Monday, July 30, 2007

This wing, that wing

In typical backpedaling, wishy-washy Libra fashion:

When I stated in my last post that “Papillon flies left of center”, I neglected to mention that I’m not, nor have ever been, a card-carrying anything, although I am at heart a socialist in certain respects. I believe in accessible healthcare and education. I believe in affordable (subsidized if need be) housing. I believe in equality amongst genders, races, ages and sexual persuasions. I believe that it’s critical we do not fuck with human rights or the environment.

Speaking of the environment and left-wing politics, here’s another little tidbit that might piss some people off:

G-man and I are, generally speaking, pro-union. Neither of us would ever cross a picket line. Having said that, an event resulting from Vancouver’s ongoing civic workers’ strike definitely ruffled our feathers.

The morning after last week’s fireworks display a group of volunteers – I’ll just repeat that word now: volunteers – showed up at the beach, which was thick with garbage, and set about making it pristine again. I applaud those people, and I think the picketers who harassed them were way out of line. Sorry, “brothers and sisters”, but environmental concerns trump your bargaining position. No one wants to see our city, our beloved jewel, over-run by rats. And come on, we just had oil spill into the Burrard Inlet – enough is enough.

It’s not like any of those people were getting paid to clean the beach, so hey, CUPE, why don’t you STFU on this one? (What a dumb-ass PR move, anyway.) I wish I had gone there to help out, truth be told, and if the strike isn’t over by this Thursday morning, you’ll be able to find me down at English Bay, doing my bit to reclaim its glory after Wednesday night’s fireworks. Incidentally, if I do take one of my “little walks” before China’s display, I’ll be sure to stroll a bit further than Amanda and I did last week – like out of view from major the major thoroughfare that is Denman Street. We were just a tad brazen, weren’t we? ;-)

4 comments:

DeLi said...

im from the other side of teh world but political issues and grievances almost sound the same. globalization and militarization are the most prominent issue that we are battling

Papillon said...

Where are you from, deli?

DeLi said...

hi papillon, ilive in the Philippines

someGirl said...

"...we do not fuck with human rights or the environment." HERE, HERE!!!

Last year there was a strike at the college I attend. The teachers went on strike the week BEFORE finals. I refused to cross the picket line. However, one of the part time teachers that was not on strike warned all of us that he would fail each and every one of us if we did not show up for class. I mentally gave him the finger and accepted my grade.