you are so jealous!!

Just booked a trip to Athens (thats in Greece) on April 15. Just wanted to brag to you all. and of course, I'm now soliciting suggestions on what I must do while I am there....

I don't have anything liberal-ish to say of late. I do think that the candidates on South Van Island are fantastic. Anne Park Shannon is dynamite for Victoria and Briony Penn is a solid bet for Saanich-Gulf Islands. I admire her passion. People ought to have passion for things. Passion is more important than ambition, especially when we are talking about elected officials.

Also two more fantastic examples of female candidates.....

Tearing up the charts in England

So I wanted to share a little bit of England with everyone, and what better way to do that than through music, or better yet, a music video.

This new one "Acceptable in the 80's" is easily one of the most annoying songs I have heard in a long time, yet its huge here. you can't go out these days without hearing this song a couple times at least.

The video is quite a trip though, worth a watch, though I can't really tell you why.

Enjoy

Avril sells out?

To be fair it took her a couple albums longer than many other singers, but with her latest effort "I don't like your girlfriend", Avril Lavigne has definately become a pop sellout. She dances around like Britney Spears (actually Britney is better), tries to rhyme 'delicious' with 'addictive' and overall her song sounds a lot like that other awful mess from years back 'Hey Mickey' (or Ricky...I forget the actual title).

With the exception of too much eye makeup, she's lost any of the supposed edge she might have ever had. If I actually liked her, I might be in hysterics....

TC's Bad, not mine!

So yeah I heard from a couple people now that Keith martin will not be supporting the budget. Thats good news to me, though I wonder how the Times Colonist came up with it in the first place?

alls well that ends well

Keith Martin to support budget?

I was just reading the Times Colonist from Victoria, and in a comment about Keith Martin, it mentioned that he intended to support the budget despite its shortfalls and would be addressing that with Stephane Dion today. Interesting to say the least

What a crappy present Steve!

So as far as vote buying goes, this budget is pretty crappy. Its one thing to actually do something meaningful over the long term, like say a tax cut that actually saves someone money, or say a Childcare Programme that they can actually afford, but to give someone 80 bucks and then say, now go vote for me rings pretty hollow. People may be swayed by a budget to vote for a party (or not), but to hand someone a couple dollars on the cusp of an election is just crass politics.

I think people see this budget as sheer electioneering. Even the Ottawa Sun hates it for goodness sakes.

Budget is bad for BC?

So I read that the new equalization formula somehow considers property values in its calculation of fiscal calculations. This is concerning to be since BC is well known for outrageous property values. If these values are now considered a part of government's fiscal capacity, what happens in the event of an economic downturn. What happens when our property values stay high, but if our economy is depressed, we still may not qualify for assistance from the federal despite decreased revenues overall?

maybe someone could explain this to be. Im not good with numbers, thats why Im a politics grad student!

Own your intolerance, whether you meant it or not!

Ok, so Im gonna go out on a limb and agree that Boisclair maybe didn't mean his comments in a rude way, like intentionally rude I mean. Thats certainly not to say that I condone the use of the term "slant eye" to refer to any human being. Anyone who knows me, knows that I ardently oppose all forms of discrimination or intolerance but, I recognize that it still remains a prevalent social issue in Canada, and abroad.

The fact is that people often use such terms and don't mean them in an overtly racist way; however, when people don't recognize that such terms are based on unacceptable stereotypes, that is a more important problem than the simple use of the term.

If people can use terms like "that brown girl" or "slant eye" to refer to someone, and not understand that they are inherently racist terms , regardless of the person's intention while using them, that is where the problem lies.

Now Andre could be a horrible racist, but I doubt he intended to be one. I can't, and won't speak on his behalf. But, whether he meant what he said in a malicious way or not, the fact is that people need to recognize the foundational racism that underpins such terms that may find their way into people's general dictionaries.

People ought to understand that one's intentions are not always an acceptable justification for something said. What people need to realize, is that regardless of intention, the underlying assumption of such terms is racist and inappropriate. Racism isn't always intended, but it still should be understood as the the underpinning of such terms, whether they were meant used in a racist way or not.

Nothing in this entry should be taken to mean that I condone any of Mr. Boisclairs comments in this instance. My only intention was to discuss an underlying issue, not to support Mr. Boisclair's remark in the slightest!