02:52 - 27.09.07
Politics
The past 24 hours were all about politics - the organized kind. Late last night an automated phone call from a polling company saying it wanted a response with respect to who I would be voting for for mayor and alderman of my ward. I chose to state undecided because of a few oddities in the process. Firstly, a polling company must reveal who commissioned the survey. I was googling the name as the spiel was given and there was no such company listed anywhere. I couldn't call that company to verify that information so I would never be able to detrmine who had access to my responses. The disclaimer about aggregated results couldn't be verified either, so it seemed to me that I was being lied to from the get go. Next up there are nine candidates running for mayor yet one was only given the choice of two of the candidates to choose from. Not a valid sampling given the text of the question. Finally the question about voting for the ward alderman. Its wording made me suspect it was one of the campaigning candidates in the area who had actually commissioned the "poll".
Told me it was one of the two candidates who would have an awful lot of money to spend on such things in addition to all the other trappings of an election. I couldn't get my head around which until I read the article in one of out local newspapers that was actually just a nasty character assasination/smear campaign against the incumbent alderman. Interestingly I recognized the people in the photo as all being supporters of one of the other candidates all of whom seemed to be trying to imply that their organizations - rather than their own personal beliefs - all had conflicts with the incumbent. Taking a stand on an election platform is something that is usually forbidden in the constitutions of the volunteer groups they were naming. Uh huh. Also interesting was that the candidate in question was the one who led the attempted palace coup of the incumbent member of parliament during the last federal election and whose same supporters embarked on that campaign of harrassment of my office trying to push us into the center of the fray. Their concern about the incumbent MP, so I was told, was that he was "too left wing". That MP earned the sobriquet "Hang em high" in the press for his stand about how to deal with criminals. Canada does not have the death penalty and recent reviews of wrongful convictions explain why. Too many innocent people would have been murdered by the state. Those people found wrongfuly convicted were released and some were compensated, but how does one make up for 20 to 40 years of wrongful incarceration and all the lost years, lost reputation, lost relationships, and lost opportunities.
When I caught the bus this morning the woman who is being surplussed after nearly 20 years of service to her company boarded with me. I had offered to send her the information I had on the workplace, jobs available and how to write a resume - she doesn't have one - so that she could move forward with a little more feeling of being in control of her life. She has always been very conservative in her view on life - for the same reason as most people I think. "Don't rock the boat" or "Stay below the radar" as ways to not be singled out for punishment - like a loss of employment - for speaking up or speaking out. It was obvious the firing had radicalized her now that she feels she has nothing to lose. Her harsh judgements of other people struggling in our so-called wealthy province - wealthy if one is a ceo - has taken a 180 turn as she finds herself in their ranks now. Her focus this morning was on wht she had learned when her son brought her the movie "Sicko" to watch. That and the provincial royalty report had gotten her all fired up about the injustice, but the truth is that those issues have been ongoing for the entire time she had been with that one company. She had the information before but chose to disregard it until it affected her directly. However, better late than never for taking a stand.
One of the friends I had hooked up with on Facebook had invited me to attend a debate on federal issues. It was set for this afternoon, so my grand-daughter and I prettied ourselves up - not an issue for that little one, since she would be beautiful even clothed in a gunny sack - and headed out with my friend to attend the round table. My grand-daughter was absolutely enthralled when my friend spoke to the issues that concerned her. She is quite fiery even on her own merits and her recent training as a lawyer has only honed those verbal skills to a fine point. I could see the wheels in my grand-daughter's head grinding as she gazed in awe while my friend spoke. I think she realized that as an adult, she would be able to express her opinions like that too. The round table's theme was "women's issues" but was too polticized in the political party sense for my taste. One has to take the faith based and politically based judgements, stereotypes, and prejudices out of the mix before rational solutions can be developed. One is dealing with the care and protection of some of the most vulnerable segments of our population and they deserve much better than simply being used as political footballs to push agendas that have everything to do with power over instead of helping those people out. That was why my friend was being so fiery today - trying to break down those walls of illusions. I had my own specific pieces to say and it was obvious that there were a few around the table who really didn't want to hear what I had to say. Too bad, eh?
When we left the meeting - just over two hours later - my friend realized that her car had been towed. My granddaughter's car seat was in the back too. Oh my! We were only a few blocks from her home so one of the other people at the meeting graciously drove us over to her home where she picked up her other vehicle and provided me with the car seat of her grand-daughter who now doesn't require it. My grand-daughter wasn't certain what to make of any of the drama, but the presence of my friend's grey and white cat when we arrived drove any fear or confusion out of her head. She blew kisses and meowed happily at that feline who seemed equally taken with my grand-daughter. We arrived back at my son's home with about half an hour to spare before my son arrived to take the trek home with me. My grand-daughter was ravenous even though I had brought juice and cereal to munch for her during the debate. Just all that stimulation made her hungry I guess because she had sat either on my lap or quietly in the chair beside throughout most of the session. She was obviously ready for a nap on the trip in the car with her Dad and I. I think I'm ready for a nap too. Good night, dear diary.
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