Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!

Rick Rants - Negative Politics

Love this one . . .

Political Silliness

Many giggles were spewed in Canada this week over a rather silly thing - a bus!

In this case the bus belonging to the leader of the opposition in Alberta gearing up for an election.

Here we are . . .

 . . . lots of giggles.

Here we are . . .

 . . . not so many giggles.

Can you see the problem?

International Women's Day

It's International Women's Day. The event, born of the socialist movement in the United States the early 1900s, has spread across the world in the century since. Over one million men and women honoured the day for the first time in 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and the United States, marching in rallies vying for women's right to work, vote and hold public office.

One would think that 100 years later we wouldn't need a special day to champion the rights of women.

Sadly evidence points to the contrary . . .

There’s been a firestorm of controversy over the last week about American talk show host Rush Limbaugh calling a woman testifying before a US Congressional Committee a “slut”.

Candidates for the Republican Presidential nomination are having a grand time discussing women's reproduction issues. One candidate suggesting that a woman who was impregnated by rape should be denied an abortion and should thank god for the miracle of a child.

On the front page of today's Toronto Star was the story of a model who took an agency to court, and won, because they deemed her 92 cm hips to be too wide. The model was considered 'fat' as a size 2.

Women are target for violent crimes . . . denied leadership postitions . . . paid less than men for doing similar work and bear a more significant financial burder for child-rearing.

Around the world they are bought, sold, denied education, health care, and basic freedoms.

Much more work is to be done.

The CBC ran an interesting feature today. They asked prominent Canadian women, leaders in their fields, what advice they would have for their teenaged salves. The responses ranged from the comical to the whimsical to the inspirational to the sad.

Don't worry, contact lenses will be invented in the 1960s and then you can ditch those weird hornrimmed glasses.

I'd say trust your gut instincts and learn to manage your time and energy and...have some fun!:)

Take all the energy you spend worrying about what others thought of you and put it into trying harder at math.

Never worry what critics say if you don't respect their opinion on anything else.

You are smarter than you think. You can do whatever you want to do in life. Follow your heart.

Listen, learn and know that nothing is impossible. Always trust your instincts.

There is hope! We always have the ability to choose our path and find the support to help us succeed! Never allow anybody to make you feel you aren't worth fighting for or that your goals are unattainable.

lighten up - acne disappears !

I would tell my teenage self that real friendships are more precious than money, fame etc. and to foster them.

Thx for asking. I'm not wise enough to give advice, and what teenager takes advice from an adult, anyway? :)

Believe you can make a difference and let's work together for a society that is more caring, peaceful and equal.

Never settle, never give up, take road less travelled, seek financial independence. However, it has not been an easy road so I would add: have faith, surround yourself w/ positive people, higher self.

Rick Rants About the Robocall Scandal

Well said Rick, well said.

Election Skullduggery . . . SIGH

So the scandal into voter suppression in the last election, allegedly by the Conservative Party of Canada, widens.

It takes a certain kind of mentality to pay cash for a disposable phone, like drug dealers do, and use it in your election campaign. It's pretty obvious for anyone who has read a modern crime novel, seen a movie recently, or watched TV that people who use these cash-only disposable phones do so for a reason - they are trying to hide something.

Voters received calls directing them to 'new' polling stations that never existed. In some cases these new polling stations were 90 minutes across town.

This joins a long list of techniques utilized by the Conservative Party of Canada to suppress and silence and show contempt for the electorate:

• deciding to shut down Parliament using an arcane Parliamentary strategy when it looked as if they'd lose a confidence vote.
• being found guilty of abusing the election finance laws and illegally spending millions of dollars.
• being the first government in history to be found in contempt of Parliament.
•  booting people who didn't support them from election rallies, limited the questions reporters could ask the PM during the election, refusing to allow individual election candidates to talk during the campaign.

It's a sad record for Canadian democracy.

I think we need some UN observers to monitor our next election.

More Political Craziness in Canada

There are times I think I am like poor Alice and have fallen through a rabbit into a bizarre world!

