What began as the self-immolation of a young man who could no longer tolerate injustice turned into a mass revolution we call (because we're robotic twits and need catchy names for shit) "The Arab Spring"
What began of massive, unprecedented greed and collusion, almost destroyed the US economy, and so badly disabled the rest of the financial world, turned into a mass revolution we call "Occupy Wall Street" or "Occupy" in all its various incarnations.
OWS spawned worldwide action. We are now aware, more than ever, there are many of us, globally, with a common cause. The shenanigans of the international financial industry, more and more details of the ever increasing gulf between rich and poor, governments who have forsaken the people for the sake of protecting corporations at any cost. The overwhelming feeling is if we do not take this momentum and take concrete action we will have lost not just an opportunity to change history, but perhaps all opportunity to save the planet for our descendants.
It's about the people, stupid. It's all about the human race. It's about people starving to death, about people without even the dignity of clean water. It's about over 1,000,000 proud Americans having their homes taken away by banks that have been bailed out with their tax dollars who continue to pay multimillion dollar bonuses on top of lavish salaries and perks. It's about politicians and leaders of countries who put in place policies that give big business and the people who can most afford it big tax breaks while blaming their money problems on the everyday citizen. We pay too much for education, for health care, for the elderly, in fact, any program aimed at helping people is fair game since it all can be portrayed as "socialists" and "forcing everyone to pay for the bums" and "giving everyone a handout", etc.
Funny we can continue to reduce taxes for big corporations. Of course, we continually get the overtold lie that low taxes for these people mean more jobs, more than making up the lost revenue from the taxes on payroll and spending of all this money. Last year in Canada and the US, large corporations pocketed over 2 trillion dollars in tax breaks, according to reliable estimates. They didn't spend it on upgrading equipment and facilities, creating new jobs, research and development or anything else that would help the economy as a whole. They didn't even bother to share the massive windfall with the people who do the work that earned them all that money, the paid lots of fabulous bonuses, bumped up dividends enough to keep shareholders interested and stashed the rest. You might think they are putting some away for a rainy day, say the economy takes a bad turn so maybe they can at least save the jobs we currently have, but you'd be thinking wrong. If the economy has a downturn, companies don't do stimulus, they shed tens of thousands of everyday john/jane doe types to maintain their standing in the stock market.
It's about the people, stupid. Too many of us now realize the tipping point has passed. Even if you did everything you could to cut off the worldwide flow of information, what we already know is enough to realize that history has dictated to the ordinary people of the globe we must retake control of our world. That we must respect each others differences and work to live in peace and cooperation. We must change the way we run our affairs, both in a governmental and a personal sense. The vast majority of global citizens have no desire to kill one another and if it weren't for the vast minority of politicians and corporations who profit from fomenting hatred of others who are different, we could avail ourselves of a peace dividend that will make the end of the cold war look like the tip you leave when you only get mediocre service.
As I watch governments enact new legislation to oppress their own populations in the nations that feign the moral high ground to dictate human rights, and as I watch them either turn a blind eye, remain silent, or outright support the violent attack of peaceful protesters, I realize we have a global house cleaning we need to do. As soon as possible. These people have been chomping at the bit to go to war with Iran, probably under the guise of protecting our Israeli allies. There are people in very high places who know they've played such a shell game with the world economy for the profit of the few, that some big dominoes are about to tumble. Since we've intertwined the global economy the earthquake in one country causes aftershocks in others, some of the weaker others have their own earthquakes, larger, more far reaching ones. With the successful explosion of citizen uprisings worldwide, the elite realize they need the only out they have left. WAR.
I'm not talking your garden variety Iraq I&II/Afghanistan/Lybia deal. Those were designed to produce a generation of desert warfare leaders, and a generation of desert warfare fighters. I realize most people have no desire for war, but people do not make that decision. I will guarantee the entire scenario for World War Three is mapped out within the walls of the Pentagon. The plan has been in place for years. The plan is firmly in place for a far wider war. Global conflict for control of the majority of the remaining known fossil fuels.
When too much shit starts hitting the fan (which is soon if you consider the rapid ramping up of incidents and problems with Iran diplomatically, the nuclear program our friends are clearly allowed to have), America will give Israel the green light to launch a pre-emptive strike on the "troublesome" Iranian nuclear facilities. When someone attacks your country you retaliate or capitulate. I don't for a second believe Iran will capitulate.
Now America/Canada/UK will act immediately to defend Israel from "those who would destroy her". Then they bully NATO about promises to protect the Jewish homeland establish by the United Nations, etc. China and Russia are sabre rattling, with China warning an attack on Iran could result in a Third Word War. Should this be the result, pretty much everyone will be forced to choose sides. Conscription will be the order of the day. Young people will no longer be unemployed, however, we know all governments realize escalation to nuclear is a no win situation, those are more to keep domestic populations in line. No, all counties are still willing to send our restless youth to kill and maim one another over "principles". Older people unfit to fight will once again be forced to make the tools of war, their minds now fully consumed with the hope their children and grandchildren might come home. Once they can involve China and Russia it will become a patriotic war to protect our way of life from repressive regimes who support those who not only export terror around the globe but have sworn to destroy those we have sworn to defend.
This is the ultimate answer to economic collapse and the awakening of the populace. It's corporate-ideology driven bullshit. Many powerful people believe we can win, or at least break even. Don't for a second believe this is not very high on the table and gaining steam. Many millions of lives will be lost, after which the job of rebuilding will continue to provide the smokescreen politicians and corporations need to retain and improve their position.
Our local occupy movements must become a real political force. We cannot allow ourselves to be co-opted by any existing party in any country. We need independent people dedicated to returning government to the people. Our number one priority must be political reform, substantially so, and let no one fool you, none are prepared to deliver the kind of reform that will bite the hand that feeds them.
This isn't about left and right. It's about right and wrong.
Are YOU ready to take the step? Take the time to comment below, discussion is open to all.
Thought provoking ideas. Comments/arguments welcomed, abusive comments unceremoniously deleted.
Sunday 4 December 2011
Sunday 20 November 2011
My 99% Story.
A wide variety of people are telling their 99% stories. I think everyone should read them. Like any cross-section of the populace, they vary from person to person, and may be wildly different when you consider age, race and gender factors to name but a few. The main theme is, there is enough for all, yet the few have most of it and the many don't have enough. I don't see people saying they should get handouts like the banks & big business get. I see people asking for jobs that pay a living wage, for enough security to know they will have food, and a roof over their head, and warmth, and dammit, maybe just a bit left over. I see many students, well educated, did all the right things, saddled with debt for a piece of paper that isn't earning them enough to pay back the loans and live a meager existence, let alone plan for a future. I see people who worked their whole lives, some who worked more than one job who have lost their homes. What a slap in the face, the banks get bailed out, the banks now own their home, and they get told to "Get a job".
I don't see anyone saying fabulously wealthy people or corporations should not be allowed to be rich or make profits. I see people saying they're fed up living in a world that is no longer taking care of its people. Tired of world where we can spend trillions of dollars on war but let people go hungry, sick, homeless, and stand by watching countries where people who are starving are ignored by governments and media alike.
I see people who just want some dignity. Most of all, I see people who care enough about the global state of affairs they are prepared to be beaten, shot, and even give their lives so they can live in a world where no one gets left behind. That's admirable. There are a lot of people out there thinking the human race working together is a whole lot better than our current "every man for himself" theory.
So I support. Here is my 99% story.
The first few years of my life were great. My dad was a newspaper editor, my mom a syndicated columnist, we lived, along with my 2 brothers, in a nice house, we had a car (not everyone did in the early 60's), we had a lot of love and fun. My dad was a WWII vet who'd been shot down twice, he still suffered from his injuries, and eventually died, one week shy of my oldest brother's 12th birthday, three weeks shy of my 7th.
In 1967 nobody cared much about a single mother with three young boys. Things spiraled downward, and even though my mother never went on welfare, she always worked 2 or 3 jobs, we were forced into "public housing". Public Housing is a polite term for Ghetto. A place where the hardworking poor meets the nonworking dysfunctional families. I could write a book about what it's like to grow up in that environment. That's not for here.
I worked my whole life. I got my first part time job at 13. I'm 51. I've worked part or full time for 38 years. I've been lucky. I have a decent job with good benefits and a pension. I am happy to live a minimal life, I'm not big on possessions. I do not use credit. I don't borrow money. If I want to buy something more expensive than usual, I save for it and it's that much better when I get it, because I own it.
All my possessions will fit in a 10 X 10 storage room, that's how I choose to live. I'm not critical of those who feel they need more.
My wife passed away in 1988, just shy of 4 months after the birth of my daughter. I chose to bring her up as a single father the majority of her life. When she was a teenager, her grandmother (my mother) had a bad fall and lay in a parking lot in -26 degree weather, she was never the same. I moved her in and cared for her and my daughter and held her hand until after she took her last breath, one week before my birthday last year, due to complications from leukemia at the age of 88.
In my free time since I've raised $25,000 in relief for Tsunami victims in Japan, joined 5 friends to raise 6 1/2 tons of food for local food banks just before their donations dropped off in the summer, and participated in a single day food drive that raised an additional 40,000 pounds in September, to help relieve the back to school expenses for those in need.
I've been a volunteer and a fundraiser since the age of 20.
I don't need help. But too many others do, and we should not have to rely on charity, mostly provided by those who are not getting rich by any means. Fairer distribution of wealth globally doesn't mean the end of the world, it just means doing things a little differently.
It's an admirable goal, and I can't not support it. I'm still the 99%, by a long shot. Just not the most desperate of them. I'm here for them.
I don't see anyone saying fabulously wealthy people or corporations should not be allowed to be rich or make profits. I see people saying they're fed up living in a world that is no longer taking care of its people. Tired of world where we can spend trillions of dollars on war but let people go hungry, sick, homeless, and stand by watching countries where people who are starving are ignored by governments and media alike.
I see people who just want some dignity. Most of all, I see people who care enough about the global state of affairs they are prepared to be beaten, shot, and even give their lives so they can live in a world where no one gets left behind. That's admirable. There are a lot of people out there thinking the human race working together is a whole lot better than our current "every man for himself" theory.
So I support. Here is my 99% story.
The first few years of my life were great. My dad was a newspaper editor, my mom a syndicated columnist, we lived, along with my 2 brothers, in a nice house, we had a car (not everyone did in the early 60's), we had a lot of love and fun. My dad was a WWII vet who'd been shot down twice, he still suffered from his injuries, and eventually died, one week shy of my oldest brother's 12th birthday, three weeks shy of my 7th.
In 1967 nobody cared much about a single mother with three young boys. Things spiraled downward, and even though my mother never went on welfare, she always worked 2 or 3 jobs, we were forced into "public housing". Public Housing is a polite term for Ghetto. A place where the hardworking poor meets the nonworking dysfunctional families. I could write a book about what it's like to grow up in that environment. That's not for here.
I worked my whole life. I got my first part time job at 13. I'm 51. I've worked part or full time for 38 years. I've been lucky. I have a decent job with good benefits and a pension. I am happy to live a minimal life, I'm not big on possessions. I do not use credit. I don't borrow money. If I want to buy something more expensive than usual, I save for it and it's that much better when I get it, because I own it.
All my possessions will fit in a 10 X 10 storage room, that's how I choose to live. I'm not critical of those who feel they need more.
My wife passed away in 1988, just shy of 4 months after the birth of my daughter. I chose to bring her up as a single father the majority of her life. When she was a teenager, her grandmother (my mother) had a bad fall and lay in a parking lot in -26 degree weather, she was never the same. I moved her in and cared for her and my daughter and held her hand until after she took her last breath, one week before my birthday last year, due to complications from leukemia at the age of 88.
In my free time since I've raised $25,000 in relief for Tsunami victims in Japan, joined 5 friends to raise 6 1/2 tons of food for local food banks just before their donations dropped off in the summer, and participated in a single day food drive that raised an additional 40,000 pounds in September, to help relieve the back to school expenses for those in need.
I've been a volunteer and a fundraiser since the age of 20.
I don't need help. But too many others do, and we should not have to rely on charity, mostly provided by those who are not getting rich by any means. Fairer distribution of wealth globally doesn't mean the end of the world, it just means doing things a little differently.
It's an admirable goal, and I can't not support it. I'm still the 99%, by a long shot. Just not the most desperate of them. I'm here for them.
The 99% Party ~ You're Invited to Occupy It
I'd like to be frank, however my parents named me Mark so I'll just be open.
A lot of people are asking "Where does the Occupy Movement go from here"? For my own part, there is really no question about the answer. Friends, we have to do politics. As ugly as the concept sounds, if we want to change the world, we have to do it from a position of power. We, collectively, will never be able to exert the influence on existing political parties. I don't care if you're Canadian, American, European, Australian or any country on the globe. The current system that got us to this mess is firmly entrenched in politics and that is one of the main ways we will change the world, or not.
So, that leaves us to roll up our sleeves and get to work. Just as Occupy has peacefully taken the streets, now we must begin to build the machine that will allow us to take the seats. If we want change, there is absolutely no question our number one priority should be putting together the people who will Occupy the halls of government on behalf of the 99%. Anyone else you elect will be occupying the seats on behalf of the status quo.
This is also the fastest way to change. Unless you want a protracted dispute, unless you want to continue to support the people who, over the centuries, have told you what you want to hear to get elected, then proceeded to fuck you hard up the ass the same way they've been doing all along.
It will talk a lot of hard work. It requires dedication. It's also eminently doable.
We need to move the movement forward. In order to make the changes required to make global society more equitable this is a must. It will also show we mean business. The mistake of those disaffected Americans who call themselves the "Tea Party" was to latch on to an existing political machine, the Republicans. Somehow they mistakenly believe they will make the Republicans care about their issues. It's much the same situation for Occupy. We cannot, must not, try to hitch our wagons to ANY existing political party. The only thing they will do is destroy what we are working toward. If there are "good people" in other parties who really want change, let them quit their existing party and join ours.
In the meantime, we have plenty of politically savvy, articulate people, every bit as capable of taking the reigns of power back from the 1% and putting it in the hands of people who will work for the citizens, not the corporate "persons".
The only cost to join the 99% party is a pledge you will work for the election of your candidate, and that you will commit to vote, and to getting out the vote that will allow us to make sensible structural and financial changes to the system that will democratize democracy, which is what has been missing for a long time.
I know from many years of community organizing we all have skills of some sort. We all have strengths we can bring to the table. We are behooved to begin the process. We know the powers that be are fearful of the movement. They really expected it to go away, they expected us to give up and go back to our lives and stop agitating for people who are miserable, living in conditions of poverty in a world with more than enough to supply our needs.
This is the time to seize on the power we have already gained in the hearts and minds of global citizens. This is going to show we are moving forward in the right way.
When elections roll around, and we have candidates, and those candidates are supported by the 99% and take seats, and take power, there will be no choice but to take us far more seriously. We can, we must, and we will do this, or the dispute will go on long after I am dead and it will be too late. We've already passed the tipping point, we can't rest on our laurels and say "what a great job we're doing" if we aren't prepared to follow up with concrete action.
We must use the non violent means we have to take our countries back from the elitist corporate owned pigs at the trough. Then, and only then, will we make the significant changes that will move mankind forward.
Or we can continue with the same bullshitters in office and get what we deserve.
Your choice: Carpe Diem...or Status Quo.
So who wants to get this done?
A lot of people are asking "Where does the Occupy Movement go from here"? For my own part, there is really no question about the answer. Friends, we have to do politics. As ugly as the concept sounds, if we want to change the world, we have to do it from a position of power. We, collectively, will never be able to exert the influence on existing political parties. I don't care if you're Canadian, American, European, Australian or any country on the globe. The current system that got us to this mess is firmly entrenched in politics and that is one of the main ways we will change the world, or not.
So, that leaves us to roll up our sleeves and get to work. Just as Occupy has peacefully taken the streets, now we must begin to build the machine that will allow us to take the seats. If we want change, there is absolutely no question our number one priority should be putting together the people who will Occupy the halls of government on behalf of the 99%. Anyone else you elect will be occupying the seats on behalf of the status quo.
This is also the fastest way to change. Unless you want a protracted dispute, unless you want to continue to support the people who, over the centuries, have told you what you want to hear to get elected, then proceeded to fuck you hard up the ass the same way they've been doing all along.
It will talk a lot of hard work. It requires dedication. It's also eminently doable.
