Current Affairs

Recently, there was a proposition passed in California that will amend to the state Constitution to restrict gay marriage. “Only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” I’m more neutral on the matter but when it comes to the decision of two people to get married, I’d have to say that I’m with the gays. I don’t quite see the reason why other people should decide whether or not two people should marry. If two people love each other, why stop them from joining?

Same-sex marriage has been a battle that is long fought by the gays. I don’t understand why they even have to fight for this right. I don’t know why there even a need to make a law on the matter. If two people want to get married, let them get married. Who are we to say that they can’t marry? The matters should be left in their hands because it’s their decision. If you don’t want them to get married, you stay out of their way.

Melissa Etheridge wrote a blog saying that the government can forget about her taxes. There’s no reason for her to pay taxes that will support other people’s children going to school when she doesn’t have any rights to have a child. And she’s right. Every year, it seems like tax payers are paying for something that doesn’t benefit them in anyway. So why pay taxes if it’s only help other people and we get nothing in return?

The gay people believed that the Mormon Church has something to do with their rights being taken away. They are protesting and boycotting the church and giving them a bad PR rep right now. The Mormons should just worry about the people in their group and not worry about everyone else.

Marriage is a union between two people. Man or woman, gay or straight. If a man wants to marry another man, let him. The way I see it, they’ll be more woman left over for the rest of you. But if a woman wants to marry another woman, I guess that’ll even things out. Anyway, I guess some people are still old fashion when it comes to marriage and seeing it as a union between man and woman. I know that you can’t make babies without the other but the option to adopt is still there. In a world like ours, I would feel sorry for the kids that the gay people adopt because they would be picked on for having two dads or two moms.

The way I see it, people should mind their own business. There’s nothing wrong with being gay and it’s not like it’s affecting you in anyway. If I had a gay uncle then I have a gay uncle. It’s not like him being gay will turn me gay by association. Gay people are people too so give them the rights to do what they want. Let them get married if they want because that’s what people do when they love each other. We are not the ones who are getting married to the gay person so we shouldn’t have any say in the matter.

I haven’t been following the 2008 Federal Election as much as I’d like to this year. Usually, come Election Day, I’ll probably vote for the same candidate that I voted for last year. I’d like to know what each candidate has to offer but I don’t have time to follow all of that. I know that the candidate that I voted for did a good job so he’s got my vote again.

I think the hot topic for this year’s election is the economy. With the incident going on in the U.S, Canadians want to know that they won’t be facing the same issue that goes on down there. Usually, we’re a year behind so whatever happens in the U.S will likely make it way up here. If the U.S dollar struggles, Canadian industry struggles. Canada is a big country but yet we’re so small so we need to learn to be more self sufficient. I don’t have to keep exporting and importing things from the U.S. We have everything we need right in our own backyard.

I think the government needs to start realizing that we have good valuable resources right here in Canada. If they don’t take advantage of it, they’ll lose it. There are good workers here who need a job but don’t have one because there aren’t any jobs available. The government needs to do something good with the economy so we don’t have to depend too much on external sources. Our economy needs to stay strong while the U.S’s economy is weak.

Steven Harper is hoping to stay in office by recommending that nothing changes. “It’s not the time to do anything new, wild or stupid,” he said. Personally, I don’t think it was wise of him to use the word “stupid” because that’s like saying “You’re stupid if you don’t vote for me.” Some might take that as in insult but I know what he means. I think that the Conservative Party is doing a good job with things right now. To be honest, I don’t know exactly what has changed from the last government but all I know is that sales tax is down by two percent. But then again, there was that carbon tax but that hasn’t affected me much.

During the whole campaign, each candidate will throw punches at the other. Right now, it seems like the NDP and the Liberals are saying that Harper is bad and that they should be the one in power. They’re focusing on the topic of economy and the environment in hopes of getting people to get the Conservatives out of power. As far as I’m concerned, I’m liking the way things are now so I’d like to keep things this way.

This year, the city of Hamilton will be enforcing a one garbage bag limit per household. If you have more than one bag, the city will not pick up the second one. They are allowing two bags but the second bag has to be clear. From the looks of things, this doesn’t sound like it’s a good idea and might make more of a mess than it can handle.

Every week, I put out one bag full of garbage. I’ll also have the blue bin out because I recycle the loads of paper that some delivery boy gives me. I used to have the green bin out but they stopped taking it because there was something in it that wasn’t supposed to be there. To make my life easier, I just throw everything that’s not recyclable in the trash.

