Raining catechisms and dogmas

Sorree! It's been a rude week. All I've got is a grab bag of random electoral bits and pieces that heartily depress me. Naturally, being a friendly type, I feel compelled to share my joy with you:

• About six millenia ago, when I was a mere pup of a semimythical totemic coyote, I used to think those who held elected office were smarter than me. Or any ordinary mortal. I got older, and just hoped they were. Now, I'm ancient, crotchety, eccentric, and beyond certain that they are not smarter than me. It depresses the hell out of me that dumber critters 'n me run this country. Because I know I don't have the wit or the hubris. And that all the really intelligent ones are - apparently - too smart to go into politics...
• The local Tory candidate has called my den a couple of times now. Inquiring minds want to know: Why is it that he uses call display blocking when he does? Because I really want somebody that sneaky and underhanded representing me in parliament...
• Newspapers this week reported a study that suggests when a group lacks a leader, the person most likely to step in and start running things is a narcissist.
• The Glib & Male lately has been making much of our PM's 'pragmatic ability to learn'. So let me get this straight. He entered politics because he thought he knew what the country needed. Now he's trying to get re-elected by 'pragmatically' shedding the ideological dogma he's held dear for all of these years, but that Canadians dislike. So, ummm, obviously a real idealist. Not in it for the power at all. Or...
• He is also an economist. Given economists' recent track records at understanding the way things work, and running them properly, ummm...
• Meanwhile, south of here, Sarah Palin's ability to chortle and wink out twisted venom, then shrug, moue, and mime ingenue cluelessness when the crowds she's working start sounding like lynch mobs, probably means she has a long career in US federal politics ahead of her. Yucko.

Bleah. Elections have been raining overscripted catechisms and repugnant dogmas on my head all week. I'm soaked and tired. It's nap time. Wake me up when it's over...

Thong Thursday

The Independent Observer got me all nostalgic yesterday. Here are some other things I miss:
1) Cougar work boots.
2) Prosperity
3) Typewriters
4) Massive amounts of pot
5) There is no fifth.

Gone baby gone

We see a number of new condo towers going up in Centretown and I'm of two minds about this.

On the one hand, anything that injects some life and people into the core is good. On the other, I wonder where all these folks are going to eat, shop, stroll and generally enjoy life?

Too many downtown bookshops, cafes, cinemas, grocery stores and restaurants to count have disappeared over the last decade or so. And the only things that seem to spring up in their place are condominiums, office towers and chain-sponsored coffee shops.

Five places I miss:

1. The Canadian Tire store at Kent and Laurier, torn down in 2002. A veritable urban oasis of tools, home supplies, paint and sporting goods. Apparently the smallish outlet did not fit with the corporation's vision of suburban megastores.

2. The Bay Street Guest House. Once a quaint bed-and-breakfast on Bay near Gloucester, it has been a graffiti-strewn wreck for years, endlessly waiting to be demolished along with several other adjacent houses so Richcraft Homes can put up a honkin' big condo building.

3. The Elgin cinema on our beloved boulevard, where Audrey, ESI Cultural Affairs Officer, once toiled as an usherette. Little-known fact: it was the first theatre in North America to have two screens. This foreshadowed the multiplex trend that eventually sent The Elgin to the big box office in the sky.

4. The little cafe just inside the Rideau Centre, across from the magazine shop. It quietly served fine, fresh-brewed coffee, delicious pasta and tasty sandwiches. A perfect place to steel oneself for an afternoon of mall-bound Christmas shopping. I can't even remember its name. But maybe that's a good thing, as I do know the replacement is a Starbucks.

5. There's no fifth thing. It's already long gone.

Image: http://www.magma.ca/~hra/travia.htm

Tank Top Tuesday

A little something shiny!

Fantasizing!

During an outing at the Cube Gallery in August, I played a game that I am certain many of you played as a kid. When the Eaton's Christmas catalogue would arrive in the mail, did you ever hide with it in your room for hours and fantasize that you could order anything your heart desired? I did.

When I saw the art by Alison Smith-Welsh, I was inspired to virtually shop for some of you. In my fantasy, I bought

this ensemble for the ESIs' darling, Audrey,


a pair of panties for the lovely Pandora (this piece is called Pandora's Box),



boots for the indomitable Zoom to continue to kick ass,



and of course, this corset, for the sensuous Nursemyra.

A little mouse-over the pictures will give you an extra tickle.