Barack Obama won the American election. Pretty much most of the world is happy with this decision and a little over half of the American population. The other half is unimpressed. Very polarized nation the States has become. I feel like we're on our way there ourselves these days. Harper is a negative guy, what with his attack ads all the time, robo-calls, anti-democratic omnibus bills and general careless spending on big ticket items while nickel and diming the important things.
I envy the States Obama. Now, granted, he'd be a Progressive Conservative in this country and I never voted for them. But he's a pretty sincere guy who legitimately gives a damn and doesn't seem ruled by ideology in favour of reason. I never fully understand those who call him a socialist or a communist. I mean, Obamacare still has people paying through the capitalist system for healthcare. I mean, hell, here it's government funded and there's no private option allowed. And we're still not a socialist country, not really.
We went to my buddy's for the election and he and his girlfriend had a little party with scorecards. I don't think I did well. I needed to have mine scored for me. I can name all the states, but I don't necessarily know where on the map they're all located.
I was also pleased to see the Tea Party rape squad was roundly defeated. The most stupid one, Akin, who didn't understand rape can lead to pregnancy? Out. Murdoch, the ass who said rape babies were God's will? Gone. Then there's Mr. Some Girls Rape Easy. No dice. There's a few more and they were all shown the door with a "Don't let your misogyny hit your ass on the way out."
I feel in a way the American people have let politicians know there is a limit to crazy. A line has been drawn somewhere. Some lessons perhaps have been learned from this election.
1. Don't treat hispanic and black people like fringe votes you don't need; they have say as citizens of the country and they'll vote. Deal with it.
2. People generally don't enjoy open rape apologists running for office.
3. Gay people also are voting and they'd like to be treated equally to straight people. Oppose their rights at your own peril.
4. Don't count on more than half the country being anti-healthcare for all.
Perhaps the Republican party with rethink their crazy. They don't need to be this insane. Surely. Historically they haven't been off their rockers. It'd be great if our neighbours to the south had better conservative options. Frankly, we could use that ourselves.
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
Womanhood 2012
It's a scary time to be a woman in the United States these days. It's been scary for women for an agonizingly long time in the Congo, Afghanistan, Iran, Egypt and India... many places equal rights are a dream, sexual assault is often justified and almost expected in many instances, and where you're reduced to/exploited for your ability to procreate, and otherwise ordered to close your legs.
But American women, who won their freedom to choose their own reproductive path decades ago have been watching their rights erode over the past few years. How far can Republicans go to restrict women and take them back to a time where their fetuses and embryos had more rights than their mothers? Well, read here. And thankfully this link is the President's reaction, which should offer some semblance of sanity in an insane situation.
In Canada, there are nuts out there who are seeking to re-criminalize abortion by asserting the personhood of fetuses. Now, I do think it's a shame when a pregnancy occurs to an unwilling party. It's sad because no one goes through life hoping that will happen. I mean, "unwanted pregnancy" pretty well outlines this is undesired. And it's undesired because all the options available suck.
Abortion? Well, I know of no woman who dreams of having one of those. But the other options require you to endure a pregnancy, which is no small matter, plus a delivery (Also a massively huge deal) and a recovery process, which can take a long time. And if you're unprepared for parenting, you have to consider whether you'd be capable of going through all of this and then giving your baby away, a baby every hormone in your body is urging you to love and keep. Adoption is not so cut and dry as many would like you to think. All you have to do is empathize and you can see how impossible it would be for most women. Those who can do it, kudos. But most cannot and should not be put down for that.
So, in light of these sensible understandings of human nature, why does anyone wish to mess with a woman's right to choose? Who else but her can understand her mind and body better?
I've been getting deeply upset with the anti-choice commercials I've seen on TV lately, the ones with the missing children on milk cartons, that talk about all the lost children due to abortion in Canada. I see red every single time. I mean, there are women who have had abortions seeing this. Why do they deserve to be shamed for making a decision about their bodies and future that they thought was right? It is a legal entitlement to defer or prevent motherhood if you find yourself unexpectedly pregnant.
Luckily, as ass-backwards as our current political party is, our Prime Minister recognizes that the climate in Canada is in favour of leaving people to make their own medical decisions. As many people who are morally opposed to abortion, they don't want to send doctors or women to jail for private choices. Trudeau said the government had no place in the bedrooms of the nation, and that's become a cultural belief.
But still. I don't feel entirely protected. There's a massive push against abortion right now and I don't know what conclusion will eventually be drawn. I will never understand why this is happening.
But American women, who won their freedom to choose their own reproductive path decades ago have been watching their rights erode over the past few years. How far can Republicans go to restrict women and take them back to a time where their fetuses and embryos had more rights than their mothers? Well, read here. And thankfully this link is the President's reaction, which should offer some semblance of sanity in an insane situation.
In Canada, there are nuts out there who are seeking to re-criminalize abortion by asserting the personhood of fetuses. Now, I do think it's a shame when a pregnancy occurs to an unwilling party. It's sad because no one goes through life hoping that will happen. I mean, "unwanted pregnancy" pretty well outlines this is undesired. And it's undesired because all the options available suck.
Abortion? Well, I know of no woman who dreams of having one of those. But the other options require you to endure a pregnancy, which is no small matter, plus a delivery (Also a massively huge deal) and a recovery process, which can take a long time. And if you're unprepared for parenting, you have to consider whether you'd be capable of going through all of this and then giving your baby away, a baby every hormone in your body is urging you to love and keep. Adoption is not so cut and dry as many would like you to think. All you have to do is empathize and you can see how impossible it would be for most women. Those who can do it, kudos. But most cannot and should not be put down for that.
So, in light of these sensible understandings of human nature, why does anyone wish to mess with a woman's right to choose? Who else but her can understand her mind and body better?
I've been getting deeply upset with the anti-choice commercials I've seen on TV lately, the ones with the missing children on milk cartons, that talk about all the lost children due to abortion in Canada. I see red every single time. I mean, there are women who have had abortions seeing this. Why do they deserve to be shamed for making a decision about their bodies and future that they thought was right? It is a legal entitlement to defer or prevent motherhood if you find yourself unexpectedly pregnant.
Luckily, as ass-backwards as our current political party is, our Prime Minister recognizes that the climate in Canada is in favour of leaving people to make their own medical decisions. As many people who are morally opposed to abortion, they don't want to send doctors or women to jail for private choices. Trudeau said the government had no place in the bedrooms of the nation, and that's become a cultural belief.
But still. I don't feel entirely protected. There's a massive push against abortion right now and I don't know what conclusion will eventually be drawn. I will never understand why this is happening.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Oh, Canada...
Oh, Canada Day weekend. You came, you saw, you left. And I've managed to go a week without updating.
I made no overt patriotic displays this year. For the first time I feel a lack of pride in my country. I loathe our government. I mean, frankly, most Canadians do. Conservative support has fallen below 30%. They are allowed to do whatever they want. They had just under 40% of the vote and got all the marbles and they've been systematically tearing down my home ever since.
