I apologize

I'm sorry that the Miniature Earth is posted liek 4 times...... I hate blogs!

Miniature Earth

I'm sure you've all seen this before from forwards from people you barely talk to who like to fill your inbox with useless chain letters, and promises of money from Bill Gates, but now its back and better than ever!

It's the miniature earth! This is a very interesting way to look at our planet. What it is, is a scaled down population of earth. Its looked at as if there were only 100 people on the planet. How many are Christian? Muslim? How many people are Chinese? How many suffer from the AIDS virus? How many are starving? Etc. I suggest that if you have the time (and macromedia flash player, or can get it) that you watch this! Its really a cute presentation, but also really makes you think about your fellow humyn. I hope you all enjoy, "The Miniature Earth"!

PS - I hate blogger -- it hardly ever works!!!
http://www.miniature-earth.com/

Miniature Earth

I'm sure you've all seen this before from forwards from people you barely talk to who like to fill your inbox with useless chain letters, and promises of money from Bill Gates, but now its back and better than ever!

It's the miniature earth! This is a very interesting way to look at our planet. What it is, is a scaled down population of earth. Its looked at as if there were only 100 people on the planet. How many are Christian? Muslim? How many people are Chinese? How many suffer from the AIDS virus? How many are starving? Etc. I suggest that if you have the time (and macromedia flash player, or can get it) that you watch this! Its really a cute presentation, but also really makes you think about your fellow humyn. I hope you all enjoy, "The Miniature Earth"!

PS - I hate blogger -- it hardly ever works!!!
http://www.miniature-earth.com/

Miniature Earth

I'm sure you've all seen this before from forwards from people you barely talk to who like to fill your inbox with useless chain letters, and promises of money from Bill Gates, but now its back and better than ever!

It's the miniature earth! This is a very interesting way to look at our planet. What it is, is a scaled down population of earth. Its looked at as if there were only 100 people on the planet. How many are Christian? Muslim? How many people are Chinese? How many suffer from the AIDS virus? How many are starving? Etc. I suggest that if you have the time (and macromedia flash player, or can get it) that you watch this! Its really a cute presentation, but also really makes you think about your fellow humyn. I hope you all enjoy, "The Miniature Earth"!

http://www.miniature-earth.com/

Miniature Earth

I'm sure you've all seen this before from forwards from people you barely talk to who like to fill your inbox with useless chain letters, and promises of money from Bill Gates, but now its back and better than ever!

It's the miniature earth! This is a very interesting way to look at our planet. What it is, is a scaled down population of earth. Its looked at as if there were only 100 people on the planet. How many are Christian? Muslim? How many people are Chinese? How many suffer from the AIDS virus? How many are starving? Etc. I suggest that if you have the time (and macromedia flash player, or can get it) that you watch this! Its really a cute presentation, but also really makes you think about your fellow humyn. I hope you all enjoy, "The Miniature Earth"!

http://www.miniature-earth.com/

Miniature Earth

I'm sure you've all seen this before from forwards from people you barely talk to who like to fill your inbox with useless chain letters, and promises of money from Bill Gates, but now its back and better than ever!

It's the miniature earth! This is a very interesting way to look at our planet. What it is, is a scaled down population of earth. Its looked at as if there were only 100 people on the planet. How many are Christian? Muslim? How many people are Chinese? How many suffer from the AIDS virus? How many are starving? Etc. I suggest that if you have the time (and macromedia flash player, or can get it) that you watch this! Its really a cute presentation, but also really makes you think about your fellow humyn. I hope you all enjoy, "The Miniature Earth"!

http://www.miniature-earth.com/

Miniature Earth

I'm sure you've all seen this before from forwards from people you barely talk to who like to fill your inbox with useless chain letters, and promises of money from Bill Gates, but now its back and better than ever!

