Monday, December 29, 2014

Someone Mr. Harper has dismissed as irrelevent


This man speaks from a position of reason. The Harper government is bereft of reason. These Resource Plunderers, such as Mr. Harper are working for those who hope to escape the cull which is coming for the poor. James Lovelock believes it may only be thirty years off.

This is the thinking behind my goal to unseat the Harper government. The foundation for caution is built on reasonable men and a reasoned approach which seems to escape Mr. Harper. His mentality is geared to resource extraction, specifically bitumen from Alberta. 

Who will benefit directly in Canada by the exploitation of the tar sands?

In whose vision does NORDI CANADIA reside? Why should Canadians care less about the global environment and our impact on it, rather than more? Does the role of hewers of wood, drawers of water, and extractors of resources, not have a conscience that comes with it? Why must it be only this role that the Harper government focuses on? With the wild fluctuations of prices in the oil markets recently Canadians are beginning to realize that they might have too many eggs in one basket. Elsewhere in the world entire futuristic economies of scale are being brought to fruition in the areas of renewable energy. A limited mindset has not considered these complexities in the long term and Canada is not any further along the road to development in non traditional areas in order to become competitive with the rest of the world. Which will limit our future choices if we have any.

I do not approve of the linear, singular thinking of the Harper government and its rough-shod autocratic ways for good reason. It is clear that the conservatives have no environmental, or ethical conscience other than the bottom line, as their corporate masters have decided they should.

To me, the Ministers of the Environment this government has presented seem less than incompetent. All the Ministers, including the Minister of Defense seem clueless yes men/women. They can be easily scammed, like McKay was on the F-35 boondoggle. They seem to be a bunch of American Bootlickers, less savvy than the Arabs are with the Americans.

Today, on the Verbinator's Cross Country checkup, CBC radio one, two men named Stephen Harper as the Man of the Year. One of them bemoaned the fact that it was his dislike of the senior Trudeau's policies which drove Harper into Politics, only to be now faced by the elder's son in the upcoming popularity contest. Pierre's kid is doing better than him according to the polls. I almost felt sorry for Steve. Poor guy.

The I think about all the poor quality people Harper appointed, all the poor laws he created which are based on political bias, not on practical outcome basis. I think about how he has not dared to keep his promise about the Senate. I think about how he and a few of his candidates tried to throw the last election, Prorogued Parliament and generally made all the decisions, most of which are turning out to be poor. The man of the year? Because he made a speech in Israel? Yeah right!

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Fond memories of my wolf


I loved this guy so much that I went to jail trying to get him back for five months. He was stolen from me by the person who claimed to be taking care of him for me and then decided to keep him. They lied in court and had the help of a VPD cop. That will teach me not to mess with the VPD, eh.

Well screw you Chief Jim Chu. Why was Deputy Chief Leppard the acting Chief last year? 


Slime ball cops, always under investigation for something, the VPD. the Chief of the VPD stood behind a cop who executed Paul Boyd for no good reason, before an investigation was done and long before the video surfaced.

As in any powerful institutions run by humans, without oversight, police forces and in particular the VPD are vulnerable to corruption. Many people don't care, even if they notice. At least not until it's too late. Take our neighbor's city police forces' propensity to execute young black men. This paradigm is deeply entrenched through hiring and mal-practice of the law for generations. Never an accounting, anywhere. The final insult in Canada is always the Royal Commission or coroner's Inquest, which means there never will be any criminal charges, never an accounting. Yet we are always held harshly to account to arbitrary laws. Why is that?

The trick is not to let it get that way in the first place. Accountability and oversight are rare occurrences in Canada. It begs the question of why the Harper government is demanding it of the tribal governments, when the Harper Government resists any attempt to be overseen, itself.




Friday, December 26, 2014

No More Harper dot CA

Boxed in by Boxing Day? 
I was able to enjoy some beautiful detached reflection this morning. There is ,imo, much to be said for a moment or two of non confused time. BY THAT I MEAN: TO BE ABLE TO SIT QUIETLY AND CONTEMPLATE. It can be further defined as a interlude of time free from guilt, judgment, sadness, even joy and euphoria. This spot could be a point in space/time which seems to hang forever if you know how to enjoy it. Unless you've done some serious psychedelics, you won't have a clue about what I mean by that. I don't mean to promote anything, we are all different. Each of us brings their "life" with them into every moment of it to be further molded by that moment. You might be encouraged to chart your own course through life's moments. But in that encouragement there must come a realization. In order to be able to do so within the widest parameters of freedom, we must stand up for the rights of all to seek any path which they choose as long as they hurt no one else (or their property.) 