We need to move the movement forward. In order to make the changes required to make global society more equitable this is a must. It will also show we mean business. The mistake of those disaffected Americans who call themselves the "Tea Party" was to latch on to an existing political machine, the Republicans. Somehow they mistakenly believe they will make the Republicans care about their issues. It's much the same situation for Occupy. We cannot, must not, try to hitch our wagons to ANY existing political party. The only thing they will do is destroy what we are working toward. If there are "good people" in other parties who really want change, let them quit their existing party and join ours.
In the meantime, we have plenty of politically savvy, articulate people, every bit as capable of taking the reigns of power back from the 1% and putting it in the hands of people who will work for the citizens, not the corporate "persons".
The only cost to join the 99% party is a pledge you will work for the election of your candidate, and that you will commit to vote, and to getting out the vote that will allow us to make sensible structural and financial changes to the system that will democratize democracy, which is what has been missing for a long time.
I know from many years of community organizing we all have skills of some sort. We all have strengths we can bring to the table. We are behooved to begin the process. We know the powers that be are fearful of the movement. They really expected it to go away, they expected us to give up and go back to our lives and stop agitating for people who are miserable, living in conditions of poverty in a world with more than enough to supply our needs.
This is the time to seize on the power we have already gained in the hearts and minds of global citizens. This is going to show we are moving forward in the right way.
When elections roll around, and we have candidates, and those candidates are supported by the 99% and take seats, and take power, there will be no choice but to take us far more seriously. We can, we must, and we will do this, or the dispute will go on long after I am dead and it will be too late. We've already passed the tipping point, we can't rest on our laurels and say "what a great job we're doing" if we aren't prepared to follow up with concrete action.
We must use the non violent means we have to take our countries back from the elitist corporate owned pigs at the trough. Then, and only then, will we make the significant changes that will move mankind forward.
Or we can continue with the same bullshitters in office and get what we deserve.
Your choice: Carpe Diem...or Status Quo.
So who wants to get this done?
Friday 18 November 2011
How to Identify Morons
I call a lot of people Morons. I also call them retards, although some people get all boo hoo when you use certain words, preferring instead to call something a marshmallow-y sweetie pie bullshit politically correct name. Not this guy.
The opinions expressed in this blog are my own, frankly I care less whether you disagree, that's your right. I decided when OWS began, one of my contributions has been to drop the moral higher ground. I've realized the only thing these morons get is when you stop trying to baffle them with truth and facts, to stop being too polite or nice to climb right down there in the gutter and throw their own shitbombs right back at them. I'll take whatever flak I get for being harsh, if people choose to unfollow me that's ok as well, I want a free world. I find I have gained far more followers since I took off the traditional leftie gloves. I'm going way back to another time in my life to dredge up a personality the 99% needs. A mean, cold hearted, nasty social democrat.
So getting to my topic, here are a number of things that will help you identify a moron: They're like zombies, except their drivel rots brains.
Morons Say & Believe Ridiculous Shit
The opinions expressed in this blog are my own, frankly I care less whether you disagree, that's your right. I decided when OWS began, one of my contributions has been to drop the moral higher ground. I've realized the only thing these morons get is when you stop trying to baffle them with truth and facts, to stop being too polite or nice to climb right down there in the gutter and throw their own shitbombs right back at them. I'll take whatever flak I get for being harsh, if people choose to unfollow me that's ok as well, I want a free world. I find I have gained far more followers since I took off the traditional leftie gloves. I'm going way back to another time in my life to dredge up a personality the 99% needs. A mean, cold hearted, nasty social democrat.
So getting to my topic, here are a number of things that will help you identify a moron: They're like zombies, except their drivel rots brains.
Morons Say & Believe Ridiculous Shit
- If a person is poor, they are somehow to blame. (no one wants to be poor)
- Union workers are lazy and overpaid (go check work conditions/wages in countries without them)
- If a person is rich or famous, they deserve respect. (respect is earned through deeds/character)
- Cutting corporate taxes creates jobs. (last year in CDA/US they pocketed 83B~Cda/1.93T~US)
- Big corporations give us jobs and put money in the economy. (nothing compared to what they take out)
- Aboriginal people get everything free and pay no tax (they have never been to a reserve)
- If you criticize military action you hate our troops. (Your own government hates them if they're vets)
- Occupy protests are dangerous and violent (only for pepper-sprayed/clubbed/shot peaceful protesters)
- The current government is fiscally responsible (responsible for record deficit spending)
- Many people have been unemployed for long periods of time. (Most, if they can find a job would)
I know we hear many examples of these people who spout crap like this every day. let's expose this shit, let's take them to task, join me for Moron-story sharing anytime!!
Friday 11 November 2011
My Advice to Occupy NS & other evicted protesters.
On the day set aside to honour those who gave their lives, those who survived, and those still willing to put themselves in harm's way, a National Disgrace was perpetrated in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada today.
This is an outrage and the responsibility for this blot on the memory of those who fought for the right to freedom of assembly, of freedom of speech for all lands squarely at the feet of Mayor Peter Kelly, and by extension, the corporation of the City of Halifax.
Now is the time for the supporters of Occupy NS to come together in support of the rights of their fellow citizens by exercising more of their legal rights. Begin now by taking the following steps.
1. Everyone should immediately file a request to speak at council. You have that right.
2. Make requests for information from the city. Ask any question you want. Ask one or more a day. Encourage your friends to ask questions. Ask about spending. Ask about the length and diameter of pipes. Ask lots of shit.
3. Council meetings are public. Show up. Keep showing up. You don't need to be disruptive, just show up. If people on the agenda speaking, give them an extended ovation. Do every single legal thing you can to make business as usual, business unusual.
4. You have email, use it. Email a council member. Email the mayor. Email the city. Doesn't have to be long, just send lots.
5. You'd be surprised how disruptive it is to come in to a full inbox. Every Day.
6. You have a right to make telephone calls. Every city department has a phone number. There are a lot of things you can complain about, or ask questions about. Somebody knows where your council member lives, if they don't answer your questions, drop them off in their mailbox.
In short, take action against oppressors by using their own system against them. It's about time they had to work for their money.
Good Luck. There are plenty of ways to show your displeasure. Embrace them.
This is an outrage and the responsibility for this blot on the memory of those who fought for the right to freedom of assembly, of freedom of speech for all lands squarely at the feet of Mayor Peter Kelly, and by extension, the corporation of the City of Halifax.
Now is the time for the supporters of Occupy NS to come together in support of the rights of their fellow citizens by exercising more of their legal rights. Begin now by taking the following steps.
1. Everyone should immediately file a request to speak at council. You have that right.
2. Make requests for information from the city. Ask any question you want. Ask one or more a day. Encourage your friends to ask questions. Ask about spending. Ask about the length and diameter of pipes. Ask lots of shit.
3. Council meetings are public. Show up. Keep showing up. You don't need to be disruptive, just show up. If people on the agenda speaking, give them an extended ovation. Do every single legal thing you can to make business as usual, business unusual.
4. You have email, use it. Email a council member. Email the mayor. Email the city. Doesn't have to be long, just send lots.
5. You'd be surprised how disruptive it is to come in to a full inbox. Every Day.
6. You have a right to make telephone calls. Every city department has a phone number. There are a lot of things you can complain about, or ask questions about. Somebody knows where your council member lives, if they don't answer your questions, drop them off in their mailbox.
In short, take action against oppressors by using their own system against them. It's about time they had to work for their money.
Good Luck. There are plenty of ways to show your displeasure. Embrace them.
Thursday 10 November 2011
About Occupy Protest Camps
Call them what you will, I prefer to refer to them as protest camps, others call them tent cities, still others call them any number of derogatory names. This is yet another dialogue we need to have.
As always I hope to get my audience to join the discussion, both at home and on social media. Occupy is a very complex topic and to discuss all facets at once would require something the size of War and Peace. So we need to break it down and discuss things in "little boxes" to work on the big picture.
I struggle with this facet of the protest. I wonder if it hurts more than it helps if it can be widely portrayed as it has been. On this issue, I think we're losing the battle to a certain degree. I believe it is vital to retain visibility, I do question if this is the best long term strategy.
Sometimes I like to sit back and ask myself what advice I would offer to supporters of the occupy movement. I guess it is in that vein I will present my thoughts on the encampments that are the visible face of the occupy movement.
I continue to believe we must redouble our efforts to move the movement forward. We have a lot of work to do, fortunately there are a lot of people to do it, but some direction is required.
As for the encampments, I currently believe they're become too much to manage, especially on a public relations front. Before slaughtering me, listen a bit to what I'm going to say and at least think about it.
It is vital for the Occupy Movement to maintain public visibility. I submit, as an alternative to the easy target the camps have become, the various Occupy sites offer to remove the encampments, in exchange for a place of prominence in the community where the movement may freely disseminate information on what it is about, and including a "free speech zone" where the public is able to express their grievances. This deals with those who would portray the entire movement as a bunch of squatters, gives the movement a feel of becoming a serious, cannot be ignored social shift that is not going away. It still provides visibility, it consolidates in a single place the opportunity to express the messages that need to be advanced.
This means smaller sites and less people burning themselves out by being normal people engaging in something our troops train endlessly for. Survival camping, all weather, long term, even with inadequate supplies, they work hard to deal with it even with all the resources they have. The normal individual is not prepared for how physically and psychologically difficult this can be. Thus, turning campsites into official info centres allows people to share the workload, and frees a lot of people to work to get some momentum going so we can change the world.
Now that we've replaced our "squatter" camps with Information Centres & Free Speech Zones, we can concentrate on the organization of large protests at strategic locations or on significant dates. Many of the people in the camps are intelligent and have knowledge and networks regarding different issues that require work. It will free them up to network further to come up with viable alternatives to the problems common in our "so-called" civilized societies.
Large targeted protests with the overall message that Occupy means business as usual will come to an end. That there will no longer be a country to hide in. The world is united in wanting an end to economic injustice and the destruction of the planet in the name of profits. The rape of the poor and the planet must end. Everyone will have to share in the solution, including the rich and global corporations even if they don't like the idea. The permanent location serves the main protests.
If you don't need to be in a tent in the streets 24/7, it's easier to arrange your affairs to ensure you can attend the large, important, coordinated protests. It's easier to devote some of your time to helping your cause, whether it's poverty or decent health care or how the financial system runs, political reform, the environment or any/all/more of the above and move things forward. You free up more time to network through social media and to talk to friends and family and strangers.
I guess you could sum up this train of thought by saying I fully support the visible face of the Occupy Movement, but I'd like to move it forward, to change the face and free resources to work on issues other than survival. We can always do things better, so let's do this better as well.
Thanks to my wonderful Twitter friend @Min_Reyes for suggesting this topic. Can't wait to hear your feedback. She's my Queen of Social Justice.
As always I hope to get my audience to join the discussion, both at home and on social media. Occupy is a very complex topic and to discuss all facets at once would require something the size of War and Peace. So we need to break it down and discuss things in "little boxes" to work on the big picture.
I struggle with this facet of the protest. I wonder if it hurts more than it helps if it can be widely portrayed as it has been. On this issue, I think we're losing the battle to a certain degree. I believe it is vital to retain visibility, I do question if this is the best long term strategy.
Sometimes I like to sit back and ask myself what advice I would offer to supporters of the occupy movement. I guess it is in that vein I will present my thoughts on the encampments that are the visible face of the occupy movement.
I continue to believe we must redouble our efforts to move the movement forward. We have a lot of work to do, fortunately there are a lot of people to do it, but some direction is required.
As for the encampments, I currently believe they're become too much to manage, especially on a public relations front. Before slaughtering me, listen a bit to what I'm going to say and at least think about it.
It is vital for the Occupy Movement to maintain public visibility. I submit, as an alternative to the easy target the camps have become, the various Occupy sites offer to remove the encampments, in exchange for a place of prominence in the community where the movement may freely disseminate information on what it is about, and including a "free speech zone" where the public is able to express their grievances. This deals with those who would portray the entire movement as a bunch of squatters, gives the movement a feel of becoming a serious, cannot be ignored social shift that is not going away. It still provides visibility, it consolidates in a single place the opportunity to express the messages that need to be advanced.
This means smaller sites and less people burning themselves out by being normal people engaging in something our troops train endlessly for. Survival camping, all weather, long term, even with inadequate supplies, they work hard to deal with it even with all the resources they have. The normal individual is not prepared for how physically and psychologically difficult this can be. Thus, turning campsites into official info centres allows people to share the workload, and frees a lot of people to work to get some momentum going so we can change the world.
Now that we've replaced our "squatter" camps with Information Centres & Free Speech Zones, we can concentrate on the organization of large protests at strategic locations or on significant dates. Many of the people in the camps are intelligent and have knowledge and networks regarding different issues that require work. It will free them up to network further to come up with viable alternatives to the problems common in our "so-called" civilized societies.
Large targeted protests with the overall message that Occupy means business as usual will come to an end. That there will no longer be a country to hide in. The world is united in wanting an end to economic injustice and the destruction of the planet in the name of profits. The rape of the poor and the planet must end. Everyone will have to share in the solution, including the rich and global corporations even if they don't like the idea. The permanent location serves the main protests.
If you don't need to be in a tent in the streets 24/7, it's easier to arrange your affairs to ensure you can attend the large, important, coordinated protests. It's easier to devote some of your time to helping your cause, whether it's poverty or decent health care or how the financial system runs, political reform, the environment or any/all/more of the above and move things forward. You free up more time to network through social media and to talk to friends and family and strangers.
I guess you could sum up this train of thought by saying I fully support the visible face of the Occupy Movement, but I'd like to move it forward, to change the face and free resources to work on issues other than survival. We can always do things better, so let's do this better as well.
Thanks to my wonderful Twitter friend @Min_Reyes for suggesting this topic. Can't wait to hear your feedback. She's my Queen of Social Justice.
Tuesday 8 November 2011
Occupy Politics
I have plenty of thoughts on things I see as the bigger picture of the Occupy movement. As always, these are my opinions only. I do not purport to speak for, or lead the occupy movement. I'm just another cog in a great big gearbox.
As the movement goes forward, obviously, goals will need to be articulated more clearly. Organization beyond the people in the streets will have to begin. This is far from saying a leader need be appointed. This is to say the people in the streets or camps are the blunt end of the stick. I salute these people, if I were able I'd be with them in person. I'm not alone in being one of those who supports the general principles (as I believe them to be) of the movement and do things to help in other ways. One of those ways is to use this blog to share my thoughts and observations with the hope it will get people to think and perhaps spark some reasonable debate. We need to start sharpening the other end of the stick.
The number one thing we need to realize is we are all part of the problem. What we require is a critical mass prepared to be the solution. It's crucial to engage the fence sitters, and just as crucial to not put up with the misinformation and those who spread it. Depending on who one talks to, occupy means many different things. I'm probably more okay with that than many others, but if the only action is what happens in the streets, we, the people, are not "too big to fail".
That said, I assure you this is just one of many forthcoming columns on occupy. I'm purposely not going into great detail as I want discussion on these topics, not the imposition of my ideas as the only ones that are right, or even that my ideas are right at all. It's up to you to discuss and think about it, let's help each other refine directions the movement has to take to get us where we need to be. It's not an overnight thing and will require a lot of work from a lot of dedicated people. It will require a lot of compromise on policy, without compromising our principles.
Critically, we must develop a cohesive political strategy in all countries. Since we are in need of global change, we must follow the "think globally, act locally" guideline. We must launch a peaceful revolution that includes hoards of people to occupy ballot boxes. We must get political, whether we like it or not, it's the number one ugly job we need to do.
We understand the system is broken. I am of the opinion there are zero existing politicians or political parties who can or will fix it. I'm talking about a major overhaul of our existing way of doing business. The only way we will win this peacefully is to take the reins of power through the ballot box. We have to control the legislative bodies at all costs.
I'll tell you what I believe this means. I believe it means the occupy movement, and those who support it, are going to have to take a major leap of faith, and going to have to use every bit of organizing, cajoling, and working harder than they ever have to make the most important move in modern history. Taking the power out of the hands of the establishment and gaining executive control of our various institutions and reshape them to work for the many.
We have to come to the stark realization the party system is rife with greed and corruption and no matter how many times we've changed the players, and no matter how many times they've changed the rules, it always works to the advantage of not those who voted them into power, but those who financed their successful campaigns, those who supported "their" party, and those from whom they may gain employment or favours in the future. We have been consistently installing these interchangeable monkeys for centuries and they have proven over and over while they may be "by the people" they are far from "of the people" or "for the people".
