GETTING A WORKPLACE REALITY CHECK

DATELINE: GETTING A WORKPLACE REALITY CHECK – After days of watching news coverage of the election campaign for the leader of the most powerful country in the world, I can no longer sit silently. No, I was not grabbed or kissed by Donald Trump, and no, Bill Clinton didn’t drop his drawers for me, BUT for every woman who has been through that experience with any man, it is once again visceral for them. Old wounds, long thought scarred over, are red and raw once more.

This morning I listened to commentaries and pundits talking about being skeptical about the timing of these things, and why it’s coming out now. How could these women have remained silent for so long? How could they even remember what happened that long ago. It was years, so is it really relevant now? Well, let me enlighten you.

First, imagine being young, idealistic, energetic, with a whole world in front of you, but each morning, as you get dressed, you look in the mirror and wonder if you are making the right choice. You know, as a young woman, your clothes, nylons, shoes, hairstyle… everything… will be up for scrutiny. You consider what lies ahead of you that day, what’s on your agenda, and which co-workers you will be working with, knowing that if it’s this one, you should be wearing slacks because otherwise you will be in a wrestling match again when he tries to slide his hand up your skirt. You weigh in your mind how much photocopying you will have to do that day, because you know the photocopier is across the hall from an office of a man who seems to think that bending over to reload paper is his personal invitation to be an ass. You have to think about all these things, every day, before you even consider walking out the door… all just to do the job you are hired to do (at less money than your male counterparts, who obviously are considered more worthy than yourself).

So, you get to work. One of your male supervisors leans up against the wall when beside you, looking at your chest as he talks to you, not even making an attempt to hide the entitled expression on his face. You dressed for him. How nice. Well, not really, but that’s what he says, and you know if you say anything to correct that, you will pay for it. Another leans over your desk, invading your space with his halitoxic (yes, patent is pending on that word) breath because how could you get through the day without him stopping by to say hello. You have to put up with wolf whistles as you walk down the street and strangers yelling at you to smile; you worry about who might reach out to touch you, both on the street and in your work environment. This is all just in the first half hour of your day – every day.

There are few women, over the last forty years, who have not experienced this to one degree or another. A torn dress, a ripped sleeve, a broken heel on a shoe: those are just the cost of being a woman in the workforce. It’s simply a fact – a sick, sad fucking fact. You have no recourse, especially in decades past. It was the entitlement of the men in the office to be assholes to the women. Not all the men were; there were many who were absolute gentlemen. They were generally the ones who had their work done first. That was our only show of protest at the time.

Women didn’t complain. They couldn’t. If you complained, your job changed. You got demoted. You missed out on promotions. The men talked about you more, viciously, hurtfully, lying about you among themselves, but making sure you knew what they were saying. They talked about their conquests. They talked to each other. They gave you a bad job reference when you tried to leave. That was all just for asking them to stop. You wanted it, but couldn’t handle it. You were a child playing an adult game. You dressed like you wanted it. You stayed through your coffee break so that must clearly mean you wanted that attention. It was just fooling around anyway, nothing was serious. If you laid a complaint, it would cost you your job unless you could prove it, and prove that you hadn’t instigated it. Not only did it cost you the job you were at, but it cost you any future ones as well. This isn’t rocket science, assholes. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t demand that we say nothing at the time then condemn us after the fact for remaining silent.

You didn’t report this behavior. You had no one to report it to. You didn’t ‘lay charges’ *insert riotous laughter here* because how were you to prove your case… not the case that it happened but that you didn’t ‘provoke’ it. You had absolutely no recourse then. To change jobs just meant you had to learn all over again who not to trust and who to avoid, and what to wear each day. In many ways, the old ‘devil you know’ thing definitely comes into play.

So, Morning Joe and the rest of you, why are women speaking out now, with just weeks until the election? Well, for starters, they probably didn’t believe that Trump would go this far, that people would wake the hell up and see this monster for who he is. Maybe when he lied in the debate and stated that he never does anything like this, it was the last straw. Maybe it was his surrogates stating that ‘no women were hurt’ or that it was just ‘locker room banter’ or that it really didn’t count because it happened anywhere from 1-50 years ago. Hearing those things from Trump is expected; hearing those things from other people, especially women, is infuriating and hurtful as all holy hell, because those people should, and I would argue that they do, know better. These are the truly vile individuals in this debacle.

I will state, without any doubt at all, that at least 80% of women in the workforce in the last 50 years have experienced inappropriate advances from their male counterparts. I will also state with the same confidence that every one of those women, over the last two weeks of watching coverage of the election for President of the United States, is reliving those experiences, can remember every detail, can remember the names of the men involved, what they were wearing, and how they felt about it afterwards. It doesn’t leave you… EVER.

They didn’t come forward earlier because they hoped they wouldn’t have to. They didn’t want to relive the experience. In case you’re wondering, yes, at the time and every time you think about it afterward, it is degrading. They didn’t want to go there again. They didn’t want to be judged by family, friends, co-workers, just like before, but now they also get to be judged and persecuted for it, by an entire nation. We have been told for centuries that we don’t count as much, that we are to blame, that we have to provide ‘proof,’ that we have to defend OUR behavior before any man is held to account for his.