This is where criminal law comes in. There are many dangerous things that we humans can do to harm each other. The difference  between what the law presides over and what each of us carries is one of priorities and judgment which must be shouldered by the risk taker primarily. We don't understand the real dangers involved in our most mundane activities. For instance: driving. The risk to ourselves and others is quite low even though many people die in vehicle accidents per year at first glance. Although, when one looks closer, or, as a soaring pilot I think of gaining perspective, we can see that the accumulative effects of billions of hormone high human primates all zipping around in complex, resource invested machines. All of them being seriously addicted to the uncontrolled use of fossil fuels which can be much more dangerous to our species future.

The damages done by drugs other than alcohol and tobacco is negligible compared to everyday things we do, yet thousands of lying politicians are elected every year on propaganda installed three generations ago. Mostly these lies are designed to trigger emotional responses to things that your parents and grandparents were told were harmful. These "facts" have never been updated with science based on impartial information. This disinformation can be counted on by savvy politicos to garner a standard emotional response on average. If you listen to Alex Carey and study Edward Bernays you might begin to grasp how much we are influenced by the subtle and blatant manipulation we are subjected to on a moment to moment basis in our daily lives. This obscures individual reason and makes the most dangerous things in modern society hard to recognize. 

Sam Harris, has of late touted evidence that via MRI science has detected that we have already made up our minds on a decision some seconds before we believe we have. To me this means things have been decided for us. It strongly supports my theory, as well as the knowledge around marketing and human behavior, that humans are not the masters of their own destiny as individuals, or, even collectively. It seems to me that coercion and manipulation rule the day and that there is very little free will, if any, available to anyone in today's society. The trick is to seize the rare opportunities that may occur when it is available to us.   

Now, this may all seem irrelevant and a long way of getting round to Mr. Harper to you, unless you are a deep thinker. There are few of us who can supersede the deluge of disinformation designed to "inform" us. Much of it is paid for by us to subject us to it. For too many it is irresistible. Research is tedious work. The likes of Mr. Harper, a man who can save us work in a smooth linear explanation, keeping us from getting bored by the complexity, is a godsend for many. Trust and emotional appeal are what gets people elected. To elicit this response from the electorate in Canada, it helps to be in a position of power. Pragmatically speaking, as we have witnessed in the past, the party in power gets to stay there, because they have access to the tools they wield while in power. Also, Canadians have been conditioned, via generations of Colonial rule, to accept continued authority from somewhere else. Even today our elected members are forced to pledge their allegiance to a foreign monarch, not their own constituents or constitution. 

In many ways ours is an acceptable form of "Democracy" in the reason challenged, ambivalent, society we live in. This form of government provides stability in appearance, although it is likely to be actually riddled with corruption. There is nowhere a level of accountability unless through scandal it is forced upon the governmentTo form my opinion of the man I do not listen to what he or any of the Party candidates say. Rather I see with whom he "hangs." I judge him by the "fruit he bears". 

Well if the other Party leaders are untrustworthy too, you may ask of me, then wouldn't the devil you know be the least dangerous option? Not the way I see it. If I want a more democratic, more responsive to me government, then my strategy would be to show any would be prime minister that they need my vote to stay in power. I would show any government the door should it become autocratic, or even, didactic, who is the boss. the Quebecers are a mature society in this respect. The voters are said to volatile. Imo, this is a catch phrase whose subtitle means: intelligently effective. 

For this reason I support the Leadnow initiative in my neighborhood. In Surrey Central, my riding, it will take place on Wednesday 14, January 2015. The Spark meeting is held by Vicki Moulder of SFU in room 120 at 6:30 pm. 

I was at the last one, the second Wed of December. There were more than twenty attending and some were very interesting speakers. All had wisdom and experience galore caught within and amalgam of different life experiences. This was only my third conventional political meeting in recent times.There was one "youngster" aged 25. More than a few were older than me. I am sixty four, as well as a "younger" teacher. The host, Vicki Moulder is a Political Science PhD candidate and new at this game as well. I believe in life there is a constant learning curve to be surmounted.



Since that meting my personal goals have been reached or surpassed. I have mostly been able to put up my own websites including an online shopping place. A talented graphic artist has helped create some wonderful T-shirt art for everyone. I have product on hand in less than a month.  These decisions were not mine to make. I am glad I could follow up on them!

What I hope will be "our campaign" against Harper, "no more Harper dot ca," at least my slice of it, is under way. There is much yet to do, but like my graphic art designer told me, there is a lot of time consuming things, involved. Even though I believe all my choices are predestined, the illusion of having/making a choice is very time consuming, stress inducing, and frequently wrought with terminal indecision. And I do mean that literally. there is much to be said for flying by the seat of your pants and going with intuition, especially if you know what you are doing.
  
