From Cork to Toronto

No, not the film (although I've never seen it which is weird given it's probably CanCon or something). 19 Quebec priests (including one who has spoken out in the past) have written to La Presse criticising the Catholic church's stance on same sex marriage. Personally I try and stay out of what the Church thinks, because in the main I don't think it matters unless and until they try and impose that view via the law. Sadly that is all too often the case. It will be interesting to see how the hierarchy reacts. La Presse's main article ( Google translation here ) The original letter in French ( Google translation )

Seen at Opinio Juris .

Two captains in my thoughts - Mats Sundin of Sweden and the Toronto Maple Leafs and (it seems) Robbie Keane of the Republic of Ireland. First - Mats. Not my kind of captain really, but in my short hockey-following spell he's all we've had. Pretty different from the "blood, guts and guile" employed by Manchester United - Robson, Bruce, Cantona, Keane (we have yet to see Neville G exhibit guile). My wife regales me with tales of Doug Gilmour - who sounds like Robson in putting his body on the line but never making it to the ultimate prize. In any case, Mats and Krusty the Klown have been tearing it up in Torino and returning with gold medals. He's 35 now - a bit late to acquire a taste for championhood but even if the Stanley Cup is beyond us in 2006 I wish he would show some rage once in a while... unSwedish I suppose. God knows he has a lot to rage against if he took a notion to, since there are more passengers in the team than on the TTC and even Domi lo...

There were three standout moments in the somewhat tepid closing ceremony to the Torino Olympic Games (compared to say, Sydney) - the costumes on the former Olympians carrying out the Olympic flag - only in Italy, the guys being blown into the air by the giant fan - looked even crazier than skeleton racing and finally the acceptance of the Olympic flag by Mayor of Vancouver Sam Sullivan . Sullivan became quadruplegic at 19 after a skiing accident. He had a socket built into his wheelchair so he could wave the (huge) Olympic flag as is traditional - apparently he practiced in deserted parking lots at night. (I still think a Canadarm would have been cool though). Boy did he ever wave it and the crowd went nuts. The Politic has some media reaction . The Governor-General ( hot, as always ) seemed to be enjoying herself immensely - was sceptical at first but she certainly beats her predecessor for public appeal (and looks and dress sense). I wonder if VANOC will be worried about Bryant ...

Transit Toronto picked up the Star's piece on Howard Moscoe, the TTC Chairman's plan to force condo developers near subway stations to purchase metropasses for their residents. Now, some condo developers do offer one year of metropasses as a sales incentive. However, the ongoing budget crunch has seen some pretty dubious tactics from city council where the existing development levies are being supplemented by extra squeeze - money for a park here or a public square refurbishment there - which of course the local councillor can take credit for. The TT article asserts that condos don't pay development levies as it stands - but they do, and are supposed to pay for city infrastructure including transit . One would think the saving grace of this is that the money raised will help out the TTC because it's going direct to them - instead it will just allow the city to cut its direct subvention to the TTC while adding more riders to the hard-pressed system and cause resentment...

There's a lot of ongoing handwringing in Toronto about public spaces (usually in NOW but sometimes in Eye and the Star). I agree with some of it - the current newspaper boxes are a disgrace to the city and a hindrance to the partially/non-sighted citizenry. PATH is indeed confusing and I have yet to find some of the passageways the PATH map claims exist despite looking many times. I sympathise with guerrila gardeners and it emphasises how poorly the city looks after the bits of green they are supposed to tend. The campaign to remove road-facing fencing does add to the open culture I found when arriving in Toronto as opposed to the almost mandatory front walls in Irish housing estates. However, the same people that oppose corporate advertising (which has, it's fair, completely colonised places like Yonge and Dundas) also oppose bylaws to restrict every scobe with an inkjet and a pot of glue to plaster posters for every lame band or service in the city all over the neare...

The price of a democratic society is often unpalatably high - in terms of what society pay must to preserve it and in terms of what some societies will demand of their citizens to exercise it. Two instances of this have come to mind over the past few days. The first was a story in the NY Times (registration required) in respect of mounting fees which States levy on former criminals in order to regain their franchise, lost at the time of their conviction. Those few of the poor that bother to vote are now denied it both by their punishment which in turn becomes a "life sentence" as they are too poor to discharge the fees levied. These States are not just the usual suspects like Georgia but so-called blue states like Connecticut. The fees seem to be small, $30 here, $15 there but added together come to thousands of dollars. I consider it dangerous to withdraw the franchise for prisoners - any group without a franchise or unable to exercise it is a group which will encounter...