Ban the Burka!

The veil deliberately marks women as private and restricted property, nonpersons. The veil sets women apart from men and apart from the world; it restrains them, confines them, grooms them for docility. A mind can be cramped just as a body may be, and a Muslim veil blinkers both your vision and your destiny. It is the mark of a kind of apartheid, not the domination of a race but of a sex.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations

I feel like I’m getting back to my protest roots of the ‘60s. I haven’t been involved in a really good protest since I burned my bra (although I have since rethought my position and am a devotee of Victoria's Secret). We should be painting signs and marching in the streets carrying signs saying “Ban the Burka”. To make life complete, Dylan could write a song about it. But life is not so simple now. We’ve become nations who are terrified of being labeled racist and even more terrified of the wrath of Islamic extremists. France and Belgium have already imposed national bans of the burka and partial bans exist in other European countries. Burka wearers are banned from Australian parliament's public galleries. Canada is sadly lagging behind and we allow women to remain fully covered while taking the oath of citizenship. Kudos to Prime Minister Harper for trying to stop it and shame on the Supreme Court for allowing it!

The truth is that the burka has nothing to do with Islam. It’s not a core religious practice or dress code. It is a personal choice that relates to traditions and customs in certain Muslim communities. Years ago I attended a lecture by a Muslim professor in Istanbul who explained that the Quran calls for modesty, not full cover. In my mind that in no way equates to wearing draperies. Call it whatever you like, the burka is a sign of oppression defended by Islamists who have nothing but contempt for Canada's values of gender equality. Let’s ban the burka and stop being dictated to by Islamic extremists. If some women want to wear the burka so badly, let them immigrate to any of the Islamic nations who support it. Unfortunately these regimes don’t offer the same opportunities, social network, free medical care and FREEDOM! 

The next time you are heading out the door, pause at the mirror and make sure that what you see reflects your purpose and value. That doesn't mean donning the burka, but it probably doesn't mean having words on your butt either.
Amy E. Spiegel

Make someone smile today. And if they aren’t wearing a burka you’ll be able to see that smile.

Geri

The 5 Makeup Products I Can't Live Without

As a confirmed makeup addict I can tell you with a great deal of confidence that there are very few products I haven't tried. Of all of those, there are 5 makeup products that I can't live without and here they are.

1. MAC Russian Red Lipstick: This is by far my favourite! I've been using it exclusively for at least 25 years and it's lasted longer than any man in my life. It never dissapoints; it's consistent; and it always performs. Who could ask for more! Red lipstick makes me happy and I rarely put out the trash without my lipstick. If you've never worn red lipstick, throw caution to the wind and give it a whirl. There more shades of red than any other colour. You're bound to find one that you fall in love with too.
2. MAC Lip Prep + Prime: This is the companion to my red lipstick. As you may or may not know, red lipstick bleeds (other colours do as well). Some people line their lips with a pencil to contain their lipstick, but I hate using pencils. Prep + Prime goes on under your lipstick and miraculously your lipstick doesn't bleed. Without it, I'd probably have lipstick up my nose.
3. Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Midnight (very dark blue):This stuff is amazing! I love liquid liner. It's easy to use. And best of all, it stays perfectly in place, unlike pencils that get sucked into your skin or run, making you look like a raccoon. I could go through a car wash and my liner would still be perfectly in place. I've discovered over the years that the best colour liner for my brown eyes is dark blue. It also comes in black and several other shades.
4. Chanel Volume 10 Mascara:I have to tell you upfront that I'm cheap and I would have never considered buying a $38 mascara. I became a convert due to the power of the sample. I'm a devotee of Chanel Coco Noir Eau de Parfum. Martha, the extraordinary Chanel rep at the Bay at Yonge/Bloor gave me a sample of the mascara. When I asked how much it was and Martha told me, I almost gagged. I'd been buying Maybeline Great Lash and waiting for it to go on sale for $2.99. Never-the-less I had the sample so naturally I used it. My mother (a harsh critic) and 3 women in my dentist's office thought that I was wearing false eyelashes. That was it. I was sold and I've actually happily been buying a $38 mascara. I wish that more companies would give out samples. Without a sample, I would never have bought this mascara.
5. Stila Cream Blush in Rosewater: I've tried several cream blushes and I've never been happy. I either didn't like the texture or they had a poor selection of colours. This blush has the most wonderful texture. It's almost liquid and goes on light and dewy. And it stays on.

These are my "can't live without" makeup products. What are yours?

The most beautiful makeup of a woman is passion. But cosmetics are easier to buy. 

Yves Saint-Laurent

Make someone smile today.

Geri

Do Service Charges Piss You Off?

About once a year I get a ticket for an expired parking meter and last week I got nabbed. Parking makes the city of Toronto a fortune so I swear we have these parking enforcement creatures lurking on every corner. In any case, I don't dispute that my meter expired so it's my fault. Time to pay the piper, so I read the back of the ticket to see how and where to pay. For some unknown reason you can't just walk into a bank and pay your ticket. They have to make it as inconvenient as possible and add idiotic service charges. 

