"Fulfilling America's Promise: Building a Safer World and a More Hopeful America" ~ 2004 Republican National Convention slogan

The Republican convention started today down in New York. I've never watched one before. I was excited and was looking forward to great coverage from CPAC, as they were pretty good during the Democratic national convention. However, I watched on CPAC and laughed and laughed. CPAC seems to think that having a camera person wander around the floor is good coverage. So it's like you are there, wandering aimlessly with the camera man trying to get closer to the *action*. (and I can say with some confidence that there really was no action at all) The security guard comes over and tells 'us'...no, can't go there, go here. The guard even moves a person out of the way for 'us'. Knocking into people we weave our way through republicans talking about the weather, Republicans talking about the Olympics and one guy who sadly spilled his coffee (perhaps vodka) on his tie and is having some manual dexterity problems trying to balance all his crap whilst trying to clean up the spill without spilling more. (honestly these were the things the camera man passed by, no commentary, nothing...except the band playing "Soul Man" off in the distance)

Next, we walk past a group of young men in suits who are staring at seniors dressed like patriotic Uncle Sam (you know, with the garish, big top-hat with the stars and stripes). The seniors are mostly dressed in red, white and blue, except that the suits they wear are bright-ass yellow. This seems inappropriate to "The younger suits" who look on disapprovingly, whispering..."Oh that yellow is all wrong..." "I wouldn't wear that...well not *that* suit..."

The Camera ('us') pans to the left...weaving us through the sparse crowd. People gathered from Colorado...Conneticut...California. We pan across rows and rows of empty seats.

Then we come up to another group of people. A mix of women and men, in their 40's or so, talking about swing states and the protests from the day before. The woman, in a lovely suit, says something derogatory without realizing 'we' are listening, her friend gives a good effort to get her to shut up, but to no avail. She blathers on for a few moments about the protests and then finally gets the hint and turns around. She turned about 3 shades of red...

We turn our back and walk away...(okay well not really, the cameraman just keeps going... but I would have turned my back and walked away..tee hee)

This wandering about, living vicariously through the cameraman, continues for a while until they *finally* get back to the task of roll call and nomination votes and our attention is drawn back to the stage. Nomminations, eh? Now to me this seems redundant. Is there really someone out there wondering who will get nominated? "Who, who could it be? Oh, the excitement, the thrill of the unknown!!!"
I don't bloody think so...

The Chair "hearing no other nominations" moves us quickly on to roll call.

So Sara Gear Boyd, Secretary of the Convention, reads out the name of the state and the votes it contributes. It goes a little like this:

Ms. Boyd says, "Guam, nine." Then their representative gets up and says lovely things about their own state and remark about *any* republican within the borders of said state and how many of their votes (ummm...usually all of them) go to George W. Bush.

Then The Honorable Jane Norton, Assistant Secretary of the Convention, repeats this information back to the secretary (who is about 3 feet from her) for confirmation. They do this for every state....over and over.

These secretaries must be from the Department of Redundancy Department.
And apparently it will *only* take 2 days to complete this roll call. They've broken it down into three sections. Sheesh...I hope you don't miss all the *action*

Sadly I had to leave before Rudy Giuliani took the stage. I hope to catch more of the convention, but sweet Jesus, I hope the coverage is better.

Funnily enough, each day they have a different theme:

Today's theme: "A Nation of Courage"
Tomorrows' theme:
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
"People of Compassion"
I, for one, can hardly wait to see these compassionate Conservatives.

"...I really want to be like those inspiring Points-o’-Infos writers! They’re so dreamy!” ~Secretary of Snark

POI makes me giggle. Dreamy, indeed.

Also of note, Mustafa writes:

"Being the conscientious Albertans that most of us are, and knowing that several other such Albertans read this blog, I thought I would direct you all to the Province's "It's Your Future" Survey which the government will supposedly use to help determine what future surpluses will be used for.

You can fill out the survey here.

I figured just in case some of you don't read POI (*shock*,*gasp*,*sputter*) you should know about that wee survey. (also I can't seem to figure out that trackback dealy....or I would use that too...cripes! I'm useless.)

On the cell phone front, and as a wee update from my last post, I am told that I would need to wait until May 2005 to get a *free* upgrade.
"Bee-do"
I think I may follow Alex Abboud's lead on this one and just wait it out and save myself the $75 bucks. Although Kyle, Mr. Helpful, at Radio Shack seems to think that Rogers will give me a rebate of $50 bucks if I upgrade this week. He's getting back to me later in the week on that. I love you Kyle, I don't know you, but I love you and your kind customer service skills.
"Bee-do," says my phone, clearly in agreement.

