A Bottle of Tequila and a New Pack of Cigarettes

 A positive post since beyond that Canadian residual crap I AM having a really great time here in the US with my family of besties! Yesterday I was handed a book of writing prompts by Heather and asked to contribute to it. This morning I found a worthy prompt. Take a scene from a well known story and write it in a different time. I wrote the following: When Henry Met Sully Courtly Lady: Name thee, good wench, yon hale, becoming man. Sully: Fie on you lass! Tis Henry, nothing more. Would he were more than nothing to be sure! Courtly Lady: Methinks you wrong him with your vexing barbs. Surely he could do great things in my name! Sully : A fool doth enterprises great 'tis true, But only great in foolishness forsooth. Twas but a day ago, or mayhap two Myself I sought this sense-starved knave to woo. Mark thee well what his arrogance doth wrought Lest in his web of witless wisdom caught You furnish him with numbers greater still To count the fully sated mounts this knight hath killed

 Last post I made the comment that Canadian politics is just banging our heads against the wall every 4 years or so voting for assholes who promise us the same things we've wanted forever and don't do any of them. Voting in our elections is the very definition of insanity I'm sure Einstein would agree.  Today I want to give you a very good illustration of how that plays out in the day-to-day life of a lowly citizen. My story is about taxes. Yes, we not only vote for insanity, we finance it, but it's every year and there's no democratic choice whether to pay taxes or not. They are mandatory and they are steep. Here's an article from one of the few semi-trustworthy agencies that will tell you what Canadians pay in taxes - The Fraser Institute . They say 45% in the article but they don't get into the hidden taxes. If you want to read about THOSE, here's a link to the Fraser Institute report from 1976 in which they calculate the regular AND hidden taxes Cana

 I've been watching the DNC the last few days here. My current benefactors and househosts are highly politically active so that's what's been on TV.  Although I'd characterize my politics as "independent," since there really ARE only two parties that have a chance at leadership in any U.S. election (a MASSIVE limitation in democracy and freedom that is roundly overlooked in a country that constantly claims to cherish both), and since one - the Republican party - has strayed beyond what a great deal of its members KNOW is outside the ordinary scope of the party in terms of conservatism, fanaticism, and chaos, I'd like to see the Dems win this one. I saw Pete Buttigieg interviewed shortly after the nomination acceptance speech of Kamala Harris last night and he said he KNOWS there are Republicans who are against the direction Trump is taking their party, they are just going along with it because they think it's the path to victory. They are sacrificing t

 I am still in the home of the brave, land of the free and, for my part, the confines of the puritanically sex-obsessed. An odd combo to be sure but... here we are. What other country could ban a girl from going to UFC fights because she flashed her boobs  in the same month a girl in Canada flashed her breastage at a hockey game and got cheered and rewarded for it with a Playboy pictorial, fame, and wads of dough?  It's not just in sports though. I often watch the late night talk show hosts slagging off Donald Trump by talking about his small hands and mushroom cap penis as though these physical attributes might render him a man incapable of leading the country. Don't get me wrong, I think of him as a man incapable of leading a quiz night at the local pub, but when his detractors use spankings with magazines, golden showers, and other sexuality to criticize him, in my mind their immaturity detracts from the legitimate point of his general ineptitude. They're shooting themse