Canadian election posts! There, solved your problem for you!
Drag Stanley out!
DS, Would you be willign to write a little blurb with links to some good articles?
2: The old Canada got thrown out for Contempt of Continent.
3: Yeah, I probably could do.
Drag Stanley is so much more flamboyant than Regular Stanley.
Sex blogging has a good hitrate, it would seem. Problem solved!
I have an idea: Let's talk about Bob's feelings about Obama.
If we have a Canadian election thread, there should be a rule that all comments must remain on topic. That would be a fun challenge.
After parsing hitrate, I'll probably never be able to read titrate quite right again.
What's your email address?
http://motherjones.com/slideshows/2011/03/where-do-your-goodwill-clothes-really-go/spring-break
I think there's something to be said for visuals. Aren't there a few artists here? I recently started browsing etsy, and am pleasantly amazed at the number of talented watercolor painters; This
http://www.etsy.com/listing/52665158/worcester-sketchbook-no23-limited?ref=pr_shop
works for me.
Frustratingly, it's not a great venue for moving handblown glass (I guess, or I suck), which is tactile.
OK, I see the address by following the linked name.
And I now understand that you don't mean blogging here.
The african fate of the clothes is pretty cool. I would be interested to know more about cars and bikes in africa. Mexican bikes are not hand-me-downs.
I was very worried that the first link was going to ruin one of my favorite charities for me by revealing some treachery. But it didn't.
My email address under my name below.
And I now understand that you don't mean blogging here.
No, I mean here. It's easy for me to generate personal content over at Narcissism at LiveJournal. But here, where people will actually say intelligent things about my post, I feel slumpy.
There was a NYT article on donated clothes years and years ago - not sure if it was Goodwill specifically - and it said that the donated stuff deemed in bad condition (rips, etc.) is sold off and does go to places like Africa, but for private sale.
I feel slumpy
Hey, me, too! And busy, in a good way. I suppose I hadn't considered dressing in drag, now that you mention it.
I would very much like to know more about what's gone wrong with Canada that Harper is still in power after all this time. Also whether Harper has wreaked serious policy mischief.
When in doubt, discuss rejuvenating your labia.
Are you calling my labia slumpy?
17, 18: Using deceit to win ridings.
I cried because my labia were slumpy until I met a man who had no labia.
That man was Stephen Harper. And now you know...the rest of the story.
Could "Conservative Prime Minister of Canada is Pale Cunt" be the next "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative"?
Maybe we could export some of our labia-ists to Canada. Solve two problems at once.
Are you calling my labia slumpy?
Don't worry, heebie, your titrate is still a 10.
Maybe we could export some of our labia-ists to Canada. Solve two problems at once.
America's hood.
My pooper just didn't have that youthful glow it did in my twenties. But now, thanks to My New Pink Buttskin...
12: lw, if you're interested there's a really good anthropological study of used clothing in Zambia by Karen Tranberg Hansen called Salaula. I don't know about Good Will specifically, but it's not just poor quality or difficult to resell clothes that make their way to Africa. In Kantamanso market in Accra, oburuni wawu, or "dead foreigners things", are divided by quality and saleability for the local market, with the most expensive items being new looking fashionable clothes, such as young Africans living in New York or London might wear. There's also a large sewing and tailoring section wear clothes are mended and refitted. It's also worth noting that Western clothes are often worn in combination with African print cloths.
On the cars and bikes tip, you should see if you can find a way to watch this film. It follows the life of an imported car as it changes owners and is eventually transformed into a devotional statue.
I think I'm in a commenting slump. Or just, like, a generalized slump. Maybe I need a vacation.
I remember reading some story years ago about how that's what happens to goods manufactured for the losing team in big sporting events. So, the million t-shirts that were made celebrating the Pittsburgh Steelers as the Superbowl champions of 2011, or whatever, ended up getting re-sold for cheap in developing countries.
As long as I'm recommending academic texts, I haven't read it, but this book looks at the Customs Service in Ghana with aspecific analysis of the imported car market. I drove a friend's Mitsubishi and Opel while was there, the Opel having spent time as a taxi before being converted back for my use.
