She praises the Harper government for getting rid of the Law Society of Canada, which first suggested that gay marriage be made legal. And she also doesn’t mind that the Tories have cut back on arts spending, which was perceived as funding cultural liberals.
But she put more stock in her family than in political parties and thinks that by teaching her children the right way to live that eventually Canada will turn around.
“My husband and I have eight children … I can raise my family to respect life. To respect family values. To encourage them to have good sound marriages and stay with their marriages and work out problems when they arise. That will be an influence in society. If we stick to our views it will have an influence down the road. In politics I’m not sure we’ll ever get what we want.”
If ever we needed a reminder of the virtues of public schools.
Their album Andorra is the best of the best, according to the learned people who decide such things. Caribou took home twenty grand for their troubles.
It’s impossible to be disappointed with whoever wins the Polaris Prize, because the nominees are always excellent.
I think I’m getting all the Stages of Grief out of the way before the election. I’m already at acceptance!
Call me a quitter or a pessimist, but at least I’ll be able to function on October 15.
Reasons to not feel bad about vote-splitting on the left and the continued Prime Ministership of Stephen Harper:
It is an abberation of Canadian politics. We’re still a progressive country; a northern haven of pot tolerance, income redistribution, and married gays. Harper can’t change that in one mandate. “Even facing the weakest and most ineffective Liberal party in a generation, he cannot persuade more than 40 per cent of Canadians to say they will vote Conservative.”
I love the combination of analysis and humour (The Daily Show Formula), and stayed up late waiting for the review of tonight’s Mad Men episode.
Sample from the comments:
Wow
by Penguin
I’m continually impressed that the show can be so dark and sad while rarely crossing the border into depressing.
12:54 AM Mon September 29, 2008
RE: Wow
by Charles Bronson Pinchot
I generally agree, but the Betty thread is starting to make me feel icky inside. Something needs to happen there, or it’s going to feel too much like real-life depression – endlessly ongoing without much interruption.
Perhaps I’ve said too much.
1:00 AM Mon September 29, 2008
RE: Wow
by poland
*HUG* Buck up, Mr Pinchot!
1:04 AM Mon September 29, 2008
RE: Wow
by Charles Bronson Pinchot
Thank you, Poland. You truly are one of America’s most steadfast allies.
Jack Layton says the NDP, if elected, will eliminate poverty in Canada by 2020. An admirable goal, but I think reducing poverty by 80% would make a better headline.
Talking in absolutes (“eliminate”) sounds idealistic to the point of being unreasonable.
Any values from 90% up are used too often to mean “virtually all” and that’s barely better than “eliminate.”
But 80% sounds like a realistic yet ambitious goal.
She makes an eloquent argument for supporting the arts in all their forms, and takes Harper to task for characterizing “ordinary people” as cultural Scrooges. Everyone consumes art – not necessarily free-verse poetry but concerts, plays, television, books and anything else creative you care to name. We are the artists too: People photograph, draw, whittle, sing, whatever.
And then she does more damage on the Hidden Agenda front than any Liberal attack ad in years. “Every budding dictatorship,” Atwood goes on, “begins by muzzling the artists, because they’re a mouthy lot and they don’t line up and salute very easily.” The last third of her article is dedicated to turning around the “ordinary people” claim and framing Harper as the dangerously out-of-touch one.
Luckily for the Tories, Atwood works in print and not television. If the opposition parties were smart they’d get this thesis on the air.
Read the article before it goes behind the Globe’s pay wall.
