Canadian politics -- party preferences

Hey, my canadian friends.

I'm trying to get a sense of how various political parties stand on a number of issues which matter to me.

Any of you willing to tell me which party you usually lean towards, for starters?

NDP, Liberal, PC, Reform/Alliance/whatevertheycallthemselves, et. al.

I've always thought that the NDP was a little too left for me, and the Liberal party was close to home (too left on some things, too right on some, and far too corrupt and used to being in power). But when I was living in Canada I paid little attention to politics; much of my information was filtered through my father, who is pretty right wing by Canadian standards, as far as I can tell.

My impression from back then was that the NDP is a little unrealistic in their spending habits and tend to fuck us over debt wise. Also that they tend to be a little too "sweetness and light and save the children and ladeeda."

Issue: Gun Control

Gun Control, when implemented properly, is a good thing.

By properly, I don't mean adding a lot of red tape. I mean screening for criminal record and requiring safety training. I'd say also psychological stability except that just opens pandora's box, and I do NOT want to go there; I expect I'd be one of the people they'd be discriminating against if they started doing psychological profiling, and more importantly, the profiling wouldn't stop at gun control if it were implemented at all.

Laws about gun storage are also reasonable. All those tragedies about guns accidentally being fired could be prevented by observance of basic safety rules, trigger locks, gun cabinets, etc.

I'm not convinced that having to register each individual gun is worth the expense. After all, do criminals purchase their arms legally? There may be some value to this, however... its possible that only organized crime could get ahold of illegally imported/manufactured arms, if all the guns in the country had to be registered. This would cut down on youth and gang violence, among other forms of disorganized crime.

Ultimately, I do believe that it should be possible for a law abiding citizen to own the firearms necessary to defend their home in wartime and revolt in the case of a government gone out of control. It may not be the way we established our government, but it is the way Americans did it. Of course, if a government ever got in power that was that bad, the right to bear arms would have already been eroded anyway, so this may be a moot point.

Issue: Obvious shit (well, if you know me)

Gay Marriage: Uh, yes. Please. With a cherry or three on top, and chocolate sprinkles.

Group Marriage: Please. Better yet, get the government OUT of marriage. It isn't their business; marriage should be just like a normal contract which can be platonic or not, involve children, joint property and finances, or not, and as many people of either gender or orientation as desired. This gets more complicated, but I assure you it can be done in a practical fashion if marriage as a legal institution is abolished entirely.

Abortions: Pro-choice; a woman has a right to choose. Admittedly, women who get abortions so they can fit into their bikini for their vacation are bad people. It sucks, but it can't be helped. To say much more about this I'd have to research things such as abortions late in the pregnancy and partial birth abortions.

Drugs: Legalize, standardize, tax, and use tax revenues to treat people who become addicted and run education programs on how to use safely.

Gambling: Legalize, tax, and use tax revenues to treat gambling addicts and run education programs about gambling

Prostitution: Legalize, regulate to require latex protection, regular thorough STD testing, and practice in a safe, healthy environment. Tax revenues should go to related educational efforts, as well as transition programs for sex workers who want out.

Statutory Rape: The way we're dealing with this currently is broken. I have a few ideas about how to fix it, but overall, it isn't that huge a priority in my eyes.

Consensual BDSM: Should be legal between consenting adults. Perhaps there should be laws which regulate pro-domming and dungeons open to the public, similar to those which would regulate prostitution, in order to assure health and reasonable safety. Drawing the lines on the "safety" thing would be tricky, though.

Merry Fucking XMas to me

I stayed up way too late last night, which was entirely my fault. But then I had a lot of trouble falling asleep. When I finally fell asleep, I got a pocket phone call from someone at 6 a.m., an accidental alarm at 10 a.m., and another call at a quarter to twelve (which was reasonable). I barely slept because I was having difficulty breathing again.

Yesterday was, in spite of all that, a good day. I got presents for the children I am closest to which I'm pretty excited about. I got myself several books I knew I'd be wanting eventually, and which I could buy cheaper with my employee discount at Valencia Street with shipping it east than trying to locate the books again when I'm settled. I ate tasty food, petted cute kitties, watched a nifty movie, and got home safely. I also worked the bookstore for most of Christmas Eve (11-6:30), which I actually really enjoyed; this included a surprise visit from rosefox and mikz.

I'm awake, and trying to stay awake so that I can not mess up my sleep schedule too much, and so that I can get packing done. But boy, do I wish I could go to sleep.

What I want for XMas

• a lessening of cold symptoms
  
• a productive packing day
  
• nifty friends coming over to keep me company while I pack
  
• to read lots of LJ entries wherein people are happy because they are having a wonderful day, or happy stories related to the season