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anotheranonJust when I was talking about rays of sunshine earlier...I may be braindead, but I didn't need to be that cognizant to realize that this is Bad News(TM):
The Martial Plan: Police State Tactics Transform a Nation—Our Own - discusses police/prison abuses of men arrested after September 11, and detainment of foreign correspondents desperate to get a Bennifer Lopez story.
"So what?" We might justly ask - most of us aren't suspected terrorists or journalists. This doesn't have anything to do with me, and the pendulum will swing the other way eventually, etc.
It does get worse: South Carolina Students Were Terrorized by Police Raid With Guns and Drug Dogs, ACLU Lawsuit Charges.
Look at the video at the bottom of the article (I refrain from a direct link out of respect for those on dialup). I admit, I don't know the full situation - maybe the school in question does have a serious drug problem, but am I completely naive to find it extremely disturbing to see armed police casing a public school like it's a crackhouse?
Were I more awake I'd work up a fire and brimstone rant on these abuses, but I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir, and I'm equally sure there are others out there who can righteously condemn these actions more eloquently than I can.
Right now I'm just wondering -![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jlsjlsjls - that fold out sofa still available?
The Martial Plan: Police State Tactics Transform a Nation—Our Own - discusses police/prison abuses of men arrested after September 11, and detainment of foreign correspondents desperate to get a Bennifer Lopez story.
"So what?" We might justly ask - most of us aren't suspected terrorists or journalists. This doesn't have anything to do with me, and the pendulum will swing the other way eventually, etc.
It does get worse: South Carolina Students Were Terrorized by Police Raid With Guns and Drug Dogs, ACLU Lawsuit Charges.
Look at the video at the bottom of the article (I refrain from a direct link out of respect for those on dialup). I admit, I don't know the full situation - maybe the school in question does have a serious drug problem, but am I completely naive to find it extremely disturbing to see armed police casing a public school like it's a crackhouse?
Were I more awake I'd work up a fire and brimstone rant on these abuses, but I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir, and I'm equally sure there are others out there who can righteously condemn these actions more eloquently than I can.
Right now I'm just wondering -
jlsjlsjls - that fold out sofa still available?
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Oh, Canada!
Date: 2003-12-24 07:28 am (UTC)Yes, it is... and I'm sure with all the IT development here in Calgary, you'd have a job in oh, say... *three* seconds. I'd still be up here, working in Lethbridge if NSU hadn't made me an offer I couldn't refuse.
Ontario and BC have already made same-sex marriage legal, and the other provinces are in the chute. The next on the agenda is to legalize marijuana -- sell it like cigarettes, and tax the hell out of it like alcohol and tobacco. Why go to a drug dealer when you can go down to the nearest Co-op and pick up a joint with some eggs and milk? That way those cute Mounties - er... the RCMP can go after real crimes.
Re: Oh, Canada!
Date: 2003-12-24 12:51 pm (UTC)In spite of everything, I think I need to stay down here and vote against the cretins in office with the other sane Americans, lest the entire country go to hell. Gotta prevent that from happening, so the pristine Canadian wilderness won't be overrun by clueless Yanks wondering why hours have 22 minutes and why small coffees are actually small ;)
Re: Oh, Canada!
Date: 2003-12-24 01:41 pm (UTC)1. How many states does Canada have?
2. If you go into Tim Horton's and order a "double double", what will you get?
3. What is the penguin population of the Arctic?
4. What country lies North of Canada?
5. What's a "loonie"? A "toonie"?
6. What is the minimal height for a child to go on the RCMP Musical Ride?
7. What's a "Newfie"? And what happens if you call a "Newfie" a "Newfie"?
8. What's a "Snow-nigger"?
9. Where in Canada would you find the CN Tower? Where would you find the Saddledome?
10. What country does Niagara Falls belong to? What country has the bigger side? What country has the prettier side?
The person who answers all ten questions correctly wins a box of Dutchies. :)
BONUS QUESTION: What's a "dutchie"?
Re: Oh, Canada!
Date: 2003-12-24 06:53 pm (UTC)2. Don't know what a Tim Horton's double-double is. I DO know what a Tim Horton's is. Does that count?
3. Penguins live in the antarctic. I suppose Canada may have lesser auks, if you're looking for black and white flightless birds.
4. No country, but I think parts of Alaska lie north of Canada. Is Greenland a country?
5. Don't know either of these
6. Don't know the minimum height, but I am sure it must be in metric :P
7. Newfie = Newfoundlander. I imagine you get beat up or thrown out into the snow if you call them that!
8. What a horrible epithet :( An Inuit or Eskimo, I'm guessing?
9. Don't know, but I seem to remember something about a tower in Toronto.
10. Niagara Falls belongs to both the U.S. and Canada. I think Canada has the bigger side, and the prettier side is a subjective judgement :>
Bonus: Don't know, but am curious - it would clear up lingering questions about the meaning of the '80s song "Pass the Dutchie on the Left Hand Side" :P
Re: Oh, Canada!
