Now. this IS talent ...

I was flipping across some internet channels yesterday and came across this video of some pole dancers, I think from India.  I mean - these guys are REAL pole dancers - gymnasts who have taken the art of balancing to an entirely new level.  My brother was a gymnast in his younger days - barrell chest, shoulders like Hulk Hogan, but these guys are awesome - no offense Bri  :-)  Watch and appreciate the talent these guys bring to their sport ... especially watch the little kid at the end.

We’ll get what we deserve

For the first time in many years, I've made up my mind that I'm not going to participate in the coming election. The reason is that I refuse to hold my nose and vote for the one I think is the best of the worst. To me, that's not democracy; rather, it's what politics in this country has become.

I realize that there are millions of people around the world who would give their right arm (and possibly have done so) to have a free and unencumbered vote, but we moved beyond that centuries ago and now have a choice to a right that we take for granted.  It is not an obligation.

The national political scene has become a circus. I’m still trying to figure out why the separatist leader in Quebec was participating in a NATIONAL political debate on television when all he cares about is Quebec. Include Duceppe in the French-language debate if you will, but frankly, I could care less what he thinks and what he wants. All I ever hear him whining about is how rough things are in Quebec. How do you spell a-c-c-o-m-m-o-d-a-t-i-o-n?

From my perspective, tory leader Stephen Harper becomes less trustworthy by the day. Turns out that just before he shut down parliament for the vote, he engineered a big increase in pay for his top political staff. I’m beginning to wonder if there are any pork barrels in this country he hasn’t topped up. He becomes more unpalatable every time I see his manicured & coiffed mug on TV.

The grit leader Michael Ignatieff may have written a handful of books and is a recognized scholar, but I’m sorry Mikey, your attempt at becoming the common-man is as phoney as Harper’s stylized image. While I’m sure you intellectually understand liberal principles, I still don’t see you as being a convert.

As for smilin' Jack Layton, if he really believes and practices NDP philosophy, why was his campaign stop in St. John’s scheduled for one of the most expensive hotels in the city? Is that a harbinger of things to come? I had actually thought about going to hear what he had to say until I realized it was at the Delta. It's not as if they needed a room that could hold a thousand people.

I realize this focuses on the national leaders rather than the local candidates but locally in St. John's South-Mount Pearl, as far as I can tell, from what I’ve read on their individual websites, none of them qualify for my vote. I’m not prepared to vote for someone just because they carry a specific political banner or are a recycled tory or whatever.

We’ll get what we deserve in government and very little will change.

Time to move on to other things like arrogant St. John’s drivers.

Much better than I could say it ...

No green light for May's court challenge

Elizabeth May, the as yet unelected leader of the Green Party, has been turned down in her latest bid to be part of the so-called “leaders debate”, the perennial shout-fest between the leaders of Canada's three national political parties and the separatist BQ from Quebec. May's latest attempt was via an application to the Federal Court of Canada, but the judge declined to hear the application for a judicial review of a CRTC policy that says broadcasters do not have to include all political parties in debates.

After the decision was handed down, May told the Globe & Mail newspaper that, “The more likely route to a democratic debate lies in public outrage and the overwhelming levels of public support for me being in the debates.”

One has to wonder about those “ overwhelming levels of public support” because they certainly haven't been evident in the last couple of elections when May has tried to win a seat in the House of Commons. Apparently, she cares more about getting into the House of Commons than she does about the voters in any one particular area.

In 2006, May offered as a candidate in a by-election in the Ontario riding of London North Centre and received about a quarter of the votes. In 2008, she made a big deal of moving to Central Nova in Nova Scotia but lost again. Now this time she's offering in the British Columbia riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands. Political expediency seems to be her credo rather than commitment to any particular group of electors. If she can't make up her mind on where she wants to represent, how could a voter expect her to do any better as an MP?

We have to remember too that there was criticism from prominent Green Party members of May's failing to support all Green candidates unequivocally during the 2008 election, as she made favorable comments about Liberal leader Stéphane Dion and said that supporters in close ridings might consider voting strategically to attempt to defeat the Conservatives. So much for her commitment to Green Party candidates. It would appear her primary commitment is to Elizabeth May.

That's not someone I want sitting in the House of Commons. The Quebec separatists are enough of a special interest group, thank you.

The exclusive colour purple ...

There is a TV ad I see regularly entitled "Respect Women". The hook is a father teaching his young son how to read and it has the line, "I will teach him how to respect women." Every time I see it, I wonder why the message is not teach your son and/or your daughter how to respect PEOPLE. Isn't that what it's all about?

I was at a meeting a few days ago when a young man was describing a trip his male friend and his friend's boyfriend planned to take to visit a large American city. When he mentioned it was his friend's boyfriend, you could sense a slight change in the atmosphere in the room. And it was full of highly educated people. Why aren't they getting the message about respecting PEOPLE, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation? Could it be perhaps because we don't think a lack of respect for men is an issue? An issue of consequence?

I applaud the Newfoundland/Labrador government for talking about respect, but let's make it inclusive and not exclusive by asking for respect for one gender only. The Violence Prevention Initiative of the Women's Policy Office is starting on the right track, but it is apparent from their website that inclusivity is not part of their agenda and I think that's a shame. They have an opportunity here to do some stretching into a larger sphere. Activism against gender violence shouldn't exclude anyone - female, male, transgendered or transsexual. Ask any public school teacher about what they see on the playground everyday and they can tell you that while they try to inculcate respect for all persons, the message doesn't always get through.

I`d love to wear your purple ribbon and would be happy to do so - once you call for respect for all PEOPLE.

One party, two party, three party, four ...

Interesting to hear that grit leader Michael Ignatieff has accepted Rick Mercer's offer to moderate a debate between Iggy and tory leader Stephen Harper. Mercer has offered to rent Massey Hall in Toronto, set up arrangements with as many TV networks as he can get to come on board and proceed full speed ahead.

Of course it raises a couple of pesky questions. First is who is Mercer to determine this is a two-party race? Granted, there is no need to involve Gilles Duceppe in a national debate since he wants to break up the country anyway and as for the green party ... Elizabeth who? However, Jack Layton deserves to share the stage, if no other reason than to keep the other two honest. After all, the picture you see further down this page is of Stephen Harper meeting with Layton and Duceppe to arrange a coalition government. Guess it's not as dirty a concept as the tory attack ads and Harper's stump speech would seem to suggest.

The other question for me is how has our Canadian democracy evolved when we have a comedian being considered as a moderator for a national political debate? Mercer's a talented guy, but his ego does not need any more stroking.