Category Archives: Blog Politics

Yesterday my wife and I set aside some time to meet with a neighbor.
A new neighbor in fact. A lady who has located to Victoria after her husband had retired.
They had lived and worked around Canada… in places as far flung as Halifax, Ottawa, Saskatoon and Regina.

She grew up in Germany and was a young child as Hitler was beginning his reign of terror on Europe.
She is actually an amalgam of German and Danish. A handsome and studied woman, she had seen a lot of stuff in the mid-forties – and although just a child at the time (she) formed a solid impression of what Nazism and Fascism truly represented. And how we need to be watchful even today.

And here she was in 2010 telling us about what life was like for a young girl in Nazi Germany and then for a young woman starting a new life in the West.

Her story has an interesting and tragic twist. Her husband and she had just started to settle in Victoria (in their late seventies and in perfect health) looked forward to the golden years pursuing their mutual passion of sailing and travel.
A freak accident however took her husbands life a few months ago – and now she has to carry on the journey alone. Sad.

In just under 3 hours we covered a stimulating chunk of Western history, from life in Germany in the War to new beginnings in Canada in the late 50’s – The magic of Canada in the 60’s – the evolution of the Canadian identity in the early 70’s and so on.

She has over 30 years on me, with a correspondingly more encompassing sense of the big picture and an acute sense of the absurd in how some aspects of Western society have remained virtually unchanged since the last Great War.
Sobering stuff indeed.

I learned a bunch of stuff from this gal. One of them is: Tomorrow really never comes. Every day really is your last until proven otherwise. Care for those around you. Love your friends. Leave your mind entirely open for new ideas. Embrace strangers because, hey, you never know.

Keeping doors open. It is what we all need to do.

Many, many years ago one of my, now fully grown, nephews declared while hoisting a plastic sword (or light saber…) over his head…

“I believe in Peace, Harmony… and fighting…”

Which is something that must have been on Vancouver city council’s mind when they made the bizarre and unexpected decision to sanction and approve the exhibition of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA, UFC, whatever…).

MMA: defined as: two competitors using techniques from boxing, kickboxing, wrestling and other fighting styles to knock each other out. It used to be called “extreme fighting” but now those who run this pathetic excuse for a sport prefer to call it “mixed martial arts” — sounds so much more civilized is all…

Call me a sissy but I have always thought that there is very little “sport” in two guys pummeling each other into a senseless mass. I mean, come on. Pinning someone and delivering kidney shot after kidney shot (or head shots) is not sport. It is barbarism, pure and simple.

And, ironically, I actually feel for the combatants that choose this avocation and blame the promoters and audience for getting off on it. Because, hey, it is oh so Toss the Christians to the Lions mentality.

Vancouver Counselor Andrea Reimer, who voted against the motion said “It’s become very hard for me to see the logic in passing this motion … I’ve spent a lot of time . . . dealing with the fallout of kids who have been desensitized to violence because of adult sanctioning of violence, but then adults also saying it’s not appropriate for children to participate in the same level of violence that we have sanctioned ourselves.”

Can’t touch that. Thank-you Rafe Mair for getting that word-byte from Andrea.

More locally, there is some talk among city folk in and around Victoria out through the West Shore (read, Langford, Colwood, Trailerland…) thinking about getting some of that MMA action here on the lower Island.

And no, some of the action in and around the West Shore council meetings, although taking advantage of verbal sparring, bullying and other goon like behavior, may appear to be a form of Mixed martial arts – it ain’t.

For me, integrating brutality and senseless violence into a public spectacle was one more step in the de-evolution of the Province of British Columbia.

One of the great pleasures of the spoken (and written) word (particularly in a country as free as Canada) is the ability to wax philosophic on every subject that irritates the psyche. It is, as if, in Canada, a country that prides itself on free expression, labels the very exercise of soliloquy as a national obligation – the failure to do so, within itself, could well be rewarded with a social punishment, or banishment worthy of a much harsher crime.

Which leads me to the hour of validation provided by none other than Rex Murphy – orator, intellect, maven of all things Canadian Culture – host of Canada’s beloved “Cross Country Check-up”, writer for the Globe and Mail… and on… and on… and on…

We have seen Rex on several occasions, each successive venture in listening more profound than the one before it. Mister Murphy has an uncommon connection to the most intimate fabric of the Canadian experience and a word skill sufficiently advanced to weave an otherwise cryptic and esoteric sweater of ideas into a warm and gentle blanket of thought wearable by even the most jaded and maple leaf detached person.