We need to elect independent candidates who are not only supported by the occupy movement, but who are voted in by those who want change. This will not be easy, but it will be necessary, unless one plans to launch a coup in just about every country on the planet. I just call that world war.
Really, speaking of the Canadian system, we have to do exactly what Harper has done. We must gain a majority in the house of commons. Then, and only then, will we be able to make the systemic changes that will be required.
There is no need to destroy the entire system. Like anything, it has good and bad points. Unfortunately, we've come to a point in history where those bad points outweigh the good. We gone over the tipping point and we need to get the machine back into balance.
It's not about someone winning. It's about society winning. It's about installing a government that abhors secrecy. It's about putting people into power that are going to listen, that are ready to pledge honesty and clarity. People who walk the walk.
Some of the things I think need tackled first are an end to private financing of politicians and political entities, an end to any and all 3rd party political advertising, a ban on advertising that is not factual and issue based (i.e. no more "personal" attack ads), and make it illegal to lobby any politician. I also think we need a system where policies are clearly articulated prior to election day and should a government attempt to introduce legislation contrary to stated policy, or create legislation outside of such policy, that a referendum be triggered to allow a democratic vote. This needs some work, but it means no one could make promises they don't intend to keep, or run on a platform that fails to include key information on what they intend to do. That's a small start to political reform, but by no means all.
We need a system that clearly spells out how every penny of taxpayer money is spent. We have the technology to provide electronic access to realtime spending. If a cheque is issued from the public treasury, then a clear, unedited accounting of what that cheque paid for. I believe there are many benefits to this, number one being if everyone can see you bought 30 bottles of wine for a party of 6, you cannot hide it as any other expense. You can't call it "meeting costs" or whatever BS if it has to be publicly accounted for. It would also help business. If a particular department purchases 10,000 paper clips for 200 dollars and I know I can supply them for 175, I could alert government I am prepared to save the taxpayers money.
Very few things should be secret. We should all have learned by adulthood that secrets get us into trouble. The level at which those who would "rule" us hide the truth from us should bring us to one of two conclusions: They are doing a lot of underhanded and/or illegal things, or they believe we're too stupid and unimportant to bother with the truth.
We must get the politics in order, in order to bring order to financial affairs, the health and well being of all peoples no matter their standing in society, work to balance the needs of the population with the needs of the planet.
I'm hoping for your input. Most of all I'm hoping I can get you thinking, and perhaps working with me to help define and refine goals we all need to work toward. Hope to hear from you here, on twitter and on facebook.
We can have a better world if we're willing to work for it. It will be the most difficult job we've ever done, but in the end, the payoff of a better, happier, more peaceful world can await us. It will be what we make it, or the forces of greed will win. I hope you're with me.
Until next time....
As the movement goes forward, obviously, goals will need to be articulated more clearly. Organization beyond the people in the streets will have to begin. This is far from saying a leader need be appointed. This is to say the people in the streets or camps are the blunt end of the stick. I salute these people, if I were able I'd be with them in person. I'm not alone in being one of those who supports the general principles (as I believe them to be) of the movement and do things to help in other ways. One of those ways is to use this blog to share my thoughts and observations with the hope it will get people to think and perhaps spark some reasonable debate. We need to start sharpening the other end of the stick.
The number one thing we need to realize is we are all part of the problem. What we require is a critical mass prepared to be the solution. It's crucial to engage the fence sitters, and just as crucial to not put up with the misinformation and those who spread it. Depending on who one talks to, occupy means many different things. I'm probably more okay with that than many others, but if the only action is what happens in the streets, we, the people, are not "too big to fail".
That said, I assure you this is just one of many forthcoming columns on occupy. I'm purposely not going into great detail as I want discussion on these topics, not the imposition of my ideas as the only ones that are right, or even that my ideas are right at all. It's up to you to discuss and think about it, let's help each other refine directions the movement has to take to get us where we need to be. It's not an overnight thing and will require a lot of work from a lot of dedicated people. It will require a lot of compromise on policy, without compromising our principles.
Critically, we must develop a cohesive political strategy in all countries. Since we are in need of global change, we must follow the "think globally, act locally" guideline. We must launch a peaceful revolution that includes hoards of people to occupy ballot boxes. We must get political, whether we like it or not, it's the number one ugly job we need to do.
We understand the system is broken. I am of the opinion there are zero existing politicians or political parties who can or will fix it. I'm talking about a major overhaul of our existing way of doing business. The only way we will win this peacefully is to take the reins of power through the ballot box. We have to control the legislative bodies at all costs.
I'll tell you what I believe this means. I believe it means the occupy movement, and those who support it, are going to have to take a major leap of faith, and going to have to use every bit of organizing, cajoling, and working harder than they ever have to make the most important move in modern history. Taking the power out of the hands of the establishment and gaining executive control of our various institutions and reshape them to work for the many.
We have to come to the stark realization the party system is rife with greed and corruption and no matter how many times we've changed the players, and no matter how many times they've changed the rules, it always works to the advantage of not those who voted them into power, but those who financed their successful campaigns, those who supported "their" party, and those from whom they may gain employment or favours in the future. We have been consistently installing these interchangeable monkeys for centuries and they have proven over and over while they may be "by the people" they are far from "of the people" or "for the people".
We need to elect independent candidates who are not only supported by the occupy movement, but who are voted in by those who want change. This will not be easy, but it will be necessary, unless one plans to launch a coup in just about every country on the planet. I just call that world war.
Really, speaking of the Canadian system, we have to do exactly what Harper has done. We must gain a majority in the house of commons. Then, and only then, will we be able to make the systemic changes that will be required.
There is no need to destroy the entire system. Like anything, it has good and bad points. Unfortunately, we've come to a point in history where those bad points outweigh the good. We gone over the tipping point and we need to get the machine back into balance.
It's not about someone winning. It's about society winning. It's about installing a government that abhors secrecy. It's about putting people into power that are going to listen, that are ready to pledge honesty and clarity. People who walk the walk.
Some of the things I think need tackled first are an end to private financing of politicians and political entities, an end to any and all 3rd party political advertising, a ban on advertising that is not factual and issue based (i.e. no more "personal" attack ads), and make it illegal to lobby any politician. I also think we need a system where policies are clearly articulated prior to election day and should a government attempt to introduce legislation contrary to stated policy, or create legislation outside of such policy, that a referendum be triggered to allow a democratic vote. This needs some work, but it means no one could make promises they don't intend to keep, or run on a platform that fails to include key information on what they intend to do. That's a small start to political reform, but by no means all.
We need a system that clearly spells out how every penny of taxpayer money is spent. We have the technology to provide electronic access to realtime spending. If a cheque is issued from the public treasury, then a clear, unedited accounting of what that cheque paid for. I believe there are many benefits to this, number one being if everyone can see you bought 30 bottles of wine for a party of 6, you cannot hide it as any other expense. You can't call it "meeting costs" or whatever BS if it has to be publicly accounted for. It would also help business. If a particular department purchases 10,000 paper clips for 200 dollars and I know I can supply them for 175, I could alert government I am prepared to save the taxpayers money.
Very few things should be secret. We should all have learned by adulthood that secrets get us into trouble. The level at which those who would "rule" us hide the truth from us should bring us to one of two conclusions: They are doing a lot of underhanded and/or illegal things, or they believe we're too stupid and unimportant to bother with the truth.
We must get the politics in order, in order to bring order to financial affairs, the health and well being of all peoples no matter their standing in society, work to balance the needs of the population with the needs of the planet.
I'm hoping for your input. Most of all I'm hoping I can get you thinking, and perhaps working with me to help define and refine goals we all need to work toward. Hope to hear from you here, on twitter and on facebook.
We can have a better world if we're willing to work for it. It will be the most difficult job we've ever done, but in the end, the payoff of a better, happier, more peaceful world can await us. It will be what we make it, or the forces of greed will win. I hope you're with me.
Until next time....
Sunday 6 November 2011
Occupy & Other Random Ranting!
Welcome back me. I took a while off to tend to real life personal stuff and I'm back to spread the love. Or Not.
I'll just jump right in to some thoughts on the Occupy Movement.
I get it. Occupy is very easily summed up in a single sentence, as complicated as it may seem it comes down to this. Many people are pissed off at many issues but more than anything they're enraged that all of their concerns are being dismissed.
Of course that's the short answer for the simplistic people who claim not to understand. The bigger picture is so much bigger it is difficult for any individual to take it all in.
My biggest difficulty with a lot of the occupy websites/discussions is their almost rigid unwillingness to accept any form of criticism, especially constructive criticism. I can't begin to count the number of times I've had posts removed from their Facebook pages or been chased out of some of the chatrooms and labelled as a troll who didn't understand what they were all about. This is not the greatest way to garner support, but support I do, and I will continue, in spite of the fact there are some bad ideas and some downright goofy ideas spreading around.
Most of all it is heartening to see that the straw seems to have finally broken the proverbial camel's back. All over the world, people are participating in occupy protests. This is the most visible face of the movement, but behind the scenes there are a lot more of us, who, for whatever reason, may not to be able to take to the streets or camp out. Rest assured we are doing other things on your behalf.
I'd like people to keep in mind we'll never all agree on everything. The one thing we do agree on is the financial system globally is skewed to enrich a certain group of people. I'm not looking for a handout from anyone. I am looking to live in a society that realizes poverty is cancer. Its tumors are disease, despair, crime, and ugly things too numerous to mention.
Many years ago I made a conscious decision to disavow credit. I don't have credit cards, I don't have a mortgage, I don't own extravagant things (in fact, everything I own will fit in a 10 x 10 storage facility) and I'm fine with that. I live cash only and only purchase things I can pay for. If I want something badly enough, I'll save to buy it or I just won't. I don't worry much, that's the payoff.
I feel deeply for people who can't find a job, or through circumstances are unable to care for themselves. It doesn't matter what country they're from or where they live, there is more than enough money to commit to a better future, however a small group of so-called human beings feel they need to have more money than they or their descendants could possibly spend in 100 years. It's morally wrong, and I'm saying that as a man who is not big on the morals thing.
It's horrific we are constantly subjected to cuts in health care, education, and many of our basic services when the only cuts highly profitable giant corporations suffer are further tax cuts. Worse, morons are sold on this big lie that these tax cuts create jobs. US companies put (according to estimates) $1.93 trillion dollars into their accounts, Canadian business has salted away about 83 billion. They aren't using the money to invest in new jobs, they're feeding their greed. Excess wealth and excess profits, one way or another, are going to be redistributed. We have passed the tipping point. Politicians, and word leaders of all sorts, would be wise to refer to all of the historical instances when so called "great civilizations", consumed by greed, provided unreal lifestyles to the upper class while others were left cold, hungry, and homeless. In all instances the majority took all the shit they could handle, and the privileged few and ruling class ended up dead in an ugly way. No one wants that.
Personally, I have no desire to destroy the entire system. I don't think there is any shame in being rich, the shame is gluttony. There is nothing wrong with an honest business earning an honest profit any more than an honest worker earning a living wage or better. I think we could determine a reasonable level of profit to sustain growth and allow shareholders a fair benefit and ensure grossly bloated profits are returned to the global village to ensure we do what is right. It's time to take our world back from the forces of evil. If the rulers of countries and captains of industry will not act responsibly then we must be prepared to force the change.
I'm not going to believe myself so important that I have all the answers. I may not even have some of the answers. I do have ideas, and opinions, and a fair amount of experience and knowledge I am more than willing to share and discuss. I'm not going in to all of them in my first blog back from self-exile, after all, I will need to have other things to write about. Let's have more reasoned discussions about concrete actions we need to take. Let's move the movement forward. My comments are always open, I'm available on twitter and Facebook. I'm ready to back whatever I say in a reasonable discussion. A future post will outline a few critical things I believe we need to work toward. For now I'm hoping to hear back from some of you on your positive or negative thoughts on occupy, and what you believe the most important issues are.
Until next time, keep on fighting the good fight. Stay peaceful. Open your mind to new ideas, open your heart to those who suffer needlessly. In the end, we must do this, so the world can be better for all of us, we cannot allow all to be lost to total corporate domination of the planet.
100% with the 99%.
I'll just jump right in to some thoughts on the Occupy Movement.
I get it. Occupy is very easily summed up in a single sentence, as complicated as it may seem it comes down to this. Many people are pissed off at many issues but more than anything they're enraged that all of their concerns are being dismissed.
Of course that's the short answer for the simplistic people who claim not to understand. The bigger picture is so much bigger it is difficult for any individual to take it all in.
My biggest difficulty with a lot of the occupy websites/discussions is their almost rigid unwillingness to accept any form of criticism, especially constructive criticism. I can't begin to count the number of times I've had posts removed from their Facebook pages or been chased out of some of the chatrooms and labelled as a troll who didn't understand what they were all about. This is not the greatest way to garner support, but support I do, and I will continue, in spite of the fact there are some bad ideas and some downright goofy ideas spreading around.
Most of all it is heartening to see that the straw seems to have finally broken the proverbial camel's back. All over the world, people are participating in occupy protests. This is the most visible face of the movement, but behind the scenes there are a lot more of us, who, for whatever reason, may not to be able to take to the streets or camp out. Rest assured we are doing other things on your behalf.
I'd like people to keep in mind we'll never all agree on everything. The one thing we do agree on is the financial system globally is skewed to enrich a certain group of people. I'm not looking for a handout from anyone. I am looking to live in a society that realizes poverty is cancer. Its tumors are disease, despair, crime, and ugly things too numerous to mention.
Many years ago I made a conscious decision to disavow credit. I don't have credit cards, I don't have a mortgage, I don't own extravagant things (in fact, everything I own will fit in a 10 x 10 storage facility) and I'm fine with that. I live cash only and only purchase things I can pay for. If I want something badly enough, I'll save to buy it or I just won't. I don't worry much, that's the payoff.
I feel deeply for people who can't find a job, or through circumstances are unable to care for themselves. It doesn't matter what country they're from or where they live, there is more than enough money to commit to a better future, however a small group of so-called human beings feel they need to have more money than they or their descendants could possibly spend in 100 years. It's morally wrong, and I'm saying that as a man who is not big on the morals thing.
It's horrific we are constantly subjected to cuts in health care, education, and many of our basic services when the only cuts highly profitable giant corporations suffer are further tax cuts. Worse, morons are sold on this big lie that these tax cuts create jobs. US companies put (according to estimates) $1.93 trillion dollars into their accounts, Canadian business has salted away about 83 billion. They aren't using the money to invest in new jobs, they're feeding their greed. Excess wealth and excess profits, one way or another, are going to be redistributed. We have passed the tipping point. Politicians, and word leaders of all sorts, would be wise to refer to all of the historical instances when so called "great civilizations", consumed by greed, provided unreal lifestyles to the upper class while others were left cold, hungry, and homeless. In all instances the majority took all the shit they could handle, and the privileged few and ruling class ended up dead in an ugly way. No one wants that.
Personally, I have no desire to destroy the entire system. I don't think there is any shame in being rich, the shame is gluttony. There is nothing wrong with an honest business earning an honest profit any more than an honest worker earning a living wage or better. I think we could determine a reasonable level of profit to sustain growth and allow shareholders a fair benefit and ensure grossly bloated profits are returned to the global village to ensure we do what is right. It's time to take our world back from the forces of evil. If the rulers of countries and captains of industry will not act responsibly then we must be prepared to force the change.
I'm not going to believe myself so important that I have all the answers. I may not even have some of the answers. I do have ideas, and opinions, and a fair amount of experience and knowledge I am more than willing to share and discuss. I'm not going in to all of them in my first blog back from self-exile, after all, I will need to have other things to write about. Let's have more reasoned discussions about concrete actions we need to take. Let's move the movement forward. My comments are always open, I'm available on twitter and Facebook. I'm ready to back whatever I say in a reasonable discussion. A future post will outline a few critical things I believe we need to work toward. For now I'm hoping to hear back from some of you on your positive or negative thoughts on occupy, and what you believe the most important issues are.
Until next time, keep on fighting the good fight. Stay peaceful. Open your mind to new ideas, open your heart to those who suffer needlessly. In the end, we must do this, so the world can be better for all of us, we cannot allow all to be lost to total corporate domination of the planet.
100% with the 99%.
Saturday 16 July 2011
Why We Shouldn't Talk About Gay Marriage
There is a very good reason why we shouldn't talk about gay marriage. This is compelling, to say the least. In fact, I would say this is the definitive argument you should use when people bring this controversial subject up.
