When I was a kid/teen, I didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of moving to America. Not only cause all my stuff was here in the great white north, but because I found their gun laws completely terrifying. That so called land of opportunity down south was also a land of terrible violence.
When I was officially an adult and went off to university, I added another factor to my “I Don’t Want To Move To America” list: lack of universal healthcare. Since I was finally living away from home, I was facing the new experiences of visiting campus health centres and getting my own prescriptions. At first I grumbled about having to fork out any sort of money for medication, until I realized how lucky I was that it was the only thing I paid for, and that at a discount. I don’t pay for doctor’s visits or exams or routine tests, even during the times I was without employee benefits.
My twenties and teens are now long behind me and I’m seeing the world from a much more adult perspective. And add to the list another reason why moving to America terrifies me: anti-abortion laws. I just can’t fathom that a nation and the people (let’s be real, the MEN) who govern it could be so hostile to truth and agency and compassion towards half the population. I want no part of that! In fact I wish I could do more to change things down south but hey, I’m not USian.
Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to move and live someplace else in the world but I know it’ll never stick. For what it’s worth, my heart is stuck in Canada. :)
Showing posts with label america. Show all posts
Showing posts with label america. Show all posts
Jul 13, 2013
Aug 4, 2010
Whoa, Unexpected!
Oh hey, I hear Prop 8 was overturned! Good times for my Cali peeps.
In commemoration, a happy song about love: Lollipop by Mika.
Cheers, y'all.
In commemoration, a happy song about love: Lollipop by Mika.
Cheers, y'all.
Nov 5, 2008
O This Brave New World We Live In
Good work, America. We didn't think you had it in you. :D
After the presidency was called by CNN, I went down to Dundas Square for the 'Welcome Back America' rally for fun. I arrived with a bunch of people after Obama had done his speech, so the party was beginning to disperse but it was still astounding how many people were cheering and chanting and shouting and honking the horns of their cars. We talked about how Canadian politics is so comparatively stale, and how we are all waiting for Justin Trudeau to get more experience. ;)
Waking up this morning, however, I am surprised to find that in some states gay marriage has been banned and gay couples are banned from adopting children. As overjoyed as I am that Obama was elected, I am still happy that I'm in Canada.
(Reactions to the props/initiatives passed.)
Aug 1, 2008
The Conservatives Are Freaking Me Out
A certain article was brought to my attention and it scared and angered me.
These are real quotes from real people, expressing eliminationism against liberals, which is "a desire or a demand for extermination, removal, or infliction of harm; identification of opponents with national enemies; identification of opponents as a target for retaliation or incarceration; expressing a desire for or approval of genocide or murder; identification with vermin or disease." It’s all America-related quotes, but we all know Canada, for all its socialist predilections, harbors people who feel exactly the same way.
Excerpts:
Lee Rogers: “[T]he day will come when unpleasant things are going to happen to a bunch of stupid liberals and it’s going to be very amusing to watch.”
Rush Limbaugh: “I tell people don’t kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus—living fossils—so we will never forget what these people stood for.”
RedState contributor “Thomas Crown”: I repeat: Should the entire American Left fall over dead tomorrow, I would rejoice, and order pizza to celebrate. They are not my countrymen; they are animals who happen to walk upright and make noises that approximate speech. They are below human. I look forward to seeing each and every one in Hell.
Rabbi Daniel Lapin: There were, and are, “two incompatible moral visions for this country. We had to settle it then. We’re going to have to settle it now. I hope not with blood, not with guns, but we’re going to have to settle it nonetheless. The good news is that I think our side is finally ready to settle it. Roll up its sleeves, take off its jacket, and get a little bloody. Spill a little blood. We’ll settle it. And we’ll win. And then there’s no holding us back.
Ann Coulter: ”We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed too.”
Joe M. Richardson, letter to Editor and Publisher: I say start executing the leftists in our country, soon.
Rep. Peter King: And Joe Wilson has no right to complain. And I think people like Tim Russert and the others, who gave this guy such a free ride and all the media, they’re the ones to be shot, not Karl Rove.
“Sock" Sokolowski, to Stephanie Miller: As with Cindy Sheehan the best thing that could happen to you would be seeing some WONDERFUL activist sticking an AK-47 up your Glory Holes and sending you into eternity… I would gather my 1st amendment rights permit me to HOPE (!) and PRAY (!) that someone decides you’re better off as statistics. Honestly, should I hear of either you leaving this earth prematurely I would initiate a personal celebration that would make Animal House appear to be just another quiet Sunday in church.
Melanie Morgan: “We’ve got a bull’s-eye painted on [Nancy Pelosi’s] big, wide laughing eyes.”
Kathleen Parker: Here’s a note I got recently from a friend and former Delta Force member, who has been observing American politics from the trenches: “These bastards like Clark and Kerry and that incipient ass, Dean, and Gephardt and Kucinich and that absolute mental midget Sharpton, race baiter, should all be lined up and shot.”
John Shelley: All verminous, hate-America, liberal-socialist-commie filth should be contained and selectively eliminated.
Paul Cameron: “Unless we get medically lucky, in three or four years, one of the options discussed will be the extermination of homosexuals.”
All this makes me scared because these people are spewing hate against me, not just my beliefs. And then I saw the quote that says Kucinich should be shot and I got really pissed off. Anyone who badmouths Kucinich is not in his/her right mind. :P
*sigh* It’s times like this I wish I had a friend who was a leftist feminist to discuss issues with.
