? We can waterboard you?
Hannity: Sure.
Grodin: Are you busy on Sunday?
Hannity: I'll do it for charity. I'll let you do it. I'll do it for the troops' families.

This exchange is disturbing to me on so many levels. I believe torture is wrong. I believe it's wrong to use torture as a means of protecting "national security" (I don't think it's effective and I feel it's a violation of basic human rights). And I believe torture is wrong if it's done for charity to raise money for a good cause. I feel that even suggesting willingly submitting oneself to waterboarding somehow reduces torture, the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering to punish or intimidate or coerce. To waterboard Sean Hannity for charity diminishes the severity this act of torture to the level of harmless prank, to reality television, and you know, this is not what torture is.

I am so disappointed with my fellow liberals, most of whom have advocated AGAINST torture, who seem to have jumped on the waterboarding Hannity bandwagon. "Woohoo! let's waterboard Hannity!! It's about time!!" And why do they want to waterboard Hannity? Because they don't agree with his politics? Because he's a jackass? The prisoners in Guantanamo have political opinions which differ from those of their torturers. And many of them are beyond the level of jackass and are downright nasty people. Why do we think "torturing" Hannity would be okay? Doesn't this undermine our very opposition to torture? I believe that we are finally getting close to having our nation acknowledge the criminality and evil of our recent acts, and I believe allowing Hannity to go through with this sanctions this type of behavior and feeds right into the line that it "really isn't torture anyway."

For a much more coherent discussion on this topic, check out:

http://johnmckay.blogspot.com/2009/04/should-we-waterboard-sean-hannity.html

the world is mine...

My new passport arrived today. My old one expires in May, so I learned just how ridiculously hard it is to expedite a passport renewal while living in another country, and I had it renewed.

It's a little sad to give up my old passport. It's been in my back pocket on transatlantic flights and flights across North America. It's the passport issued just before I took off for Central America in 1999. It's been to Mexico a time or two. And it's got all of the stamps from going back and forth between Canada and the US many, many times. There are stamps from our honeymoon, both Belgium and Spain. And while it wasn't stamped in Israel, there is an Israeli security sticker on the back. That passport holds so many memories of so many adventures. And the picture was just so darned cute.

This new one won't be able to stay in the back pocket of my jeans. It's new, stiff cover protects the special electronic features. The photo is not nearly as adorable. But the blank pages invite me to more treks and travels.

Interesting that it arrived the very same day as the invitation to Tania and James' wedding at Canterbury Cathedral this summer...

take me to your leader

I am now, officially, the chapter leader of Democrats Abroad Edmonton.

I have the two big binders of stuff to prove it.

tea parties

I wanted to post on the sheer stupidity and desperation of the tax protest "tea parties" around the US today, but first, I had to stop giggling at the ridiculous and seemingly oblivious moniker given to these "protests"; seriously, do they not know what "teabagging" is?

Then, my friend Scott, a brilliant ethicist in Chicago, said it so well my writing would just be redundant:

First of all, let's remember that the heart of protest in the Boston Tea Party was "no taxation without representation." But the teabaggers are represented! In some cases, owing to the unrepresentative character of the U.S. Senate, they're overrepresented, given the size and population of their states. Far from being an undemocratic and non-consensual imposition on the U.S. people by a distant and disinterested foreign government, this is the legislation that their own elected legislators passed, and that their popularly elected president signed. This is is all the opposite of taxation without representation.

Second, although these protests are demonstrations of inchoate anger toward Barack Obama, it's worth noting that the current tax code, the one that people are out protesting today, has got nothing to do with Barack Obama, but is in fact the tax code as it was enacted under largely Republican congresses and signed over the past eight years by a Republican president. So to the degree that this is directed toward Obama and the Democrats, it misses it's desired mark.

Third, and more to the point, the Democratic Congress enacted, and Barack Obama has signed, the largest middle class tax cut in America history, of which most of the protesters today will be the beneficiaries. Far from protesting today, many of these people should be thanking the U.S. government.

