Desi In Toronto

This Rove thing is really hitting the fan. First there was Durbin who tried to point Americans to the problem but was ruthlessly burnt. And now the problem (US army atrocities) are going to be all but forgotten just like the Killian documents (Rathergate) all but buried the true story of Bush skipping on Vietnam.. And that’s what Karl Rove is doing…..trying to divert attention from Downing Street Memos, the huge problems in Iraq and a downward spiral of Bush’s poll numbers.

This week has shown exactly what’s wrong with American politics. Everyone knows that Iraq is a mess; Everyone knows that the current administration lied about the war in Iraq; The economy is showing HUGE deficits and this could lead to serious trouble; Yet ALL AMERICANS are focussing on what the other side has said.

This is a really funny post!!

Saw something really funny last Friday.

I was taking my afternoon stroll through Yonge St. during my lunch break and came across a smouldering SUV on Dundas - Yonge square. Yup you read me right - a burnt to-the-bone SUV was parked in the square. This was a work of art (??) to demonstrate what the group thought of SUV’s and the oil industry in general. There wern’t many people around only a curious few.

After turning the corner and walking through the Eaton centre (I wanted to escape the humidity) I saw that the new movie Batman Begins was being promoted in front of the Sears outlet. Part of the promotion was the car- Batmobile. The car was an actual working model and it was HUGE!! It had armour plates everywhere, massive tyres, a super sleek look and looked like it could fly to the moon at the press of a button. There were people everywhere. Some were taking pictures, some were clamouring to take pictures, some were waiting to clamour to take pictures.

And I thought…..isn’t it ironic. Here is a monster of a car which obviously gulps gas (overheard one the secrutiy say that it will be run at NASCAR events) and has throngs of people around it and out there is a statement to the world to make efforts to reduce oil and our dependence on it and NO ONE CARES!!

Here we go again.

Just when you thought that the Canadian Health Care discussion were over for the season, BOOOM, it’s back.

What is it about the Canadian Health System that invokes such a debate, such pride or anguish, such anger. Why are we so touchy about the Health Care system here in Canada? What does this mean for Canada at large? Such questions are better answered by people more qualified by me. All I can offer is how this decision would/could affect me.

Recently we had to take our daughter Rhea to the hospital at 11pm because she would not stop throwing up everything. It took us 4 hours before the doctors finally examined her (3 hours of her throwing up water, juice or whatever the hell we gave her). I must admit that it was one of the most harrowing nights of my life (so far!!)

4 hours!!! WTF!! Is this how our medical system helps us? By making a 1 and half year old child wait for 4 hours? Since then I avoid going to hospitals until and unless I know it’s a dire emergency. I am sure that’s not what was in the minds of the creators of the Health Care system.

So how does this decision help someone like me and my daughter?

It does not help at all.

We are a middle income family of three, we pay our taxes, we make sure our RRSP contribution is utilised to the fullest we can afford, we make sure that we make contribution to the fund set up for our daughter’s education etc. etc. etc. So at the end of the month there is no way, no way, we can afford to shell out more for a private health insurance policy. Nor can we afford to pay cash for a medical procedure at a private clinic which are bound to come up sooner or later. So we will continue to use the public health system

I will take up this issue in my next post. (Update (15th June 2005):Too busy for this post at the moment)

AAAAARRRRGHH!!! How could Federer loose to Nadal!!?!! That too so meekly!! Come on!! All my favourites of the tournament are out. Damn!!

I was over at the this site and came across this discussion. I participated in this discussion as well and could not understand the main theme of the discussion that same-sex will end religion as the bill will be used to attack religious person(s). I just don’t understand the link between the two.

I then came across this link. This person was the main debater in the discussion against the proposed bill. If you read through the link (which is basically a speech) you will notice the “calm” and “factual” speech that this person gives. But the content is pure bigotry.

Even though he starts off with the words “Canada prides itself on religious freedom and religious tolerance” nowhere does he mention that Canada also prides itself on Human Equality. To me Equality epitomise Canadian culture. Everyone is equal regardless of their colour, background, religion and SEXUALITY.

Unfortunately, the speaker refuses to understand this point. According to him catholics are in danger because of the same-sex bill. Their religion will be destroyed. Their lives will be destroyed and the very basic principle of human rights in Canada will be destroyed. Throughout the speech all he has done is give examples of how religious people have been attacked by the government for practicing their religion. He gives the example of a how a person carrying a placard in front of the entrance of an abortion clinic saying “Thou Shalt Not Kill” is arrested. The speaker says that his rights were violated. Of course, the speaker neglects to inform his audience that it is against the law to protest within a certain limit of an abortion clinic in Ontario. How were his rights violated? The speaker gives numerous similar (ridiculous) examples each one of which can be explained away through the correct interpretation of the law of Canada and/or the province.

That’s what the difference is between gay marriage proponents and opponents. To the proponent this issue is a dead issue. No matter how much the opponents try, same-sex marriage WILL BE THE NORM sooner or later (going by this news….maybe sooner). How this bill will “tear the fabric of religion and traditional marriage”….I have no clue. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Ontario for 2 years now and I don’t see the divorce rates suddenly increasing, I don’t see people’s lives being destroyed, I don’t see any child’s life being destroyed.

Just as inter-racial marriages were a big issue 50 years ago and are a non-issue now, gay marriages will not be frowned upon in another 10 years.

To me this whole issue is a waste of time and energy.

Finally….a mystery has been solved!!

“Who was Deep Throat”. This question had become famous like “Who really killed JFK?” or “Did Anastasia survive the assassination?” and so on and so forth. I guess a lot people were disappointed when Deep Throat did not turn out to be some big shot. When I read the story I remember a scene from a Richard Burton movie called The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. The best scene is the last scene where the two main characters are trying to escape from East Berlin (remember?). The woman is completely disenfranchised with communism and spies etc. and Richard Burton’s character verbally attacks her and tells her (I’m paraphrasing here) :-

“Do you think spies are super heroes, muscular men who save the day? NO. They are your average broken, jealous, greedy men.” He goes on to describe the bad business of spying completely contrary to the picture of a perfect spy like James Bond.

This is probably the disappointment that everyone feels when it was revealed that Deep Throat was not Kisinger’s aid or even Papa G. Bush. It was just the FBI #2 who was jealous that his job went to someone else.