Month: October 2021

so what does the American Democratic party do?

GRASSROOTS LEFT MOBILIZATION HAPPENS =>

MOBILIZATION BECOMES A THREAT TO THE STATUS QUO =>

DEMOCRATS FIND REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MOST MODERATE ELEMENTS, CO-OPT AND HIRE THEM =>

CO-OPTED LEADERS USE THE LANGUAGE OF POPULAR MOVEMENT TO FNNEL ENERGY BACK INTO THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM =>

NOTHING FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGES =>

 

BACK TO THE TOP

From @butchanarchy on twitter

Did I have a productive day?

Jeff brought donuts home after an errand. I ate two.

I got dressed and left the house; Paul and I went for an absolute brute of a walk at Fraser Foreshore. I’ve been wearing orthotics in the house (I have slippers I put arch supports in) and my walking speed picked up most remarkably. Paul was not struggling to keep up but he said I was booting along. Somebody had just put down bird seed so I put it in my hands and let the chickadees do their thing. I now have a 5000mA solar charger on my backpack so I’ll be a powerhouse wherever I go.

I aired out one of the stench suppressors (this one is for my room, there are others in the basement and the basement bathroom) – you’re supposed to ‘recharge them’ in sunshine.

I also recharged my solar light, it was getting limp.

I made brown buns and fed Paul a havarti, roast beest and brown bun sammich.

I received a parcel. My grip strength isn’t what it was so it was an electric can opener.

Did I mention that the day before yesterday I accidentally opened a neighbour’s wrongly delivered parcel and had to wringingly apologize for viewing his Star Trek boxers. One thing I have learned about life is that an apology delayed is murder on the nerves, so I literally got dressed (I’ve been sludgy) to leave the house to apologize.

I am reverting to paper for keeping track of addresses so I have a backup. I’ll be filling it up and then putting it in one of the earthquake packs.

Weather yesterday was wonderful, the park was perfect. I was one of very few people wearing a mask and it was irritating but I’m not exactly doing it for me 100% now, am I.

An elderly woman in Burnaby was assaulted and briefly hospitalized after investigating a noise in her yard. The last time I investigated an outside noise it was a juvenile coyote and a raccoon branniganning up and down the freaking alleyway (the fight started under my window, and I haven’t run across a worse feeling waking up in many years… this was a while back). I definitely won’t be doing it without a stoutte cuddgel and a flashlight anymore.

Somebody left a couple of kudos on a couple of different fanfics.

Somebody let off a bear scare on River Road while we were out walking and it reverberated across Sto:lo in the most unpleasant way and startled me and all the dogs walking in the Foreshore.

They’re fixing the concrete walkway next door

so I told Paul to git on over hyar, they may drop 450 kilos of concrete on his damned plastic canoe (the one that’s heavier than the aluminum one, calice) and I said I’d go walking but that was before I remembered that I had forgotten bread dough for brown buns in the bread machine.

So I had to stop what I was doing, and do that, and now I’m updating you because I’m waiting.

Still so happy Jeff hooked me back up to my twitter account.

The three titles

Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life by James Daschuk (considered a tour de force and foundational text for reconciliation written by a settler)

Unsettling Canada, by Arthur Manuel (Secwepemc Nation)

Unsettling the Settler Within: Indian Residential Schools, Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada by Paulette Regan (settler)

I will try to read them. It’s hard to get my ass parked long enough to read, rather than just scroll through the internet, I feel so restless.

Off topic, Suzanne has been here and YAY there’s no more cat barf on the living room floor.

the amazing Brentwood

It was spitting when Paul and I left the house around 1 pm yesterday so we mall walked instead. We went to Brentwood to look at the new mall, and it’s actually very nice and pleasantly accessible. We ate at Cazba, having the chicken platter and shirazi salad (which is actually a late addition to Iranian cuisine thanks to the introduction of the tomato during the Qajar period). It was spendy as hell but the chicken was done over a grill and it was very nom, and my body kept encouraging me to finish the salad, it was so tasty, fresh and healthy. We were back home in a couple of hours after walking all over the joint and checking out the spots where the old mall and the new mall have been joined up. Personally I really like the new food court which is not completely full yet but it was funny listening to Paul feel sorry for the retailers because he said “Malls are dead, they were dying before this pandemic,” and we walked mostly in silence past covered shop window, after covered shop window. Some of the old merchants like Purdy’s and the banks and phone kiosks, and Daniadown are still there, but the smoke shop/post office (to my sadness) was gone, and whether in the old part of the mall or the new there were lots of signs saying who was moving in and a lot of empty shops. One thing about Brentwood hasn’t changed though, the fucking surface parking is a disaster zone; we went all the way to the southern Beta Street exit to find a goddamned parking spot.

