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ciroccojI hate this weather. It's 1°C (roughly 33°F), in mid-January. Which sounds like it should be lovely, seeing as how we generally spend January shivering in the dark up here, but really, I'd much rather shiver than deal with this crap. Again.
Because Ottawa is once again a sheet of glass with water on top. Buses cancelled all over the place, and I had a hella time scraping our car free of an inch of ice, because I couldn't brace my feet on the ground. Couldn't make it up a very, very small incline in Anne's driveway, either. Like, a two-foot space that was about a foot higher on one end than the other. I couldn't stretch my legs that far with no purchase on the lower side, and I couldn't get enough traction to build up enough speed to get me to the top taking normal steps. I looked like an idiot for about three minutes, shuffling up to the little incline, getting halfway up, and then you know the nearer my destination, the more I went slip slidin' away, gliding down to the bottom again, trying not to fall on my butt into a puddle of icy water.
Finally went crunching over the lawn instead.
Accidents all over the damn place too, and the Canal, which just opened the other day, after being closed for days because of above-zero temperatures (in January!!!) is closed again. Canal vendors must be having conniptions. To say nothing of the tourism industry - that thing is supposed to be open starting sometime between Christmas and New Year's, and bring in over a million tourists a year. This year it opened January 6, and was closed from Jan 11-16, and now again January 18-?. We haven't been skating a single time this year.
***
Speaking of nothing related to global warming whatsoever, I want to hide under my bed every time I look at the news these days. Because you know all those times I mentioned that Canadians may seem more "enlightened" than Americans with respect to tolerance and non-aggression and blah blah, but give us the right leaders and we'll show we can be every bit as homophobic, militaristic, and greedy as the worst caricature of an Ugly American out there?
Well, I think my countrymen and women may be about to prove me right on that one. Huzzah!
Yes, the Conservatives are going to win the election. The only question now is whether they'll win a minority or majority government. If they win a minority, there's a chance that they'll piss people off and have to call yet another election. Majority = five years for them to do all sorts of lovely things, like pull out of Kyoto, step up military spending, end a recently passed tax break to lower and middle income families and replace it with a tax break for businesses, re-open the debate on gay marriage...
Yeah.
Sorry, must go throw up now.
OK, I'm back.
Gosh, it's hard to pick a favourite from the above list, but I think the one that upsets me the most is the Kyoto thing. It just... it just seems like such a kindgergarten-level thing, you know? My kids already understand the concept of "You make a mess, you clean it up. You make 1/4 of the mess, you clean up 1/4 of it." And you don't sit there and say "Hey, that other kid made 1/50 of the mess and they're just getting to sit there because they're 'too poor' to clean up - so I'm gonna just sit there too! And no, I don't care that my mess is making other kids sick - it's not bothering me much, so why should I care?"
It bothers me more than I can possibly say, that we're electing a man who thinks that kind of thinking is brilliant, and wants to emulate it. I don't care that our mess is not as big. It's our mess, and it's hurting us and others, and walking away from it and leaving it in a big steaming pile... it's sick and it's wrong. And if I was the Kindergarten teacher in charge of Parliament, I would send Harper and his party off to their blankies without a naptime story, and I'd be telling Harper's mom to "Please explain to Stevie the concept of cooperation and respect for others."
Yes, I know he's said that he'll replace Kyoto with Suitably Vague Canadiantm Environmental Protection Programs. You know what? I also don't believe in the Tooth Fairy. Kyoto is watered down and we weren't living up to it despite having signed it, but with Kyoto gone, I think our half-assedness wrt the environment will turn to 5%-assedness. Not to mention how completely pathetic we're going to look to the rest of the world.
***
142 days left of Chris' residency.
Because Ottawa is once again a sheet of glass with water on top. Buses cancelled all over the place, and I had a hella time scraping our car free of an inch of ice, because I couldn't brace my feet on the ground. Couldn't make it up a very, very small incline in Anne's driveway, either. Like, a two-foot space that was about a foot higher on one end than the other. I couldn't stretch my legs that far with no purchase on the lower side, and I couldn't get enough traction to build up enough speed to get me to the top taking normal steps. I looked like an idiot for about three minutes, shuffling up to the little incline, getting halfway up, and then you know the nearer my destination, the more I went slip slidin' away, gliding down to the bottom again, trying not to fall on my butt into a puddle of icy water.
Finally went crunching over the lawn instead.
Accidents all over the damn place too, and the Canal, which just opened the other day, after being closed for days because of above-zero temperatures (in January!!!) is closed again. Canal vendors must be having conniptions. To say nothing of the tourism industry - that thing is supposed to be open starting sometime between Christmas and New Year's, and bring in over a million tourists a year. This year it opened January 6, and was closed from Jan 11-16, and now again January 18-?. We haven't been skating a single time this year.
Speaking of nothing related to global warming whatsoever, I want to hide under my bed every time I look at the news these days. Because you know all those times I mentioned that Canadians may seem more "enlightened" than Americans with respect to tolerance and non-aggression and blah blah, but give us the right leaders and we'll show we can be every bit as homophobic, militaristic, and greedy as the worst caricature of an Ugly American out there?
Well, I think my countrymen and women may be about to prove me right on that one. Huzzah!
Yes, the Conservatives are going to win the election. The only question now is whether they'll win a minority or majority government. If they win a minority, there's a chance that they'll piss people off and have to call yet another election. Majority = five years for them to do all sorts of lovely things, like pull out of Kyoto, step up military spending, end a recently passed tax break to lower and middle income families and replace it with a tax break for businesses, re-open the debate on gay marriage...
Yeah.
Sorry, must go throw up now.
OK, I'm back.
Gosh, it's hard to pick a favourite from the above list, but I think the one that upsets me the most is the Kyoto thing. It just... it just seems like such a kindgergarten-level thing, you know? My kids already understand the concept of "You make a mess, you clean it up. You make 1/4 of the mess, you clean up 1/4 of it." And you don't sit there and say "Hey, that other kid made 1/50 of the mess and they're just getting to sit there because they're 'too poor' to clean up - so I'm gonna just sit there too! And no, I don't care that my mess is making other kids sick - it's not bothering me much, so why should I care?"
It bothers me more than I can possibly say, that we're electing a man who thinks that kind of thinking is brilliant, and wants to emulate it. I don't care that our mess is not as big. It's our mess, and it's hurting us and others, and walking away from it and leaving it in a big steaming pile... it's sick and it's wrong. And if I was the Kindergarten teacher in charge of Parliament, I would send Harper and his party off to their blankies without a naptime story, and I'd be telling Harper's mom to "Please explain to Stevie the concept of cooperation and respect for others."
Yes, I know he's said that he'll replace Kyoto with Suitably Vague Canadiantm Environmental Protection Programs. You know what? I also don't believe in the Tooth Fairy. Kyoto is watered down and we weren't living up to it despite having signed it, but with Kyoto gone, I think our half-assedness wrt the environment will turn to 5%-assedness. Not to mention how completely pathetic we're going to look to the rest of the world.
142 days left of Chris' residency.
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no subject
Date: 2006-01-19 06:08 am (UTC)BLEARGHLE!
Sorry, couldn't do it. : )
no subject
Date: 2006-01-19 01:48 pm (UTC)