I inadvertently copied my work schedule down wrong and I missed a shift. I am blaming this on the fact that I am "in between" daytimers. I am waiting to pick one up from the U of A, so in the meantime I am using bits of paper to keep myself organized. This method works rather poorly...Obviously...I would not recommend it. I wonder if the new daytimers are in yet? Perhaps I need to talk to someone at the ASA office and see if I can get one this week. First, I would actually have to find out if we still have an ASA though.
Anyhoo.....
So I waltz, blissfully ignorant, into work today not realizing I've pulled a no-show. My boss loves me. I thought it was fall-down funny...I'm in the minority there.

But I didn't come here to talk about any of this, I came to talk about the RNC.
I'll be back lata!

Song Du Jour: Into Temptation ~ Crowded House

"Low Battery" ~ My peice of shit cell phone

My phone makes this wee noise when it has a low battery. "Bee-do"
"Bee-do"
"Bee-do"

Every 10 minutes or so.
I have a friend who had this phone and she had to trade it in and warned me it was only a matter of time before mine did the same thing. If Jt is reading this, he's laughing at me and shouting "ha ha I told you so" at his monitor.

Alex Abboud has the same phone I do, I wonder if his went tits-up yet?

It won't charge and the charger is now not working (because of a knot in the cord and what I can only assume are broken connections on the wiring) so the phone is "bee-doing" all the time. I have to buy a new charger...$30.

I shall be going in to upgrade to a C370 on Saturday. To the tune of $75 bucks.
Is it fair that I have to pay for a phone that *most* people have had to return? Word to the wise: don't buy a Motorolla C333 (even if it comes with a *free* backpack). You'd think that they would allow you to upgrade for free given that most phones are returned because the battery is built right in. But no.
No...

"Bee-do"
"Bee-do"

"To be a book-collector is to combine the worst characteristics of a dope fiend with those of a miser" ~ Robertson Davies

Those over at Thinklings bring us this list which I find very interesting (given my book obsession) so I couldn't resist picking my peculiar preferences. I'll just highlight mine and I'd love to hear yours.


EITHER/OR

Hardback or Paperback
Highlight or Underline
Lewis or Tolkien
E.B. White or A.A. Milne
T.S. Eliot or e.e. cummings
Stephen King or Dean Koontz
Barnes & Noble or Borders (...damned American lists...Chapters)
Waldenbooks or B. Dalton (Wha??)
Fantasy or Science Fiction
Horror or Suspense
Bookmark or Dogear
Large Print or Fine Print
Hemingway or Faulkner
Fitzgerald or Steinbeck
Homer or Plato
Geoffrey Chaucer or Edmund Spenser
Pen or Pencil
Looseleaf or Notepad
Alphabetize: By Author or By Title
Shelve: By Genre/Subject or All Books Together
Dustjacket: Leave it On or Take it Off
Novella or Epic
John Grisham or Scott Turrow (although reading about Lawyers is not my *thing*)
J.K. Rowling or Lemony Snicket
John Irving or John Updike
Salman Rushdie or Don Delillo
Fiction or Non-fiction
Historical Biography or Historical Romance
Reading Pace: A Few Pages per Sitting or Finish at Least a Chapter
Short Story or Creative Non-fiction Essay
Blah Blah Blah or Yada Yada Yada
“It was a dark and stormy night…” or “Once upon a time…”
Books: Buy or Borrow
Book Reviews or Word of Mouth

"We wanted to work with Steve [Lillywhite] again, because he did our first three albums, well… that and we can call him Bitch” ~ Adam Clayton.

That's funny....

U2 fans, get out your pens and mark it down...

Sept 24 ~ U2 'Vertigo' Single Radio Debut
Nov 8/9 ~ U2 'Vertigo' Single Release Due
Nov 22/23 ~ U2 Album Due (title still unknown)
(Thanks to Pete The Chop)

This time next year U2 will be on tour....I can hardly wait.

"...In a business that attracts pompous blowhards, senators are the crème de la crème" ~ Mark Steyn

Well, I just spent the last few days with my new Nephew and his amazing Mom. Some women are just meant to be Mothers and Lina is one of them. It is incredible to watch them together.

let's see...so much to comment on....hmmm...where to start....

John Kerry was on The Daily show last night and did pretty well I think. He's a bit stiff (see above link to the funny article by Steyn for more on that), and I wish he would have stopped talking about Bush and told us about his plan. (I'd blame Stewart for not asking him about his policies and only asking about Bush.) But Kerry eluded to a plan, which means he actually has one, so that bodes well. He needs a monocle and a top hat to go with that laugh of his... perhaps his handlers should think of going in that direction and play up the pompous nature he exudes...keep him in tails and a top hat. And then Stewart actually asked him about Ketchup...Jackass.

In other news, and by that I mean news which actually has an impact on my life, you can take Swahili at the U of A now! Cool.

SWAH 111
Beginners' Swahili I
*3 (fi 6) (fall term,5-0-0)
Introduction to Swahili language and culture. Not to be taken by students with native or near native proficiency, or SWAH 35 or its equivalents in Canada and other countries.

