Friday Fragments

Once again, thanks to the fabulous Ms. 4444's for hosting this fraggalicious good time...

• Since I can not vote in the USA - yes, the same country where they had a group that one stated no taxation without representation but that is a rant for another day - I do not have a preference for either party.  With that said, I think the Republicans made a big mistake not letting Ron Paul speak at their conference.  While I do not necessarily agree with his proposed plan, there is a significant base of the party that does.  To silence him because he is not towing the party line is creating an environment that is exclusionary.  Moderate voters will remember this.
• On a related note: Toronto newspapers ran a story about a daughter and niece of a pair of Toronto City Councillors who sent out a tweet that was naive (to be kind).  The problem I have with this is that when did the daughters and nieces of politicians become targets for the media?  This is why a lot of good people will not run for office.  It is not worth it to have your whole family live under a constant microscope.  The trade-off is not worth it for many people who you would want to run.
• Happy to hear that my daughter and son are enjoying high school and kindergarten respectively.
• On a related note: Erik is still not sure what to make of having mommy and daddy but no siblings at home during the day.  On second thought he does, he just terrorizes us instead of his siblings.
• Hope Heather had a nice Girls Night Out.  
• On a related note: Heather  is also off to a blogging conference next week.  I see she is putting my sabbatical to good use.
• I have been debating about playing Fantasy Hockey this year.  It takes a lot of time, I don't get to see many games here in the USA and it would be another time drain I do not need.  On the other side, the guys I play with are a great group and it is a very competitive league.  Still thinking...
• On a related note: I have really almost stopped following pro sports since we gave up TV.  I do not really miss them either.  Instead I will enjoy taking my kids to C of C games and seeing student athletes play their tails off.