Image 

The wonderful quiet of a Christmas alone



For myself, the less stimulation I have from the social context I live in, the calmer my world becomes. If I let myself override any guilt that crops up, the sadness that is its inevitable consequence, dissolves momentarily into a blissful state of awareness. The guilt of course, like everyone's, comes from the realization of my many faults and the disasters others have derived from them. These include failures in relationships, especially with my children. I could go on. We all know these sad feelings. The trick is not to wallow in them. "Tune them out."

That simple phrase leads me to wonder in another direction. I have come to believe, like many philosophers do today, that we have very little freedom of choice, but seem to be walking, talking, receivers, or more correctly, experiencers of a universal consciousness. This "state of mind," universal consciousness, can never be entirely shut out even while we are sleeping. From the bark of a crow in the relative quiet of a ravine park on a Surrey Christmas morning, to the sparkle of sunlight on a gurgling creek, every moment we experience is shaped by an external dynamic.

Why wouldn't our social "compasses" be entirely shaped by the herd mentality? Isn't our species' entire evolution influenced by a dull awareness of something greater than our individual selves? Doesn't our definition of this entity transcend individual societies over many millennia of development in the common form of some or other deity?

Could it be that there is a Gaian Consciousness? I can't see it any other way. Very few humans can remove themselves, even momentarily from the state of being, this web of mind, which overrides all. "Awareness" is very engaging. To be able to distort our awareness is as close as we can get to disengagement. That is the primary reason why humans tend to seek to distort our state of consciousness, isn't it? Many of us seek relief from the pain of our social consciousness because we can't hide from "god," even in the Garden of Eden. We are not alone. Humans know that we are part of an entity, whether science knows it or not.

Therefore, one of the few things I can choose to do is to either wallow in the knowledge and guilt of my miserable failures, or, wonder about why it is so many are felled by this common awareness of a less than socially perfect life. I mean, many end their lives at this time of the year in a self-pity fest destined to be dire. The next thought that tries to intrude immediately after the last in my mind is: "What deficiency is it within me that causes me not to be able to feel the guilt as I should?" Could it be that I have moderated the influence my ego has over me, via the use of psychedelics? Maybe that's what they are for?

Maybe it's a strength and not a deficiency? To that some would say psychopathy is not a strength. Lack of empathy is a clinic illness isn't it? Then I realize that I don't lack empathy, at least not for others. This leads me into the knowledge about to whom, and when, to apply it. Being a small part of the imperfect herd of humanity it could only be unbridled arrogance to believe we are better than others. Those who foster and nourish such thinking as individuals, for societies or for nation states are dangerous. When a leader tries toencapsulate a country’s history as being born of war, like Mr. Harper, it iscompelling to understand why. Are not people with dangerous aggressive tendencies always in favor of war as a solution for instilling national pride? Many people believe a strong, firm military stance on the international scene is the definition of a Nation. This is tolerating a mindless endless slaughter of people for every and any reason under the sun. I am not of that camp. 

The wonderful understanding which calms and soothes me on a quiet Christmas day, is that I should apply this empathy to myself as well as to others. Forgiving my own faults and bad behaviors is the only option I have that will allow me to live in a healthy mental state. I hope others will achieve this wonderful state and leave off with the ego induced guilt fest. This should be applied especially those who revel in laying it on to others. My ego knows my limitations and isn't afraid of them when compared to others. Long ago I had a close look in the mirror while under the influence of LSD and found I was wanting/lacking perfection. Since then I have learned to accommodate my imperfections into a realistic view of myself.
  
If a snippet of wisdom can be considered a gift, please accept it in a spirit of empathy and enjoy it peacefully.

Merry Christmas

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Why War? Why not save lives, plant trees?

So far the consensus is that we have no real purpose over there except to shore up support for our trigger happy neighbors. There is no threat other than what the USA has created through foreign policy.



Harper's march to war is not an overly popular thing. He may have have over reached His support this time.There is little chance that ISIS can shoot down an F-18 unless it acquires the weapons. So Harper is gambling on cutting Canadian losses, but at what price in honor will it be worth it for Canada to roll over to the side of the problem makers to try to make a lie stand?

