Some Musings and an Apology to Myself

Its over a year ago that I wrote here and declared that although my entries had been sparse I would resolve to do better in the future. Alas! it is said that the "road to Hell is paved with good intentions". Like all sinners filled with the resolve to change their lives and do better in the future I am strong in my new commitment and tall in my resolution to fulfill my destiny as a blogger!
So from now on I intend to jot down some of my random thoughts or musings from time to time for those who may stumble onto my site.
I must point out that this site is a work in progress and additions and changes will occur.
The Oxford Dictionary indicates that a "musing" is "to say to oneself in a thoughtful manner". These "musings" may be considered journal entries
The word 'musing' is explained above but what about 'amusing' which is a word we all have heard and used. Once again the Oxford Dictionary tells us that it is a verb and means " make someone laugh or smile" or " give someone something enjoyable or interesting to do". How about 'bemusing', well "confuse or bewilder" is how the Oxford Dictionary defines it. So perhaps these random thoughts or musings will also entertain or confuse. So be it.
One characteristic of human beings is their ability to speak. Not just an ability but a need since all humans regardless of their time in history or or their place in geography have developed some language skills that help to bind them to their social group. Speaking is not just an exercise with which to communicate externally to others but we also communicate internally with ourselves. As speaking is the articulation of words, the more words we know and whose meanings we understand the better we are able to speak to explain our thoughts and actions to others and also to ourselves. The order with which words are used also elucidates and expands understanding.
The Oxford Dictionary says that literacy is " the ability to read or write". This suggests that literacy or conversely illiteracy helps or hinders social integration. Speaking, reading and writing are abilities that open avenues of understanding and participation. Since poverty and illiteracy appear to go hand in hand the question should be asked if welfare can ever help the poor unless it is paired with the means of improving literacy. Today our educational system does not give literacy the importance that is needed to combat the social alienation that is created by its lack.
It should be noted that there are degrees of literacy and degrees of illiteracy and these occur at all levels of society and effect everyone. Literacy, understanding and equality would seem to go together on the one hand , and illiteracy, lack of understanding and inequality on the other hand. Attitude, prejudice and fear are the products of illiteracy and are used to replace analysis, knowledge, and tolerance.

Columnists

November 2cd, 2008. As can be seen This piece was written some time ago, however in my opinion it is still pertinent and is now probably worse.
March 18th, 2007
Recently, I crossed swords with a Toronto Star columnist, Rosie DiManno. She had written about the Conservative Campaign College which was being held at Toronto. After being denied admittance she hung around the entrance trying to get some scuttlebutt and failed. Presumably having been detailed to attend by her editor she was stuck with the job of writing about the event but having no knowledge of what was occurring. "Making bricks without straw" as the saying goes. Anyway, being the good Toronto Star employee that she is, her column is made up of liberal coffee room slang and snide observations that postmodernistic reporters/columnists believe to be the "cool" way to do their job. What is sad, is she lost an opportunity to comment on how political parties have become so regimented that they are in danger of damaging our parliamentary process. The Campaign College is an occasion to train, inspire and network and all parties do them.
Their value is obvious to the parties but they may well be part of what is wrong with our political system. It is a manifestation of centralized control by the party and the regulation of the electoral process by a bureaucracy that is attempting to have a "fair" electoral system. Both these efforts may well strangle our parliamentary system which is already not well understood by the voting public.
The media always has had two goals. One was to disseminate a political viewpoint and two to make money for the proprietor. The first goal requires more than an attitude and as reporting has become the art of the "news bite" the challenge to even good reporters is how to be bright and light, the consequent loss of intelligent content has reduced most media to reporting fluff and churning it over in an attempt to capture the attention of the public. To educate or lead the public on political issues in this way dilutes and to some extent perverts the message. The second goal has become extremely difficult to maintain as "the media" now embraces so many different mediums each competing for revenue, and the fixed costs and expenses have risen extremely high. These costs have had a considerable bearing on the effectiveness of the media to provide proper coverage of political events.

A Mea Culpa and New Adventures

Monday 12th 2007.
About a year ago I wrote a post about the road to Hell being paved with good intentions. This was in reference to my failure to post for some time. In that post I declared my intentions to post on a regular basis. Well, so much for that! A year later and nothing has changed, so once again a renewal of intentions is offered and hope springs eternal! New postings will be made with regularity!
A new adventure, on Tuesday we go on a trip to Tofino and meet with a group who wish to try and start a "University of the Environment". This is the beginning of the beginning.

The weather

When all else fails, talk or write about the weather. Here it is the middle of July and the temperatures are cool, the sky is cloudy and the wind blows and the showers arrive with depressing regularity. The forecasters have been predicting sunny days for some time now, but nothing happens. The weather does not watch or read the forecasts and presents us with its own version of what is. Predicting the local weather is much like fortune telling. Stick to a broad picture, stay with optimistic generalities, mention the sun to be in the sky in the future and the crowds will not drift to far away. They will return to be drawn by a mixture of hope and a desire to know what may happen. Is this being gullible? Do our disapointments in the forecasting failures make us angry at the forecasters? Given the lack of success you would think that the public would react but they still use the reports as fillers, as opening gambits to overcome those first awkward conversational moments. Perhaps the weather forecasts fufill a social and not a geographical function. What would we use otherwise?

