More reasons I want to move back home

From www.cbc.ca

This is the end part of an article on the Canadian anti-war movement:

Conscientious objection

Conscientious objection involves withholding personal income taxes and diverting them instead to an anti-war fund.

In 1979, the Mennonites and Quakers established Conscience Canada, a group whose goal it is to promote and support conscientious objection. Taxpayers can choose to withhold seven to eight per cent of their taxes and divert the money to a Peace Tax trust fund used to protest war.

The percentage donated is the estimated portion of all federal income taxes earmarked for the military.

Since that time, a handful of private members' bills have been introduced – unsuccessfully – to Parliament, aimed at securing the right for Canadians to request their tax dollars be used only for peaceful purposes.

While it isn't known how many Canadians withhold their taxes in protest of war, the Mennonite Church reported in 1994 that more than $60,000 had been diverted from federal taxes into the group's peace trust.

Yet another thing I didn't know when I lived there, but I never really made enough money to pay a significant amount of tax either.

Whine, bitch, moan and complain

I've not had the greatest week - I'm feeling lousy again so have only put in one full day at work, having to leave at 3:30 every other day. (On the plus side, I have made it in every day so things can't pile up too badly). I'm not sleeping again, probably because I'm getting a lot of pain in my back. It's a re-run of whiplash (it flares up occasionally), but I don't recall ever feeling nauseous with it before. I'm reluctant to up my dose of painkillers as I'd like to remain (relatively) lucid.

Work has plumbed new depths of sucky, and I haven't exactly been in problem-solving mode. I really shouldn't come in when I don't feel like doing anything constructive (as I can guarantee I'll get hit by a crisis that requires not only thinking but speaking coherently). Weeks like this I wish my job still required lots of typing and other non-effort-related tasks.

The Hamster That Would Not Die finally passed away on Wednesday. Despite his great age, this came as something of a shock as I thought he'd shaken off his latest chest infection. Plus, we were beginning to think he was immortal. The worst thing about inheriting pets from work colleagues is having to tell them when they've passed on.

I'm very worried about Jason's rabbit. He's not eating again. It's been going on for rather longer than his previous sulky episodes. I'm reluctant to take him to the vet because in order to find out if he's obstructed, he'll need ananaesthetic, and I think he's lost too much weight for that to be safe, even with a vet that knows what they're doing with bunnies. Also, the fact that the only thing he'll eat is chocolate chip cookies argues against obstruction, and for our theory that he's just sulking. We''ve moved him out of the guinea pig cage onto his own, partly in case that was his problem, and also because we can monitor his input and output better when he's on his own. So now I have a lonely guinea pig on my hands too.

On the plus side, the new episodes of Buffy and Angel last night were pretty good, more than making up for the crap-tastic new episode of Stargate SG-1 on Wednesday (it was a "highlights from previous episodes" installment. I hate those). Oh, and Paramount has finally bought some episodes of MASH that I haven't seen in about 10 years.