Date: 2003-12-24 08:54 pm (UTC)1. Canada doesn't have states, it has provinces, of which there are (counts on fingers) 9 or 10(?)
Good thing you have a full complement of fingers. Canada has ten provinces and three territories.
2. Don't know what a Tim Horton's double-double is. I DO know what a Tim Horton's is. Does that count?
We'll give you a half point for general knowledge. Ordering a double-double will get you a cup of coffee with double sugar and double cream.
3. Penguins live in the antarctic. I suppose Canada may have lesser auks, if you're looking for black and white flightless birds.
Gold star!!! Polar bears and penguins only come within a thousand miles of each other in zoos. BTW, we also have puffins.
4. No country, but I think parts of Alaska lie north of Canada. Is Greenland a country?
Nope, Alaska is tacked onto the western border of the Yukon Territory. Everything else all the way up to the North Pole belongs to Canada. Greenland IS a country and lies east of Canada's Arctic holdings. What Semmie was thinking of was the gag in "Due South" about posting Fraser further north ... he thinks a moment and then says "But that would be Russia, sir."
5. Don't know either of these
"Loonie" is the nickname of our one dollar coin, because there is a loon (the bird, not a politician) on one side. When the two dollar coin was issued, it was nicknamed with the rhyming "toonie."
6. Don't know the minimum height, but I am sure it must be in metric :P
LOL!!!!!!!!! The RCMP Musical Ride is a performance demonstration of cavalry drill with lances.
7. Newfie = Newfoundlander. I imagine you get beat up or thrown out into the snow if you call them that!
Yep. Or forced to eat fish and brewis while sober >:-)
8. What a horrible epithet :( An Inuit or Eskimo, I'm guessing?
A rather obscure Newfoundland nickname for anybody who isn't a Newfie. Politically correct trivia: we don't use "eskimo" up here ... it's an extremely insulting Cree term meaning "raw meat eater."
9. Don't know, but I seem to remember something about a tower in Toronto.
Yes, the CN Tower is in Toronto and is still, to my knowledge, the tallest free-standing structure on the planet.
10. Niagara Falls belongs to both the U.S. and Canada. I think Canada has the bigger side, and the prettier side is a subjective judgement :>
Yes, the Horseshoe Falls are the larger of the two waterfalls and are on the Canadian side of the river. Prettiness is, indeed, subjective, but the Horseshoe has been consistently described in tourist brochures, published on both sides of the border, as the more picturesque of the pair.
Bonus: Don't know, but am curious - it would clear up lingering questions about the meaning of the '80s song "Pass the Dutchie on the Left Hand Side" :P
A dutchie is an item to order along with your double-double ... made the same way as a doughnut, but with raisins mixed into the dough, then shaped into a rectangle (instead of the traditional "hoop"), cooked in the usual way and sugar-glazed.
Way back in the dark ages, "dutchie" was also a synonym for "joint" ... that's the meaning of your song ;-)
Okay, full points for 1, 3, 7, 9, 10 and half point for 2 ... that's 5.5 out of 11. If Immigration is in a good mood, they'll probably let you in ;-)
Re: Oh, Canada!
Date: 2003-12-25 06:41 pm (UTC)What is brewis? The name sounds too much like "haggis" for me to think that it's something I'd want to eat, sober or not :P
Way back in the dark ages, "dutchie" was also a synonym for "joint" ... that's the meaning of your song ;-)
I rather suspected, but I've never heard it called that - maybe it's a Britishism? I'd rather prefer the Canadian dutchie though!
Re: Oh, Canada!
Date: 2003-12-25 07:32 pm (UTC)I felt sorry for Jack, truly sorry. I well remembered my own first visit to the fish store (Newfoundland outhouse on the dock) when, perched precariously between wind and water, and surrounded by the pungent tubs of codfish soaking in brine, I had injudiciously looked down to behold a consortium of flatfish, sculpins, crabs, and eels staring hopefully up at me out of the shallows.
Traumatic as the experience must have been, Jack managed to rise above it. But he nearly collapsed when the smell of breakfast struck him. He is a gourmet and a delicate eater. Furthermore he has a weak stomach.
He clutched my arm so hard it hurt and whispered hoarsely in my ear.
"What in God's name is that?"
"That," I explained cheerfully, "is Newfoundland's national dish. A special treat for visitors. It's called fish-and-brewis."
"Never mind the name. What's IN it?"
"Well, basically it's a mixture. You take hard bread or ship's biscuits and soak them all night to make them soft and to get rid of the weevils. And you take some shore-dried salt fish and soak IT all night, "watering it" is the term. Then you boil the fish and the hard bread and when it's all nice and mushy you pour a cup of spitting hot sowbelly fat over it, and then ..."
I never finished my explanation. Jack was already on his way back to visit the sculpins and the eels.
From The Boat Who Wouldn't Float, by Farley Mowat.
Re: Oh, Canada!
Date: 2003-12-24 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-24 08:20 pm (UTC)Any time. We have a policy of taking in refugees from the United States ... starting with Loyalists during the Revolution :-)