I’m reading Michael Harris’ book Party of One. I’m not very far in it but is plenty of interesting information in it. It helps to see how the effort to make elections buyable goes right back to Stephen Harper’s beginning. When Stephen Harper first got a seat in the government it was as
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Christy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: #BarbaricCulturalPractices
Just when I think this election can’t get more disgusting, it gets more disgusting. Apparently the Conservatives want to take a tip from the Spanish Inquisition, when neighbours court report each other. (Did you know that during the Spanish Inquisition Christians of Muslim descent were required to leave their doors
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: two tiered citizenship
Stephen Harper has taken another step in pandering to his racist base by choosing to use bill C 24 to revoke a Canadian’s citizenship during the election period. Zakaria Amara went through the Canadian justice system and is serving his time. If he and his parents were all born and raised in
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: my favorite three NDP politicians
One of my cousins commented the other day about the tendency to vote against political leaders instead in favor politicians, and that led to my decision to write this post, about three great NDP politicians running in this upcoming election. If you want incentive to vote NDP in this next
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: why aren’t more Conservatives angry at Harper?
There are plenty of reasons for Stephen Harper’s base to be annoyed with Harper. Harper’s party is a very untrustworthy ally to have. Recently he bribed the National Firearm Association to keep quiet about their dissent to C-51 by offering to let them present their amendments to bill C-42. I’m annoyed to hear that
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: GMOs and politicians: how do we know what is true or not?
I had a really good facebook conversation yesterday, in a public page about politics. The topic was one GMOs and I was taking a position that would have been inconceivable to me several years ago. I was arguing against mandatory labelling of GMOs. Someone else made a really good comment
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: I homeschool with a village to help me.
There is a meme I’ve seen going around on facebook and twitter that says “I homeschool because I’ve seen the village and I don’t want it raising my child.” The meme is sad on so many levels. It is incredibly sad to think of people feeling so isolated and at
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: Is the Conservative party hoping racist Canadians will put them back in power?
Steven Harper has brought into his campaign a man known for promoting racism and fear of immigrants as a way of winning elections. I hope and pray that Canadians can prove this campaign manager unsuccessful. Let’s show him that we do not fear those who speak, act, look or pray
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: yep, I’m going to write about the Duggar scandal.
I’m writing about the Duggar family because I think what the situation is a good one for shining light on the different ways people interpret things. The Duggar family need to decide how they will handle it, and they will decide that but everyone else who hears about the case
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: why we need to listen to children’s perceptions of bullying
“Sometimes,” my child said to me, “it is easier to think of the other person as a jerk.” He had been excited about a summer day camp that promised kayaking and archery, but after a day and a half the toll of dealing with bullies was too much. His head
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: There are so many election issues that matter.
One of the reasons that an eleven week election period feels like a drag is the that politicians and the media focus too much on the wrong things. They focus on mud slinging, on scandal and on just a small handful of controversial issues, when there are much more interesting issues
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: Thoughts on a nitrogen dioxide leak.
Today started off with an alarm going off outside for a nitrogen dioxide leak from the local smelter. My husband and I listened to updates on the radio and read notes on social media as tried to decide how he should get to work. It didn’t seem safe for him
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: Election 2015: Stop Harper Resource List
Harper has increased the election period because he knows he can outspend other parties. That means those of us who want him out have work to do. We need to donate money to the parties and other organizations working to campaign against him. We need to volunteer for those parties
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: dreaming of a good government…
I am withdrawing from an organization I have been very involved in for about three years. There is some sadness to leaving and some relief. This whole last half a year I’ve been stepping back big by bit. I wrote during the summer about my difficulty trying to care about
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: exploring the possibility of taking the bus
It is World Car Free Day, and city transit was free today – for those who have vouchers they downloaded and printed or picked up at the one of the libraries. I think the idea of free transit for the day is great, but I was a little uncomfortable with
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: Tell your city council that you care about the homeless.
I saw this tweet today while watching my city council meeting being live-tweeted by various reporters: There’s something horribly sad about it. I have no doubt it is true. There is a very active facebook group ranting about problems with the local animal shelter. I have no clue whether any
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: the importance of “paid journalism” or my response to Sudbury wikileaks.
Something made me very angry today. I read an editorial in one of my local newspapers (The Northern Life). The editorial is defending one of the reporters against accusations made on an anonymous website that calls itself “wikileaks Sudbury.” Wikileaks Sudbury makes me very, very angry. The Wikileaks article lacks
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: How does one homeschool, with all the intensity that involves, and be a compassionate, informed person at the same time?
Sometimes it is really hard to keep balance. How does one balance parenting with everything else? I don’t want to undervalue my husband’s contribution to our family life – his is amazing – but I suspect I’m the support pole the children lean on and there are times when the
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: food regulations
A friend on facebook posted a link to this article: Michigan Officials Destroy $5,000.00 worth of Good Organic Food from Family Farm. Besides leaving me wondering whether the inclusion of the “.00″ was meant to make the amount appear larger to the quick casual reader, the headline makes me think
Continue readingChristy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: Intelligent Design: money and PR instead of science
The book Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for American’s Soul by Kenneth R. Miller mentions this organization – Discovery Institute – which has a 4 million a year budget to promote their “Intelligent Design” nonsense. In 1998, as they were trying to get funding, a document known as
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