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

A memorial to the dogs of war: Trudeau and Harper

While on a dog walk I came across a memorial. The emotions I felt for the family and friends of the young woman were transferred to other victims of American aggression and soon to be Canadian aggression



Friday, September 26, 2014

Ebola crisis and ISIS

Ebola crisis combined with ISIS?
Ebola crISIS




I don’t believe that a 30 million Canadian donation is gonna impress me or other rational Canadians when we have an understanding of of the cost of an air mission to fight ISIS.  I am speaking of the Sept 20 2009, Huffington Post article “Libyan Mission Racked Up $11M In Hotel Bills.” It goes on to quote the CBC:
“In May, the military said it had spent more than $30 million on food, transportation and accommodations for the mission.”
IMO this directly relates to the increase in Canadian aid to West Africa to help in the American fight against Ebola of 30 million (Loonies). Just looking at the armament expended on that Libyan mission tells me that the cost was likely in the billions (With an S.) Therefore, I am cynical about all the inflationary hype by CBC about our PM’s, “Canada’s,” generosity, a paltry contribution of 30 million, in the face of the Ebola crisis. I believe that CBC is doing what their mandate requires and trumpeting the government’s “message.” At the time of Libya mission bagging Ghadafi was on the horizon, whereas in Iraq the mission is open ended.
Comparatively, while the CBC spent hours upon hours speculation about the missing Malaysian airliner MH 370, it spends zero time reflecting on the obvious discrepancy between what the Canadian government is willing to spend killing people and helping them. The Liberals are on board with this policy too..

Monday, September 22, 2014

Empathy is not Compassion: A tangent of political thought



   "What moves us to serve humanity, to achieve meaningful change, is genuine empathy; the capacity to feel the pain of others, to experience an intimate shared humanity, to accept discomfort and sacrifice in the path of a greater cause. In entering an authentic communion with others, we also discover a profound expression of our own dignity.”
    Payam Akhavan, from the 2014 Vancouver Human Rights Lecture, Beyond Human Rights: Building a World on Empathy.
I found his interview on CBC Radio Program Ideas very stimulating. The link is below the video. Here are some of my thoughts on the subject. I have entitled it:

Empathy is not Compassion

Interview with Payam Akhaven

http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2014/09/18/beyond-human-rights/
Empathy is a state of perception based on the spiritual communion of life. The interview with the lawyer Payam Akhavan, although I have a generally low opinion of lawyers, gob smacked me into a higher understanding of what confronts humanity. It struck me that without empathy one can’t have true compassion, tolerance, or the ability to compromise. In my opinion these are the best human traits a leader might possess in today’s complex world, especially when they are combined with a larger intellect directly coupled with a diminished Ego. This seems to be an ideal checklist for a benign and beneficial, truly responsive, elected representative in a so called free multifaceted society.
Sadly, we still as a species adhere to the genetically programmed leadership model which served our primitive aggressive primate troop well. We haven’t evolved yet, because our species is currently in the grip of a conservative ideology which has been necessary as a survival mechanism. It probably is a remnant left over from harsh primeval times were aggressive strength in leadership was important to our species survival.
In my opinion this is a reflection, as I said before, of the tendency for accurate transmission of genetic material via replication in cellular reproduction. There is also a natural force which is equally important, but naturally weaker, to mutate, or make slight changes in our genetic material. This I see in the reflection of human political nature.  Those whose main thinking revolves around conserving power, control, accumulating wealth, supporting a strong military and taking aggressive action, don’t want change or any kind of genetic mutations, against the very nature of natural selection. Their goal is to be mired in a stagnant state. (Maybe even to revert to a spiritual state in a “blissful” Armageddon)
Maybe intuitively we, as a self-aware thinking species, understand this and know that the mechanisms of change are freedom of thought, tolerance and compromise, and since genetic mutations are caused only by radiation, heat and ingested chemical compounds. Perhaps we can infer (that the) prohibition to use different substances, also is at its root a barricade to natural change.
It is no mystery to me that Psychedelic substances have been found to help create empathy which can last a lifetime. Certainly there is no evidence that their use is any more dangerous than alcohol which creates violence in its users. These substances, which may be the only natural bridge our species has, are being forbidden in a global spirit of repression by the right warlike primal human conservative drive, a once necessary mechanism to our species survival.
In this year of a Canadian election, I will wonder about all aspects of the human condition and why we find ourselves so poorly served by our leadership. I mean wouldn’t we all want better outcomes / results in our lives instead of more of the same: caused by the same old thinking? I am wondering who amongst the current crop of wannabe Prime Ministers (Canadian) would have the most empathy for humanity? These jokers have all thrown their hats into the old model political leadership ring, where it seems the most vicious, financially well-endowed, the most beholden to corporate power interests’ campaigners will entertain us with rude conflict of bullshit in epic proportions.
Isn’t that why they seem so totally interchangeable in their attitude and behavior? They are the same contenders for our primate troop loyalty we have always had and will fight hard to eliminate one another. We enjoy the spectacle, just as we always have. No wonder the solutions to our problems evade us and there is ever more strife in the world. We pick our leaders for their confrontational qualities to perpetuate our political ideologies, to entertain us, not to find solutions to human social problems.
Empathy is a human state of being which can be a basis for pre emptive action in everyone’s lives that seeks solutions through compromise, not conflict.