The reason you shouldn't talk about gay marriage is because you have absolutely no right to stick your nose into the business of private individuals. What possible argument could you have against people who feel strongly enough about one another to want to make an exclusive, documented commitment. Whether it's a man and a woman, man and a man, woman and woman, or whatever combination works for those individual human beings is none of your business. It is their personal decision, and your opinion is not necessary.
Homosexuals, like heterosexuals have been around forever. Because I am attracted to the opposite sex does not make me any more normal than my current or past friends and acquaintances that are attracted to the same sex, or even both sexes. Gays, lesbians, and bisexuals don't choose their primal attractions. It's not like picking a team in gym class, and if you think that's how it works you're incredibly ignorant. You aren't just part of the problem, you are the problem. You don't choose who you love, even if you think it is that simplistic. Maybe you should watch some nature shows and see how often same sex encounters happen across hundreds of species. The big difference is, the other animals are smarter than people, they realize this is a normal behaviour and don't attempt to be superior by shaming or attacking their own species for their sexual behaviour.
Normal. Everyone is the judge of normal. People don't look in the mirror when they are alone and tell themselves they're totally screwed up and everyone else is normal. Unless one suffers from mental illness, the person in the mirror is the measuring stick we all use to judge how normal others are. People who do things we would never dream of, we see them as not being normal. We never think of the possibility someone else's behaviour, opposite our own, could be perfectly normal and we are the oddball because of our self serving desire to believe we are the model of normal. We reinforce this, consciously or subconsciously, by ensuring we surround ourselves with like-minded friends and acquaintances who have reactions and behaviours similar to our own, thereby enhancing the mentality we are the normal ones. But replace your hetero group with one of equal size and opposite sexual orientation and I will guarantee they are every bit as normal as you.
I consider myself lucky to be interested in the psychological makeup of the human species. I confess to a huge interest in primal behaviour because it is what is the basis of being human really is. As primitive as any autonomous action we all engage in. All those behaviours we have no control over. Breathing. Heartbeat. Our fight or flight reflex in the face of danger, and a wide range of emotions including, but not limited to, anger, excitement, comfort, happiness, joy, pride, love, hate and sexual attraction. These are predetermined things we are born with, they are not learned behaviours, they're nature as opposed to nurture.
You don't learn sexual attraction. There is no KKK of sexual deviants secretly training the next generation of gays. Gay and lesbian and bisexual and transgender people walk among us at all times. They transcend almost all occupations and every sector of society. Some are very successful and some are utter failures, they're human beings, whether they are one of your loved ones or someone else's loved one. What you desire to do in the privacy of your bedroom has no bearing on your dedication to make society better because you're a police officer. No one asks the firefighter saving their family who they sleep with. The nurse that grandma loved, the one who lovingly held her hand and comforted her when she slipped away, did it affect your life negatively if she went home to another woman? Whether you or anyone else disagree with the way other human beings live their lives, those people will still exist in the same numbers.
Who are you to deny the right of people who love each other to try to live a happy life. They are not asking to hurt you in any way. They won't be going door to door in your neighbourhood to recruit your family into the gay lifestyle. Chances are, they'll get up and go to work, and on their days off they will do work around their home or get away for the weekend and unless you make it a point to either speculate or pry into your neighbour's lives, you'd have no idea whether they were married or not. You shouldn't care, it doesn't affect you just as your marital status/sexual orientation is of no importance to them.
Unless you are having a same sex marriage, or attending the loving celebration of one, you have no personal interest in the situation. Let others live their lives with an equal right to be happy.
We shouldn't talk about gay marriage. It shouldn't even be an issue. Marriage isn't between you and people who want to judge you, it's between you and the person you love.
Stop hurting people.
The reason you shouldn't talk about gay marriage is because you have absolutely no right to stick your nose into the business of private individuals. What possible argument could you have against people who feel strongly enough about one another to want to make an exclusive, documented commitment. Whether it's a man and a woman, man and a man, woman and woman, or whatever combination works for those individual human beings is none of your business. It is their personal decision, and your opinion is not necessary.
Homosexuals, like heterosexuals have been around forever. Because I am attracted to the opposite sex does not make me any more normal than my current or past friends and acquaintances that are attracted to the same sex, or even both sexes. Gays, lesbians, and bisexuals don't choose their primal attractions. It's not like picking a team in gym class, and if you think that's how it works you're incredibly ignorant. You aren't just part of the problem, you are the problem. You don't choose who you love, even if you think it is that simplistic. Maybe you should watch some nature shows and see how often same sex encounters happen across hundreds of species. The big difference is, the other animals are smarter than people, they realize this is a normal behaviour and don't attempt to be superior by shaming or attacking their own species for their sexual behaviour.
Normal. Everyone is the judge of normal. People don't look in the mirror when they are alone and tell themselves they're totally screwed up and everyone else is normal. Unless one suffers from mental illness, the person in the mirror is the measuring stick we all use to judge how normal others are. People who do things we would never dream of, we see them as not being normal. We never think of the possibility someone else's behaviour, opposite our own, could be perfectly normal and we are the oddball because of our self serving desire to believe we are the model of normal. We reinforce this, consciously or subconsciously, by ensuring we surround ourselves with like-minded friends and acquaintances who have reactions and behaviours similar to our own, thereby enhancing the mentality we are the normal ones. But replace your hetero group with one of equal size and opposite sexual orientation and I will guarantee they are every bit as normal as you.
I consider myself lucky to be interested in the psychological makeup of the human species. I confess to a huge interest in primal behaviour because it is what is the basis of being human really is. As primitive as any autonomous action we all engage in. All those behaviours we have no control over. Breathing. Heartbeat. Our fight or flight reflex in the face of danger, and a wide range of emotions including, but not limited to, anger, excitement, comfort, happiness, joy, pride, love, hate and sexual attraction. These are predetermined things we are born with, they are not learned behaviours, they're nature as opposed to nurture.
You don't learn sexual attraction. There is no KKK of sexual deviants secretly training the next generation of gays. Gay and lesbian and bisexual and transgender people walk among us at all times. They transcend almost all occupations and every sector of society. Some are very successful and some are utter failures, they're human beings, whether they are one of your loved ones or someone else's loved one. What you desire to do in the privacy of your bedroom has no bearing on your dedication to make society better because you're a police officer. No one asks the firefighter saving their family who they sleep with. The nurse that grandma loved, the one who lovingly held her hand and comforted her when she slipped away, did it affect your life negatively if she went home to another woman? Whether you or anyone else disagree with the way other human beings live their lives, those people will still exist in the same numbers.
Who are you to deny the right of people who love each other to try to live a happy life. They are not asking to hurt you in any way. They won't be going door to door in your neighbourhood to recruit your family into the gay lifestyle. Chances are, they'll get up and go to work, and on their days off they will do work around their home or get away for the weekend and unless you make it a point to either speculate or pry into your neighbour's lives, you'd have no idea whether they were married or not. You shouldn't care, it doesn't affect you just as your marital status/sexual orientation is of no importance to them.
Unless you are having a same sex marriage, or attending the loving celebration of one, you have no personal interest in the situation. Let others live their lives with an equal right to be happy.
We shouldn't talk about gay marriage. It shouldn't even be an issue. Marriage isn't between you and people who want to judge you, it's between you and the person you love.
Stop hurting people.
Friday 15 July 2011
The Gutless, Brainless Right
We need people with a social conscience to stop complaining, and to stand up and fight back. I've decided I've had enough. The name of the post is deliberate. I truly hope it will piss the so-called "right" off enough to actually read this. I welcome that, and comments on my blog are open to everyone, whether you agree or disagree it's a forum to speak up.
Not all of us socialist libtards are shrinking violets. Not all of us will continue to just put up with your insults and ignorance and walk away, knowing we're right, and you're uninformed. Yes, some of us are willing to come off our high horses and get right down in the gutter with your type.
Am I calling you names? Why yes, I am! Since you feel the absolute right to call me names, I too have the right to reciprocate (I hope you don't have to look that word up, but feel free).
In a previous post, I asked a few simple questions to Canadian voters of the conservative persuasion. It's telling that only one person had the guts to mention it to me and I applaud him for at least not being a coward. He didn't come back to the blog to post his defense to this blog post asking conservative voters to explain their support for certain things we learned before the last election, but at least he didn't hide.
This particular post applies to the right, or, as I am now naming you, the anti-socialists wherever you may reside. I know this is absolutely true because many of you call me a socialist (which is explained here) and I know from your various attacks and opinions that you are pretty much against everything I stand for. I feel, considering those facts, I can freely refer to you as anti-socialists. Fair is fair.
Now lets talk about some of your favorite issues. Why not start with your biggie. Your raison d'etre, as it were. The economy. I watch you yap and flap your gums about being fiscally conservative and how only conservatives can run an economy and on and on just blowing smoke out your ears and your ass when you actually don't have a clue what you're talking about. When you need services from the government, you want them, no matter what the cost, but you want to pay less taxes. I shouldn't have to begin to put this into a child like statement, but in my truly magnanimous spirit I want to reach out to you, speak to you on a level you understand. Wanting services while paying less taxes is exactly the same as quitting your decent job to work for minimum wage and still living the same lifestyle. That word deficit is another jackass smokescreen, it's additional debt that has interest charged on it, like your mortgage/car loan/credit cards, it's not like being a quarter short for a burger.
While anti-socialists believe capitalism is a form of government, the rest of us are acutely aware that it's just an economic system which really doesn't work to the advantage of the majority of people but I don't want to get way over your head here. You're willing to believe almost any of the crap they feed you, my own feeling is you are far to busy worrying about me, me, me, than actually taking the time to think this crap through. That would be hard, and you probably have some cage fighting to watch, or you're an activist, vigourously fighting to repeal the imposition of seat belts on freedom loving anti-socialists.
No one in their right mind would argue against better pay, more humane working conditions, better benefits, and more attention to health and safety...but this is how I know you people are not in your right minds, because you're vehemently anti-union! I've heard it a million times, how greedy union workers are responsible for just about every ill that happens in the economy. Of course it makes perfect sense to you that no blame for anything should fall on the millionaires, multi-millionaires, billionaires and multi-billionaires who own and run these corporations. They deserve to get richer and richer but joe nobody who works to create that wealth for these select people is greedy because he wants his family to have a decent life, a place to live, food to eat, and maybe some enjoyment. You're not okay with having a middle class that has some rights and a miniscule share of the massive profits raked in by corporations every year, but it never crosses your mind that 75% of the entire wealth of the world is controlled by 200 families. More money than those families could ever spend in a million years and there are people who are homeless, starving to death, tens of thousands of children die from having diarreah, but that's their problem according to scum like you.
There's more than enough money to allow rich people to be rich and everyone else on the planet to at least be able to have basic food, shelter, security and health care. The minute anyone suggests the way things are being run you go on the attack, but your arguments are based on ridiculous rhetoric that can't even stand up to any level of scrutiny and doesn't reach the lowest level of what should be considered human decency. You're all for them because anti-socialism appeals to the lowest common denominator. It makes the selfish in you somehow justifiable, and you like that. The great thing about you anti-socialists is watching how easily distracted you are by shiny objects. You're so cute, believing all those blatant lies just because they are repeated to you often enough. Well, it worked with the easter bunny, and the tooth fairy, and Santa Claus so it's good enough for the conservative movement. All the crap you believe about the right way to run the economy is merely a byproduct of a steady, unquestioned diet of bullshit, which you happily eat by the shovelful, denying that there could possibly be anything that might taste better. Get out your team towel, stomp your feet, and chant some catchy taking points, stupid people never care how stupid they look.
Yes, I'm being nasty. Too bad. I've taken it for far too long and now it's your turn. I'm playing your game and I'm not uncomfortable with that. If I hurt your feelings, too bad. The kind of politics you support leads to nothing but misery, but as long as that misery doesn't badly affect you, you don't really care who suffers.
It would be in the best interests of you anti-socialists to pay attention to the change in my tone when I talk to you. Where I used to attempt to reach out and reason with you, we've gone beyond the end of my patience. I'm far from alone. You ought to take notice of something outside of your tiny world. People are angry at the attitude and they're starting to show it all over the world. The common human being is damn sick and tired of having to always bear the brunt of the excesses of the few. The outcome of the conservative vision (available only in braille) is the loss of hope from the majority of the world's population.
Without hope, socialists everywhere are turning to anger. Without hope, many people are willing to take to the streets. Without hope some of them are dying in the streets at the hands of government. While you push to make life worse for people who already have marginal existences, you are unwittingly joining a minority who will either change, or suffer the wrath of the disenfranchised.
We're sick of the right and their blatant anti-socialism. If you want to support economic war against citizens, go ahead and cast your ball in that court. If you want to continue to hate on women and people who have different skin colour or different customs or you believe there is a normal sexual orientation and all the others need to be cured, just keep on thinking like that, it's oh so Hitleresque of you. Oh, you don't like being compared to the thinking of Hitler? Even when it's true? Boo freakin hoo, suck it up princess.
I'm going to take on all of your false beliefs. Anytime, anywhere. I'm calling you out because for all your bluff and bluster, you people are no more than a bunch of idiotic playground bullies. I don't take crap from cowardly bullies, and if others are a bit too shy to tell it like it is, and they let the likes of you bully them, I am here to get right in your face and stand up for them.
I'm not your garden variety shrinking violet. Feel free to expound your feeble vision of why you think you're right. I'll always happy to tear a conservative a new asshole. You anti-socialists never were too good at learning from your own history. For a while you were smart enough to compromise just enough to placate us social justice human rights loving peaceful folks. Now, because you are actually dumb enough to believe your own publicity you have no idea what's coming soon to an unjust society near you.
While old white guys like me will attempt to tell you the truth about the path you so desire, it's the young, the poor, and the racially and sexually oppressed that will finally reach the breaking point. I was hoping I'd never have to consider such a thing in my lifetime. We've come to the 21st century equivalent of "Let them eat cake" and more and more people are ready to see heads roll.
You're a bunch of foolish Neroes, fiddling with your talking points, unaware the time could be short before Rome burns down around your ears. You encourage the rape of the environment. You favour greed over compassion. You back the factors that have led to the fall of many a "great" civilization and I'd sure rather we could work together for the betterment of people, but I don't think you have it in you.
I don't hate anyone. But I sure don't like you much.
Bring on your best, you gutless, robotic, anti-socialists. I'm ready.
Not all of us socialist libtards are shrinking violets. Not all of us will continue to just put up with your insults and ignorance and walk away, knowing we're right, and you're uninformed. Yes, some of us are willing to come off our high horses and get right down in the gutter with your type.
Am I calling you names? Why yes, I am! Since you feel the absolute right to call me names, I too have the right to reciprocate (I hope you don't have to look that word up, but feel free).
In a previous post, I asked a few simple questions to Canadian voters of the conservative persuasion. It's telling that only one person had the guts to mention it to me and I applaud him for at least not being a coward. He didn't come back to the blog to post his defense to this blog post asking conservative voters to explain their support for certain things we learned before the last election, but at least he didn't hide.
This particular post applies to the right, or, as I am now naming you, the anti-socialists wherever you may reside. I know this is absolutely true because many of you call me a socialist (which is explained here) and I know from your various attacks and opinions that you are pretty much against everything I stand for. I feel, considering those facts, I can freely refer to you as anti-socialists. Fair is fair.
Now lets talk about some of your favorite issues. Why not start with your biggie. Your raison d'etre, as it were. The economy. I watch you yap and flap your gums about being fiscally conservative and how only conservatives can run an economy and on and on just blowing smoke out your ears and your ass when you actually don't have a clue what you're talking about. When you need services from the government, you want them, no matter what the cost, but you want to pay less taxes. I shouldn't have to begin to put this into a child like statement, but in my truly magnanimous spirit I want to reach out to you, speak to you on a level you understand. Wanting services while paying less taxes is exactly the same as quitting your decent job to work for minimum wage and still living the same lifestyle. That word deficit is another jackass smokescreen, it's additional debt that has interest charged on it, like your mortgage/car loan/credit cards, it's not like being a quarter short for a burger.
While anti-socialists believe capitalism is a form of government, the rest of us are acutely aware that it's just an economic system which really doesn't work to the advantage of the majority of people but I don't want to get way over your head here. You're willing to believe almost any of the crap they feed you, my own feeling is you are far to busy worrying about me, me, me, than actually taking the time to think this crap through. That would be hard, and you probably have some cage fighting to watch, or you're an activist, vigourously fighting to repeal the imposition of seat belts on freedom loving anti-socialists.
