I really want to say something about this Star fluff piece on physical jobs, but I keep finding myself spluttering rather than saying anything coherent. So just imagine some brilliant feminist analysis about reducing everything to women's bodies.
Splutter splutter.
You know, when we were in the throes of the last municipal election, Larry just kept saying, over and over again, that "zero means zero". The zero, of course, was his promised tax increase -- that's right! he kept telling us, for a limited time only, you too can have no increased tax! Meanwhile, the other candidates for mayor kept pointing out that city services were crumbling, and that the city was pretty much tapped out... and that a small tax increase would likely be required.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, Larry's promises won out.
And to the surprise of... well, probably the surprise of his supporters, but certainly not to my surprise, our taxes will be going up.
I must admit, I love how it's a "levy" rather than an "increase". Are we supposed to be fooled?
I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, a fiscal conservative. I don't think taxes are inherently evil. I'm willing to pay for the many fine services we enjoy in this city, province, and country. So I was never the audience for the "zero means zero" line. But I'm still surprised that people seemed to believe it. People are so convinced that the public service -- municipal, provincial, and federal -- is full of waste that they're willing to believe anyone who says the public sector just needs to be run "more like a business", and that "belt-tightening" will solve all our fiscal woes.
Do you suppose the people of Ottawa will extrapolate from this experience, and maybe be a little less credulous when the next tax-cuttin' politician comes around?
I think not, somehow.
One more from the annals of "identifying possible biological gender differences and coming up with bullshit evo-psych explanations for them": women like pink... er, slightly redder blues.
Let me first express how impressed I am that someone (whether the reporter or the writer of the press release, I don't know) took the finding that women apparently prefer slightly redder blues than men, and declared that:
more women than men really do prefer pink — or at least a redder shade of blue
I have to admit, I'm somewhat conflicted about the Patti Tomasson case.
Well, not about the case specifically. I believe adoptive parents should absolutely be entitled to parental leave and I think it's a shame the court decided otherwise.
What conflicts me is that the discourse around the case has been almost entirely about mothers. Tomasson herself has emphasized that "paternity benefits are a separate issue".
But I don't think they are. If this is all about bonding with a child, why should fathers be any less entitled to that time? The idea that bonding is a purely maternal activity just reinforces the kind of gender essentialism I wish we could get past. We need more fathers to spend time with their children, both when they're young and as they grow. Is it any wonder child-rearing is still an overwhelmingly female job, when men are actively excluded from the discourse?
By the same token, it is true that childbirth is physically exhausting, and carries with it all kinds of trauma -- there's no doubt that one would need time to recover from that. To that extent, I agree with the judge. Where I disagree is that parental/maternity leave is (or should be) about more than just the physical exigencies of childbirth.
I suppose in my ideal universe, there would be medical leave to allow for late prenatal care, childbirth and recovery, and there would be parental leave, for which all parents would be eligible, and which would take up the vast majority of the time period we now think of as maternity leave.
Thoughts?
There's nothing that warms the cockles of my cold, snarky heart quite like a wedding.
Especially one that demonstrates why Canada really is a pretty great place, and one that a big chunk of the Conservative party would have liked to prevent.
Congratulations to Mr. Brison and Mr. St Pierre.
So Stephen shuffled the cabinet. And the results were about as surprise-free as you could expect.
Every time there's a new cabinet, or a new parliament, I get depressed all over again looking at the sea of old white male faces. Not that there's anything wrong with being old, white, or male. But there are other kinds of people in the country, and it is sad to see them so perpetually under-represented when it comes to running the country.
Of course, if there's one thing you can say about this particular government, it's that it's really the Stephen Harper show -- we're not being run by a cabinet of old white guys, we're being run by a single middle-aged egotistical white guy. I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse.
Three women. Plus Diane Ablonczy, who gets a secretary of state job so that people will stop asking "why is Diane Ablonczy a back-bencher".
I should be used to this by now, but it continues to depress me.
Summer camps are a truly wonderful thing. Unfortunately, the Municipality of the District of West Hants, N.S. has a pretty skewed idea about what summer camp should be -- at least for girls.
It never fails to amaze me when I see something like this happen. Surely, by 2007, we've figured out that girls sometimes like the outdoors. Sure, an outdoorsy camp probably wouldn't appeal to everyone -- but to have it strictly gender-segregated like this feels like a massive throwback. Are we really still that stereotypical in our outlook? Apparently.
They say they surveyed the children to findout what they would like to do. What I'm wondering is, did they ask the girls what they would like to do, or did they ask "what would girls like to do". 'Cause the answers to those questions are often very, very different.
For anyone looking for outdoorsy activities for girls, I strongly recommend getting involved with the Girl Guides of Canada. They can be a little on the flaky side sometimes, and a lot is dependant on what unit you end up with. But they're a great organization, and they start with the fundamental belief that girls can do anything they set their minds to. I have many great memories of my years in guiding, and can't recommend them strongly enough.
... and the world goes to hell in a handbasket.
Bridges collapse.
There are tornadoes in Brooklyn.
And apparently the Russians are claiming that they own the north pole. Which, while a boon to fans of spy thrillers everywhere (what with the whole "Russian bad guy" theme), is not particularly reassuring.
Regular posting will resume immediately. Because what else could go wrong?