Our country is being plagued with unnecessary expenses such as, for example, a temporary crystal roof for the House of Commons, even though they're cutting down on meat inspection. I mean, who cares what Parliament looks like for a few years during renovations in light of the fact shoddy inspection of our food could kill us. A building, a symbol, a thing is being given more priority than people.
Speaking of shafting people, they want to double-bunk prisoners. Worst idea ever. Never mind the fact that'll only harden these people further before they're released in society due to the more violent living conditions, and the drug dealers going off house arrest and going into prison instead will get their free education in, well, drug dealing. Ideology over good sense, logic and evidence.
And this whole pipeline crap? Seriously? Beyond the lurking environmental disaster that is pretty much guaranteed, who would profit from this? Well, the simple answer is not the Canadian people. And since the answer is not us, why is this even a thing, especially since it has the power to destroy our land?
Don't even get me started on those bloody jets.
And the omni-bus budget bill. AND the omni-bus crime bill, both of which were total sideswipes at Canadian values and proper procedure. And this from the man who prorogued government twice to avoid accountability after campaigning on being accountable. He is the most sinister prime minister we've ever had. I have no doubt he'll go down in history as the most polarizing and destructive.
I can't count all the lies this party has told, I weep when I think what poor hands we're in for the next few years, I am afraid of what will happen to my country, a place I no longer feel all that proud of. We're not number one in anything. Real quality of life is lowering. Opportunities are few. Life is more expensive.
I wish we were a more passionate people. One of the worst things is the fact so few people even seem to care.
I made no overt patriotic displays this year. For the first time I feel a lack of pride in my country. I loathe our government. I mean, frankly, most Canadians do. Conservative support has fallen below 30%. They are allowed to do whatever they want. They had just under 40% of the vote and got all the marbles and they've been systematically tearing down my home ever since.
Our country is being plagued with unnecessary expenses such as, for example, a temporary crystal roof for the House of Commons, even though they're cutting down on meat inspection. I mean, who cares what Parliament looks like for a few years during renovations in light of the fact shoddy inspection of our food could kill us. A building, a symbol, a thing is being given more priority than people.
Speaking of shafting people, they want to double-bunk prisoners. Worst idea ever. Never mind the fact that'll only harden these people further before they're released in society due to the more violent living conditions, and the drug dealers going off house arrest and going into prison instead will get their free education in, well, drug dealing. Ideology over good sense, logic and evidence.
And this whole pipeline crap? Seriously? Beyond the lurking environmental disaster that is pretty much guaranteed, who would profit from this? Well, the simple answer is not the Canadian people. And since the answer is not us, why is this even a thing, especially since it has the power to destroy our land?
Don't even get me started on those bloody jets.
And the omni-bus budget bill. AND the omni-bus crime bill, both of which were total sideswipes at Canadian values and proper procedure. And this from the man who prorogued government twice to avoid accountability after campaigning on being accountable. He is the most sinister prime minister we've ever had. I have no doubt he'll go down in history as the most polarizing and destructive.
I can't count all the lies this party has told, I weep when I think what poor hands we're in for the next few years, I am afraid of what will happen to my country, a place I no longer feel all that proud of. We're not number one in anything. Real quality of life is lowering. Opportunities are few. Life is more expensive.
I wish we were a more passionate people. One of the worst things is the fact so few people even seem to care.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Musings
Sometimes I think about the world we live in and I get scared. I mean, not scared in the way you get if you live in the wrong part of Los Angeles. I don't fear I'll die or be mugged at gunpoint.
I'm scared about where we're headed as a species and as a civilization.
We're overpopulated. There's only so much space for humans to live, for agriculture to feed us, and for all the other deserving species of animal and plant to grow and thrive. And we've hit that mark. I want a child and I feel significant guilt about it because I don't want to inflate the numbers even a little.
We're whipping through petroleum, which is responsible for, frankly, our entire way of life, which has been unevenly distributed for the past 100 years, and now we're running out and there seems to be no contingency plan. I mean, there's finite resources and we're burning through them. And economists are calling for growth! Growth! Growth! Why? What about maintenance? Maintenance! Maintenance!
We're overpopulated and powerful influences like the Catholic church are warring against contraception, despite the fact nearly all Catholics use it. American politicians are doing all they can to remove a woman's right to choose, to actually declare an embryo a person.
Which would make miscarriages a homicide investigation. You could arrest a pregnant woman for drinking. Plan B would be illegal, as well as in-vitro-fertilization. They're already forcing women to undergo ultrasounds, whether the doctor deems it necessary or not, and the doctors have to describe the fetus. There was a bill mandating a vaginal probe ultrasound prior to getting an abortion, never mind what the doctor thinks is needed, just to punish the woman, basically.
We have all these human beings in the world who can't eat, who have inadequate care, and they're trying to ensure all possible pregnancies result in babies, whether the mother in question wants to or not? One fucker wants to mandate women carry dead fetuses until their wombs expel the remains, because that's what livestock does. Because women are livestock.
I always knew these types didn't look at women as people, but it's less common that you get such flagrant evidence of it.
The world is totally different than it was when I was a kid. So in 20 more years, it should be totally different yet again. I'm not a doomsayer, but I can't help but feel a sense of impending calamity. Toronto was warm and snowless this winter. In the last 65 years it's never been so dry and warm. It's unnatural. Between what feels like a collapsing understanding of rights for women, overpopulation becoming a problem, growth depleting our resources and the climate altering into god knows what, I'm feeling nervous.
Maybe this is why The Walking Dead is popular right now. It's like everyone else is feeling a sense of the end of an era of time. When I was a kid, the United States was the world superpower, I grew up in the affluent '90s, and snow covered the ground. Things are changing. People are more aware of that, too, I think thanks to the internet.
I know I'm not alone here.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Dear Vic Toews...
I wrote Vic Toews some time ago to complain about his C-30 bill, and his nonsense about if you don't agree then you side with child molesters. I mean, really? So I signed a petition and sent an email to him. I didn't expect a response, but the one he's having sent out is a load. So I wrote him back, from the heart. Here's my thoughts that I shared with him, for your reading pleasure:
Hello, and thanks for your automated reply, which reads as propaganda and not at all a reasoned response.
However, since you have gone on record admitting you don't know the details about this bill, allow me as a critically thinking person to tell you that I think you are overreaching boundaries in democracy and are showing no respect for the Canadian people or the Charter, for that matter.
Police do have adequate powers already to catch child predators. This bill would invite abuses from police, something that is almost a certainty as large increases in power never prove to result in an increase in responsible behaviour. The average person, or law official, isn't Spider-man, after all.
Now, I would like to point out some matters concerning your recent humiliation via Twitter, regarding your divorce. Seeing as the details are matter of public record, and someone chose to broadcast these public details publicly via a public forum, I don't see what crime has been committed against you. It sucks to be you, certainly, but I can't help but see the karma playing out in this situation.
