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Tuesday, June 29, 2004
The election here in Canada is over and I am very happy with the results. The Liberals won a minority government, which means they don't have over 50% of the seats in parliament, and that's a good thing. For starters, it should serve as a wake up call to stop the scandals and to deal with waste, and some good, progressive legislation may be passed now, especially with more socially liberal parties now having a degree of power. There is also the very added bonus that the Conservatives aren't in power, and are the Official Opposition.
That of course pisses off conservatives here in the wild west. There was bitching in the Edmonton Sun (a right-wing tabloid paper) editorial how once more the West is shut out. Excuse me? I'm Albertan. I was born here in the west. My voice has been heard, which is more than I can say about the provincial government. Over 30 years in power. Yet I don't keep bitching about my people not being in power, how my voice is never heard. Maybe the problem is, and I know they find this hard to believe, most people in Canada... are you ready for this?... aren't conservatives! What they need to do is try to convince people that conservative economic and social policies are the best thing for the country, and that's going to be a tough sell because, well, they're not. Either that or start breeding like rabbits so that we have a greater population here than in Ontario or Quebec, neither of which voted for the Conservative party in drove and so kept Stephen Harper out of the prime minister's office.
posted
by Tabby at 6/29/2004 08:41:00 p.m.
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Monday, June 28, 2004
You know what movie I would stand in line for? Disney's Passion of the Christ, an all-new animated feature from the folks that brought you Hercules and The Hunchback of Notre Dame featuring 6 show-stopping new songs! Follow the adventures of Jesus and his pals Paul the donkey and Peter the pigeon as they search for adventure and romance. Watch as Jesus falls in love with Mary Magdeline, and brace yourself for the stormy climax as Jesus faces his arch-enemy, Judas Iscariot. Does he win? Does he live happily ever after? Is there any doubt? It's Disney!
Featuring the voices of Justin Timberlake as Jesus, David Schwimmer as Paul the donkey, Brad Garrett as Peter the pigeon, Beyonce Knowles as Mary Magdeline, Jim Carrey as Judas Iscariot, Nathan Lane as God, and Clint Eastwood as Satan.
Hey, if Hera and Zeus can be the happily married parents of Hercules, then no mythology is untouchable.
posted
by Tabby at 6/28/2004 03:20:00 a.m.
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Monday, June 21, 2004
The operative syllable in "sidewalk" is "walk." Don't stand there with your family or friends yakking it up and expect the person you see walking along to have to move off the sidewalk. If you are coming up a set of stairs or an escalator in a public place and you see someone you know, don't stand there blocking access to all the other people who need to go up or down.
I've been seeing more and more of this lately, and it's pissing me off. I have a message for the people who do this... THE WORLD DOESN'T FUCKING REVOLVE AROUND YOU! MOVE YOUR DAMNED ASS OUT OF THE WAY! Your friendly chats aren't that all-important that it's okay to inconvenience everyone else.
This also goes for people who are walking on sidewalks or in the mall side-by-side. Ohhhh! You're all together! I don't fucking care. I just want to get by on the way to my destination. I shouldn't have to step off into the mud because you can't stand stepping behind your partner for a couple of seconds waiting for you all to turn into a store because you're one big jolly loving group. Get over yourselves.
Could you imagine if people drove on the roads like they walk on sidewalks or in malls? Lines of cars stretched across every lane going in one direction at 20 kph just so people can have nice little conversations? How about coming across cars of people they know and stopping so that other drivers would have to go up on the sidewalks? It's not going to happen. We have and need traffic laws for a very good reason... people are self-centered jerks.
posted
by Tabby at 6/21/2004 05:25:00 p.m.
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Wednesday, June 16, 2004
I'm into magic lately. Not majick or any other sort of New Age mumbo jumbo, but prestigidation. Illusion. I've got a couple of small prop tricks, but where I've really been enjoying myself is with the cards. The tricks can be very astounding and they're a lot easier to carry around, though I would like to get more props as well.