No one in their right mind would argue against better pay, more humane working conditions, better benefits, and more attention to health and safety...but this is how I know you people are not in your right minds, because you're vehemently anti-union! I've heard it a million times, how greedy union workers are responsible for just about every ill that happens in the economy. Of course it makes perfect sense to you that no blame for anything should fall on the millionaires, multi-millionaires, billionaires and multi-billionaires who own and run these corporations. They deserve to get richer and richer but joe nobody who works to create that wealth for these select people is greedy because he wants his family to have a decent life, a place to live, food to eat, and maybe some enjoyment. You're not okay with having a middle class that has some rights and a miniscule share of the massive profits raked in by corporations every year, but it never crosses your mind that 75% of the entire wealth of the world is controlled by 200 families. More money than those families could ever spend in a million years and there are people who are homeless, starving to death, tens of thousands of children die from having diarreah, but that's their problem according to scum like you.
There's more than enough money to allow rich people to be rich and everyone else on the planet to at least be able to have basic food, shelter, security and health care. The minute anyone suggests the way things are being run you go on the attack, but your arguments are based on ridiculous rhetoric that can't even stand up to any level of scrutiny and doesn't reach the lowest level of what should be considered human decency. You're all for them because anti-socialism appeals to the lowest common denominator. It makes the selfish in you somehow justifiable, and you like that. The great thing about you anti-socialists is watching how easily distracted you are by shiny objects. You're so cute, believing all those blatant lies just because they are repeated to you often enough. Well, it worked with the easter bunny, and the tooth fairy, and Santa Claus so it's good enough for the conservative movement. All the crap you believe about the right way to run the economy is merely a byproduct of a steady, unquestioned diet of bullshit, which you happily eat by the shovelful, denying that there could possibly be anything that might taste better. Get out your team towel, stomp your feet, and chant some catchy taking points, stupid people never care how stupid they look.
Yes, I'm being nasty. Too bad. I've taken it for far too long and now it's your turn. I'm playing your game and I'm not uncomfortable with that. If I hurt your feelings, too bad. The kind of politics you support leads to nothing but misery, but as long as that misery doesn't badly affect you, you don't really care who suffers.
It would be in the best interests of you anti-socialists to pay attention to the change in my tone when I talk to you. Where I used to attempt to reach out and reason with you, we've gone beyond the end of my patience. I'm far from alone. You ought to take notice of something outside of your tiny world. People are angry at the attitude and they're starting to show it all over the world. The common human being is damn sick and tired of having to always bear the brunt of the excesses of the few. The outcome of the conservative vision (available only in braille) is the loss of hope from the majority of the world's population.
Without hope, socialists everywhere are turning to anger. Without hope, many people are willing to take to the streets. Without hope some of them are dying in the streets at the hands of government. While you push to make life worse for people who already have marginal existences, you are unwittingly joining a minority who will either change, or suffer the wrath of the disenfranchised.
We're sick of the right and their blatant anti-socialism. If you want to support economic war against citizens, go ahead and cast your ball in that court. If you want to continue to hate on women and people who have different skin colour or different customs or you believe there is a normal sexual orientation and all the others need to be cured, just keep on thinking like that, it's oh so Hitleresque of you. Oh, you don't like being compared to the thinking of Hitler? Even when it's true? Boo freakin hoo, suck it up princess.
I'm going to take on all of your false beliefs. Anytime, anywhere. I'm calling you out because for all your bluff and bluster, you people are no more than a bunch of idiotic playground bullies. I don't take crap from cowardly bullies, and if others are a bit too shy to tell it like it is, and they let the likes of you bully them, I am here to get right in your face and stand up for them.
I'm not your garden variety shrinking violet. Feel free to expound your feeble vision of why you think you're right. I'll always happy to tear a conservative a new asshole. You anti-socialists never were too good at learning from your own history. For a while you were smart enough to compromise just enough to placate us social justice human rights loving peaceful folks. Now, because you are actually dumb enough to believe your own publicity you have no idea what's coming soon to an unjust society near you.
While old white guys like me will attempt to tell you the truth about the path you so desire, it's the young, the poor, and the racially and sexually oppressed that will finally reach the breaking point. I was hoping I'd never have to consider such a thing in my lifetime. We've come to the 21st century equivalent of "Let them eat cake" and more and more people are ready to see heads roll.
You're a bunch of foolish Neroes, fiddling with your talking points, unaware the time could be short before Rome burns down around your ears. You encourage the rape of the environment. You favour greed over compassion. You back the factors that have led to the fall of many a "great" civilization and I'd sure rather we could work together for the betterment of people, but I don't think you have it in you.
I don't hate anyone. But I sure don't like you much.
Bring on your best, you gutless, robotic, anti-socialists. I'm ready.
Wednesday 6 July 2011
What conservative voters cannot explain
I guess I can chalk this one up to entertainment purposes. I have questions I've been trying to ask conservative voters since the election writ was dropped, so far, not one of them can come up with any kind of suitable or sensible answer to any of my questions.
I hope some of you will crawl from wherever you're hiding in shame and provide your explanations of my few questions below. But hope and a buck fourty will get me a medium coffee at Tims.
Let begin my variety of things I want conservative voters to explain. I suppose conservatives don't have the nads to read this, so perhaps my usual readers will have a few more questions to throw out when they too are under attack by trolls.
First, I'd love for you to explain your view that your party is good for the economy. I call it clueless to go from a 16 billion dollar budgetary surplus with a sustained pattern of making actual payments on the principal of the national debt to running the largest deficits in history. You call it good management. Explain that one, or perhaps this is how you handle your personal finances so it's normal for you.
That's not the hardest question I have for you, my dear conservative voter friends. That's merely a test to see how one can wholeheartedly support lying to oneself. If I've learned anything, it's that conservatives have no time to be bothered with facts.They have too much on their plate studying rhetoric and foolish talking points. I also have to give honourable mention to their vocabulary when it comes to name calling and swearing when one attempts to introduce facts into the conversation. Bravo.
So...tell me how you look in the mirror every day knowing your choice of Prime Minister is widely known to be a control freak who rarely opens his mouth to do anything but lie. You idolize a man who surrounds himself with criminals (Bruce Carson, Top Aide in the PMO and a 5 time convicted fraudster). That's not enough, the slime continues with his fundraising senators, 2 of whom have fraud charges pending. No suggestion they step down, not even so much as a suspension. You must be proud of that! Talk about the moral high ground! Since you think it's fine to blather about being tough on crime without a clue what that even means, even if we could pretend Harper didn't know Carson was more than a tiny bit crooked and engaged in dangerously looney behaviour with women of questionable character, someone had to have given him very high security clearance for his job. Even when the lurid details were publicly revealed, no call for an investigation how these serious crimes could be overlooked. No heads rolled for whoever cleared him, which also wasn't revealed no matter how many times the questions were asked. Plenty of staffers were thrown under the Harper bus during the election, but they were all low level functionaries. The obviously provided traction for the supporters of people of such high moral fibre.
Let's discuss outright theft from taxpayers. Don't tell me you don't know or have never heard of the "In & Out" scheme. I suppose you're fine with a political party stealing money from taxpayers, or, your party stealing it (you're still indignant about Adscam but that was a different party). I guess that's acceptable to tough on crime conservatives. Now if you don't understand in and out, it's basically the same thing as going to an ATM, making a deposit with an empty envelope then withdrawing cash. I guess only good conservative citizens engage in this type behaviour, I know I'd never do something like that. They may not have defrauded banks, but they claimed illegal subsidies for local advertising to the tune of 1.2 million dollars, tax dollars, from your pocket too dummy. I guess that's the conservative "cost of doing business"
Now if you're going to support a crew of thieves, you might as well shred all of your moral fiber and cheer on the misappropriation of 50 million tax dollars for one riding, Tony Clement's Muskoka riding. Aside from presenting parliament with a request for dedicated money to improve the speed of border crossings (which is actually very important for business) and taking a 50 million dollar chunk to spend on Gazebos and portable toilets and beautification ideas like signs and fancying up the areas where the G8 leaders never went, the spending itself was decided by politicians alone, with absolutely no paper trail or consultation with senior civil servants as has been the practice since confederation. I admit I don't understand how you could possibly be ok with this, but you are. I'm not, not with any party.
It only makes sense that you support pesky little things like altered documents and tabling in the house of commons a document which contained two blatant lies, using the words of highly respected individuals (former Auditor-General Sheila Fraser, and Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page), taken from other documents or interviews about other subjects and using them to give the official impression these two watchdogs were praising them. That's more fraud. To be kind, it is encouraging plagarism which will earn you a quick exit from any university, and cost the Dean of the U of Alberta medical school his position just recently. I guess your kids will grow up with no values either, what with your wholehearted support of such activities.
I have plenty of other things I'd like to know, as soon as you answer to these.
You condone criminal behaviour, you're ok the theft of taxpayer money, you are 100% fine with people who lie, who are vindictive and try to destroy the lives of innocent people (Helena Guergis for one), you don't mind if they fritter away billions of dollars your grandchildren can't afford to pay. You are open and accepting of outright fraud. Hell you must be a swell group of people.
Glad you aren't my people.
I hope some of you will crawl from wherever you're hiding in shame and provide your explanations of my few questions below. But hope and a buck fourty will get me a medium coffee at Tims.
Let begin my variety of things I want conservative voters to explain. I suppose conservatives don't have the nads to read this, so perhaps my usual readers will have a few more questions to throw out when they too are under attack by trolls.
First, I'd love for you to explain your view that your party is good for the economy. I call it clueless to go from a 16 billion dollar budgetary surplus with a sustained pattern of making actual payments on the principal of the national debt to running the largest deficits in history. You call it good management. Explain that one, or perhaps this is how you handle your personal finances so it's normal for you.
That's not the hardest question I have for you, my dear conservative voter friends. That's merely a test to see how one can wholeheartedly support lying to oneself. If I've learned anything, it's that conservatives have no time to be bothered with facts.They have too much on their plate studying rhetoric and foolish talking points. I also have to give honourable mention to their vocabulary when it comes to name calling and swearing when one attempts to introduce facts into the conversation. Bravo.
So...tell me how you look in the mirror every day knowing your choice of Prime Minister is widely known to be a control freak who rarely opens his mouth to do anything but lie. You idolize a man who surrounds himself with criminals (Bruce Carson, Top Aide in the PMO and a 5 time convicted fraudster). That's not enough, the slime continues with his fundraising senators, 2 of whom have fraud charges pending. No suggestion they step down, not even so much as a suspension. You must be proud of that! Talk about the moral high ground! Since you think it's fine to blather about being tough on crime without a clue what that even means, even if we could pretend Harper didn't know Carson was more than a tiny bit crooked and engaged in dangerously looney behaviour with women of questionable character, someone had to have given him very high security clearance for his job. Even when the lurid details were publicly revealed, no call for an investigation how these serious crimes could be overlooked. No heads rolled for whoever cleared him, which also wasn't revealed no matter how many times the questions were asked. Plenty of staffers were thrown under the Harper bus during the election, but they were all low level functionaries. The obviously provided traction for the supporters of people of such high moral fibre.
Let's discuss outright theft from taxpayers. Don't tell me you don't know or have never heard of the "In & Out" scheme. I suppose you're fine with a political party stealing money from taxpayers, or, your party stealing it (you're still indignant about Adscam but that was a different party). I guess that's acceptable to tough on crime conservatives. Now if you don't understand in and out, it's basically the same thing as going to an ATM, making a deposit with an empty envelope then withdrawing cash. I guess only good conservative citizens engage in this type behaviour, I know I'd never do something like that. They may not have defrauded banks, but they claimed illegal subsidies for local advertising to the tune of 1.2 million dollars, tax dollars, from your pocket too dummy. I guess that's the conservative "cost of doing business"
Now if you're going to support a crew of thieves, you might as well shred all of your moral fiber and cheer on the misappropriation of 50 million tax dollars for one riding, Tony Clement's Muskoka riding. Aside from presenting parliament with a request for dedicated money to improve the speed of border crossings (which is actually very important for business) and taking a 50 million dollar chunk to spend on Gazebos and portable toilets and beautification ideas like signs and fancying up the areas where the G8 leaders never went, the spending itself was decided by politicians alone, with absolutely no paper trail or consultation with senior civil servants as has been the practice since confederation. I admit I don't understand how you could possibly be ok with this, but you are. I'm not, not with any party.
It only makes sense that you support pesky little things like altered documents and tabling in the house of commons a document which contained two blatant lies, using the words of highly respected individuals (former Auditor-General Sheila Fraser, and Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page), taken from other documents or interviews about other subjects and using them to give the official impression these two watchdogs were praising them. That's more fraud. To be kind, it is encouraging plagarism which will earn you a quick exit from any university, and cost the Dean of the U of Alberta medical school his position just recently. I guess your kids will grow up with no values either, what with your wholehearted support of such activities.
I have plenty of other things I'd like to know, as soon as you answer to these.
You condone criminal behaviour, you're ok the theft of taxpayer money, you are 100% fine with people who lie, who are vindictive and try to destroy the lives of innocent people (Helena Guergis for one), you don't mind if they fritter away billions of dollars your grandchildren can't afford to pay. You are open and accepting of outright fraud. Hell you must be a swell group of people.
Glad you aren't my people.
Monday 4 July 2011
Spare me your outrage
I tend to say a lot of things people don't like. Generally, the reason they don't like the things I say is due to the fact it's the truth. Everyone professes to want the truth, however, when it's delivered to them on a silver platter, rather than be grateful for getting the gift of truth, usually they get outraged.
Although that doesn't see to make sense to truth loving people everywhere, it is, alas, also a truth. Those who generally speak the truth will know this is a fact, and only because those receiving the truth only really want the truth if it matches their particular belief (or opinion). Try it for yourself. The next time you happen to see or hear a friend or acquaintance going on about a topic and you can make a truth delivery, feel free, but brace yourself for the reaction. Sometimes it's nasty. Usually it degenerates into something that would leave you mindful of the first grade and one of those "Oh yeah?" "Yeah" scenarios. I get it all the time.
So, as is my lot in life, I am sure I'll get flamed for this post, but it's true so I'm going to get it out there. I'd ask you to spare me your outrage, however, I know there are plenty of people out there who won't be able to look past the end of their nose on this.
What sparked me to write today's post was an article in my local newspaper (Moncton, NB, Canada) regarding a dog being found dead, overheated in a car in Burnaby, BC (on the other side of the country a few thousand miles away). Don't get me wrong, I love animals and whoever didn't know better than that deserves whatever the law sees fit. What bothered me is this was even taking up space in my local newspaper. A dead dog, unless he died saving someone's life, is news to the owner and associated family and friends, and perhaps in this case, a matter for legal authorities and an opportunity to educate other slackjaws its a bad idea, but it isn't newsworthy at all. It's part of the reason important news and issues are never discussed. We have to make room for this crap.
It made me think about how much media time is wasted on issues of minor consequence, just because they evoke some strong emotion. It's easy to get angry about some moron leaving a defenseless animal to suffer and die while they were off tending to things they figured were vitally important, like shopping. How many times are you bombarded by animal shelters that have too many pets and "may have to put some down" or a half page story about the recluse who devoted his life to collecting 396,423 unique matchbooks.
So here's some truth for you. I'll be happy to acknowledge the validity of crap like that when the media ensures that not only are we aware a dog has been murdered 4 time zones away, but that every 3.6 seconds of every single day there is a child who is starving to death somewhere on the planet. This is not unavoidable. There are children being sold for sex, orphan children who care for entire families, children who live in cardboard boxes or less and forage in dumps for scraps of food. There are literally hundreds of millions of people who live every single day with no access to running water, or even clean water for that matter. They have never seen a doctor, nor will they. Every minute of every day of your life, somewhere on this planet, innocent men, women, and children are "collateral damage" in any one of the many wars being waged at any given time. I don't apologize for believing if people were relentlessly reminded of the problems of the world we'd do something to fix them.
That's why you're only reminded of these things in passing. You might demand some of the real problems get fixed. That couldn't happen as people make lots of money off the misery of the world. So it's dead dogs and bottlecaps for you, who cares if starvation or current wars or any really serious things become more than a passing issue.
Most important, get your pet spayed or neutered.
Priorities.
