Happy and Very Merry Holiday

Live Long and Prosper Perhaps?

Here it is December and already I have seen several articles against using the greeting "Merry Christmas" or even the use of Christmas colours and symbols in public. Some of you will have noticed by my spelling of "colours" that I am not American. I happen to be Canadian but more on that later.

This debate is complex and you could add new angles to it from many directions. Here is my contribution.

The good news is that it probably happens in any multi-cultural society. Many feel that the existence of such societies alone is admirable. I believe that there is a more basic problem here. Our annual debate occurs in multi-religion societies and the religious element of culture tends to surface at this time of year. Other elements - language; diet; dress; music; traditions; other religious festivities - continue throughout the rest of the year. Sometimes they also cause problems. I have not resided in one, but I suspect that countries that enjoy only one culture including religion have no such debates.

For many years now Canada, its politicians and its citizens have placed me and my fellows on some kind of international pedestal as a model of multi-culturalism. That is partly true compared to other countries but there are still ill feelings just below the surface. I have written about this before and it is a topic unto itself. Talk to any tenant who lives with cuisines other than their own that result in pungent, pervasive, and to some, offensive odours in their building. You will hear a lot of words that do not support the notion of the Canadian Oasis.

It can be said that anyone who emigrates to Canada and becomes a citizen has to expect such differences and that nth generation citizens should not have to change our traditions and laws to accommodate them. The opposite is also true. If we are going to encourage multi-culturalism then we should support it fully. All of us in this country originate from immigrants with the sole exception of true indigenous peoples.

It wouldn't hurt any of us who happen to be Christians to learn several greetings beyond "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Hanukkah". On this point, Christians and Jews have long co-existed in Canada and tolerated our religious differences. It also would not hurt non-Christians and those who are more secular to be more tolerant of long-held Canadian Christmas traditions and greetings.

If any one religion is so passionately against another that its followers feel violence and hatred for others then I suggest such people chill out. I would even say they don't belong.

The solution has always been right there within reach for almost any problem on this globe: The Golden Rule. For those who don't know it you must look it up. I just read that most religions include some similar tenet. Now if all of us would just follow it ...

I was not a Trekkie but perhaps Spock nailed it. We should just say "Live Long and Prosper" at this time of the year.

Beam me off Scottie


The Brewster

Capital Punishment is Sometimes Justified

Throw Them into the (Hungry) Lions' Den

We Slaughter four legged animals by the millions every day, birds and fish in higher numbers. Recently here in Canada two vial, despicable, slugs who once crawled out from under a rock are back in the news.

In 2008 Terri-Lynne McClintic and Michael Thomas Christopher Stephen Rafferty abducted, raped and killed with a hammer a sweet, innocent, and trusting eight year old girl, Victoria Elizabeth Marie "Tori" Stafford. The youth trusted McClintic who led Tori away from school.

Found guilty and imprisoned, our wonderful justice system has recently seen fit to move both of these creatures to more comfortable surroundings. The female and murderer - McClintic - to an indigenous "healing" lodge, and the male and rapist - Rafferty - from a maximum to a medium security facility.

They both deserved to be removed from this planet - permanently. The lions' den comment was a facetious one but both of them would have had a better chance of escape and survival than poor Tori.

Some will say that taking a life as punishment reduces us to animal status. I offer an animalistic reply - BULLS__T! If they knew they would pay the supreme penalty lowly cowards like this would not have committed the crime. A seasoned criminal might have and that person should also have been removed from the globe.

Some crimes deserve it and we who remain would all be better off. Wrongful conviction was not an issue here. Nor was it for Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka. That's another story but VERY similar in nature. 

They waste valuable global resources with every breath they take and every drink they consume. I know that is not politically correct. Neither were their callous crimes. We can only hope that prison justice will prevail.

The Brewster

Fake News and I Fell for it!

This Gets Under My Skin!

OK - I got suckered in and I admit it.

I don't usually click on anything that looks phony or will involve having to scroll through endless pictures or snippets of some topic or issue. These are designed to keep your attention and smother you with advertising.

Three times now - yes THREE, I was a sucker.

