Queer Thoughts dusty but back...

Queer Thoughts dusty but back...

I am back. I have been as my good friend Bruce over at Canuck Attitude, lacking inspiration to blog. I have a great new life that started here in Ontario in February 2006. It became apparent to me why so few people bother to keep up on issues of the day. Its because we were too busy living our lives.

There is so much out there that needs to be covered, talked about. Yet each of us has a limited intake of this stuff. I found my intake overwhelmed after I moved to Ontario. I met people that rocked my inner world. They challenged so much of what I believed and too my glee, they agree with me on so much, or perhaps I agree with them.

The long and short of it is that I discovered so much about myself in the last couple of years. Its has been an amazing journey.

Previously I met a wonderful man, Steven who became my partner. You if you have followed my blogging will know how important Steven became to me. My life crashed on June 9, 2002 when he succumbed to cancer as a result of AIDS. I buried myself in work. I worked too many hours a day. I shoved the pain into a corner. It became harder to keep pushing the pain undercover, the longer I ignored it, the bigger and harsher the pain became. Perhaps it was seeing Steven's name here, on the AIDS Memorial in Vancouver that pushed me to do something.

What can more harsh than seeing your partner's name/life commentated on a wall. Its rather final.

I turned to blogging. It was an outlet for me. I built up quite a following over the next few years. A following that was appreciative and active.

The problem was I was still lost. Meeting some very special people out here at the "Centre of the Universe" seems to have brought back my passion and I appear at this time to be ready to share it with you, readers of Queerthoughts.

So forgive me in my enthusiasm at this new beginning as I slip up a bit, here and there. Much has happened in the intervening years.

I know that many stories have been covered and if I say something that appears dated some smart alick blogger will say something like this in reference to my comment on Canadian Cynic

Rick Barnes said...

I expect that any day now, Mr. Harper will be trumpeting his governments support of Pride in Toronto

KEvron said...

huh. your pride week falls on the same week as juneteenth.

KEvron

9:00 PM

KEvron said...

got anything without an inch of dust on it, nut?

KEvron

9:01 PM

So expect a little dust as I get going again. Thanks to Bruce who has patiently listened to me for the last couple of years saying I would be blogging again, and a special mention that Lib dude who keeps going off on diatribes. His posting on the NDP convention irked me into blogging. Thanks Scott.

Canada is changing

Canada is changing

Good news for progressive folks...

A new poll shows youth will bring positive change in the years ahead, especially if they vote...

The teenagers of Metro Vancouver are a remarkably international and inter-cultural bunch. Metro Vancouver teens are by far the most likely in Canada to have inter-racial friendships. And the extensive foreign connections of B.C. teenagers affect their values -- how they see everything from war to homosexuality, global warming to God. According to ground-breaking new polling by Canadian sociologist Reginald Bibby, only 24 per cent of Metro Vancouver teenagers, or one in four, have parents born in Canada. Thirty-seven per cent of teens in Metro Vancouver were actually born outside the country, typically in Asia. - Vancouver Sun Douglas Todd

Just as gay marriage is gaining public support in the USA, Canada is seeing a growing change from the bottom up. Younger people are more likely to be supportive of the environment, human rights, gay marriage and being good worldly citizens.

DR. REGINALD W. BIBBY website

Harper and Raitt ISOlate Isotope solution

Harper and Raitt ISOlate Isotope solution

From Impolitical...

McMaster University offers for the umpteenth time to help produce isotopes

McMaster wants to be a part of the Canadian solution; it's willing and certainly able. Ramping up the McMaster Nuclear Reactor to produce moly-99 would utilize a facility with proven technology. It would require a modest investment and relatively little startup time. It would reassert Canada's position as a leader in nuclear research and nuclear medicine. And it would save lives and bring peace of mind to countless numbers of cancer and heart patients in Canada and around the world.

see Impolitical for much more and Conservative Ideology Led To Medical Isotope Mess In Canada at Buckdog.

Campbell and McGuinty

Campbell and McGuinty

Two premiers leading uninspiring governments decide to to take federal cash

Generally a cool thing to do, but not when it has this affect...

HST is bringing on recall talk in Canada's only Recall state.

Facebook anti HST site could lead to recall effort as they gather names

Only in BC, pity it can't happen in Ontario.

Campbell was told it would not be good

The Pot is trying to call the Kettle black.

The Pot is trying to call the Kettle black.

Its pertty funny if you think about it. The NDP kick someone out of convention because he offered to pay people to come to that convention. Now that maybe okay in the LPC Party, but most folks would call that vote buying. The NDP have means of helping those come to convention that can not afford too otherwise. That's because they believe all elected delegates should be able to attend.

Now we have Liberals all over the place screaming that the NDP is intolerant, doesn't support change to POT laws. How silly is that. For as long as I can remember, the NDP has supported changes to Canada's POT laws. Even the LPC talked about it. Heck, don't take my word, ask your neighbour which party is most "POT" friendly.