I think I would like to take that class. I still need 30 option credits for my degree. Yes, 30!! Any suggestions?? I would be grateful, as I really have so completely focused on my core requirements I feel like a deer caught in headlights with these "options". What to take...?
and can I fit them into Spring/summer next year? Cripes, I'll need to take 9 credits next summer.

Apparently council took 2 hours to debate two $10,000 money motions last night. Good to see there is a lot of debate, but I hope it wasn't to terribly boring. The first 10G is for a survey and the second 10G is to get machines to accommodate the expansion of the Aramark meal card to SUB. I wonder if *any student* (grad or undergrad) can buy Aramark meal cards? I should look into that...or post it here on my blog for some smarty pants to answer. (My guess is Smarty Pants = The Dude.)

The construction above my head at work is getting weird now. The whole place vibrates. (insert vibrator joke here) It is rather disconcerting to be at work and the computer monitor is vibrating..the phone, the chair....the plants vibrate off the desks. The keys on my keyboard tickle my fingers as they dance over them...it makes my hands feel like they are asleep...pins and needles.

It kind of feels like when you are little and you, while your mom pushes, ride in the top of the shopping cart across the pavement to the car...
Freaky.

Song Du Jour: Tangerine ~ Led Zeppelin (Hi JK!)

Her proudest moment...Princess Kamlyn and the new babies, Caiden and Jacob 

"Don't you wish there were a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence? There's one marked 'Brightness,' but it doesn't work." ~ Leo Gallagher

The weather has turned cold and you can smell *it* in the air. September is coming. There is a distinct smell that comes with the change of this season, yet it is hard to describe...it is crisp, frosty, kind of tinny smell. It is the smell of yellow leaves falling...of a long, arduous winter ahead. It is the smell that triggers the anticipation of planning for back to school. Makes me want to buy new clothes and binders and get me some new cool pens.

This is the time of year when visitors go back home from their holidays. Goodbye Cherie and OTC, I will miss you more than you know. Leighanne leaves in 2 weeks too. Every time I say goodbye, I wish I was on the leaving end and not the staying end.
Only 2 more years.

Over the last 5 days I have seen more TV than I ever thought possible. What with the Olympics on every channel (although I find myself constantly landing on the French channel, which is weird) and spending time at friends' houses where digital cable is readily available. Well, let's say I have seen enough "Futurama" to last me for a while now. I also got my first glimpse of 3 shows I had only ever heard about. The first was "Da Ali G show".

"Mother of God" I thought, "is that Newt Gingrich? Oh my God it *is* Newt Gingrich."

Ali G interviewing Newt and it took him 10 minutes just to get the name spelled right...Then Ali G talks in studio with a Drug Enforcement Agent. This long table was loaded up with every drug know to man and he's asking the Agent how he mixes his drugs and how many ecstasy he would consider the limit. Of course the Agent scoffs and says he would *never* even ingest one tablet which promts Ali G to launch into this anecdote about his friend who took 23 at one time. At the very end he remarks, off-handedly, that the table full of drugs would only serve a *small party* and the look on the DEA's face was priceless.
If you have never seen it, wear your Depends(TM), it is literally *that* funny.

I also caught an episode of "Trailer Park Boys" (who knew that Bubbles would be the *smart* one)and an episode of "Orange County Choppers". Glad I don't have a father like that...cripes. But they make some pretty wicked choppers...kind of a cool show.

So yeah, mindless fun. The best part is really hanging with the boys and listening to their commentary on these TV shows...which is far more funny that the shows could ever be.
Is anybody else tired of all the Olympic commercials? Ronald McDonald diving and synchronized swimming? Puh-lease! I hope the irony of that made you laugh like I did.

Thank God school starts soon...and I'm grateful I had that meeting with the ladies at the International Centre...or my mind might just turn to mush soon. We are thinking "Making Poverty History" as a theme for I-week. It feels good to have a project to focus on!

"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence." ~Robert Frost

Well I had a visitor from Texas on my blog!! Hi April, thanks for stopping by! And April has an interesting link on her blog to a report called: Fifty-nine Deceits in Fahrenheit 9/11
This just proves that when the truth is on your side don't screw about or you will lose credibility.
There is a lesson about critical thinking behind all this. Always consider the source. Don't you wish that you could trust Moore as a credible source? I don't trust anything I read anymore. I want the lies to stop. I would like to know I am getting *all* the relevant information so I can make up my *own* mind. But with all the spin, I'm just getting dizzy. And we wonder why people are apathetic....

