Going to Cancun!

I will be back in a week. Some last minute quickies:

1. Later Fantino: The shmuck was against having cameras in police cars and wanted millions to buy the cops helicopters to fight a mythical crime wave. We won't miss him.


2. Prediction: Liberal minority with NDP. Almost the worst result possible


3. Get out and vote!: And, consider voting green. If you are a lefty, its the natural reaction. If you right wing or Libertarian, then read their platform, it makes sense

Daniel may write in the intervening time of course, but I'll be tanning. Try not to miss me too much.

Canadians in Space

By now, everyone has heard about SpaceShipOne, the first manned private vessel to ever leave Earth's atmosphere. It is assumed by many that the project of Burt Rutan (and financed by rich Microsoft guy Paul Allen) will indeed win the Ansari X-Prize, however, one group that is in the running (and actually has a chance) is a Canadian group called the Da Vinci Project. Their idea sounds kinda cool, and it would be great if they won.

I wish them the best of luck.

Quick Clarification

Child pornography is obviously wrong, essentially for the same reason that beastiality is wrong. Pornography requires that all participants be consenting adults. Children cannot consent, therefore their participation in such activities is both morally and legally wrong.

However, writing about criminal acts is not wrong. Many stories are written that contain many criminal acts such as murder, theft and rape. It is wrong to commit murder, but you are allowed to write about it if you so choose.

Frankly, I would probably not be very good friends with someone who was a full-time writer of erotic stories involving children. It repulses me. However, that doesn't mean that I would want to have such material censored.

Our child porn shame goes international

It started off as one of the most asinine causal correlational mixups in the last year. The suspect in the Holly Jone's murder trial "admitted" that he viewed some child porn before committing his crime.

Michael Briere was a software programmer with no criminal record when he watched child pornography one drizzly evening in May 2003 - and within minutes, he'd snatched a 10-year-old girl from the street and then sexually assaulted, strangled and dismembered her

Beyond the obvious attempt to deflect blame for his actions (it wasn't me, it was the evil porn), that is like blaming the Columbine murders on bowling. Completely ridiculous.

Of course, we have all heard this type of stupidity before. Video games get blamed for school violence, violent movies get blamed for serial murders. MTV gets blamed for sexualized teenagers, and sex education gets blamed for teenage pregnancies. All of the above seem reasonable... to some people, but none of them have any data to back it up. In this case, the sample size is one, which of course makes it statistically irrelevant.

What makes this case worse? Our bickering politicians of course. The Conservatives decided to exploit this to accuse Martin of being soft on child porn. In a press release entitled "Paul Martin Supports Child Pornography?", they decided to go for the attack ads that the Liberals have favoured so much in the last few weeks.

"Paul Martin's record on child pornography is shameful and just another reason why his government must be defeated on June 28," Harper declared.

So, is Paul Martin really in favour of child pornography? It seems like a silly position for a politician to take. Of course, what Harper is really referring to is Bill C-12, the latest infringement on free speech. Formerly known as Bill C-20, it would abolish the "artistic merit" defense and replace it with "public good". Artist and writers would have to show that their works were made in the interest of public good to avoid censorship.

Frankly, I'm not even sure if Martin is opposed to C-12... but he should be. Our free speech laws are already fairly tenuous, the last thing we need is even further restrictions. Either way though, support for the artistic merit defense is hardly support for child pornography.

Now, as a final bonus to Canada CNN has picked up on the story. The world vision of Canada will soon be that of Mad Cow, overreaction to SARS, and politicians bickering about child porn. Great.

Rape Abortion Discussion

A fascinating discussion between two anti-abortionists, one of whom would prefer to make an exemption for the case of rape. Both interlocutors are exceptional writers. It is long, but it is worth the read.

One last quick thing

I found today's Boondocks to be very amusing. The rush to paint every leader that dies as a wonderful person is annoying. I'm glad at least one person agrees with me.

Green Party Fever!

I have been talking to a number of people in my age cohort ( which I roughly describe as 24-35) and I have noticed something interesting. Among those who are voting, a good number are voting for the green party.

Probably a big part of the reason is the new funding rules:

Every Green Party vote truly counts in this federal election. Due to the new federal political financing rules, if the Green Party achieves at least 2% of the vote nationally, every vote will garner the party $1.75 per year until the next federal election; core funding that can help the federal party build, raise key issues and solutions, and offer Canada a new kind of politics.

