Category Archives: politics

At least as much US as Canadian

Elections

Leave a reply

So 48% of eligible BC voters couldn’t be arsed to vote. Well done, British Columbia.

I’m kind of surprised the NDP didn’t do better, because I don’t think I know many people who are fond of Christy Clark.

A problem with our system here is that even though you may prefer one party over another, you have to vote for a human whom you may not like at all in order to vote for that party. Or the person you think will do the best job for your personal riding may be part of another party than you normally would vote for. And then if you vote for a third party, you’re accused of “spoiling the vote” for a person who would most likely win if there were only two parties (see also: Canada’s last Federal election).

I take some pleasure at least that Ms. Clark was unable to win her own riding. Perhaps we can keep her from getting elected even in a “safe” riding, and we can have someone better at the helm. In any case, I think Dave Eby is an upstanding guy and I’m glad he won Vancouver-Point Grey.

On another note entirely, reading US political pundits has invaded my dreams: last night I dreamt that David Weigel, who blogs at Slate currently, for some reason had to stay at my place in NYC (because, you know, I had one in this dream). He had access to all the Mac power options his heart could desire. We went out the next morning (I was still in my flannel nightie; this is a common dream theme, forgetting to get dressed and going out in my old lady ankle-length flannel nightie), and were promptly kidnapped and frogmarched into an art museum that connects to the subway. Dave just kept saying “#302.” I escaped and got on a series of escalators down to the subway, asking passersby for a spare token since I didn’t have my purse. Or, you know, street clothes. I really don’t know what prompted this whole thing, although I am generally a hospitable person. But I doubt I’m on too many people’s kidnap list. Also can’t imagine why Dave (or anyone) would let me leave the house in my nightie!

And then the cat knocked on the door and I woke up. Hope you made it out in one piece, Dave.

Voting

So there’s this whole early voting brouhaha going on in the US right now.

On top of all kinds of Republican-led legislation at the state level to add ID requirements that ostensibly are to keep non-citizens and ineligible people from voting fraudulently (I think everyone who isn’t a state-level GOP legislator is aware that the number of votes cast fraudulently is really, really low, like in the 0.000001 decimal points of votes cast, low. It’s really a non-issue, that has been seized on by the kind of people who don’t believe President Obama’s birth certificate is valid, because, you know, he’s, um, black. Sssshh! apparently a lot of people didn’t notice that last time!)

I know Canada has a really small population, compared to the US, and we, too, have a voting problem inasmuch as a pathetically small percentage of our eligible citizens vote; however, I can’t imagine the foofaraw if they tried to curb early voting. I mean, employers are required to allow employees up to 4 hours to leave work early/come in late in order to allow them sufficient time to vote. That’s right! if you need to leave at 3:00 so you can make it to the polls, you’re allowed to. I normally vote in the morning, and get it over with, so I don’t have to worry about going at the end of the day when the lines can be long. And that’s another thing: for me, a long line is one that takes a whole half-hour to get through.

These tales of 3 and 4 and 5-hour lines? unfathomable! why aren’t there more polling stations, or more booths per poll, or more days available for early voting? you should not have to stand for 3 or 4 or 5 hours in order to exercise your constitutionally-protected right to cast a ballot for the candidate(s) of your choice. (Not your boss’s choice! yours!) That’s ridiculous!

I don’t understand how these legislatures are so sure that the early voters who happen to line up first, and get in to vote without waiting half the day, are only people voting on the “right” side. Conversely, some of the older people who can’t stick it out and give up without voting, for example, might be conservative older people. What makes them so sure they’re doing themselves a favour? I really don’t get it.

If there’s one thing that the American people ought to insist on, in my opinion, it’s figuring out the most equitable way for its citizenry to vote. Some states do it by mail. It’s a bit less exciting, because you can do it at your leisure, with your computer or newspaper or whatever handy, to make sure you’re voting for the people who are going to do things the way you’d like, rather than lining up with your neighbours and feeling all patriotic together, but given that the US Postal Service is an existing infrastructure, and that ballots can then be entered in an orderly fashion over days or weeks, I think it’s a pretty good system. I mean it beats lining up in all kinds of weather for hours on end, to do something that it’s both your right and duty to do.

