Sunday, September 30, 2007

Wishing myself a happy birthday!

Monday, September 17, 2007

MMP or FPTP?

MMP stands for mixed member proportional. There is a referendum being held in Ontario on the provincial election day concerning whether to switch to this new system or not. 

There are 107 electoral districts in Ontario now and each one of them has a representing official. They can be affiliated with any party and are elected by the voters within that district, or riding. The candidate with the most votes takes the entire riding. That is the "first past the post" system we have now.

Proportional government would see voters casting votes for a party instead of a person. The party would generate a list of candidates with their important figures at the top. The percentage of votes for each party would directly correspond to the percentage of seats they would get in parliament. 

MMP is a mixed system that would utilise 90 fptp seats and 39 proportional, or list, seats. The voters would cast two ballots, one for their local member of provincial parliament and one for a party. The winner would take the riding and assume their assigned place in the fptp seats. The list ballots would be counted province-wide and the number of list seats for each party would be assigned. 

That is basically MMP.

The Citizen's Assembly for Electoral Reform's website.
The official information page for the referendum.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

If you've been checking your comments, you probably understand that I am not dead yet. I am engrossed in other things at the moment and haven't had the motivation for anything more than commenting on others' journals. I hope to be writing again soon.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Never found a note for me in my mother's papers today:

"dear baby

i try to force myself to sleep but i'm not tired. Also i am afraid to awaken to anything else than your voice on the other end of the line. i miss your voice. Right now i wish we had no need for money or parental security and we could spend every hours deep inside each other in every way. i am scared when i cannot find you. i wish we had our own room. Today is special - a symbol of 5 months - a time we finally found each other in. But it could be any day where you are not here - i would feel the same. i am miserable, completly sad when i let myself feel the fact that you are not here. Most times i ignore it because the pain is too great. Or i think of your beautifulness. Like roses you wish you could've stolen, or words pressed deep into the scent of my neck. i love you and nothing will be felt, or seen, or experienced without a definate trace of you in my life ever again. i love you. And that is the only truth. it is permanent and it is ingrained on my soul. i will keep you forever with me, my Raven.

Love your only HAZE."

It is from Emily. Likely from one of the times in our turbulent relationship when we were broken up. I wonder if any of it is still true. I used to call her names but I think that was unfair of me. We fucked up our lives over each other and the blame lies with both of us. 

Sorry for that..