Today came reports that Elections Canada had traced all sorts of automated calls made on the last election day to a robot-phone company with ties to the Conservatives. Interestingly those calls went to liberal and NDP supporters in ridings that were projected to be close.

Heck, let's go back to thedays when thugs with bats stood outside the voting sites and beat those who might vote for a different party.

Now let's talk about Bill C-10 the government's giant 'crime' bill. For years they have ben trying to get this crap passed but in a minority government these measures failed. now that they have unfettered power (thank you fools who voted Conservative) they are moving Canada in directions that even Texas realized was an abject failure.

This video tells the depressing tale . . .

On one hand I say 'It's only about three more years.' But then on the other I wonder what the country will look like in three more years.

I am officially depressed!

BAH

Harper's Latest Crime Bill

It's been a strange day here in the frozen north.

It started when I read a column by Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente - for likely the first time in history I agreed with her. Had it not been for a staff meeting at the office I might have stayed home and rested in a dark, quiet room all day.

A furor has arisen over the Harper Conservative's latest crime Bill -  the Protecting Children From Internet Predators Act. As Wente points out it really should be called Licence to Snoop Law. That’s because the bill would give police the power to acquire detailed information about who you are online, without answering to anyone about why.

I suppose if the police were models of virtue and never abused their legal authority it would be all well and good; they'd only be searching out bad guys and gals. Well kids, I hate to break it to you but there are loads of examples where police acted improperly for their own self-interest. I don't want the police being able to view my e-mails, internet usage data, etc with unfettered access.

As with everything Harper does the timing is off just a smidge. Harper, tough on crime, rammed through legislation banning the gun registry since it was an unnecessary intrusion into the lives of innocent Canadians.

Legislation allowing authorities to access all of your private internet actions whenever, wherever, without any oversight apparently is just fine.

Of course the government has introduced this bill with their usual divisive and hamfisted manner. The other in Parliament the Justice Minister Toews declared that 'you're with the government or you're with the child pornographers' when questioned about the bill. He has come to regret accusing all those who oppose the bill child pornographers.

With their usual creativity, anonomyous Canadians have taken to the internet to protest the bill. A new twitter account was created and it's been streaminginformation about Toews non-stop for days. Sordid information - cheating on his wife, a love child, convictions, expense accounts, and on and on. This sharing of private information about elected officials is not normal here in the land of the frozen tundra.

Then some wag started a new hashtag #TellVicEverything and invited Canadians to tweet inane posts since Vic thought our lives should be an open book to the authorities . . .

The subversive logic of the protest runs like this.

If Vic Toews wants to know everything about us, perhaps we should just tell him.

All day long, Canadians coast to coast have been tweeting Toews ‘s own Twitter account with the most banal, mundane details of their lives.

Here is a sample of some tweets:

That cashew I lost this morning turned up in my bra. It smelled like perfume, but I still ate it. @toewsvic #tellviceverything

Hey @toewsvic, I used black beans even though the recipe called for kidney beans. #tellviceverything

Hey, @ToewsVic, ovulating. #TellVicEverything

@ToewsVic Why do I always get stuck changing the toilet paper? #TellVicEverything

I just saved a bunch of money on car insurance by switching to Geico. #TellVicEverything

.@ToewsVic My puppy pees when she's excited and now my husband has to change his pants. We're going to be late for band! #TellVicEverything

@toewsvic Always assume a 3 year old licked the cookie dough when buying bake sale goodies #TellVicEverything

I could post more but it is the number on trending hash tag in Canada right now - more than 1000 tweets popped up while I was writing this post.

I hate bullies and love Canadians who are standing up to these pinheads.

Mackenzie King Estate

I haven't posted much, if anything about our trip to Ottawa over the August long weekend. It is time to fix that!

On Sunday we decided to cross the river into Quebec and visit Gatineau Park - a wedge of land measuring 361 square kilometres to the northwest of Canada’s Capital Region. It is a nature lover's paradise and clearly loved by those in the region. we were more interested in visiting a historic site - the home of Canada's longest serving Prime Minister.