Of course, the TV news would have way less of a horserace, and “election night” would be a bit of a yawn, but what’s more important?

If not that, then MOAR POLLING STATIONS.

The current system clearly is not working. And that’s with less than half of eligible voters voting! imagine if everyone stood up to be counted!

The end of superlatives.

I’m sure you do it too: describe something good not merely as good, but as epic, or unbelievable, or inconceivable!

And it’s not that we actually think that something is epic, or inconceivable (I do not think that means what you think that means), but that we’re being all hipster-ironic or whatever you want to call it. Everything is the biggest! best! most! amazing! EVAR!

And this is not restricted to cool kids (and those of us who are no longer cool, really, and certainly not kids); it’s more or less everyone who has ever read or written anything on the internet. Which is basically 90% of everyone I know.

So you end up with Chris Hayes of MSNBC, who gives the impression of being young and excitable, given his normal fast-paced speaking style. He’s patently an intelligent and thoughtful person, and he’s certainly a liberal (as, of course, am I); I don’t know that I’d call him an elitist–well certainly not in the pejorative sense that the chattering classes use the word. I certainly do believe in striving for excellence, and I admire accomplished people. I have often wished that I had enough ambition to actually accomplish things :p

But regardless, he’s a young and clean-cut fellow who is very passionate about justice and the safety net, among other things, I guess I can fairly say. He guest-hosts for Rachel Maddow, who is not beloved by the right-wing either.

And now I’ll send you over to Conor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic, who has written an excellent piece on what happened to Chris Hayes the other day. That should get you up to speed.

I looked at Chris’s facebook page on Monday when I heard about the brouhaha, and liked it (I haven’t actually seen his show, because it’s on at 0400 on Saturday and Sunday, or something, and we don’t have a DVR and I just am not getting up at that hour for anyone). The comments (at that point, there were fewer than 200 to the most recent post) were largely (and SO DAMN PREDICTABLY) ad hominems about Chris by people who very obviously did not watch the show and just hear “MSNBC” and seemingly get all foamy at the mouth in a very Pavlovian way. They were slamming him for disrespecting soldiers and their families, and saying things like “come over here and say that so I can deck you, you whiny little liberal socialist puke” and god knows that else. It was depressing to the point that I didn’t read them all, and can only hope that there were some messages of support.

I follow Chris Hayes on twitter, and I mean he doesn’t know me from a hole in the ground, but while I might not agree with everything out of his mouth, or necessarily even understand everything out of his mouth, he is not at all the kind of guy to badmouth soldiers. He very clearly said that he wasn’t saying anything disrespectful of soldiers!

But Chris was commenting about (among other things) the way that everyone is a “hero” now. And it’s the kind of thing that I have thought about as well: not every dead soldier is a hero. Some soldiers are just dead guys who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and died for it. And it’s horrible, and it’s unfair, and basically any right-thinking individual (‘right’ as in morally right, not politically right) can agree that it’s a massive sacrifice for someone to make, and those of us who are not in the service are normally fervently grateful to those who are, and represent our country in dangerous places far away, and fight or keep the peace on our behalf.

But.

But. The same way that every little tyke who makes it through pre-school on the way to Kindergarten really isn’t a graduate, or deserving a cap and gown (which actually signify something in the world of academia). The same way that we are not, every one of us, a beautiful and unique snowflake, as Chuck Palahniuk might say it.* The same way that no, we don’t all win the race by finishing: finishing is great! and a worthy accomplishment! but only one person actually wins the race: the winner. In that way, not every soldier, not every policeman, not even every firefighter! is a hero, to my understanding of the word.

