Kerry & Iggy: Seperated at Birth?

It seems that there is an epedemic of foot in mouth disease running rampant around North American politicians. This was a huge story on CNN today and Bush is totally capitalizing off it... in fact you can see an offshot of the Kerry story another CNN article about why the Dems have been too cocky about winning... Regardless of whether I actually agree with Kerry or not, I think that it's fair to say that the general public (well, okay at least me) have little sympathy when politicians make remarks that are taken out of context. I mean, it's politics, right? That's the name of the game. As an elected official, everything you say has the potential of being taken out of context... and if you are a good politician you recognize this and then plan accordingly... and you should make sure that your defense isn't: "it was taken out of context".

Apologies if I appear to be excessively harsh... I am just v nervous about the Mid Terms and want to make sure that the conditions are 'perfect' to allow a Dem victory.

Don't you just love it?

When the New York Times agrees with you? ;-)

How to Run for Office

Daily Kos has a great dKosopedia (in wikipedia format). One of its most exciting links is whole section on How to Run for Office. It includes useful tips on how to create a campaign strategy, target your message, campaign contribution limits, and a campaign toolkit. It's be great if we had something similar adapted to a Canadian context. It's simple, user friendly, and makes running for office seem manageable and straightforward.

Slamming Canada

I know this has come up in the Canadian blogsphere - it came up last night (as a bunch of us homesick Canadians watched the heartbreaking defeat of the Habs by the Leafs).

Now correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that Steve was a Republican favorite...seems like he's not doing such a good job after all of bonding with our American friends and neighbours if the GOP are swiping at us during their political ad campaign....

UPDATE - My bad, it seems like our very own father of the GST and man in Washington flexed his Canadian diplomatic muscle and got the ad pulled... hmmm I just wish that we could use all that diplomatic might to say, I don't know, negociate a better softwood lumber deal....

UPDATE UPDATE - Turns out the BBC also has their take on this humdinger of an ad... interestingly though, they make no mention of Canada's diplomatic prowess involved in the ad's removal... I wonder which spin is the correct one?

Let’s Hear it For Some Committee Luv

This just in from our fearless leader today:
“If the opposition disagrees with us, they should do it in the open, not in some committee meeting, not in the unelected Senate, and not by endlessly stalling a democratic vote,” concluded Prime Minister Harper.

Now the last time I checked, committees are one of the most open and democratic components of our parliamentary system. They are open to the public (i.e. you can actually sit in the room with the MPs – unlike the House where you have to watch from the gallery); they are broadcast live on CPAC (and on repeat for those sleepless nights).

In the last two years, I spent a lot of time in parliamentary committees and unless things have drastically changed, I don’t really understand what Harper means by his “some committee meeting” clip.

Committees are, in my mind, on of the most open, heartening displays of MPs working together in the legislative process. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to hear Ed Broadbent concur with Stockwell Day. But I was a witness to it, as well as many other displaces of cross party agreement and fruitful discussion. Committees are great. They can be partisan and unruly, but they also exemplify that for the most part, MPs pick their profession because they are committed to public service and to the improving the common good. It’s how different parties tend to define the common good that things can get a little dicey.

And as for the last part of Harper’s quote on endlessly stalling… wasn’t it one of his government MPs that just recently filibustered in committee? If that’s not endlessly stalling the democratic process, I’m not sure what is….