Truly, I fail to see why the police should be involved. That is hardly an appropriate use of their time. Surely someone as troubled about child molesters as yourself would prefer to see the police use their time for more important matters, like, for example, catching child molesters, not protecting your vanity.
As a side note, to touch further on other personal failings of yours, I am also disturbed that someone who has touted himself as some sort of beacon of "family values" has behaved as you have in your own marriage. If one purports oneself as a committed family man in an effort to deny rights to others who are different than oneself, one should not behave so hypocritically in one's personal life. I mean, come on. Does the special sanctity of heterosexual marriage include the clause, "To have, to hold, to cheat on, till divorce does us part?"
Cheat on your wife and father however many children with other women as you like (Though I and other decent people will judge you for it, sorry. That's just awful. Shame on you) but not if you're trying to sell an image of a devoted family man to win votes and curry favour politically. That is immoral. And it's sneaky. I really don't know how you live with yourself, come to think of it. You're really quite terrible.
Frankly, sir, I think you should resign. I see nothing of value you have to offer this country. You rather stand apart from what a true Canadian is. You're not ethical, you don't play fair and you're unkind, impolite and invasive. Perhaps when you resign, you could take some time for your personal life, which is obviously in sore need of your attention. Don't worry, we'll be just fine without you.
Sincerely,
***Jendra Berri***
Proud Canadian who values privacy and does not support child molesters, thank you very much, you ass.
PS I value living in a society where I can write you such an email without fear of arrest. Somehow I doubt you share this value. Your politics sicken me.
***Obviously I used my real name.
On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 12:19 PM,
Thank you for contacting my office regarding Bill C-30, the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act.
Canada's laws currently do not adequately protect Canadians from online exploitation and we think there is widespread agreement that this is a problem.
We want to update our laws while striking the right balance between combating crime and protecting privacy.
Let me be very clear: the police will not be able to read emails or view web activity unless they obtain a warrant issued by a judge and we have constructed safeguards to protect the privacy of Canadians, including audits by privacy commissioners.
What's needed most is an open discussion about how to better protect Canadians from online crime. We will therefore send this legislation directly to Parliamentary Committee for a full examination of the best ways to protect Canadians while respecting their privacy.
For your information, I have included some myths and facts below regarding Bill C-30 in its current state.
Sincerely,
Vic Toews
Member of Parliament for Provencher
Myth: Lawful Access legislation infringes on the privacy of Canadians.
Fact: Our Government puts a high priority on protecting the privacy of law-abiding Canadians. Current practices of accessing the actual content of communications with a legal authorization will not change.
Myth: Having access to basic subscriber information means that authorities can monitor personal communications and activities.
Fact: This has nothing to do with monitoring emails or web browsing. Basic subscriber information would be limited to a customer’s name, address, telephone number, email address, Internet Protocol (IP) address, and the name of the telecommunications service provider. It absolutely does not include the content of emails, phones calls or online activities.
Myth: This legislation does not benefit average Canadians and only gives authorities more power.
Fact: As a result of technological innovations, criminals and terrorists have found ways to hide their illegal activities. This legislation will keep Canadians safer by putting police on the same footing as those who seek to harm us.
Myth: Basic subscriber information is way beyond “phone book information”.
Fact: The basic subscriber information described in the proposed legislation is the modern day equivalent of information that is in the phone book. Individuals frequently freely share this information online and in many cases it is searchable and quite public.
Myth: Police and telecommunications service providers will now be required to maintain databases with information collected on Canadians.
Fact: This proposed legislation will not require either police or telecommunications service providers to create databases with information collected on Canadians.
Myth: “Warrantless access” to customer information will give police and government unregulated access to our personal information.
Fact: Federal legislation already allows telecommunications service providers to voluntarily release basic subscriber information to authorities without a warrant. This Bill acts as a counterbalance by adding a number of checks and balances which do not exist today, and clearly lists which basic subscriber identifiers authorities can access.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
A Moustache To Believe In
I am watching a second viewing of Layton's funeral on TV. I don't have a lot to say about the service other than I'm sad and I'm wondering where Canada's going to go without him in charge of the NDP. I'm unfamiliar with state funerals. I've only been to private ones and I prefer them for their intimacy.
However, I'm glad for the large-scale ceremony. Despite the lack of intimacy, it's only fitting. He wasn't a private person. He was very public. He took great joy in being out there creating change. There's a clip of him speaking for women, the LGBT community, the homeless, and more. Privacy at this time would be unpardonable, not when there could be more focus to his favourite causes in his name.
I went to the memorial at Roy Thompson and left my own message. I wasn't sure how to word my feelings, so I left this:
God, I'll miss that guy. It's hard to really like politicians, and somehow Jack made it easy. I was just going to write something about love just now, and Jack's words just came to mind. Love is stronger than hate. Politicians take note. People want someone to believe in, someone who will speak for everyone. They want a decent human being to speak for them. He was a rare guy.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Bon Jack
I can't believe Canada lost Jack Layton. He was passionate, he was the sort of man who you really could believe in. I think he was the best chance we had for the sort of Canada I wanted to live in. I voted for his party. I'm a Green at heart, but I was won over to NDP because of Jack.
I mean, this man really cared about social justice. He wanted fairness for people at all levels of the spectrum. He was tireless. I mean, the guy campaigned through cancer and only a month ago said he needed to take a break. How far gone he must have been for it to have taken him so quickly after that announcement.
The man was a politician, but unlike so very many I've seen, he didn't seem like he was in it just for personal glory and prestige. With all the causes he championed, the sort of issues ordinary people needed leaders to care about, I was able to have some faith that Canadian politics would rise to the levels I dreamt of, where people and not corporations, the environment and not special interest groups, evidence and not ideology, progression and not stagnation would have a chance to thrive.
Who will speak for us now? I don't know. Elizabeth May perhaps, who now is considered as unimportant and irrelevant as Jack used to be less than 10 years ago. Like Jack said, optimism is better than despair. I'll choose faith. This country is capable of beautiful things; not glory, but true humanity and thus greatness. We'll get by, and someone will rise to speak on behalf of those who can't buy political leverage and need a voice in parliament.
But today, I grieve. I had no idea how much I was emotionally relying on Jack Layton to weather what I've been seeing as a dark blot in our political history. Today I mourn.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Majority bull
The fucking election.
You know, my stance on the Tories is pretty much a given. My stance on our electoral system is just as poor. A government in this antiqued system can be given total power with 40% of the vote. That minority of support grants over half the seats and delivers a majority government. Or in this case, less than 40%.
That's right, folks. 39.62% of the country elected a disproportionate number of MPs who now speak for 100% of Canada. The rest of the MPs have little voice now. Their policies and ideas and questions can be ignored.
When a system grants over 50% of seats for a 40% showing in support, the system makes no sense. The Green party focused on getting their first MP elected, and they succeeded. But due to a lack of campaign efforts across the country in order to do so, they lost half their support. But with half the support, they have a seat with around 500,000 votes total for their party, whereas with nearly 1 million they had zero seats.
