Pre-High Holy Day Bitch Session

I haven't had a good bitch session on this blog in quite a while. I was actually starting to wonder if I had lost my mojo, but in reality it was more about the true exhaustion that I have been feeling due to political stupidity oozing out of every possible municipality, province, state and country. So here I present my pre-High Holy Day Bitch Session so that I might properly atone for my words, thoughts, and behaviour in the coming weeks. A sort of pre-confession confessional.

1. I am truly appalled at the genuine nastiness that has become pervasive in all political processes. Neither liberals nor conservatives can claim the high road in this battle for the lowest of the low scumbag. NDP candidates trading on the name of the late Jack Layton in an effort to garner provincial votes is as distasteful a practice as there might be. Conversely, PC leader Tim Hudak attempting to polarize the electorate with characterizations of "foreign workers" vs "real Canadians" is abhorrent. I realize that Mr. Hudak was "played" by Mr. McGuinty and the Liberals, but his xenophobic Tea Party-like rants were disgusting even for a politician searching for votes.
2. Since when did it become ok for a seemingly caring society to show such utter lack of concern for the most vulnerable? At two recent debates of the Republican hopefuls for the presidential nomination, morons in the crowd (I get that there exists morons everywhere, but this is my rant!) actually cheered for more Texas executions and actively shouted to let the uninsured die. I realize that the American electorate is at an unprecedented level of polarization, but really? Aren't we all in this together?
3. In the midst of the craziness that has become Toronto City Council, comes this phenomenal article by Edmund Pries, an instructor in the department of Global Studies at Wilfred Laurier University. I have often wondered many of the same things that Mr. Pries comments on. The difference between a citizen and a taxpayer (note I use the compound word rather than two word phrase tax payer) is all about the self vs the communal. Once again I ask the question, "Aren't we all in this together?"
4. The backwards steps being taken by women recently, especially in pop culture has me pissed. How can women in 2011 actually even think it is okay to watch a new television program based on the happenings in a 1960s Playboy club. I realize that it is fictionalized and probably a soap, but let's be honest. There is a reason that these clubs no longer exist. The misogyny and arrogance of the management and the cliental was horrifying. I cannot imagine that many women want to look back at these particular moments in history with nostalgia. I feel exactly the same way about the reboot of Charlie's Angels-the very first "jiggle show". When people use Mad Men as an analogy for how women are portrayed in the 1960s, I think that they totally miss the point of that show. Mad Men is all about the empowerment of women, not the idea of renewed subservience. And while I am on the subject, don't even get me started about lingerie football.
5. It seems to me that if the Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee mayoral twins of Toronto want to even entertain the idea of cutting libraries, they should learn how to properly pronounce the word. That's li-brar-y Messieurs Ford, not li-berry. Your ignorance is showing and on public display.
6. I am absolutely sick and tired of the anti-intellectualism that is pervading our political discourse. I don't want leaders that deny science, endanger women's health, put low income children at medical risk, or who believe that libraries are gravy. I want leaders who are smarter than I am, have creative solutions to complex problems, are willing to take those ideas from whatever side of the political spectrum they might arise, and who are willing to listen and work with their idealogical foes. I don't want change for change sake, and I don't want warmed-over leftover ideas from a era that is no longer relevant. Ronald Reagan is dead as is Pierre Trudeau. I want a leader who understands that we live in the twenty-first century and that our problems cannot be easily solved with thirty year old platitudes.

I am certain that there are many many many more, but these will do for now. Feel free to add your own in the comments section. For all these sins O God forgive me, pardon me, grant me atonement.