Four Questions

1) Building Walls to Keep People Out of Countries:

Hmmm… do people that dream up these things never raise teenagers? Can't they hearken back to their own days of youthful rebellion, when grounded to their room and kept under lock and key, they still managed to find a way to sneak out anyway? Seems like such an expensive band-aid solution, that I am surprised that these sorts of ideas actually make it out from a heavy drinks session where some dude says: "Hey man, like wouldn't it be cool if we could like, build a wall around our country to prevent people from coming in?" to an actual government project paid for by tax payers hard earned cash…

2) Vive la nation libre:

How some dude can come back to Canada after over 20 years abroad, be a backbench (no disrespect for backbenchers) MP, and decide to run for the leadership of a major Canadian political party and decide for shits and giggles to reopen barely healed wounds... Like wouldn't the first logical question be once you start defining groups as nations, what about the over 500 aboriginal nations our country... and by the way, what is the point? I'm a Quebecer, I can more or less understand Bill 101... but I can't see any concrete value added of the whole defining Quebec as a nation business... other than if you just feel like being a shit disturber. I mean who is this guy? And how dare he? I'm just holding my breath for a week to go by without somehow being insulted by him...

3) Delivering on Political Promises 44 Years in the Future:

How anyone can utter a political promise that they plan to deliver 45 years in the future and not feel like a total idiot. I mean come on, we will “serious reduce emissions by 2050”! At first I thought Rona said 2015... but then I realized I had made a 35 years mistake! Who says that? I mean, while keeping a straight face. You'd be much better off going up to the scrum mike outside the House and saying, listen, we just don't believe in climate change and we don't want to piss off the oil companies which are big contributors to our party, so I’m sorry but we're just not going to do anything about it.

4) Keeping the Peace:

Why the country with military spending greater than the next 10 countries combined, can't establish security in a country that it took over... I just don't get it… I mean I thought these guys could do anything and take over any place... so what’s up? I am totally not an expert in this - so I begging for an explanation.

Now, after fully airing my ignorance, I'm going to and watch some Grey's anatomy... and try to figure out why on earth McDreamy told Finn that he could have Meredith... and ponder why McSteamy is just sooooo like, beyond, hot.

Five Things the F word Has Done For Me

I prefer not to use the word feminism. People tend to have a knee jerk reaction to the word. Eyes roll or gloss over, images of bra – burning, non leg shaving, fierce lesbians are conjured. People, who, by my definition of the word, are feminists, refuse to define themselves or align themselves with the word. So in a nutshell, I try to use it sparingly. I try to articulate my points without bring up the word. Look at the discussion that my use of the word “sexist” caused. Language and word choice have baggage… and feminism is a prime example of this.

Instead, the words I tend to use are: equality and freedom of choices.

Feminism has done one thing for me: It has given me the freedom to choose. The freedom to choose the type of life, I (me, an individual) want to lead. Be it a homemaker and housewife, and/or a politician, and/or a businesswoman and/or a naval officer (I didn’t always have all those choices…) Feminism has made me realize that I can earn the same income as a man in my position. Feminism has given me the right to vote (I didn’t always have that right and in some countries I still don’t).

It all comes down to choices and allowing individuals the right to choose to lead the life they want to lead. Men have societal pressures too. They face pressure to be the wage earner, the breadwinner, the supporter of the family. Men used to not be able to take parental leave. Gender equality theory explores how issues, problems, events, have a different impact on men and on women and it strives towards equality for both. I think that everyone can agree to that…to equality for all regardless of sex, race, and religion and the freedom to make your own choices.

The idea of having the freedom to lead the life I want to lead, brings me back to my Thanksgiving post about being in Africa… and the luxury of having choices… Feminism has helped give me that luxury… and for that, I am eternally grateful.

Under By-election Pressure

This isn't a full post... sort of an interim one - I promised the next one would be in response to Prog Bloggers Moderator Scott Tribe... however, am snowed under with work but still wanted to put this thought out there (and kudos to Prairie Fire for inspiring this post):

Harper's brilliant timing re: those two by-elections in Liberal London - North and Repentigny Nov. 27th right smack dab before the Leadership convention.... and I wonder how Rae and Kennedy are going to deflect the pressure of running for an actual seat? Hmmm, interesting...

Garth and his Women

After reading Turner's notorious weblog, the thing that struck me the most was his bizarre descriptive modifiers and adjectives of the Elizabeth May and Rona Ambrose contrast - it was sort of like he was writing a screenplay for some trashy hollywood flick - Just wondering, if he would have used the same adjectives to describe any of his male colleagues,let's say, Stockwell Day versus Jason Kenney.