Why is this an issue in this election? Because Donald Trump wants to be the most powerful man in the world. He felt entitled before. Imagine now. Imagine the women he will abuse. He did so shamelessly, proudly even, for decades. It’s about his character. It’s about how he will treat female world leaders, female corporate leaders, any female he has to deal with. It’s because he is not mentally fit for the job. He wants to complain about Bill Clinton’s abuse of office in that way, yet he expects to be handed the same opportunities on a platter. If anything, if the Trump campaign had any brains at all, they would want the entire Bill Clinton issue to go away, because it should at the very least teach us that if they do it outside the office, they definitely do it inside, and that means a road of legal impairments and probably impeachment for Trump… at least if he is held to the same standards as Bill Clinton was – and let me say, those weren’t very high standards even then. Riddle me this, though: Why is it okay for Trump to bring up Bill Clinton’s behavior 30 years ago, and Hillary’s reaction to it, but not okay to mention Trump’s behavior even in the last week? Why is it okay for Trump to attack the women who are now his accusers, but not for Hillary to do likewise 30 years ago? None of them were right then, and it sure has hell is not right now to do either.

Oh, and Billy Bush… we know all about wingmen like you. We know that you are right in there with the rest of that basket of deplorables. Living your sexual fantasies vicariously through others, and helping to set women up for just this purpose, makes you as much a lowlife and the wanna-be presidential prick you stroked. 

O-R-L-A-N-D-O. Find out what it means to me.

People standing outside Pulse during attack, Orlando, Florida

The names are being read. The final text messages from people trapped in a nightclub are being made public. This is what happens after a mass murder… and once again, I find myself sitting back as a mother, aching inside for what the families and loved ones of these victims are feeling. With Sandy Hook, I was heartbroken for those victims, for their families and for society. That has been my response to most of these shootings… because honestly they all start to blend into one for the observer. How very sad is that. Most of those shootings/bombings were carried out by very disturbed, misguided people who had access to guns. They were done by men filled with rage, misplaced rage.

Pastor Steven Anderson. If this doesn't scare you,

then nothing will.

This shooting made me mad. Actually, ‘mad’ doesn’t come close to what I felt inside that first day. Yes, this was again someone who clearly had mental health issues, but it was the result of absolute hate. This hate, over the last six months, has moved from the back burner where it has been smoldering for the last decades. Newly unleashed by political and religious machines, hate is modeled every damned day for us on television. Religious people stand on their pulpits decrying women, calling for the execution of gay people, damning and instilling abject fear of those who practice other religions. They demand freedom of speech, freedom to practice their religion, but they refuse to respect those rights in others. How can you preach the word of any God while not modeling respect for others… all others?

We have political people, screaming about the need to control women and what they do. They cheer when people are thrown out of rallies. They make open, blatant statements of what is wrong with other people, while offering absolutely no solutions to help anyone. They hide their nefarious activities required to do whatever they have to in order to obtain and/or maintain their position of authority. They have sprinkled water and a whole lot of fertilizer on those little seeds of hate, saying that it is okay to harbor that hate, and to act on it in whatever way necessary. Ask any child. They see this on television – the bigotry, the hate, the thuggery… and the fact that respect has been lost for all.

Websites make hobbies out of shaming people. We laugh at the pictures of the poor people shopping at WalMart, and their less than fortunate choice of clothes, but we don’t stop to think that these people have no choice but to shop at WalMart, that they are for the most part the disenfranchised of society, and that they are forced to shop at a place that prides itself in paying such low wages, their own employees have to live on handouts from others. Yet this is okay? They are a good corporate citizen? Do these religious and political leaders give a damn about these people? There is no respect shown for the employees there, or for the people who shop there. They are less fortunate than we are; it sucks to be them.

Brock Turner, Rapist... No, we won't forget about you.

You're not off the hook yet.

How can we be surprised that a white boy can rape a young woman and, because of his whiteness, his athleticism, and his clean-cut appearance he gets nothing more than a slap on the wrist – then has the audacity to complain about his sentence. (Yeah, it’s the last part that really gets to me – the plea for pity for his misguided ’20 minutes of action.) If he had been black, or poor, or Muslim, would he have gotten that same sentence? Fuck no. Not a chance. Rape is about control, about power, authority at any cost… and is a lifelong sentence to the victim. When are we going to respect the victims enough to stop making it about them, and start to focus on the rapist? When are we going to start looking at the disparity in a system that treats white different than black, rich different than poor, Christian different than Muslim?

Machine Gun America... a theme park, no less, ironically

(or not) in Orlando Florida.