His message tonight was quite simple: We live in a country with a whole lot of great stuff around us and like the “forest for the trees” adage, we don’t know what we have even when we are surrounded by it – and it is not so much about the learning of this concept, because we know it by rote – but that we often need to be reminded of the little things that coalesce into the big things… that make Canada the most desirable place on the Planet – and the people resting on its familiar soil some of the most giving and empathic.

In a short story about 9/11 and how average Canadians (Newfoundland in his example) come to the aid of stranded Americans and Internationals, forced out of the air in a day of infamy, senseless aggression and rage. – Rex illustrates the factor of molecular memory in Human behavior and how good things can come from all Canadians – of all stripes, because we know what the right thing to do is when we are in dire straits – or when our neighbors are in difficult times.

And not only that, the very manifestation of the Canadian zeitgeist guarantees the feels good reward by doing the right thing – without expectation of recognition – but just the simple satisfaction of lending a hand when it’s needed.
And it is intrinsically Canadian to do so.

It was a great time. We bought his new book (photo upper right) and lined up with other Canadians to have a private moment with the wordsmith – and to have the book custom signed.
A moment with a great Canadian, teacher, speaker and a reminder what it is to be Canadian…
Utterly priceless.

Just discovered a hidden benefit to getting away to Hawaii in a couple of weeks…

Getting away from Stephen Harper. And Stéphane Dion. And Gilles Duceppe. And Jack Layton.

Picture at right: Historic downtown Hilo, Hawaii – we will be staying there during our 12 day visit to the Big Island

We wasted 150 million on a Federal election that was hardly 1 and 1/2 months ago – on a whim direct from Stephen Harper’s starved ego. And the first chance he got to reach out to the opposition, he engaged in partisan politics and pissed everyone off.

In my opinion, Stephen Harper is a neo-con weasel underneath an expensive haircut. He does not appear to be particularly fond of women, or children or the Canadian fabric and infrastructure itself.

Stephen Harper would have made a great Roman leader; he is just nutty enough to squander every ounce of good will that the houses of Parliament have in Ottawa – and is more than ok with fiddling away our tax dollars while the Canadian electorate burns with rage. With indignation. With resolve.

A far cry from how a lot of us felt 60 days ago when this nimrod was trying to appeal to our sensibilities in a plaid sweater – pitching the image of the common man.
Those of us who voted in opposition did not buy it. Because we know that Stephen Harper holds nothing but waddle shaking contempt for women seeking wage parity in the work-place – for underprivileged children living in poverty – for the crumbling infrastructure of the Canadian mosaic.

This just in: Stéphane Dion will probably resign in a day or so. Stephen Harper would be wise to do the same thing. Put aside the bullshit partisan politics and get down to the serious business of saving the Canadian economy.

In the meantime, I am leaving the Country on the 19th of December. I will be taking my shortwave radios (primarily for Canadian news and views…) – but you know… the way I am feeling these days, I may point the antennas in THE OTHER DIRECTION!

Peace and Aloha friends!

Okay folks (Canadian folks that is), the Conservatives (read – ReFoRm!!!) have taken power.

Well, sort of.

They got a minority and a small minority at that.

For our American friends just joining us – We had a Federal election yesterday. The Liberals (your Democrats) were booted out and the Conservatives (your Bush-Republicans) got in, albeit with a sqeaky victory.

Hardly worth celebrating you say? Guess again.

With a Conservative minority victory as opposed to a Conservative majority, there are a bunch of things I can scratch off of my to-do/to-prepare-for list. Hmmmm, let’s see:

*build bomb shelter —Canada’s resistance to the weaponization of space unlikely to change anytime soon.
*trade in Honda Civic for armoured HumVee —too old to get sent to Iraq anyway.
*encourage wife to wear more modest attire – “honey, you look fabulous in those pettipants!”
*buy Brook’s Brothers suit… or coveralls

Hey. I have seen fake-fur on people. Fake-fur on dogs (real fur underneath the fake fur, ah, I guess) – but Fur on a coffee cup? Come on! Get outta here! What’s next:
*leather vest on a sirloin-tip?
*blue jeans on a hot dog?

Enough! Seriously though, 3 ladies have come up with a great idea. Read all about it on www.cupcouture.com –

“Cup Couture is a Seattle based women owned company. It’s a story of 3 women with a love for coffee and a passion for fashion who dreamed of combining the coffee drinking culture of Seattle with the runway styles of New York. Whether you drink lattes, chai spice or Earl Grey, stylize for your fix with a personality twist. Cup Couture brings designer fashion to your beverage drinking pleasure.”