I had a great conversation with my Aunt last night about politics, education and apathy. I study international relations and I have a tendency, I'm told, to talk over the head of my friends and family about this stuff. Most of my friends find it frustrating and esoteric. For example, we went to Julio's the other night and I was embroiled in a great conversation about the upcoming American election with my good friend Greg Bennett. I was defending Kerry and Greg was saying that Kerry was in the pocket of the labor Unions and was just the lesser of two evils when it comes to voting. (I'm abridging his much more eloquent argument for brevity) My other friend, Tim, was also sitting at the table listening to us was getting more and more angry about our conversation, to the point where he asked us to stop. I often get this kind of visceral reaction from my friends. So why is it some people can debate issues and learn something from that debate, like me, and other people listen to a debate and just want you to shut the fuck up?

My Aunt posits that she doesn't talk about accounting (her vocation) terms and such in front of me because I wouldn't be interested in that, so when I talk about the details of my "vocation", I do it without realizing it is super boring. She also thinks I do it to make other people look stupid, and she could do that too if she wanted to. She could talk about fixed assets, long-term receivables, and amortization but peoples eyes would glaze over. She likens this to my blathering on about the I.M.F and structural adjustment policies, third world debt, and the AIDS pandemic. I don't speak about these issues to be arrogant, but because I deem them important. But it clearly comes off as educated arrogance.

I had never thought about it like that before. Just because I study something that effects people every day does not make it any less boring to those who could care less. Then you have Michael Moore who took politics and made it funny, albeit frightening, and then engaged a lot of people who didn't really pay attention before. He's reached people. People who, like me, just want the truth, instead of wading through the lies that are fed them by the mainstream media or political spin-doctors. Then you find out he's peppered his commentary with lies and he's as bad as the rest of them.

I figure I want to be like Michael Moore without the lies. I want to be able to talk about these complicated issues that don't reach the average person to let them know these issues exist. I find this more and more difficult though and perhaps I should stop talking about my vocation and just talk about "regular things" like how much shit costs at Walmart or what is happening to Nikky Hilton.

Is it interest or education that allows for good debate?


Song Du Jour: Mary, Mary ~ Run D.M.C.

"Meeting dates should be set by the committee well in advance so that students can schedule around them." M. Mustafa Hirji

Hear, Hear!!!

I shall be forced to discuss Council matters in this blog post. I know, I know...look away if you are not interested by the intricacies of internal reform or the committee system and its faults. (and you hacks will find this colloquial rant frustrating, I'm sure....)

I have some thoughts and can't comment on POI, so I chose to come here, although Webboard would most likely be a better place, but nobody has started a thread there on this topic. Whatever, it's my blog, and this is on my mind.

First off there is a CRAP meeting on Monday at 4 p.m. and I would encourage all councilors to show the fuck up. If nobody goes to committee meetings it sort of defeats the purpose of committees altogether now doesn't it? (although this will only serve as a reminder because those who read this blog are most likely all probably going to CRAP, you diligent councilors you...)

Committees, I found out, are where all the 'action' is in our governance system. I did not understand that when I first became a councilor and it was James Knull who encouraged me to get on as many committees as I could. I sat on six committees last year and enjoyed it immensely. So thanks James for that heads up.

Mustafa has done an excellent job of reviewing the committee system as it stands and has given his educated opinion on how to best "fix" the system itself so that it can be more effective. I am grateful for this review and would like to thank Mustafa for taking the time to write up his recommendations. Thank you, Mustafa.

I shall digress here for a second....This type of council issue highlights one of the reasons I did not pursue a council seat in March. I feel that council spends far too much of it's time focused on internal review and not enough time doing what *I* thought was more important work. I came to realize that what *I* deemed important is actually outside the purview of council, so I just shut my cake hole and focused on internal review. This can be very frustrating for Councilors though, and I hear ya! Who the hell cares if our committee system has a few glitches!? Isn't this a waste of time!? Does it really need to change?

Yes. For the love of Moses, YES!

So back to Mustafa and his recommendations.

I like how the paper addresses the role of Student's at large. I enjoyed reading the circular argument that S.A.L.'s are not "ordinary." It seems that if you care about student politics, which would lead you to get, even remotely, involved you go from "ordinary" to somehow become extraordinary and no longer a voice of the masses. It is like a catch 22...the only way to be remain an ordinary student is to stay out of student government, but to be an SAL you have to engage thereby ending your desirability as an ordinary student. Wha? Huh? Yeah...it is very confusing. By that argument all those who get involved in student government are extraordinary...just myopic and out of touch with regular students. That's good stuff.

I agree that Councilors are best suited for the job and on most committees I think that S.A.L.'s can be replaced by a councilor; an elected person, who is most likely better prepared to speak on behalf of their representatives. I never used to think that, in fact when I first heard that they wanted to get rid of SAL's I was against it, shouting "but what about accountability and accessibility?" After some experience I understand the difficulty of the question and the reasons why, on *certain* committees, they should be eliminated. Can't 'ordinary' students attend any meeting if they'd like?

I personally would say "Buh-by" to S.A.L.'s on policy committees because of the nature of the committee itself. But what is wrong with having S.A.L.'s on The Eugene Brody Committee? Some student's want to engage in the process but do not like the political nature of some committees so they apply for others. We can have a balance there. I think that is reasonable.

