8 months in...

My blogging duties have obviously fallen by the wayside. I haven't posted anything substantial since April, and I guess some will say I never have.

To the same sex marriage detractors who say its not really marriage if its two men let me say this, you know not what you speak about. 8 months into my separation I am just getting over the turmoil in my life. Losing a spouse is awful to put it mildly. It is said it takes 6 months to get over a death, well this is harder. That part of my life is dead but I see his zombie almost daily. A constant reminder, like salt in a wound.

The worst aspect is I have come to a realization that I no longer have an identity. After years who of conceding little bits of myself to placate another I find myself only with my man bits intact, nothing of an individuality left. Where is that sk8er boi gone? Where is my snowboard?

Where has the fun in my life gone? Once upon a time I couldn't choose between the daily options. Now I find myself always at home. A tired man getting older and now with gray hairs.

Half of the person I was for the last 7 years is gone and the other half is unable to stand on its own. No longer twenty something, I'm nearing the midway of my 30's. The biggest shock was accepting I wasn't that young guy with everyone's eyes fixed on me. Now I'm just background noise. When did that happen?

Being from out of the province, and meeting my future ex husband upon arrival, the only friends I had were friends of his. Did I mention his intense jealousy and my inability to even speak with a stranger? I shouldn't blame him, It's my fault for placating. No one to blame but myself. So not only am I husbandless, I find myself here nearly completely alone except for a few friends with extremely busy lives. All of them couples.

Who am I? How do I go up from here? How do I reclaim me and carve out a new separate future?

I'm sure I'll figure it out but I really hate this shit.

But I do know one thing, when I am back, no man will ever dismantle me piece by piece again.

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Oh and on the subject of politics:

Stevie Harper still sucks. Glad to see him running tail between his legs to have the Queen to save his demagogue ass. Nothing better than see a republican run to the monarchy. LOL. At this point does Harper even stand for anything at all? 30 billion dollar deficit. He's conceded on almost all fronts. Whats next? Will Stevie legalize marijuana? OMG What a loser.

Iggy rules. Period.

About the coalition. It was useful but like jumping in bed with people you don't know, the Liberals should be wary of what they might get. Recommend this Post

Conservatives. Yesterday's solutions for today's problems.

EARTH TO STEVE.

Its called alternative energy and it isn't in a V8 and it doesn't burn gas, no matter how much you wanna cater to just one province.

Look up hydrogen and get back to us.

Or better yet, just leave. Recommend this Post

What Conservatives stand for.

Everything that the conservatives do is actually the exact opposite of what they say. And I mean everything. They are the antithesis of what their supporters voted for. Unless of course they are just as bad and two faced.

National Security. Leave a top secret document at a hoochie momma's place. She has ties to biker gangs.

Classified document about the environment. It actually became litter. And also flies in the face of what they said about national security.

They said they would cut government spending. They have increased it.

Elected senate. Appointed Fortier.


The list goes on.

So when they say "stand up for Canada".

You get the picture. Recommend this Post

For my lost love.

I miss you dearly. I still dream our dreams.



I am almost back to normal (a new normal) I hope to return to regular blogging this fall. Recommend this Post

How dumb are the Conservatives?

They are so dumb that it takes Peter MacKay, Stockwell Day, Jim Prentice, Helena Guergis and Gary Lunn to handle the Foreign Affairs Post held by the aloof Maxime Bernier. So we have 6 people handling Foreign Affairs and doing a piss poor job of it.

Don't believe me?

Afghan detainees - Peter MacKay - useless no matter where they put him.

death row inmates abroad - Stockwell Day - who decided to just let them die

proposed sale of the Radarsat 2 satellite system - Jim Prentice - made a decision contrary to Con policy of selling off to US because it might help them in the polls to "look" pro-Canada

Brenda Martin case - Helena Guergis - self-explanatory unless you live under a rock or a conservative (same density)

Summit of foreign affairs ministers of Arctic nations in Greenland - Gary Lunn - screwing with diplomacy by just showing up. It was a meeting of Foreign Affairs ministers not twatwaffles.

So what exactly does Maxime do anyway besides make mistakes?

Why are so many people handling one file? My guess is they have nothing to do. This government ran out of ideas well over a year ago with their 5 then 4 priorities which they gutted before implementing and have since become just reactionary possibly due to the near daily goofs or scandal on the part of the government.