Toronto is thoroughly undersupported. We have 2.5 million people in Toronto. Prince Edward Island has 140,000. We have 22 ridings and they have 4. Doing the rough math, PE Islanders have about 1 MP for every 35,000 people and Torontonians have 1 MP per 113,000 people.
Saskatchewan has about 1,050,000 people and 14 seats. That's 1 MP per 75,000 people BUT! Let's take a look at Rural Alberta ridings, shall we? 590,000 people, 12 seats. That's one MP for every 49,000 people.
The more rural you are, the more sparsely populated your area, the more your vote counts and the more you get heard in the House of Commons. But then again, we have a first past the post system and not proportional representation. So who the hell even needs to bother counting up these numbers. Roughly 60% of Canadians cast votes which elect nobody.
We live in a broken electoral system and that's a fact. Who's going to fix it? The party that just rode a majority off of the existing system? Probably not.
You know, my stance on the Tories is pretty much a given. My stance on our electoral system is just as poor. A government in this antiqued system can be given total power with 40% of the vote. That minority of support grants over half the seats and delivers a majority government. Or in this case, less than 40%.
That's right, folks. 39.62% of the country elected a disproportionate number of MPs who now speak for 100% of Canada. The rest of the MPs have little voice now. Their policies and ideas and questions can be ignored.
When a system grants over 50% of seats for a 40% showing in support, the system makes no sense. The Green party focused on getting their first MP elected, and they succeeded. But due to a lack of campaign efforts across the country in order to do so, they lost half their support. But with half the support, they have a seat with around 500,000 votes total for their party, whereas with nearly 1 million they had zero seats.
Toronto is thoroughly undersupported. We have 2.5 million people in Toronto. Prince Edward Island has 140,000. We have 22 ridings and they have 4. Doing the rough math, PE Islanders have about 1 MP for every 35,000 people and Torontonians have 1 MP per 113,000 people.
Saskatchewan has about 1,050,000 people and 14 seats. That's 1 MP per 75,000 people BUT! Let's take a look at Rural Alberta ridings, shall we? 590,000 people, 12 seats. That's one MP for every 49,000 people.
The more rural you are, the more sparsely populated your area, the more your vote counts and the more you get heard in the House of Commons. But then again, we have a first past the post system and not proportional representation. So who the hell even needs to bother counting up these numbers. Roughly 60% of Canadians cast votes which elect nobody.
We live in a broken electoral system and that's a fact. Who's going to fix it? The party that just rode a majority off of the existing system? Probably not.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Why Harper is a Problem
I'm up late again and I'm finding it hard to sleep, though I am in bed, my kitties are at my feet snuggling in their adorable fashion, and it's 3:00 a.m.
I've been thinking about low voter turnout in youth. I know when I first could, I was out there and I voted. I've voted NDP, Liberal and Green in federal and provincial elections. I see things I like in all of those parties. Sometimes I have a hard time deciding which I prefer. I love Green in an all-around way, especially on the environment and sustainability. NDP is best for my social values, and helping families. Liberals tend to strike me as the most fiscally responsible and I prefer them for the economy. It was their regulations in place that saved us from the economic downfall the Americans experienced, plus they developed a budget with a surplus.
And who is in power? The craziest, worst party in the whole damn country. I can't intellectually respect anyone who votes for them. The other parties, particularly the Liberals, have their skeletons in the closet, but none so frighteningly as bad as the Tories AKA the Reform Party.
And the people who support Harper won't hear a word against him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qItqs4HO6hc
They just blindly follow him and savour buzz words like "Tough on crime". Harper's mega prisons are a USA model and the States has some of the worst incarceration rates in the world with alarmingly high crime. Why emulate this? It's nonsensical. Crime is down in Canada. If he gave a shit about victims of crime he wouldn't want to dismantle the gun registry, a tool officers across the country use over 9,000 times every day.
These same uninformed voters look at the relative stability of Canada's economy after the recession and think Harper did it, even though he fought to deregulate the banks to be more like the US. He said regulations were hampering business. Well, they saved us and now he's crediting himself.
He's also renamed the Government Of Canada after himself and has been quoted as PM saying, "I make the rules." Steve Hubris Harper.
He's against gay rights. He fought against them. He's against universal healthcare. He supports privatization and is allowing it to leak into our system. He's certainly not supporting hospitals. We're crumbling and he's investing in the military instead.
He's frozen foreign aid. He claims our economy is awesome, while at the same time claiming it's too fragile to help others, while then blowing over a billion dollars for the G20 on frivolous nonsense in the worst location for a summit in the country, leading to the largest mass arrest in the nation's history. Harper the Hypocrite.
He's severed funding to women's groups across the board, evening internationally acclaimed groups. Didn't matter. Women are not a priority for him.
He is a megalomaniac. He has no business being in charge of anybody. I implore any Canadian reading this, please, for the love of your god, vote. And make it count. He's going to erode everything that we are. It's already begun.
And it's 3:30 now and I can link no more. But feel free to Google this stuff. It's out there, and from credible sources.
I've been thinking about low voter turnout in youth. I know when I first could, I was out there and I voted. I've voted NDP, Liberal and Green in federal and provincial elections. I see things I like in all of those parties. Sometimes I have a hard time deciding which I prefer. I love Green in an all-around way, especially on the environment and sustainability. NDP is best for my social values, and helping families. Liberals tend to strike me as the most fiscally responsible and I prefer them for the economy. It was their regulations in place that saved us from the economic downfall the Americans experienced, plus they developed a budget with a surplus.
And who is in power? The craziest, worst party in the whole damn country. I can't intellectually respect anyone who votes for them. The other parties, particularly the Liberals, have their skeletons in the closet, but none so frighteningly as bad as the Tories AKA the Reform Party.
And the people who support Harper won't hear a word against him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qItqs4HO6hc
They just blindly follow him and savour buzz words like "Tough on crime". Harper's mega prisons are a USA model and the States has some of the worst incarceration rates in the world with alarmingly high crime. Why emulate this? It's nonsensical. Crime is down in Canada. If he gave a shit about victims of crime he wouldn't want to dismantle the gun registry, a tool officers across the country use over 9,000 times every day.
These same uninformed voters look at the relative stability of Canada's economy after the recession and think Harper did it, even though he fought to deregulate the banks to be more like the US. He said regulations were hampering business. Well, they saved us and now he's crediting himself.
He's also renamed the Government Of Canada after himself and has been quoted as PM saying, "I make the rules." Steve Hubris Harper.
He's against gay rights. He fought against them. He's against universal healthcare. He supports privatization and is allowing it to leak into our system. He's certainly not supporting hospitals. We're crumbling and he's investing in the military instead.
He's frozen foreign aid. He claims our economy is awesome, while at the same time claiming it's too fragile to help others, while then blowing over a billion dollars for the G20 on frivolous nonsense in the worst location for a summit in the country, leading to the largest mass arrest in the nation's history. Harper the Hypocrite.
He's severed funding to women's groups across the board, evening internationally acclaimed groups. Didn't matter. Women are not a priority for him.