In my house, there’s my girlfriend, myself and two cats. The amount of trash that we make will fill up one bag of garbage. I can imagine that a family will produce a lot more garbage than one bag. I think that any house that has more than 2 people will generate more than one bag of garbage. I don’t understand why the city would pass a bylaw that limits the amount of garbage we can produce.

If the city is attempting to save the environment, imposing a one bag limit might make things messier. Where are people going to go if the city won’t take their garbage? Take it to some waste management company? If they do that, they’ll have to pay to get rid of their trash. We’re already paying taxes so the garbage pickers will come by our houses to do that.

Our tax dollars is what’s paying the garbage picker’s wages. If they are restricting the number of garbage we can throw out then we should be compensated. Our tax dollars are there to pay for services like this so if we’re not getting the same service as before, we shouldn’t be paying the same amount.

The city thinks that limiting yourself to one bag of garbage per week is something that’s easy to do. For a small household that’s probably true but for a house full of people, it can be very difficult. When I was living with my parents, we never had a week where we had just one bag of garbage. The minimum that we had was three bags but we can go as high as five bags of garbage. My mom doesn’t like it when we have so much so sometimes she’ll put it in with our next door neighbor. They have two people in their house but I rarely saw one bag of garbage.

I’ve heard that there are families of three or more who manages to generate less than one bag of garbage every since months. I don’t quite see how that’s possible. How do they not generate one bag of garbage in at least a month? Don’t they eat? If they eat, I’m sure that they generate some sort of garbage, at least one bag a month.

You can probably limit the number of garbage bag by recycling like crazy but how much recycling can you do? Sometimes they recycling guys won’t take my blue bin if I don’t take the cap off the bottle. I don’t see why that’s a problem since the bottle and the caps are both plastics. From what I hear, they want us to take off the cap so they don’t have to hire someone else to do it. Since they don’t hire someone to take off the cap, they’re saving money but the tax payers don’t see any of that savings. If they city is cutting back on these services, I think that we should get a rebate.

I dropped by Tim Horton’s on the way to work today and saw that they had a notice on the front counter. The notice was to inform the customers that there will be an increase of four to five cents in the prices of their products.

Now, I’m not an avid coffee drinker or nothing but that’s going to cause a dent on my already tight budget. I mean, I’ll drink coffee once in a while, late in the night so it might not affect me that much. Even though it is just a small increase, that’s going to add up through the years. For those who makes their daily stop at Tim Horton’s, they aren’t going to be too happy with this and I wouldn’t blame them. It’s bad enough that they have to deal with high gas price but now they have to deal with high coffee prices. Oh, the insanity!

So what’s the deal with the price increase anyways. Well, I can probably guess that the prices of gas has something to do with it. It costs a lot of money to fill up the tanks of those trucks that delivers the supplies to the restaurant. Not just the gas for the trucks but the gas for the employees that need to drive to work. Although there are enough Tim Horton’s around so that you can probably walk to the closest one, there are the few that lives far away from one. So I can understand that the prices of gas for them are also high and Tim Horton’s is trying to help them out by giving them better wages which in turn affects the customers because high wages for the employees means high prices of the product.

But you know what, I doubt it’s the cost of gas or the cost of living expenses that is causing Tim Horton’s to increase their prices. It’s those damn big ass plasma tv screen that was installed in every Tim Horton’s location. Those thing cost around what, $10,000 or so. There are approximately one thousand four hundred Tim Horton’s restaurant location across Ontario. And each one of those locations are likely to have a twenty six inch plasma tv installed. That’s about fourteen million dollars worth of electronics. And that’s just Ontario alone. There’s at least another twelve hundred locations across Canada. Heck, there’s one in the Northwest Territories and not one, but two in the Yukon. Imagine how far they have to walk to get to the nearest Tim Horton’s. I wonder if they have a drive-thru for the dog sleds.

What’s the purpose of those plasma tv anyway? I’m not even sure if they’re plasma or not but they look pretty expensive. But anyways, it’s usually has some Tim Horton’s product on the screen and this loops over and over throughout the day. It’s gets pretty boring after you’ve seen it a few millions times. So, now factor in the cost of having that tv on all day and all night long. Plus, they’re paying someone to make the movie you’re watching on there, so factor that in as well.

If they wanted to display Tim Horton’s product, a simple cardboard sign would be sufficient. I’d stare at a cardboard sign with a picture of a chunky chicken salad, a medium coffee and a honey dip donut. It looks just as good on there as it would on a screen.