Although that doesn't see to make sense to truth loving people everywhere, it is, alas, also a truth. Those who generally speak the truth will know this is a fact, and only because those receiving the truth only really want the truth if it matches their particular belief (or opinion). Try it for yourself. The next time you happen to see or hear a friend or acquaintance going on about a topic and you can make a truth delivery, feel free, but brace yourself for the reaction. Sometimes it's nasty. Usually it degenerates into something that would leave you mindful of the first grade and one of those "Oh yeah?" "Yeah" scenarios. I get it all the time.
So, as is my lot in life, I am sure I'll get flamed for this post, but it's true so I'm going to get it out there. I'd ask you to spare me your outrage, however, I know there are plenty of people out there who won't be able to look past the end of their nose on this.
What sparked me to write today's post was an article in my local newspaper (Moncton, NB, Canada) regarding a dog being found dead, overheated in a car in Burnaby, BC (on the other side of the country a few thousand miles away). Don't get me wrong, I love animals and whoever didn't know better than that deserves whatever the law sees fit. What bothered me is this was even taking up space in my local newspaper. A dead dog, unless he died saving someone's life, is news to the owner and associated family and friends, and perhaps in this case, a matter for legal authorities and an opportunity to educate other slackjaws its a bad idea, but it isn't newsworthy at all. It's part of the reason important news and issues are never discussed. We have to make room for this crap.
It made me think about how much media time is wasted on issues of minor consequence, just because they evoke some strong emotion. It's easy to get angry about some moron leaving a defenseless animal to suffer and die while they were off tending to things they figured were vitally important, like shopping. How many times are you bombarded by animal shelters that have too many pets and "may have to put some down" or a half page story about the recluse who devoted his life to collecting 396,423 unique matchbooks.
So here's some truth for you. I'll be happy to acknowledge the validity of crap like that when the media ensures that not only are we aware a dog has been murdered 4 time zones away, but that every 3.6 seconds of every single day there is a child who is starving to death somewhere on the planet. This is not unavoidable. There are children being sold for sex, orphan children who care for entire families, children who live in cardboard boxes or less and forage in dumps for scraps of food. There are literally hundreds of millions of people who live every single day with no access to running water, or even clean water for that matter. They have never seen a doctor, nor will they. Every minute of every day of your life, somewhere on this planet, innocent men, women, and children are "collateral damage" in any one of the many wars being waged at any given time. I don't apologize for believing if people were relentlessly reminded of the problems of the world we'd do something to fix them.
That's why you're only reminded of these things in passing. You might demand some of the real problems get fixed. That couldn't happen as people make lots of money off the misery of the world. So it's dead dogs and bottlecaps for you, who cares if starvation or current wars or any really serious things become more than a passing issue.
Most important, get your pet spayed or neutered.
Priorities.
Saturday 2 July 2011
Why they call me socialist.
I went most of my life without ever having been labelled a socialist. It's only been the last decade or so that partisan politics, which used to be fought over policy differences, has fallen to the level where people no longer have a point, they have an ideology. They don't want to hear your ideas because theirs are always right and you are stupid because you don't realize. So since you don't agree with idealogues, they resort to name calling.
More than any other tag, I have now largely been labelled as a socialist. Don't feel bad for me, I can defend my positions very well. If I couldn't I would not have a firm position. I thought I'd run through some of the reasons I've been called a socialist and I'll allow you to decide what label you want to put on me, if any. I actually have a name, you're welcome to use it, or call me whatever you wish, that's out of my hands.
The first time I was called a socialist, I remember well. I had been engaged in a discussion at a party, a group was discussing a fundraiser for local food banks. I join in, since I've seen this stuff first hand and if I can help I will. In the course of the discussion, I remarked it was too bad food banks exist and I wish we could use all our energies fighting to ensure no one needed a food bank. One of the participants looked at me and said: "You're a socialist. It's because of people like you we're in such a mess. The government can't take care of everyone.". I was taken aback. So I replied, "If government is not for the people, all the people, aren't we going against the exact thing government is supposed to do?" . The answer? "Government isn't for all the people, just the winners. You can't make everyone happy.".
I immediately withdrew, in order to avoid what surely would have become a nasty disagreement. I'm passionate about what I believe to be right and I don't wither under any attack, intellectual or ideological. I am as comfortable in a fight for the moral high ground as I am in a knock-down drag-out gutter brawl. If you choose to lock horns with me, I have no problem with whatever tone you set. Bring it on, may the best person win.
This was my first experience in Canada with what I prefer to call the "republican" attitude. I've watched it in the states for a long time, it's a very mature process there and was actually picked up on by Harper and his backers a decade or more before I was first called socialist.
Here, for your own judgement, are some of my core beliefs. If you wish to label me that is your choice. If you identify with me, great, I'm sure we'll be great friends. I don't mind if people have different views than I do, that's how we are supposed to learn from one another. Happy reading. I really appreaciate those willing to comment below, it helps me improve this blog. Again, thanks for reading.
These are things I believe in:
I believe in justice for human beings. Not just criminal and civil justice, but social justice as well. Not because I need social programs for myself, but because I recognize there are people who are neither as lucky as I am, or those, for whatever reason, who are either unable or unwilling to care for themselves. I am not here to judge others, whether it is due to their success, or their failure. That is not my place.
I believe in the equality of all people. I do not believe any person on this planet is any better or worse than myself. I bow to no one, nor do I ask anyone to put me on any kind of pedestal above any other human being on this planet. We all have our own merits and demerits, some similar, some different, but in the end, If you cut any human they will bleed. If a human loses their mother, almost universally they will feel pain, and they will cry. We all feel happiness, sadness, love, and the myriad of emotions that make up the human spirit. These are the unalienable ties that bind us all, regardless of skin colour, country of origin, choice of personal beliefs, sexual orientation, political views, Language, religion, none of that matters for one simple fact. One truth. There exists only one race, that is the Human Race.
We live in an incredibly wealthy country. On an annual basis, in the 21st century, we still allow people to suffer on the margins and in poverty. We have continually watched our own lives go from liveable to the point where we need to obsess over our personal spending in order to maintain our standard of living, not luxurious by any extent. Meanwhile, we don't realize that just considering the staggering amount of annual profits for only the top 50 companies in Canada, a portion of those funds could be used to give every Canadian a better life, a better education, better health care, better infrastructure, and most of all, a better future.
I am not anti business, I am not against wealthy people. I have no problem with those who are successful, however, very few business or wealthy people succeed alone. Business' depend on workers, on consumers, stars of stage, screen and sports depend on fans. I'm not asking anyone to give everything up, just to share enough so no one is in need and so we all have a better society.
I believe if people weren't abjectly poor and uneducated or under-educated we would have less crime. That if all of society, people, business, and government, were kinder and more considerate of the feelings of the lesser among us we would be more peaceful. I believe if we wanted to we could easily have a better society, not utopian, never totally equal, but one in which everyone is secure in the knowledge they won't go hungry, that they will always have some place to live, that they don't have to worry they won't have heat or electricity or clean water, that they have a right to an equal education, and should they desire to improve themselves and our society by furthering their education they should not need enter working life saddled with debt. That no one person is more deserving of the opportunity to enrich all of us than any other, regardless of social standing.
I believe proper health care is a basic human right, applicable to every man, woman, and child residing on Canadian soil. If we set our priorities for the betterment of society, for a better Canada, we will make the biggest contribution to mankind any country ever has in history. We could prove that people can still get rich without the misery of having people who are poor. The more we educate ourselves and our children, the higher standard of contribution we give to the future of our country. If we could change the mindset from whoever has the most, wins, to something more kind and rational such as I have more than I need so I can give up a portion so others don't need to suffer. It's still capitalism. There will still be the rich and very rich, successful and very successful, but by taking an edge off that to go toward building a better society with a brighter future, we become the capitalism we should strive for. I truly believe this is possible, and rather than hurt anyone, it will help everyone and society will actually advance. Others will see the sense of this approach, as happier people are more productive and cause less problems to society.
I just want to leave with a bit of an example. You can check published sources for the profits of the top 50 or more Canadian corporations. I know the total was actually higher, but for my purposes, I'm going to use 100 Billion dollars as the profit number for last year. Knowing how economies work, let's say it's fair to assume some years in the last decade they made less, others they made more, so I'll say in the last decade, corporate profits in Canada have been one Trillion dollars. An impossible number to grasp in your head. I see nothing unreasonable in saying to corporations, as you have the right to do business in Canada, you too have a responsibility to share with citizens a portion of the profits for the betterment of society. In return, you will receive more educated, healthier, happier, more well adjusted people working for you. Threats to your person or business will be greatly reduced when people are not angry or hungry or unable to get the medical treatment they need. We, as a society, want just 25% of what you take from society after all the bills are paid. You still get 750 billion excess dollars, and society has 250 billion to invest into the health, education, and the well being of an entire nation. This year alone, corporations could have taken 75 billion dollars in profits, and what benefits to society could have been had with 25 billion dollars to take care of health and education and ensuring at least basic dignity for our fellow man. The rich still get rich. The only difference between rich and super rich is the numbers, there are a few on earth who could never possibly spend all the money they have in 1000 lifetimes. They accumulate wealth neither they nor their families nor all their friends will ever need yet people starve to death ever day. It's wrong. Rich people are people too. People run corporations. The shareholders who demand ever more profits are people. We need to appeal to the humanity that exists somewhere within all humanity. Only then will we truly move forward as a species.
If those things make me a socialist, or any other label you want to put on me, so be it.
I'm comfortable with who I am and will die with few regrets.
More than any other tag, I have now largely been labelled as a socialist. Don't feel bad for me, I can defend my positions very well. If I couldn't I would not have a firm position. I thought I'd run through some of the reasons I've been called a socialist and I'll allow you to decide what label you want to put on me, if any. I actually have a name, you're welcome to use it, or call me whatever you wish, that's out of my hands.
The first time I was called a socialist, I remember well. I had been engaged in a discussion at a party, a group was discussing a fundraiser for local food banks. I join in, since I've seen this stuff first hand and if I can help I will. In the course of the discussion, I remarked it was too bad food banks exist and I wish we could use all our energies fighting to ensure no one needed a food bank. One of the participants looked at me and said: "You're a socialist. It's because of people like you we're in such a mess. The government can't take care of everyone.". I was taken aback. So I replied, "If government is not for the people, all the people, aren't we going against the exact thing government is supposed to do?" . The answer? "Government isn't for all the people, just the winners. You can't make everyone happy.".
I immediately withdrew, in order to avoid what surely would have become a nasty disagreement. I'm passionate about what I believe to be right and I don't wither under any attack, intellectual or ideological. I am as comfortable in a fight for the moral high ground as I am in a knock-down drag-out gutter brawl. If you choose to lock horns with me, I have no problem with whatever tone you set. Bring it on, may the best person win.
This was my first experience in Canada with what I prefer to call the "republican" attitude. I've watched it in the states for a long time, it's a very mature process there and was actually picked up on by Harper and his backers a decade or more before I was first called socialist.
Here, for your own judgement, are some of my core beliefs. If you wish to label me that is your choice. If you identify with me, great, I'm sure we'll be great friends. I don't mind if people have different views than I do, that's how we are supposed to learn from one another. Happy reading. I really appreaciate those willing to comment below, it helps me improve this blog. Again, thanks for reading.
These are things I believe in:
I believe in justice for human beings. Not just criminal and civil justice, but social justice as well. Not because I need social programs for myself, but because I recognize there are people who are neither as lucky as I am, or those, for whatever reason, who are either unable or unwilling to care for themselves. I am not here to judge others, whether it is due to their success, or their failure. That is not my place.
I believe in the equality of all people. I do not believe any person on this planet is any better or worse than myself. I bow to no one, nor do I ask anyone to put me on any kind of pedestal above any other human being on this planet. We all have our own merits and demerits, some similar, some different, but in the end, If you cut any human they will bleed. If a human loses their mother, almost universally they will feel pain, and they will cry. We all feel happiness, sadness, love, and the myriad of emotions that make up the human spirit. These are the unalienable ties that bind us all, regardless of skin colour, country of origin, choice of personal beliefs, sexual orientation, political views, Language, religion, none of that matters for one simple fact. One truth. There exists only one race, that is the Human Race.
We live in an incredibly wealthy country. On an annual basis, in the 21st century, we still allow people to suffer on the margins and in poverty. We have continually watched our own lives go from liveable to the point where we need to obsess over our personal spending in order to maintain our standard of living, not luxurious by any extent. Meanwhile, we don't realize that just considering the staggering amount of annual profits for only the top 50 companies in Canada, a portion of those funds could be used to give every Canadian a better life, a better education, better health care, better infrastructure, and most of all, a better future.
I am not anti business, I am not against wealthy people. I have no problem with those who are successful, however, very few business or wealthy people succeed alone. Business' depend on workers, on consumers, stars of stage, screen and sports depend on fans. I'm not asking anyone to give everything up, just to share enough so no one is in need and so we all have a better society.
I believe if people weren't abjectly poor and uneducated or under-educated we would have less crime. That if all of society, people, business, and government, were kinder and more considerate of the feelings of the lesser among us we would be more peaceful. I believe if we wanted to we could easily have a better society, not utopian, never totally equal, but one in which everyone is secure in the knowledge they won't go hungry, that they will always have some place to live, that they don't have to worry they won't have heat or electricity or clean water, that they have a right to an equal education, and should they desire to improve themselves and our society by furthering their education they should not need enter working life saddled with debt. That no one person is more deserving of the opportunity to enrich all of us than any other, regardless of social standing.
I believe proper health care is a basic human right, applicable to every man, woman, and child residing on Canadian soil. If we set our priorities for the betterment of society, for a better Canada, we will make the biggest contribution to mankind any country ever has in history. We could prove that people can still get rich without the misery of having people who are poor. The more we educate ourselves and our children, the higher standard of contribution we give to the future of our country. If we could change the mindset from whoever has the most, wins, to something more kind and rational such as I have more than I need so I can give up a portion so others don't need to suffer. It's still capitalism. There will still be the rich and very rich, successful and very successful, but by taking an edge off that to go toward building a better society with a brighter future, we become the capitalism we should strive for. I truly believe this is possible, and rather than hurt anyone, it will help everyone and society will actually advance. Others will see the sense of this approach, as happier people are more productive and cause less problems to society.
I just want to leave with a bit of an example. You can check published sources for the profits of the top 50 or more Canadian corporations. I know the total was actually higher, but for my purposes, I'm going to use 100 Billion dollars as the profit number for last year. Knowing how economies work, let's say it's fair to assume some years in the last decade they made less, others they made more, so I'll say in the last decade, corporate profits in Canada have been one Trillion dollars. An impossible number to grasp in your head. I see nothing unreasonable in saying to corporations, as you have the right to do business in Canada, you too have a responsibility to share with citizens a portion of the profits for the betterment of society. In return, you will receive more educated, healthier, happier, more well adjusted people working for you. Threats to your person or business will be greatly reduced when people are not angry or hungry or unable to get the medical treatment they need. We, as a society, want just 25% of what you take from society after all the bills are paid. You still get 750 billion excess dollars, and society has 250 billion to invest into the health, education, and the well being of an entire nation. This year alone, corporations could have taken 75 billion dollars in profits, and what benefits to society could have been had with 25 billion dollars to take care of health and education and ensuring at least basic dignity for our fellow man. The rich still get rich. The only difference between rich and super rich is the numbers, there are a few on earth who could never possibly spend all the money they have in 1000 lifetimes. They accumulate wealth neither they nor their families nor all their friends will ever need yet people starve to death ever day. It's wrong. Rich people are people too. People run corporations. The shareholders who demand ever more profits are people. We need to appeal to the humanity that exists somewhere within all humanity. Only then will we truly move forward as a species.
If those things make me a socialist, or any other label you want to put on me, so be it.
I'm comfortable with who I am and will die with few regrets.
Thursday 30 June 2011
The Revolution IS Televised
Something's happening. It's far bigger than you ever imagined, yet it is only in its infancy.
Revolution!!
If you believe the simplistic mainstream media view, you might think it's all about a handful of oppressed middle easterners, and the origins can be traced back to a definitive event, the self-immolation of a young man who couldn't take it anymore. That view could fertilize all the crops in the world for an entire lifetime.
