A quick glance across local news feeds failed to yield a link to the story (perhaps someone will oblige in the comments), so you’ll have to trust me for now.

I think what made the story interesting was that the couple’s neighbours decided that they weren’t too impressed with this sort of organized harassment so they came out and demonstrated right back at the church group. The neighbours also called the police, but the demonstrators left prior to their arrival.

Now my first inclination was to try to point out the “error of their ways” to this misguided church group. Citing a few choice utterances by their Lord, (“This is My commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you” and “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone” came immediately to mind.) however I think that instead I’ll go a little broader.

Fortunately for us we live in a free society, (how free and for how long is a matter of debate of course) and one of the things that makes our society “free” is that we have agreed that everyone has the ability to speak their mind, AKA the right to free speech. We even have the right to lawful assembly and the right to peaceful protest thrown in for good measure.

What does this mean really? Well it means that EVERYONE has a right to tell everyone else what they think. This includes both White Supremacists  and  the Anti-Defamation League, Anti-Abortion and Pro-Choice, as well as supporters of all political, religious, or  cultural sects. It is not ok for anyone to say “We’re aloud to say what we want, but those who oppose us are not.” (Well it’s ok for them to say it, but it’s not ok to actually follow through and prevent their opponents from speaking.)

So I say good on the church group for at least having a conviction (however misguided I may feel it is) and standing up and letting people know. That is, after all, what we all should do when we see something we don’t think is right or is potentially harmful to our society. Stand up and tell everyone  who will listen. This is how one person can make a difference.

I also want to applaud the neighbours for doing the same. They saw a situation that they could not abide and they came together to stand up and be heard as well.

So there it is. In our society we have agreed that everyone, no matter how misguided or offensive has not only the permission to, but the duty to share their beliefs with the rest of us. What remains for the rest of society to do is protest right back when we cannot tolerate their message.

I wonder how that church would take to a demonstration put on by the residents of their target neighbourhood? It would be great to hear that story when I wake up one day soon.

Small? check.
Expensive? check.
Better than all the lesser priced windows laptops combined? I sure hope so.

I’ve been a Mac guy for years (since University… ie. a really long time) and I have always preferred working on them, but holy geez are they ever more $$$$. But after going through 2 catastrophic failures of windows laptops in the past 4 years…

But the price! Man! Why can’t top quality and inexpensive ever co-exist?

Oh well, I console myself by knowing that I have an amazing computer, and I can use BootCamp to run Windows 7 (when it comes out) natively for the remaining programs (Quicken/Quick Books) that refuse to be properly available for the Mac.

Time will tell if I made the correct choice. (but I’m sure I did.)

Vanessa has been the guiding hand of the EDA executive since the very first meeting at Aurora’s Purple Pig back in the summer of 2005, and she was the first person from the party that I met when she delivered my lawn signs for the 2006 election. Since then I feel privileged, not only to have had the opportunity to work closely with her in the EDA, but to have fostered a lifelong friendship with this amazing woman.

Vanessa has that rare mix of unmitigated optimism and relentless pragmatism that allows her to reach for the stars and then find the ladder she needs to get there. Top that off with a pretty smile and a wickedly dark sense of humour, and, well, I was hooked, (my wife jokingly refers to her as my “girlfriend”.)

I’m happy to see my friend moving towards her new (modest?) goal of taking over the world as an International Lawyer for the U.N. (the ladder is pretty long for that one!) But I’m equally sad to see her move away from Newmarket, to Toronto to be closer to her work and studies. Although if I really didn’t want her to move, I guess I shouldn’t have listed and sold her house!

We’ll all miss Vanessa’s wit and wisdom at the EDA meetings, and I’ll miss having her close by to bounce ideas off of, or to be able to pop out for a beer at a moment’s notice. However, I also know that the foundation that she laid for us at the EDA will serve us well to reach our new (lofty) goals, and that, even though she is no longer just around the corner that our frendship will remain strong.

So, au revoir Vanessa, je te souhaite tout que tu rêves.

You can follow Vanessa’s path to world domination at Passionate Presence

In case you didn’t know there are a number of by-elections scheduled foe March 17, 2008 across the country, and one of the most interesting races is in Toronto Centre. This is a riding that many Canadians may be familiar with, it is the former seat of past Liberal (interim) leader Bill Graham, and is now being contested by Bob Rae.