How can we be surprised when a young man goes into a club that he had frequented himself for some time, pulls out a gun and opens fire, killing 50 people, injuring 53 more, shattering countless thousands of lives? You cannot turn on the television anymore without someone telling you who to hate and why. Now they want this act to be considered religious terrorism because the man screamed out religious phrases as he carried out this heinous act. Lemme ask you this. If he had been Christian and was quoting Leviticus at the time of the shooting, would people still be calling for it to be a religious terrorist attack? They should. I would like to think they would, but I know better. If this slaughter had been done by a right-wing fundamentalist Christian, his religion would not be an issue.

The day after the shooting, after the anger had waned, I felt nothing. My soul felt like scorched earth, because something more happened this weekend. Like Brock Turner last week, like the San Bernardino shootings before, and Sandy Hook before that, and Columbine before that, the interest will fade. Politicians will block bills to make changes. Mental health issues will still be ignored. Donald Trump will still exude hate and bullying. Hillary Clinton will still defend her right to destroy government emails. The GOP will continue wringing their hands at the clusterfuck of a mess they have now found themselves with their extremist sellouts and because they chose to dance with the devil to make some points over the last 8 years. The Democrats will continue to play games with primary results and their convention in their determination to ensure that Hillary is on the ticket. Gay people will quietly step back, many of them looking at that closet door and wondering if that isn’t the wiser choice. Mothers will send their babies, be they 5 or 25, out the door, never to see them again because some other person with some other gun has been listening to the hate-filled, take no prisoners rhetoric that is spewed every day by religious, political and pundit figures.

Pro-Life? No, not at all. Pro-Birth. What happens after the

baby is born is absolutely no concern of theirs.

I am devoid of feeling, because we have long passed the tipping point, and that realization has nestled in my heart. There is one thing… one thing only… that is needed to fix all of this. It sounds so simple. It should be simple, but apparently it is unattainable. That one thing is respect. We need to show respect for others, for their political beliefs, their religion, their sexual choices, their life choices, and their problems. We need to start to take ownership of our global community, and that requires us to accept and respect each and every one of us. If you want freedom of religion, then you must allow others to enjoy that same freedom even if you do not share the same religious tenets. If you want to lead the country, you must show respect for the people you wish to lead – ALL of them. If you want to cover the news, you should do so respectfully, with balance and without agenda. Regardless of color, religion, mental capacity, physical ability, race, or sexual orientation, it all comes back to one simple little thing: treat others as you wish to be treated. Walk a few steps in someone else’s shoes before you belittle them. Remove the excuses for hate.

I am scorched earth… because no one is addressing the elephant in the room. The shooting in Orlando was a hate crime. It was not ISIS. It was not Muslim terrorist. It was a man who was Muslim who hated gay people. His hatred could have been based on his religion. It could have been triggered by the MANY Christian leaders who spew the same hate from their pulpits every week. The religious aspect is nothing more than an excuse to keep us from talking about the reality. Hate runs rampant; respect for others is gone. By all means, fly your flags, light up your buildings, change your profile photos to show solidarity, but please, this time, do not let it stop there.

Back to the Future

Bernie Sanders has changed me. No, I am not an American. No, I have no vote in the upcoming election. I am registered as neither a Democrat nor a Republican. I am a Canadian... but nonetheless, I have been changed by Bernie Sanders.

I’m not sure how it happened, but am equally unsure of why it doesn’t happen to more people. I find Bernie to be infectious, in such a good way. He is like the coming of spring, when we pull back the curtains, throw open the window, and breathe new life. I find myself taking mental walks in fresh fields, brimming with potential, seeing possibilities where none existed before.

(Yes, I know it's photoshopped, but
how could I resist?)

I wax poetic? Well, maybe. I admit that. But I also have to admit that I see ‘patriotism’ differently. It’s not waving flags, or wearing the Stars and Stripes, or in my case a maple leaf, on the arse of my jeans, or as a bikini top to cover my far-too-ample bosom. Love of a flag means nothing. Putting a hand over heart while reciting empty platitudes is insulting to others, especially if that is all you do. It absolutely is not a catchword to be used to justify sending young men and women to war that is intended only to benefit corporate campaign donors. ‘Patriotism’ is a love not just of country but of the people who live in that country – ALL of them; the poor, the sick, the challenged, the lost, and yes, especially those who would put on a uniform and protect the rest of us. It is respect for the people who make up the country, and a respect for their struggles and their sacrifices. It is a desire to see that the ideals that created the character of the country are attainable by everyone.

While I like to think of myself as progressive enough to not buy into the general social opinion of people, because of Bernie, I see that I can and should do more to ensure that this general social opinion changes. I didn’t think I looked down on the poor, or that I avoided people of a different culture, but I know now that I also didn’t do enough to make a difference to them. We all get wrapped up in the struggle to make it through another day when the corporate and institutionalized deck is stacked against us, but now I have a new appreciation of the fact that in order to make MY struggle easier, I have an obligation to help lessen those struggles of others as well.