Let's give it a try. Here is Turner's paragraph about May and Ambrose:

"Above her and looking on from the public gallery was Elizabeth May, the leader of the Green Party. Unlike the petite, angular, cool, brunette and impeccable Ambrose, May exudes an earth-motherliness punctuated by flying blonde hair, black glasses, an uninhibited laugh and lots of touching. It's an interesting study in contrasts. Does it set the scene for conflict?"

And here is the Stock versus Kenney version:

Above him and looking on from the public gallery (in this reality, Jason has left and formed his own party: Voices for a Free Canada) was Jason Kenney, the leader of Voices for a Free Canada. Unlike the stealth, buff, nicely coiffed with slightly receeding - salt and pepper, smooth Day, Kennedy exudes an earth-fatherliness punctuated by flying (i.e. more) coarse black hair, a little pugdy around the middle, unihibited tendency to shriek, and lots of touching. It's an interesting study in contrasts. Does it set the scene for conflict? (ohh intra - male conflict -exciting!)

All that to say that it was just a matter of time till Turner was kicked out of caucus - so I'm not really surprised - and that I find the blatant sexist nature of his post a little over the top - which leads me to Scott Tribe's tagging me for 5 things feminism haas done for me - I will save that for the next post (seeing as my computer is currently being repaired (hence typos and spelling mistakes) and I am off to NYC tomorrow night for the weekend - might try to sneak in some mobile posting... we shall see..)

Kay, I'll stop soon...

... but for now, I just can't help myself.

Just came across the CBC's indepth section on the leadership race. It has nice little bios and pictures of all the candidates. Now it turns out, (I didn't know this), but it turns out, that Iggy's campaign slogan is: "You want leadership that challenges, that inspires."

Now nothing bugs me more then when people assume to know what I want, in particular, politicians. How does Iggy know what I want? This quote is almost as bad as when Harper used "My Friends" in his campaign speeches last election (and as Scott Feschuk rightly pointed out that "my friends" assumes a lot - i.e. he only refers to people as "his friends" if he feels comfortable enough lending them a pair of socks.)

This campaign slogan of Iggy's just helps to highlight everything that I find annoying about his leadership bid. The implicit arrogance of it all, from returning to Canada after 25 years of absence and within less than a year wanting to be not only to be opposition leader (which is actually what we are looking for) but prime minister of this great land, to wanting to run a party after less that a month as a backbencher, to assuming what qualities I look for in leadership...

I know it's bad manners to hit someone when they are down...but he does have 30% of delegates and a whack of caucus and ex-officio support...but this slogan is the straw that broke this camel's back...

Hmmm - speaking of camels and other exotic animals - I'll end this post on a light note and share another pic of awe-inspiring african wildlife (this picture was taken 20 minutes from my house in Namibia - 3 years ago and not from the recent Kenya trip)... (Oh and if anyone has any pictures of moose to supplement the moose dialogue - I'd be infinitely grateful if you could email to me for posting.)

Parliamentary Mid Terms?

Today on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, political analysts said that these midterms feel a lot more like a parliamentary election - with the electorate voting more for the party than for the individual...hmmm interesting...I never really thought about the two systems that way.

As for the Iggy babyshambles debackle, well what can I say, watching him putting his foot in his mouth again and again is starting to get a little old. Come on man, give yourself a little bit of spine and gumption! This is getting painful to watch!

And as for the Conservs' "Made in Canada" Approach to ClimatENVIRONMENT - well, call me lazy, but despite this is a matter very dear to my heart, for now, I am content to just sit back, relax, and watch it all unravel on it's own..


UPDATE Looks like Iggy decided to get some spine and gumption after all with his new "Every Canadian Matters: Strengthening the Spine of Citizenship and Fighting for Equality Opportunity" announcement... ("Strenghtening the Spine of Citizenship" - who talks like that?)

