When I woke up on Thursday morning, I had no idea that I would be going to sleep in Madison, Wisconsin. When my boss wandered into my office that morning and asked me if I was willing to hop a plane and join a Canadian union delegation in solidarity with the thousands of workers who had been occupying the state capital for 10 days, I didn't think twice.

The people from the AIDS Committee of Ottawa and POWER (Prostitutes of Ottawa/Gatineau Work Educate & Resist) are urging Ontario residents to contact their MPPs to urge them to vote against Bill 106 at second reading ... here are the details:

Dear friends and allies,

How soon we forget that only two years ago, the issue that dominated the election debate was whether people like me should be allowed to get married. Of course, all of the usual suspects lined up to pontificate about how this represented the end of the Canadian family. Several hundred gay marriages later, I am happy to announce that heterosexuality is alive and well, even if Harper and Dion are still fighting to one-up each other as the most fatherly, Leave It To Beaver types.

Maybe my partisan ideals have faded with a little age and experience, but I am now firmly in the Anyone But Harper camp, and am greatly relieved to hear that the NDP has tentatively opened the door to working in coalition with the Liberals after the election. Of course, Jack Layton is still pretending that he actually has a chance of becoming Prime Minister, and I am not sure if that strikes me as hope or hubris.

You'll have to excuse me if I have to duck out to puke a little bit each time I see Harper trot out his family - as if this enough proves that he is a decent guy with everyone's needs at stake who is qualified to continue to lead the country. We get it. His children and wife are blond and idyllic. He is the masculine head of household, wearing a sweater to soften his look and convince us that he has a warm, nurturing side. Kind of like to ubiquitous photo of him with one of the kittens that Laureen fosters (poor kitten!).

Yesterday, representatives from women’s organizations, social justice groups and labour unions held a press conference to denounce the Harper government’s record on women’s rights and accused the Conservatives of seeking to undermine access to abortion “by stealth.”

On Sunday, women will be holding rallies across Canada to tell election candidates not to “play with women’s rights.” Here’s a excerpt from their statement:

Women and men of all ages united today in Ottawa to tell message to election candidates not to play with women’s rights.