Tuesday, November 15, 2016

The Walking Dread

It would appear that the White House is about to be painted gold and have a Trump Tower sign slapped on to the front of it.  The Donald and his entourage have arrived.  Life as we know it, even though he's not our leader, has forever changed.  I'm not sure how others are feeling but I feel like I've been caught inside an episode of The Walking Dead meets Mad Max and the war for survival is about to begin.  First Brexit and now this.  A girl can only take so much.

I know that most of us are reeling in disbelief with the election of the Donald.  How is it that a man whose whole campaign rhetoric has been rife with hate, racism, homophobia, sexism, xenophobia and admitting to sexual assault possibly be elected to the most powerful political seat in the world? Nothing, absolutely nothing about that choice, makes any sense to me.  I feel angry but more so, I feel filled with an aching dread.

The whole discussion about the up rise of the alt-right, as though that movement on its very own, catapulted Mr. Trump into the Oval Office is, for me, missing the mark.  More than 6,500,000 registered Democrats DID NOT cast a ballot.  Zero.  Zilch.  That's just the warm up.  Then apathy took hold, apathy of the status quo and exhaustion of a system that has simply ignored the citizens of the country.  Subsequently voter turnout was just barely over 50%.  So in essence, 25% of the voting populous of the United States of America, elected the most dangerous candidate that I have ever seen as their Commander and Chief.  Then again, one might take the perspective that NO vote, is a vote. So without actually putting their mark on a ballot, they in effect, voted for their leadership. These are dark days. As we watch the appointment of the new cabinet and inner circle, people such as alt-right extremist Steve Bannon, the likes of Rambling Rudy Giuliani, which I'm sure is soon to be followed by appointments of Chris Christie and Sarah Palin, there is much to be afraid of.  Thinking about the Trump offspring having national security clearance takes my breath away.

Of course, we sigh our sigh of relief. All of a sudden that wall is looking pretty darn good.  We could grow ivy on it and garden along its base.  The silliness of that kind of election could never happen here in the land of the Maple Leaf, right?  After all, we are a country that is infinitely polite, so very tolerant (which we all know is bullshit), always saying thank you, pardon me and asking you to pass the maple syrup.  Well it's time to put an end to that thinking.

Last week, shortly after Mr. Trump claimed victory, I could hear the chanting of the war drums starting to thump from the camp of Kellie Leitch.  Ms. Leitch, an MP from Simcoe-Grey and wannabe candidate for the Conservative Party leadership, hitched her little blue wagon to the Trump campaign as she hailed that this was "An exciting message that needs to be delivered in Canada as well." (Macleans, November 9, 2016).   That wasn't the first time Ms. Leitch has tapped in to the Trump rhetoric.  Prior to that she has chimed in on the issue of screening newcomers for "anti-Canadian values" (Macleans, 23, 2016).  Does this sound all too familiar?

Remember watching the news coverage of Mr. Trump, stepping out on to that escalator at Trump Headquarters, as he prepared to declare his candidacy for the Republican nomination and we all laughed our heads off, right?  What a buffoon.  How could the man who's known for the reality TV line "You're Fired!" possibly rise to the Presidency? Are we still laughing now?  Kellie Leitch is stepping out on that very same escalator.

There is a movement here in our country, deep in to the grassroots of our communities, that will eat up the rhetoric of the Kellie Leitch's of the world.  We are seeing glimpses of it and we will continue to see it pop up all over our country.  Just see for yourselves.  At the bottom of this post, these types of presentations will start to pick up steam, especially fueled by the likes of Ms. Leitch.

As a Canadian, people like Kellie Leitch concern me greatly.  I was absolutely shocked to learn that her big gun fundraiser is none other than Andy Pringle.  Andy Pringle is the Chair of the Board of the Toronto Police Services Board.  Read that again, slowly and let that sink in.  I don't know about you but I consider this a highly inappropriate activity on the part of Andy Pringle.  Police departments all over this continent are really under scrutiny so to learn that the Chair of the Toronto Police Services Board is fundraising for a leadership candidate who is latching themselves on to the forward motion of the hate train of Donald Trump, you are damn right I've got concerns.

What the hell is Toronto City Council and Mayor John Tory thinking?  Of course, we all know Mayor Tory's blood runs blue but to allow Andy Pringle to engage in this kind of activity while he is sitting as the head of the board of the Toronto Police Services is inappropriate and unacceptable. It's time for John Tory and the Toronto Council to get off their hands and remove Andy Pringle from his post.  If he's supporting Kellie Leitch, who is going to position herself as the Canadian version of Trump in drag, then how can Andy Pringle possibly provide leadership to Toronto Police Services?

Yesterday I did something in a million years I never thought I'd do.  I registered a membership with the Conservative Party of Canada and in doing so, it will allow me to vote for their leadership.  Let me be clear, I'm not a PC but if I stand idly by, taking no action then I'm just as guilty as those 6,500,000 Democrats who didn't vote. If Kellie Leitch or any other Conservative starts to spew the Trump rhetoric, just like we just watched in America, like sheep, there will be plenty of people willing to drink from her fountain of koolaid.  So I'm acting on the only choice I have to try and pre-empt this poison from seeping in to our system by being sure to cast my vote for leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada and that won't be for the ilk of Kellie Leitch.  Is this the kind of person that we want in any leadership capacity in this country?  Sorry, pinning a safety pin to my coat just isn't going to work for me and maybe you need to ask yourself what it is that you can do to make sure that the Kellie Leitch's of our government don't end up as our Prime Minister.