These are the options:

1. Payment by Touchtone Telephone and an administrative charge may apply (of course it will!)
2. Payment by Mail (do not send cash)
3. Payment in Person and a service charge may apply (of course it will). There are only 4 civic centres in the city where you can make payment
4. Payment Online and an administrative charge may apply (of course it will!)

I don't get it. First of all, let's cut the crap. The administrative charges (AKA service charges) do apply, so what's with the "may" apply crap. Let's have a look at these options and see how stupid this is. The only option where there is no service charge is by mail. When you pay by mail (and you can't send cash), you will more than likely send a cheque. This means that someone has to open the envelope, find the ticket the payment applies to, deposit the cheque in the bank and wait for it to clear. This VERY cumbersome process has no service charge attached to it. But if you pay by phone with a credit card, online with a credit card or in person with a credit card or cash you have to pay a service charge, which by the way is $1.50. I paid online by credit card and they charged me $1.50 which means that I was charged a service charge for "self-service" and they got immediate payment with no touchpoints. Can someone explain this stupidity to me??? And what can we do about it? Nothing; you can't fight city hall.

You know, someone actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen. It said "Parking Fine".

Tommy Cooper 

Make someone smile today.

Geri

Stop Using Religious Rights & Freedoms as an Excuse Not to Do Your Job

Two stories last week have inspired me to get up on my soapbox and vent about the rampant idiocy in our culture today. We’ve allowed fanatics to use religion to further their own agendas for far too long. Religious rights and freedoms in both Canada and the U.S. are meant to protect people from being discriminated against or persecuted based on their religious beliefs. It’s not meant to be an excuse not to do your job. 

Religious fanatics are using and abusing our legal system. And, we’re so afraid of being labeled politically incorrect or racist that we let them get away with it. Last week two women refused to do their jobs and have chosen to hide behind religious rights and freedoms and holler racism at the top of their lungs. The reality is that these are two people who are not doing their jobs and who should be fired. 

Kim Davis, a County Clerk in Gayson Kentucky, refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in spite of the fact that it’s her job (same-sex marriage is legal in Kentucky). As a result she just spent 5 days in jail on a contempt charge. U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered that if Davis interferes with the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples upon her return, she could go right back to jail. Mat Staver, founder of the Liberty Counsel, the Christian law firm representing Davis made this statement. “Kim cannot and will not violate her conscience.” If indeed Ms Davis is a good Christian woman whose conscience won’t allow her to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, then she should do the right thing and resign; not collect $80,000/year for refusing to do her job. If she doesn’t resign then Grayson County should grow some balls and fire her!

Charee Stanley (a recent convert to Islam), is a flight attendant who was suspended for refusing to serve alcohol. She says that her religious freedom was violated and that Islamaphobia was behind her suspension. According to CNN Ms Stanley filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Detroit last week. What’s wrong with this picture? How about the fact that she got suspended because she wasn’t doing her job? Why would a woman who has such strong religious beliefs that she can’t serve alcohol, apply for and accept a job that requires her to serve alcohol? Why are we tolerating this bullshit? What does this have to do with Islamaphobia? There are plenty of Bible-thumping Christians who think that drinking alcohol is a sin. Would Ms Stanley still be shouting Islamaphobia if a Christian had been suspended for refusing to serve alcohol? 

Let’s stop pandering to every special interest group because we’re afraid of not being politically correct and these nuisance law suits. If someone’s not doing their job, fire them and let’s give these jobs to people who want to work!

Being Politically Correct means always having to say you're sorry.

Charles Osgood

Make someone smile today.

Geri

My Personal Online Dating Favourites

Online dating has been good for comic relief and has provided me with fodder with which to amuse my friends. I refer to my online dating experiences as my Fish-Capades - an homage to Plenty of Fish, AKA Plenty of Minnows. Although online dating has not resulted in any relationships for me, short or long term, it does have entertainment value (certainly better than the meager offerings on network TV). I’d like to share my favourite emails with you. 

I should first explain that I am currently 61. I describe myself as “high energy, active and urban”. Clearly some folks that messaged me were confused about several words in my description. High energy, active does not indicate that TV watching is my activity of choice and the word urban, as in living in a city or accustomed to cities does not indicate that I'm a rural dweller or nature lover. Nor would I participate in camping, fishing or hunting. In fact, I only commune with nature on a golf course. My idea of camping is a motel instead of a hotel. I have a deep and abiding affection for indoor plumbing and I love concrete.   

You’d expect that when someone sends you a message it would contain the usual pleasantries and some comment about what you have in common. My all time favourite is, and I quote, “Hey, you’re not bad looking”. High praise indeed from a 65 year old, bald, morbidly obese retiree who in the Interests section lists TV and beer (I’m a non-drinker). 