He is a megalomaniac. He has no business being in charge of anybody. I implore any Canadian reading this, please, for the love of your god, vote. And make it count. He's going to erode everything that we are. It's already begun.
And it's 3:30 now and I can link no more. But feel free to Google this stuff. It's out there, and from credible sources.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Another election
Another election. Jesus Murphy. Now, on the one hand, a side of me welcomes an opportunity to rid ourselves of Stephen Harper. On the other hand, I'm aware we live in a country with an antiqued electoral system that will allow politicians bulldoze voters, and keep parties like Green out, even with nearly a million votes to their credit.
http://vimeo.com/21072501
Watch the video about to get a better idea what we're dealing with here. I vote for no other reason than because I'm militant about exercising my rights. But I'd by lying if I said I wasn't trying to fight off a growing apathy to the whole system. The only thing that prevents me from not caring is apathy is what Stephen Harper is banking on. God, how I hate that man.
He recently went on a tirade about the Liberals plotting a coalition with the Bloc, even though he himself tried to do the exact thing when it suited his party's needs. Newsflash: It's legal and above board to form coalitions if the House believes the acting government is not acting in the best interest of Canada, or is ignoring the will of parliament. Some (many) people in this country are ignorant of parliamentary law and see coalitions as sneaky. What's sneaky is the Conservative leader doing it on the sly and then blasting other parties for doing it against him.
He's prorogued Parliament twice: once to avoid a vote of non confidence and again to avoid answering to the Afghan detainee torture issue. Proroguing is a commonplace procedure-- when all business is concluded. When there are still bills on the table and issues at hand, proroguing is a miscarriage of democracy.
He wasted over a billion dollars on the G20 & G8, namely because he held it in Toronto, against the pleas of the mayor, resulting in the largest mass arrest of civilians in the country's history. He could have paid a fraction of the cost and hosted it in Nunavut or Newfoundland or Saskatchewan, places with small populations and less security risks. They could have built infrastructure and secured it for less than the cost of security in Canada's largest and most easily accessed metropolis.
He's a religious zealot. He's anti-choice for women, and make no mistake that if he thinks he can, he'll tread on women's rights. He's already axed women's programs and services.
Prior to becoming PM, he campaigned for privatization of health care. He's not invested in our healthcare system at all. Boomers are aging and need nursing facilities and spaces. We need more beds in our emergency rooms. We need more doctors and nurses on staff. All those things require more money. He goes and cuts the GST, which does little for most regular people, but those pennies we save each day accumulates into massive monetary loss for the government to spend on services we require. So going to Tim Horton's will be a few cents cheaper but going to the hospital will be gruelling. What an excellent trade off.
He rebranded the Canadian government, that is The Government of Canada, as the Harper Government. Hubris, thy name is Harper. I cannot even properly explain just how offensive I find that. Do you think Americans would tolerate The United States Government being rebranded as The Obama Government? or The Bush Government? There'd be rallies in the street.
He spends tax payers money on Conservative party propaganda! $26 million! Those "Your country is in good hands with Stephen Harper" commercials? Paid for by you and me. He's advertising his own party with our tax dollars. He's not putting that money into healthcare. He's not putting it into education. He's not funding anything of value to us, the people. He's funding a love letter to himself for all of us to watch.
He's managed all of this and more in a handful of years with a minority government. Frankly, I'm terrified. What has my Canada come to? Everything we are, everything we value: women's right to chose, homosexual rights, parental leave, Canada pension plan, healthcare, quality public education...
Does anyone honestly think he supports or believes in any of those things? He doesn't even believe in banking regulations, the ones that saved us from a massive recession. He was for opening the market up like the Americans, and look what happened to them! And now he's riding off the good choices of previous leaders and taking the credit, though he would have lead us down the same road as our neighbours.
Any Canuck out there, with a brain and a heart, look at this guy. Seriously. Look at him. Look at his record. He's failed us, he's failed us so hard and so miserably. He can't be given more power. Open your eyes.
http://vimeo.com/21072501
Watch the video about to get a better idea what we're dealing with here. I vote for no other reason than because I'm militant about exercising my rights. But I'd by lying if I said I wasn't trying to fight off a growing apathy to the whole system. The only thing that prevents me from not caring is apathy is what Stephen Harper is banking on. God, how I hate that man.
He recently went on a tirade about the Liberals plotting a coalition with the Bloc, even though he himself tried to do the exact thing when it suited his party's needs. Newsflash: It's legal and above board to form coalitions if the House believes the acting government is not acting in the best interest of Canada, or is ignoring the will of parliament. Some (many) people in this country are ignorant of parliamentary law and see coalitions as sneaky. What's sneaky is the Conservative leader doing it on the sly and then blasting other parties for doing it against him.
He's prorogued Parliament twice: once to avoid a vote of non confidence and again to avoid answering to the Afghan detainee torture issue. Proroguing is a commonplace procedure-- when all business is concluded. When there are still bills on the table and issues at hand, proroguing is a miscarriage of democracy.
He wasted over a billion dollars on the G20 & G8, namely because he held it in Toronto, against the pleas of the mayor, resulting in the largest mass arrest of civilians in the country's history. He could have paid a fraction of the cost and hosted it in Nunavut or Newfoundland or Saskatchewan, places with small populations and less security risks. They could have built infrastructure and secured it for less than the cost of security in Canada's largest and most easily accessed metropolis.
He's a religious zealot. He's anti-choice for women, and make no mistake that if he thinks he can, he'll tread on women's rights. He's already axed women's programs and services.
Prior to becoming PM, he campaigned for privatization of health care. He's not invested in our healthcare system at all. Boomers are aging and need nursing facilities and spaces. We need more beds in our emergency rooms. We need more doctors and nurses on staff. All those things require more money. He goes and cuts the GST, which does little for most regular people, but those pennies we save each day accumulates into massive monetary loss for the government to spend on services we require. So going to Tim Horton's will be a few cents cheaper but going to the hospital will be gruelling. What an excellent trade off.
He rebranded the Canadian government, that is The Government of Canada, as the Harper Government. Hubris, thy name is Harper. I cannot even properly explain just how offensive I find that. Do you think Americans would tolerate The United States Government being rebranded as The Obama Government? or The Bush Government? There'd be rallies in the street.
He spends tax payers money on Conservative party propaganda! $26 million! Those "Your country is in good hands with Stephen Harper" commercials? Paid for by you and me. He's advertising his own party with our tax dollars. He's not putting that money into healthcare. He's not putting it into education. He's not funding anything of value to us, the people. He's funding a love letter to himself for all of us to watch.
He's managed all of this and more in a handful of years with a minority government. Frankly, I'm terrified. What has my Canada come to? Everything we are, everything we value: women's right to chose, homosexual rights, parental leave, Canada pension plan, healthcare, quality public education...
Does anyone honestly think he supports or believes in any of those things? He doesn't even believe in banking regulations, the ones that saved us from a massive recession. He was for opening the market up like the Americans, and look what happened to them! And now he's riding off the good choices of previous leaders and taking the credit, though he would have lead us down the same road as our neighbours.
