Crazy drivers

Well it says I haven't posted since March.
What have I been doing? Going INSANE, what else? lol

I finally got me some high speed Internet so this whole experience is much more pleasant now.

Anyway, what did I title this thing? Oh, yes, Crazy drivers.
I know I've talked about this before but every day there's something else that just makes you shake your head and wonder why.
The other day I look in my rear view mirror... they should have warnings similar to the side mirrors btw. The one that says objects are closer than they appear (and it is true). Something like, "high speed objects may try to penetrate from behind" or "Warning brake lights may blind tailgaters"...
Anyway, I look in my rear view and I see this little old lady who can barely see over the spearing wheel and she's got the crazy eyes and she's about 8 inches from my bumper. I have to admit I was only going the speed limit (I normally go about 10 over) and I do feel guilty about that, but even granny??? Wow.

I had to go to court last week because my daughter got a ticket for ditching the car in a construction area (you're supposed to anticipate bad road conditions) and this dude was in there begging for a reduced charge to a speeding ticket.

On our way out of court we decided to walk to Timmys for a coffee and as we're crossing the road on foot, this van speeds up and tries to beat us crossing instead of just driving normally, and letting us pass (he wouldn't have even had to slow down). We look at the van because he really had to gun it to beat us and it was the same guy in court that was begging for the speeding ticket.

Amazing.

What kind of dreams do the insane have?

I've been having some weird friggin dreams lately and last night wasn't any exception.

I dreamed I was Jewish and I was at a dinner table with my father who was also Jewish but he was hiding the fact. I sensed there was some dangerous aspect of being found out and my father began getting quizzed by someone.
At some point this person held up an object to my father and asked him what it was.
He squinted and guessed something stupid, and the person moved the object closer. He again squinted and said something equally silly and this repeated a number of times until the object was a few inches away. At that point, as if he suddenly realized what it was, he shouted out in a heavy Jewish accent the name of this object which apparantly proved who he really was if he knew.

Just as the eyes of the man asking the questions bulged and he had a look on his face as if to say, I got you... my father turned to him and said nonchalantly, "My neighbour had one".

I woke up laughing and shaking my head like usual.

Get off My Ass!

I was driving to work today and there was this nut tailgating me and when I looked in the mirror I just had to laugh.

Are people getting more aggressive on the road or am I just getting mellow in my years? I get tailgated every day by some nut that just can't stand being back there no matter what speed I'm going. They pass me on an icy road going up a hill with a double line, in the morning in a school bus zone, with kids waiting at the side of the road.

Insane.

Anyway this guy was so close I could see his angry face and as I got more amused he got angrier. I don't think he could see me laughing, but I was likely slowing down because I just wasn't paying attention to how fast I was going. I just couldn't get over this guys angry face and bouncing beside it, hanging from his mirror was a large yellow happy face. I found it very ironic.

Symbolistic White Walls

I'm just a boat on the ocean
And I'm just a ship lost at sea

My sister went to a psychic once and she was surprised that although she paid this psychic for herself, she began talking about me. Apparently I'm a lost soul.
I'm not sure what that means but I'm pretty sure I'm okay. I was lost once, but now I've been found. I've never lost sole either if that's what your thinking.

Whatever.

I have a psychic and she says I'm lonely
she says inside of me is turning out all wrong
so now I just sit here
and think of meaningless things to say

Prime Time Deliverance

I've noticed the lyrics in a lot of songs these days blatantly go after the teenagers and simply word things in a way to grab their attention. Not just a catchy line or two, but the entire story line.

I wonder if an artist in these times, where the only thing that matters is commercial success, has a shot at all of being true to their art.

Matthew Good, I believe is one Artist that seems to buck all the trends and maybe to his own detriment, does his own thing. One thing I don't think you can fake is passion and the song below is one of my favorites for that reason.

