Friday, September 5, 2008

biting the apple and telling it like it is

I have one word for you today: apples.  How could I forget, in all my mewling about peaches, the power and glory of that hard fruit?  Yesterday I bit into an apple from the farmer's market and nearly fell over - so much crunch and flavour.  Forget namby-pamby peaches.  Apples are a much more practical fruit, anyway - try throwing a peach in your handbag on the way out.  As I did, once.

Time to move right along.  Instead of mourning for summer, I'm celebrating what's to come: apples, sweaters, raking, glowing cheeks, the first frost, and then the gentle closing in of snow.  

Today's rant: the politics in the air are so foul, I'm going to move to a remote island for the next few months, or at least cancel papers and pull the plug on the TV until the Daily Show at 11 . Cold fish, no, timber wolf Harper and his gang of thieves and thugs, already running attack ads though the election hasn't even been called.  I loved the photo of him the other day taking his daughter to school, with his face frozen in a semblance of a smile.  You can be sure that his party has hired a smiling coach for him, to teach him how it's done.  "You see, the mouth turns up, like this.  Give it a try."  And the man is trying, but it just doesn't work.  His eyes give him away.

And the Republican convention - thank the lord, once again, for Jon Stewart, who makes the viciousness of that world bearable and even funny.  It's pure joy to see the fun he and his team are having this week with the hypocritical gang in Minnesota, rushing to the defence of a pregnant teen and her mother.  Booing the words "community organiser" and laughing with derision at the words "Security Council."  I try to repeat a saying my mother-in-law taught me: "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no matter how wrong they may be."  But I don't really believe it.  

The thought that Obama might lose in the States - it's truly unthinkable.  Unthinkable.  And that Obama might win in the States and Harper might win a majority in Canada - well then, we'll all have to move South till the next Canadian election, when perhaps we can move home again - if there's a recognisable Canada to move home to when those guys are finished with us.

On that note, this morning I was happy to see half a page of letters to the editor of the Star decrying the trendy changes at CBC 2 - firing the knowledgeable old hosts in favour of bright young things.  I turned it on by mistake the other day, and the host of the short new classical program told me we were going to hear Beethoven "tell it like it is."  I turned it off.  I'm trying not to be an old fogey - I'm as open to change as the next person, if not more - but the destruction of something that worked so well so that I can hear a kid speak to me in kidspeak - okay, I AM an old fogey.  And proud of it.  

No matter how wrong I may be.

11 comments:

  1. Funny, today you and Daniel MacIvor are both swearing off all political news except for Jon Stewart! Can't say I blame you. I couldn't even watch the U.S. conventions (I'm American) because it's just a bunch of rhetoric. I want results, not manipulation.

    It may be unthinkable that Obama won't win, but, as history has unfortunately shown, that doesn't mean it won't turn out that way. I'm shaking in my boots, I'll tell you that.

    Best of luck in your neck of the woods!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mary, now we're all shaking in our boots because our own election is definitely on. There's a letter to the editor of the "Toronto Star" today saying, "Canadian aren't stupid. They'll see through Harper's machinations." Unfortunately, the writer may be wrong on both counts.

    Looking at what Bush has done to the world, the primacy of war, dishonesty, heedlessness and greed, these elections feel even more vitally important than previous ones. Good luck to the planet.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, until 9/11, I had no idea how easily fooled many of my fellow Americans are. I could understand judgment being a little clouded at first, due to the trauma (especially those who were directly affected), but, come on, there was nothing the least bit subtle about Bush's fear- and war-mongering in the aftermath. I'm very unpolitical, and even I knew he was going to do that within minutes after the attacks!

    For your sakes, I hope that Toronto Star letter writer isn't wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The day the wise and compassionate Barbara Hall was defeated as mayor of Toronto by a right-wing idiot with hair implants, who ended up being one of the biggest embarrassments this city has ever endured, was the day my political heart broke. Ever since, I have never expected anything but the worst from the votes of my fellow citizens.

    When the loathsome Mike Harris, our mini-Bush, was elected premier of the province for the second time after spending his first term eviscerating both the city of Toronto and the education system of Ontario, I expected my heart to break all over again, but it didn't. Because I had expected the worst, and the worst, indeed, presented itself. And though many things are still broken years after his departure, we're still here.

    The Conservatives have an enormous election machine, much money, American advisors, and a complete lack of conscience - they'll do anything to get their majority. Unfortunately, Stephane Dion, who's a deeply moral, decent person and an intellectual, is not a vibrant leader and speaker. So I am expecting the worst. And then I'll move to Obamaland, down South.

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