Protests, whether they be violent or non violent, take organizational skills, and they take time. Protests, such as those we're seeing blossoming all over the world, do not happen spontaneously. Someone had to decide they had enough. They had to get together with other like-minded individuals & groups. They had to advance their ideas and find enough people willing to actually follow through and participate, they have to plan times and places to gather, and if they can do all that, they have to hope enough people show up to gather some momentum. After all, the mideast protests wouldn't be news if it was only two dozen people with hand lettered signs.
If all of those things fall into place, and people see and believe there will be large numbers turning out, they begin to take on a life of their own, and they do. Most often, they are met with brute force from police, undercover agents and/or military force. I guess not many people remember Oka. They should be able to remember the G20 protests in Toronto, the largest mass arrest of Canadians ever. Period. Almost double the number arrested during the October Crisis, when then Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau used the war measures act to rout the FLQ (I'll also add most of those arrested were totally innocent, same as the G20). Not as extreme as some of the middle eastern dictators trying to hang on to their power and perks while their people suffer. Don't think they wouldn't go that far here, or in America, or the UK, France, any of the so-called civilized countries. Don't think that for a minute.
I've never seen anything quite like what's happening today. This is coming from someone who has lived through the peace protests of the Vietnam war, the uneasy tension of the cold war, the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the USSR as a major power. No minor events. I even watched the assassination of JFK and subsequent murder of Lee Harvey Oswald so we'd never know the truth. I still submit I never thought the world would become the mess it is today. Almost universally we are dictated to by the rich and the powerful. That's what the new revolution is about. As it was with the French Revolution, the poor and oppressed peoples have had enough, to the point where their lives are miserable enough they are willing to give them up hoping that things will change.
You'd be best advised to pay attention. While the media would like to give you the impression this is only happening in a select few mideast nations who are rising up against their military backed dictators, nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, the people are tired of being dictated to by the rich and the richer, but there's a lot more to it. It's about youth who see a worse future or no future at all. Its about societies who forget their own people as they worship the twin Gods of greed and power. It's about more people who just can't make it, knowing that the greed of corporations, the rich, and the political elite continues to grow as more and more restrictions are placed on the commoner, as all but a small percentage of the population can truly enjoy what we work for.
You see, it spreading. Yes, not only in the middle east, burgeoning revolutionary movements are growing in Greece, the victims are the poor and pensioners, while the rich have not bothered to pay taxes for years. It's happening in Spain, where it is absolutely vital the economy not fail, because while no country is too big to fail, Spain is too big to rescue, if Ireland fails, there will be problems, difficult but manageable, if Greece and Ireland both default, and Spain follows, place your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye unless you happen to be one of those few filthy rich elites.
People everywhere are watching their way of life erode. While governments continually provide less services, prices are rising, wages are not, people are fed up that so few have so much and so many are left wanting. Last year the top fifty businesses in Canada had after tax profits over a hundred billion dollars. Maybe my math is wrong, but I see that as about 3 million dollars for every man, woman, and child in this country. Senior citizens are going to food banks, people are going without needed medications, they're losing their homes, their families, they're beginning to lose hope. With good reason. We are under attack by the governments funded by the corporations and the richest of the rich. They're raping the land, they're raping us financially, and people are tired of these Marie Antoinettes. People want governments that find a way to foster good business and ensure none of their citizens are left behind. Both are possible, but greed has us accepting every slash and burn overspender taking away everything and laying the blame on the victims.
I don't just think it will happen in more countries, I believe it will be inevitable. People in the US are horribly divided, their economy is a mess, they are failing and can't even see it over then din of the two sides screaming at each other. Don't think Canada is any better. While the conservatives were able to gain a majority government with less than a majority of the vote, their smug arrogance and indifference to the pain of others will be their undoing. Ignoring the fact their actions are creating a bleak future for the youth of the country will do them in. People across the globe are awakening to the reality they are being screwed, and while politicians remain blind to the plight of the poor, to youth, and to the disenfranchised, the rest of us watch our standard of living drop year after year while the well to do, corporate elite, and politicos feast on the majority of our money, which we got by slaving for companies making massive profits and paying a pittance.
People do not want to live like this anymore. They want a bigger piece of the pie. They want a fair share of what could easily be provided and the rich would still be very rich.
Notice to those who live on a pedestal. I think you're watching the beginning of the end of doing things your way. I really do. I've been wrong before, but this feels totally different. You don't have to take my advice. Take your chances and carry on.
Revolution!!
If you believe the simplistic mainstream media view, you might think it's all about a handful of oppressed middle easterners, and the origins can be traced back to a definitive event, the self-immolation of a young man who couldn't take it anymore. That view could fertilize all the crops in the world for an entire lifetime.
Protests, whether they be violent or non violent, take organizational skills, and they take time. Protests, such as those we're seeing blossoming all over the world, do not happen spontaneously. Someone had to decide they had enough. They had to get together with other like-minded individuals & groups. They had to advance their ideas and find enough people willing to actually follow through and participate, they have to plan times and places to gather, and if they can do all that, they have to hope enough people show up to gather some momentum. After all, the mideast protests wouldn't be news if it was only two dozen people with hand lettered signs.
If all of those things fall into place, and people see and believe there will be large numbers turning out, they begin to take on a life of their own, and they do. Most often, they are met with brute force from police, undercover agents and/or military force. I guess not many people remember Oka. They should be able to remember the G20 protests in Toronto, the largest mass arrest of Canadians ever. Period. Almost double the number arrested during the October Crisis, when then Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau used the war measures act to rout the FLQ (I'll also add most of those arrested were totally innocent, same as the G20). Not as extreme as some of the middle eastern dictators trying to hang on to their power and perks while their people suffer. Don't think they wouldn't go that far here, or in America, or the UK, France, any of the so-called civilized countries. Don't think that for a minute.
I've never seen anything quite like what's happening today. This is coming from someone who has lived through the peace protests of the Vietnam war, the uneasy tension of the cold war, the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the USSR as a major power. No minor events. I even watched the assassination of JFK and subsequent murder of Lee Harvey Oswald so we'd never know the truth. I still submit I never thought the world would become the mess it is today. Almost universally we are dictated to by the rich and the powerful. That's what the new revolution is about. As it was with the French Revolution, the poor and oppressed peoples have had enough, to the point where their lives are miserable enough they are willing to give them up hoping that things will change.
You'd be best advised to pay attention. While the media would like to give you the impression this is only happening in a select few mideast nations who are rising up against their military backed dictators, nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, the people are tired of being dictated to by the rich and the richer, but there's a lot more to it. It's about youth who see a worse future or no future at all. Its about societies who forget their own people as they worship the twin Gods of greed and power. It's about more people who just can't make it, knowing that the greed of corporations, the rich, and the political elite continues to grow as more and more restrictions are placed on the commoner, as all but a small percentage of the population can truly enjoy what we work for.
You see, it spreading. Yes, not only in the middle east, burgeoning revolutionary movements are growing in Greece, the victims are the poor and pensioners, while the rich have not bothered to pay taxes for years. It's happening in Spain, where it is absolutely vital the economy not fail, because while no country is too big to fail, Spain is too big to rescue, if Ireland fails, there will be problems, difficult but manageable, if Greece and Ireland both default, and Spain follows, place your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye unless you happen to be one of those few filthy rich elites.
People everywhere are watching their way of life erode. While governments continually provide less services, prices are rising, wages are not, people are fed up that so few have so much and so many are left wanting. Last year the top fifty businesses in Canada had after tax profits over a hundred billion dollars. Maybe my math is wrong, but I see that as about 3 million dollars for every man, woman, and child in this country. Senior citizens are going to food banks, people are going without needed medications, they're losing their homes, their families, they're beginning to lose hope. With good reason. We are under attack by the governments funded by the corporations and the richest of the rich. They're raping the land, they're raping us financially, and people are tired of these Marie Antoinettes. People want governments that find a way to foster good business and ensure none of their citizens are left behind. Both are possible, but greed has us accepting every slash and burn overspender taking away everything and laying the blame on the victims.
I don't just think it will happen in more countries, I believe it will be inevitable. People in the US are horribly divided, their economy is a mess, they are failing and can't even see it over then din of the two sides screaming at each other. Don't think Canada is any better. While the conservatives were able to gain a majority government with less than a majority of the vote, their smug arrogance and indifference to the pain of others will be their undoing. Ignoring the fact their actions are creating a bleak future for the youth of the country will do them in. People across the globe are awakening to the reality they are being screwed, and while politicians remain blind to the plight of the poor, to youth, and to the disenfranchised, the rest of us watch our standard of living drop year after year while the well to do, corporate elite, and politicos feast on the majority of our money, which we got by slaving for companies making massive profits and paying a pittance.
People do not want to live like this anymore. They want a bigger piece of the pie. They want a fair share of what could easily be provided and the rich would still be very rich.
Notice to those who live on a pedestal. I think you're watching the beginning of the end of doing things your way. I really do. I've been wrong before, but this feels totally different. You don't have to take my advice. Take your chances and carry on.
Wednesday 29 June 2011
Let's talk pension
I don't profess to be an expert on a whole lot of things, unless one can be an expert on general knowledge, of which my cup runneth over. Maybe I'm kind of a geek, but I have a never ending curiosity that I find has served me well as long as I can remember. Where some people enjoy other things, there is nothing that makes me feel better than learning something new. I find my most enjoyment in understanding complex subjects, which, by all rights, should be way over my head. So yeah, I'm a bit of a geek.
I've had enough experience writing, giving speeches, broadcasting, researching and working with the public that I'm very comfortable with doing these things. I've also had my share of specialized training in presentation and facilitation, teambuilding, learning styles, conflict resolution, etc., that I can marry the training to the actual experience I have to help people understand complex issues on an "ordinary person" level. For that, I am thankful.
That rambling intro over with, let's talk a bit about pensions. You're hearing more about them, and that will increase in the coming days and years. Since I wish I'd understood some of this when I was younger, I'll share the "ordinary guy/girl's guide to pensions".
There are many different ways your money can be allotted in any pension, getting into all of those details would cloud what the most immediate issue you'll be seeing a lot of in the near future. I like to call this one "The fight of the century: DB vs DC".
Why is there such a huge fight over what kind of pension you have, after all, most people don't even get a company pension. Shouldn't you be happy to have a pension of any kind? Most Canadians probably think this issue has nothing to do with them. I'll attempt to bring some clarity to this.
The reason for the fight can be summed up with a simple comparison. If I were to offer you the choice of a $1000 bank account or $1000 credit on a slot machine, which would you think is best for your future, when you are no longer working. Agreed, those of us who have a pension plan are lucky and chances are we've had to fight for it, fight to improve it, and now, fight to keep it. I understand that's my problem, now, but my problem now may belong to your son or daughter in the future. We all want the best for our children, want them to have advantages we didn't, for most of us, it's what we live for. If you want your children and grandchildren to have a better future you should pay attention. If you have a hard time living on what you earn, what's the future for your children if you agree with lowering wages and reducing benefits? It's not only the public sector, they're just more noticeable. People with annual salaries and bonuses it would take you 20 or 30 years to earn are telling you the person on the bottom is overpaid and gets too many goodies.
The idea is totally preposterous. Do you have an expense account? Company credit card, phone, car, and maybe even accomodations? You fly first class? I've never seen first class. I pay for those perks with my labour. Well, you say, they can be fired at any time, and all they leave with is their agreed upon "settlement" plus a generous severance, stock options, benefits, pension, yes, executives have it bad. How could you look someone in the eye and tell them this is fair. No union member is getting rich, even after working for a career, the best they can hope for is comfortable. A couple of years at the top executive levels of any large corporation or entity and you'll earn more than that 24 dollar an hour guy can in a lifetime and a half. That's the raw truth. To deny it is to fool yourself and leave the next, debt-burdened, generation to a lifetime of never knowing what it's like to make ends meet. It's that serious. Today's target is a pension, once that's taken care of there are other fish to fry. Benefits, wages, positions, and basic working rights we take for granted. Governments, and corporations, emboldened will take every inch of ground they can, at the expense of people today, tomorrow and possible forever.
The are vast differences in the DB, or defined benefit pension, and the DC, or defined contribution pension. Anyone with a DB pension is going to fight to keep it. Here's why.
Do you have an RRSP? I figure if you're reading this, you are not totally blind to what happened in the recent recession. Their RRSP, for the most part based on the stock market, tanked. I know people who lost half or more of the value of their retirement savings in a matter of months. One friend had 50,000 dollars in his RRSP (which is a DC pension) and had to start rebuilding with just over 22,000. The DC pension is a crapshoot. My friends with those pensions will never have what they thought they would for retirement, not because they spent it, because some very greedy bank executives decided to screw the biggest economy in the world almost to death. Not the bank tellers. The executives. If they could blame it on the tellers you bet your ass they would.
In contrast, I admit I am one of the lucky people who does have a DB pension. There is a world of difference. While I watched the savings of 40 and 50 somethings around me disappear, my pension lost no value. Zero, zip, nada as they say. How is this possible? Structural differences. Period.
Whereas a DC pension is at the whims of market forces (just like your RRSP) due to being invested in "the markets", the DB pension works like a bank account. The DC pension is that $1000 credit on the slot machine I mentioned above, if the markets go up, you could retire with a little or a lot more than planned, but the risk is there you could walk away with less or nothing at all. Even if we both make equal contributions to our plan and both expect to have $1000 dollars a month in retirement income, it isn't hard to imagine you retiring with $390 and I will still have the full $1000. With a DB pension, your funds are not gambled on the markets. Theoretically, your employer is required by law, to put your money in a safe place and pay you interest, just like a savings account. You can't take money out, they can't take money out. Mr Stock Market can't take money out. In the end, you still have the money your statement said you have. If you leave the company, they have to give you that portion of money, plus accrued interest, to invest in your own retirement plan. This is how a good, decent, human pension should work. Doesn't everyone want to enjoy themselves for whatever time they have after retiring? There's no greed in that whatsoever. None. All you are asking is the difference between a bank account and a slot machine. I'll take the bank account.
Good luck.
I've had enough experience writing, giving speeches, broadcasting, researching and working with the public that I'm very comfortable with doing these things. I've also had my share of specialized training in presentation and facilitation, teambuilding, learning styles, conflict resolution, etc., that I can marry the training to the actual experience I have to help people understand complex issues on an "ordinary person" level. For that, I am thankful.
That rambling intro over with, let's talk a bit about pensions. You're hearing more about them, and that will increase in the coming days and years. Since I wish I'd understood some of this when I was younger, I'll share the "ordinary guy/girl's guide to pensions".
There are many different ways your money can be allotted in any pension, getting into all of those details would cloud what the most immediate issue you'll be seeing a lot of in the near future. I like to call this one "The fight of the century: DB vs DC".
Why is there such a huge fight over what kind of pension you have, after all, most people don't even get a company pension. Shouldn't you be happy to have a pension of any kind? Most Canadians probably think this issue has nothing to do with them. I'll attempt to bring some clarity to this.
The reason for the fight can be summed up with a simple comparison. If I were to offer you the choice of a $1000 bank account or $1000 credit on a slot machine, which would you think is best for your future, when you are no longer working. Agreed, those of us who have a pension plan are lucky and chances are we've had to fight for it, fight to improve it, and now, fight to keep it. I understand that's my problem, now, but my problem now may belong to your son or daughter in the future. We all want the best for our children, want them to have advantages we didn't, for most of us, it's what we live for. If you want your children and grandchildren to have a better future you should pay attention. If you have a hard time living on what you earn, what's the future for your children if you agree with lowering wages and reducing benefits? It's not only the public sector, they're just more noticeable. People with annual salaries and bonuses it would take you 20 or 30 years to earn are telling you the person on the bottom is overpaid and gets too many goodies.
The idea is totally preposterous. Do you have an expense account? Company credit card, phone, car, and maybe even accomodations? You fly first class? I've never seen first class. I pay for those perks with my labour. Well, you say, they can be fired at any time, and all they leave with is their agreed upon "settlement" plus a generous severance, stock options, benefits, pension, yes, executives have it bad. How could you look someone in the eye and tell them this is fair. No union member is getting rich, even after working for a career, the best they can hope for is comfortable. A couple of years at the top executive levels of any large corporation or entity and you'll earn more than that 24 dollar an hour guy can in a lifetime and a half. That's the raw truth. To deny it is to fool yourself and leave the next, debt-burdened, generation to a lifetime of never knowing what it's like to make ends meet. It's that serious. Today's target is a pension, once that's taken care of there are other fish to fry. Benefits, wages, positions, and basic working rights we take for granted. Governments, and corporations, emboldened will take every inch of ground they can, at the expense of people today, tomorrow and possible forever.