I agree that the Committees should be less Exec centric. We should have standing committees for Budget issues, Legislative drafting, Auditing, and Political Policy creation. But the major Policy Boards tend to become "Kitchen-sink" committees and their mandates are to broad to actually fulfill. I see the importance of removing Exec as chairs too. Mustafa argues that point very well and all of the irrationalities behind it. I agree with everything he so eloquently said.

There is one place that Mustafa and I disagree.

"Just as every bylaw is passed through the Internal Review Board for drafting and making coherent with the rest of the Students' Union's body of legislation, so too should all but the most trivial motions and emergency motions pass through some committee for thorough vetting, analysis, and improvement. Only then will Council be exploiting the benefits of committees to their fullest.

By integrating committees into the handling of Council's business, a true committee system will arise, a system against which Council can lean for improved handling of Council business."

I don't think that motions should come up through the committee system first, and I think this would reflect the same flawed system GFC has, no? I think they should come as motions to council and then be referred.

I would be worried that nothing meaningful would ever hit the floor of council. I would be concerned if no motion began *in council* because sometimes you need the impetus of council behind the motion. To use an example from my experience moving the Advocacy motion last year, I think the motion would have never made it through to council if I had submitted it directly to EAB or AAB or FAB. With that approach only one councilor is moving the motion and a small committee can too easily dismiss a motion. Council liked the motion and passed it because it could be referred to committee and then assigned a specific date for the committees to report back to council.

I think that process worked well and I think it would be terrible to limit councilors trying to move motions to the floor. Would Councilor Debenhams motion on sunset clauses even made it to council if had to go through committee first? I wonder? Would that approach limit new ideas?

So there are some of my thoughts...I put them here as a person who felt like sometimes the whole process could be taken over by "hacks". Sometimes I felt that the issues were so esoteric (**cough, *separation of Powers,* cough**) I wondered if I could ever add anything to the discussion. I felt like I couldn't get my head around it and it took a lot of work to figure that shit out.

Anyway...I look forward to seeing what council comes up with. And in the same breath, I am glad that I can just leisurely browse though this stuff, and add commentary from my experience, and not be in the middle of the fray. Being a good councilor really involves a shitload of work. It means you have to give a rat's ass even when you don't. I hope all my councilors will apply the same level of research that I did when I was in their position even if they don't want to.

Edit: There is a discussion on Webboard

"The life of a Canadian Sports Minister is only slightly longer than a fruit-fly and almost as glamourous" ~ Jonathon Gatehouse

Should Canada spend more money funding olympic athletes?
This article suggests we invest at least $50 million a year.

"Well, I *know* I have caughten that bus before.."~Idiot

Caughten? Bloody hell....

Right Ma'am of course you have *caughten* that bus where no bus runs and never has, I am obviously lying to you just to make your life more difficult. Your head must be full of caughten....

Sorry, but that one really made me laugh...I just had to share.
I love my job.

"I got me a car, it seats about 20 so come on and bring your jukebox money..." ~ Love Shack by the B52's

Went out stomping down Whyte last night with The OTC and Keepin' it real Neil (Kirn) and a bunch of Kirn's boys. Haven't seen Kirn in a long while and he's still keepin' it real. We headed out the The Elephant and Castle. It had that weird 'Cheers' effect because there were so many people I hadn't seen in a long time. Kirn was buggin' the bartender whom he kept referring to as "Sam Roberts". He was giving him a hard time about his sexy hair. He kept calling Sam's hair his "Achilles testicles". The ensuing discussion about testicles took a turn for the worse after we fought about the definition of hermaphrodite. They didn't believe me when I said it was a person having both genitalia. Sam Roberts set them straight and was my backup. After the brief discussion about Jamie Lee Curtis OTC took pictures with his cell phone from the future which takes wicked little pictures. It even has photoshop built into it. The he showed a slide show of pictures he had taken along his worldly travels. It is quite the phone and pretty much does everything but wipe your ass. But rest assured, says OTC, the next model will come with that feature...

After a few pops the boys decided it was time to Karaoke. We walked down to H2O which is a bar I have never been too. I didn't even know it existed. Besides Karaoke it had pool tables and VLT's, so the ambiance was kinda trailer trash...but in good way. There certainly was an interesting cast of characters. There was "stuck in the eighties guy" who wore his tattered Bon Jovi t-shirt, his Top Gun style sunglasses, and had one sweet mullet. There was "Paul Schaeffer" the pool shark, who would only let Kirn play his special lady. It was like he was some kind of Pool Pimp...weird. Kirn kicked her ass. Watch out or you'll get the Buzolt...
Then the night turned interesting because the boys started ordering up double gin and tonics.