Okay, so: the basic background on the conflict that led to the current Canadian election is this historical Contempt of Parliament finding. Basically the government attempted to introduce corporate tax cuts, military equipment purchases and crime legislation (basically shorthand for "building more prisons"), but refused to substantiate the real costs of any of these to Parliament. From earlier this year, a longer overview of the Harper government's time in power can be found at the Globe and Mail. Note the multiple proroguings of Parliament to avoid non-confidence votes long before the one that finally toppled them. The comments thread on that article provides a succinct guide to some of the things about them that piss people off.
(The Doctor Slack Diagnosis: Harper's government issues from an imitation-movementarian conservative movement that desperately, desperately wants to behave as swaggeringly and anti-democratically as the Republicans in the States, and tries to push the envelope at every possible opportunity. When confronted with their second failure to secure a majority government, the base started shooting its mouth off about an "absolute-power minority" that would supposedly be able to govern like a majority. No such luck, but the dream hasn't gone anywhere. The recent budget confrontation smacks of this same yearning to display, and get away with, Republican-style high-handedness and chutzpah. It even extends to bizarre, petty grandiosity over things like government letterhead.)
As to why Stephen Harper has managed to persist this long: it's mostly because:
a) Many of his misdeeds tend thus far to be either of the legislatively complicated or Parliamentary-procedural nature, and thus to slip under the radar of the average Canadian (most of whom, for instance, greeted the bizarre proroguings of Parliament with yawns; only political junkies fully understand how unusual those events were). The radicalism of the movement backing him is evident only if you're paying close attention.
b) His major competitor is as thoroughly lacking in charisma as he is, and the Liberal Party's Chretien-era ability to put out a cohesive and forceful message seems to have all but vanished. The NDP inhabits the perpetual role of spoiler -- a shame, as Jack Layton is the only really gifted politician in the bunch -- and the Gilles Duceppe's Bloc Quebecois is a sovereigntist-on-paper Quebecois party that cannot transcend Quebec's regional issues.
c) Because of the above, the man-in-the-street view of politics is that the House of Commons is full of children who won't get along and keep foisting unnecessary elections on the populace (never mind the last one to do this unnecessary foisting was Harper; Canada has its own fully-functioning memory hole).
Basically the government attempted to introduce corporate tax cuts, military equipment purchases and crime legislation (basically shorthand for "building more prisons"), but refused to substantiate the real costs of any of these
... and you have an actual recourse for dealing with it? Wow. It's odd when hearing that a country dissolves its government makes me think it's much more functional than the US.
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So, a couple of long-lost and very dear friends from high school recently found me and we got back in touch, which was lovely and awesome. We're now trying to reconstitute our HS clique, of which there was a fourth member, a very sweet gay boy who, as a teenager, had to contend with considerable pushback from Catholic Latino family. I just found him on twitter. He is now apparently a Christian ultraconservative who quotes Michele Bachman and counts taunting liberals among his hobbies. As far as I can tell, he is not "cured" of his homosexuality -- he lives in the very gay part of town, and follows several drag personalities on his twitter page. I find this conversion, and also this combination, totally baffling. Also, I am no longer sure I want to be part of this reunion.
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Not everyone realizes who they follow is public.
35: That's depressing. Perhaps reconnecting with people who remind him who he once was is just the jolt he needs.
It's Tuesday, Tuesday, getting down on Tuesday
Everybody looking forward to the Wednesday!
Commenting, commenting, YEAH! Commenting, commenting, YEAH! Looking forward to the Wednesday.
34: That recourse only exists when there's a minority government. A Canadian PM with a parliamentary majority basically gets 5 years of doing whatever they feel like. For this election, if Harper picks up a majority, it will be 5 years of trying to turn Canada into Republican-land Junior, as DS says.
I enjoyed this summary of Canadian politics (http://www.theawl.com/2011/03/canada-how-does-it-work) (and also sorry about not making it a fancy link).
And also this link (http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/votecompass/ ) tells you who you may or may not want to vote for. In my case I definitely should not for Reform/Conservatives.
