"There's no correlation between inacceptance of homosexuality and depression and suicide," Perkins told NPR.

What an ass. Bitches like him make me very very angry. To go out of his way to say that the bullying has nothing to do with the suicides? Doesn't make any fucking sense. He's all but saying gay people should kill themselves.

Children are DYING, Perkins, and blood is on your hands. Go to hell.

I don't understand these people. I feel like I am not of the same species as anyone who would think like this.

Really, Toronto?? Sometimes Canada follows the same pendulum swings as the US, I guess. Only not so extreme - I mean, it's not like anyone could oppose our Medicare and get elected, for example. And we don't have an equivalent of the Second Amendment.

I mean, Rob Ford obviously not a full-blown "Official" Tea Party member, but he's angry at "urban elites" and angry at taxes and anti-immigrant, etc. He's going to scrap the city's fair wage policy, which guarantees market wages to any workers contracted by the city, which in turn means there is no significant financial incentive for the city to use non-union labour.

He's against gay marriage, which is a settled issue in Canada, and was never a city issue to begin with - not to mention that his main opponent in the race is openly gay and married. (I really hoped the headlines today would be "Canada's largest city elects openly gay Mayor. Sigh.)

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/201...

Some choice Ford quotes:

"Those Oriental people work like dogs. They work their hearts out ... that's why they're successful in life. ... I'm telling you, Oriental people, they're slowly taking over, because there's no excuses for them. They're hard, hard workers."

Explaining his objection to funding AIDS prevention programs "(AIDS) is very preventable," and that "if you are not doing needles and you are not gay, you wouldn't get AIDS probably, that's bottom line." With respect to the increasing rates of women contracting the disease, Ford said; "How are women getting it? Maybe they are sleeping with bisexual men."

In 2002, Ford strenuously objected to the possibility that a homeless shelter would open in his suburban Etobicoke ward. Later in the same year, he was quoted while berating an anti-poverty activist, "Do you have a job, sir? I'll give you a newspaper to find a job, like everyone else has to do between 9 and 5." In 2005, Ford told a homeless protestor, "I'm working. Why don't you get a job?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Ford

The good news from last night - Canada's capital city (and my home), Ottawa, booted its disastrous pro-big business, pro-urban sprawl Mayor after one term. Outgoing mayor O'Brien was one of those millionaire businessmen who runs for elected office by saying he's going to run the city like a business, and then fails miserably. Mayor-elect Jim Watson, Liberal Party member, was opposed to O'Brien's plans to build a sprawling new suburb for rich people in favour of developing downtown, and tackling homelessness and public transportation problems.

I have a feeling Toronto will come to its senses in 4 years like Ottawa, and Ford will be a one-term wonder.

I don't understand them. I just don't. I don't know where this kind of hatred and comes from in people. What is wrong with people?

Calgary is the home of our douchey neo-con Prime Minister, who lent his best election goons to his sanctioned candidate...and lost! 27 of the 28 Alberta members of Parliament are from the Conservative Party. I really hope this is just the start of a major sea change up here - I think there are people looking at the Tea Party and thinking, uh, we don't want that here.

I agree with you - great article in many ways, but like you I disagree with some of it. I'm with you, I like meaningful conversations - I find small talk tedious, and always hope it will lead to more meaningful interaction. I feel sometimes like extroverts like the talking for the sake of talking, and I like talking for the sake of learning, provoking thought, that sort of thing.

This made sense to me:


Something I say a lot that genuinely seems to confuse people is, "I'm not shy, I'm introverted." I really see those as two different things. I'm 100% introverted, but my job regularly has me delivering presentations to up to 10 people at a time and occasionally has me delivering them to up to 100 people. I couldn't handle that if I were as shy as I am introverted. Honestly, to me, giving a speech to 100 strangers is much, much easier than dealing with a cocktail party full of shallow acquaintances.

This really resonated with me, too:

I remember Jon Stewart once commenting on the Canadian election; he said the Canadian Conservative Party is the equivalent of the American "Gay-Loving Nader Fans for Peace Party" which is hilarious, and perhaps not far from the truth.

Seriously, her birther rants posing as legal documents were comedy gold, and the judge's replies to them were hilarious.

She's actually saying that "death panels" are going to prevent her from treating the elderly! If she can point out what passage in HCR allows committees of bureaucrats to decide that some people are "too old to live," I'll let her operate on my teeth.

And what makes her think she has the "right" to be employed as a dental surgeon? Does every unemployed trained accountant or electrician or actor have the right to gainful employment in their field? I think not.

This was great, from the TPM link: "Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska got an infinity amount of dollars de facto bribe to sign the Senate version of such bill." And yes, the bolding is all Orly's. So is the fact that this sentence doesn't actually make any sense, even though I know what she's trying to say.

Also, do dentists really take the Hippocratic oath? I don't know, I'm just asking.

I thought right-wingers were supposed to be against frivolous lawsuits...

Why are we all introverts? I thought only 20% of people were supposed to be "I".

That sums her up nicely.

The Secret on how to lose weight:

On biblical history:

On ignorance and electricity (with a side order of logical fallacy):

On, uh, you:


Honestly, how can anyone take this crap seriously?

Gay Canadians have been able to serve openly in the military since 1992, and the story is much the same. Last year, the Canadian Forces had recruiting booths at the country's biggest Pride parades.

Study Finds Gays Do Not Undermine Canadian Military Performance


Good stuff here, too: Canada marks anniversary for gays in military

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to let Harper off the hook - he knows he's doing something that is unnecessary, that is all politics and no governance, and that goes against the wishes of most Canadians. But. He's not wrong when he says that the prorogue is entirely acceptable in our Parliementary system.

I think the outrage about Harper hamstringing democracy should also be directed at our antiquated system of government. Harper is totally taking advantage of the rules, but he didn't write them.

More than we even neen an elected Senate, we need an elected Head of State. I think it offends the sensibilities of most modern Canadians that an MP elected only by the people of Calgary Southwest, whose party does not hold a majority of the seats in the House, can do this, while an appointed figurehead isn't really in a position to stop it, because she isn't elected by anyone at all. Yet it would be just as constitutionally legitimate for the GG to reject the prorogue as it is for Harper to propose it.

There's been a long push for an elected Senate, but the idea of an elected head of state seperate from the head of government hasn't been on the radar nearly as much. I wonder why that is - because some of us feel attached to the Queen? I like the Queen fine, and I really like the current GG, but I think we should cut those official ties and replace them with someone who is elected nationally. Or maybe it's because we think electing a President (even if we call the office something else) is too American? I don't know.

Am I alone in this? I don't think I've heard many people seriously talking about an elected a Head of State, but it seems so logical.

Well said!

I'm going to have to find a way to work that line into every conversation I ever have from now on.

Tweety can be annoying as hell, and I definitely don't agree with him about everything, but he was spot on here.