Rose's Cantina

In an interview with CBC’s Peter Mansbridge broadcast Tuesday afternoon, outgoing Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Tom Lawson said men are “biologically wired” for such behaviour. A report this spring found that women in uniform endure hostile work environments due to an “underlying sexualize culture” that leads to sexual harassment and sexual assault. The 88-page report by former Supreme Court Justice Marie Deschamps , written after hundreds of interviews with active members, found that “there is a broadly held perception in the lower ranks that those in the chain of command either condone inappropriate sexual conduct, or are willing to turn a blind-eye to such incidents.”-- The National Post Well, isn't that special! The commanding officer of Canada's military -- outgoing, thank God! -- has just revealed the underying root cause of the biggest crisis to hit the armed forces in decades. Not enough bullets? Needing bigger airplanes? A lack of nutritious rations based on ...

In a recent advertisement, Prime Minister Harper can be seen sitting in his office, with a voice-over suggesting that he doesn't make political decisions based on ideology. Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we? Just for old times sake. Pick number one on the playlist, or enjoy all these great videos.

Advertisement: Come to Lansdowne Market this Sunday to grab breakfast, the first strawberries of the season and other local favourites, then join in the FIFA fun. This Sunday, June 7th, the market will be running a free shuttle bus to accommodate market customers during the FIFA Women's World Cup games (1pm: Norway vs. Thailand and 4pm: Germany vs. Côte D'Ivoire). Or, come early to avoid the rush. The market will also be open for extended hours — 8am until 4pm — this Sunday only. To access ... the market shuttle, park in Carleton University's Lot 7 for $4/day. The market shuttle will run every 30 min (with a lunch break from 12:15 to 1:00pm) dropping off and picking up at the east end the market in front of the Horticulture Building. Leaving Carleton University, Lot 7 8:15, 8:45, 9:15, 9:45, 10:15, 10:45, 11:15, 11:45, 12:15, Lunch Break 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 2:30, 3:00, 3:30, 4:00 Leaving Horticultural Building 8:30, 9:00, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30, 11:00, 11:30,...

If you've worked on Parliament Hill, you have no doubt been to a Press Gallery Dinner. The dinners these days are relatively staid affairs. Except for this year. This year, our Elizabeth May extinguished herself by going postal on the Conservative Cabinet, f-bombing her way to a hook off the stage. Good for Liz. There's more than hot air in that helium balloon, and we frankly applaud her for whipping it out. That said, it was a frankly amateurish performance for Lizzie (who took and axe, gave the Tories 40 wacks), and it was pretty tame compared to Press Gallery Dinners of yore. I was reminded of this last night when the old codger Ray Stone filled my inbox to the brim with photos of pre-eminent journalists wearing chaps, and drunkenly crooning on stage, to the delight of a mostly male crowd back in the 70s. There were only a handful of women allowed at the Dinner back then, when I was a sweet young thing trying to break into serious journalism. The women allowed in were...

Hello CBC friends: I know you are CBC Radio friends because I check my stats every day and more than 600 people have visited this blog in the past three days. That's thanks to my repeat performance on http://www.cbc.ca/radio/dnto Maybe you're wondering what happened to me after my husband left me at the airport to take a trip to Bermuda to go fetch his new wife. Well, a lot of bad stuff happened, and a lot of good stuff. I raised my three kids in near poverty while he climbed up the corporate ladder. Today, he is a multimillionaire with a six figure pension. He's still a big shot. I've moved on. I beat the odds and married my third husband 12 years ago, and we are going strong. It hasn't always been easy, but it's been interesting. You will find my blogs about my life, a well examined life, in these pages. I wrote this blog for four years and it helped me heal, and it helped me learn about myself. Along the way, I made some great friends. I don...

View image | gettyimages.com I nearly wept this morning reading Robin Sears' scathing analysis of the current state of politics in Ottawa and Ontario. Sears used two examples to demonstrate why voters, old and young, are so cynical. Example A: Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne's chief of staff is fingered by the province's Chief Electoral Officer for trying to bribe a hard working Liberal to stop him from running against the preferred candidate. (Criminal charges pending.) Example B: The well-coiffed son of a former revered prime minister accepts sloppy seconds from the Prime Minister. Mucho gusto! As a voter, I'm loving it. I find day-to-day politics exceedingly boring, and I frankly don't care where John Baird hangs his hat. I'm here for the dirty stuff. Ontario never, ever, disappoints. And we have David Peterson to thank for all of it. Peterson is the Canadian version of Kevin Bacon. All the shenanigans -- and people -- can be all tied bac...

View image | gettyimages.com Family Day is the stupidest holiday ever. It only makes sense to skiers and provincial civil servants. Teachers, maybe. But for the rest of us, Dalton McGuinty's legacy is nothing more than a huge pain in the ass. You can't buy groceries. I hate any time I can't buy groceries. You can get your mail delivered, but you can't get your drink on. The kids are off school, but you have to work. It's a babysitter's dream; a parent not so much. Those of us who work on Family Day can't get anything done. In my case, I work with doctors and their associations from across Canada. The doctors are at work, a lot of them, but the associations have the day off -- in Ontario. I can't take the day off because the rest of Canada doesn't have the day off. So it's a kind of damned if you do, kind of holiday. Aside from the huge inconvenience, Family Day falls on one of the coldest days of the year. That means it...