The highlight of the evening was Jordan's hilarious rendition of the B52's 'Love Shack' with the birthday girl. It was sawesome!
On the way out of the bar there was a Japanese couple yelling at each other. Wasted OTC perks up his ears at the sound of Japanese discussion and can't resist. He starts yelling back at them in Japanese. He's yelling "Crazy Gaigin" (foreigner) at them and they are completely shocked that this crazy, drunk Gaigin is yelling back in Japanese to them. The look on the woman's face was priceless. On our walk home, which is only about 7 blocks or so, we must have been stopped and asked for spare change about 12 times. (and I'm not exaggerating). It made me think of Sammers and her blog post about that very same thing which has provoked discussion about what is wrong with the world.

Kirn spots some cute girls and yells at them from the other side of the Avenue, "I'm right here ladies!" and then " Look no further ladies, we are right here..."
At that very moment we came up past the bus shelter where an older, toothless, disheveled man was pushing his cart/home along the sidewalk and he turns around and starts yelling along with Kirn.
"I'm right here ladies!... Look no further, we are right here..."

I nearly pissed myself laughing.

One lost soul, stumbling past us on the trek home, had track marks all up her arms and was clearly wasted, leans into us and slurs, "schpare some schange?"
I politely shake my head and mumble, "sorry" but Kirn takes one look at her and says, "No way!"

Ah..Kirn he's always good for a laugh...
Keepin' it real Neil is like the 'Paul Welke' of my early 20's.

"All wealth is the product of labor." ~John Locke

What an odd week. Indicative of life in general, this week my life has been touched by both birth and death. This has caused many of us to stop and ponder on the big questions of life (and blog about it that oh so esoteric nature of blogging). I took the opportunity to reevaluate my priorities and I've realize that I am stuck in a rut and that rut is deceptively comfortable and cozy. Don't you hate that, you think you are doing the right and sensible thing and then you realize that all those excuses you were making really just was the "easy" way out?
Then again is any thing important ever 'easy'?
The sacrifice is simply not worth the 'reward' in this case anymore, so it is time to mix things up a bit. Scary. Yet, it is time for me to put aside the fear of walking away from comfort and into the realm of the uncomfortable, in hopes that it will be more rewarding. I hope that is esoteric enough for ya.

My friend 'Lina went through hell, and by 'hell' I mean 3 days of ridiculous amounts of labour pain, to have her baby. Jacob was born this morning at 10:56 a.m. and was 9 lbs. 8oz. The strength and courage that it takes to give birth amazes me. I am in awe of it. Today my friend Caroline is the wealthiest person I know.

I'm so tired. So very tired...

Song Du Jour: This Woman's Work ~ Kate Bush

"I'm going back to New York City I do believe I've had enough..." ~ Bob Dylan
 

"A community to meet the 'right' person..."

Today my friend Lina (no, sadly, still no babins) calls me up, all excited, to tell me she heard about something for single girls on the CBC and thought I would totally be interested!

"It is for people who like politics, like you," she said, "so I even waited until the end of the show and wrote down the internet address for you"

"Okay" I said hesitantly, but willing to hear her out, I got a pen and paper, "go ahead..."

"it is www-dot-republicansingles-dot-com..."
My pen stopped on the paper and I started to giggle...

"and they have another one too..." she continued, "it's..umm...oh, here it is; www-dot-democratsingles-dot-com..."

"Well, thanks Lady," I said, "err...I'll check them out..."

I didn't have the heart to tell her I am neither Republican or Democrat, or explain my disdain for political parties in general, but I checked out the sites. I just had to! Then I killed myself laughing at the slogan for the republican site...too funny.

But wasn't that sweet? She wanted me to find the "right" person. (and all for the low, low price of just $9.95 for the first month and $14.95 for additional months...)
Hrm..I wonder if the Green Party has an internet dating service? Perhaps Nanners and Mr. Speaker should initiate www.ndpsingles.ca...

Song Du Jour: Pass That Dutch ~ Missy E

"Socrates of the Republic rejects the flute; for the flute is exciting and emotional..." ~ Aristotle

I finally saw "flute guy" today. You know, that busker with the crazy grey hair? He plays one mean flute. Sometimes he has accompaniment and sometimes he's solo. He wasn't at the last Esks game (where he always is..at every game...and because of that he is even part of our drinking game) and of course this caused us great concern.
I hadn't seen him at the U of A in a while or at Churchill.

So believe it or not I was starting to think he'd fallen ill or something. Not like I was losing sleep wondering "Holy Moses, Where is flute man? Where is flute man...?!"
I just noticed his absence. Then on my way to work today I heard the melodious song from his flute emanating from the bowels of Edmonton Centre once again.

AND thank God because the "Patsy 'I'm brazenly tone deaf' Cline" busker was practicing yet another Allison Krauss song to mutilate. *shudder*
Whenever I hear her I always wonder if you could pay a busker stop singing...

