mrrnice2

cannot find the older thread on vaccines, however I just wanted to encourage everyone to get their flu shot. Apparently it is becoming available now. Public health equals public safety.

I watched Episode 1 of the Star Wars series. Five more to go before the new movie is released in December. :) I also intend to watch the first three Hunger Games movies before the final one is released.

When I write mine I shall post it, as many people did the last time. I encourage others to do the same.

It is quite possible that everyone here, sex workers and clients alike have been jaded by our experience of over a year ago. If you were on Cerb at that time you may well recall the thread about the New Prostitution Law and maybe you were a participant in all the work that was done to fight the new legislation. I know looking back that it leaves a sour taste in my mouth as I saw law makers ignore all of the emails, the Supreme Court, research and most of all, sex workers themselves. I continue to be optimistic that with a new government that appears to be willing to be open minded and fair, that we do have an opportunity. It will require I expect a little push not only from sex worker advocacy groups, but from individuals such as you and I as well. Despite our total lack of success the last time I shall continue encouraging everyone to be vocal and whatever campaign we mounted last time to double it. Wouldn't it be nice to have that law repealed before Joy Smith gets her hands on that $20 million to save women from making their own choices. In our parliamentary system we do have our processes and procedures, and these can take time. I really don't know if the government really does choose to repeal a bill what the steps are. Does it involve a first second and third reading? Are there mandatory committee hearings? Even with success in the House of Commons ultimately a Conservative Senate majority could choose to vote it down? I checked today on the Government of Canada site and the email addresses for our new Members of Parliament will not be available until the first week of November. When that is available I shall post the information. Please, despite our lack of success the last time, do not despair. Become vocal again and support the sex worker advocacy groups that are already out there that are no doubt working on this and deciding upon their approach. With Great Confidence, MN2

Happy Birthday Birdboy, and what Cato said in his entry. Have a great day.

It is my belief that a great deal of what will happen to us as far as the law goes is now in our own hands, as opposed to the way it was more than a year ago. At that time the law was being forced through at hearings that used false evidence, ignored and belittled sex workers, ignored the ruling of the Supreme Court and fell sway to right wing evangelists and at least one branch of feminist thinking. I started a thread a few days ago with little reaction to it entitled Decriminalize Now - A Suggestion. I shall add to that thread today but if we do want any change in a timely manner there is only one legal way to do so and that is through Parliament.

Wishes to you Pete from the East coast for a very Happy Birthday. Have a good one.

A pot roast with mashed potato and gravy and carrots smothered in butter.

As a child of the late 60's and early 70's the anthems of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez still ring true to me. Justice and freedom are very important to me and as those artists did in their own way through their music and as anti Vietnam war protesters did in their way, Canadians this past week called for their own freedom and their own quest for justice with the overwhelming choice to dump the Harper agenda and his way of dictating. Mr. Trudeau made many election promises and now that he is in the real world it shall be of great interest to me and to many whether he will honor those promises. The promise that probably should be of common interest to all of us here is his opposition to Bill C-36 which has become the bill entitled the, "Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act." There have been references to this in other threads with the general feeling seeming to be that it will not be a priority for Mr. Trudeau to change and therefore we should not expect the repeal of the legislation to happen at least in the short term. Despite being a political junkie and following it closely I am probably one of the least politically aware people in the country about how things actually happen. My own thought is that if it is going to happen then it will have to happen relatively early in his mandate because once another election draws near in four years it would become a political football. This brings me to the point of this thread. When the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the old laws in order to remove dangerous working conditions for sex workers there were many of us here who wrote letters to our Members of Parliament, to the Minister of Justice and to the Prime Minister, all without success. The Conservatives had plotted their course and did what they were going to do regardless of facts or research or the Supreme Court decision. I will argue that now is the time for another writing campaign to our new Members of Parliament, to our new Prime Minister and to the new Minister of Justice once he or she is appointed. As well, since the Supreme Court decision came down I have sent $50 a month, or at least most months, to P.O.W.E.R in order to give my little bit by way of support. It is organizations such as P.O.W.E.R out of Ottawa, and STELLA out of Montreal and P.I.V.O.T out of B.C. that may well be the organizations of sex worker advocates that exert formal, "Pressure," on the new government to repeal the law and decriminalize. Any little bits of financial support that you can send their way may be a wonderful personal investment for each and every one of us. I shall do my letter writing to parliamentarians and continue my little bits of financial support to sex worker rights advocates. I hope that many of us will do the same. Now is not the time to sit back but rather the time to become active and vocal again.

