The snow is back to stay it seems. They're talking about it being the coldest December in twenty years too. Ugh. The picture above brought a smile to my face. Someone did this last year too, making sure the statue was warm. I don't know who the statue is depicting (I'll look today) but it may be Jean Paul Riopelle because this is his square in the international quarter.Did I really read yesterday that the US government is dishing out approximately $24,000 per capita to stabilize the financial system? That's enough to pay off half of all existing mortgages in the country. It seems like Bush (or at least those on his watch) is gutting the nation on his way out.
Here's a great take on the gay marriage debate. I love the idea of "not recognizing marriage" as a method of protest. Of course up here, it's de rigeur to make a family without ever hitching up. Common law spouses have nearly all the same rights as married couples without the huge nightmare that is formal divorce. Most of my students with kids are not married, they just don't see the point.
I had to take a picture of my word verification when I was leaving a comment for Snooze. It's perfect for me don't you think?
21 comments:
Oh I liked that 'not recognizing marriage' protest but I like the Quebec way more where like you say, marriage isn't a big deal anyhow.
And bowel is perfect for you.
It is supposed to be very cold here this December too but they promise a warmer January, we'll see.
I was thinking (a dangerous thing) that maybe we should start a Gay Religion. They seem to bend over backwards so as not to violate the rights of the religious. So If we approach marriage as our religious right how can they say no? If we believe we must be married and sue them for violating our religious rights they will have to allow it, right? ed
I hope they're wrong about the winter. I so enjoyed last year's lame coldness. Brrr.
The word verification *is indeed* perfect for you!
As for Bush doing his thing on the way out, it seems indeed he is. I had a similar thought about the money spent that I shared with a co-worker yesterday. Instead of bailing out the company, we should be giving the money in such a way that it pays down the people's mortgages.
As for marriages and common law marriages, I found it interesting recently that the General Assembly of Pennsyvlania essentially outlawed common law marriages in a recent revision of our marriage laws.
Bowel completes you. I am using my Touch to comment, love it
Who are "they"? You know, the ones that say it will be colder/warmer than usual. The ones who say the winter will be long or short...how the hell do "they" know?
It seems that only gay people WANT to be married, doesn't it? :)
I can't do better than Coffeedog's comment.
Love the scarf on the statue.
I can't tell you how much I want to put a hat on that statue. Just to see if people would keep going.
The "not recognizing marriage" idea is brilliant.
I'm surprised the statue didn't have a scarf as part of his mold.
I would point out that for some people, a formal divorce process can actually make it less of a nightmare, since it gives a legal framework to get past an ugly split. Which is, of course, one of the advantages of marriage legalisation. On the other hand, if the law gives couples the same rights and recognitions regardless of a piece of paper, then I would agree there's little need for it.
I've noticed lately that Blogger has been generating verification words that either are or at least look more like real words. Mine is "tworpal", which sounds like something Lewis Carroll would have come up with.
What an excellent article. I'm going to try that on a few people and see what kind of response I get!
I can deal with cold as long as I don't have to shovel as much this year.
I don't believe in those long-term forecasts because it all changes here in a week's time anyway. I will say this...that in retrospect, we are coming out of a lousy, snowier and colder than normal November though. Maybe we'll just get the worst of it over with early and then the rest will be a breeze. A springtime breeze.
Bowel Movement? Seems to be one of your favorite topics. If you guys want a little Turkey dinner tomorrow, head on down...the weather is cool/cold but beautiful clear!
Maybe you might want to discuss with your students why they are wrong about “common-law” marriage. It is not the same in many very important ways of which the majority of Quebecers, especially women, are not aware.
Quebec is a civil law jurisdiction. It has de facto unions that are very, very different from common law marriage.
Regardless of how long they have been together they do not share in each other’s property. They have no support obligation to each other (this can be important if you’re a parent of five who stayed home to raise the kids, and you’ve been off the job market for twenty years).
If a de facto partner dies without a will, all of her or his property goes to the relatives. If there are no relatives, it goes to the government – the surviving de facto partner has no claim.
If you marry, or enter into a civil union all of the rights that go with it start immediately. If your partner gets run over by the number 24 bus after you’ve been together for 6 months, you have rights. If the person you’ve been living with in a de facto union for 18 months gets run over by that same damned bus, you have no rights.
This is a major issue for women’s groups all over the province of Quebec who have petitioned the government to change the Civil Code to recognize common-law relationships. People think they have more rights than they really do.
What a perfect word to come up for you to verify. Along with this marriage debate is the news out of Florida that the adoption ban against gays was ruled unconstitutional.
You can comment to Snooze? How lucky!
I'm in agreement! Starting today, I won't recognize marriage, including my own.
To all those who slam gay marriage and priviledge the hetero kind, let's make YouTube videos of their weddings in Las Vegas, complete with singing Elvises, a "heads I'm married, tails I'm not", a slot machine instead of rice and both members of said union caught in the closet with one of the barmaids! Then conclude with this:
This is why we cannot condone marriage between the opposite sexes. I feel the walls of prejudice crumbling down as I write!
Word Ver: phileg ( I wish the g was an m for philem!)
"IBS...how cool is that?!"
:)
It's been freakishly warm here, mid 40F's to 50F's (7C to 10C.) No snow yet. Kind of odd for November really.
BTW, bowel == bowl. It's based on the fact that Caecum, (Interface between the small and large intestines) is shaped like a bowl.
Love the concept of not recognizing marriage! I may try that.
Perfect word verification for you. Just perfect!
Mark :-)
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