The are vast differences in the DB, or defined benefit pension, and the DC, or defined contribution pension. Anyone with a DB pension is going to fight to keep it. Here's why.
Do you have an RRSP? I figure if you're reading this, you are not totally blind to what happened in the recent recession. Their RRSP, for the most part based on the stock market, tanked. I know people who lost half or more of the value of their retirement savings in a matter of months. One friend had 50,000 dollars in his RRSP (which is a DC pension) and had to start rebuilding with just over 22,000. The DC pension is a crapshoot. My friends with those pensions will never have what they thought they would for retirement, not because they spent it, because some very greedy bank executives decided to screw the biggest economy in the world almost to death. Not the bank tellers. The executives. If they could blame it on the tellers you bet your ass they would.
In contrast, I admit I am one of the lucky people who does have a DB pension. There is a world of difference. While I watched the savings of 40 and 50 somethings around me disappear, my pension lost no value. Zero, zip, nada as they say. How is this possible? Structural differences. Period.
Whereas a DC pension is at the whims of market forces (just like your RRSP) due to being invested in "the markets", the DB pension works like a bank account. The DC pension is that $1000 credit on the slot machine I mentioned above, if the markets go up, you could retire with a little or a lot more than planned, but the risk is there you could walk away with less or nothing at all. Even if we both make equal contributions to our plan and both expect to have $1000 dollars a month in retirement income, it isn't hard to imagine you retiring with $390 and I will still have the full $1000. With a DB pension, your funds are not gambled on the markets. Theoretically, your employer is required by law, to put your money in a safe place and pay you interest, just like a savings account. You can't take money out, they can't take money out. Mr Stock Market can't take money out. In the end, you still have the money your statement said you have. If you leave the company, they have to give you that portion of money, plus accrued interest, to invest in your own retirement plan. This is how a good, decent, human pension should work. Doesn't everyone want to enjoy themselves for whatever time they have after retiring? There's no greed in that whatsoever. None. All you are asking is the difference between a bank account and a slot machine. I'll take the bank account.
Good luck.
Sunday 26 June 2011
The Riot
One night, after a big event, a group of deplorable thugs took to the streets. The event in question had nothing to do with the riot directly, rather an organized group took advantage of thousands of people who, ordinarily, probably would never have participated, but in the fervor surrounding the events, and fueled by emotion, they did.
A lot of bad things happened that night. Burning, looting, tons of shops had their glass smashed out, some to the brink of total destruction, and there was violence, senseless violence against innocent people, some of whom were just trying to protect the targets of the mob mentality.
Some extraordinary things happened after that night. As if the riot itself wasn't bad enough, with its ugly "mob mentality" and terrible destruction of property, what followed was a "public shaming". I'm sure many of those involved in the public shaming took actions they may have lived to regret. I'm sure many took advantage of the situation to eliminate rivals or rid themselves of enemies by falsely turning them in to authorities in the name of revenge for some slight or another, and I am absolutely confident there were many who participated in the "shaming" of many innocent people who only thought they were doing their "civic duty". The mob mentality of the rioters was eclipsed by the mob mentality of the "shamers". There is a lesson to be learned from the riot.
The lesson we ought to have learned from it, is "two wrongs don't make a right". Caught up in the frenzy of the mob mentality a lot of innocent people and their families suffered greatly.
Around 6,000,000 of them.
We know the name of that riot. Kristallnacht. We ought to have learned.
A lot of bad things happened that night. Burning, looting, tons of shops had their glass smashed out, some to the brink of total destruction, and there was violence, senseless violence against innocent people, some of whom were just trying to protect the targets of the mob mentality.
Some extraordinary things happened after that night. As if the riot itself wasn't bad enough, with its ugly "mob mentality" and terrible destruction of property, what followed was a "public shaming". I'm sure many of those involved in the public shaming took actions they may have lived to regret. I'm sure many took advantage of the situation to eliminate rivals or rid themselves of enemies by falsely turning them in to authorities in the name of revenge for some slight or another, and I am absolutely confident there were many who participated in the "shaming" of many innocent people who only thought they were doing their "civic duty". The mob mentality of the rioters was eclipsed by the mob mentality of the "shamers". There is a lesson to be learned from the riot.
The lesson we ought to have learned from it, is "two wrongs don't make a right". Caught up in the frenzy of the mob mentality a lot of innocent people and their families suffered greatly.
Around 6,000,000 of them.
We know the name of that riot. Kristallnacht. We ought to have learned.
Saturday 25 June 2011
Government? Or Continuing Criminal Enterprise?
The title says it all. It doesn't apply just to Canada, but to all. This is going to be the shortest blog I've ever posted. Go to your search engine. Read about continuing criminal enterprises, pay attention to how they are defined, examine the actions of your own governments, then ask yourself exactly what I asked in the headline.
You might be surprised. At the low end of the scale, enlightened.
You might be surprised. At the low end of the scale, enlightened.
Wednesday 22 June 2011
The Vision Movement (Part 1)
When the title of my post contains "Part "X"" in brackets, you know it's not good. I've often been known to make a short story long, yet I come by it honestly, having learned some time ago I often have to offer a detailed explanation when I say things, or do it repeatedly afterwards.
Welcome, my friends, to "The Vision Movement". Currently 1 member strong but hopeful for growth in the future. The vision movement, for now, exists only in my head, however, fear not, there is plenty of room in there.
This is intended to be the first in a series of what I hope will be evolving posts, and I'm counting on them being fueled and part of a fluid process, based on feedback from like-minded fellow Canadians.
I'm unsure where it may lead, if anywhere, other than me expending the time and effort to try to elucidate my thoughts on a society that builds on the best of what we already have, changes things we have proven are outdated or not working, and provides some kind of cohesive plan going forward.
The vision movement is not a political party (although I'd never rule out the idea it may have to become one), it's more of a meeting of the many minds who have come to realize government does not act in the interests of all of the people. Here, the opinion of the billionaire tycoon carries the same weight as the homeless guy that sleeps on the bench in the park. It's about inclusion and truth. It's about taking power and sharing it with everyone.
This is not about being conservative or liberal or any other party. It has absolutely nothing to do with getting back at anyone, there's no in-your-face we win, simply because the vision movement is about the empowerment of people as equals.
I do want to move forward with what I think is an important discussion. If I don't get feedback, if I don't get some interest, I'll chalk it up as another "at least I tried" moment in my life and move on. I guess it's really going to be up to readers whether there is a part 2 and beyond or not. Once I put the thoughts out there, I transfer it into your hands to decide if it sounds interesting to you, and whether you'd be interested in moving the concept forward or letting it die on the order paper.
I don't describe this as a socialist movement, rather, this is my attempt at encouraging a societal movement. It's about honesty and reality, about dealing with the bad and the good, about learning powerful lessons from hundreds of years of democracy, a shared determination to keep the things that are good and important to us and improve them, conversely it is also about admitting our system is very broken, and it's time for a 21st century update to a more inclusive and sensible system. Our system is archaic and tradition may be nice and all that, but it doesn't mean we should go back to traditional outhouses any more than we should still be operating in a system largely unchanged for centuries.
I subscribe to neither the all out "nanny-state" nor the notion that smaller government is always the best solution. Extremes are for extremists.
I'm not out to "get" business or the wealthy. I'm never going to advocate the notion of "every man for himself, survival of the fittest" either. One thing I think I have learned is that we have, for over a century, alternately elected conservatives or liberals, few of whom have seriously provided much vision in my lifetime. It's been a series of wrongs, both sides clinging to their particular ideology which can be widely warped if it appears it may win them the election. No party exists today that is interested in delivering what I am looking for. Massive, radical change. Not for the sake of change, but for the sake of taking society to a place where we can build for the future, not cling to the past.
How many times have you voted for someone you liked and respected and thought would make a difference, only to find when they do obtain power, do everything opposite to what they've preached or promised? I wonder how many times good, well meaning people of all political persuasions, have been elected with the idea they can make a difference once in power, only to rapidly have those ideas, and their spirit, crushed by a system designed to be run top-down. This is not what we deserve. It's what we have, and as long as we are content with occasionally changing the players rather than the rules, the game will continue. That is what our life has devolved to: a game. A game of politics, where one side or the other must win at all costs to advance their agenda, based solely on their ideology.
This isn't a game. Politics should not be a spectator sport where some citizens win and others lose. It's wrong. It's long since passed its expiry date. It is long overdue, but the vision movement can make this change. Believe that you can, for we are all far more powerful than we will know, if only we explore our own power.
Part 1 of the vision is the unwrapping and demystifying government. It's about being able to expect honesty, to expect a government that is dedicated to creating a society that others look to for inspiration. It's about public, real-time accounting to taxpayers for every penny spent. It's about coming to our senses, creating a Canada that doesn't have to choose between rich and poor, business and citizens, left or right, or any other divisions. Reasonable Canadians, whether they like to be pigeonholed into categories or not, would be able to agree that we can spend our money smarter, and recognize we are unique in our steadfast survival against overwhelming odds. The second largest country in the world by land mass, one of the world's richest countries, yet we only have the population of California, which, in any sense of the word is failing its citizens due to the same kind of politics we seem to be embracing.
Canadians are determined, yet today, we've lost sight of why we are a country in the first place. We totally ignore an obvious historic reality: Canada as we know it was built through compromise and cooperation. Now everyone thinks they have some kind of irreparable grievance, because for the last several decades this is how elections have been won, by playing on why some particular part of the country or portion of the population has been horribly wronged and the only way to fix it is by backing your "Team" (sic) in the next election. News Flash: We are devouring our own flesh for the sake of bragging rights.
Aside from dragging government and its cumbersome, tired mass kicking and screaming into the present (how else will we be prepared for a future?), the vision movement is about just that. Vision. Ideas that not only touch the lives of all Canadians, but build on the things that bring us together instead of always fostering a battle of the differences. Confederation was a vision to create a country. The coast to coast railway was a vision about expanding this country and tying it together. The Trans-Canada highway opened up a vast and beautiful country of opportunity to all Canadians, that also took vision. Our most treasured, and one might say, sacred visions, is our system of medicare which, while flawed, we hold dear to our hearts. The thing is, these are some of the monumental things we have done through compromise and cooperation. I've never given up on caring about Canada. It's not about me, it about my daughter, and your kids, and their kids and all the kids to come. I'm not going to suggest my vision is perfect, that's why I'm hoping for feedback. If I think there is interest, I'll explore some options for the kinds of national visions we should be thinking about. Things to shed our labels and for once, make us all proud Canadians.
It isn't about winning or losing. It's about changing. It's about setting the table for the future. It's about something more than polling numbers and talking points and cronyism. It's one lone man who has devoted years of thought to what is wrong, why it's wrong, and trying to determine the path to effect change.
So I need to know. Am I alone? Is there a will to build a dream?
Welcome, my friends, to "The Vision Movement". Currently 1 member strong but hopeful for growth in the future. The vision movement, for now, exists only in my head, however, fear not, there is plenty of room in there.
This is intended to be the first in a series of what I hope will be evolving posts, and I'm counting on them being fueled and part of a fluid process, based on feedback from like-minded fellow Canadians.
I'm unsure where it may lead, if anywhere, other than me expending the time and effort to try to elucidate my thoughts on a society that builds on the best of what we already have, changes things we have proven are outdated or not working, and provides some kind of cohesive plan going forward.
The vision movement is not a political party (although I'd never rule out the idea it may have to become one), it's more of a meeting of the many minds who have come to realize government does not act in the interests of all of the people. Here, the opinion of the billionaire tycoon carries the same weight as the homeless guy that sleeps on the bench in the park. It's about inclusion and truth. It's about taking power and sharing it with everyone.
This is not about being conservative or liberal or any other party. It has absolutely nothing to do with getting back at anyone, there's no in-your-face we win, simply because the vision movement is about the empowerment of people as equals.
I do want to move forward with what I think is an important discussion. If I don't get feedback, if I don't get some interest, I'll chalk it up as another "at least I tried" moment in my life and move on. I guess it's really going to be up to readers whether there is a part 2 and beyond or not. Once I put the thoughts out there, I transfer it into your hands to decide if it sounds interesting to you, and whether you'd be interested in moving the concept forward or letting it die on the order paper.
I don't describe this as a socialist movement, rather, this is my attempt at encouraging a societal movement. It's about honesty and reality, about dealing with the bad and the good, about learning powerful lessons from hundreds of years of democracy, a shared determination to keep the things that are good and important to us and improve them, conversely it is also about admitting our system is very broken, and it's time for a 21st century update to a more inclusive and sensible system. Our system is archaic and tradition may be nice and all that, but it doesn't mean we should go back to traditional outhouses any more than we should still be operating in a system largely unchanged for centuries.
I subscribe to neither the all out "nanny-state" nor the notion that smaller government is always the best solution. Extremes are for extremists.
I'm not out to "get" business or the wealthy. I'm never going to advocate the notion of "every man for himself, survival of the fittest" either. One thing I think I have learned is that we have, for over a century, alternately elected conservatives or liberals, few of whom have seriously provided much vision in my lifetime. It's been a series of wrongs, both sides clinging to their particular ideology which can be widely warped if it appears it may win them the election. No party exists today that is interested in delivering what I am looking for. Massive, radical change. Not for the sake of change, but for the sake of taking society to a place where we can build for the future, not cling to the past.
How many times have you voted for someone you liked and respected and thought would make a difference, only to find when they do obtain power, do everything opposite to what they've preached or promised? I wonder how many times good, well meaning people of all political persuasions, have been elected with the idea they can make a difference once in power, only to rapidly have those ideas, and their spirit, crushed by a system designed to be run top-down. This is not what we deserve. It's what we have, and as long as we are content with occasionally changing the players rather than the rules, the game will continue. That is what our life has devolved to: a game. A game of politics, where one side or the other must win at all costs to advance their agenda, based solely on their ideology.
This isn't a game. Politics should not be a spectator sport where some citizens win and others lose. It's wrong. It's long since passed its expiry date. It is long overdue, but the vision movement can make this change. Believe that you can, for we are all far more powerful than we will know, if only we explore our own power.
Part 1 of the vision is the unwrapping and demystifying government. It's about being able to expect honesty, to expect a government that is dedicated to creating a society that others look to for inspiration. It's about public, real-time accounting to taxpayers for every penny spent. It's about coming to our senses, creating a Canada that doesn't have to choose between rich and poor, business and citizens, left or right, or any other divisions. Reasonable Canadians, whether they like to be pigeonholed into categories or not, would be able to agree that we can spend our money smarter, and recognize we are unique in our steadfast survival against overwhelming odds. The second largest country in the world by land mass, one of the world's richest countries, yet we only have the population of California, which, in any sense of the word is failing its citizens due to the same kind of politics we seem to be embracing.
Canadians are determined, yet today, we've lost sight of why we are a country in the first place. We totally ignore an obvious historic reality: Canada as we know it was built through compromise and cooperation. Now everyone thinks they have some kind of irreparable grievance, because for the last several decades this is how elections have been won, by playing on why some particular part of the country or portion of the population has been horribly wronged and the only way to fix it is by backing your "Team" (sic) in the next election. News Flash: We are devouring our own flesh for the sake of bragging rights.
Aside from dragging government and its cumbersome, tired mass kicking and screaming into the present (how else will we be prepared for a future?), the vision movement is about just that. Vision. Ideas that not only touch the lives of all Canadians, but build on the things that bring us together instead of always fostering a battle of the differences. Confederation was a vision to create a country. The coast to coast railway was a vision about expanding this country and tying it together. The Trans-Canada highway opened up a vast and beautiful country of opportunity to all Canadians, that also took vision. Our most treasured, and one might say, sacred visions, is our system of medicare which, while flawed, we hold dear to our hearts. The thing is, these are some of the monumental things we have done through compromise and cooperation. I've never given up on caring about Canada. It's not about me, it about my daughter, and your kids, and their kids and all the kids to come. I'm not going to suggest my vision is perfect, that's why I'm hoping for feedback. If I think there is interest, I'll explore some options for the kinds of national visions we should be thinking about. Things to shed our labels and for once, make us all proud Canadians.
It isn't about winning or losing. It's about changing. It's about setting the table for the future. It's about something more than polling numbers and talking points and cronyism. It's one lone man who has devoted years of thought to what is wrong, why it's wrong, and trying to determine the path to effect change.
So I need to know. Am I alone? Is there a will to build a dream?
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