We do need banks and corporations, but we do not need them voting in elections, while more of the people are shut out of the process. We do need oil companies, but they need to respect and be responsible to the people and the environment, not demand those entities continue to sacrifice that which is essential to life. We do need people who govern and who bring differing opinions and insights to the table, but we absolutely do not need those who care about nothing but their own bank accounts and raising money for the next election, and who will cut off their own noses to save their far-too-partisan faces. Governing should be about doing what is right not because of party lines, but because it is right, but right is a concept that has been totally sacrificed on the altar of maintaining power at any cost. Elections should not be about who has the most money. They must be about the ability, integrity and character of the person whose name is on the ballot, and nothing more. None of these revelations are new to me, but they are now, perhaps, seen with new perspective – through that newly opened window. Two months ago, I would have said no, it’s pie in the sky, but now? Hell yes, we do have it in us. We do have the strength, the conscience, the ability and now the means to see a change. 

So why do I care about who wins the election in a country that is not mine? The close proximity is one reason. The fact that our economies are so closely linked is another. But the real reason is because we see this hatred, strife, self-centered leadership in so many places, in the governmental institutions of so many countries now, in schools, in companies, in the workplace – Bernie is the first domino, the most important one, and once allowed to take action, his words and logic, his integrity and passion to do the right thing, his love of and respect for the people he wishes to represent, and his inherent desire for equality, will be contagious. It will set the standard for others. It will show that all of us – companies, governments, people and establishments – can work harmoniously together. It will show that good can triumph, that bullies and fear-mongers have no place leading others. This is George McFly come to life, putting Biff back in his place. This is the modern developed world getting back to business, back to the future, because now, as Bernie changes us all for the better, we once again have a future to plan for.

Dear Conservative Party of Canada

Dear ‪Conservative Party of Canada

While you spend some time ‘studying what went wrong’, let me offer some insight. Canadians were tired. We were tired of the bullying that Stephen Harper had perfected, the behind-closed-door deals, the lying, the contempt of Parliament, and the contempt for democracy. While I absolutely believe you went to Ottawa with nothing but the best intentions to serve your country, you all allowed one man to control you, control your thoughts, control your message and sadly, to control your actions (or lack thereof). You not only turned a blind eye to the indifference that Mr. Harper showed for Canadians, you mirrored his behavior. You never once stood up for your constituents, the people who elected you – who were essentially your board of directors, who offered you a mandate to speak on their behalf – when Mr. Harper told you to toe the party line. You ignored the hypocrisy of a leader who was elected to be honest, transparent and accountable, who then broke every one of those promises daily. We saw it. I have absolutely no doubt that you saw it as well, but it was not in your best ‘political’ interests to call him on it.

Yours was a government that refused to be accountable. You refused to talk to the media. You refused to answer questions. You passed massive omnibus bills – something that Mr. Harper adamantly opposed when he was on the other side of the aisle – knowing what odious deals were contained within them and then you upped the ante by refusing to allow discussion or debate. You then even blatantly tried – yes, you tried – to destroy the integrity and equality of our electoral system with your 'Fair' Elections Acts and your gerrymandering.

You willfully participated in election fraud, among you were people who participated in criminal activity, yet your arrogance did not allow you to stand up to do the right thing. You were dishonest with Canadians continually, and when someone dared to attempt to hold you to account, you ignored, then you redirected – to issues that had the sole intention of creating hatred and fear.

Here is the saddest aspect of the last 10 years. You may well have had some good ideas. You may well have had good intentions, at least when you arrived in Ottawa, but with all of the arrogance, dismissiveness, divisiveness, patronage appointments, indifference and lies, not one of you could be trusted. You all sold out to one man who was, at best a megalomaniac, and who may well have been a sociopath... and YOU DID NOTHING TO STOP IT OR TO HOLD YOUR PRIME MINISTER ACCOUNTABLE. You were active, willing participants in the destruction of a once-proud, credible, honorable party. Shame on all of you.

This election was about morals, about standing up for those who need someone to stand up for them (yes, this would include all missing and murdered women), about honesty, and saying we are Canadians who are compassionate, involved, open, welcoming, peace-loving and proud – all things that you have spent the last 10 years proving you were not.

Take heart though. The effort to determine what went wrong should not take long. Start with the gutter-crawling you did in your campaign, and with the fact that you spent the last four years campaigning to keep power instead of doing what you were supposed to do with the authority you were given by the voting public. You forgot who you worked for, who you were to answer to, and it was NOT the Prime Minister or the PMO. You allowed Stephen Harper to be a party of one, so yes, this is on you. Hopefully, Canadians have now seen what can happen when elected politicians become too entitled. Hopefully it will never happen again. Stephen Harper and ‘His Conservative Government’ will be a stark reminder of this for many years.

On Terror

It’s time for a little reality check, people. It’s time to talk about terror... just a few home truths for you to mull over, because pretty soon, if we don’t pull our heads out of our asses, it will be too late.