It's the miniature earth! This is a very interesting way to look at our planet. What it is, is a scaled down population of earth. Its looked at as if there were only 100 people on the planet. How many are Christian? Muslim? How many people are Chinese? How many suffer from the AIDS virus? How many are starving? Etc. I suggest that if you have the time (and macromedia flash player, or can get it) that you watch this! Its really a cute presentation, but also really makes you think about your fellow humyn. I hope you all enjoy, "The Miniature Earth"!

http://www.miniature-earth.com/

Take this little quiz!

This quiz is by no means hi-tech, so deal. No peaking ahead of questions, you'll ruin it!

Question 1 - Do you believe in equal rights for men and wimmin?
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Question 2 - Are you a feminist?
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If you answered yes to question 1 and no to question 2, you have made an error!
The definition of a feminist (dictionary.com):

fem·i·nism (fm-nzm) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.
2. The movement organized around this belief.

I love this. Next time you think feminism is only for wimmin or that you aren't "one of those girls" remember that if you believe in equality between the sexes, YOU ARE A FEMINIST!!! (whether you like it or not!)

Reproductive Rights and Anti-choice arrests

Tonight I've been invited to go to a reproductive rights session so I'll have something interesting to write about later.

At the Morgantaler Clinic this week Peter Ryan's wife was arrested by Fredericton Police for holding a "Show the Truth" sign (the ones with mangled fetuses on them; dont' worry, they're fake photos!) after being warned week after week not to bring the sign into public.

I figure the police must have been annoyed with the sign because I'm sure that they recieve complaint after complaint each week about them. They're pretty gross signs and its difficult to deal with a child especially who is upset by the sign, but are too young to understand. How do you explain abortion to a child? Especially a child who may be too young to know about sex and how babies are made. The only advice I can give to parents is that they should explain that these pictures are not real, and that they aren't even from Canada. Even then, the picture is engraved in their minds and they wont' be able to shake it for some time.

These photos are not from Canada, as they have foreign currency next to the fetus. This photo in particular shows a fetus next to a foreign coin. The fetus has formed eyes, fingers, toes, ears -- and they expect us to believe it is only a 10 week gestated fetus?? This is a third trimester fetus, and it is illegal in Canada to have an abortion in the 2nd or 3rd trimester. Is their argument so weak that they have to make up things? Or are they just too stupid to realize that these pictures are fake? Sigh....

So Ryan's wife was taken into custody Tuesday and I do not know if she was released or not. About an hour after she was arrested, clinic escorts and directors were asked if they knew her name because she would not tell police. Now, I think this is a stupid move, because you HAVE to give your name and date of birth in order to be released. I'm sure she's caved by now.

As much as it kind of made me chuckle to hear this, I know that this could be bad. Ryan's wife will be called a martyr of sorts for standing up for babies or something. I wonder what the clinic will look like next week. I'm sure there will be an insurgence of protestors when they hear the news of their Christian martyr. They will feel guilty and head over there next week. Should be interesting -- I'll let you know.

Holy Wimmin's Rights Batman!

That's right, Take Back The Night came back this year. It was lots of fun, but I wish that we didn't have to do this still.

Take Back the Night, for those of you who don't know, started in the 1800's (I don't remember the year, I wasn't there haha!) to protest against violence against wimmin and children, and also to bring awarness that it is not safe for said persons to walk at night.

Approximately 150-200 years later, we are still marching, unfortunately. The Marcgh in Fredericton this year addressed more issues besides violence, but also pay equity and reproductive rights.

I'd guess at about 75-100 wimmin showed up for the annual march at city hall. There The Sexual Crisis Centre's (who hosted the event) volunteers and organizers spoke briefly about Take Back The Night. Then they introduced Alison Brewer who spoke about Wimmin's rights in New Brunswick. She spoke of a bleak future which I hope is a false prediction. There aren't many wimmin in the legislature, and many of them do not care for wimmin's rights. I find this a blatant contradiction.