Moose Factory

I've been obsessing about the town of Moose Factory lately. It all started because I am reading Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road and the characters pass through Moose Factory on several occasions.

The very name Moose Factory conjures up all sorts of romantic visuals of northern Ontario...of say, just so many mooses (spelling?) running around, that the place is almost like, um, a factory for mooses... So anyway, I've been thinking about it a lot and wondering what it's like there. Imagine my surprise when checking my site meter, I notice that someone from Moose Factory has clicked on my blog!

Linking up to yesterday's post, I think that we should start a movement to get Rick Mercer up to Moose Factory shoot some scenes for his Mercer Report. Its name alone deserves recognition... not to mention that according to Wikipedia, it was the first English-speaking settlement in Ontario and the second fur trading post established in all of North America.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

As a Canadian far from home, there is nothing that I rely on more to quell the rise of homesickness than watching the Mercer Report online.

As I settled in to watch Rick's often stifling snorts of laughter rant, I was looking forward to his prognosis of this session's Question Period so far. Instead, I learnt about Minister Ambrose's new chief of staff Darrel Reid...who, pardon my french, scares the absolute beejezus out of me...

Giving thanks

The weekend home was my idea of a perfect Canadian thanksgiving: turkey dinner (not fried - will save that till American thanksgiving), crisp apples, and walks on leaves crunching underfoot...all which left me thinking, appropriately so, all that I have to be thankful for:

1) When I lived in Africa and while traveling in South America and Asia, I've never felt particularly badly or sorry for the people I was living with, working with, coexisting with, etc... however this last trip to Kenya sort of hit me in a strange way... and as I was walking in the warm sunny autumn days this weekend, I couldn't help think how crazy it is, that just by the pure accident of my birth, I get to live in peace and security and have the luxury of choices... and I think that this is something that shouldn't be left up to accident and chance...we should all have that: regardless of where you live and where you were born, be able to exist in peace and security and have choices...

2)...on the Canadian political side... who am I thankful for? Gerard Kennedy. Why? For coming in 2nd in Ontario and putting Bob Rae in 3rd in Ontario, and for barely coming up as a blip on the radar in Quebec...why is this something to be thankful for? This shows that Rae is not an option in Ontario and Kennedy is not an option in Quebec. Regardless of whether or not it's fair, with today's electoral system, you need both Ontario and Quebec to win. So it would seem that out of the final four, both Kennedy and Rae don't really stand a chance of leading the Liberals to victory in the next election...thus leaving us Libs with two "viable" options: Iggy and Stephane Dion....all leaving me cautiously optimistic...thankfully.

Travel Time: 30 hrs and counting

Am back in Dulles, sort of draped over a bench in a bizarre state of mind and time...Despite the 24 hour trip from Nairobi back through Addis to Dulles, I thought a la Forest Gump, what the heck, why not just keep on running...wouldn't it be nice to be back home for Canadian thanksgiving? Forget this Columbus day whathaveyou... I want turkey and walks with the red maple leaves crunching under foot, and crisp apples, and all that other northern goodness. My traveling companion on the flight back was the antithesis to the one on the way there...I got a friendly, smiling, American Marine, straight from training in Kenya, via Djibouti. And after talking for a good 45 mins about fried turkey (who knew of such a marvelous sounding creation - fried in peanut oil no less)... I was sold... there was no way I was going to wait a whole extra month and a half to savour the beast.... I needed to get home now.

Kenya was interesting... still processing... but in the past 24 or hey maybe it's 48 hours, I've been really fortunate. I've managed to have two incredibly long and stimulating conversations with two individuals (coincidentally both called John) that I would have normally thought as quite different from me but in fact we wound up having a lot in common...