She says, the best thing you can do is hang around a while... lol

Prime Time Deliverance

The red red lips
Of some secret solution
The Central Intelligence Agency
Has a file that's a mile longer than peace
She's naked on the phone
Watching them back
No eyes just their stupid grins
They long to be liberal mannequins
And in their tiny room
They eat Chinese food
And they don't call their wives
Cause the girl in the window is
Pressing her breasts
Up against the window pane
The guy they're after
On the floor below her
Is cutting cocaine
Higher than the building

A one way trip
Who ever thought she'd miss
The ins and outs of oxygen
The darkest side of the biggest God damn ride
You've ever been on
Her mother loves that show
Even though she never gets the answers right
It's easier to play along
Sometimes more than being wrong
They found her in her room
Wearing a pink bunny suit
In sour cherry lipstick
Hanging from the closet door
Her eyes were wide maybe to despise
Maybe just to look into your head light
Morning glow

And this is it, well this is it
Prime time deliverance

That you have and you hold
And you have and you hold
And you have and you hold
And you have and you hold
And you have and you hold
And you have and you hold

And she says the best thing you can do
Is hang around for a while

No Harper please

I think Stephen Harper is the scariest thing Canada has seen since Lyin Bryan Mulroney.
Politicians at the best of times frustrate the hell out of me and in a lot of ways they're not much different, but some of the ideas this guy has really freaks me out.

Harper has suggested that he might use a loophole in the constitution to override the Supreme court of Canadas rulings and inflict his twisted views on us instead. How scary is that?
The highest court in the land makes a ruling and a politician decides he doesn't like it and reverses it. The thought of it boggles my mind. He'll start with the gay marriages ruling and then what next?

Vote for anyone else, just don't let this nut get in power.
Please.

----------------------------
News Clip
----------------------------
Reality Check
Notwithstanding notwithstanding
By Robert Sheppard, CBC.ca Reality Check Team | Dec. 20, 2005 | More Reality Check

So what is Stephen Harper's position on gay marriage?

The simple answer is he doesn't much like it. He wants the definition returned to its traditional meaning – between a man and a woman – with gay partnerships confined to what are called civil unions. These would recognize the legal, economic and parental rights of same-sex partners but would not imbue the relationship with the larger, historical and religious meaning of marriage.

This is the route Britain has just taken, albeit in a much simpler legislative jurisdiction. It is also a view shared by many if not most Canadians though not, importantly, by the country's courts. They have ruled that only the full meaning of marriage can be applied to gay unions if there is to be no discrimination.

If he becomes prime minister, Harper wants to restore the traditional definition of marriage by having another free vote in Parliament on the definition, similar to that which enshrined gay marriage in June 2005.

When he recommitted himself to this during the kickoff to the current election, the Conservative leader was coy about whether he would resort to the controversial notwithstanding clause to get around the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But in the midst of the French debate on Dec. 15 – almost as a throwaway – Harper pledged directly not to use the notwithstanding clause "on this issue," something he reconfirmed the following day.

The pledge clearly caught his opponents off guard and led to …

The slanging match

Paul Martin, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe all suggested Harper was either being disingenuous or naïve by trying to get around the court rulings without the notwithstanding clause. Martin said he would never, as PM, resort to the notwithstanding clause. Duceppe wondered aloud why anyone would want to reopen such a divisive issue – "We already had a vote on that" – overlooking for the moment his support for a third referendum vote in Quebec.

Also wading in: 133 law deans and professors sent an open letter to Harper saying there was no way he could honestly hope to change the definition of marriage without resorting to the notwithstanding clause. That's the opinion of the federal Department of Justice [http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/fs/ssm/] and, it appears, Vic Toews, Harper's justice critic. Two years ago, he called it the appropriate tool for reasserting the supremacy of Parliament when courts become pressured into fashionable issues like gay marriage.

The legislative reality

Harper's free vote would be a little different than the last one in that it would not require cabinet ministers to toe the party line. Still, it would have to pass what would probably be a minority Parliament full of Bloc, Liberal and NDP opponents, many of whom voted in favour of the new definition just last June.

Even more of a long-shot, it would have to pass a Liberal-dominated Senate that voted 46 to 22 for the earlier bill, and views itself as a great defender of the Trudeau-era charter.

The same reality would apply to the notwithstanding clause. A feature of the 1982 Constitution, it allows a legislature to override several guarantees in the charter, including the equality rights section, but only for a period of five years.