Fourth, the complaints about deficits are inane. Under Bill Clinton, when the economy was booming, we actually had a chance to reduce and even eliminate the deficit. Under George Bush and a Republican Congress, the deficit exploded, along with thousands of bombs in an unjust and immoral war in Iraq, which contributed to the deficit. To the degree that Barack Obama and the Democrats are adding to that deficit, it is, and it is intended to be, a short term means of stimulating the economy in order to spark businesses to produce and thus employ workers, and banks to start lending again. In fact, for this purpose, the stimulus package was actually probably small, and so we ought to be spending more.

Finally, where were all of these people when Bush was running up those deficits?They were nowhere to be seen! So to complain now in a crisis, about deficits when they were silent for eight years when their own guy was in power,
is a prima fascia demonstration of their hypocrisy.

The only thing I would add to Scott's analysis is the assertion that these teabagging (hee hee)parties are hardly the grassroots uprising the media is making them out to be. Why won't people realize they are just being used?

Doctor, Doctor

For the most part, I have been very pleased with health care in Canada. Having worked in hospitals in both Texas and Virginia, I saw how horrendously unjust the American health care system is. Immediately upon beginning my work here in Canada, I realized that I was not counseling a single patient or family member who was afraid of going bankrupt or losing their home due their the escalating costs of their care. I saw this ALL THE TIME in the States. Canadian health care is not without it's problems. I have heard stories of long waits in emergency rooms, shortages of physicians, and problems with standardized assessments. But everyone here has access to care. Everyone here will be treated, eventually. And your place in the health care system is not determined by your ability to pay.

I have been particularly impressed with the focus on preventative medicine. It makes sense, when you have the same entity, the province, both paying for service AND providing the service, they are more likely to see the long-run cost benefit of preventative medicine. Whereas, if you have two separate entities paying for service (insurance companies) and providing service (physicians, hospitals, et al), both are trying to make/save money, so the insurance company is going to try to avoid payment for treatment for as long as possible, and the physician isn't likely to provide treatment unless s/he is certain of payment. Thus, illness, ailments, conditions, etc go untreated until they become life-threatening (or until the life is taken and treatment is no longer needed, which seems to be the insurance companies' ultimate goal). In my role as a chaplain here in Canada, I have seen people hospitalized for conditions/symptoms that would never warrant a hospital stay in the States (simply because no insurance company would cover it). The reasoning of the Canadian hospitals is that treating the person now will save money down the road. Even if the focus is still on finances, at least here, the patient is treated.

As a patient, I've had no complaints about the health care system, with the one exception that it's extremely difficult to find a primary care physician. Canada has a doctor shortage, so most physicians are not accepting new patients, and one doesn't go to their PCP for immediate concerns (colds, broken limbs, stitches, infections, etc.). People go to their PCP for physicals, paps and the like. For any immediate need, you go to a walk-in clinic (for non urgent medical needs) or the emergency department of the hospital (for the urgent concerns).

My first experience at the walk-in clinic (for an infected cut on my finger) involved absolutely no wait; I was home with my prescription of antibiotics within an hour and a half of walking out my door. I had about a 30-minute wait on my second visit (for a sore throat). Nothing like the rumours of 30-hour waits that fearmongers spread throughout the States to warn people about the "horrors of socialized medicine".

Seriously, the only complaint I have is the doctor shortage. I needed to go for my yearly physical and pap smear. With the shortage of physicians here, you only go to a gynecologist for gynecological problems; you go to your PCP for your routine examinations. Only I didn't have a PCP yet. And with the shortage, I didn't have many options. So I went with the one closest to my home. And he was terrible. He wouldn't look at me when asking me questions. He seemed disgusted at my body and the thought of having to actually touch me. And he answered my questions is a condescending tone as if I know nothing about health, anatomy, medicine, etc. (I am the daughter of a physician. I do work in health care. I am an intelligent woman. And I do know a thing or two about medicine and my own body.) It was such a dehumanizing experience. I refuse to go back to this doctor.

Luckily, I don't have to. For most concerns, I will go to a walk-in (there are about six within a 10-minute walk of my home). And for anything more serious, I will go to a specialist. And I won't have to go to another PCP for a year.

I won't let a bad experience with a bad doctor become an anecdotal justification in support of privatized medicine. The States has bad doctors, too. I have been to a few. (And worked with many more.) While I would prefer a doctor who would actually look at me and treat me as a human being, I will accept a system that actually looks at everyone and treats all people as human beings. Dr. R is just a jackass. And I would rather be abused by a single jackass than an entire jackass system.