As the election day approaches

The riding where I live has been a Liberal stronghold for a longo time-o. I didn't vote, on purpose, in the last election because I was annoyed to have one called so soon--two years after the previous one.

But at the one before that (2006) I actually did vote Conservative. I did so "in safety". I knew the Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia would win, but I didn't want to give him my vote (b) on a national level, because of the poopiness that was the Liberal party at that time, and (b) on a local level, because he's one of the only anti-gay-marriage Liberals*. (I kind of like the Conserv gal who was running. This was before Harper's megalomania.) I kind of admire that he goes against the party line and votes by conscience, but his conscience and mine don't agree.

However I'm afraid I'll have to overlook his conscience this time because the Conservatives have put in a superstar this year--some jock rich dude ex Alouettes football CEO [I'm the last girl to be impressed by sports cred], who was appointed to the senate by Harper, and then stepped down to run for MP. When accused of only taking the senate seat to pad his CV, he said, maiz non maiz non...

"In simple terms, the money I was earning in my last profession to where I would be in this profession is what I would call a dramatic, catastrophic pay cut."

A senator salary is around $132 000.

I made a 1/4 of that at my last job. 

So.

Vote for a guy... who thinks that living at 4 X my last salary was OH MY GOD THE PAIN THE PAIN!!!

Keeping in mind that this is Quebec where the cost of living is very low. And while he and his wife may still be supporting their third child, their other two kids aren't dependents (I hope since one's a football player and the other is married to a football player.)

And I'm not supposed to see the Conservative party as the party for rich people? I mean, Scarpy might have lots of dough too, but his last job was as a business teacher at the English college with some of the most disadvantaged kids (Dawson.) Just sayin'.

Smith's made his presence known too. He had some kind of over-the-phone town hall. I don't know how popular it was cause I didn't participate, I had a friend over. I also got a "Are you planning to vote Conservative?" phone call this week.

So. A vote for a Scarpy, and then an email letting him know my feelings about gay marriage. That sounds about right.

Note: I'm listening to his interview now. Catastrophic. My GOD. That is so spoiled. Catastrophic is losing your house cause you can't pay your bills. What an asshat.
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* His views as expressed in Hansard are interesting, but I still disagree with him.

Locked in the bathroom

In a blah mood today. I'm still feeling sort of overwhelmed by how awful this earthquake is, and will be, for Haiti. I find this more depressing than 9-11, Katrina or the tsunami. 9-11 was shocking, but the damage was very concentrated/contained. Katrina was sad, but even more it was anger-making because it was handled sooo badly. The tsunami was awful, but it didn't happen in the middle of the frikkin' capital.

When you're in dev areas and political science, you spend a lot of time reading and talking about possible solutions to the extreme economic and power inequalities in our world. And if at some point in your studies you don't feel overwhelmed by a feeling of hopelessness, then you're not (literally) doing your homework. Or maybe you're not old enough--maybe that feeling only comes if you're over 30 and you've been thinking about the topic for at least 10 years. I don't know.

The one country that seemed like the most complex, its problems the most difficult to untangle, was Haiti. They've experienced some really unique successes, like the only successful national slave revolt, and they beat off an invasion by Napoleon's army; but they've also been exploited for gold, had their Amerindian population wiped out, been repopulated by slaves, were colonized (even by pirates) and all the goodies that entails, were apparently so brutal to their slaves that 1/3 of Africans "died within a few years" (wiki); after getting rid of the French (two battles and a payment) they had a despot, then coup after coup, and multiple invasions by other countries; they were occupied by the US, which resulted in a genocide of Haitians who found themselves on the Dominican side of the newly made border; then it was rule by dictator, propped up by the US; then the questionable rule of Aristide, who was violent and stole from his people; and then his debated removal by the US; and just as things might have been getting a leetle bit better, a leetle more stable, this earthquake happened (besides the other tropical storms Haiti regularly endures.)

And that's just a simplistic summary of the bare bones wiki entry.

I'm so emotionally wimpy right now, if Céline goes on Larry King and sings "The Prayer" I'm gonna lock myself in the bathroom and cry like a girl.

yay for prorogue!

Well... on second thought, I guess I'm pretty glad Harper prorogued parliament. Just like the emperor, overconfidence is his weakness baby.

The lead enjoyed by the Conservatives over the Liberals has dramatically narrowed since Prime Minister Stephen Harper suspended Parliament last month, a new poll suggests.

The Conservatives now lead by a marginal 1.6 percentage points over the Liberals, compared with the 15-point advantage they had in a mid-October survey, according to the EKOS poll released exclusively to CBC News. (CBC News)