The legal reality

Even if Harper is able to get this next Parliament to pass a new definition – the old one – of marriage, that would not, in itself, change the law of the land. That's because appeal courts in eight provinces and the Yukon have declared legal and constitutional the marriage of two people, regardless of their sex. A new definition would set up a conflict that would have to be relitigated, this time all the way up to the Supreme Court.

Also problematic would be the creation of civil unions for gay couples. Under our system, the federal government can only legislate the definition of marriage, while the provinces are responsible for what constitutes a civil union. A declaration in favour of traditional marriage by Ottawa may lead to some or all provinces creating civil unions.

But these, too, would surely be litigated, and appeal courts in B.C., Ontario and Quebec in particular have been clear in the view that nothing short of full marriage would satisfy the charter's equality provisions.

Harper also acknowledges that the 3,000 or so gay couples who have already married in Canada would not lose that distinction. In the future this could lead to at least three classes of married citizens.

So what's the game plan here?

If this is to be a real test of social conservative values, then the strategy here would seem to be: produce a declaration by Parliament on the definition of marriage – an expression of the will of the people – and basically dare the courts to take this on. (In the high-profile reference case, the Supreme Court of Canada did not specifically rule out the constitutionality of traditional marriage, nor did it overrule lower court decisions. It merely said the Liberal proposal to include same-sex couples was constitutional and "flows" from the charter.)

On the other hand, the promise to reopen the issue could simply be a convenient nod to Harper's rural base, and the many new Canadians from conservative cultures he went courting during the summer.

By rejecting the notwithstanding clause, all he is promising is to bring the matter back to the Commons for a free vote and if there is not enough support for this he would consider the matter closed. Maybe this is his, slightly convoluted, way of moving on.

Anna Begins

A lot of people ask artists what the meaning was behind their song lyrics and it's interesting, but I think it's really a silly thing to do. I doubt someone after reading a book would ask the author what it was about. To me it's the same. It's about what it means to the listener and that may be different for everyone. That being said, the following song has a tremendous impact on me every time I listen to it. This particular song seems to be speaking to me (I've never claimed to be sane) and has great similarities to events in my life.

I'd be really interested in hearing what someone else thinks it means and what it's about, if anything and you care to say.

Counting Crows - Anna Begins Lyrics

My friend assures me, "It's all or nothing."
I am not worried
I am not overly concerned
My friend implores me, "For one time only,
Make an exception."
I am not worried
Wrap her up in a package of lies
Send her off to a coconut island
I am not worried
I am not overly concerned with the status of my emotions
"Oh," she says, "you're changing."
But we're always changing

It does not bother me to say this isn't love
Because if you don't want to talk about it then it isn't love
And I guess I'm going to have to live with that
But I'm sure there's something in a shade of grey
Or something in between
And I can always change my name
If that's what you mean

My friend assures me, "It's all or nothing."
But I am not really worried
I am not overly concerned
You try to tell yourself the things you try to tell yourself
To make yourself forget
I am not worried
"If it's love," she said, "then we're going to have to
think about the consequences."
She can't stop shaking
I can't stop touching her and...

This time when kindness falls like rain
It washes her away and Anna begins to change her mind
"These seconds when I'm shaking leave me shuddering
for days," she says
And I'm not ready for this sort of thing

But I'm not going to break
And I'm not going to worry about it anymore
I'm not going to bend and I'm not going to break
And I'm not going to worry about it anymore
No no no no no,
It seems like I should say, "As long as this is love..."
But it's not all that easy so maybe I should
Snap her up in a butterfly net
Pin her down on a photograph album
I am not worried
I've done this sort of thing before
But then I start to think about the consequences
Because I don't get no sleep in a quiet room and...

The time when kindness falls like rain
It washes me away and Anna begins to change my mind
And everytime she sneezes I believe it's love and
Oh Lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing

She's talking in her sleep
It's keeping me awake and Anna begins to toss and turn
And every word is nonsense but I understand and
Oh Lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing

Her kindness bangs a gong
It's moving me along and Anna begins to fade away
It's chasing me away
She disappears and
Oh Lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing