5) Whatever, show us your boobies

Men can go shirtless in public almost anywhere — it’s pretty much accepted as a norm.  Maybe not the classiest thing, but dude won’t get ticketed for public indecency just because he wants to show off his pecs.  Well, here in good ol’ Ontario, there’s no discrimination based on gender, and if I want to walk around downtown Toronto with my shirt off and boobies hanging out, I can.  I must say that I have yet to see a shirtless woman in the city, but it’s comforting to know that if I felt the urge to be a free spirit, I could pursue this urge.

4) Two Party Politics? Laaaame.

Canadian politicians are like pirates.  They can form a coalition, stage a mutiny, and overthrow the party that was elected into power.  There are like five different political parties represented in the federal government right now (it might only be four, but I think the Green Party got someone in there?) and it’s awesome.  There’s a viable political party for most points of view, and although there are two big players who pretty much “win” all the federal elections, everyone is (at least right now) forced to try and play nice together.  Things don’t go The Republican Way or The Democrat Way based on who has a majority — the way Canadian politics are structured at the moment means that all parties are heard, and the party in power has to be willing to compromise, for anything to get done.  I love it.

3) Fries + gravy + cheese = love

Let’s be real: I’ve never actually had my own serving of poutine.  Why? Because everytime it’s been available to me, the gravy in question is beef based.  But I’ve ogled it, I’ve daydreamed about it, and I know exactly where Smoke’s Poutinerie is in Toronto, on the off-chance that I ever end up around the corner and hungry.

2) Extra “u”s are extra cool!

For as long as I remember, I’ve been spelling words like “labour” “armour” “humour” and “colour” with the extra u.  This is slightly ironic, considering my prior rant against the pronunciation of “again”, but let’s be real: tossing a “u” in after an o is just sexy looking.  Also, it makes crossword puzzles infinitely easier.

1) Seriously, you can go bankrupt just because you got sick?

I remember Chris coming down with a cold shortly after I moved to Canada.  As he sat sniffling on the couch one night, he said, “I think I’ll go to the clinic tomorrow.”  I answered, “Okay, but how much will it cost?” and he gave me this look like you poor little American. Sure, you know, universal health care has its problems; I won’t deny it.  I also won’t deny that it’s absolutely hideous that a health problem in the US can eat through your savings and throw families into bankruptcy and turmoil.  If I donate blood in the US, for free, it still costs you money to get a transfusion with my blood.  If your child is born with sensitive lungs and develops a lung disease because of the “air quality” where you live, oh well, it’s all on your hands to take care of that child’s medical bills.  I am eternally grateful that money will not have to be a concern when it comes to my child’s health.

Runners up: Coast to coast to coast (hand in hand with Sea to sea to sea), Strippers actually strip, Paranoia, paranoia, everybody’s coming to get me (except they aren’t) and The men are infinitely sexier.

I didn’t vote for the dude because he’s black.  In fact, for nearly the entire campaign, no one wanted to breathe about his skin colour.  Was it important to everyone?  I don’t know.  I don’t think it was to those of us who love him for his policies and the optimistic attitude that he embodies — okay, or, at least I didn’t think about his skin colour.

I thought about how his policies would impact my life & my family’s.  I thought about what I wanted American citizenship to represent to — AND ABOUT — my daughter.

Now, I can understand how blacks (I hate the term “African-American” — unless you were born in another country, we’re all just Americans) see something more messianic and representative about the triumph of civil rights in Obama’s inauguration.  I don’t.

Civil rights are not just one skin colour versus another.  The nation is writing discrimination against people based on their sexual preference into law; that is just an immense (and disgusting, and unacceptable) gap in the ‘civil rights’ movement.  Discrimination doesn’t start and end with black and white.

Now, yes, I do have faith in Obama to have a successful, inspiring, and vibrant presidency.  But I think a huge part of that happening lies on the shoulders of those who voted him into office.  Part of his platform was based on service to your fellow man.  If his success inspires more people to get involved in their communities through volunteer work or even just being more active in their local political scene, then he’s accomplished a great deal.  I hate that so many of his supporters just want him to fix everything.  He can’t.  He is a single man, the face of an entire political system, and his word is not the law.  If he thought it was, we wouldn’t have voted for him.

The media coverage of all this is sickening.  I had to turn off the television the other day when CNN was covering Obama’s train ride from Philly (?) to DC.  The newscasters have no bloody idea how to report relevant information.  In between waxing rhapsodic about how Obama appeared at the back of the train to wave to people, Anderson Cooper managed to squeeze out a casual statement about a unilateral ceasefire being reached in Gaza.  A moment later they were right back onto the entire BUT OBAMA IS ON A TRAIN JUST LIKE LINCOLN RODE ON A TRAIN!! topic.

A unilateral ceasefire?  A step towards peace, maybe, or at least more humane treatment of the Palestinian people?  Well shit, that doesn’t hold a candle to Obama on a train!

Gahhh… too bad I have no interest in actually participating in television media.

Oh and mommy?  That $20 you sent me?

I spent a lot of time looking down at my bump at Obama’s face over Maia, and smiling.  My baby girl may be growing up in Canada, but I am honoured that she will be an American, too.

Canada Votes Obama is holding an election watch party at Wayne Gretzky’s Restaurant in downtown Toronto tonight, so that’s where we’ll be!  I am totally stoked.  A friend offered to come as my designated drinker (haha) which I thought was very generous of him, and I haven’t seen him since the start of September, so that’ll be cool.  Hopefully some of our other boys can make it out, too.  It’ll be great to watch the results coming in with a totally supportive crowd — and of course my baby girl!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtREqAmLsoA]

In case you missed it & are interested :]  I love this man.

Not that it’s anywhere near as interesting as the American election, but, today is Election Day up here in Canada.  Get out there & vote!  It’s your civic duty!

I’m so proud of my little home state

Three down, forty-seven more to go… and the battle for federal recognition…

http://www.keatingeconomics.com/

Let’s show our fellow Americans just how much you take your money, and ours, for granted.

EDIT: I realized I should say something positive about my candidate once in awhile rather than always bashing the easy targets. I won’t lie, social issues are the most important to me; I’m fairly fatalistic about the economy and whatnot — I believe those things will work themselves out in time, because they’re widely regarded as too important not to and no one in America wants to be poor. But it’s easier to overlook the “small” things that make a huge difference in people’s lives, and there are too many challenges unique to women that go unrecognized, or circumstances under which women are not regarded as equals to men, which infuriates me. Obama/Biden stances on women’s rights here: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/womenissues.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrzXLYA_e6E]

Seriously, she’s terrifyingly unprepared.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/olpCyDA4kYA&hl=en&fs=1]

Thanks to Scary Mommy for posting this originally!