A hero, to my understanding of the word, is the guy who goes back in to the burning building to rescue the kid or his comrade or coworker. A hero is the soldier who does something incredibly dangerous, most likely knowing that it’s incredibly dangerous, in order to help his fellow soldiers or advance the line, or whatever the objective is. A hero is the person who, for selfless reasons, puts himself or herself on the line for others’ benefit. A hero is a special kind of person, and while all soldiers deserve honour, gratitude and respect, not every soldier is a hero any more than every cook is a chef or every teacher makes that big difference in every student’s life or every actor deserves an Oscar.

That’s just not the way things are. And that’s OK. There’s nothing wrong with having more better things to strive for, and probably even more controversially, there’s nothing wrong, in my opinion, with being content with who you are, inasmuch as knowing that you’ll never be an Olympic gold medallist, or Grammy-winner, or Master of the Universe, and being OK with that, is perfectly acceptable.

Being good is OK. Nothing wrong with being superlative, but nothing wrong with just being good.

So can we maybe stop with the BEST! THING! EVAR! or slow down with the most appalling lie ever and I’m so goddam insulted by what that guy said that other guy said? Can we stop cherry-picking the sound-bites so that people are quoted completely out of context and saying exactly what they didn’t say?

I am so weary of the outrage, because it’s false outrage, and what’s worse, it’s a cynical pretense of outrage meant to garner page-clicks and dubious brownie points, and I’m just epically tired of it, if you know what I mean.

*  Many thanks to The Boogerhead for correcting my miss on the Palahniuk-ism. And to Lithos, who pointed out that my link was pointing in the wrong direction entirely. Sigh.

For the Cure, or for an agenda?

The Susan G. Kamen Foundation’s defunding of Planned Parenthood has thrown a lot of people for a loop, and has incensed a whole whack of liberals, and with good reason. They are withdrawing funds that have heretofore been earmarked to help provide the underprivileged and underinsured with breast exams and mammography referrals, which I think most people would agree is a worthwhile endeavour if your stated aim is to help end breast cancer.

Planned Parenthood is one of those miracle organizations that provides information and medical services to people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford them. I never needed to use them when I was in the US, but IIRC, my Main Distractor visited them once. So I mean they’re not just for women, either. They’re just there, so you don’t have to rely on whatever sketchy info your friends might tell you, or nowadays, what you can find on the interwebs. You can get checkups and prescriptions and and blood tests and prenatal care and breast exams, and about 3% of the services they provide are abortions.  (Which means that 97%, or the vast majority, of the services they provide are not abortions, if you’re a little math-challenged.)

And so if you’re one of the people who thinks that a zygote should have equal rights as a grown-up (or not, but that’s another story) human being of the female persuasion, that 3% sticks in your craw, I suppose.

My opinion is a very common one among liberals: abortions should be available to women who need them, and they should be as rare as they can possibly be. There is no way that anyone else except possibly the other person who contributed to the zygote, and the doctor, should have anything to say about it. In my opinion. If I’m going to hell for this belief, well…I’m sure I’ll have lots of company, and I’ll hold my head high there. I believe in the integrity of my person, and I’ll thank you to keep your religion right out of my uterus.

But if you take a look around there are a lot of people who think that 3% outweighs the other 97%, and they’re cheering and delighted about the furore, and “striking a blow” against all the uncaring baby-killing heathens.

So while the media and many of my liberal persuasion are hollering about never contributing another penny, women’s health should be above politics, cancer doesn’t care who you pray to or who you vote for, I actually suspect this is all part of a big plan to make this very well-known charity–which, face it, was founded by a George W. Bush Republican–a Conservative Charity. So all the conservatives and anti-abortion donators can very publicly support this known brand. And all of the people who know that Planned Parenthood makes such a massive difference in so many women’s lives, particularly disadvantaged women, who don’t have a lot of options, will feel angry, helpless, and betrayed. Although you don’t have to feel helpless: you can contribute to Planned Parenthood directly, and I’m sure they will be delighted to have your support.