In the end as with every controversial position, the Liberals let the POT issue die on the order paper. Just as they let the Child Care plan die and the First Nations Kelowna Accord die.

In each instance the Paul Martin government could have introduced these changes. They would have had NDP support to do them. The LPC Party failed to bring these issues to a vote or into a budget. Instead, the LPC decided they needed some carrots to hold in front of voters so we could vote for them instead of the Conservatives.

Its did not work. Canadians have become wise to this old trick. For any LPC member or blogger to attack the NDP because they sent a POT activist that tried to buy votes packing is hypocritical.

To conclude... Dana Larson made a mistake. I support legalization of Pot. Larsen made it easy to send him packing. Larsen commented on a LPC Blog, A BCer in Toronto thus...

Dana said...

I am hardly "pleased as punch." I don't want to be the guy outside the convention with a sign, I wanted to be the guy inside lobbying for drug policy reform.

But I cannot stand down when I am falsely accused of bribing delegates and buying votes. I have been to a dozen NDP conventions and this one was the first time that our End Prohibition ad was rejected from the convention guide, and trying to book a table included 3 months of no replies before we finally got a table on the same day I was bounced as a delegate!

I love the NDP, and my fellow New Democrats generally seem to support my work. But clearly Brad Lavigne doesn't like pot smokers and has a hate-on for me personally.

Thanks for the coverage!

4:07 PM, August 14, 20

09

The Pot is calling the Kettle black because the Kettle is working up a good head of steam heading into the next election...

What would a BC Liberal do?

Its so blatant, even the mainstream media in BC had to point it out...

What would a convicted drunk Premier tell you before an election and do after the election?

h/t to Red Tory

NDP still the NDP

NDP still the NDP

and not so "Lily White," says LPC blogger...

Seven hours for debate. That's a fair amount of time at any major party convention. That is in addition to the time spent by the panels. At NDP conventions, it is the delegates that decide what priority is set to each item. Not the party brass.

Good guy Liberal blogger Scott Tribe wrote a blog titled "How undemocratic of the New Democratic Party delegates (or some of 'em). " specifically about the name change resolution.

Scott reasons that the name change issue was so big that the party faithful should have had an opportunity to debate it and when it did finally come to debate, the clock was run out by some pretty smart (undemocratic in Scott's terms) delegates opposed to a name change.

The name change was all big hype by the media and bloggers. I even supported the idea. That said, the delegates did not seem to think it needed such a high priority. When the ranking of resolutions was put to the floor, the delegates adopted the ranking. Any resolution can still be moved up on the the list if there is a will by the delegates to do so.

So the real story behind Scott's blog is made clear here in a reply from someone who said the story isn't so important...

Scott Tribe Reply:
August 17th, 2009 at 2:18 pm

@Paladiea, Actually.. its all over the papers (ie the Star saying this was all anti-climactic), but whatever.. I’m just pointing it out so the next time NDP bloggers try to be critical of Liberal leadership for some undemocratic slight (and they’ve had no bones about doing so before), they can be reminded they aren’t lilly-white when it comes to undemocratic practices in their own party.

I suppose its tough being a Liberal (LPC) these days. They have been working overtime to bring the NDP vote into their fold. It has proven to be a great failure. So while the NDP took positions on many issues of the day at their convention, the LPCs are still trying to figure out how to prevent an election as their party succumbs to the Conservatives in the latest polling. Muddying the "Lily White" NDP seems to be an ongoing growth strategy for some LPC supporters.

Back to Scott's blog, Devin Johnson, a NDP blogger wrote...

Devin Johnston Reply:
August 17th, 2009 at 3:51 pm

@Scott Tribe,

Where is the lack of democracy here? We didn’t get to the name change because the party delegates voted to prioritize other resolutions first. It is literally not possible in our party for the party leadership to prevent us from debating something that the membership is interested in debating: the prioritization list comes from the convention delegates themselves. When New Dems criticize the Libs for being undemocratic, it’s because the Liberal brass is actually making a unilateral decision without allowing the membership to dissent. When Liberals accuse New Democrats of being undemocratic, it’s because we were pressed for time at our convention. Incidentally, any policies that didn’t make it to the floor get forwarded on to our federal council for further discussion.

I think Devon did a good job here...

Im not sure what the bloggers will say when the NDP introduce a motion to eliminate small business tax. "NDP abandons workers," comes to mind.

Something to think about...

Something to think about...

This is a little gay film short, 10 minutes about not sweating the small stuff.

enjoy and share...



Set in a neighborhood laundromat, "Laundromat" is a Romantic drama-edy that follows a young gay couple, who after a chance encounter with an older man, realize that the little things mean nothing and everything when it comes to love. Director: Edward Gunawan