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ciroccojSaw Ed Broadbent (former federal NDP leader) today at school. He talked for about 45 min on democracy and development, and then opened up the floor for questions. I asked one! And he answered me! For about 5 minutes, the former leader of the Federal NDP was talking about what I had asked him to talk about!!
excuse me while I dance the little Dance of the Politics-geeks
And he wasn't outrageously hilarious, but he did get in a few very cute faux-discrete digs at the Powers That Be. He'd start to say something, get far enough into it for everybody to know who he was talking about and what he thought of them (eg, he doesn't appear to be a big fan of Paul Martin) and then say something like, "But of course we're not here to talk about that, forget I mentioned it."
Hee.
Interesting talk, and interesting question and answer period. At one point he was asked about a certain project he'd worked on with his NGO. They were supposed to make various proposals to the Canadian gov, to try to make the globalization of trade actually fair to the developing world. What had happened with those proposals, he was asked. He promptly answered, "Zip all."
Then he went on to explain that he'd had several meetings with top ministers to explain the proposals, and got little or no response. Jean Chretien thought one (of the 25) proposals was worth discussing... the rest basically blew him off. And the proposals were things like holding Canadian corporations with international plants liable under Canadian criminal law for what their plants do on foreign soil. This was considered unfeasible, impractical, and not worth discussing. Totally unworkable, he was told.
Which is funny, because we hold Canadian citizens criminally liable for having sex with minors in foreign countries, whether those countries find that kind of behaviour illegal or prosecutable or not. So if you're a Canadian who goes to Thailand and has sex with a nine year old, you can be prosecuted and jailed under Canadian law. But if you're a Canadian who goes to Thailand and sets up a factory where you have 100 nine-year olds making shoes for 18 hours a day in unsafe conditions and making a pittance, that's just good business.
How depressing.
In other news:
excuse me while I dance the little Dance of the Politics-geeks
And he wasn't outrageously hilarious, but he did get in a few very cute faux-discrete digs at the Powers That Be. He'd start to say something, get far enough into it for everybody to know who he was talking about and what he thought of them (eg, he doesn't appear to be a big fan of Paul Martin) and then say something like, "But of course we're not here to talk about that, forget I mentioned it."
Hee.
Interesting talk, and interesting question and answer period. At one point he was asked about a certain project he'd worked on with his NGO. They were supposed to make various proposals to the Canadian gov, to try to make the globalization of trade actually fair to the developing world. What had happened with those proposals, he was asked. He promptly answered, "Zip all."
Then he went on to explain that he'd had several meetings with top ministers to explain the proposals, and got little or no response. Jean Chretien thought one (of the 25) proposals was worth discussing... the rest basically blew him off. And the proposals were things like holding Canadian corporations with international plants liable under Canadian criminal law for what their plants do on foreign soil. This was considered unfeasible, impractical, and not worth discussing. Totally unworkable, he was told.
Which is funny, because we hold Canadian citizens criminally liable for having sex with minors in foreign countries, whether those countries find that kind of behaviour illegal or prosecutable or not. So if you're a Canadian who goes to Thailand and has sex with a nine year old, you can be prosecuted and jailed under Canadian law. But if you're a Canadian who goes to Thailand and sets up a factory where you have 100 nine-year olds making shoes for 18 hours a day in unsafe conditions and making a pittance, that's just good business.
How depressing.
In other news:
- My first Tuesday back. Ah, the joy of three straight hours of Contracts and Property. My heart goes pitter patter at the mere thought. And my tummy goes heave-ho.
- Chris and Daniel are having a good time this week, with Daniel on March Break and Chris off work. They went to the Museum of Nature for the second time today, went to a coffee shop, then picked me up and we went to a bead store. Daniel made himself a little bead necklace. Very cute. Of course the beads were little skulls and eyeballs and such, but still.
- Weight Watchers Pasta Primavery With Chicken? Has about one bite of chicken per plate of pasta and veggies. But it's mmm-mmm-good.
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medee6040: I GOT IT!! Thank you!! And now I'm very, very motivated to go and fix my bloody sewing machine.
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Date: 2004-03-16 06:42 pm (UTC)Great! I was so hoping you'd like it! Now, rest up, get what needs to be done taken care of, and then, well, welcome to the wide world of period clothing. Hee!