After Ms. Brewer's speech, the wimmin and children started marching and the men cheered us on as we departed. I had a friend from the Sexual Crisis Centre that asked me to lead the chants on a megaphone. Being the loudmouth I am, I was delighted to help out. We marched around town and luckily there weren't any men stupid enough to mess with us. We got a lot of cheers from curious onlookers and I'm sure I speak for all the wimmin present when I say I felt very "emmersed in the sisterhood" as cheesy as that sounds. I felt like we could have done anything that night. There was only one thing wrong that night.

COPS! Why do we need 4 cop cars? Its like we're asking for permission. "Excuse me Mr. Police Officer sir, would you help lil ol us take back the night, becuase we can't do it all alone..." The point of taking back the night is that wimmin are taking back the streets! I think having the police present is an insult to us. Are they trying to protect us? Who's going to be stupid enough to fuck with close to 100 angry feminists? Maybe they have to be there to protect other people from us? I like to tell myself that. I makes me feel better about the police presence making us a joke. Maybe the wimmin of fredericton should organize another march and do it without the police.

Let me know what you think about a police presence at a march such as this. I'm curious to know your thoughts.

OMG IM SO SRRY!!!! OMFGWTF!!!??!!11!!one!!!!

Alright, so I guess I'm long overdue for an update... I apologize to anyone who actually reads this. I was supposed to put my audio files of my interviews with the Fredericton Candidates online and I got busy over the weekend with school and then my pet bunny rabbit died and I felt very lethargic.

I will put the audio files if you actually want to hear them. William Forrestall was a rather interesting character. To give you an idea, I asked him why he thinks wimmin are still sometimes paid less than their male professional equals. He said that he blames wimmin for not doing anything about it (we aren't?). I then asked him if he thought some of the blame should go to the government for not making a law prohibiting the lower pay of wimmin. Then he went on about how short people get paid less than tall people or something. He said it was in a study. It sounded made up. So anyway, just let me know if anyone actually wants to hear about it.

Shawn Graham won. Not my preferred choice overall, but indeed my preferred choice over the Blue. When I did interview Greg Byrne (liberal candidate) he was exceptionally nice. Even though I'm not a liberal, I'm kind of glad in a way that he won because he seemed honest. Maybe he really just tricked me ha ha!
I'm a little sad that Alison Brewer didn't win, but I didn't think she would anyway. Usually politicians bash other candidates in their riding, but when I asked him if he thought he'd win, he was very clever with his answer. He said that the other candidates were formidable opponents and that they are running a good campaign and that it would be hard to beat them. I thought that was very humble of him. Anyway, he won. I don't want to be mean to him since he was so nice. I'll just wait for him to do something wrong, ha ha!

Liberal Lament

Ok, so here is my email I sent the young Liberals, followed by the leaders letter. It is by far the most interesting of all the apology letters I was sent. I also received an email from Greg Byrne saying that we should figure out a time for an interview. Here they are:

Dear Hillary,

I thoguht that I should write you since you are head of the YOUNG liberals. I have started my own website to write articles regarding political issues throughout Fredericton, New Brunswick and Canada.

I figured that with a provincial election coming up it may be interesting to ask all the different candidates their positions on different issues in the province. When I called the Liberal office of Greg Byrne to find out when his next public appearance would be (so I could ask him a couple of questions), I was left with a bad taste in my mouth.

The woman who I was speaking with almost laughed in my face when I told her what I was trying to do. When I mentioned I was a student she told me to get involved with the young liberals or something to that effect, when I was trying to explain to her that I just wanted 5 minutes of the candidates time to pose a few questions. She did not take my request seriously and I'm quite suprised she didn't call my online journalism, "cute"; that was certainly the attitude I was given. She told me to go to the debate tonight at UNB/STU but I responded by saying that I could not make this debate because I was volunteering somewhere tonight. She told me that I would have to get my priorities straight which just blew me away.

