It's just the same damn King as last time.

Well, King Ralph was crowned last night for the fourth time. Interestingly enough, his popularity seems to have tumbled down to the same level it was at before he was elected for the first time, back in the aftermath of Don "Spendin' like a drunken sailor on shore leave" Getty. The popularity is down so significantly that my prediction of Klein losing a seat in Calgary not only came true, but it came true three times over as three ridings in Calgary were abducted by the Liberals.

It's interesting, to me, that the Liberals (and the rest of the parties) were able to capture seats not so much through the strength of their party or policies, but more that there is a seed of discontent throughuout the province which had sprouted just enough for thenm to win some extra seats.

It makes you wonder what would have happened if they were looked at as more of an actual party versus a protest vote.

--

We "nominate" Senate candidates in Alberta. It's an unusual thing to do, since we don't have elected Senators in this country. The Senate is appointed by the party in power, an absurd notion since the Senate has ultimate power, and if the party in power gets to nominate them, and they get to stay in the Senate literally until they die, it means that a party like the Liberals can basically rule even if they are removed from power.

Anyway, during each provincial election we nominate candidates, and hope that the federal government will recognize them and appoint them to empty seats in the Senate. So far, this hasn't happened and is unlikely to ever happen.

Sadly, this form of protest is quite ineffective when you consider that Alberta is the only province whose Parties (actually ruling Party, - since all the candidates on the Senate appointee list were almost exclusively PC, with a few Alliance, and Independents thrown in for good measure) participate.

In no other province does it seem important to fight for an elected senate.

Which is absolutely embarassing.

But typical of this country. It makes me very disappointed that more people don't seem to understand the importance of democracy at all levels. This city, this province, this country - they are all not just governed by your Alderman, MLA or MP. There are many other levels of government which are all appointed, have indefinite terms, and are completely and utterly non-accountable. This, somehow, doesn't strike people as being something to be concerned about.

I just don't get it.

The Inukshuk

INUKSHUK is an Inuit word meaning "image of man’s spirit". These lifelike rock figures were erected by the Inuit across the tundra to serve as markers or guides for those that journeyed along the same route. They act as reminders to us of our dependence on one another and the importance of strong relationships.

Inukshuk are small piles of stones arranged in the likeness of a person. The Inuit originally built these manlike sculptures of rock along Canada’s northern shores as markers to lead their way, indicating safe passage. ....other's have come this way....

They recognize our ability to succeed with others, where we would fail alone. The Inukshuk serves as a reminder of the responsibility to invest our efforts today, towards building a better tomorrow.

Today, the Inukshuk has become an eternal symbol of the importance of teamwork, cooperation and shared vision.

The traditional meaning of an Inukshuk was to act as a compass or guide for a safe journey. The Inukshuk, like ancient trackers, helped guide people seeking their way through the wilderness."

Inukshuk, meaning, variously, "I was here," or "person keeping watch."

These large boulders or the Inukshuk are clearly necessary in a land with so few landmarks.........to point out the way...

"Erected to make the way easier and safer for those who follow, an Inukshuk represents safety and nourishment, trust and reassurance. The Inukshuk guided people across the frozen tundra and gave them hope in barren places to handle hardships they encountered. These primitive, stone images showed the way ahead... pointing you in the direction you wanted to go."

Inukshuks in themselves are the product of cooperation. The hands and efforts of an entire group were required to build these massive stone sculptures. They are the result of a consensus of purpose, of focused action by a group united in its goal and labour. The Inukshuk reminds us that as good as our individual efforts may be, together we can do even greater things.

Each individual stone in an inukshuk supports, and is supported by, the one above and the one below it. No one piece is any more or less important than another. Its' strength lies in its unity. Its' significance comes from its meaning as a whole.

Each individual, by themselves, is significant. As part of a team each of us supports, and is supported by, another. We are united by our common goals, and together we are part of a greater whole.

The Inukshuk are a symbol of the human spirit. They recognize our ability to succeed with others, where alone we would fail. Remind us of our need to belong to something greater than ourselves. Prompt us to reconnect with our individual responsibility to invest our efforts today so we may all have a better tomorrow. Ask us to heed the knowledge of our inner knowingness, hear the voice of our intuition and move to the harmonious music in our heart and spirit. Inukshuks convey the importance of personal contribution and reinforce our ability to commit to common goals. They implore us to share the fruits of our learning, our wisdom with one another.

Good morning! How are you?

• Whew. Only 67 emails in my inbox this morning. Nice.


• I'm glad to know that the rights of homeless people in this city are lesser to those of everyone else. It makes me happy that our judicial system recognizes that homeless people, by their very nature, are barely people at all and are thus not deserving of equal protection under the law. You see, if I were to go and, say, attack some woman in a back alley, smash a bottle over her head, kick her in the face, proceed to urinate on her, and VIDEOTAPE the entire endeavour, I would most likely be reasonable in expecting multiple years in prison.
  
  Thankfully, if I want to do this to a homeless person, I need only worry about spending a few months in jail. Perfect! Finally the justice system recognizes there are different types of human beings, each deserving of different protection under the law.


