Age of Consent Raised

It took years, but finally Bill C-22 has finally passed raising the legal age of sexual consent from 14 to 16. Why is this such a great victory? The last time the age of consent was changed was in 1892, when it was raised from 12 to 14. We all know that 12 is too young to be having sex, well, I firmly believe that so is 14. I wrote a letter to a group of politicians a few years ago expressing my utter outrage at our legal age of consent, here is what it said:

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to express my utter disgust at the current age of consent for sexual relations in Canada. Currently the age for this kind of activity is set at 14 and I believe that is an age too young to be legally having sexual relations. Canada has the youngest age of consent for advancing first world countries and it is an injustice.

The age of consent is bringing sexual predators to Canada to take advantage of our youth, sexually. With the fact that prostitution is legal in Canada, another injustice, it makes it all the easier for a man to pick up a girl of 14 years on the street and do what he wishes to her.
The United Nations just released a report that said that 600 to 800 females are brought into Canada, illegally, each year, as sex slaves. This in itself is an injustice, yet my next thought is: how many of these girls should still be holding onto their innocence?

Statistically the average male or female is losing their virginity at the age of 16 or 17, so why can we not raise the age of consent to 16? It would make younger girls safer and provide them a legal safeguard if they were to find themselves in a sexual situation with an older man.

Also stats show that the average age of going into prostitution is 14 years old – can that be correlated to the age of consent in Canada? I think so. Just think, if the age of consent in Canada were raised to 16 the average age of going into prostitution would eventually raise over time as well.

I ask you as a Member of Parliament or higher, not as a politician, but as a friend, as a parent, as an aunt or uncle, as a brother or sister, think of your own family. Would you want the 14 year olds in your own family being sexually active?

I beg you, an age of consent for sexual relations of 14 is way too young – no one I know at the age of 14 has ever been ready to put themselves into sexual relationships, and those that do have a hard time completing school successfully with the emotional burden it puts on them.
Please, do what is best for our country and our families.

Take care and most of all take justice.

Sincerely,
Matthew Champ

I got only four responses from the MP's that were petitioned that said that they would support Bill C-22 to raise the age of sexual consent from 14 - 16. It was very disheartening to realize that it seemed only 4 politicians seemed to care, yet, when push came to shove they pulled through and the Bill was passed.
Woohoo.
Justice is being served in Canada.

-Champ Out

Elections draw Nigh...

What is our fascination with war? It seems as if the US has yet to learn a single lesson with the past 8 years from War as McCain is taking the lead in most polls - making him potentially the next President of the United States of the World. (Get it? Cuz they own everything we do.)
We are going from one war-powered crazy dictator to another...who worse...was once a P.O.W. - so war is the only thing he knows.
Electing McCain is just going to further keep troops in Iraq and he will damn sure make Iran the exit strategy. It's going to keep the public living in a state of panic and fear...McCain, worse than Guillani (thank God he dropped out) will have the terror level raised every other week...and most likely impose martial law, of sorts, by the end of his term in office - just as an excuse to stay at war.
Now of course everyone is like: well what the hell? You want Hillary in office? In honesty yes. But I know that more people hate Hilary than McCain. The only chance that McCain truly has in not making it into office is if he is pitted against Obama.
Obama is kinda the middle man - the only man who I have yet to hear a real hatred towards from others. He is a man of change. Which is something that McCain isn't...in all honesty it's not really something that Hillary is either. The world can't financially afford another Clinton - as much as I would love her...and so would the 50 million Americans without Healthcare it just seems implausible for the U.S.W to pull money together to help each other out. (God forbid we disband NASA who has accomplished jack-shit in the past decade or maybe stop investing hundreds of billions of dollars into an army which is fighting another Vietnam.)
Now don't get me wrong - the events that started this war (9-11) were horrible. I am deeply saddened about the 3,000 people who lost their lives in the terrorist attack...and the 3,000 families who suffered loss...also those who have had their lives changed (for the worse) by 9-11 - I am truly sorry for your losses...
BUT - is starting a war and endangering 22 million people truly an acceptable revenge? Did you know that there have been 10,519 terrorist attacks since 9-11. In 2006 there was 17,000 Iraqi's killed because of the American Invasion.
That is more than 5 times as many killed in 9-11. And we sit by and tolerate it. Maybe Abu Izzadeen was right when he said: ‘if you stop [US and UK imperialism], you will be saved, if you do not stop we are going to kill you, indiscriminately.’
We have spent the past 8 years living under a dictatorship of genocide. The only reason the U.S.W. has not been charged with war crimes is because they are exempt under the Geneva Convention. The U.N. might disagree with their choices, but because they are the big bully on the playground they get whatever they want.
Electing McCain is another step forward to US Imperalism which will keep us all in a state of pandemonium wondering who is going to drop the next bomb.
So - if you are an American citizen - please make the right choice. Don't vote for an anti-Christ...don't vote for a genocidal maniac. Don't vote McCain. Please...I beg of you.
Don't put the rest of the world through another 8 years of hell.
-Champ Out

A Political Jesus?

