Six In The Morning

1 ANOTHER REASON CITY POLITICIANS SHOULDN'T APPROVE CONDO CONVERSIONS WHEN THE VACANCY RATE IS LOW Battered women are apparently having a hard time finding places to live. Possibly because there are hardly any places to live. (Leader-Post)

2 U.S. HEALTH REFORM GETS MEDIOCRE Heres' a Guardian writer on the lame bill that passed a Senate committee, and here's a Salon scribe on why bipartisanship is pointless. I submit that any American voting for a federal Republican Party candidate these days is a fool or lunatic.

3 WHAT'S A LITTLE TORTURE, ANYWAY? New accusations our federal government is playing dirty tricks to smother embarrassing Afghanistan revalations--namely, that prisoners were transfered to despite the liklihood they'd be tortured. (Globe And Mail)

4 THERE IS TO BE NO FARMING IN JAIL! Last February, Corrections Canada canceled its prison farming program that I didn't even know existed but now that I know about it, I can see how it's a good idea. We want to retrain/reprogram convicts, right? And, if we find something productive that they connect with, we should encourage that, right? Well, this morning CBC reports that prisoners are defending the program they love (I'll add a link when CBC puts one up).

Here's a March, 2009 piece from Country Guide that lays out the situation. And here's a long, good story on this from Monday's Toronto Star. Grump grump grump.

Caveat--the as-far-as-I-know-not-evil John Howard Society apparently backs the closure of prison farms, so this topic might not be as black and white as I'd prefer. Drat.

5 TRANSGENDERED REGINANA CELEBRATES NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY. Good article, sharp, brave woman, cute pajamas. (Leader-Post)

6 GORILLA POO: WHO KNEW? And some good news: apparently, ape dung can save the planet from climate change. (Guardian)