Adventures in Politics…

As you may have noticed, I don’t blog about politics very often. It’s usually because I have a tendency to tirade against idiocy – and then find out my facts are either incorrect or incomplete. I don’t want my tirades against idocy to wind up being my own idiocy recorded for posterity. That being said, I think the connection below is pretty clear:

In 1998, hard-core Republicans were doing their best to oust Bill Clinton, by any means necessary. When asked “…why the Republicans would persue a course that was neither right nor constitutional, [Newt] Gingrich replied, ‘Because we can.’ “.*

I think there are thousands of folks in Afganistan and Iraq, thousands of folks who have had their phones monitored and thousands of folks who haven’t seen an increase in mimimum wage since the Clinton Administration (…insert any other examples you can think of here) who illustrate exactly what happens when a group of people that act unconstitutionally when they’re not in power are granted power. They wind up consistently ignoring both international and domestic laws…because they can.

*Clinton,Hillary. Living History. New York: Scribner, 2003.

Adventures in Citrus…

A parcel arrived today from my sister. Included in the wonder-box were some things I didn’t have room for in my suitcase at Christmas. While I was in Canada, I was fascinated by all the new and exciting items filling the shelves at Shopper’s Drug Mart*. One of the the things I picked up was some Crest Citrus Splash*. Today was the first time I tasted it, and now I have a dilemma. On one hand, I love the taste of it. It tastes like an orange Creamsicle*, so after dinner if I’m feeling like some dessert, I can just brush my teeth instead. Same taste, fewer calories and fights cavities! On the other hand, since I’m a fan of citrus, I also use Febreeze* citrus air freshener…so my new toothpaste also tastes like the smell of my bathroom when I’m trying to make it not smell like my bathroom. Korea has a pine flavoured toothpaste, which I simply can’t use because it tastes like Pinsol* bathroom floor cleaner. I think I’ll be okay if I don’t brush my teeth immediately after using the air freshener, or I could keep my toothpaste in my fridge, so that when I brush my teeth I’ll really feel like I’m having a snack. See, I told you it was a dilemma.

*Good Heavens, that’s a lot of name brands in one Blog post!

Adventures in Livestock…

This morning as I was rushing down the hallway in the Agricultural College building, I was acosted by, and nearly tripped over, a chicken. It darted out of a supply cupboard, clucking and squaking like…well, like a chicken. (No surprise there really.) While all the other buildings on campus are generally wildlife free, it’s not unusual to be visited by cats, birds, rabbits, or puppies in this particular building. I wonder what it was doing in the cupboard? Maybe I’ll look for some fresh farm eggs next time I’m going by.