DEAR PM: new site

new site, check it out!

lovelamour

help Claudine and Christopher in their travels:

Dear Readers,

I apologize for the lack of recent posts. Please be advised I am still sending letters to the PM, but will not be publishing to the blog as I re-evaluate the merits of doing so. Your patience is appreciated.

-chris

From: chris lloyd Mailed-By: gmail.com

To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Cc: Andy Cook
Date: Oct 4, 2006 5:36 PM
Subject: Two Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan; Bernard Landry trouve inappropriée la nomination de Pierre Marc Johnson

Dear Stephen,

Was up early yesterday to finish packing up Jasper's crate. Borrowed Judith's Element and Larry at the SJAC helped me load the crate into it. It fit quite well actually. It went smooth at the airport, though it took me a little while to find the right hangar. The correct one had signs all over the boarded up windows that said it was the wrong location. Maybe it helps them work in peace.

Claudine's sister Joanne gave birth to a bouncing baby boy yesterday evening. As one would imagine everyone is quite excited and pleased. Both mama et bebe are doing well, from recent reports.

I had french class last night which was fun. It is a very conversational class but I still have a bit of grammatical homework to do before next week.

Still no computer. Terra can't find a proper box and I have yet to be able to coordinate a pickup.

I keep reading and hearing all sorts of nasty reports about what you and your hatchet-lackeys are up to on parliament hill. If one was to look at the silver lining I guess you'll do more to unify this country against you than anything else. I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding work with some right-wing think tank or economics policy board after you're booted out next year. Heck, maybe you could become a full-fledged evangelical preacher.

On top of cuts to literacy programs, legal aid, day care, women's shelters ("The federal Conservative government says it will no longer fund women's groups that do advocacy, lobbying or general research, leaving some to wonder what's left") and a muddled environmental policy, more cuts to museums, you are officially "unofficially" killing the National Portrait Gallery. Yep, there goes a decade of work, a million artifacts and over $10 million down the drain. I don't know yet whether this affects my acquisition or not but I'm pissed nonetheless. I imagine the architects, designers, contractors and employees are fuming even more. You really are an asshole. And now you're cosying up even more to the right-wing bigots in your obsession over homosexuals. Why don't you just get over it already? In the words of Napoleon Dynamite: IDIOT!

Anyway, today I attended a nice little ceremony in the Mayor's Red Room as twelve cultural organizations were awarded just over $30 thousand in funding from the new SJCAF. It's ironic how after years of nothing this little city is supporting the arts in a big way just as you turn Parliament Hill into the Dark Ages. I can only hope that this slash and burn mentality will come back to haunt you as soon as the next election is called, which won't be soon enough.

From: chris lloyd Mailed-By: gmail.com
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Bcc: Andy Cook
Date: Oct 2, 2006 11:38 PM
Subject: Tories get tough on auto industry; Les rapports verbaux d'inspection sont rassurants, dit le ministère

Dear Stephen,

We went to the hospital last night shortly after I wrote you. Claudine's asthma was getting worse and she couldn't sleep, so we called a cab and away we went. It was like a weird dream, there were no people in the waiting room, we read magazines, then she had breathing tests and then was given different puffers and we waited some more and eventually were cleared to go. We got home just after 4 and she was too wired to sleep from all the steroids.

After getting up I spent most of the day at the Arts Centre documenting and then dismantling Jasper's piece. Everything is ready to be placed in the crate but I can't do that until tomorrow morning just before loading it into the Element. It is too heavy and awkward to move from the loading bay to the parking lot fully loaded. Larry, the maintenance guy at the SJAC, should be able to give me a hand. I'm meeting Judy early to get the truck.

Made a leftovers casserole tonight for supper and then Claudine and I headed to the gallery to prepare for the screening of Network. It is such a great movie. I love how it unwittingly forecast the rise of FOX and trash journalism. We drew another modest audience. I'm wondering exactly what we have to do in this town to attract an audience for free popcprn and movies on a ten foot screen? It makes me wonder what people are actually doing on Monday evenings. The streets were practically deserted as we walked home in the crisp autumn air.

A warm bath would be nice right about now.

-chris

From: chris lloyd Mailed-By: gmail.com
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Date: Oct 1, 2006 11:31 PM
Subject: Friends proud of slain soldier; Effondrement du viaduc: Charest assure que l'argent n'y est pour rien
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Dear Stephen,

I still don't have my computer back, which is now becoming like a kind of vacation where I'm not checking my email every ten minutes. Of course, it also means things aren't getting done that should probably be done but oh well.

So since the last time I've written you lots has happened. The Continental Drift International Short Film Festival was launched and ran through fours different programs, including the well-attended Mini-Movie fest at the gallery this afternoon. An overpass in Laval collapsed killing five people and spawning a nationwide debate over the structural integrity of our infrastructure. The bar was really quite busy the last couple nights, which is good because I'm trying to save money. Claudine is wheezing from asthma at night; this hasn't bothered her in years and I have to wonder if the city has anything to do with it. The cats are playing with each other and sleeping together on the bed. One of the directors whose film ( goshawk) was in the festival is staying with us until tomorrow morning. The article Karen Ruet wrote about the PM Project in Baltimore was in the Reader on Saturday. Saturday was actually the first day in over a week that we actually got the paper without having to call first.

Your recent budget cuts affect not only the legal aid system but also literacy programs. What, you don't want people to learn to read? And thought he cuts to the long arm gun registry were expected the cuts to the museums touring program wasn't; that little bit of budget magic will result in a loss of between $50 - $200 thousand per year for the local New Brunswick Museum. What, you don't want people to learn about their cultures?

You sound defensive lately. I was reading an article where you were trying to blame the current direction of the Afghanistan mission on Paul Martin. You do realize of course that it was you and your government that pushed for an extension of the mission, which sort of makes blaming its current problems on Paul a moot point. It also makes you sound a little bit desperate; you've been PM for over 8 months, almost nine. Although that is roughly the same amount of time it takes to make a baby, it doesn't mean you have to act like one.

-chris

From: chris lloyd Mailed-By: gmail.com
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Cc: Andy Cook
Date: Sep 28, 2006 9:38 AM
Subject: Horror seared into memories of rescue crews; Arrivée de Stephen Harper en Roumanie pour le Sommet de la Francophonie

Dear Stephen,

Sorry I didn't write yesterday. Spent a good chunk of the day on studio projects. I'm finding more time to do that without my computer, which won't be ready by this afternoon at the earliest, and most likely tomorrow. I had my first french class at the SJAC Tuesday night, which went relatively well. There is a group of nine of us, various ages and mostly at similar levels. I think it will be a fun class. Good practice.

The gallery received the two grants from the new program to assist with the Kitchen Party performance series and Jo Cook's 'zine show. There is a ceremony next Wednesday in the Red Room. Not to be confused with Red Rum.

I hear you are still trimming $1-billion from the budget and tossing the entire surplus to the debt. As you can imagine I don't agree but hey we can agree to disagree. I especially like how you're making it harder for people to receive legal aid in mounting challenges to legislation, such as for language or human rights issues. That is surely a right held only by those wealthy enough to mount legal challenges.

Gotta go, Claudine needs her computer.

-chris