This by-election has an interesting dynamic given both its history and for who is running in this contest. Traditionally this is a Liberal safe seat (It has been Liberal since 1962) and that’s why Bob Rae is running here. However, with the NDP running a first timer, and the Conservatives running a party insider (They fired their previous candidate because he was too concerned with urban issues, imagine that, in the centre of the largest city in Canada, the nerve!) There is a real opportunity for Chris to become the first elected Green in Canada. All that needs to happen is for the voters to make that choice. Presented here are my top five reasons (in no particular order) for the electors of Toronto Centre to cast their votes for Chris Tindal.

1. It’s a chance to make history. Face it, there is no other candidate that you can elect in this riding that will bring the country’s, and the media’s, focus on your riding. Electing the first Green MP in Canada is something you can hang your hat on forever.
2. The only other viable candidate is Bob Rae! You remember Bob Rae right? Former NDP premier of Ontario. Are you really looking for that kind of leadership in your riding?
3. Since the Conservatives have basically decided that they have no chance in the riding (as evidenced by the dismissal of Mark Warner) voters looking for a fiscally conservative candidate really have nowhere else to turn. If you want an MP who will look after your tax dollars responsibly, Chris is your man.
4. The Environment is still the #1 issue for Canadian voters. If it’s yours, then the choice is really obvious.
5. Frankly, with a full general election looming, this is a great chance for you to test drive the Green Party. It is eminately possible that Chris would be facing a new campaign in as little as one month. Which is to say, there is virtually no risk.
6. (Bonus Reason) The election is being held on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day. What could be more appropriate than voting Green on the Day of Green?

So go ahead and make history Toronto Centre. on March 17 vote for Chris Tindal and the Green Party of Canada. You’ll feel great in the morning!

I really don’t understand US politics
Both the Democrats and Republicans are in full swing with their respective presidential primaries. Apparently these are a series of what we would call Leadership Conventions in which members of the parties in various states have their say on who they think should be their party’s candidate in the fall election. Each party holds a few primaries (and caucuses, I have no idea what the difference is) over the course of a few weeks which leads up to a massive multi-state set of elections held on the same day. I guess the preliminary rounds are used to help candidates decide whether or not to continue to their campaigns, but for the life of me I can’t figure out why they just don’t do it all at once.

American news coverage really sucks
Between the ambulance chasing of CNN and the way right wing, Bush loving Fox News, Americans really have no ability to view actual news coverage. CNN has taken sensationalism of news to new heights (lows?) and basically spends the entire day dissecting mabye 4 different stories in every conceivable way, while letting the rest of the news go untouched. Fox “journalists” spend as much time as possible in every report bashing Democrats and “liberals” so the amount of news that they actually report in a given day could be served up in a 1/2 hour show with plenty of room for commercials. Thank God the Daily Show has found a way to get past the writers strike and get back on the air.

I now know why the US is heading for a major socio-economic collapse
Because even one person outside of Brtiney Spears’ immediate family gives a rat’s ass about her personal life! Honestly, CNN spent literally hours of time covering her latest breakdown and hospitalization; and if that wasn’t enough they then spent 2 days covering how Dr. Phil “ambushed” Spears in her hospital room! My God! The mind boggles!

Americans are actually polite
I’m a pretty outgoing person (much to the constant chagrin of my lovely wife) so I tend to strike up conversations with whoever is around. To a person, I found every American that I spoke to very friendly, courteous and polite. Now as a typical Canadian I have fallen victim at times to believing the stereotype of the “rude American” and frankly I’ve never really experienced it on a one-on-one level. However, I did see a lot of rude behaviour during my trip. To my suprise, whenever I witnessed poor public behaviour the perpetrator was either Asian, Latin or Indian. Frankly I was shocked, and it really made me wonder what the deal was with these people because there really was no cause for any of it.

Don’t ever go to a theme park every day of your vacation!
It may sound like fun to go to a Disney park every day, but the toll on your sanity really isn’t worth it. Don’t get me wrong, Disney does a really good job of running a park (Very clean, Very friendly staff, and Fast Passes are a brilliant innovation.) but to spend every…single…day…walking…around…lining up…walking… … … I was pretty close to snapping by day 4 of 6. Thankfully we were able to convince the wife to take one morning off to just relax.

All in all it was a good trip, but I’m very thankful to be back where the money isn’t all green, where words are spelled correctly, where we have decent news coverage, and where all my friends are.