The surprising thing is how good you can appear to be with little practice. Of course there are tricks that do require a lot of practice and expertise, but I'm lazy and I want to be good at it now, so the ones I've got are rather easy but still impressive.
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by Tabby at 6/16/2004 11:23:00 p.m.
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Monday, June 14, 2004
I went to see the cast of the American Whose Line Is It Anyway? perform last night. Well, most of them. It was Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, Brad Sherwood, Chip Estin, Jeff Davis, and Greg Proops. Funny? I was afraid at one point I was going to hurt myself. You know when you are laughing hard and a lot and your face is getting red and sore? Kinda like that. Got me a little worried that I'd have an aneurism or something. Luckily I just got seriously entertained. If they happen to be stopping by your area, it's well worth the price of the ticket.
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by Tabby at 6/14/2004 11:29:00 p.m.
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Thursday, June 10, 2004
It's raining right now. Fairly heavily too. The skies are grey, and there's a chill in the air. And all this on top of the predictions of a Conservative win at the election.
This is going to be a vote-heavy year. There is a civic election this autumn, and we really need a new mayor, then there is talk about a possible provincial election in the next few months. Oy. Combine all this with that other important election, the one I can't vote in but lives around the world are at stake (please, America, vote for John Kerry!), and it's a very political 2004.
***
On a sad note, Ray Charles has died. It was a coincidence that I was watching a rerun of Saturday Night Live last night (with the original cast) and he was the guest on the show. I didn't see the whole thing, it was late and I was tired, but he did a good job.
Hit the road, Jack, and thanks for the music.
posted
by Tabby at 6/10/2004 05:32:00 p.m.
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Monday, June 07, 2004
I saw the neatest/strangest thing today. It was a magpie either pestering, hunting, driving off, or playing with a squirrel. Hunting was actually my first thought, and I've never seen a magpie hunt before, I've always thought they were scavengers, but if it was hunting, it was doing a pretty poor job. It was jumping on the squirrel, more or less.
So did the magpie have a nest nearby and did it think the squirrel was a threat? Possibly. I can't read human minds, let alone birds or small mammals. It was fun to watch though because neither of them got lost, and when the squirrel got away the magpie looked a little perplexed. I almost wanted to point at the tree and say, "He went up there!"
posted
by Tabby at 6/07/2004 07:52:00 p.m.
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Sunday, June 06, 2004
This is a little dispiriting. I've picked up my writing again but I've seem to have lost everyone who used to come by. The only visitor so far to my little site this month has been me. It makes me sad and I wonder if my dry spell hurt me worse than I feared it would. Either that or my move to a new home and Canadian politics are a lot more boring than I thought.
No fear though! I'll start introducing new and wacky ideas! For example, it occurred to me today that a really neat thing to do with elevators (and crosswalk lights for that matter) would be that if a button is already lit up, whether it's to signal for the elevator or to indicate what floor you want to stop at, if anyone else presses that button the light will go out and the call would be stopped.
I know that for a while there tensions would increase as people keep pressing lit buttons which would then necessitate them needing pressing again, but hopefully soon that would cure them of the habit and we'd no longer have to be annoyed with the sight of idiots pressing lit buttons.
posted
by Tabby at 6/06/2004 05:51:00 p.m.
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Friday, June 04, 2004
Finally, oh finally! Telus has finally come through for me and all I have left to do is go down and make a payment then they will connect my phone. I've never had this much trouble before, but it's finally been taken care of. Man, that was a pain in the ass. Shaw Cable? They were a breeze! Epcor for my power? I've had electricity every since I moved in.
I'm looking forward to having my phone hooked up now. It's so hard to make prank calls without one. Yes, that's a joke. I don't make prank calls. For one thing, it's juvenile. For another thing, in the age of caller ID it's really a stupid thing to do.
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by Tabby at 6/04/2004 08:36:00 p.m.
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In the course of my job, I need to talk to the general public. You know what would make me truly happy? Not having to talk to the public at all. That would make me happy.
As anyone who has every had a job that brings them into contact with the public knows, the people are often stupid, rude, impatient, self-centered, and even more stupid. You try your best, talk to them with a smile in your voice, but it doesn't help. Whatever problems they're having in their pathetic little lives absolutely require them to take it out on you. They're not happy, so why should you be?
There are a few rays of sunshine who thankfully keep you from wanting to lay your head on a train track. Those people who appreciate you for the job you're doing, understand you're just a human being doing a job, and they treat you as such. It's a sad thing when it seems to be the exception when clients and customers treat you as a human being. I know being on the receiving end I try when I'm a client or customer I try to be pleasant with the employees I'm dealing with. It doesn't hurt me, and it's usually not their fault if there's a problem, and if it is, it's not like I've ever made a mistake. Hell, it's usually just the other customers and clients that piss me off anyway. The ones who seem to think they're the only ones deserving of any attention because they have busy, important lives and the world revolves around them. Fucking bastards. I only want to buy a newspaper. Check your own damned lottery numbers you lazy piece of shit.
Not you that's reading this, of course. I know you don't tie up a line like that.
posted
by Tabby at 6/04/2004 08:16:00 a.m.
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Wednesday, June 02, 2004
I'm trying to not get too political about the upcoming election because I know that most of the people who read this aren't Canadian so probably couldn't care less, but I am terrified that the Conservatives may form the next government. Haven't we learned anything from the debacle down south that has been four years of George W. Bush? We absolutely can not allow that to happen to Canada, and if Stephen Harper becomes our prime minister, I fear that will be the end of the Canada I know and love.
I live in Alberta, the most conservative province in this country. We've had the Progressive (ha!) Conservatives in power for the past 30 years here provincially. Fortunately the premiers have been somewhat liberal on social issues, so that's helped in keeping the social conservatives in government somewhat in check, but they've still managed to do tremendous damage to the province. We're rich, but at the cost of humanity and any sort of conscience. The amount of money someone is expected to exist on if they have to resort to welfare is abyssmally low, and hasn't increased in years. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I believe it's been something like a decade. Try to picture living on what the minimum wage was 10 years ago, and you'll have an idea of what it's like, and it's less money that that. Shameful.
That's without social conservatives in charge. Stephen Harper is a social conservative as well as economic, so imagine a Canada under his rule.
One of their candidates said the other day that women going in for abortions should undergo third-party councilling. Harper quashed this, saying they won't make any abortion laws during their first term in power. Their second term on the other hand...
No. We can not allow them to have power. We can not allow them to dismantle the liberalism that makes this country great.
Today's proverb: Beware conservatives in compassionate clothing.
posted
by Tabby at 6/02/2004 02:34:00 p.m.
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Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Please bear with me as I make an urgent appeal to all fair-minded Canadians. Right now there is a very real possibility that Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party can form the next government. Take a look down south at George W. Bush and the havok he is wreaking in the United States and the world. While Harper probably wouldn't be as extreme, do we want him to even come close?
Three provinces allow same-sex marriage. Do we want that back to zero?
Do we want to fall back to more draconian punishment for marijuana possession?
Do we want our soldiers, better funded they may be, to be fighting and dying in Iraq or anywhere else that puts dollar signs in Haliburton's collective eyes?
Do we want tax cuts that benefit the rich while the poor are hurt by funding cuts?
Do we want the gun registry scrapped altogether when just revamping it makes more sense?
Do we want even the slightest possibility that anti-abortion laws or the death penalty will be considered?
Do we trust a party that puts "free enterprise" on a pedestal to seriously protect our environment?
If you answered "no" to any, most, or all of these, I ask you to look past your anger and vote Liberal. If there was any chance the NDP would be the party to win, then I'd ask you to vote for them, but we know there isn't. Please don't make a mistake that would allow the Conservatives to take this great country down. Please vote Liberal on June 28th.
Thank you.
posted
by Tabby at 6/01/2004 06:03:00 p.m.
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