• Here's a question for you: You're going to go commit a horrible crime. Something that is sure to get you sent off to jail if you're caught and it can be proven that you participated. What in the world makes you think it's a good idea to videotape yourself committing the crime?!?
  
  It's not like it's a random thing, either. It seems to be very common, hearing about "The prosecution's key piece of evidence was a videotape the defendants made of themselves committing the crime."
  
  Well, I guess it's comforting to know that the majority of criminals aren't the brightest bulbs on the tree.


• Prediction for Monday's big election: King Ralph remains in power by a long shot, since most Albertans can't figure out if there are actually any other parties running in the election. However, some Albertans are lucky enough to actually see a campaign sign by a non-PC candidate, and perhaps even go out of their way to find out about the other parties.
  
  This being the case, King Ralph loses several seats, including one in (gasp!) Calgary itself.
  
  Albertans, over the next few years, are in a constant state of shock when bizarre policies and government actions are undertaken, most of which the people weren't aware would happen when they cast their vote. Few Albertans realize the irony of being upset at things not going well when they all voted for a candidate who said "My platform is I'll tell you what I'm going to do after I'm elected."


• We get our wedding video today, hoo ha, hoo ha.


• Company poker tournament is on Saturday. Should be fun.


• I realized something this weekend. You see, I stayed up until 2am on Friday while over at Shane's housewarming party, then was up until 3:00am the next day at our house, getting very drunk on red wine and champagne while playing poker with Shane, Dillan, and my wife.
  
  What I realized is that I need to be less of a hermit and get out with my friends more, since this weekend was about as much fun as I've had in a long, long time. (I'm very glad Shane is back in town, very very glad).


• Hopefully a regular poker night will be starting up soon. I love poker...

That is all. Have a good day ...

Uh...

Well. Not really sure what to say about this. It does not appear to be a joke... well, an intentional one, anyway.

www.carllewis.com

Ah, the fun you can have with statistics.

Neat link, which explains those coloured-state maps of the USA you've been seeing on all the news channels lately.

Keep yourself safe

Go get your Firefox.

Schrodinger's Arafat

This whole Arafat thing is utterly confusing.

Alive? Dead? Both?

It reminds me of Schrodinger's Cat, my favourite Physics/Philosophy thought experiment.

Showdown! Put your nose down!

Pamcakes!? At the Champeenship?

Some stuff.

And so, now, for some stuff.

• Saw "The Incredibles" last night. To put it simply, it was absolutely freaking incr... uh, amazing. Probably my favourite animated/graphics type film ever (yeah, even more than Nemo or Monsters, Inc., both of which I loved to death). It was exciting, touching, funny as hell, and just overall, really really well done. Absolutely loved this one. Go see it as soon as you get a chance.
  
• Watched a couple of other movies this weekend, too. On Saturday night we watched "Runaway Jury", which was a very enjoyable movie. It was, at times, somewhat far-fetched, but that didn't really detract from the enjoyable-ness of the film. Well, I hope it was far fetched, anyway, because if it wasn't far-fetched then we might as well just rip off old lady justice's blindfold and fill her scale with dubloons, aarrrrr. (Why that turned into a Pirate thing, I'm not sure. Arrr.)
  
  The other movie we watched was "Rounders" (well I should say "I", since Steph wasn't interested), a movie about Poker. Naturally, I loved it. But my only complaint was there wasn't enough actual poker being played.
  
• This reminds me, that I must complain to TSN that they don't broadcast nearly enough Poker.
  
• It also reminds me that I must contact Shane about starting a Poker night. Anyone want to join us for poker night?
  
• It is Monday.... 7:26am. That means that there's only 39.5 work hours to go until the weekend. On which I have to work. Sigh.

That is all.

Well then ...

I'll fall out of my chair in delerious glee and shock tonight if Kerry wins.

Bush has far too many goons to lose this election, including, but not limited to:

- Brother Bush with his fancy voting machines in Florida

- The letter-writing goons who nicely advised black voters registered as Democrats in various areas that they would be arrested for not paying their utility bills when they showed up to vote.

- And the biggest goons of them all, those of the Supreme variety.

Unfortunately, it's not like the other side is much better...

Anyone who thinks that the Democratic party isn't capable of playing dirty is fooling themselves, and anyone who thinks that Kerry and his "Woo hoo Isolationism!" stance is a good thing is fooling themselves.

That being said, dear god I hope he wins. Might be worse for Canada than Bush but we're not the only country to be thinking about here. Bush is bad for the world. Hell, damn nasty, even.

And it's rare I call someone "damn nasty".

-----------

Speaking of idiot politicians, while I used to be able to at least sort of tolerate King Ralph, his latest actions have enraged me beyond belief.

Ok. It's one thing to make a stupid statement. It's entirely another thing to make said comment, apologize, then make childish passive-aggressive comments about it later which make it pretty clear your apology didn't mean shit.

Like I needed another reason not to vote for the idiot.

He's a complete and utter embarassment to this province.

Bah. That is all.