I know that diseases don’t give a damn who you voted for, or how much you gave to your church, or how often you went to church, or anything else. I’m a fatalist about that stuff. If you’re going to get it, you’re going to get it. You may be able to beat it, or you may not, but one thing is for sure: if you can discover it early and get a head start on beating it, you have a better chance of beating it. And so, yeah, medicine should be above politics, medical research should be above politics, treatments should be above politics, and universal health care should have nothing to do with politics at all.

But, of course, it does. Especially in the U.S.

Canada Votes, Continued

I guess I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t see PM Ignatieff: the Liberals are down to 33 seats, and Mr Ignatieff doesn’t have one. He’s resigned as head of the party. Pity he didn’t do it a few months ago, not that I know who might replace him.

Layton goes to Stornaway as official Opposition, but Harper has a MAJORITY, for fuck’s sake, so Layton should enjoy the house, because he has basically less power than before, even though there are a lot more seats marked NDP.

I don’t know what’s wrong with the 40% of eligible voters who didn’t; however, 60% of the actual voters did not vote Conservative, so I suppose that’s a positive sign. New Canadians, the Conservatives have conned you: if you wanted a Conservative country to live in, you should have stayed where you were. The Canada you think of when you decide to move here is the Liberal one. Trust me on that. I hope the whole country isn’t trashed by the time we get a chance to rectify this situation.

Elizabeth May made it, which is great! congratulations to her.

I’m really depressed, and I’m not looking forward to the next four years. It feels like November 2004 all over again.

Canada Votes

Or, possibly, “The Least Apathetic Amongst Us Vote.”

I am hoping against hope that we are able to shove that creepy Stepford Husband (oh, look, even the initials match) out of 24 Sussex Drive.

I can’t quite picture a PM Layton, but on the other hand, PM Ignatieff looks about as likely as PM Dion. I’m not sure why exactly people seem to be falling for the ridiculous, American-style Conservative attack ads on Ignatieff, but he isn’t a very compelling character, somehow. So maybe that’s all the Liberals need, someone with more TVQ or whatever. Which saddens me, because a party IS about more than simply the one guy, and the Liberals have a great history behind them, while the Conservatives…well, don’t get me started. The Canada I chose to return to isn’t Mulroney’s or Harper’s Canada, it’s Trudeau and Chrétien’s Canada, you know? I have a bottomless bucket of scorn for the Conservative Party.

Anyway. I have a couple of links, that I’ve also tweeted. There’s a guy called Eric Grenier who does a Nate Silver-type blog called threehundredeight.com where  you can check out all the latest polls, and maybe motivate yourself to vote, if you’re a bit complacent. The excellent Dave Weigel, currently at Slate, linked to that earlier today.

From there I clicked on an ad to an interesting site called Catch22Campaign.ca, which identifies some at-risk ridings for the Conservatives, and suggests who is most able to unseat them (and thus, who you might want to vote for, if your preferred candidate isn’t likely to pull it out).

Our system here is so extremely frustrating to me.  In 2008, the Bloc Quebecois had around 1.3 million votes, and achieved 51? 52 seats in Parliament. The Green Party, led by an extremely able and eloquent woman, attained about 60% of the votes that the Bloc did, more than 900,000, and yet has not a single seat. So there are 900,000-odd Canadians whose voices were ignored because they don’t all happen to live in one province, basically. Does that make sense to you? it doesn’t make sense to me at all. I really hope some riding somewhere is able to get a Green into Parliament, I think it’s a voice that needs to be heard, especially after all this Conservative Kyoto-shunning tar sands propagating bullshit we’ve had to suffer for the last while.

Anyway. On Monday, get your ass down to your voting place and be heard, whoever you choose to vote for. And if you’re not sure who you really want? the CBC has a pretty good directory of the people and platforms, and you really owe it to yourself (and the rest of us, frankly), to figure it out. Your tax dollars are funding it, so go crazy!

Also, I mean I’m a massive cynic about a lot of things, but I take the right to vote pretty seriously. I love voting. I can’t even convey exactly how chuffed I was the first time I did, back in the Plateau in Montréal. It’s the punk-rockest thing you can possibly do, voting.

o/

Been a while.