If you’re going to install a tv screen in the restaurant, the least you could do is show a movie on it. Or better yet, tune it to the local news station. That way, the customers will be informed of something while waiting for the coffee to be made. I really don’t think that viewing a clip about someone making coffee while I wait for my coffee to be made is all that exciting. I would suggest that they put the screen to better use. I’m sure everyone know what a walnut crunch donut looks like, it’s right in front of us when we’re at the front of the line, we don’t need to be reminded of its shape and flavour.

All across the country the polls are open as Canadians casts their ballots in the federal election. I haven’t been following the politics much but I know one thing is for sure, I’m not voting for the Conservatives. When I went to cast my vote, there were two names I recognized. Javid Mirza from the Liberal Party and David Christoperson. I voted for Christoperson because I don’t know who this Javid guy is. I’ve seen Christoperson twice in my lifetime. As for the other guy, I’ve never seen him ever.

For anyone who hasn’t been following the elections, here is a little overview, from my point of view.

The Bloc Quebecois: Hereusement, ici c’est le Bloc
For those who don’t understand French, that translate to “Thankfully, here it’s the Bloc.” Don’t be fool by the rocks that I’ve got. I’m still, I’m still Jenny from the Bloc. I’m sorry, that’s the only thing that came to mind when I heard their name. I have no idea what their slogan means. Why should we be thankful that they are here? I’m not thankful that they want to separate Quebec from Canada, so what else are they offering. Well, they are proposing “implementing the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions, increasing foreign aid spending, asking for a consultation on the “purpose” of the army before any more major spending decisions are made. The party supports same-sex marriage.”

So if you’re a gay environmentalist you might want to considering voting for the Bloc but you have to be living in Quebec to vote for them. If you’re living anywhere else you’re stuck with voting for the other guys.

The Conservatives: Stand up for Canada
Why do we need to stand up for Canada? Who’s picking on us? The US are too busy dealing with Iraq so they’re out. Maybe it’s those damn polar bears! Harper and the Conservatives wants us to prepare our army in case the polar bears attacks us. If elected, Harper will increased the defense funding to $5.3 billion in the next five years. Canada’s image to the world is a peace keeping country. If you increase the war budget, we will no longer be the peace keepers that everyone thinks we are.

If you believe that we should upgrade our defense program, the Conservatives is the way to go. They also have a Child Care Program that will help familes by giving them $1200 per year but you only qualify for that if the child is under six.

So if you’re kid just turned six this year, you’re out of luck.

The Green Party: We can
You can what, exactly? I don’t trust that slogan too much. It’s like, if they were elected, they can do whatever they want because they can. I’ve never even heard of these guys before. I thought they were Greenpeace when I first heard of them, although, they are somewhat like Greenpeace. They proposed that Canada meet the Kyoto protocol and they will go after anyone who pollutes. I just hope that when they say they’re running for office, that they are actually running. If I see them in a car, it better be an electric car or else I’ll get those polar bears after them!

The Liberals: Choose your Canada
How many Canadas are there to choose from? I know of one Canada and I see one Canada. No wait, I’ve had a few too many beers to drink and I’m a little drunk. Maybe that’s why I’m seeing doubles. The Liberals’ main priorities are about money. They want to want to stay out of deficit, cut taxes and invest in health care and education.

New Democratic Party: Getting results for people
I’m liking the sound of that slogan, for the people. The NDP’s priorities involves opposing US influences on Canadian military decisions, oppose dismantling the public health-care system and defending civil and equality rights.

Right now, it doesn’t look like the NDP will form a government because they have less than twenty percent of the votes. The Green party probably consists of five people so I don’t think they’ll win either. The Bloc Qu�b�cois isn’t going to get a whole lot of supports from Canadians. So I guess it’s down to the Conservatives and the Liberals. If the Liberals win, the scandals that were happening before might happen again. If the Conservatives win, we may see a strenghtening in the relationship with Washington.

Politicians are known to back out on their promises. It’s no wonder why not a lot of Canadians show up at the polls to vote. We just don’t trust them because they can’t be trusted. What we see is probably just the top of the iceberg, the rest of their agenda is hidden under water.

What is this world coming to? The holiday season is supposed to be filled with joy, laughter and happiness in knowing that you can share the festivities with family and friends. But the celebration was cut short for the one family who lost their fifteen year old daughter because a bunch of stupid, mindless gangsters felt the need to get violent. Violence doesn’t solve anything, it only adds to the problem.