If you think I'm kidding, check out the pics below.  So it begins.  If you don't take some sort of action then that is your way of leaving the door ajar for the likes of Kellie Leitch.  Apathy wins every time.
I ain't putting on no damn safety pin.  Slacktivism isn't going to cut it this time.  Join me.  Fifteen bucks will get you a membership to the PC party and give you a vote against Kellie Leitch. https://donate.conservative.ca/membership   Say no to the hate.

Seen in Mississauga, draped over an overpass.   
vvvv
Posted up on the streets of East York.








Thursday, September 1, 2016

The Long And Winding Road

"Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small.  A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." - Lao Tzu

It's been a while.  Thanks for the notes, the messages and the emails asking how I am, if I'm OK and when I'd be posting again.  I know I left things dangling with the last entry about the night Annie Groves came up to the Beaver.  I'll come back to that.  First things first.

On September 13, 2015 I turned 59 years young and like most women the thought of that next birthday and the benchmark of turning six decades old triggered a lot of introspective thought. I realized in those thoughts that I wasn't in a good place.  This wasn't about me turning 60, it was more about me not feeling right in my own skin.  It's difficult to find the appropriate words to articulate it but I'm sure there is someone out there who will say "Yes, I know exactly what she's talking about."  I struggled when I was awake.  I struggled when I was asleep.  I was never at rest. My emotional balance was off its center mark.  My body ached.  I had trouble concentrating.  I was exhausted just walking a flight of stairs.  Excess became a part of my daily routine.  Too many late nights.  Too many late mornings. Too much food. Too many drive thru's. Too much alcohol.  Too much coffee. Too much time on a sofa. Too much time with a remote control in my hand.  Too much time on the phone.  Too much time online.  Too much time in traffic. Too much time with an ATM card at my beck and call. Too much time fighting battles on Hamburger Hill followed by those moments of wondering how on earth I ever got to that place.

So I decided that it was time to begin my journey of recovering who I was, what was truly important to me, why I was here and where I wanted to go.  One. Step. At. A. Time.

In October of last year I began keeping a notebook. This wasn't one of those Dear Diary things.  In it I wrote down all sorts of stuff.  Things that most of us took for granted and never give a second thought to. Things like what time I woke up.  What time I went to bed.  Where I was spending all my nickels and dimes. Every bill and every credit card statement I paid. Every single glass of booze I slurped up.  How much TV I watched that day and what it was that I was actually watching.  I wrote down how much time I spent in my car, on the phone, online, in the grocery store, in the mall, in my office. I wrote down how much I laughed, how much I cried, how often I felt absolutely nothing at all. Numbness is an all consuming black hole.  Nothing was off limits.  I wrote it all down.  Day after day. Night after night.  Moment after moment.  How was I going to figure out where I was going until I could figure out where I had been?

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Her Brand Is Crisis

Let me be clear, right from the get go.  The only really combustible, incendiary, volatile matter that Bolton residents really need to be concerned about is its Regional Councillor, Annette Groves. Whatever you do, don't put an open flame near that girl.

Doing what she does best, Councillor Groves is hard at work, twerking up a community issue where one doesn't really exist.  That is the one skill I'll give her mad props for and what we've learned about Annie Groves is that her brand is crisis. We all watched her hone that skill during the years she rolled out the drama with the town and in particular with her issues with our former Mayor, Marolyn Morrison.  That is Annie's modus operandi and she plays it well, that is, until someone calls her out on her crap. Watch where you step my Bolton neighbours, the manure is deep.  I can only imagine the methane levels expanding exponentially from her rhetoric.  Boom.

I see that our rusty, not so trusty, Councillor has been quoting excerpts from a two year old news article from a rent-a-writer who was whipping up the fear factor about hydrogen being used at the Canadian Tire site out on Coleraine Road.  I know this article well because I picked up about 300 copies of it off the streets in the south end of Bolton during the last municipal election.  They, like this faux crisis, were swirling around, littering the streets, after being blown off the doorsteps, which were placed there by a group of young high school students who told us they were getting their required volunteer hours by helping out the Groves campaign team.

Councillor Groves would have you believe there is a conspiracy at the town and that they are in collusion with Canadian Tire, keeping Bolton residents in the dark and putting them at risk.  True to her form she once again plays this out in the local rags and through her inept social media venues. She has pleaded with us that she needs our support in fighting the evil powers at work and is encouraging us to write our Mayor and our Council.  Oh I'll write, for sure.  I'll tell my Mayor, my local Councillor Rob Mezzapelli, the Caledon Council and staff at the town that I believe that hydrogen is one of the most important bio fuels of the future and support its use for a greener and cleaner technology.