:(

Simple. Salmon, mashed potato and peas.

And the Atlantic region has some amazing ladies as well!!!!!

Before I retired I always liked Friday the best. Now it might still be the same for who knows why? After the election - Harper stay as leader or Harper quit?

It may well be a fascinating evening between watching election results and the Jays. I have no idea if anyone here is making predictions but right now I am actually fearful of a total Conservative collapse right across the country. Good on that except I do not want a majority government of any sort. Brian Mulroney did that to the Conservatives when he left as Canada's most hated Prime Minister and Harper has now taken that crown hands down. However wouldn't it be nice to see Harper and Michelle Remple and a couple more sitting in the back benches. He could just tell them what to say instead of having to write it out on cue cards. A Liberal minority, the NDP in opposition and the Conservatives as a distant third is my prediction.

Halifax. Monday night will you watch the Jays game or the election results coverage or neither?

I try to be an optimist and positive and a glass half full guy most of the time, always tempered with at least some degree of practicality. Voting. Well, I knew it was not going to be Harper. Mulcair dropped himself from my #1 slot when he played the same political games as Harper when he dropped out of the national women's debate. That then left me with Trudeau and May. Well, I cannot believe Trudeau's stunt of having his chairman of his election committee being a paid lobbyist advising oil companies on how to deal with a Liberal government. Now he sounds like Harper giving the same word for word excuses as Harper did for Nigel Wright. And the nerve of Harper chastising Trudeau. Are they all the very same unprincipled, unethical, lying politicians? So it may be Green? Or back to NDP? Geeze!

Watching the Jays and feeling rather stressed. Go Jays.

Hope that you have a great birthday Cowboy Kenny.

Polls of late do indeed seem to show the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party pulling away from the New Democratic Party in terms of decided voters. We do know however, especially based on some very recent provincial elections, that polls are not always definitive. The ultimate poll is the one that is taken on Election Day. I have already reminded my children about their right and responsibility to vote and I have not tried to influence them specifically on what party to vote for, because I have not even made up my own mind at this point. Where I have influenced them, not that they needed it at all, is the danger of the Conservative Party and how they have changed the fabric of Canada on so many levels. Based on current polling data, the Liberals and Conservatives are virtually tied at 32.3 and 32.5 % respectively, with the NDP at 25%. How this translates into seats however shows a Conservative minority victory with 126 seats, the Liberals with 118 and the NDP at 92. When people say that their vote does not matter because they live in a riding that is virtually a lock for one of the parties then I argue this. Every vote counts under our parliamentary system. Should the seats distribution in fact come out with the existing projections then the Liberals and Conservatives have every legal and constitutional right to form a government and set the Conservatives aside. Every vote given to either of these parties further validates the claim that I hope they will make to the Governor General to be given that right. In the last election the Conservatives formed a majority government with only 39% of the vote. Because of the seat distribution there was no chance of a coalition forming to replace them. It appears as if this may not be the case on October 18th, and every vote not cast for a Conservative member is another opportunity for them to be relegated to the back benches. All I CAN ask is that each of us votes and encourage everyone you know to do the same.

House cleaning on this cold wet day.

It is sad as a proud Canadian to see a government so desperate to keep power for powers sake that they are reduced to sewing seeds of fear and hatred as their means of doing so. It's even sadder to see the newest polls showing that it is working.

Awesome fresh corn on the cob and then my comfort food, KD. :)

It has been said that one can use numbers and statistics to prove anything. That is probably correct however I saw a statistic today that blew my mind, of course depending on its veracity. Following the latest mass shooting in the United States yesterday (for the past twelve months it's averaged one per month for these types of shootings), CNN posted the following statistic. 2004-2013 Terrorist inflicted deaths in the US - 36 2004-2013 Deaths caused by guns in the US - 316,445 (murder, suicide, etc.) Republican presidential candidates are now arguing for more guns, that schools and the public should be better armed and therefore that will stop these incidents. Hmmmm. I am rather mind boggled at the logic.

Banana split with chocolate syrup. :) Commercial beers or craft beers?

Getting settled in to watch game one of the Bluejays double header. A beer, corn and a roast beef dinner to go along with it shortly.