Lost and Found listings from NewOrleans.Craigslist.Org

I’m pretty good at being disaffected (though not uncompassionate). This affected me.

Deeply.

Pass the Hat (again), and the Tissue.

Check out this guy’s blog

He’s been writing about surviving in New Orleans during the Hurricane (which apparently wasn’t so bad) and the Aftermath (which is like the freakin’ apocalypse).

Of course, this is just one guy’s blog, but hot damn, people are going Crazy!

I haven’t heard much in the mainstream media about how bad it’s gotten (shooting at the firefighters?!?!?)

Is this actually that common during natural disasters? Mark: did this happen after Ivan?

Also, just wanted to say please help out if you’re able: American Red Cross

Bert’s Back Babies!

It’s official. We Rock.

The house of commons voted 158-133 to support same-sex marriage, making Canada the 3rd country in the world to make the unions legal at a federal level.

And as much of a chump as I think Paul Martin can be, his quote on the issue sums up exactly how I feel about same-sex marriage, and really Canada in general.

The “vote is about the Charter of Rights,” said Martin. “We’re a nation of minorities and in a nation of minorities you don’t cherry-pick rights.”

And now that the gay marriage issue is taken care of, can we please work on that whole lack of TiVo thing?

The nature of my work schedule lately has me staying up a little later than usual. So I’ve been catching Letterman, and the beginning of Conan, for most of the week.

Last night, Dave brought out the Carnage.

Paul Anka was the musical guest. Which in and of itself isn’t horrible. Except he sang “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” It’s all a part of the publicity for his new album Rock Swings – which takes some of the most iconic rock songs of the 80′s and 90′s, and Anka-fies them.

Damn you Paul Anka, for bastardizing my youth! And double damn you for making it catchy as all hell! So if you see me lindy-hopping to “Eye of the Tiger,” you’ll know why.

And for this, he gets the Order of Canada.

So… a note to all the granola crunchers who say Nuclear Power is a Bad Idea, and cite Chernobyl as evidence….

EXPOSURE TO RADIATION MAKES CHILDREN SMARTER, STRONGER, FASTER, BETTER!

I’m totally hitting up the dentist for a few more xrays this year, and permanently strapping my cellphone to my head.

Perhaps I’ll even rig the microwave to operate with the door open.

Best Quote Ever regarding the recent coupling of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes:

They should totally play Take My Breath Away at their wedding. Except that Katie will probably want the Jessica Simpson version, and Tom will be all, “No, the Berlin version,” and Katie will be all, “Who?”

I totally peed a little from laughing so hard when I read it.

Shiz poses an interesting conundrum today. She had no idea that it was election day. She knew the election was coming up at some point… just not that it was today.

Some of us do not have/watch tv, and don’t like/read the trashy local newspapers. You cannot rely on media alone to inform us of things.

I was trying to think about how one would ever realize that an election was coming, without watching the local news or reading the local papers. I myself am a self-admitted media whore, so I typically devour that stuff (whether I believe it or not is an entirely different story).

So I tried thinking about any other ways the election has been promoted…

Candidate signs? I suppose those are a hint, but “I didn’t even know an election was CALLED – even though I saw signs everywhere, thinking it was advance campaigning – until someone mentioned it in passing.” I guess they don’t exactly have the date on them…

Internet News? No… that’s just an electronic reprint of the newspapers.

The bajillion flyers that were dropped in mailboxes? I guess a lot of people just throw those out like so much junk mail without actually looking at what’s on them.

Telephone Pollsters? Not everyone gets called. I only got one phone call through the entire campain – usually I end up getting 6 or 7 at least.

Word of Mouth? I guess that all depends on whose mouths you’re listening to.

I’m officially stumped.

Are there any other ways to publicize an election? Should there be? I know a ton of my co-workers had no idea (until I informed them) that they were voting on BC-STV – so obviously the word is just NOT GETTING OUT.

At what point does the issue change from inadequate promotion/publicity/awareness to one of a person’s choice to be ingnorant? (Note: Shiz appears to be far from ignorant – I wish that were the case for so many others I know.)

Today’s provincial election day in Beautiful BC, so to any Canadian citizens who’ve lived here for the last 6 months: PLEASE GO VOTE. You have until 8:00PM PDT tonight.

Find your local riding and voting place, as well as registration information at elections.bc.ca

You’ll also have the opportunity to vote for change in our current electoral system. You can either vote Yes or No for the Single Transferrable Vote – info available at the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform website. There’s also a nifty bit of flash (about 3 minutes long) explaining how STV would work.

Remember, the privilege of democracy comes with certain responsibilities. One of those is participation in elections. So show up, vote for the candidate and system that you feel are right, or spoil your ballots entirely. Just please go and be counted. Your future thanks you.

Quick reminder that today is the Provincial Day of Mourning for workers who have been killed on the job.

Also a note that safety at work isn’t just a concern for those in manual labour or trade jobs. There’s plenty of danger right here on the mean streets of the big city. We are trying to do more with less, and it’s tempting to get lazy about safety while doing it. Workplace violence is increasing at frightening levels.

For the Logger who drove his truck off the road.
For the Waitress who ended up with lung cancer due to 2nd hand smoke.
For the Office Clerk gunned down by a co-worker going postal.
For the Restaurant Manager stabbed trying to protect one of his staff from a man wielding a knife.
For the School Crossing guard run over trying to keep children safe.
For the Police Officers & Firefighters who put their lives on the line every day.

For you, the ones you love, and the ones that love you back.

Stay safe.

I’m the first to admit that I don’t pay as much attention to politics as I could.

But all of this hooplah around the Federal budget and the potential vote of non-confidence seems to have people riled up for what I think is no good reason. I think we’ve been used to having majority governments for far too long.

When there’s a majority government, we show up, we vote, and we get to sit back for about four years because the ruling party is then going to do whatever they want without much regard for anyone or anything else. It’s lazy politics, it promotes corruption and alternate agendas, and I’ve really had about enough of it.

With a minority government, the ruling party needs to win the support of other parties or MPs, or risk being ousted. Nobody wants an election every six months, so compromise is in everyone’s best interest. When there’s a minority government, constituents need to talk to their MPs to let them know what they do and don’t support. MPs need to ensure that their party has a firm stance on what is negotiable and what isn’t. Parliament as a whole needs to come together to pass bills & budgets that have been through real debate – not the yelling across the house that has no consequence because the majority party will push everything through on their agenda anyway.

In my opinion, that’s how government is supposed to work.

On May 17th, I’ll be showing up to vote YES for STV on the provincial ballot, and hoping for a minority provincial government. I think the parties could use a little tempering from eachother, and if it’s true that STV usually results in minority governments, I really can’t see that as a bad thing going forward.