It was a bizarre sight. Stephen Harper standing in front of a giant poster for Dragon's Den, appearing to be deep in prayer. Although he was only at a newser in Montreal, trying to figure out what to say, after being asked an embarrassing question: Why is your government promoting Christian values?
As I explained the other night, Sébastien my companion has just returned from Haiti where terrible things are happening. Remember?
And the suffering, the despair, and the violence he saw there has saddened him. And of course I'm still recovering too eh?
Because I'm the one who stays at home, thinking of him, the mob, and the machetes. And quietly going CRAZY.
On the other hand, almost since the moment we met, when he pulled me off a bully I was beating with a pool cue, and received a vicious elbow in the ribs as his reward, I've become rather attached to this noble hunk. And I can't stand to see him sad.
Depp said Disney initially "couldn't stand" his version of Sparrow, with one person asking if the character was homosexual.
Depp told the Disney executive "all my characters are gay", adding that "really made her nervous".
I got a great idea.
I told him if he insists on living such an adventurous and dangerous life, why don't we join the gay pirates?
He could be the skipper and I could be his bodyguard cabin boy.
And if the shit hits the fan, at least we could walk the plank TOGETHER...
UPDATE: The two gay heroes jumped the Cons and made THEM walk the plank. The cabin boy jumped the skipper...the little nipper...and made him smile again. But now they're both going to have to take the day off to recover. AAAAAAAAAARGH.
As I said the other night... love is CRAAAAAAAAZY. In a pleasant delicious sort of way.
Remember the poor people of Haiti. Hug the one you're with. See you on Monday...
I have to admit the last few weeks have been pretty bleak. And I haven't been able to get into the Christmas spirit.
The death of the blogger Bruce McDonald deeply affected me. It made me very sad. It brought back memories of my own struggle with depression.
At a time when the political darkness has never seemed so dark. The Harper Cons never so foul.
And to make matters worse my companion Sébastien has been away working with an emergency medical team in Haiti. Where poverty, disease, and despair are making people crazy.
The south-western region of Grand Anse has been swept by rumours that voodoo followers were deliberately spreading the infection using a mysterious powder.
According to police, machete-wielding mobs began tracking down those suspected of employing "black magic," before killing them and burning their corpses in the street.
It's been awful. I've tried to blog about funny things to lift my spirits. But I haven't been able to motivate myself enough to put up the Christmas tree.
I can't tell you how much I depend on that strong, noble guy to lift me out of the muck of this sick world, and help me see the faint light of a better tomorrow. Or how much I have worried, or how much I have missed him.
And I'm not the only one. The old dog who loves Sébastien almost as much as I do, waits by the door every night for him to come home.
Or just mopes a lot and refuses to play with his robot.
And of course the robot is sad too eh? Because he can't play chase the bunny.
Oh no. This is THE END. Rosie DiManno thinks our new mission in Kabul is going to turn our macho military into latte-sipping metrosexuals.
For Canadian combat troops and their support divisions in Kandahar, these past six years, Kabul was that mile-high mirage in the distant rear, redoubt of bureaucrats, la-la DMZ for pretend soldiers. Not one I ever met pined to be posted there. Even those sickened of life outside-the-wire, the perilous patrols and wearying village shuras, had no stomach for a politically massaged Kabul assignment.
In the pecking order of combat virility, even deployment as force protection for Canada's Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar city was viewed dimly: that place with the pool, surf and turf dinners and circle-the-wagon ramparts.
As for Canadian soldiers turned into military metrosexuals: They make a nice latte in Kabul, guys.
OMG.Can you believe it? Rosie the Riveter? Once she celebrated the smell of musk in the morning. And all that sweaty manly manliness. Now she's calling them wimps. Golly. If that doesn't demoralize the troops, I don't know what will.
How could she? Does she really think that teaching Afghans to kill is easy ????
Doesn't she understand how easy it is to break a nail on a blackboard?
Doesn't she know that just getting to the office surf and turf restaurant in Kabul can be really challenging ????
Oh well. At least now we're getting a vote in Parliament.
And maybe we might have a debate. And maybe someone might ask why are we going to be spending $500-million a year, sipping lattes, and teaching Afghans to kill?
When we could be in a place much closer to home, helping these desperate people.
But then I guess Rosie would find that even less manly manly.
I haven't been able to blog all weekend because all I can think about is this horror story.
Three weeks after it was confirmed for the first time ever in the Caribbean nation, the waterborne sickness has claimed at least 800 lives. The United Nations has warned that up to 200,000 Haitians could contract cholera as the outbreak spreads across the battered Caribbean nation of nearly 10 million.
