Top ten reasons not to vote Harper.

(Hey, I figure I may as well do my bit)

French President Jacques Chirac passes a bill to outlaw religious symbols in schools. This move reportedly comes as an effort to facilitate integration and help ease discrimination against Jewish and Muslim students, among others.

Does this strike anyone else as misguided? Far be it for people to actually be expected to be tolerant. Is the solution to xenophobia really to simply remove anything that is foreign to the mainstream? What Chirac is doing here, is institutionalizing the intolerance.

The President says that the secularization of the state is one of his society’s greatest achievements. Granted. But I don’t think this has anything to do with the secularization of schools and state. It is being imposed to individuals.

Dr Wank writes today about Alliance MP Larry Spencer’s statements, that homosexuality is part of a “well orchestrated” conspiracy that should be outlawed. Spencer says this began in the 1960s and included the seduction and recruitment of young boys in playgrounds and locker rooms.

Dr Wank writes: See now, this is why we need an Alliance party, so the loons can all hang out together and not bother anybody else. Now the new Conservative Party is going to hide them all inside a wall of apparent legitimacy…

Hear hear.

…according to the Merriam-Webster: McJob

“a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement.”

McDonald’s isn’t happy about it, but the term is very evocative and will stay. Other major dictionaries include it as well.

(Thanks Chuck)

What do you guys think about this whole homo marriage debate?

I say let them. C’est quoi le gros big deal? What does it matter to us heteros if gay people can get married or not?

When they buried that poor gay kid who got beaten to death a few years back, some assholes showed up at the funeral brandishing signs with biblical passages on them, yelling at the grieving family that the kid was burning in hell. Yeah, homosexuality is a sin, but so are so many other things. What is it that is so threatening about homosexuality that it draws so much hatred? Why is the common thief not drawing such a hateful crowd at his funeral?

Whatever it is about homosexuality that has that effect, is also what I believe is behind the whole anti-gay-marriage lobby. What I hate the most is that those bigots are using God to justify themselves. Of course, some sins (like murder, rape and robbery) should be illegal, because they directly hurt others. But this? This should be up to the individual, because the consequences are between the individual and his/her God.

In fact, when I think about all the hateful things that are being said and done in the world these days, supposedly in the name of God, it makes want to cry. However, I have to say I don’t think the Catholic Church is helping matters much. They have a duty to say what they think is right (in their opinion), but I believe Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary went too far when he recently said that Jean Chretien could burn in hell for his stance on the issue. I mean, how’s that for providing bigot fodder?

I’m a Catholic by birth, but I don’t believe nor do I follow everything the Catholic Church preaches, because I don’t believe it fully represents God. It is a human, political institution, and therefore flawed, as are all other religions. Still, I choose to belong to a religion because I strongly believe that there is a benevolent God. I belong to this one because I was born into it, not because it’s more “right” than any other, in my opinion. If I’d been born in Tibet, I’d do whatever the Buddhists do to honor God, and I don’t think I’d be more or less likely to go to hell for that.

I wonder if I still qualify as a Catholic?

Last week I was watching André Caillé, President of Hydro-Québec, trying to justify asking for a rate increase of 6% for electricity in Quebec. This, after Hydro-Québec made 1.3 billion dollars in profits last year.

He said that the huge profits were due to two things, which could have gone very differently. First, they made 300 million dollars extra because of the extremely cold winter we had. Then, they made another 300 million dollars extra because energy prices in the States, to whom they sell electricity, were high.

“That 1.3 billion dollar profit could easily have been only a 700 million dollar profit”, said the President on LCN.

Both Caillé and the interviewer seemed to realize how stupid that sounded as he was saying it.

[with respect to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s announcement Wednesday that he would run for governor]

Uh huh. How in the seven hells is Ah-nold qualified? He has enormous popularity and he’s tall, so we’re good to go, right?

What if Canada went the way of California? What Canadian celebrities would
make good PM’s?

What I want to know is, how would Wayne Gretzky’s pro-Bush stance affect his chances of being elected?

Entendu lors de la revue de presse ce matin à LCN:

“Certains quotidiens parlent aujourd’hui des six travaux de Jean Charest, d’autres des dix travaux de Jean Charest”.
“Ils font évidemment référence aux dix travaux d’Astérix”.
“Heu, non, pas tout à fait. Ne s’agit-il pas plutôt des douze travaux d’Astérix?”

Erratum: C’était à Radio-Canada, pas LCN. Mes excuses.

Not that it surprised me any, but I’m feeling more than a little down today, that the world is now at war. Something about the expression “Gulf War II” sounds odd to me, but I’m not sure what. Maybe it’s that I actually remember GW I.

Tonight I’m seeing the last of the five movies nominated for Best Picture, namely The Pianist. This is the story of a man who survives the Holocaust by living in the ruins of Warsaw. My ex left the book at my place a few weeks ago and T’s been reading it, pausing from time to time to tell me how rough the story is. I’ve consequently been putting off seeing it. I’m also feeling that way about City of God, a tough movie about life in the streets of Rio. Paul called it the “most violent movie he’d ever seen”.

Most of the time I feel completely justified in avoiding violent movies. They stay with me, they make me feel bad, so why bother? I so could have lived without seeing Reservoir Dogs. But I think some true stories absolutely need to be told and heard. Maybe now more than ever, it’s important that we have the courage to face the horrors of which humankind is capable. One could argue that nowadays you don’t need a movie to show you that, but that’s not my point.

I think The Pianist will be a good movie, but hard to watch. I don’t look forward to it, and frankly, I don’t think I would have seen it had it not been nominated. But the sad truth is, this is a part of humanity.

I do, however, take heart in the fact that enlightened people everywhere are uniting in protest against the stupidity that’s going on right now. I don’t know about you, but I find myself feeling more patient and understanding towards others in this time of war. I had the same reaction after 9/11. Maybe I just need to feel that we’re not all bad. We’re not, right?

The SPCA doesn’t receive any government help. All of its 3.7M$ budget comes from donations. With the number of animals they have to care for each year, that translates into 32 cents per animal per day. They receive 30-40 complaints per day about cruelty to animals in Montreal. There are only 3 investigators to look into them. Quebec has 8 animal cruelty inspectors, while Ontario has 247. Even when they do find evidence of cruelty, there is insufficient legislation here to get it to stop.

I think when I adopt my pet there in the next month or so, I think I’ll volunteer some time as well.