mrrnice2

Best wishes for a Happy Birthday. MN2

Congratulations on reaching the milestone Frank. Keep the posts coming. MN2

I did have to work my way through some snow drifts but once I got into my greenhouse it was +30 degrees. Awesome. A sign of days to come. :)

Absolutely I shall be watching and living on the East coast gives me the advantage of an 8 AM start time. :) I heard on the news last night that Ottawa is not allowing their bars to open for the game, but hey, if you get in your car right now and drive right through then you should be here for say the third period. My bar will be open. :) Go Canada.

I have been watching a LOT of Olympic coverage in the last few weeks as many of us have been doing to varying degrees. Of course I am pretty excited when I see a Canadian on the podium and even when it is a non-Canadian and I see the enthusiasm and the excitement, it can often bring a tear to the eye. However, I have seen a few athletes from Canada who after finishing in 4th place or even 2nd place apologize to Canadians for that performance. I find that distressing. Every single athlete that is at those games has met a standard of excellence that most of us could not even dream of achieving. Few of us would really appreciate the time, effort and dedication that these athletes have put forth over the least few years in order to even get there. Few athletes would get to the level that they are at without an overwhelming personal desire to win and stand on top of that podium with a gold medal around their neck. To not achieve that would be a personal disappointment and I understand that. What it should not be is a national disappointment. Many of the athletes are able to do what they do in part because of financial help from government, both federal and provincial. Others are able to access financial support from business. This support gives many of them full time access to time - time required to train and to be able to compete at that level. What may come with that support is a feeling of responsibility to "produce," to be on that podium. I guess what I wonder is, do we as the general public want to continue to provide financial support through government to these athletes? Do we have a right to criticize if these athletes are not in a medal position? From my perspective I do like to see that Canadian flag being raised, however I continue to remind myself that these athletes have achieved incredible personal success regardless of their final position in their event. Every one of them should be proud of their success and none need apologize for not winning a gold medal. For a multitude of reasons, many of them being intangible reasons, I believe that we should continue to provide financial support. And by the way, I am seriously hoping for another Olympic gold hockey medal!

If I bat my eyelashes and show a little cleavage and a bit of leg will that work Lee? Geeze. Maybe I will reconsider attending since you have been kind enough to share. No wait, did I read that wrong? Damn, I thought that would be so easy. Maybe next time. :)

Following our two big hockey wins in the last two days I had to repost this.

And for what its worth, my submitted responses to the last three questions. 4. Do you think that it should be a criminal offence for a person to benefit economically from the prostitution of an adult? Should there be any exceptions? Please explain. Sex workers should have the opportunity to conduct their business in a safe and professional way by being allowed to hire support staff, whether it be drivers, body guards accountants, investment advisers, and so on. They should be allowed to lease or rent discrete premises to operate from. 5. Are there any other comments you wish to offer to inform the Government's response to the Bedford decision? The decision is rightly based on a desire to help ensure the safety of sex workers. Any law that is passed that causes the trade to be driven underground or into "hiding," will provide opportunity for exploitation and violence against sex workers. Canada already has laws that cover issues such as underage sex, slavery, illegal immigration, abuse and assault. No new law need be implemented that makes this trade illegal for consenting adults, be they sex worker or client. It should be treated as a business such as any other. Specifically, the law about bawdy houses was declared unconstitutional. This decision should be upheld to allow for sex workers to be able to conduct business in a known location that will keep them from having to go to "unknown" and potentially unsafe locations. Secondly, the law about living on the avails of prostitution was declared unconstitutional other than in "circumstances of exploitation." The exploitation factor can be addressed with existing laws in the criminal code. Finally the third law involving communicating for the purposes of prostitution should make public, as in on the street solicitation, illegal for both clients and sex workers. Communication on a personal level by various forms of media and telecommunication devices should be allowed in order for both parties to have confidence about safe encounters. 6. Are you writing on behalf of an organization? If so, please identify the organization and your title or role: I am writing as an occasional client whose wife has passed away who at times wishes companionship in a safe and non-threatening environment for all parties involved. Proper research will indicate I believe that many of the stereotypes that government seems to be acting upon are in fact untrue.

Another golden day for Canada. First the Canadian women won curling gold and next the Canadian women won hockey gold in one of the best hockey games one would ever wish to see. Good job ladies!

It's Hell to be retired. I have to fill my day by watching Canada win gold in Women's curling this morning and now watching Canada play the hated Americans for gold in Women's hockey.

For fine dining in Charlottetown there are a number of choices but perhaps a number 1 choice might be The Pilot House.