Any Canuck out there, with a brain and a heart, look at this guy. Seriously. Look at him. Look at his record. He's failed us, he's failed us so hard and so miserably. He can't be given more power. Open your eyes.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Oil, Energy and Collapse
I tried to fall asleep last night by watching a documentary. I like documentaries, but if I'm not wide awake for them, I can sometimes fall asleep. Processing information while lying down in cozy bed can make for sleepiness. So the Dude and I threw on Collapse. He fell asleep. Lord knows how, because I found the information too riveting and horrible to fall asleep for many hours.
Okay, so this guy named Michael Ruppert is this former cop with a glowing record, who blew the whistle on the CIA selling cocaine back in the late '70s. He resigned and became an investigative journalist. The documentary is about him and his life and what he knows, but mostly about what he knows and how it's pretty much ruined his health and life.
So here's a rundown that should scare the crap out of anyone who's reasonable: We run entirely on fossil fuels (no surprise there) and we hit peak oil already, some time ago. So that means more than half of it is gone (Saudi Arabia has resorted to offshore drilling. That being the hardest, most expensive route to drilling oil, and since the country won't release how much they have in their reserves, it's safe to assume their main wells are dry). The world's population has spiked and consumption has increased. That means that the demand is now and will forever be higher than the supply... until it runs out. Which is going to be in my generation's lifetime.
There is no replacement energy source. Everything to generate every other energy source requires oil, to either build, produce or maintain. So if there is no oil to use for energy and there is no energy to build, produce or maintain other energy, then what? No, seriously, then what?
Also consider that all fields in industrial farms are ploughed with oil-consuming vehicles, are fertilized with oil byproduct chemicals (because by only growing the same crops each year-- corn-- you drain the soil of its nutrients, and chemicals are the easiest way to keep the soil fertile), and most are for corn fields to produce ethanol, and that it takes more oil energy to make ethanol than how much ethanol it actually produces... yeah.
So where does our food come from when the oil runs out? Think about that.
Also, no more plastics. No more maintenance for modern day technology that we rely on, like cell phone towers. No more oil to make materials required for more computers, cars of any kind, phones. No more oil products to build, say, nuclear power plants as a source of alternative energy.
All money used to be based on gold. How much gold was there? Well, money represented the amount of gold there was. Then money started to represent other resources, like oil. Well, as the world's supply gets used up, money stops being worth as much, doesn't it? Because it won't represent anything anymore. Money is just paper without something tangible to back it up and make it worth something. And one could get into how interest and banking further dilutes the worth of money, but let me get to my point.
The world is going to change. It doesn't look anything like it did 30 years ago, and it's going to look completely different 30 years from now in the opposite direction. We've been on an upward incline for decades, and now that the money-maker is drying up, we've begun our downward decline, and with a huge population that still needs to eat. Remember what I said about food?
Michael Ruppert predicted the 2008 crash, and has been speaking and trying to warn the government for years. No one's listened because there was still money to be made for men who will be dead by the time we run out of the black stuff.
We need a renewable energy source, and we need it yesterday. We need clean materials to build and create what we've grown to depend on. We need them soon. To be honest, I can see why this man has dedicated his life to this cause, to the detriment of his health.
Take a moment and consider what you'll do (note, not what you would do, but what you will do, because it's imminent in our future) without oil. Consider that it's responsible for your computer, cell phone, electricity, clothes, and most of what's in the grocery store. If that doesn't instill a sense of fear in your heart, I want to know what you're taking so I can have some too.
Okay, so this guy named Michael Ruppert is this former cop with a glowing record, who blew the whistle on the CIA selling cocaine back in the late '70s. He resigned and became an investigative journalist. The documentary is about him and his life and what he knows, but mostly about what he knows and how it's pretty much ruined his health and life.
So here's a rundown that should scare the crap out of anyone who's reasonable: We run entirely on fossil fuels (no surprise there) and we hit peak oil already, some time ago. So that means more than half of it is gone (Saudi Arabia has resorted to offshore drilling. That being the hardest, most expensive route to drilling oil, and since the country won't release how much they have in their reserves, it's safe to assume their main wells are dry). The world's population has spiked and consumption has increased. That means that the demand is now and will forever be higher than the supply... until it runs out. Which is going to be in my generation's lifetime.
There is no replacement energy source. Everything to generate every other energy source requires oil, to either build, produce or maintain. So if there is no oil to use for energy and there is no energy to build, produce or maintain other energy, then what? No, seriously, then what?
Also consider that all fields in industrial farms are ploughed with oil-consuming vehicles, are fertilized with oil byproduct chemicals (because by only growing the same crops each year-- corn-- you drain the soil of its nutrients, and chemicals are the easiest way to keep the soil fertile), and most are for corn fields to produce ethanol, and that it takes more oil energy to make ethanol than how much ethanol it actually produces... yeah.
So where does our food come from when the oil runs out? Think about that.
Also, no more plastics. No more maintenance for modern day technology that we rely on, like cell phone towers. No more oil to make materials required for more computers, cars of any kind, phones. No more oil products to build, say, nuclear power plants as a source of alternative energy.
All money used to be based on gold. How much gold was there? Well, money represented the amount of gold there was. Then money started to represent other resources, like oil. Well, as the world's supply gets used up, money stops being worth as much, doesn't it? Because it won't represent anything anymore. Money is just paper without something tangible to back it up and make it worth something. And one could get into how interest and banking further dilutes the worth of money, but let me get to my point.
The world is going to change. It doesn't look anything like it did 30 years ago, and it's going to look completely different 30 years from now in the opposite direction. We've been on an upward incline for decades, and now that the money-maker is drying up, we've begun our downward decline, and with a huge population that still needs to eat. Remember what I said about food?
Michael Ruppert predicted the 2008 crash, and has been speaking and trying to warn the government for years. No one's listened because there was still money to be made for men who will be dead by the time we run out of the black stuff.
We need a renewable energy source, and we need it yesterday. We need clean materials to build and create what we've grown to depend on. We need them soon. To be honest, I can see why this man has dedicated his life to this cause, to the detriment of his health.
Take a moment and consider what you'll do (note, not what you would do, but what you will do, because it's imminent in our future) without oil. Consider that it's responsible for your computer, cell phone, electricity, clothes, and most of what's in the grocery store. If that doesn't instill a sense of fear in your heart, I want to know what you're taking so I can have some too.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
There but for the grace of God go I
It's nearly 1:00 a.m. The Dude is in our hometown, seeing his mom, his buddy and his dad. Mostly it was a trip to help his dad paint a fence or something. The Dude is handy and helpful like that.
So I'm home enjoying some solitude. I got into this Facebook debate today with people I don't know. About what? Essentially inherent altruism versus looking out for number one. The question was what does social justice mean to you? Good question about an important topic.
I wasn't going to respond but I saw an answer: It's the opposite of personal freedom.