So is it fair to say that a conservative is only 1/6 as capable as a liberal? It sure looks that way. Recommend this Post

An example of Taxpayers dollars being used for Conservative propaganda

This turned up in my worplace mailbox in the Riding of Don Valley West. It's from Peter van Loan whose riding is actually York-Simcoe, which is a considerable few ridings away. These are known as the 10 percenters and the Conservatives are blitzing ridings at taxpayers cost with these. Its a propaganda campaign for the Conservatives and you have no choice about it. They are not using their money, they are using yours. Besides abusing taxpayers dollars with this, they are also causing financial issues at Canada Post because Conservatives are abusing this so much they can't afford to subsidize the postage. The cost being incurred is quite shocking.

There is really nothing that can be done except kick them to the curb if an election is ever called. They are not breaking the law because they are utilizing loopholes, but they indeed have shredded the spirit of the law.

For your amusement and disgust I present your taxpayers dollars going down the tube.













And its not like they have a shot in hell of winning this riding, these constituents wouldn't even elect a moderate Tory leader named John Tory. Pissing in the wind at your cost. Todays Conservatives and Canada's Ailing Government™, makes you proud doesn't it? Recommend this Post

More Conservative Intolerance towards minorities.

Calgary MP and Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity Jason Kenney, in an 8 year old video, suggests members of an ethnic minority will use "the race card" to win arguments.

No surprises there. This is typical neo-conservative thought. The very reason none of the Harperite MP's, except a couple, are allowed to speak. Those who can, cannot stray from a set list of topics. For good reason obviously. Tom Lukiwski's comments were unacceptable and Mr. Kenney's is equally repulsive. They tried to write of Tom Lukiwski's comments as insignificant due to it being 17 years old even though he was a 40 year old man at the time. One does not grow up after that point. Sorry. Lets see how them to try and right off something recorded since adscam, the favorite red herring of the neo-cons.

The Hidden agenda has not gone away. It is still easy to find snippets of full neo-conservative thought from current MP's to compare and contrast with their poorly thought out policies. Mr. Kenney's comments are indeed scary when you look at the immigration bill the neo-conservatives buried in the budget. Even scarier, he's the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity. Obviously to him Canadian means white and Multiculturalism is just a dirty liberal idea. Any questions about that means you are using the "race card".

1+1 still equals 2.

Personal Note: I may not be blogging much, even less than I have. I am currently working through 3 major blows dealt to me by life. Stay tuned. Recommend this Post

Thoughts on Monday's By-Elections in Toronto-Centre

Last night I had a gathering at my home with friends. One of the many topics that came up were Monday's by-elections as we are in Toronto-Centre. There were 11 of us present and I know that 5 of us vote liberal, with the other 6 voting NDP. In the past of course. Monday I believe will show some problems for the NDP. Only one of the 6 of my friends who vote NDP will be doing so in the by-election. Three seem to be leaning Green and two to the liberals. The main reason that I could get from the discussion about changing vote was mainly from the strategy the NDP are using. We are all familiar with how Harper bully's the Official Opposition, something that would happen to any party if they were the Official Opposition in this parliament, it is what we all hate most about how Harper governs, no matter which party, one time or another all the opposition parties have felt this.

The government staged a whole set of confidence votes to cause an election that frankly right now would possibly bring in a conservative majority. If your a partisan hack sure you could spin it as something needed to be done but the average progressive sees it as pranks that risk the progressive society we have and could care less right now about party politics. So what do we see occurring? The NDP are also trying to play these games of setting traps and wants to trigger an election because it thinks it can get some of the liberal vote. On top of that its blatantly obvious that Layton is making good use of the Conservatives giving them a free ride. The possibility that in a single election cycle the NDP could get enough votes to secure a majority and save our progressive society is a pipe dream. It's impossible, so people who could care less about party politics are seemingly moving to either back the liberals to block the conservatives or are moving to the Greens because they are disturbed by the campaign literature that has been handed out by the NDP which I am told is along the same lines as the stuff the Conservatives are using. The "not a leader" type stuff. The now former dippers say thats what they hate about the Harper government, the negativity, so why would we support it in the NDP? We want it gone not more of it. The new Greens say they want a new voice, a new party. The new reluctant new liberals say they want Harper out, even if it means they have to vote Liberal. (Not flattering but hey its a vote!)