I would never want the green party to actually be in power, but I think that they could provide a strong voice against some of the more egregious policies, like lowering gas taxes or other such nonsense.

And besides, the Greens are the only major party that isn't promoting health care as their central platform. In Ontario, the only real medical attention I ever got was eye exams and dental care, and in a few months, neither will be covered under medicare, so I really couldn't give a crap what else gets delisted.

I don't want to pay for baby boomer health care if they are not going to clear up the deficit they created or pay for my education.

Blogging to resume shortly

I apologize for the brief hiatus. I'm currently working with students who were in a state of panic, exams coming up and all, so it left me a little drained in the creative blogging department. Besides, that's why I brought Daniel on board, and he didn't let me down, posting a bit to break up my absence.

I should resume blogging either immediately or in a few hours, depending on how I feel.

Gun Control Cartoon

I first noticed this guy at Salon.com, but you can get the animations from his own personal site.

Won't somebody think of the children?

Civilization is crumbling again. Kids are running wild, disrespecting their elders and engaging in spontaneous fornication events. Proof of the catastrophe facing our youth is as follows:

1. Sex Bracelets
We all know that kids these days are having regular intercourse, despite our best efforts to keep them in the dark about the whole sex thing.

Now, in a bid to have even more sex, kids are wearing sex bracelets. The sexbracelets.com website strenuously objects to the idea that kids are using their bracelets, but we all know that they're lying.

2. Video Games
As usual, another high quality study was released connecting video games to terminal brain damage:

Meanwhile, a recent study that examined the brains of five video-game players of both sexes ages 8 to 13. In testimony before the U.S. Senate, Dr. John Murray reported that his study of video-game neurology demonstrates how the brain "treats entertainment violence as something real ..... [and] stores this violence as long-term memory."

That is one well-funded study. Five kids, what a sample size. I hope to God that no public money was spent on such stupidity.

3. Stuff by Duff

Well, ok, this just might really be one of the signs of the apocalypse... Mary Kate and Ashley have already brought us to the edge...

Bloc breaks into the top 4 in polling!

They don't get a zero because they actually have something moderately intelligent to say about health care:

The party says the cuts are a direct hit to health research, which means there will be almost no development of new surgical techniques or treatments. The Bloc platform predicts that within a few years, health care costs will be at risk of spinning out of control because more efficient and less costly methods of medical intervention will not have been invented.

They are still a bunch of simpering simians, but at least they haven't gotten the NDP lobotomy, they actually have a policy that makes sense!

NDP would have lost points today for saying stupid things about wind farms, but they are already at zero. Maybe we could hook Layton up to a power generator, his hot air would at least then do something to ameliorate the energy crisis.

Partial Birth Abortions: Ok for now

Attempts by the anti-choice groups in the States to limit abortion rights have been dealt a setback.

A federal judge in San Francisco on Tuesday declared unconstitutional a law banning what critics call "partial birth abortions," saying the measure was too vaguely worded and placed an undue burden on abortion rights

Unfortunately, this case will almost certainly go to the Supreme court. That is why it is so important that Bush and company lose the upcoming election. If he gets elected for another term, he will be able to fill the US Supreme court with Justices that are willing to kowtow to the anti-choice line.

I'm not a fan of partial birth abortions, it makes the anti-choice argument easier because of the gory pictures and colourful descriptions. However, the principal is clear. As long as the fetus is leading a parasitic existence inside a host, its rights cannot possibly compete with the host. End of story.

Election Poll

Many things to write about, but I'm still recovering from a migraine so I can't spend that much time on the computer.

On the left is a new election poll. The sample size is a little small: one. Depending on what happens during the campaign, the percentages might go up and down. For example, the more the parties talk about giving money to the eternal sinkhole known as medicare, the less I want to vote for them.

Having a member of your party come out against abortion hurts you. Having a member of your party come out against reducing the deficit hurts you.

The reason that the marijuana party and the green party are given on the same line is that I will vote for the marijuana party if available (if that is my choice). Should there be no pot candidate in my riding, I would vote green.

The percentages reflect my likelihood of voting for a given party. Right after the federal budget, the liberals were standing at about 60% in my mind. They squandered much of that capital on health care. The conservatives picked up the slack but recently they have slipped, offering to toss money into other sinkholes such as the military.

Am I a bellweather individual? Probably not, but thats because most people are idiots.