I felt extremely patronized and I'd even go so far to say I felt descriminated against. I am a 21 year-old university student, so obviously I do not work for a "real" newspaper. I feel that I was disrespected because of my age and also for being independant media. Candidates need to respond to the questions that any citizens has, no matter what their age or what have you. All other offices that I called were very courteous and helpful and even took my number down so that a future appointment could be made! Students should also be encouraged by the government to be active and concerned with the politics of their country, province and city; not mocked. I didn't call the liberal office today to get a pat on the head, I called because I wanted some answers.

I understand that none of this is your fault in any way, shape or form, but I am hoping as the leader of the Young Liberals that you will be able to tell your candidates that they must reach out to the youth and address their concerns, or they will lose votes. I thank you very much for taking the time to read my email today, and I am hoping that you will be able to forward my message on. Good luck with the campaigns and have a good day.

Sincerly,
Kira Williston
Independant Journalist

Hello Kira,

I am concerned about the response you received yesterday. It is upsetting to hear that your attempt to speak to one of our candidates was dismissed in this manner.

As a Young Liberal, my job is to address the barriers that prevent young people from being fully engaged in the political process and find ways to break these barriers down. Our organization is committed to engaging youth and young adults to vote and get active in the political process, but also to giving young people a forum in which they are able to present their views and ideas.

Some of our most progressive policies -- such as same-sex marriage legislation at the federal level, or the recently proposed intitiatives on hybrid cars and renewable energy in the provincial Liberal campaign -- were proposed by and lobbied on by Young Liberals.

That's why I agree with you fully when you say that "Students should also be encouraged by the government to be active and concerned with the politics of their country, province and city; not mocked".

I have forwarded your message along to Greg Byrne's campaign manager, and have spoken to Greg directly about your e-mail. Now, I would like a chance to speak with you personally too.

I'd welcome an opportunity to reach you if you would kindly forward your phone number along in a reply e-mail.

Please don't hesitate to contact me any time with questions, concerns or information for your website. My number is ***-**** and e-mail is *@*.com

I hope to hear from you, Kira.

Best regards,
Hillary Casey

Hillary Casey
President/Présidente,
New Brunswick Young Liberal Association/l'Association des Jeunes Liberaux du Nouveau-Brunswick

Liberal Lament

Ok, so here is my email I sent the young Liberals, followed by the leaders letter. It is by far the most interesting of all the apology letters I was sent. I also received an email from Greg Byrne saying that we should figure out a time for an interview. Here they are:

Dear Hillary,

I thoguht that I should write you since you are head of the YOUNG liberals. I have started my own website to write articles regarding political issues throughout Fredericton, New Brunswick and Canada.

I figured that with a provincial election coming up it may be interesting to ask all the different candidates their positions on different issues in the province. When I called the Liberal office of Greg Byrne to find out when his next public appearance would be (so I could ask him a couple of questions), I was left with a bad taste in my mouth.

The woman who I was speaking with almost laughed in my face when I told her what I was trying to do. When I mentioned I was a student she told me to get involved with the young liberals or something to that effect, when I was trying to explain to her that I just wanted 5 minutes of the candidates time to pose a few questions. She did not take my request seriously and I'm quite suprised she didn't call my online journalism, "cute"; that was certainly the attitude I was given. She told me to go to the debate tonight at UNB/STU but I responded by saying that I could not make this debate because I was volunteering somewhere tonight. She told me that I would have to get my priorities straight which just blew me away.

I felt extremely patronized and I'd even go so far to say I felt descriminated against. I am a 21 year-old university student, so obviously I do not work for a "real" newspaper. I feel that I was disrespected because of my age and also for being independant media. Candidates need to respond to the questions that any citizens has, no matter what their age or what have you. All other offices that I called were very courteous and helpful and even took my number down so that a future appointment could be made! Students should also be encouraged by the government to be active and concerned with the politics of their country, province and city; not mocked. I didn't call the liberal office today to get a pat on the head, I called because I wanted some answers.

