distractions galore

I'm very very good at avoidance people. I know I owe some emails, but I needed to not think about pregnancy etc. for a few days. And next week, my meeting with my RE. So let's all stick our fingers in our ears, and sing lalalalalalala til tomorrow okay? Cause tomorrow IS another day, and yes, I do have a slight Scarlett O'Hara complex.

I've spent the last 48 hours desperately shopping for clothes, shoes, uniforms, school supplies, etc. etc. then sorting and ironing name labels on everything, and after finally getting them off to school, dealing with the contractors and painters, and electricians who are descending on my house this week.

And during all this, Mr.Cotta picked up his new car, which as a second car I still contend is an unneeded expense. But, he wanted it, and we could afford it, so he got it. It's a Honda Fit. Tiny little car, 6 inches off the ground, no space for us & 2 kids with hockey bags and bikes, etc. If he was going to get something we couldn't use for a family car, he should've gone for the midlife crisis car and gotten a 2 seater sports car off lease a few years.

He was trying to be all frugal and budgety or something. Silly man, he'll just end up getting it stuck in our driveway this winter. Oh well.

Speaking of budgets, have you seen Bitch Ph.D.'s blog the last few days? She's broken the taboo again, and has written about her finances, with numbers!!! I mean, really, think about it, we all blog about our vaginas like it's no big deal, but she actually told everyone how much money they make, and how she's having trouble affording a house now that the subprime market in the U.S. is in meltdown, and how much of their budget goes on what, etc. etc. Comments are fascinating.

I'm still amazed that they net out so low after deductions. For years Canadians have heard that we pay such outrageous taxes, blah blah blah, and various academic studies all said it was bullshit, and that really Americans pay the same as we do, they just put it on property taxes, or pay user fees. Which makes sense, because you have to compare the same basket of services to the same basket of goods right? And I don't care if you call it a tax or a fee or a premium, it's still dollars coming out of my pocket, and what the fuck am I getting for it in exchange?

Speaking of the exchange of money for stuff....

This bit about adoption in the U.K. has me floored, and I've been reading about it at RT's blog and other places. Then I found this horror story at Amy Adoptee's blog, and it sealed the deal. I've really become quite concerned about the money involved in adoption and CAS, but the Telegraph series on adoption in the UK & the Times stuff really did me in.

And please don't think that Canada is an exception. Since the Mike Harris years when welfare rates were slashed, social housing was gutted, and single mothers were targeted as if they were the precursor to Al-Quaeda, Ontario CAS has increased the numbers of kids taken into care astronomically. It is unreasonable to believe that previously good parents "suddenly" started abusing kids, or that social workers "suddenly" noticed, especially when they only seemed to pay attention to the fate of healthy white infants who were wanted for adoption.

As I said explained to others, "They need healthy white infants to fill adoption quotas that their budgets are based on. They get X dollars per adoption completed at each CAS in the UK. The goal was to encourage the adoption of kids over 5, or non-white or disabled as these are the kids who languish in foster care and are classified as unadoptable.

Unfortunately, adoptive parents are only interested in healthy white infants period. The refuse to take a child who isn't perfect. So it's a standoff, and if the social workers don't fill their quotas, they are unemployed because the government won't give them the money. And they only get a flat budget for taking older or non-white kids into care, instead those kids just cost money for foster care and court time.

They are a drain. Cheaper for CAS to ignore the problem and cross their fingers unless a headline hits or a parent is being extremely abusive.

Which frankly is why running government like private business is bad. Instead of morality we get avarice.

Of course, the best solution is pretty simple, just pay for fertility treatment for infertile couples and do better research on why infertility is rising. And maybe give CAS the money it needs to operate properly."

Anyway, read the Telegraph story & the Times one about private equity firms getting into the business of running foster care; if I was from the U.K. I'd be nervous about adopting considering the implications. As an adoptee, I feel sick about a price tag on my compadre's heads. No thanks.

I'm also noticing the provincial election heating up here. For some interesting blogs on that, including todays hilarity about John Tory asserting that creationism could be taught in provincially funded schools check out Liblogs and Progressive Bloggers. (for my American buddies, this is a dead debate up here, so everyone is making fun of him. Between this and his attempt to fund religious schools with tax dollars, methinks someone has hired a right wing U.S. campaign consultant to determine strategy. Bad idea IMO, based on what happened the last time he did that.....)

Have to go call an architect now, and maybe finally read some personal blogs this afternoon!