I see a move to Canada in my future :-)
When Robert Kennedy Jr. came to Canada, he made a funny observation. At 3:00 am, at a deserted intersection, a canadian will pull up to a red light and stop. And wait for a green light. An American, hell most people in the world, wouldn't even bother to yield.
There is an old saying.... in the United States, the people came first then the law. In Canada, the law came first and then the people. We take the law very seriously. How can people be judged on anything but their actions? We must all be treated fairly under the law. Canada was the first country in the world to protect human rights, to entrench them in a constitution. The UN modeled thier declaration after the Canadian example, a few years later. We take these issues to heart.
The province I live in is often referred to as Texas north. It is the most republican like of all areas in canada. Alberta will be the last bastion against gay marriage in Canada. Once one province or state legally allows gay marriage the handwriting was/is on the wall. A legal marriage in one jurisdiction cannot be denined regardless of public plebisites, under federal law. In other words, if one province deems your marriage legal, regardless of sex, how can another deny you the same rights as a citizen.
There is something different in your culture that we are lacking here...I watched bowling for columbine, and was impressed that Canadians still left there doors unlocked; yet you also have more guns per citizen than we do here and less murder rate.....I keep trying to think of a neg. for you guys, and can't find one...okay...curling...but that can be overlooked :-)...I hear to move to Canada though, you have to have 10 thousand dollars...is this true?
Well willow, two things. I think you would at least 10 thousand dollars to move anywhere, even if it's just into another house in your own town. Also, as much as I love Moore, everyone knows he exaggerates things to make a point. Most people in Toronto would not leave their doors unlocked, especially if they live in certain areas. It's true what Ceili said. Alberta is probably the most Republican-like province in Canada. I suspect that's why they don't have very many good restaurants. My Edmonton relatives think Outback Steakhouse is a fancy night on the town.
http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=684624#684624
Setanta once said,
Quote:Canadian concepts of evil:
Using the last fifteen minutes of someone else's parking meter time, even though you know you'll be gone for twenty minutes . . .
Standing with your toes across the white line in the queue at the bank . . .
Making quick right turn through the intersection before the pedestrians have time to step off the kerb . . .
Driving really fast past the school bus just as they slow to a halt and turn on the flashers . . .
My Sweetiepie and i were waiting at a downtown subway station for some friends, and the lady who was sitting at the entrance to one of the platforms took a restroom break--all the Canajun commuters continued to put their tokens or their cash in the box, and the ones with monthly passes "showed" their pass to the empty chair . . .
I saw the last example happening again yesterday - had to laugh - all the nice Canajuns showing their pass to an empty chair - and smiling at it.
Canajuns do also seem to apologize too much. I've apologized to people who have stepped on my feet, and to coat racks.
hmmm, see I am truely law abiding as well. I stop and wait at the 3am red light, I pay even if there's no one to see me pay (we do have small, front yard farm stands here that are usually unattended), I am a stickler for these things, so, Canada, let me in!
Heehee. I don't really want to move there (yet). There was a big article in the boston globe today about that loud knock on the great north's southern gate.
When I was in Canada touring in the mid seventies I absolutely loved it.....I loved most of the people, their openess and friendliness (even though a guy in Sioux Falls once called me a gearbox and hit me in the face on the street).....and the pride they had in their land and the fact that even when in a big city it was clean....I almost moved there.....I have often wondered how my life would have turned out if I had.......only negative...too freakin' cold....
Thanks, ehBeth (and Setanta) for the laughs -- a good start to a dreary November morning. I was only half-kidding on another thread when I said the blue Pacific coast states ought to offer themselves to British Columbia.
ahem...Cav darlin', I take umbrage at your slanderous words.
I have at one time or another in my life known or worked with several members of Canada's culinary Olympic team. A good majority of them from the west. For a while there, the team was based in good ol' edmonton. We have some great restaurants.
How do you get 100 Canucks out a the pool?
You ask them to.
I've shown my love for Canada on countless threads. I have a couple of observations:
Canada has never had a Civil War(other than the Seperatist struggles with Quebec) so there isn't this inherent struggle with states rights versus the government mandates.