It seems other Dippers are moving to the Greens for other reasons.

Now, of course, this is just commentary from a group of people and may in no way reflect on what happens on Monday. I believe, though, we will see something interesting. On Monday, the Liberals will increase the amount of the vote from the last election for Toronto-centre and the Greens will come in a strong second. Where the NDP will place I don't know. I think the Conservatives and NDP will be battling for third and fourth. Hopefully the Canadian Action Party comes in dead last. Really, who would vote for a party that has "911 was an inside job" posters and various other conspiracy theories you see on the far left but at the same time they are anti-semitic and anti-immigrant like you usually see on the far right. What a f**ked up mixed bag of kookery.

What happens in the other three ridings having a by-election, I have no idea. Recommend this Post

Cash for Souls: Missionaries nothing more than parasites?

I called this one long ago and had a freak claim otherwise and get nasty so imagine my surprise last night when CBC showcased what has happened in Thailand since the tsunami.

Missionaries swarmed the country post tsunami supposedly to help end the misery but instead they brought more. Promising no more Tsunamis if you convert, giving cash to people so they would convert, approaching entire towns and denying assistance unless the whole community converted. Makes my stomach turn.

Besides peddling delusional lies, they have destroyed many people's traditional lifestyles in the process.

These groups should be banned completely worldwide. If we look at our past we can easily see they haven't changed their wicked ways one bit. Despite the claims of the terribly delusional Adam (commentor from the post linked above)

Anyhow, the video is available here and I think its about 15 minutes.

And to you religious crazies, don't bother to comment. You exist in a realm where facts are considered false and the most delusional thoughts are the truth. I have no desire to have a "conversation" about your baseless fabrications thank you. Recommend this Post

Fortier has no authority to criticize the senate...

...especially when you yourself were appointed and have only showed up for 5 votes out of 34. Not to mention having a Minister porfolio without being a minister or even elected.

If you want to fix the problem you say is there then stop being a part of it. If it matters so much then resign. Staying in a place you hate is not something sane people do unless its for the public money and not having to work for it or face the electorate. Recommend this Post

Harper on Obama on NAFTA

Mr. Harper you should not be interfering in another countries political process. We all know you wanna fight for the Republicans as members of Republicans International.

Besides, its just pre-election talk. Obama is using NAFTA to score points like you used accountability and cleaning up government and we all know you didn't mean that. The difference is Obama hasn't run a nation-wide Presidential campaign on lies yet.

You, Mr. Harper, apparently did. Recommend this Post

What the New Tax Free Savings Account achieves

The new tax free savings account must have conservatives drooling. It allows for the rich to sock away money at the expense of those who live month to month. Other types of savings such as RRSP's, RESP's etc. allow you to save for a specific reason. This one doesn't, in fact there are no strings. Put away cash and use it whenever you want and avoid paying taxes.

The only thing this new savings account will achieve is to undermine our progressive income tax system where those making the most pay more taxes.

Now the the rich can hide excess cash interest free in the ideologically driven idea of a tax free savings account. They may have finally hit the holy grail of conservatism and that is to allow the rich to pay less tax. Recommend this Post

1912

This year is very significant. Besides the Titannic disaster something truly monumental happened, the Conservative Government of Canada, headed by Sir Robert Borden posted a surplus.

Now posting a surplus is nothing new, if you are a Liberal but for a conservative its quite the task. How much of a task you ask? Well 1912 was the last time a Conservative Government posted a surplus. You can argue that Harper has also but he inherited the great financial situation we Liberals put this country in and rumour has it that the current Conservative one may have a deficit on the way, which is why we saw Mr. Prentice out and about yesterday debating facts. When one has to debate facts in order to make their budget next week look somewhat okay its not the sign of a good budget.

It is also interesting to note that Flim Flam Flaherty wasn't the one discussing deficits and surpluses. Great idea as he wouldn't know what a surplus was even if it flew up his ass judging by his time as Finance Minister in Ontario. Also smart not to have Flaherty criticize Rae's budgets because Flaherty was way way worse and actually was a finance Minister. Recommend this Post

Memorial honouring Gay Holocaust Victims to be built.

