Took the afternoon off, hung out in Sackville...love the quaint, 1940s style feel of the place...I think you could get bored quickly here though...I hope that the government does not fall because of a lost vote on the Kyoto provisions on the ballet - that would be silly. Governments should fall because of great debates over grand ideas, not sub-clauses to sub-clauses that nobody really understands...I hope Barry Bonds does not go to jail for lying to the grand jury...letter to the Moncton paper had some guy from northern NB complaining that the EI requirements of 14 weeks worked in a year were too stringent - he thought it should be reduced to 12 - hey buddy why should us poor shlobs who work all year at dead end job pay for you yabbos to sit on your buts 44 out of 56 weeks a year???..,If Saint John backs out of that deal with Irving I am renouncing my birth place as long as I live.
Sunday, March 27
Thursday, March 24
Subversion of Democracy
The adscam scandal is really beginning to bug me, not because of the waste of money, but because I believe that it borders on subverting the democratic will of the people. The reason is this: available funding is key to election success. I never really minded big donors to political paties because I believe that the donors represent a certain political will in support of that party in the community.
More money increases your chances of getting elected. It's not the only factor, of course, but it certainly is a strong one. In the last election, the conservatives looked like they might form a minority government until the liberals unleashed a torrent of american-style negative advertising that implied various ridiculious things like that the conservatives would destroy medicare, invade Iraq, build a fleet of aircraft carriers, beat us to death with non-withstanding clause charter overrides.
Now all that would be fine if it was paid for by supportive citizens - it would represent their political will.
However, if you use government funds to fund your campaign (via illegal donations to the party, by putting advertisers on the government payroll for overpaid or no work jobs to repay debt to said advertisers), then this no longer represents politcal will of the people, but the government favouring one party over another - and that's not supposed to happen in a democracy. In a democracy, the government should be neutral to the political parties, favouring none, so that they can be elected or rejected on the merits of their views. If the government gives an advantage to one party over the other, then political views no longer has primacy, and good ideas cannot succeed on their merits alone.
Damn - I would have been happier if they just took the money they swiped and built lavis villas in the countryside - using the money to preserve their assumed right to govern is just wrong in my books.
More money increases your chances of getting elected. It's not the only factor, of course, but it certainly is a strong one. In the last election, the conservatives looked like they might form a minority government until the liberals unleashed a torrent of american-style negative advertising that implied various ridiculious things like that the conservatives would destroy medicare, invade Iraq, build a fleet of aircraft carriers, beat us to death with non-withstanding clause charter overrides.
Now all that would be fine if it was paid for by supportive citizens - it would represent their political will.
However, if you use government funds to fund your campaign (via illegal donations to the party, by putting advertisers on the government payroll for overpaid or no work jobs to repay debt to said advertisers), then this no longer represents politcal will of the people, but the government favouring one party over another - and that's not supposed to happen in a democracy. In a democracy, the government should be neutral to the political parties, favouring none, so that they can be elected or rejected on the merits of their views. If the government gives an advantage to one party over the other, then political views no longer has primacy, and good ideas cannot succeed on their merits alone.
Damn - I would have been happier if they just took the money they swiped and built lavis villas in the countryside - using the money to preserve their assumed right to govern is just wrong in my books.
Thursday, March 17
More on my first date
Hey it's my blog, I can yak about anything I want - it was on a Friday night in March...snow still on the ground...she: 5-2 1/4, french mom, american dad, very intelligent, played the piano....she wore long, loose skirt that had those folds....we walked in downtown Fredericton at night, window shopping at closed fashion stores....had coffee at La Vie En Rose (no longer exists)...my first coffee ever, as well...I didn't even know enough to put milk/sugar in....I remember her holding my hand....her house was near to mine, we wen back to her place and played backgammon....when it was time to go I offered to walk but she offered to drive me....when she dropped me off, as I was about to get out (trying not to screw up this pleasant date)...she motioned to me with her finger to come closer...like the doehead I was I didn't clue it till she kissed me...deep, long, I remember the wierdsensation of the emptiness beyond her lips...damn, I wish that memory would not fade...picture included is from Versailles, I took it whilst on vacation there.
First Kiss Retro
Been in a mid-winter funk for a week....it was in march years ago that I first kissed a girl, at a univeristy social (I was a dork, and when I use the term "was", I am mean that the event happened in the past not that my dorkiness is in the past tense....came as a total surprise at the time - I was just chatting with her, and others, at a university social...as things wound dow, I walked her to the door...unexpectantly, but very pleasantly, she reached up and kissed me, sending me into a romantic stupor for quite some time....the neatest thing was that I didn't see it coming.....for those who are as clueless as me, this link gives some good hints as to when a femme is interested in (ignore the teen part....it seems good advice about any femme I've encountered)....I miss that girl, I miss her deeply, but I never really understood what was really going on her head....she could run so damn hot and cold.....one time, she told me she was a lesbian, and only went out with me to keep up appearances....I said ok, I'm cool with that, but if she was a lesbian, and it was just for appearances, why was she so damn aggresive sexually...I mean, she would call me up in the middle of the night for quickies, and if it was for appearances only, why the middle-of-the night quickies which no-one knew about but us....I guess the 'appearances' were only for me, but I don't get what that means.....I would still drop any girl for her in a millisecond.....last saw her in Halifax....I mean, we made out in the snow, man....god, I miss her.....
Wednesday, March 9
March blahs
No soccer tonight because of march break....no ultimate tomorrow, because of March break....employees of Lafleur's ad firm are admitting to election fraud under oath (donating election money under false pretenses) why are they not being tossed in jail? Lafleur is getting caught double billing, billing for no work - is this not fraud? Is it not fraud if you steal from the government?....couple of guys in N.B got caught "buying" work records from a phony non-existant fish plant to defraud EI - and they are only asked to pay it back - why not jail time? Is fraud no longer fraud? ...once upon a time, hockey players said they were glad to join the Canadiens, or the Leafs - just saw a commercial where Sidney Crosby is saying he's glad to join Reebock - where's their home rink ??....I do like Crosby, however...
Wednesday, March 2
Shepherd
Ultimate cancelled today because of the snow...my head cold is getting worst, probably won't go to work tomorrow....shepherd is an interesting word - the 'herd' makes sense, so does the 'shep' mean watch or manage the 'herd'? Had to digital zoom on the statue, that's why the picture kinda sucks, but I like it....ok, last church picture for awhile....I just can't get girls to pose for me :)....this adscam stuff about Lafleur getting massive, zero-work payments then raising money for the Liberals then going back to getting big zero-work contracts from them is beginning to piss me off....got the 'Simple Life' on while I'm typing, they seem to be out of material already at the start of the season...Americans have closed the border to our cows again - we've pissed them off so much lately we're not going to get the benefit of the doubt on anything these days.
Tuesday, March 1
Cathedral
Took this picture of a cathedral in downtown Moncton last year during my lunch constitutional, panoramic, I think 3 shots long. Converted to sepia using Picas2 from google, which I started playing with - this tool really rocks. Place is built like a fort. Hard to get a picture of it because of it's size and proximity to other buildings. Across the street is a wonderful camera shop, Ivan's, and Deluxe french fries is beside it. It's good to see that the Americans are giving us grief (which we deserve) for bailing on them on missle defence...after leading them on about it for over a year... I am pissed at that Jean Lafleur guy (adscam scandal) for besmirching the Lafleur name (Guy Lafleur was my favourite hockey player)....bought my 'first ever' slide film the other day, will be fun to see if it works out...crappy weather cancelled soccer tonight, so no 'I suck at soccer' blog entry tonight...head cold makes my brain feel foggy tonight.
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