The aid group Doctors Without Borders and the health ministry have set up tents inside the hospital. The sick are lined up in beds with clear IV tubes in their arms. Those too weak to turn their bodies get beds with holes and buckets in the centre.
My companion Sébastien is with a mobile medical team in the rural north looking for people too sick or poor to make it to a clinic or a hospital.
I haven't heard from him for four days so I have no idea what he's dealing with, but I know it must be awful. And needless to say I'm sick with worry.
I wish I could say it was just a question of donating more money. Although more money is desperately needed.
But the truth is the situation is beyond that. It's not just the health system that is broken. It's the country itself.
I have no idea how to heal a country. What I do know is that Canada played a major role in the overthrow of the Aristide government in 2004.
But because we were so concerned with sucking up to the Americans in Afghanistan, we didn't do enough to build up the Haitian state, in a country where so many people look up to us. And this is the bitter harvest.
Within a few hours, her father walks out of the hospital. Clercilia is again in his arms. Her stiff body is wrapped in a plastic bag. A death certificate is in her father’s right hand.
“It was night, I couldn’t take her until the morning,” he said. With no money to bury her, he wasn’t sure what he would do with her body. He straightened it in his arms and walked his daughter home, still draped in the yellow blanket.
We could have done so much. Unlike Afghanistan we could have made a difference. Building hospitals, or sewage treatment plants, instead of police stations.
We could have used our peacekeeping skills to help mediate this madness
But we didn't.
Remember the poor suffering people of Haiti, who deserve so much better.
Remember the heroic medical teams who are fighting so desperately to save them.
Oh no. Stop in the name of humanity!!! I know Stephen Harper is desperate to make Canadians believe that he has morphed into Mr Nice Guy again. But haven't those poor little children suffered enough? Don't they look happy to see him? And how low will Great Ugly Leader go to stage yet another photo-op? Or play cheap politics?
Prime Minister Stephen Harper took a swipe at the “soft” defence policies of previous Liberal governments as he congratulated Canadian troops for the relief and reconstruction work they are doing in this largely ruined Haitian city. Gawd. And James Travers wonders whether this a mission of mercy or a political diversion? Stephen Harper's Haiti visit is premature at best and a political diversion at worst. It's to be fervently hoped that the Prime Minister is there to draw fading attention back to the disaster, not away from his suspension of Parliament here. But wait. It gets even WORSE. Now not only is he pretending to be a humanitarian/warrior leader instead of a rabid ideologue/tin pot dictator. He's posing as a hockey mom...
Yikes. Fan me with a hockey stick. Have you ever seen anything so embarrassing? Or heard anything so HUMILIATING?
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is such a fan he even agreed to take the time to meet us with us rink side. Thus becoming the first Canadian Prime Minister to call up an American sports show and BEG for a photo-op. And wasn't this part special ? The Prime Minister loves the game so much he's even writing a book about it. Oh NOOOOOOOOO!!!! Where's NBC's Truth Squad when we need them?
And how about that BONUS for all those American viewers who don't know much about Canada? Don Cherry dressed like a klown and sounding like a redneck. Yabba dabba doo doo. Oh boy. If that's my Canada, I don't want it. But of course it isn't. It might not be perfect, but it's better than that. Or will be as soon as we get rid of Harper and his thugs. And send Don Cherry off to the Hee Haw show at the Grand Old Opry. Or the Yankee Doodle Do Me Hour. In the meantime, stay tuned eh? Because I have a feeling that as Great Desperate Leader continues trying to fool Canadians into loving him again. Awwwwwwww.
Well it was quite an exciting weekend....for a while. As reports that the remains of Hurricane Ike were about to slam into into southern Ontario. On the beach the paraboarding boys waited for the wind to pick up.
While on another beach two lovers prepared to face the elements together.
I was excited too. Last time a big storm hit Toronto they had to call in the army. Would it be the navy this time? But in the end it all drizzled out. And we all went home.
Which I admit was a little disappointing. But just as well because the LAST thing we need now is something to distract us from the real victims of Hurricane Ike. The people of some of the poorest countries in the Caribbean. Like the people of Cuba where the storm has damaged or destroyed homes schools and hospitals. And wrecked tourist resorts and a large part of the sugar cane harvest that they depend on for currency. And above all the desperately poor people of Haiti. Who have nothing and now have even less.
Not that we really know how bad it is. Because most of the media coverage has focused on the storm damage in the U.S. The richest country in the world. Where no small angle wasn't worth pursuing...even as millions of other people in other countries go hungry. Oh well. At least there was this...
In the midst of tragedy and despair. You gotta laugh at something...