Posting Delinquency and Bombings in London

Delinquency - a 'formal' neglect of one's duty. Well it's not 'formal' and it's not a 'duty' but 'formal' is all about rules of behaviour and 'duty' is performing an act because it is morally right. Well maybe posting to my weblog is not that kind of a duty but deciding to start a site should involve a commitment.
I now renew my commitment and intend to write a piece everyday. It may not be long and it may not be well written but I'll be there everyday for the rest of July and all of August. Depending how it goes along will determine what my commitment will be after that.
My attention was drawn to my blog by thinking about the bombing in London. Surely a blogger had to put some thoughts on the site, if for nothing else but to sort out the emotions that have rushed to the surface. Bias, prejudice and bigotry can feed off an event like this. But anger and a need for catharsis is great. Prejudice and bias grows in direct proportion to a lack of satisfactory resolution to personal or social anxieties. In our no fault society where every human act can be explained, rationalised and every perverse act is performed by a victims like ourselves how can we resolve anything. How can we shed the grief and anger created by for the sensless behaviour of those who have abandoned all civilised trappings?
After September 11/2001, some poor cringing fools, who in their fear of becoming a target, to their everlasting shame decided to blame the very society that clothes and feeds them. Those who participated can be found mainly in the halls of academia which long ago became waystations for sophomoric isms that now pass for popular wisdom. Socialism which supposedly relieves citizens of the onerous task of thinking for themselves along with the chore of actually being responsible for their own well-being has decided that they will identify with the aims of these psychotic religeous zealots and have produced all manner of reasons for the actions of these perverts. The stupidity of these persons is immeasurable. To believe that by abasing themselves will help them to avoid becoming a target to someone whose avowed intention is to kill all infidels is beyond belief. To fear these insane criminals is a good thing as it heightens awareness of their evil ways and increases our alertness but to allow that fear to dictate or govern our lives is pathetic.
London and Londoners have a history that is dignified, a character that personifies an unyielding strength and the ability to absorb far more pubishment that anything these infantile terrorists can hand out. Our love and prayers go to Londoners and all who suffered physical and emotional wounds from the bombs of these deranged people. May God succor you and add to your strength in this time of hurt and anguish. "An eye for an eye" Amen.

Canada's Health System

CANADA’S HEALTH SYSTEM. JUNE 13, 2005


The following statements are from the central office of the Conservative Party of Canada dated June 9 2005.

“The Conservative Party supports the Canada Health Act, and our universally accessible publicly funded system.”

and further;

“ We respect the Charter, and the ruling made today by the Supreme Court of Canada. A Conservative government would take steps necessary to repair the damage done to Canada’s health care system by Paul Martin.”

The following headline is from the Wall Street Journal’s Opinion Journal dated June 13 2005.
“Unsocialized Medicine - A landmark ruling exposes Canada’s health-care inequity.”

An excerpt “ The larger lesson here is that health care is not immune from the laws of economics. Politicians can’t wave a wand and provide equal coverage for all, merely by declaring medical care to be ‘right’.......”

Anyone who has been involved as a provider in Canada’s health system can or should be able to see that it has become a financial battleground for competing groups. The doctors, the nurses, the administrators and clerical and support workers. Even the politicians are involved, by choosing sides and trying to gain political points.

Health care in Canada suffers from nothing more than bad management.

Who controls or manages the money once it’s been budgeted? Who determines what resources are going to be purchased? Who gets what? Whose in charge of breakdowns? Who determines if more resources are required and for what reasons?

Like all forms of government sponsored social programs financed by tax dollars, they start with good intentions. Once the experts have delivered their expertise and left the program it soon becomes the target for all forms of criticism. The government in an effort to retain the voters’ confidence responds with more money and more experts. Gradually goals change or are moderated. Those permanently employed in the programs resist change. Debate inside and outside the program increases. More money is found to pacify selected “stakeholders”. Can the program collapse through inefficiency? No, too many careers are at stake. So the program staggers along. The government and the taxpayers move into a state of denial. Welcome to Canada’s health care system!

Betrayal

My thoughts regarding the recent happenings in Parliament. Stephen Harper made his decisions as well as he could from the centre of a vortex of advice. The loss of Belinda Stronarch was a blow that could not have been forseen, and in the opinion of the rank and file was probably a long term benefit. The Greek chorus that is heard from the media does not capture what is in the hearts and minds of the voters across Canada, any more than do the polls.

I do not pretend to know what the voters think but I believe I know to what they would respond.

At this time confusion, fear and anger is motivating the voter. I believe that the Canadian people want a strong leader, one who projects an image of strength. One who is prepared to say things that taps into our history and our culture. The Canadian voter wants to be reassured that Canada still has potential, still has a future that links to our past. Resolution is the first quality of a leader and together with a clarity of purpose declares a message that binds people together for the purpose of achieving expressed national goals.

To often Party platforms are nothing more than a laundry list of public bribes to the voter. Very little is mentioned of national goals that may inspire individuals and cause people to take pride in national undertakings. A political party must have a philosophy, it must have an understanding as to it's place in the existing political spectrum. It must continually challenge other parties and the the voter in its fight for recognition in order to win the hearts and minds of the voter so that it may gain power to effect its policies.

I believe that Stephen Harper is a strong man, intellectually and emotionally, but he needs to demonstrate that visually. He needs to take off his coat, roll up his sleeves and embrace his public. He needs to talk of his vision of Canada. He needs to let people realise that the future of Canada is the most important thing in his life. He needs to move the debate away from laundry lists and move it to the high ground and do it in words of two syllables. He needs to remember that he speaks both to and for Canadians. So get him to roll up his sleeves and get angry,. He has the right. Jerra good luck David S.