GET A #@$# GRIP, CANADA!

Unbelievable. Pathetic. A tiny scandal is gripping our country - the first ten pages of the Star this morning about nothing else, not one other subject than the Wilson-Raybould debacle from Ottawa.  Yes, it seems our boy king behaved inappropriately in urging - even, possibly, insistently urging his attorney general to do something she was loath to do. Imagine that - insistently urging! The country writhes in agony.

And in the meantime, on the same day to the south, as Michael Cohen testified, we were privy to a breathtaking portrait of corruption, treason, lying, cheating, stealing, vile cynicism of the most appalling, abject kind - and at the centre, a flawed man struggling to become a human being again, truly a Greek tragedy in the playing.

Let's weigh these two things and find balance, shall we? And shall we also look at the alternatives to the Liberals, who, let's not forget, have achieved some pretty remarkable things and failed, no question, at others. My daughter is relentless about their failures toward Indigenous peoples, for example. But look at what's on offer on the other side of the aisle - the disgusting Scheer, who recently met with the racist, xenophobic convoy from Alberta to cheer them on. Please, I beg my friends on the left, let's not tear our own side apart as we always do, as Bill Maher loves to point out we always do. And in the meantime, the right gets on with its job of rewarding wealth and destroying everything else. As our premier and his party are doing right now in Ontario.

Perhaps as an outsider, an Indigenous woman, the Attorney General refused to play the old boy's game as it is usually played. Trudeau has found out the flip side of his policy of selecting former outsiders - women and formerly marginalized people - for his cabinet. Boy, has he found out. But if this small mess leads to the election of the Conservatives ...

Unthinkable. Cannot go there. Okay, rant over for today.

Meanwhile, in renoland:

 the handles for the old doors which are starting to go in upstairs - sorting, fixing, and installing these will be a hell of a job for Ed

 living room decorated with handsome uncheesy trim

new hallway with new light and old doors

beginnings of walk in closet, using recycled bits of furniture 

  Hallway facing east, toward my bedroom. Light.

Yesterday's snowfall - a record for this day in February, apparently. My most important job today: to get to the birdfeeder.

But I'm in my office in the sun - the new old door installed, without handle, shut against the noise. I'm not working on my own stuff, but I'm editing for So True and U of T. I'm in my office, as if everything is normal. As one day, undoubtedly, it will again be. But then - what's normal?

PS Anna just sent me a terrific article about Raybould et al. She pointed out that we shouldn't lower our standards just because the other side is so much worse.
https://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2019/02/27/for-justin-trudeau-the-days-of-sunny-ways-are-over.html