The Proletariat Congress

Sure, gathering together on Sunday with a bunch of people in order to pray and pay lip service to your God may make you feel like you’re doing something. That you’re offering something to the world. But, let’s face it, you aren’t. A Christian going to church to pray and attend service is as useful to the world as a screendoor on a submarine. It achieves about as much as me sitting around on my Atheistic ass, playing video games. The only difference is I know I’m being lazy. I know I’m not making a damn difference in the world, and I’m not afraid to admit that sitting on my ass playing video games is just that, doing shit all. Prayer merely deludes folks into think they’ve made a difference, when all it is, is just a venue for hypocrisy. You think you’ve made a difference because you kept some poor starving African child in your prayers, or you’ve prayed for someone to “get better”, or you pray for the end of the war. One of those “feel good” kind of things. In reality, you’ve made no difference and have wound up wasting your limited time on earth on something that in the end achieves nothing.

Two hands working will achieve more than a million hands praying.

Last Friday, while enjoying my two hour spare between classes, I found myself browsing the CBC’s news website in the hopes of finding something to bitch… I mean “blog” about. I noticed an article about Canada’s own highly touted “do not call list”. It was straight forward; since the introduction of this list, people have been receiving an unprecedented number of unsolicited phone calls.

Registered with the do-not-call list? Expect more calls, says consumer watchdog

I read it, briefly fumed then went on to find something else. In the end, my wrath returns to this topic because I have received on my cellphone, which is an unlisted number, numerous unsolicited spam calls from automated machines! Utterly disgusting that my phone is being bombarded with such trash. The worse is that I wanted to prevent anyone other than those I voluntarily gave my number to calling me.

916-219-8163
949-256-9160
866-529-5998

Above are just three such numbers from whom I have received automated phone calls from (I love my cellphone for that reason. The numbers were stored in my recently received calls list). The DNC List is utterly worthless. I’d sooner place all my blind faith in the Liberal’s Gun Registry – the million dollar boondoggle – than this travesty. At least that registry was somewhat worth the paper it was metaphorically printed on.

This is just further proof that the CRTC doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the Canadian consumer. It’s controlled by the large media conglomerates who want an easy profit and will do anything to increase their quarterly profit, even if it means selling their soul.

While I intend to file a complaint (do so here), I’m airing my grievances here so that anyone who does a search for those three numbers can see that these clearly belong to unscrupulous telemarketers who are violating the laws of our land. That the laws implemented here in Canada are being violated by Canadians themselves all for the sake of making easy money. It’s a bloody scam. I’m weary about complaining because it requires my phone number and it’s going to the sale lot of immoral scavengers of human misery. I was tempted not to until I was told that my number was already on their file… so it’s not as although they can do any more damage. Assholes.

In addition to ‘bitching’ through the complaints option, I’m also writing to my MP (though, I wouldn’t count on Ron Oliphant for much) and to my party, who I’ve received a decent reply from in the past when I’ve written about legitimate concerns.

It should be noted that all of the calls I’ve received are from machines. If you want to determine if it’s a machine, just wait a couple of seconds. The message won’t play and it waits until a human voice speaks. A human would notice if the ringing has stopped…

This post was written from a blackberry because my husband is obsessed with his new toy and thought I should give it a try. This was a pointless endevour. My thumbs are sore and I never want to type with this shitty keypad ever again.

On ne permet pas ici l’anglais. Vous êtes seulement Français autorisé! Pourquoi? Puisque nous avons dit ainsi. Ne l’aimez pas, merde dure, anglaise!

That’s right. English is not allowed, even if those are vintage posters that are adorning the walls of your pub, strictly up as decor and nothing more. Sounds crazy right? What nation in their right mind would allow for such a law to exist? Is it France? Any one of those more oppressive nations that find freedom of expression to be detrimental to public health?

No, this is in Canada. This is specifically in la belle province; Québec. This little law is found in the The Charter of the French Language. The same set of laws is also referred to as the Québec Language Charter.

The specific article in question from the charter is article 58, which states:

Public signs and posters and commercial advertising must be in French.

They may also be both in French and in another language provided that French is markedly predominant.

However, the Government may determine , by regulation, the places, cases, conditions or circumstances where public signs and posters and commercial advertising must be in French only, where French need not be predominant or where such signs, posters and advertising may be in another language only.

This article of the language charter was cited by the OLF (Office de la langue francaise) watchdog against the Montréal pub, McKibbins Irish Pub, that received a complaint because it hosted a bilingual menu, bar service and displayed imported vintage posters (from Ireland) on the walls that were strictly in English.

The watchdog ruled that this pub was in violation of article 58, despite that the posters were not advertising any product.

Montréal by all rights is also a bilingual city and it has a sizeable English speaking population. To have bilingual menus shouldn’t be punished. Businesses wishing to cater to different language groups should have the freedom to do so.

Those who don’t, have to answer to the Quebec Language Police. Is this an exaggeration? Not by any means. This group does exist. That is the colloquial term for the OLF. While they aren’t the same as the religious police (see: Mutaween), they still have no place in a democratic nation. They have no right to tell someone they can’t use English. They can ask that French be presented along side, which in this case it was.

If Québec wants to enforce this kind of narrow-minded thinking, then it should just declare its independence from Canada because it insists on violating the citizens’ Charter (see: Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom) rights, the second article of which guarantees the right to freedom of expression, thought and belief.

2.b – freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication

Quebec language police nab Montreal bar