You know what’s cool? That time when God tried to wipe out an ENTIRE tribe of Israel just because they thought Moses was on crack. The Levites all come out to Moses and Aaron and go: QUIT SMOKING SMACK – YOU AIN’T REAL LEADERS! And then they revolt.

When Moses and Aaron pray to God – God gets totally pissed at the Levites and sets this huge fire ablaze and it totally kills like half of them. It isn’t until Aaron runs out into the crowd and sets up an incense alter begging God to stop that he does. God then, to show the rest of the Israelites whose boss, has the ground open up and swallow the leaders of the revolt and all of their families.

WHAM. BAM. THANK YOU MA’AM. And that’s the story.

Now – believe me – I’ve talked about this story before. I love this story. Numbers 16. I remember the first time I read it in its entirety. It was Easter Monday of 2006 in Seattle. Now why am I writing about this? I don’t really know. I just love the story. Like, I know a lot of people know that I do a lot of protesting and even on Christian circles I’ve been told that by questioning authority and protesting it I am indeed living like the Levites and God is going to open up the earth and swallow me.

But there is a difference I say.

Moses and Aaron are different than leaders today. Moses was appointed by God by a fricking Burning Bush. Like, c’mon – if that doesn’t scream God than what does? Oh, and by the way – Aaron’s staff became a fricking snake. Today our ‘leaders’ get ‘appointed’ by a faulty electoral system that is chosen by the people with the most money. (If you truly believe that democracy I apologize because I don’t.) So can I truly say that the leaders that I have today are truly appointed by God?

Did God show up in a Burning Bush to Jim Watson and say: Become the Minister of Housing. Or did God tell Stephen Harper to build an ark? Was Jesus the one behind the Florida miscount that destroyed the American economy? I really don’t believe so…therefore, can I call the leaders of my country today appointed by God?

Hitler used to tell people that God appointed him – but that obviously wasn’t true. Osama Bin Laden says that he a Messenger of Allah – obviously not true either. What about Kim Jong Il?

Stalin, Lenin, Gorbachov, even Putin – such a wide political spread between these four Russian leaders – yet can anyone truly say that one was appointed by God?

The reason that America is the Super power isn’t because Jesus loves them the most – it’s because they got the nukes. They got the weapons – they got the arrogance – they got the money. Weapons + Arrogance + Money = Uh Oh. That’s all I gotta say about that.

(Side note – watching the New Hampshire Primaries – boy do I love Hillary Clinton.)

Anyways – back on track – I just wanna say: what I do – protesting – political activism – it is not disrespectful towards God – if anything I would say that God approves of the stuff that I do as it is trying to keep the government in check. Just because they weren’t necessarily appointed by God doesn’t mean that they can’t do God’s work.

I urge all of you out there that read this (and are religious) to take part in getting involved in local politics – fight for what you believe in.

That’s the only way that we can change the world.

-Champ Out

What is Love?

Lately the word love has been coming up a lot. Now the main question I have to ask is what is love? Now, I’m not talking about that stupid Haddaway song: What is love? But really – what is love? Do we as humans have the capability to love? Like I can honestly say that I love people, I do. But do I have the capability to ‘be in love’? Like, don’t get me wrong I, as much as I have told people I don’t believe in love, I do. I believe in a love like Christ’s. You know one of those unadulterated loves that only Christ could feel for us. This love is a real love. It is eternal. It is everlasting. It never fails. It is the true 1 Corinthians 13 love.

But love today has become so bastardized. We fall in and out of love every day. Divorce rates are just as high as marriage rates, if not higher – so that proves that we cannot even find ‘love’ in the Holy sanctity of marriage. Where can we find love? In a mother’s bond for her child? Funny that even that love is bastardized with such high abortion rates and even high infanticide rates. Did you know that 1/3 children live in poverty? How many kids are being left at curb sides or at church doors? So we can’t even find a true love in a bond between parent and child.

Now don’t get me wrong – I understand that this is not always the case, I have been lucky to have two loving parents who would seriously do anything for me, but can I believe in a Universal love?

Where can we as humans find a Universal love? Because it’s obviously not in each other – we are constantly falling in and out of lust with each other to notice a true and pure love.

Now I know my religious side is coming out here, but I don’t care. Deal with it. I once told a person, very recently, that I don’t believe in love. However, I am wrong. (Amanda here is me admitting that I was wrong.) I DO believe in love…BUT, I don’t believe in love without Christ.

Love without Christ is just infatuation. Love without Christ is just lust. So, do I believe in love? Yes, but only through Christ.