Terrorism is the only thing we hear about on the news now. It’s all politicians are talking about, spewing their excuses for a new bill that will rob us of our privacy and our rights. You think it won’t impact you because ‘you’ve got nothing to hide’? Well, think again, and start paying attention. Get a copy of the bill and see what it does, what it allows, how it tromps merrily on your legal and human rights even if you are doing nothing wrong or you have nothing to hide. Read about how it offers nothing to enforcement that isn’t already there (other than demanding accountability). For Christ sake, we know that 6 kids just went to the Middle East to join ISIS. How much more do they need to tap into our privacy? Obviously what is already in place is working.

We have not had a terrorist attack, in the political parlance, in Canada. Neither of the two events of last fall, though tragic and horrifying, were ‘terrorism’. Murder? Absolutely. Heinous? Without doubt. Terrorism? Absolutely not! Actually, let me correct myself – we HAVE experienced terrorism in Canada. More than fifty women experienced it at the hands of Robert Pictin for years until someone actually decided to pay attention. More than 1300 Indigenous women have experienced it, and the rest live in terror, because no one is prepared to do one damned thing about them or who is murdering them with impunity. Apparently terrorism against First Nations, something that is very real in this country, takes a back seat to hype and political posturing to pass draconian laws, making us the new Russia. There’s a handle we really want to bear. Harper/Putin, Putin/Harper – sort of makes no difference now, does it?

Instead of buying into these red herrings that are intended for two purposes, and two purposes alone (neither of which involves giving a damned about you, by the way), pay attention to what they are trying to get you to not look at. That’s the first step. This ‘war on terror’ is about having a means of ruling through fear and distracting us, and it supports the old adage that war is money. If you think that there aren’t about a dozen people in North America getting extremely rich out of all this hoopla, who aren’t sitting there rubbing their hands at every mention of the ISIS or ISIL, because it means the taps are free-flowing cash into their bank accounts, then you really are not paying attention. Today’s wars are about money, and nothing more. Just check out the accounting ledgers for Dick Cheney and Halliburton if you have any doubts about this truth.

But let’s also consider the terrorists. Yes, ISIS does exist. Why? And why does no one ask why? If... and this is getting to be a pretty big if... if we had true journalists, they would be learning and sharing the basics. They wouldn’t be beating the same story over and over, telling us how scary these people are, glorifying them and their cause in the eyes of young people searching for something... anything... to explain the hardships they face in their own lives. Who supports ISIS and where do they get their money? Hmm, yeah, they won’t bother with that one because of the deal struck with the Saudis years ago. We send weapons and military supplies over there, despite our own laws that state we cannot provide those things to any country that has a poor human rights record. Where else do they get their money? It’s time to look into that, and no, I don’t mean the $15 bucks someone sends them because their mosque got vandalized and they are upset. They have real money, and they are getting it from somewhere.

But again, let’s look at why. Why is this happening? Well, for starters, we have judges now in Canada who partake in religious persecution, refusing to allow a woman to wear a scarf over her head in a courtroom... even go so far as to say that it is the same as sunglasses or a ball cap. That would NEVER happen to a Catholic nun wearing a wimple in the same damned courtroom. Obviously the first battle in this fight against terrorism is to beat down our own ignorance. How about we learn something about these different religions so we understand the purpose of a hijab or why men wear a turban? Seriously, it’s a bad day when you don’t learn something new, so let’s start. Instead of taking religion out of the classroom, bring them ALL in, teach about all of them, because in understanding them, the fear goes away. When the fear goes away, all of the asinine prejudices also go away. Hatred and fear go hand in hand. One is the tool of the other. Education goes a long way to stopping both. It’s not an attack on Christianity to learn and appreciate other religions. If you are that insecure about your own faith, you have bigger problems than terrorism. You think there is a war against Christianity in North America? Yeah, well, that’s really just a convenient excuse to justify your hatred. Don’t try coloring it any other way, because you are fooling no one.

How about we demand our politicians deal with some of the other issues that feed terrorism? How about we demand that they deal with the outdated and prejudicial laws that result in the overcrowding of prisons? How about we guarantee that people of other religions and cultures are STILL entitled to the same human and legal rights we are? How about we demand they address the issue of affordable education, housing, and child care? Create programs for children to help them express themselves and to help them learn even more, so they don’t end up in gangs or prison. Teach inclusiveness; it has to be better than the platter of divisiveness and hatred the politicians and media serve up every damned day. How about we start easing the tax burden on regular people, and insist in fair pay for a day’s work? Keep giving corporations their tax cuts, but for keeping jobs at home and demanding they pay a wage that people can truly live on. We’re all struggling, as costs of energy, housing, food, clothing all go up, and wages stay stagnant for years.

How about we start worrying about the environment, if for no other reason than it will cut back on health care costs and on time lost at work for sick days? You want a fiscal reason to give a shit about what we drink and the air we breathe? There you go! What about getting rid of the GMOs and chemicals in foods – you know, the ones the government shoved down our throats with their asinine, self-serving deals with companies like Monsanto? Why is someone who wants clean water called an ecoterrorist, but the people who fill our food and water with harmful, unnecessary crap are not considered terrorists at all? How many people have died from poisoning or cancer from what is in their food, water, or air? One hell of a lot more than have died from terrorism here. Young people are robbed of hope right now, and who can blame them? They know there needs to be change and trying to work within the political system just isn’t doing the job anymore. They see politicians for what they are, they see the examples of extremism set by politicians and religious leaders, and they figure that’s the only way to combat the problems.