I understand that none of this is your fault in any way, shape or form, but I am hoping as the leader of the Young Liberals that you will be able to tell your candidates that they must reach out to the youth and address their concerns, or they will lose votes. I thank you very much for taking the time to read my email today, and I am hoping that you will be able to forward my message on. Good luck with the campaigns and have a good day.

Sincerly,
Kira Williston
Independant Journalist

Hello Kira,

I am concerned about the response you received yesterday. It is upsetting to hear that your attempt to speak to one of our candidates was dismissed in this manner.

As a Young Liberal, my job is to address the barriers that prevent young people from being fully engaged in the political process and find ways to break these barriers down. Our organization is committed to engaging youth and young adults to vote and get active in the political process, but also to giving young people a forum in which they are able to present their views and ideas.

Some of our most progressive policies -- such as same-sex marriage legislation at the federal level, or the recently proposed intitiatives on hybrid cars and renewable energy in the provincial Liberal campaign -- were proposed by and lobbied on by Young Liberals.

That's why I agree with you fully when you say that "Students should also be encouraged by the government to be active and concerned with the politics of their country, province and city; not mocked".

I have forwarded your message along to Greg Byrne's campaign manager, and have spoken to Greg directly about your e-mail. Now, I would like a chance to speak with you personally too.

I'd welcome an opportunity to reach you if you would kindly forward your phone number along in a reply e-mail.

Please don't hesitate to contact me any time with questions, concerns or information for your website. My number is ***-**** and e-mail is *@*.com

I hope to hear from you, Kira.

Best regards,
Hillary Casey

Hillary Casey
President/Présidente,
New Brunswick Young Liberal Association/l'Association des Jeunes Liberaux du Nouveau-Brunswick

Jack Layton

I found out that Jack Layton will be at the Alden Nowlan House tonight and I figured since I've got my list of questions made up already for Fredericton candidates, I might as well ask 'ol Jackie-Poo... you know, since its on the way home, ha ha!

So keep checking back on the blog to see what Jack has to say about these questions I have. Too bad Harper wasn't coming. I'd love to hear what he'd have to say about social assistance, freedom of speech, tuition prices, pay equity and sexual education!

Maybe while I'm at Alden Nowlan House, perhaps I should add "You wanna pay for my beer?", to the list of questions I will ask Jack Layton.

Being an Independant Journalist is hard!

I decided that with the upcoming election that I would ask some of the candidates the same set of questions and see how their responses differ. In order to do this of course, I called the campaign offices to see if the candidates could spare 5-10 minutes of their time to answer my questions.

I called the PC office first and they were very nice. They took my number and said they'd call me to let me know when William Forrestall would be going door to door on my street so I could be sure to be home. Assuming that this isn't a lie, I must say I was happy that they were so helpful.

Next I called the Liberal office to see if I could have the same 10 minutes with Greg Byrne to ask the same questions. The lady I spoke with on the phone was extremely patronizing and basically mocked me. She was not impressed with the fact that I was a student and suggested I should join the young liberals. After I insisted I was an independant journalist, she suggested that I go to the debate at the STU/UNB campus. I told her that I couldn't make it there because I was volunteering that night. She then proceded to tell me to get my priorities straight! I don't know about you, but when youth are volunteering their time, I am blown away by their commitment to the community! I then emailed the president of the Young Liberals and told her about what happened and suggested that she tell her candidates that they need to be more supportive of the youth and encourage them to be more involved in politics, or they are going to lose votes. I must say the whole conversation left a bad taste in my mouth. I'll post my email and the response from the president when she emails me back.

Next I called the NDP who actually took my number and said they'd consult Alison Brewer's schedule when she's in the office and call me back with a scheduled appointment. They also congratulated me on taking action to get involved with politics and start my own "newspaper". That made up for the call to the liberals.

So, PC, suprisingly helpful (I hope).
Liberals, mock the youth and independant media.
NDP, helpful and encouraging.

We'll see how these interviews go over the next few days and if the Liberals can make up for their worker's rude behaviour today.