These are real quotes from real people, expressing eliminationism against liberals, which is "a desire or a demand for extermination, removal, or infliction of harm; identification of opponents with national enemies; identification of opponents as a target for retaliation or incarceration; expressing a desire for or approval of genocide or murder; identification with vermin or disease." It’s all America-related quotes, but we all know Canada, for all its socialist predilections, harbors people who feel exactly the same way.
Excerpts:
Lee Rogers: “[T]he day will come when unpleasant things are going to happen to a bunch of stupid liberals and it’s going to be very amusing to watch.”
Rush Limbaugh: “I tell people don’t kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus—living fossils—so we will never forget what these people stood for.”
RedState contributor “Thomas Crown”: I repeat: Should the entire American Left fall over dead tomorrow, I would rejoice, and order pizza to celebrate. They are not my countrymen; they are animals who happen to walk upright and make noises that approximate speech. They are below human. I look forward to seeing each and every one in Hell.
Rabbi Daniel Lapin: There were, and are, “two incompatible moral visions for this country. We had to settle it then. We’re going to have to settle it now. I hope not with blood, not with guns, but we’re going to have to settle it nonetheless. The good news is that I think our side is finally ready to settle it. Roll up its sleeves, take off its jacket, and get a little bloody. Spill a little blood. We’ll settle it. And we’ll win. And then there’s no holding us back.
Ann Coulter: ”We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed too.”
Joe M. Richardson, letter to Editor and Publisher: I say start executing the leftists in our country, soon.
Rep. Peter King: And Joe Wilson has no right to complain. And I think people like Tim Russert and the others, who gave this guy such a free ride and all the media, they’re the ones to be shot, not Karl Rove.
“Sock" Sokolowski, to Stephanie Miller: As with Cindy Sheehan the best thing that could happen to you would be seeing some WONDERFUL activist sticking an AK-47 up your Glory Holes and sending you into eternity… I would gather my 1st amendment rights permit me to HOPE (!) and PRAY (!) that someone decides you’re better off as statistics. Honestly, should I hear of either you leaving this earth prematurely I would initiate a personal celebration that would make Animal House appear to be just another quiet Sunday in church.
Melanie Morgan: “We’ve got a bull’s-eye painted on [Nancy Pelosi’s] big, wide laughing eyes.”
Kathleen Parker: Here’s a note I got recently from a friend and former Delta Force member, who has been observing American politics from the trenches: “These bastards like Clark and Kerry and that incipient ass, Dean, and Gephardt and Kucinich and that absolute mental midget Sharpton, race baiter, should all be lined up and shot.”
John Shelley: All verminous, hate-America, liberal-socialist-commie filth should be contained and selectively eliminated.
Paul Cameron: “Unless we get medically lucky, in three or four years, one of the options discussed will be the extermination of homosexuals.”
All this makes me scared because these people are spewing hate against me, not just my beliefs. And then I saw the quote that says Kucinich should be shot and I got really pissed off. Anyone who badmouths Kucinich is not in his/her right mind. :P
*sigh* It’s times like this I wish I had a friend who was a leftist feminist to discuss issues with.
Jul 17, 2008
A Little Scared, A Little Sad
What the fuck is wrong with America?!
Bush wants to make any form of birth control equal to abortion. A man who raped an 11 year old girl gets a couple years in jail because girl “knew what she was doing” when she was gang-raped by 20 men. There are over 1 million individuals on their terrorist watch list.
Goddammit guys, I remember when America used to be awesome. Don’t you? Back when we were kids, and America was the Promised Land, land of opportunity, where you were free from persecution, where you could find your greatest potential. America was a breath of fresh air, revolutionary, creative, cutting-edge, as bountiful as it was complex. A place where people around the world came together to fulfill their dreams.
Now look at it. It’s shameful what the country is slowly sliding towards. Stifled, backwards, stale, shallow, oppressive, close-minded. And I’m very, very afraid of what effect this will have on Canada. Canada depends on America so much; I fear that we will try to emulate them in order to stay in their good books. I have terrible visions of Canada following the America Junior mindset. Or I have terrible visions of us sticking to our socialism, at which point America declares war and bombs us to hell. The Handmaid’s Tale was right; they’re headed towards a Christian fundamentalist theocracy. :(
*sigh* Okay, I’m going to stop being so down and concentrate on the fact that I will be seeing the Rogers Cup finals soon. And Coldplay. Woohoo!
Bush wants to make any form of birth control equal to abortion. A man who raped an 11 year old girl gets a couple years in jail because girl “knew what she was doing” when she was gang-raped by 20 men. There are over 1 million individuals on their terrorist watch list.
Goddammit guys, I remember when America used to be awesome. Don’t you? Back when we were kids, and America was the Promised Land, land of opportunity, where you were free from persecution, where you could find your greatest potential. America was a breath of fresh air, revolutionary, creative, cutting-edge, as bountiful as it was complex. A place where people around the world came together to fulfill their dreams.
Now look at it. It’s shameful what the country is slowly sliding towards. Stifled, backwards, stale, shallow, oppressive, close-minded. And I’m very, very afraid of what effect this will have on Canada. Canada depends on America so much; I fear that we will try to emulate them in order to stay in their good books. I have terrible visions of Canada following the America Junior mindset. Or I have terrible visions of us sticking to our socialism, at which point America declares war and bombs us to hell. The Handmaid’s Tale was right; they’re headed towards a Christian fundamentalist theocracy. :(
*sigh* Okay, I’m going to stop being so down and concentrate on the fact that I will be seeing the Rogers Cup finals soon. And Coldplay. Woohoo!
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