Yes, there are huge issues in the Middle East. If we stop playing the petroleum game, though, a lot of those will stop. If we start caring about poor countries without oil, and help them to develop, there is another nail in the ISIS coffin. If the Canadian government follows through on the pledges of aid that were promised, instead of conveniently putting that money into their ‘slush’ ledger to then claim as money raised against the deficit, we again help others fight ISIS, or Boko Haram, in their lands. We have more than enough oil here to be self-sufficient, especially if we start to embrace green energies, implementing them to take that much more pressure off fossil fuels. When the hell did the principles of green energy and environmental awareness make us the enemy of a whole nation? Think about this for just one minute. Why is it wrong to want to protect our planet and our lives? No one is saying that there can be NO oil or gas, but it should be done reasonably and responsibly. We’re going to look pretty damned dumb when we have oil spurting everywhere, but we’re all dead because we have nothing to drink, or we all have cancer from our polluted waters that are used as toxic dumps for mines.

Start paying attention to these little basic facts, and all of a sudden we won’t have the issue of terrorism raising its head. Start to deal with health issues and mental health issues, add some respect and tolerance, have a media that spends as much time on stories about the environment as they do right not on terrorism (and yes, they do cherrypick which stories they cover. Don’t let the bamboozle you otherwise), and suddenly you have no reason for people to want to go to the Middle East to join radical organizations. Toss in some compassion, education, and not looking at every god damned shiny bit of foil the government tosses at us to be distracted – that’s how we combat terrorism; not with bills that rob us of our own human rights and put us at even more risk. When ANY government proposes that there are only two extremes to an issue – you either support them unquestioningly or you are ‘soft on terror’ – they are being 100% disingenuous with you. They are lying to you, and that is why they feel the need to rely on extortion. What we’re doing right now, with talk of the war on terrorism and C-51 and the fear mongering our government and media has gotten so good at, is ensuring that this battle will go on forever, and the taps of cash will flow non-stop into those dozen bank accounts in perpetuity. 

Enough is Enough for Our Canada

Remember being in school and learning about how horrible it was that the Russian government controlled the media? We heard the word Pravda, and learned it was about propaganda and a corrupt government. Remember how horrified you were when, a few years later, you studied about how a man named Adolf Hitler was elected to public office, and about how under his regime the poor and challenged were persecuted, how books and scientific data were destroyed, about how people were persecuted because they weren’t part of the perfect race? We shook our heads in disbelief because in our world, in our Canada, this could never happen. Remember when elections were discussed, and how in some countries the process was fatally flawed, making a mockery of the entire exercise as blatant election fraud ruled the day? Canadians were called in to help organize and oversee elections because of this, because we so valued the ability to make that little X on a piece of paper. Remember learning that in some places in the world, to speak your mind or to stand up for what was right was a sure death sentence, or at the very least a ticket to jail, with no legal process, for a lot of years? We actually scoffed at that. In Canada, individual voices and opinions would always be welcome, and if someone stepped out of line, if someone broke the rules by trying to silence us or lock us away, we simply would not let that happen. We were Canadians. We were proud, and we had reason to be.

Canada had the model health care system. We had one of the best education systems in the world. We were innovate, warm, caring members of society. Other countries talked the talk about equality and inclusion, about fairness, welcoming the downtrodden, feeding the tired and hungry; Canada walked the walk. When we said we would send disaster aid to countries in the midst of disaster, we actually sent the money. When we sent Canadian men and women to protect and defend, promising to take care of them and their families because of our respect and gratitude for their sacrifice, we lived by our bond. When other countries needed peacekeepers and mediators, we were the go-to guys, because we respected human life and humanity. We said those horrible things that happened in other countries, in those backward countries run by greedy war mongers and thuggish dictators, could never happen here, because we knew daily, intimately, thoroughly that the rights and the lifestyle we enjoyed had been secured for us through the blood, sweat, and lives of other Canadians, and there was no way in hell we would let them down, or gamble with that precious gift they gave us. No, this could not happen; not in Our Canada.

Well, now it’s all reality. The mere fact that I write this blog, once bill C-51 passes, means that I am... wait for it... a terrorist. Let that soak in for a minute then consider how we got to this point in our world. The mere mention that our government is wrong, and that we should not sit idly by as absolutely everything Canada has stood for, and that Canadians have died for, makes me... a terrorist. Because of this, once bill C-51 passes, I will not be entitled to any of my legal rights. They can tap my phone, bug my house, park drones outside my windows, intercept my emails and every private conversation I have now, requiring no legal justification and with absolutely no oversight from any judge, because I am involved in terrorist activity. The government, when asked for a definition of terrorism, thuggishly told us we should ‘look it up’. Stalin would be giddy! When it was said that ‘of course legal protest’ would not be included, then why is that not stated in the Bill? When asked questions about the bill, we are called unpatriotic and it is claimed that we love terrorists... because we are their brethren. How better to silence anyone who disagrees with your policies or what you are doing to Our Canada than to create a law that allows you to circumvent all other laws. We ridicule countries where bloggers are sent to prison for blogging, where kangaroo courts are the order of the day because the judges are in the despots’ pockets. We marvel that there are still countries where people are imprisoned without cause but because they state to someone else a truth, yet we now allow this in Canada?