I posted this on another thread earlier today. If I understand the Nordic model at all it is just as crazy as the existing laws. Presently prostitution is legal but virtually everything that allows it to happen is illegal. The Nordic model would make prostitution legal but make it an illegal service to purchase? How crazy is that?????? However, my continued participation would probably be based on the same things that have guided me over the past three years. Technically every time I visited a lady at her hotel or home I was breaking the bawdy house laws but that did not deter me. For the most part my eventual meeting with a lady only happened after significant prior communications so that at least for me there was always a comfort level, and I cannot see that changing. I would not be concerned if I followed the same same process that I was going to be involved in any sort of a "sting" operation. For ladies I wonder how much more of their time would be taken with texts and emails in order to give clients that sense of ease. I know many ladies already do that but I wonder for them if that will now just add on one additional "chore" too do that will be required in order to do business. Right now it's all just thinking out loud.

Not sure how up to date this thread is for medal achievers, but I cannot miss today's gold medal in Women's Bobsleigh, with PEI's Heather Moyse getting her second Olympic gold. Must be all those big mountains we have here. :)

What a great question but what a difficult question to answer. If I understand the Nordic model at all it is just as crazy as the existing laws. Presently prostitution is legal but virtually everything that allows it to happen is illegal. The Nordic model would make prostitution legal but make it an illegal service to purchase? How crazy is that?????? However, my continued participation would probably be based on the same things that have guided me over the past three years. Technically every time I visited a lady at her hotel or home I was breaking the bawdy house laws but that did not deter me. For the most part my eventual meeting with a lady only happened after significant prior communications so that at least for me there was always a comfort level, and I cannot see that changing. I would not be concerned if I followed the same same process that I was going to be involved in any sort of a "sting" operation. For ladies I wonder how much more of their time would be taken with texts and emails in order to give clients that sense of ease. I know many ladies already do that but I wonder for them if that will now just add on one additional "chore" too do that will be required in order to do business. Like I say a tough question to answer and right now it's all just thinking out loud.

Laughing at that Boomer. Don't say anything that will make me nervous. :) I know you are a true world traveler with your volunteer work so I value your opinion. Thanks!!! MN2

I have my written answers for this survey. I am wondering if there is any member who is confident of their knowledge of the Bedford decision that would proof read my response to that specific question for purposes of accuracy. If so, please send me a PM. Thanks in advance.

Thanks to all for the input and information and mostly for the reassurance. I know that this is a relatively long way away but I am looking at the Rio Olympic Games in August of 2016. As I wrote about in a thread on Past Olympic Experience I believe that this may be the opportunity or reason for wanting to venture a little further afield. I guess we won't know for two years if I follow through on this. Oh yes, a question. Anyone like to go to Rio with me? :)

I was out and around this morning, still in my wheelchair. I am very lucky because through experience I am very confident and capable with it, however sometimes there are issues. We have had a LOT of snow of late and even with all the plowing and salting, parking lots still have that little skim of slush. Well, put that little skim of slush together with an ever so gentle up-slope and the fact that I don't have snow tires on my chair I was having some difficulty. A lovely lady approached and asked if I could use some help and she got me over that little section. People in PEI tend to help each other and hold doors for each other and to look out for each other anyway but when I am out in my chair it becomes even more obvious. Makes me feel good.

What a great story! :) Hmm, a heated bird bath.....perhaps I can envision one out there beside my giant bird feeder next winter. :) I see that amazon.ca has them and hey I could shop in my favorite manner - on line!

On the survey webpage is the following link to their privacy policy. "The Department of Justice employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage. This software receives and records the Internet Protocol address of the computer that has contacted our Web site, the date and time of the visit and the pages visited. We make no attempt to link these addresses with the identity of individuals visiting our site unless an attempt to damage the site has been detected." They do record IP addresses so I wonder if it could be argued that multiple responses from the same address could be construed as an attempt to damage the site, or at least as an attempt to skew the information collected. I shall be making a single reply. You are correct Phaedrus - it would be nice to know for sure.

Excellent point Fortunateone. That was a major part of the Bedford decision , if I am correct. It goes to safety. That's why I will be taking my time to consider and reply.

Thank you Boomer. I am actually surprised that the government has even produced these discussion questions. Since they did, I shall take my time to reply to each of the questions with thought and care. I read somewhere that each time a government gets an "opinion" from a member of the public they "count" that as representing a larger number of people because so few people actually will take the time to communicate on serious questions. Thanks for the link.

Well done Summer. I enjoy reading your contributions.

Every single time I watch an Olympic medal ceremony and see the genuine enthusiasm and huge smiles of the medalists, whether they be Canadian or not. Makes ME smile big time. :) :) :)

Oh Ye of few words but always the words make sense. :) I enjoy reading what you have to say. :)