Monthly Archives: November 2006
Same Sex Law to Be Revisited
| 11/30/2006 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
It appears that Harper is planning to bring a motion before the House asking if the debate on gay marriage should be revisited as soon as next week. This isn’t really a surprise considering the right wing stance of this government. I suspect it will be the first of several moves to set back laws which have brought rights and social justice to groups in this country.
I don’t particularly see any benefit to reopening this debate. The law has been in place and has not caused any particular rent in the social fabric of this country. The only benefit of the debate is to satisfy those right wing, mean spirited homophobes who can’t handle needing to learn to at minimum tolerate those who don’t march to the same music they do.
I can appreciate it isn’t easy. Over the last few years, I’ve had to come to terms with my socially planted abhorrence of gays. It is socially planted, we were raised with attitudes, spoken and unspoken, that a gay person was less than human and should be avoided in order to make sure we didn’t ‘catch it’. For most of my life that teaching ‘took’, then I met people who were gay. Some were even openly so.
What a shock in my life, I didn’t not only NOT ‘catch it’, I found these people to be warm, caring people who were for most of their lives forced to hide and deny who they were. Depending on their age, some of them would have had to live part or most of their lives in fear that should others realize they were gay, they could have been subject to brutal beatings. I came to recognize that I have no right to judge others, to impose my social view to the point that others could feel comfortable in their persecution of gays.
To participate in the shunning of a person because they are drawn to the same gender in their private life was, to me, really more an insecurity about myself than a true statement about the other person.
It’s Down to the Wire for the Liberals
| 11/30/2006 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
The Liberals have gathered in Quebec to choose their new leader. I can’t say that any of the candidates are really hot on my list of must get elected as leader. Ignatieff had my support which greatly wavered when he brought up the bright (NOT) idea of opening the constitution to enshrine Quebec as a nation within the constitution. Bloody idiot. His use of that as an leadership election plank is only exceeded for stupidity by the Boy’s (Harper) tabling of a likeminded motion in the House of Commons last week. Read the rest of this entry »
We Will Remember Them
| 11/27/2006 | Posted by Patti under Brave Canadians |
They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them
In memory of our fallen Canadians:
WO Robert Girouard — Afghanistan Nov. 27, 2006
Cpl Albert Storm — Afghanistan Nov. 27, 2006
Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated
Support Our Troops — Wear Red on Fridays
Turner Stays Independent
| 11/15/2006 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
Garth Turner, the PITA (pain in the ass) MP, formerly of the Conservatives has decided to sit as an independent following his being turfed from the Conservative caucus. There was some speculation that he would join the Green party but while willing to help their leader campaign in London, he’s not going to be taking out a membership with them. He has resigned his membership in the Conservative party.
His rationale in remaining as an independent is that he can get more done and respond to the wishes of the people who elected him if he doesn’t have to cater to party lines and the old boys club which runs the political party machines and he doesn’t mean just the Conservatives. Read the rest of this entry »
A Pittance in Time — It’s Time For You to Give Yours.
| 11/4/2006 | Posted by Patti under Remembrance Day |
My sister sent me a video via email today. She rarely does this because I’m on dialup and she knows she will tick me off royally tying up my connection to download a large file. This is one file I was glad to take the time to download.
The title of the video is “A Pittance in Time”, you can link to YouTube to view the video.
The music was written by Terry Kelly in 1999 after a Remembrance Day experience in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He was in the Shopper’s Drug Mart just before 11am that morning and was impressed to hear an announcement asking everyone, staff and customers, to pause at 11am for two minutes of silence. Read the rest of this entry »
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