closer to our dreams

Two fun stories from ALPF, who continues to make my life easier.

In the first, we see the link between the possible NDP-Liberal deal and gay marriage. One thing that's often lost in the American discussion of Canadian gay marriage is that gay marriage is already legal in seven of ten Canadian provinces, and there's legislation pending in an eighth. The federal bill would extend it nationwide. That's significant, and it should happen, but from what I gather - and not just from Rob - it will happen. The conservative posture against the bill is just that: posturing.

Remember when budding democracies wanted to emulate the United States? These days it seems they have a different role model. ALPF's second story is about the withering of communism's legacy in Russia, and what is envisioned as a replacement.

It will take Russia at least another decade to emerge from its totalitarian past, and when it does, Ambassador Georgiy Mamedov hopes it looks a lot like Canada.

"It will take us another 10 years or 15 years, what it took you 139 years to get where you are today," Mr. Mamedov told The Globe and Mail editorial board yesterday.

The envoy said Russia's only way forward is to build a free and democratic country, "the initial beginnings of a civilized society" that looks like Canada.

"I think that Canada is the closest we have that some people dreamt our country may become. . . . We don't want to become like the United States.

Mr. Mamedov claimed Mr. Putin wasn't waxing nostalgic for the Soviet regime when Putin said, "There are many bad things that you can say about the Soviet Union -- purges, lack of democracy . . . ideological crusades of the power of the state . . . but we had free education, free child care, free medicare -- and now the whole social safety net [has] collapsed."

Shit, here in the US, we have purges, lack of democracy and ideological crusades of state power, plus our whole social safety net has been destroyed! Yeah baby, we've got it all!

I imagine the anonymous commenter who is stalking this blog has just blown a gasket, as I dared to compare the US with the old USSR. Don't worry. I know it was worse there. Here, everyone eats meat and has TVs.