Yeah. I mean, are you kidding me? Ensuring opportunities for all is in contest with personal freedom? How do you even have freedom without opportunities? If you can't get a higher education, for example, or if you don't have access to healthcare, you're not free. You're trapped.
Then this guy pipes in about how hard it is being taxed 30%. This guy's an American and I did a check on American income tax rates. He has to make well over 100k, and possibly even close to 400k. Am I supposed to sympathize about his taxes? If he made 200k, he'd still be bringing home 140k. That's an incredible living.
I guess I just don't understand. I don't make nearly that much. I don't earn a year what he must lose in tax. But that just means what I do get taxed affects me more. And I don't mind. I don't mind doing my share via taxes to pay for roads, schools, hospitals, fire and police services... etc. I'm a reasonable person who understands these important features of modern life, even the ones I don't utilize at present, require money.
And to require that all the subjugated masses have what they need to develop themselves is only sensible. We're not all born to wealthy privilege. Actually, most of us aren't, that's why it's called privilege.
But it goes beyond that. There's all kinds of privilege that gives a person an edge. Being a man, being white, being straight, being attractive, for example. Then there's not being an immigrant, not being disabled, or not being a Muslim or Jew. Anything wrong with being a gay black female Jew? No. In fact, that is pretty cool, actually. But will you encounter more than your fair share of hardship compared to the Christian straight white guy from money? Uh, yeah. And it's not fair and that should be rectified.
So having programs and rules in place to discourage bigotry and to provide services that the public can avail themselves of, if only they have the drive, is compassionate, and moreover, intelligent.
But try telling this to these rich privileged people who are terrified of living in a world that's more fair to others, because all they think of is what they may lose, rather than those who suffer rising from poverty and oppression.
I called it greedy. One guy took umbrage. But what else can you call it when you feel violated at the thought of your tax dollars being spent for the good of the poor? It's a crap shoot in life who gets what. Who gets the looks and intelligence, who gets the talent and wealth, who gets the opportunities and support. It could have been anyone of us born into suffering or prejudice. And even later, anyone could meet disaster and need services in place to help, even you, even me. Like my aunt says, there but for the grace of God, go I. I'm agnostic, but you don't have to be religious to see the wisdom in that way of thinking.
Vote Green.
So I'm home enjoying some solitude. I got into this Facebook debate today with people I don't know. About what? Essentially inherent altruism versus looking out for number one. The question was what does social justice mean to you? Good question about an important topic.
I wasn't going to respond but I saw an answer: It's the opposite of personal freedom.
Yeah. I mean, are you kidding me? Ensuring opportunities for all is in contest with personal freedom? How do you even have freedom without opportunities? If you can't get a higher education, for example, or if you don't have access to healthcare, you're not free. You're trapped.
Then this guy pipes in about how hard it is being taxed 30%. This guy's an American and I did a check on American income tax rates. He has to make well over 100k, and possibly even close to 400k. Am I supposed to sympathize about his taxes? If he made 200k, he'd still be bringing home 140k. That's an incredible living.
I guess I just don't understand. I don't make nearly that much. I don't earn a year what he must lose in tax. But that just means what I do get taxed affects me more. And I don't mind. I don't mind doing my share via taxes to pay for roads, schools, hospitals, fire and police services... etc. I'm a reasonable person who understands these important features of modern life, even the ones I don't utilize at present, require money.
And to require that all the subjugated masses have what they need to develop themselves is only sensible. We're not all born to wealthy privilege. Actually, most of us aren't, that's why it's called privilege.
But it goes beyond that. There's all kinds of privilege that gives a person an edge. Being a man, being white, being straight, being attractive, for example. Then there's not being an immigrant, not being disabled, or not being a Muslim or Jew. Anything wrong with being a gay black female Jew? No. In fact, that is pretty cool, actually. But will you encounter more than your fair share of hardship compared to the Christian straight white guy from money? Uh, yeah. And it's not fair and that should be rectified.
So having programs and rules in place to discourage bigotry and to provide services that the public can avail themselves of, if only they have the drive, is compassionate, and moreover, intelligent.
But try telling this to these rich privileged people who are terrified of living in a world that's more fair to others, because all they think of is what they may lose, rather than those who suffer rising from poverty and oppression.
I called it greedy. One guy took umbrage. But what else can you call it when you feel violated at the thought of your tax dollars being spent for the good of the poor? It's a crap shoot in life who gets what. Who gets the looks and intelligence, who gets the talent and wealth, who gets the opportunities and support. It could have been anyone of us born into suffering or prejudice. And even later, anyone could meet disaster and need services in place to help, even you, even me. Like my aunt says, there but for the grace of God, go I. I'm agnostic, but you don't have to be religious to see the wisdom in that way of thinking.
Vote Green.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Muly
May is ending and thanks to global warming, it's felt like July for awhile. When I was a kid my mom regaled me with tales of jumping off the garage roof into great drifts of snow. I'd look around at about one foot of snow and think, huh. What's the deal?
I'm going to regale my children about how it used to snow on Halloween and how we all used to have to wear snowsuits under our costumes like chumps. I remember this one kid from California was in the neighbourhood one year and was planning to wear just a T-shirt and we all chuckled at him. We knew better. It was just too damn cold.
Now? Well hell, I had bare legs this past Halloween. And it's been like that for a few years now. And March, which used to have snow storms was like May used to be. And May? It's been air conditioner weather. My dentist had to call and cancel my appointment until June because the building doesn't turn on the A/C until then and they've been roasting in dental hell. And in my last place, the heat blasted into my face until June 15th. It was so ass. The bi-laws haven't even caught up to the climate changes.
It's all kind of creepy. I wonder, though, if there has ever been an era of time where people didn't feel as though their world as they knew it was falling apart? Probably not. But then I think this is the first time that rather than social or political change, it's been the global environmental changes that have people worried.
And yet people are still buying Hummers, having tons of children, not recycling, leaving the lights on, running the washing machine for three shirts. Even water is becoming a commodity and we here aren't feeling the effects because we can turn on the tap. Companies like Coke are situated in developing countries and sucking up the water to make a soft drink while surrounding communities go thirsty, as though water didn't rightfully belong to us all.
I wish our government in power now gave a flying shit about the environment. Everything else be damned if we create too much damage in the name of creating wealth that won't matter if Newfoundland and PEI wind up under the sea. But I guess Alberta would be okay and after all, the evangelist PM we've got probably thinks Jesus will be here any day now to whisk him away to Heaven, so why not consume all he can now?
Sigh.
But I suppose there's always hope for the future.
I'm going to regale my children about how it used to snow on Halloween and how we all used to have to wear snowsuits under our costumes like chumps. I remember this one kid from California was in the neighbourhood one year and was planning to wear just a T-shirt and we all chuckled at him. We knew better. It was just too damn cold.