Canada has been rather hypocritical in its immigration policies. I watched my father struggle for 7 years to bring his family to Canada. He paid many tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. He had to maintain a huge sum of money in bank accounts before he was admitted.
There are accounts that some very BAD people have settled in Canada without a fuss because of their bankroll.
If I have a skewed view I will stand corrected.
It's not that people want to interfere with who has sex with who. Nobody cares about that.
I couldn't care less what people chose to do sexually, be it gay sex, bondage, fetishes, whatever...it's a free country!
BUT just because I think it's ok doesn't mean I feel comfortable seeing advertisements for this stuff all the time and having it rubbed in my face. I would be very offended to turn on public TV and see some advertisement for bondage...just as I am offended to turn on the TV and see a gay comedian making joke after joke about him sucking c*ck.
And this is the kind of stuff that goes on in the media! If the gay media would simply stop focusing on trying to rub their sexual acts in everyone's face, I think people would become a lot more accepting of gay people.
edit - by the way that fact I had posted earlier...you're right that wasn't a statistic. but I only know like 5 gay people who are really gay, and I know like 30 bisexual women who just do it to feel wild....so I don't think it is making a big conclusion to say that it is at least a significant percentage.
Bondage is not a gay thing, try it...you might love it.
littlek wrote:I agree about cannistershot. S/he's showing a level of open-mindedness not often exhibited by either side of the aisle on this subject.
Ok sorry I was working this weekend away from home. How do you all feel about civil unions?
Honestly, I don't see much difference between the two (maybe because my wedding was preformed by our friend, a judge, in our dining room, but the words seem to matter to a lot of people.
Be we did have to get a liscense and we were given some offical state seal of approval and our "union" is recognized wherever we go. To me, if civil unions between gay couples carry the same weight as my marriage I'm perfectly okay if thats what they want to call it to make it feel more acceptable to everybody.
stuh505 wrote:
BUT just because I think it's ok doesn't mean I feel comfortable seeing advertisements for this stuff all the time and having it rubbed in my face. I would be very offended to turn on public TV and see some advertisement for bondage...just as I am offended to turn on the TV and see a gay comedian making joke after joke about him sucking c*ck.
And this is the kind of stuff that goes on in the media! If the gay media would simply stop focusing on trying to rub their sexual acts in everyone's face, I think people would become a lot more accepting of gay people.
This is going to be an unpopular post but....
A lot of people are offended by a lot of things on tv. There is a solution. Turn it off. TV is ruining family life anyway. Prime time has turned PG13 and after 9, pretty much anything goes. Such is the world we live in. Shock sells. So does sex. Do you think gay people like to turn the tv on and here a comedian talk about his girlfrield sucking his c*ck? Probably not.
Anyway, point is that just being uncomfortable with something doesn't make it right to ban it.
kristie - I agree. Just because something is uncomfortable for some doesn't mean it is harmful to any.
My thoughts exactly.
Not an attack on anyone..
But if you dont like what is on TV, turn it off. Change the channel . Noone makes you watch something you deem offensive but you.
I think that mentality should apply to gay marriage as well.
You dont agree with it.. well then dont f'kn do it. Simple. But trying to dictate what someone else is / wants / will do is stupid . People try and control other people ... how that behavior ever became acceptable.. I am clueless.
Where people started to control others , I dont know. But WHY people think that because they dont agree with someone elses choices makes it WRONG.. is totally beyond me.
I think the 'where', shewolfnm, is a simple majority rule, present in human societies since our earliest days.
The 'why', I think is a result of the majority believing that their actions/opinions are normal ("Well, that's what most people think/do so it must be normal.") and by a twisted leap of logic: Majority = Normal, therefore Minority = Abnormal.
Left-handedness was seen as a sign of the Devil, in days gone by, as most people were right-handed. Left-handed kids had their left arm tied behind their back at school to make them use their right hand for writing. It's even inherrent in the names for the sides "right = right", "left = wrong".
Ignorance and fear.
There is no such thing as "normal". Annyone who tells you that they are normal is in denial.
Normal is defnied by society and culture. What is normal here is very abnormal elsewhere in this vast world. Yup...normal just doesn't exist and as soon as people accept this, things will surely improve.
Unfortunately, I believe that "normal" does exist inside many people's minds. I also believe that they are wrong.