Jane Creba, like most people that day, was out doing some boxing day shopping. She walked over to the Foot Locker on Yonge St was caught in the crossfire of a gun battle. This fifteen year old girl never got the chance to see her sweet sixteenth birthday. It’s scary to know that there are people out there who can put a stop to all the happiness in a beat of a heart. They can take your life away just as easily as blowing out a candle. If there is a God, I’m sure he knows that everyone is praying and asking him to put a stop to all this violence. Creba is the 52^nd murdered victim of Toronto this year. It is sad to hear that such a caring person could lose their life at such a young age.

“Her life has been transformed into a shooting star that will be forever a light for her devoted parents, uncles, aunts, cousins and close friends.”

My deepest condolenses to the Creba family and hope that they find the strength to overcome this tragedy. Losing a family member is a very difficult thing to deal with, especially this time of year.

Holy phack! What the hell is this world coming to! I’m sitting here doing some work at Tim Horton’s when I started to hear some ruckuss going on behind me. I thought it was juss customers ordering and stuff but then things started to get a little louder. I turn around and some dude was yanking on the cash register! Like, what the phack! He was pulling and yanking like crazy, trying to get it to come apart.

He was going at it like there’s no tomorow! When he couldn’t get the cash draw open, he pull the whole cash register towards him and threw it down on the floor, trying again to make it break. But when that didn’t break, he went for the donation box. The box that was meant to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. How low can you be to go after something like that. The money that’s meant to help those who are in need is being stolen by two ass wipes!

In a situation like this, you just don’t know what to do. Most people are just in shock over the whole thing. There were a few people in here too, but we can’t do anything. The girls who work here were in the kitchen, trying to stay safe, and calling the cops and stuff. There’s a camera looking right at the cash too, so I’m pretty sure they’ve got a look description of the robbers, even if none of the witnesses got a really good look. The one guy was kinda skinny, white, about 5’10″ – 6’0″, wearing a gray hooded sweater, with a shaved head. The other guy was covered up so I couldn’t tell you what he looked like. I should have picked up some chairs and chucked it at the robbers! That might have slowed them down a little.

After they ran out, some guy from across the street took off after them. He said he managed to go as far as the park and that was it. I doubt he could have seen them after that since the guy with the money wore all dark colours. The other guy hopped onto a bike a went another way.

The cops got there about 10 minutes early. You’d figure that, this being Tim Horton’s, they get there a bit faster. But there’s always procedures that take a while.

Two uniformed officer arrived on scene, a female office and a male officer. The male officer walked around the restaurant while the female officer came inside. Later, two other officers with the B&E department arrived to take statements from the witnesses. By this time, it seemed like the restauranted was almost empty. A few people went outside to smoke. I guess witnessing a robbery in progress stresses you out. The investigators got a few statements from a few people. I give my statement the best I could. My statement was pretty much like the old man’s statement. He was sitting behind me, facing the cash, so he had a better view. I didn’t get a look at things until it had already started. Some other guy came into the restaurant later, stating that he was the one in the car, across the street, he went after them. After he was done, he wanted to know if he could get coffee. What kinda question is that? This guy was just inconsiderate. After the ordeal that the cashiers went through, I think they should get a few days off to settle down. I wouldn’t blame any of them if they decided to quit. It was all females working the night shift that night. And they don’t have anything to protect themselves with if an armed robber entered the restaurant. They’ve got a butter knife but that wouldn’t have done much.

Dude from CSI: Hamilton was there too. He wasn’t as cool as CSI: Las Vegas tho. This guy was kinda fat and he carried a dark orange case which probably had most of the crime scene equipment you would expect. Before I left, he was dusting the crime scene for finger prints. I dont’ know why they would need that when the whole thing was caught on tape. I don’t think anyone asked about the video tape. That was probably the guest eyewitness.

2005 marks the year where people from around the world unite in order to help end world proverty. On July 6th to 8th, Prime Minister Paul Martin will be attending the G8 Summit in Scotland. The Make Proverty History campaign hope to get your help by adding your voice to the voices of those who have already participated.

Today, there will be a Live8 concert held in Barrie, Ontario to help raise awareness of world poverty. There will be performances by top Canadian superstars such as Barenaked Ladies, Bryan Adams, Jann Arden, Simple Plan, Our Lady Peace and The Tragically Hip.

Show your support by clicking on the banner and signing on. Once you’ve signed on, you can show your support by wearing a white band, which I will give out to the first 50 people who signs on. It’s a way of showing my support to help end world poverty once and for all. But you’ll have to hurry because there’s only a few days left before Prime Minister Martin leaves for Scotland. So sign on and leave me a comment and I’ll send you the white band as soon as the shipment comes in.

Thanks in advance for your support!