I spent my last day in Nairobi with John 1. John 1 is a taxi driver in Nairobi. He gave me a great rate on Thursday night on the way back to the hotel from an event and so then I asked him if he would mind taking me around Nairobi on my last day, hitting all the key places: the Village Maasai Market, the Animal Orphan, and National Park, Nairobi's slums, etc. In between we talked and talk. About the beauty of Kenya, Kenyan National Pride, HIV/AIDS, unemployment, illegal arms trade, Kenya Politics, politicians, social norms, differences between Kenya and Namibia (the African country I lived in), Kenya vs. Canada. The whole day was really touching, I mean he really wanted me to have a nice time and enjoy the day and feel safe and welcome in his country...which I did.

John II was my traveling companion from the Addis - Washington leg of my trip. John II is in the US marines. And contrary to common stereotypes (which I am no less guilty of having), he was extremely bright, well read, and though we didn't agree on everything he was extremely articulate in arguing his points...At the end of our trip he left me with recommendations on books to read on the civil war, fried turkey cooking tips, and things not to miss around DC, as well as underlining the need of the 3 Ds (Defence, Diplomacy, Development) to listen to each other a bit more....He said I left him with a new view of Canada (i.e. I talked to him about softwood ha ha... he said he'd be pissed too if he were Canadian).

...Though I am coming back to N. Am exhausted, I feel like I am coming back with a new set of views and ideas and points of view... regardless of the length of time between showers, the customs, the security checks, the packing and unpacking, the hard work during the trip...talking to people like my two Johns always leaves me feeling refreshed....


All and all, it's been quite a ride...I leave you with pictures of the Maasai market and Addis’ overthetop opulent Sheraton hotel… oh and just for the hell of it, an enormous warthog from behind...

...oh and as for Canadian politics...well, I watched Rick Mercer's clips from last week's show and brushed up on my Jane Taber...and the only thoughts they invoked in me was to reinforce my desire to keep on traveling - despite the 7 hour wait in Dulles - back to my home and native land for my warthog, uh I mean turkey, dinner and my family.

Declaring for Dion All the Way from Addis

Have just arrived in Ethiopia. Have a one night stop over before heading to Nairobi for a conference this week. Feel sad that all I will get to see of the country is a quick dip in the Sheraton's beyond opulent swimming pool and the drive back to the airport. And wish that I knew more about the country. All I know is: it is the oldest independent country in Africa (other than a couple of years when it was occupied by Italy); the currency is call Birr and sadly I might manage to go my whole 12 hour stay here without even laying eyes on one; and of course I can't stop thinking about the famine...

...The fly in over Addis was really interesting though, looked fairly lush (at least compared to Namibia where I lived at one point in time, that's not too hard though because everything looks lush incomparison to Namibia.)

The hotel is crazy - I mean just so widly opulent down the street from corrogated iron roofed houses, that I don't quite know what to do....

I flew Ethiopian airlines - which was great. But I swear for I was convinced that I was sitting next to a corrupt african dictator, I mean the suit, and the rings, and the demeanor, especially when he pulled a card out of his wallet that had the name of some weapons dealer in the States...Who he was though, I'll never know. We spent the whole 15 hours of the journey in silence.

Anyway, imagine my delight when I arrive in my mecca of opulence hotel room and discover a wireless connection! A chance to catch up on the latest numbers on the leadership race and to write an empassioned plea to all those who haven't voted: VOTE DION! There we go, I've declared. I haven't written the lengthly blog entery that I had wanted to elaborated all the reasons why, but perhaps this is better. In a nutshell: he has actual Liberal Party experience, he's been in cabinet with both Chretien and Martin, he was the first candidate to put forward a policy on getting more women elected, his work at the Climate Change conference: getting over 162 countries to agree on future commitments on the sometimes abstract beast that is climate change, his Clarity Act.... just a few of many reasons to support Stephane.

Anyway, I have to sign off...I neglected to pack an adapter for my laptop plug in and don't want to risk running out of juice...