William Lyon Mackenzie King was Canada’s 10th prime minister. During a career that spanned some fifty years — almost half of that as prime minister — King guided Canada along the path from semi-colonial status to complete autonomy. King was also one of Canada's most interesting figures who was known to speak and have conversations with his mother AND dog long after their respective deaths.

A native of southwestern Ontario, Mackenzie King first visited the Gatineau Hills in 1900, shortly after his arrival in Ottawa, where he was a public servant. He fell in love with the wilderness scenery he discovered there and, in 1903, bought a small piece of land on tiny Kingsmere Lake where he built a cottage, Kingswood. In time, he purchased more land and finally owned 231 hectares south of the lake, three summer cottages and a year-round residence. From 1903 to 1928, he spent virtually every summer at Kingswood. He spent his free time building, landscaping and maintaining his estate.

In 1928, Mackenzie King was in his third term as prime minister, and more certain of his political career. He moved to Moorside, a large elegant cottage where he received guests such as Winston Churchill and Charles Lindbergh. At Moorside, King expressed his romanticism, laying out formal flower beds, gathering a collection of picturesque ruins from Canada and abroad and tracing trails in the forest that can still be enjoyed today.

The ruins were my favourite part of the estate, imported from places near and far to beautify the landscape by framing the scenery. I love the fact that these man-made works manage to blend into the beautiful natural setting. The ruins pictured below are both historic and whimsical.

Canada’s connection to Great Britain is represented by the British Speaker’s coat-of-arms. But King also prized Canada’s growing independence from the Imperial government. His grandfather, William Lyon Mackenzie, had led an unsuccessful rebellion in 1837. The fireplace shown above (rescued from the ruins of Canada's first Parliament which had burnt to the ground) contains three square stones from the rebel’s printing office.

Quiting Your Job in Style

 
Canada's new (vile) Conservative government opened Parliament last week. The usual things happened - the election of the Speaker of the House, the Speech from the Throne, a Senate page holding a protest sign saying 'Stop Harper'.

Hmm - that last bit isn't usual.

In fact, it is downright unusual.

This young lady caused quite a stir. Normally the pages in the Senate follow the classic rule for children: 'seen but not heard'. They sedately walk back and forth with messages, coffee, or spare reading glasses, as the case may be. They never draw attention to themselves.

Brigette DePape had a job that many folks would envy. Self-described as a-political, she is no fan of Stephen Harper. Concerned about where he plans on taking our fair country (as many Canadians are) she decided to do something about it. She knew that she'd was taking an open stand that wouldn't be popular with some. She smuggled her protest sign into the ceremony under her skirt, pulling it out while the Governor General was reading the speech from theThrone, and stood there silently holding it up.

It wasn't long before she was ushered from the chamber, interrogated, and fired.

This has to be the best 'I quit' since flight attendant Steven Slater took over the PA system, ranted at the passengers, and popped open the chute and slid to freedom.

How wonderful that we live in a country where one can voice their dissent.  How sad that we have to live through four years of this hellish government.

Why ALL Canadians Should Vote Today

Today is election day in Canada.

The last federal election in Canada was almost 3 years ago. Now it is everyone's duty to vote again.

The last election saw the poorest turnout of voters ever in this country. This time it should be different.

The country is polarized and the issues and choices are fairly clear.

People were waiting for the debates to get a sense of how it was going and as usual were disappointed by the format and the quality of debate.

I do believe that we have strong leadership in the 3 main national parties although I may not agree with the policies of some of the parties nor tactics utilized by some of the leaders. The polls show greater approval for all three leaders than we have seen previously.

Young people are getting excited and getting involved. This is a good thing regardless of the outcome.

I mentioned yesterday that in a number of countries right now people are fighting and dying to win the right to vote. Do not take your rights for granted.

Some people believe that their vote won't make a difference - but it will. Every vote sends the message that Canadians care about the future, we care about democracy, and we want better from our politicians.

Canadians deserve better than the government we've been getting over the past three years in my opinion.  But if we can't be bothered to drop our I-pods or step away from the TV long enough to inform ourselves on the issues, then our elected officials have no incentive to deliver. 

It's time to send all politicians a message - regardless of the party - that you want productive political discourse to return to Ottawa.

VOTE