Terrorism is a political red herring. Wake the hell up, people. The attacks in Ottawa in the fall of 2014 were NOT terrorism. The provisions in Bill C-51 are NOT about terrorism and will do nothing new to stop it. The authorities already have the tools, the laws and the means to do their jobs. C-51 is about silencing Canadians, about making us completely impotent to change our situations or to hold the government to account. C-51 is about controlling people, allowing them to be locked away without cause, without a warrant, without regard for any legal right or precedent. Yeah, ISIS exists. Ask yourself why. In your answer, you will find a large part of the solution. ISIS exists because our governments let it. War is money – governments know this. Yes, it costs you and me, the taxpayers a lot of money, and yes, there are those who pay much more with their lives and their limbs, but war exists because there is good, easy money to make. All you have to do is fling around the word ‘Patriotism’ and you can shame people into letting you do anything.

If the governments wanted to stop ISIS, they would simply turn off the tap. That’s the first step. Stop supplying our ‘friends’ in Saudi Arabia with weapons, money, and military equipment. Oh, wait... even though we KNOW they are providing supplies to ISIS, we just signed another deal with them... even though it is supposed to be illegal for people in our country to sell any of this shit to any country that has a questionable human rights record. We did it anyway... brokered by our government... despite our own laws and our own intelligence. Stop giving these countries money for their oil – invest in green and alternate energies. This one is a no-brainer. If they don’t have the oil money coming in, they shrivel up and die. The investment in alternate energies and green energies, also creates jobs at home, and that works a long way to the other key component – respect. Respect other religions, other people, and they have no reason to hate us. Address the issue of disenfranchisement, of mental health care, of environmental destruction, of a rapidly growing poor population and give them a reason to now look for alternatives to survive, other than to take drastic steps to stop the government. Take away the reason for people to want to terrorize us, instead of adding a dozen more reasons for it.

Terrorism is convenient though. It scares people, and scared people are blind people. We’re so busy running that we can’t take the time to turn around and see what the hell we’re running from. It’s convenient for governments to rule through fear – there is a long list of thugs who have done that through the centuries. It’s a well-known tactic. If we look at the scary terrorists, we don’t see the failing the economy, the growing cronyism, the patronage, the abuse of power, the disregard for human and legal rights, the destruction of democracy, the lack of jobs, the lack of education and health care, the growing prisons and the money they generate for so few, the burgeoning profits of the banks and the oil companies. We so busy being afraid of beards, and gathering places, and pieces of clothing, and books, that we absolutely are not looking at what we should really be fearing, before it’s too late. Sadly, the process adds justification and feeds the terrorists, and the new definitions of what terrorism now is absolutely insults those who have lost their lives fighting real terrorists.

Not in my Canada? That was the dream. Now it is the nightmare, The only way to stop it is to risk everything – by speaking out. 

Stop The Presses

I am done with the mainstream press. It’s as simple as that. I will no longer allow puppets to set the agenda for my life. Amid the intricate cogs required to keep the wheels of democracy turning, the one labeled Fifth Estate is seized. It’s FUBAR. A free, independent press is the cornerstone of democracy – without it, the rest crumbles to ashes. Well, look around you. That ship has sailed, and in large part that is due to the fact that the press was nothing more than a cheap whore standing on the corner, wearing a short leather skirt and letting her boobs hang out, reminding politicians and the corporate elite that absolutely anything, even cornerstones and democracy, are up for grabs. It is this fact, and this fact alone, that has destroyed democracy, and is to blame for the loss of countless thousands of lives.

Gone are the principled, tenacious Woodwards and Bernsteins who, despite being ordered to back off, could smell the blood in the water and demanded of themselves to find out where the bodies really were. Of course, having done that and discovering that there was a bigger payoff in movie and book residuals... These two men were my idols growing up. They did what was right. It was an unrepeatable event, I know – that thing that happens only once in a lifetime, but I am so very thankful that I saw it at least once in my lifetime. I am not so sure that my children will ever see something like that in their lifetimes.

