12.01.2004

world aids day

HIV hasn't gone away. Honor those we have lost by working for change.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any thoughts on Bush's visit to Canada?

I don't know if I mentioned this previously, but I live in Ottawa.

I was downtown for the day (I had a doctor's appointment, and figured I'd take they whole day off due to traffic disruptions). I was in the Chapters downtown (like your Barnes & Nobles) when his motorcade went by. It's the longest motorcade I've ever seen. When Bill Clinton came to town he didn't have nearly as much security.

I was downtown all day, but I don't know where the masses of violent protesters were as reported by the media. Apparently I should have been right on top of them, but I only saw people standing around holding signs.

--Kyle

laura k said...

So my Loyal Reader In Ottawa reveals his name. Hi Kyle, nice to meet you.

Thanks for the inside view. I didn't know there were reports of violent protestors! That would be a surprise, wouldn't it. We saw some excellent protests on TV here, including a white van bearing a HUGE sign in big black letters: BUSH IS A WAR CRIMINAL. It looked great - sprited and peaceful.

It's no wonder W needs more security than Clinton, the way the man has made the US a target the world over.

I posted a thought about Bush's visit here. Despite all the talk of mending fences, it's great to see Martin stand up to Bush.

We saw a poll that said 58% of Canadians think Bush's re-election is not a good thing, but we thought that was very low. Maybe another 30% said it was an extremely bad thing?

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure on the poll. Although something like 80% of Canadians said they'd vote for Kerry over Bush (except in Alberta, which is Texas North). We didn't really like Keryy, but it was definitely the lesser of two evils.

On a humerous note, they served Bush Canadian beef for supper on Canadian softwood tables.

laura k said...

Hey, most of us didn't love Kerry either...

Anonymous said...

I think that's the problem with the two party system. "Don't blaim me, I voted for Kodos!".

We usually have 3 or 4 big parties at a time. While usually only the Liberals or the Conservatives can actually muster enough votes to form a government, there's at least the potential for a third party to win (they do it all the time at the provincial level).

There's even serious talk of going to proportional representation like the rest of the world has.

laura k said...

The two-party system sucks, especially when the supposed center of each party is exactly the same.

I would love to see Canada go to proportional representation! For a long time I thought it already was, since other parliamentary systems are - then I recently found out otherwise.

One of the most compelling reasons for me to think about citizenship in the future is voting NDP.

Anonymous said...

Every party talks about proportional representation when they're not in power, but if they win a majority they promptly forget about it (since they'd lose a large number of seats).

However, since the current Liberal government is in the minority, the NDP has made proportional representation a requirement of them voting along side with the Liberals.

laura k said...

Ah, interesting. I have a lot to learn. I look forward to it.