My second favourite was chosen not for the email itself which only said “Hi” but for the accompanying photo. The person in the photo was wearing camouflage pants, a red and black lumber jacket, baseball hat worn backwards and a Tim Horton’s coffee in hand. This vision was standing next to a pickup truck and in the payload was a dead deer in full rigor. It could have been right out of “Deliverance”. We would certainly have been a match made in heaven!

There have been others that have been mildly amusing, but none could compete with these.

Make someone smile today.

Geri

Online Dating Commercials Are Like Fantasy Island

Have you seen the commercials for match.com? There are 2 very attractive people who have never met before, dressed to the nines and meeting for drinks in a very upscale bar in the evening. In no time flat they’ve figured out that they have everything in common and are planning their second date. On what planet did this online dating experience occur? 

I’ve been on and off several online dating sites (both free and paid) with equal results – unmitigated disaster! Yes, I’ve been on match, home of the perfect date. However, my experiences bear no resemblance to the commercials. In the real world of online dating no one meets in cocktail wear at upscale bars. You meet for coffee at a local Starbucks or Second Cup, or perish the thought, downscale at Tim Hortons. You don’t discover in a nanosecond that you were made for each other. In fact you’re farklempt if you can actually recognize him from his profile photo. I had a guy say that he was 5’8” tall when he would have had to look up to see a jockey face to face. Another said he was of average weight, and he was if you consider average at least 350 pounds. A guy who was supposedly an active outdoorsman 5 years younger than me was so frail that he could barely lift his coffee cup.

I’ve discovered that they lie about everything – height, weight, interests, job… I met a lawyer who said that he played golf. I love to golf so I asked where he usually played. He proceeded to tell me that he didn’t really play golf but he did take his son once to play mini-putt. I guess in his fine legal mind, this constituted playing golf. On top of that he was a communist and had a boa constrictor. The only boa I want to know about has feathers and can be worn to jazz up a great evening dress.

Of course these commercials try to make you believe that you’ll meet the great love of your life and get married on their online dating sites, but here are the real statistics according to the Pew Research Center:

• 20% of adults aged 25-34 years old have used online dating, but it’s also popular with older singles, too.  
•  33% of people who have used online dating have never actually gone on a date with someone they met on these sites. 
•  5% of Americans who are in a marriage or committed relationship say they met their significant other online.

Yes, only 5% of Americans met their spouse or significant other online. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, is it? And it certainly refutes the crap that eHarmony feeds you. Neil Clark Warren and his insufferable granddaughter are enough to make anyone vomit. Yet, as long as we’re all looking for love, online dating sites are here to stay. 

Here’s one of my favourite quotes about online dating.

“It's kind of freaky to send your picture over the Internet to someone you don't really know and then have to sit waiting for their judgement on how you look. Maybe that's why my aunt Penny, who got divorced two years ago, hates online dating so much. Mom's always nagging her to go back on Match.com but Aunt Penny says she'd rather have root canal work - without anesthetic.”
 Sarah Darer Littman

Make someone smile today.

Geri

The Old Fart’s Guide To Technology

 Firstly, I should tell you that this old fart is 61. As you now have figured out, I don’t come from the computer age. In my day a calculator was the height of sophistication. When my father bought me a solar powered calculator in Hong Kong (which I still have for sentimental reasons), it was considered a wonder of modern technology. When I was a student at McGill, if you took a calculator into an exam, you were immediately expelled for cheating. Now, it’s a virtual impossibility to find anyone walking around without their electronic appendages, me included. 

Growing up, the family shared a single phone line and some families shared a “party line”. Now land lines are a thing of the past, even for old farts like me. I’ve been exclusively mobile for over 5 years now. Kids have technology DNA and innately know how to operate the most sophisticated electronic equipment. It’s second nature to them and as natural as breathing. A new survey by vouchercloud.net reports that most children get their first cell phone when they are just 6 years old. The study also found that parents also purchased other technology for their kids:

• 96% have a cell phone
• 83% have a TV or sound system
• 75% have a tablet
• 71% have a handheld gaming console
• 65% have an eBook reader
• 51% have an Xbox or Playstation

It’s no wonder that technology represents no challenge to them. They don’t know life without it. The old farts on the other hand struggle with new technology. I remember when I got my first smartphone and asked where the user manual was. The sales guy laughed at me and told me to go to YouTube. I had no idea what he was talking about and why I would want to go to YouTube. I left the shop with no clue about how to operate this contraption. Soon enough I got my first call and couldn’t answer it. I kept pressing everything in sight and no luck. So in desperation I went to YouTube, asked how to answer the phone, and eureka! I had a plethora of how to videos explaining how. 

I can’t even imagine how many hours I spent on YouTube learning how to use my smartphone. But I can tell you that I have no idea what I would have done without YouTube and my friend Erik. If you’re an old fart who wants to stay sane in this techno-world, in addition to YouTube, find a super smart techie guru friend like Erik who will tolerate old fart friends that are techno-imbeciles (and I am their Queen).

This old fart’s guide to technology is in 2 words – YouTube and Erik.

Make someone smile today.

Geri