There are enough seats all around the new Brentwood and even the outdoor ones are the kind you can stretch out on (they are all backless). I saw a lot of people with strollers and in powered wheelchairs, and at the base of the walkway there’s a little nook with comfy chairs and a fireplace – which was jammed with people using the wifi. That’s also close to a place called the Rec Room which uses their smart phones to track guests as they play on a wide assortment of games. Not exactly pandemic friendly but they’re checking IDs and vaxx status.

Unfortunately all those hard surfaces did a number on my joints and by the time 6:30 rolled around I felt like I’d been wheelbarrowed across cobbles for a while. Had a lousy night of sleep.

Windy

The barometer is still quite low. The wind is cold and gusty.

Breakfast was thin sliced double smoked pork loin, havarti cheese, tomato and purple onion on a sourdough english muffin. And coffee. And metformin.

I am well rested, my mood is okay (compared to the weekend, mah gob) and I am slowly reacquainting myself with all the twitterers I lost when I lost my first account – which is still there, sadly, but I can’t get into it to kill it.

SFU students will be starting a hunger strike for the climate on November 1. I wish I could give them an ongoing fat transplant but sadly that ain’t happening.

I bought Alex magic markers for the next time he’s here; I thought I had some but apparently not.

Slept a good chunk of the day

I was quite tired after Alex left; normally if I wake up that early I’m back in bed after my first meds of the day (at six am) and I couldn’t nap until after he left at noon.

He left his Among Us stuffie here. It’s very cute. It is also very cute how much he likes that game. Which is apparently oriented to adults.

Mostly he talked about the games he loves.

We watched Free Guy (I took out the boring bits with the fast forward button) and he loved it (this was my third time through). He was bored with anything else I tried to show him.

wakey wakey

Alex went to bed like a lamb at around 8 pm and woke up at 2:15. We’re now on our devices and occasionally conversing. He says he won’t nap, we’ll see.

He and Jeff and I are going to walk over to Timmy Ho’s when it opens.

Buster DID NOT WANT TO MEET HIM. Alex was rueful but not upset.

Last night I asked him if I could touch him and he said you don’t have to ask MELT.

HE’S A MOBILE SLEEPER he moves around a lot.

Roundup of news I cannot use

Queen Elizabeth was hospitalized for tests on Wednesday. Some wag on twitter was exclaiming that she couldn’t possibly have it lined up to die on Remembrance Sunday. Personally I think she’ll at least make her mother’s advanced age, she drinks less than her mom Mary did.

The fucking TURNER DIARIES a horrific pile of racist trash about white supremacists attacking Washington, like that never happened, is carried by the venerable Powell’s Books hq’d in Portland. Now, candidly, I wouldn’t mind because I’m not keen on censorship, but the fucking REVIEW OF THE BOOK is stomach churning.

Because ALMOST FOR SURE Powells is going to get fucking roasted and take it down, I’ve copied it in jpg form.

To say that this is glossing over a) one of the worst novels ever written in English which b) shows the protagonists killing Black people like they were houseflies and c) CONTINUES TO INSPIRE GUNTOTING FASCIST SYMPS is putting it small. Read the Wikipedia article if you want to see what they’re window dressing for.

DISGUSTING.

Canada FINALLY has a vaccine passport. I don’t mean to fly any more but I would like to see my friends in the US of A and this is a step forward.

ALEX IS COMING AT 4 PM TODAY.

Barometer so low I thought my head would explode yesterday. I couldn’t get anything done I was so distracted. Paul took me for a short walk but the kids on the school grounds were too plentiful, running on the path, and Paul needed the washroom so it was abbreviated.