"I really should have studied flute,
Harmonica, or chimes.
A clarinet is nice and light;
A fiddle would be fine.
But I had to take piano,
And my teacher is a brute.
He lives up seven flights of stairs.
(I wish I played the flute.)"
--Shel Silverstein, in Falling Up

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...." ~ Shakespeare

Friday again. Wow this summer is flying. Tomorrow is the big wedding. I just found out that the Bride has a case of viral meningitis. How shitty is that? Apparently she has been 7 days sick with this virus so they hope she'll feel okay tomorrow. Ummm..Is that contagious? Is it bad form to wear a face mask to the nuptials?

Yesterday I hung out with my ladies and we went and saw The Stepford Wives. I thought it was good, and I laughed a lot. Gregory said it was "meh" so I had lowered the bar and it met my lowered expectations.

The Daily Show will have Bill Clinton on as a guest on Monday. I know! Exciting! I'm pretty excited for that. Trying to increase his book sales, Clinton is in the press all the time these days. I have seen him interviewed by Letterman, and Peter Mansbridge and now Jon Stewart. It should be great. This book tour will help Kerry, it was well-timed and gives Clinton the perfect excuse to talk up Kerry at every chance.

Tom Cruise is also on the publicity junket for his new movie. Can't get enough of him. Rawr! I swear he's been on every single show in the last week. His appearance on Letterman (highlights) was fricken funny. As a commercial pilot, he told a hilarious anecdote about running out of oxygen on a troubled flight. Apparently if they cut of the oxygen supply to the main cabin they (the pilots) would have enough oxygen to make it to an airfield. So they did it, cut the oxygen, and their sole passenger passed out, none the wiser, and awoke with "numb hands". This is hilarious on about 4 levels. I laughed and laughed...Cruise could barely tell the story he was laughing so hard. It was a great interview..and now I totally want to see what all the hype is about his new movie. I wonder if it as good as they say?

My friend is doing what pregnant women do, nest. She's all ready for the baby, she's bought everything and the house cleaned...and he's decided he's staying in and won't come out. Two of my other close friends both had baby girls on August 9th, nine years apart, perhaps this little guy will make his debut that day, too...

The next council meeting looks like it will be a good one. (and that picture of the Kotovych family is great, I never knew Romans' parents read the council agenda...but well, happy 30th Anniversary!!) That House Committee bill might actually get debated, Brock is taking on dedicated fees, even the topic of Vids has made it back into the agenda, . The Exec is moving to create an adhoc working group, named the Advocacy Consultation and Development Committee (ACDC). (I see we still have a special knack for picking ridiculous acronyms...)

Frick, can I ever escape the lure of council?
Damn you student politics!!!!

Hacks: Does WoW have a theme yet? What is NODA? and what is CCSA again? And why can't they find a place to have their conference?? And why is this important? hm...it isn't really. But knowledge is power right?

Song Du Jour: Hail to the Chief (stuck in my head because my roomie was singing it this morning...he suggests it is high time we started playing it when he walks in rooms.)

EDIT: Apparently Viral Meningitis can be contagious from the 3rd to the 10th day of the illness. But as long as I don't kneck the bride and wash my hands I should be okay...Or so says Colleen, the nurse at Healthlink. We are freaking out a little because of the fact that I will be in the room when Lina has her baby and I don't want to infect him. Frick, what to do? Should I not go to this wedding? You'd think that the Doctor would tell the bride to cancel the wedding if that is the case, right? It should be okay, right? Perhaps I should err on the side of caution? Holy dilemma, Batman...

"For the love you bring won't mean a thing unless you sing, sing, sing...." Travis

It doesn't feel like Wednesday. In fact I keep thinking today is Thursday. Long weekends always do this to me. I am thinking a lot about music today. I haven't been able to really get into any good *new* music lately. Nobody seems to know of any either, which is weird.

The radio, which in my mind is a very bad medium to actually hear *good*, new music, is playing the new pop. Some bad and some not so bad...There is that grossly overplayed Jojo song "Leave(Get out)." She's like 14. It struck me recently that there seem to be a lot of young women in the pop chart this week with Ashlee Simpson and Avril Lavigne in the top ten. Evanescence, and their song Broken with Seether is also played like 6 times an hour on the radio. But it is growing on me, I like the sound of her voice. But these songs are what they are; Pop songs.
I want something...more. More, I don't know, substantial...

I would not buy any of those albums. I really want some good, new music. I wonder is the new Wilco is any good? Anybody got it?

I want a new Remy Zero or Guster to pique my interest if you know what I mean. (check "Guslog" the funny band blog, it might interest those of you obessed with blogs). I am waiting for the new U2, hoping the rumours are true and it is a kick ass rock album, but that isn't supposed to come out until November. I'm really bored with music these days...so I am looking for some suggestions. What new songs will always remind you of Summer '04?