We as humans do not have the capabilities to have a true, pure, unadulterated love, we only have the capabilities to lust…until we accept the pure and unadulterated love from Christ.

-Champ Out

ACORN/Golden Compass/Pizza

Wowee - it's been one hell of a month.
I am just entering exam season (starts tomorrow) and realizing I don't think I learned anything at all this semester except how to sleep through a kitten knocking over a kitchen table. (It happened last night.) Uh oh Jack knows I'm writing about him - he's giving me the evil eye from on top of the fridge. And he just knocked down the knives.
Anyways - like I said it's been one Hell of a month.

ACORN news:
I managed to organize a Cockroach Carnival to protest the state of housing in Ottawa cities. I even wrote a song for it. You can hear the song here:
http://ottawa.indymedia.ca/en/2007/11/6293.shtml
There was a lot of media coverage surounding the Cockroach Carnival
Ottawa Indy Media
Metro Ottawa
Ottawa Sun

We also had a city wide meeting. (First one for Ottawa.) This meeting led to a city wide action at City Hall where we made a clothesline of unfinished work orders in Ottawa City Housing and hung it around the Human Rights Monument at City Hall. When we tried to take the work orders into Mayor Larry O'Brian he locked us out of City Hall. Ottawa Citizens locked out of City Hall...wowee. I also wrote a song for this action, and I have a recording on my computer but it is yet to be posted online. Maybe someday.
Ottawa Indy Media covers the story here.

We are all gearing up for Convention in June where we will get to rally together with ACORN members Internationally with Detroit. (Guest Speaker will be the head of the Democratic Party - either Clinton or Obama - we'll know after the Primaries.)

Golden Compass Watch:
Oh guess what - The Golden Compass comes out on Friday. I could not be more excited. I have been reading the trilogy over the past few months and have fallen in love with the mastermind that is Philip Pullman. While there is much criticism coming from the religious right I have a few words to say to them: Shut the Hell up and Sit the Hell down! Why? Because you've already gotten what you want - They have already taken out all religious aspects in the movie - and it's not even that anti-God as you all want to portray it. Have you even read the fricking books? I didn't think so. SO SHUT UP! Go read the books - yes it deals with how the Church is corrupt - but you don't need to read a book to know it. But it's still not an anti-God piece...it's more of a 'question authority piece.' Don't believe EVERYTHING you hear - type of idea.
So stop the fricking boycotting - go read the books and shut up. Thank you.

Pizza:
Pizza Pizza now does Deep Dish Chicago style pizza. Yippee!

That's it for now.

-Champ Out

Been Awhile

So it's been awhile since I've really posted anything here...there have been many reasons for that.
I have been warned that I SHOULD censor some of my political views...believe it or not a foreign government is actually watching me.
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(I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say that or not though...but I did.)
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But I think I can still talk about religion.
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Anyways, the reason that I'm posting is because I find myself so easily frustrated. I watched the movie Jesus Camp again, I then went out and bought it, and sat down and watched it for a third time after getting into an argument with a friend over it. My main question after watching it for the third time was: who decided that Jesus was a Republican? (I'm not sure if I can say that or not either...)
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I picked up Richard Dawkin's new book, The God Delusion and within half an hour of getting home from the mall I got an e-mail from my good friend and former roommate Joe West about Pullman's The Golden Compass.
Both Dawkin and Pullman are very opinionated athiests who believe that all divine authority should be overthrown.
A lot of people I know have been really intensely boycotting The God Delusion and the fact that they are making the Golden Compass, the first of a triology of The Dark Materials, from a kid's book into a kid's movie.
Joe West put my frustrations into words. He says:

"Have you heard at all about The Golden Compass and all that crap? I think it's sick that Christians are taking so much offence, instead of reading into his books and trying to figure out where the hell we went wrong to make a guy hate God so much :("

I made a comment on a Facebook group that was anti-Golden Compass about the whole concept of censorship, freedom of speech and I pretty much added what Joe wrote: why are we taking so much offense when it's really us, Christians, who are making these atheists hate God by living such double-standard lives.
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I hate double-standards. I hate people who have double-standards. It's sick and disgusting. It's lukewarm. It's preparation to be spit out of God's mouth. I'm reading a (fiction) book, The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud. It talks about some of the disciples protecting the shroud that held Jesus' dead body. They all cut out their tongues so they would not betray their Lord.
They realized that their tongues would lead them to sin - so they cut them out. But we as Christians we don't stop ourselves from sinning. We do it out in the open. Seriously - if we as Christians truly wanted to stop sinning and remove all temptations we would have no tongue, no eyes, probably one (or in some cases) two less hands, and so on.
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I have a lot more going through my mind that I wanna throw out there - but for my own sake I think I better keep it in my head...for now.

-Champ Out