Sorry about that!

I managed the NaNo by the way; I got my words in, at least, although the story is still hanging and there are major cleanups that need to take place before anyone else can read it. It’s a kind of dull but potentially nice kind of story, I guess. I had intended to work on it over the Christmas break, but that didn’t happen.

Christmas, we ended up staying at home and my Units came down for a few days’ visit. We had a tiny tree in a pot that needs to leave my living room very soon, and some good presents :) and Mr Wolf helped me make a very nice supper :)

The first weekend after the holidays, I went to Phoenix to meet up with friends, and had a fun and different weekend away from the grey and the rain, yay! it was also the weekend that a Congresswoman was shot in Tucson, which was a teeny bit closer to my location than I might have preferred. I learned even more things about Arizona that I’m not crazy about than I knew before (the whole legal concealed carry had somehow escaped me, before, for one). But I managed to escape with my self intact. Americans’ ability to occasionally cut off their noses to spite their faces, politically, will never make sense to me. Is there really anyone who honestly thinks that the Founding Fathers wanted their words interpreted the way that modern people do, for political gain? or that Thomas Jefferson or Madison or Adams wouldn’t ask for a goddam do-over to edit a few things for clarity if they could see the world as it is today? or that the availability of the kinds of weapons that are currently available doesn’t more often result in terrible consequences for innocent people rather than joyful exercise of rights and freedoms of responsible citizenry?

Not that there’s any way to make all the guns disappear. Not that anyone, including the current administration, is TRYING to make the guns disappear, you terrified fucking rabbits. No, I don’t have a solution. I kind of like the thought of a continuous goddam metal detector along the 49th parallel, though, keep that shit out of my country. Because it’s a little harder, takes a little longer, to legally build a human-killing arsenal, here. And I like it like that.

Still alive

Sorry to be so silent…the holidays were a furious rush followed by a week of wandering amongst the ruins of Chichén Itzá, Cobá, and (spectacular) Tulúm, punctuated by lots of delicious Mexican food (oh, the guacamole we ate!) and a little poolside and beach lounging, and driving from here to there. Aside from the mosquitoes, it was a blast!

We got home to rainy Vancouver, and it feels now like it was months ago. Le sigh!

We have a fairly full agenda in upcoming weeks of music and dining, not to mention our four-month wedding anniversary :D and then off to New Orleans for honeymoon part 2/Olympics avoidance.

I need another two weeks of vacation–travel is such a damn pain in the ass right now.

Health care of some sort may pass, although it will be a poor and distorted reflection of what most civilized first-world countries provide their citizens.

Sarah Palin has found her natural home–amongst a passel of second-rate pseudo-journalists and snake-oil salesmen. I wonder how many actual analysts Fox will have to employ if they want anything approaching actual analysis to pass through her lipsticky lips–and then how many writers and explainers and coaches to try to get her to express it coherently…that could end the economic recession right there in one fell swoop!

A few pics later, perhaps.

Sully says:

Why I read him even though I don’t agree with every little thing he says:

The protestors keep saying that they want their country back. Sorry, my fellow small-governmenters, but this country is a democracy, and you didn’t lose your country, you just lost an election. You had your chance for eight years. You blew it, and you lost. What Obama is doing is what he was elected to do. The principled response is not a massive, extremist-riddled hissy fit a few months in, but a constructive set of proposals to build on universal care for a more market-friendly and cost-conscious system in the future. You have to win some political credibility for that; and then you have to beat the man you lost so badly to last year. That’s the civil and civilized way forward for the right. It also seems, alas, to be the one they are currently refusing to take.

(My emphasis.)

Candidate

For number one overused word of the second half of the first decade of the second millennium:

fundamental

Damn you, John McCain, for using this word and being quoted saying it over and over and over and over.

Oh and a dishonourable mention for the (soon-to-be-former, thank you, universe) Governor from Alaska: progress was never intended to be verbed the way you verb it, you ignorant unelite.