This has been a long time coming. Homosexuals, originally, were not considered victims of the holocaust and Between 5000 and 15,000 were held in concentration camps as members of an anti-social group. 60% of these people died while in camps. Many Nazi soldiers would use the pink triangle tattoo forced on them as identifiers as a target to shoot at.

Unfortunately it didn't stop there. After WWII, Gay men were not recognized as victims of the Holocaust and were re-imprisoned by the authorities because of their sexuality and were denied the reparations and state pensions available to other groups.. In 2002, the German government pardoned the gay men who were imprisoned by Nazis.

The design of the Memorial to homosexuals will be similar to the one picture above for the Jewish victims.

Many on the right (wingnuts) frequently reference the Holocaust as the reasoning for supporting the Jewish people and Israel, yet cannot afford the same respect to other victims of the holocaust. Bigots such as SDA come to mind but no one expects much better of such people. In one post she pays respect to the Victims of the holocaust and the next she is making jokes out of the tattoos that were forced on the victims of the Holocaust. See how that works? Its an attempt at inoculation. I have also read a couple posts at the Blogging Tories about a so-called "brown threat" and insinuating all Muslims have a secret agenda. Thats how the Nazi's turned its population against Jews. Spreading falsehoods about a minority group of people and because the average person doesn't know much about said group they are more likely to believe what others tell them.

Governments on the other hand shouldn't be ignored when acting similarly. The current government has taken to trying to rescind same sex marriage rights or play little games with age of consent. Treating gays and Straights differently when both are equal citizens of this country. They seem to have found more votes in their bigoted core voter base than they could ever get treating people equally but then again fascism does come from the right side of the political spectrum and the current one does employ some similar techniques when it comes to dividing a population and turning it on itself for political gain. I'm not saying that our current government are fascists but they seem to have no qualms about where they get their techniques (blaming a group for everything they fail at or are unable to do) in their continually failing attempt to secure a majority government. We have division in this country now that is the worst I have ever seen for Canada and its not over an important issue facing the nation like free trade or GST. Its more McCarthyish with Communist replaced by Liberal. Recommend this Post

Yes We Can

All I can say is wow. What a powerful speaker and a powerful song.



This is the change that America needs and hopefully a little will rub off on our population because we also need change from what we currently have taking up useful space at 24 Sussex. Oh and in this video, an Ontarian named Esthero (a self described liberal and Humanist) makes a contribution to the vocals.

Why Change?

The change these people are singing about is not necessarily a new face. Change refers to the end of divisive politics. You know those tactics adopted by the Republicans and the Conservative Party of Canada. The tendency to speak in black and white, never admitting blame, preferring instead to blame a perceived enemy (liberals) for everything. If you don't agree with conservatism its because the liberals have ruined the country and everyone is tainted instead of admitting their policies stink. Basically how we've been governed these past 2 years.

The question is do we prevent it from getting worse or do we let it go on until we are begging for it?

I prefer to be proactive. Harper gotta go. Recommend this Post

Stick by your plan Mr. Dion

Do not sit on your hands and abstain from voting against the governments confidence motion. The neo-tories do not have the default preferred stance on the Afghan Mission. Neither does the NDP. The population will not support an open ended war nor would they support sheer cowardice. The people of Canada wants a realistic mission that works and accomplishes the goal. Your stance Mr. Dion seems to fit what the population wants. Stick with it even if it brings the government down. The election will not focus only on the mission. There are many other issues such as the economy, the environment, and the unending list of Harpers broken promises and surprise social conservative ones. Not too mention he's made government more unaccountable and even less transparent in direct opposition to what he promised and campaigned on.

Let the writ drop and lets win the next election. We want a Canada thats richer, cleaner and fairer not the broken mess and division we see today, nor the lies on climate change repeated by this government and its cohorts, or the attacks on seniors incomes and tax cuts for the rich.

Mr Harper thinks leadership is being an asshole but we can show him its bringing great policies, consensus building and co-operation that makes a leader. All things he has failed on, especially with the lost opportunity to bridge partisan divides and work together to hammer out a future for the Afghanistan Mission. Instead he builds his firewall, keeps with his unwanted open ended war and then makes it a confidence vote. All this for a view that barely 1/3 of Canadians feel is appropriate. He's like a child sulking in the corner. Some leader.

Please do take your ball and go home. Recommend this Post