Song Du Jour: "Sing" by Travis
Blog Du Jour: Rivers From Weezer

"I started with nightmares. Rumors and conjectures, that's a giant leap forward." Denzel Washington as Captain Marco

I went and saw the new version of The Manchurian Candidate. Kyle liked it. I think that seeing the original was a good thing but the new version pales in comparison. It is an *okay* movie, but I can't say that I would recommend it. It drags in the middle and a word of caution: don't go and see it at the Garneau...the sound is shite there and I missed some dialogue and that was a real pisser. Maybe it would have been better if the sound had been better? hmmm...perhaps.

In my opinion the original version is more witty and has a better ending. The nuances of the original version add something to the movie that is lost in the newer version. I can't quite put my finger on it...Although the newer version does get marks from me for creepiness because Meryl Streep really nails the deceptive, and clearly disturbed, Mother. Yikes that woman is Psycho! She's the one thing that is worth seeing.

I leave it up to you to decide which you like better.

"With political courage, commitment and sheer hard work, governments of the WTO are capable of achieving great things."~Director-General Panitchpakdi

One of the major debates I have had as a student representative at the U of A is the debate on whether or not protest is effective. Are the results tangible? Can you effectively make change through protest? It is a great debate. It is far-reaching and encompasses more than just student politics, that is for sure, and even at the global level it is hard to nail down exactly the benefit, or toll, that protest has taken.

I am sure many of you know where I fall into the debate on this, because I think that protest is the *only* voice I have against the oppressive nature of the plutocracy that I live in. Would I rather have a voice that counts and not have to protest? Hell yeah!! But given the current political climate that's not really realistic is it? Much to my glee the Canadian Learning Television network, or 'CLT' (rather a funny acronym if you have a gutter-mind, like me) has been airing the series "Commanding Heights" and last night was episode six. It documents the new global economy and featured a lot of coverage from the anti-globalization movement and the impacts of the protests in Seattle and the like. This great documentary highlights the effectiveness of these protests and also the drawbacks. It shows that it is not the protest itself that effects change really, but instead it is the pressure applied on the government to start listening to an ever growing group of individuals who just won't sit idly by and take it anymore.

I think that pressure has had an effect. When I read the news from Doha this last weekend I wonder how much of this reported progress came from protests? Is it working? Or was it the diligence of the less developed countries that finally created action? Perhaps it was a little of both? From the bottom up the pressure seems to be seeping into the mainstream and it has had an effect on the way that trade negotiations are handled. But progress is slow. Very slow. Here is the background...

This last weekend, at the Doha round of the W.T.O negotiations, The E.U. and the U.S. have agreed to remove agriculture export subsidies which has been a critical topic. So they have come up with a framework. And by 'agreeing to remove these subsidies' they mean "talk about it some more". So that doesn't really mean a thing does it? Talk, talk, talk...It's like when Klein touted that Alberta is debt free when realistically those debts will be outstanding for a few more years. It's like the abbreviated truth...but technically not the whole truth.

Who saw the Daily Show last night? Jon Stewart talked a bit on the subject of twisting the truth because it seems it is easier than actually fully explaining the truth. Is this the kind of world we want to live in? Where details are just ignored and the fact twisted into something barely resembling the truth?

That's what this big announcement from Doha feels like to me. For the most part it is how politics feels to me sometimes; full of half-truths and misleading distortions. Shit, even Leftists like Michael Moore utilize this approach even though I would argue that they have the truth on their side, so why lie? Does anybody even know what the truth is anymore?

Is this a step forward to a more egalitarian trade regime? Technically this will have little actual effect. On one hand rich countries have promised to get rid of all their export subsidies (holy Shit!)... but at a date yet to be fixed....and not until this trade round ends...which has been pushed back to 2007.

So it sounds like (and looks like) a huge amount of progress has been made during the Doha round of Trade negotiations, right? And they look poised to affect real change, right? Call me cynical but there are also a lot of loopholes in the agreement which you can read about at The Economist if you are a subscriber. They posit in the article Progress at last, but still a long way to go (Aug 2nd 2004) from The Economist Global Agenda that:

The details of the framework agreement suggest that the rich countries are now prepared to pay a price to ensure access to the markets of the bigger, more attractive developing nations, and that price is the freeing-up of their own agricultural markets. Meanwhile, the poorest countries, in being relieved of many tariff-cutting obligations, have opted out of the process. So, though the Doha round is back on track, the WTO has, in effect, split into two tiers: one for those countries that are fully engaged in the round, and one for those that are little more than bystanders.

Will this work? Will it be enough? Considering the huge domestic implications due to rampant protectionism, (incidentally Canada is one of the worse perpetrators of this kind of protectionism) and political backlash that could come after this announcement, I have to say I have hope that the E.U. with it's approach, (that's a PDF link to their position paper)and the U.S. stick to it and can actually commit. But, that remains to be seen. And I am certainly not holding my breath, although I have to admit I am seriously impressed that this compromise was reached and glad talks will continue.