42point1

dear canadians: please read this

I'm still under the weather (though I've finally turned a corner, thank the stars) and too tired to put together a coherent post about the current Canadian political situation.  Mostly I've been stressed about the rhetoric coming out of Stephen Harper and the Conservative party -- first of all, "socialist" is not a dirty word, and if it weren't for the "socialists", we wouldn't have some of the things that makes this country admired -- universal health care, anyone?

Second -- I may not agree with the Bloc Quebecois and their aims (though I do agree with them a lot on social/fiscal/environmental issues), but they are the legitimately, democratically elected representatives from the people of Quebec, and they have a right to participate in parliament and represent their constituents. 

Mostly, I'm distressed that the Prime Minister of this country doesn't seem to possess any understanding of how Canadian Parliamentary democracy works, and seems to think he's suddenly working in an American style republic.  It's not the case.  But for a far more eloquent post on this very subject, please head over to Mark Blevis' blog, and read his post entitled "A New Education on the Parliamentary System".  He's put the case more coherently and more thoughtfully than I can right now.

And as Valerie said on Twitter (actually, she tweeted several interesting thoughts, including some echoed in Mark's post):

"So when you listen to what the Harper says in the next few days, ask yourself what country's language he's speaking."

after dark

After Dark is the latest novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami, whose works I rather enjoy, though I'd be hard-pressed to tell you why.  Maybe because somewhere, on some level, Murakami creates a universe in which I fully expect someone like, say, the Scarborough Dude (of the DicksnJanes podcast) to suddenly appear in my copy of the book.  It wouldn't surprise me at all to pick up the next Murakami novel and find that it had happened.

However, since I'm honestly so miserably sick that I can't think straight (and oddly, read most of the novel while waiting at the local walk-in clinic to see a doctor on Saturday), and dead tired, I'm going to forego reviewing the book myself and send you on to two links:

Ten things you need to know about Haruki Murakami (from The Times Online)

Walter Kirn's review of After Dark in The New York Times