Now? Well hell, I had bare legs this past Halloween. And it's been like that for a few years now. And March, which used to have snow storms was like May used to be. And May? It's been air conditioner weather. My dentist had to call and cancel my appointment until June because the building doesn't turn on the A/C until then and they've been roasting in dental hell. And in my last place, the heat blasted into my face until June 15th. It was so ass. The bi-laws haven't even caught up to the climate changes.
It's all kind of creepy. I wonder, though, if there has ever been an era of time where people didn't feel as though their world as they knew it was falling apart? Probably not. But then I think this is the first time that rather than social or political change, it's been the global environmental changes that have people worried.
And yet people are still buying Hummers, having tons of children, not recycling, leaving the lights on, running the washing machine for three shirts. Even water is becoming a commodity and we here aren't feeling the effects because we can turn on the tap. Companies like Coke are situated in developing countries and sucking up the water to make a soft drink while surrounding communities go thirsty, as though water didn't rightfully belong to us all.
I wish our government in power now gave a flying shit about the environment. Everything else be damned if we create too much damage in the name of creating wealth that won't matter if Newfoundland and PEI wind up under the sea. But I guess Alberta would be okay and after all, the evangelist PM we've got probably thinks Jesus will be here any day now to whisk him away to Heaven, so why not consume all he can now?
Sigh.
But I suppose there's always hope for the future.
Friday, May 7, 2010
When the Right isn't right.
I hate Stephen Harper. I really, really do. I cannot understand how anyone would vote for his party, with him at the helm. People think "Conservative Party" and then vote without looking at this man's record in politics or the current state of the Conservatives. These are not the Tories of old. This is the Reform Party. Harper was part of Reform, a far-right fundamentalist Christian group.
They were fringe. They were a (scary) joke in this country because we value things like the CBC, Canada Post, healthcare and women's right to choose. Why would any sane Canadian want a party like Reform to run things? Answer: As a majority group, we don't.
Ah, but then there was the merge of the right in Canada, the name Reform was lost and essentially became the Alliance. Remember the Alliance, anyone? Run by Stockwell Day, the dude who doesn't believe in evolution and the one who wanted a referendum for everything? Then led by Stephen Harper?
Moving forward, There were then the PCs and the Alliance, the Alliance being the joke of conservative politics in Canada. They won 66 seats in their one federal election and then afterward there was the final merge with the Tories. Now who are they run by? A former Reform AND Alliance leader, Stephen Harper. Fantastic.
The new merge of PC and Alliance (Reform) headed by Harper won 124 seats, despite the fact they were now being run by a leader whose former party (which encapsulated all his ideologies*) had only won 66.
(*Please note the Reform party ideology opposed homosexual marriage, abortion, public healthcare, and was intolerant to French Canada and bilingualism.)
Shall we take a look at what this man stands for, as evidenced by his record in office?
1. He campaigned AGAINST healthcare. Oh yes. Click on the link. Read all about it.
2. His party is introducing new legislation on jail that will cost an estimated $11.5 billion over five years. Our healthcare needs attention, and he's relying on unproven legislation to reduce crime, even though it's been on the decline anyway for years. Link. Fiscally conservative my ass.
3. He's anti-choice. His party is not funding abortions to women who receive foreign aid. The G8 maternal and child health initiate for developing countries has a Christian moralist agenda, rather than a reasoned look at impoverished women's needs. His government wasn't even going to fund contraception initially. We have abortion laws in place here, but where he can he's helping to detract women in need from their right to choose.
4. He's flouted the laws of parliament. He's dissolved parliament to avoid A. a vote of non-confidence, and then again to avoid the will of the house in answering for Afghan detainee torture.
5. Draconian copyright laws, infringing on consumers (Basically you and me).
I challenge anyone who votes for this party to take a long look at themselves and their lives and values, and then ask themselves honestly if this man and his party speak for you. Are you comfortable with a man who does not play by the rules of our democracy? Who shows intolerance and a partiality to his own personal religious beliefs over unbiased data?
I've voted Liberal. I've also voted NDP and Green. I alter my votes according to who I think speaks for me, who I think is a sound choice based on their platforms and personal history. I think that is the intellectual duty of everyone who votes.
Every week it seems I read more and more angering political news that keeps me up at night. This has just got to stop. The only way it will is if people see past their comfort zone of voting conservative just because they always have and really look at the party as it is today. It's effed up. Get informed!
PS I'm seeing Iron Man 2 tonight. That'll make me happy.
They were fringe. They were a (scary) joke in this country because we value things like the CBC, Canada Post, healthcare and women's right to choose. Why would any sane Canadian want a party like Reform to run things? Answer: As a majority group, we don't.
Ah, but then there was the merge of the right in Canada, the name Reform was lost and essentially became the Alliance. Remember the Alliance, anyone? Run by Stockwell Day, the dude who doesn't believe in evolution and the one who wanted a referendum for everything? Then led by Stephen Harper?
Moving forward, There were then the PCs and the Alliance, the Alliance being the joke of conservative politics in Canada. They won 66 seats in their one federal election and then afterward there was the final merge with the Tories. Now who are they run by? A former Reform AND Alliance leader, Stephen Harper. Fantastic.
The new merge of PC and Alliance (Reform) headed by Harper won 124 seats, despite the fact they were now being run by a leader whose former party (which encapsulated all his ideologies*) had only won 66.
(*Please note the Reform party ideology opposed homosexual marriage, abortion, public healthcare, and was intolerant to French Canada and bilingualism.)
Shall we take a look at what this man stands for, as evidenced by his record in office?
1. He campaigned AGAINST healthcare. Oh yes. Click on the link. Read all about it.
2. His party is introducing new legislation on jail that will cost an estimated $11.5 billion over five years. Our healthcare needs attention, and he's relying on unproven legislation to reduce crime, even though it's been on the decline anyway for years. Link. Fiscally conservative my ass.
3. He's anti-choice. His party is not funding abortions to women who receive foreign aid. The G8 maternal and child health initiate for developing countries has a Christian moralist agenda, rather than a reasoned look at impoverished women's needs. His government wasn't even going to fund contraception initially. We have abortion laws in place here, but where he can he's helping to detract women in need from their right to choose.
4. He's flouted the laws of parliament. He's dissolved parliament to avoid A. a vote of non-confidence, and then again to avoid the will of the house in answering for Afghan detainee torture.
5. Draconian copyright laws, infringing on consumers (Basically you and me).
I challenge anyone who votes for this party to take a long look at themselves and their lives and values, and then ask themselves honestly if this man and his party speak for you. Are you comfortable with a man who does not play by the rules of our democracy? Who shows intolerance and a partiality to his own personal religious beliefs over unbiased data?
I've voted Liberal. I've also voted NDP and Green. I alter my votes according to who I think speaks for me, who I think is a sound choice based on their platforms and personal history. I think that is the intellectual duty of everyone who votes.
Every week it seems I read more and more angering political news that keeps me up at night. This has just got to stop. The only way it will is if people see past their comfort zone of voting conservative just because they always have and really look at the party as it is today. It's effed up. Get informed!
PS I'm seeing Iron Man 2 tonight. That'll make me happy.
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