Now our mainstream media is nothing more than the paid propaganda machine, the Joseph Goebbels of our time, telling us what they want us to hear. They aren’t totally to blame. We have made the choice to listen, despite knowing that what they are saying isn’t totally accurate, or that the main part of the story is neatly tucked away where we’ll never find it. We have Brian Williams admitting to lying about a story, and perpetrating that lie for years. We have Amanda Lang keeping secret a massive conflict of interest, and allowing that to skew the true story. We have CNN and, well, every other media outlet, looking for the best, catchiest, cutest title for whatever story they have decided will own the day, and they will cover nothing else but that story. We have Peter Mansbridge selling his soul to ask the most ridiculous, softball questions of a crooked Prime Minister, and challenging absolutely none of the blatant lies he is offered in response. We have Fox... well, let’s not even go there; this is about news media, and anyone who does not or will not see what Fox is doing then deserves the crap that will befall them. Even Sarah Palin readily accepts and states that Fox is – ‘a quasi or assumed Conservative outlet’. The press is not doing its job when it can be labeled as supporting one side; you know, it’s that pesky unbiased, fair thing that catches them up in this regard.

We have a lot of problems in this world. Funny thing, though, is that all of them work to the advantage of the corporate elite. All of it makes money for them – the war on terror in particular. Listen to politicians and the media talk about this. They work overtime to inflame the situation, daily widening the chasm between two groups of people. Ask yourself who benefits from all of this. It’s the people who make the weapons. The more they can stir up shit, the more weapons they sell, and they stack the deck, because they arm both sides. Where did ISIS get their weapons? When are we going to learn? In every conflict the same shit happens, and we sit on our sofas and allow this BS to spew forth from our sets, lapping it up and fearing the Russian, Cuban, Columbian, Mexican, North Korean, Muslim – you pick – hoards. The biggest winner in the Gulf Wars was Haliburton. There is no question there. Look back on other conflicts and see where the weapons came from. I’ll give you a hint – there will only be a few names that pop up.

Canada just signed a deal to give more military supplies to Saudi Arabia. We have a law here that says we are not to sell arms or supplies to countries that will use those arms or supplies against their own people. I guess that only applies when the people are women – then it’s open season. I guess those laws also don’t apply when we know that Saudi Arabia is passing some of those supplies on to our own enemies, either directly or through back door deals. War is guaranteed income. If we don’t fight, there is no more money to be made. That means, to the puppet masters, war is essential because people like the Bush family will never have enough money.

The other benefit though, is that while we are being inundated with looped video of beheadings, the stories we should be hearing are ignored. We’re too busy fearing that ISIS is going to knock down our door and cart us away. We’re too busy giving up our freedom to speak, to write, to think. We’re too busy allowing the government to have access to everything we do, without cause or oversight. The governments are doing this because to them, there is nothing more important than being in power. They love it. Hey have to be there because no one else could do it as good as they do, and because there are definite financial benefits to paving the roads for the beautiful people to drive on. Voters? Who needs them? Democratic elections are nothing more than fraud now. The gerrymandering, the money raising, the robocalling... none of this would be accepted in a democratic, free world.

The politicians, though, aren’t controlling the string. The media has been bought out, and has sold us out, pretty much across the board. Why don’t they cover the slaughter in Nigeria? Because there is no economic plus to it for the people selling weapons. Why, at the time of every school shooting, are people not asking about the guns? Well, you know why. You know the way to solve the problem, but instead it’s just so much easier to allow the NRA and fear screw with your judgment. Why are we hearing every day about Christianity being threatened? Because it’s how you make war. Say what you will about religion, it is sure to always and forever be a money maker for fear mongers and arms sellers. Why are there still people debating the science of climate change? Because it’s not convenient to those who want to make the money from war and oil. Why are people like Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee still given air time? Because they are morons and easily led, despite the absolute utter hypocrisy of their words and ideals: they are fear mongers of the finest kind, and critical to keeping the rest of us cowering and looking in the wrong direction. Why are we being told to panic about the economy right now? Because it’s all designed to make us believe that the only way to salvation is pipelines, pipelines that will do nothing for us. It’s a bit of a Hail Mary pass on the part of the oil companies, but put the value of a barrel of oil into freefall, watch currency fall, watch jobs disappear, and watch the people come running begging for a damned pipeline, giving the oil companies everything they want and more.

The media isn’t the pawn in this game, though. They aren’t being moved around on a whim. They are controlled from within, and are now masters of prestidigitation, their sleight of hand never better as they dazzle us with Snowmagedons or Shock and Awe. It's about stacking the deck against us, against the small business, the upstart, the working man. It's about keeping us in our place, and the best way to do that is to keep us distracted, poor, and working our asses off so we're too tired to notice. We listen to the rote answers, repeated dozens of time, word for word, in an attempt to make us not question, or not think, reminding us that we’re really nothing more than petulant puppies and that whacking us with a newspaper enough times will get the

message through to us. The truly criminal part of all of this, though, is that we’ve let them. The only chink in the armor, for the last 80 years, has been the exposure of Watergate. It’s the one thing that we should remember, daily, because the press did what it was supposed to. It hasn’t happened since. I suspect it never will, at least not in the mainstream media. Mission accomplished? Oh yeah, a lot of missions accomplished, just not the ones the rest of us were privy to, and certainly not ones that are intended to help us. They play us well.