The first one indicated that Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton) was taking some time away from her royal duties to pursue her own career - a line of skin care products that had proved to be very lucrative. It was causing problems with the Queen!

The second on another occasion shortly after the first involved the real reason that Megyn Kelly lost her job as an anchor and talk show host on FOX. Guess what - she left to pursue her personally developed line of skin care products! Go figure. At that point I realized I was taken.

These were last month. Then, just today, I read that a much more local media person, Lisa LaFlamme - most famous here in Canada as an anchor on CTV news was leaving the network!. That's what got me. I like her. When I clicked on the story - guess why! To spend time with her "family" but also … yada, yada, yada. Different name but probably the same skin care product line!

Is there no way we can shut down this garbage? Will I ever live this down?


The Brewster

The Truth About Pollution and it Stinks

It is all in your mind - Literally

Sometimes the truth sucks and this is one of those times.

I maintain that it is not the cars or the smokestacks or the industry waste that is ruining our world's environment: the air we breathe; the water we drink; the food we eat; and the nature we enjoy. WE are the polluters. The buck stops here.

Just like any problems which we want our governments and regulators to solve, we are willing to approve and back whatever is proposed - as long as it affects those other guys and not us. Go ahead and cut the budget but I still want my piece of the social pie. Tell everybody else to buy smaller cars or take the bus but I still need my 300 horsepower muscle car or truck to get to the supermarket or drive to work - by myself. Let those guys drink city or Britta water but I'm sticking to my bottled water and the 365 - ??? plastic bottles of waste that I generate all by myself every year. So what if a few fish swallow some of them?

OK I hope you get my point.

Many years ago despite a huge amount of protest and pushback, the idea that smokers can't pollute the air in public places finally took hold. I don't know what percentage of people used to be smokers so pick any - 50%. The point is that a certain percentage of the population eventually won out over the others through a combination of legislation and common sense.

Here are 10 things for starters which it seems to me involve even larger percentages of the population than those smokers meaning more of us are the guilty parties. Now if we could only manage to convert enough of them to match the percentage of the non-smokers back in the day, imagine what could be accomplished with the holdouts! Most smokers - albeit begrudgingly - finally respected the new rules and attitudes and for them it was indeed a big inconvenience. Surely a similar result could be accomplished with some of the following:

1. Stop drinking bottled water - completely. Companies banned tobacco smoking - do the same here. It should only be permitted for humanitarian and rescue operations. FIlter your own and carry a re-useable bottle.

2. Ban fossil fuel engines of a certain size in passenger vehicles. Permit them only for commercial vehicles, public transportation; industry - like bulldozers; agriculture; military and emergency vehicles; commercial flights. For the rest go four cylinder maximum until electric takes over. Yes I just kissed many jobs goodbye.

How am I doing so far? I can just hear the groans.

3. Stop the "sport" of racing any fossil fuel powered vehicles including boats, monster trucks etc. It will cost some jobs - a few paying millions to drivers and organizers - but a relatively small number.

4. Crack down - REALLY crack down - on those vehicles which are permitted to use internal combustion engines but are spewing smoke and other pollutants.

5. Shut down industrial polluters. This is probably the toughest because they always buy their way out and once again WE the purchasers of their products and services will be inconveniencing ourselves!

6. Completely ban all retail plastic bags for groceries etc. Paying a small fee for them did very little.

7. Ban ridiculous packaging. Plastic should be at the top of the list. This problem should improve as retail stores disappear and more product is delivered since much of the hard shelled stuff is to inhibit theft. Also direct shipping from manufacturers should require less packaging. There will be less displaying of large inventories of products on the shelves of stores. Just package and send.

8. Litter. There are countries in which it is a crime - ethically or by law - to litter. Like smoking, this is a cultural change. One of the best in my opinion is a ban on spitting out your chewing gum. I still can't accept that so many people do this. Anyone caught littering on video should pay severely - no court time required or allowed. (added thought: all gum manufacturers should provide wrappers for disposal as part of the packaging even though I might be violating my own #7. They would still have to be dropped into a litter box.)

9. Households. Turn off anything electrical that you are not using. This is a no-brainer.

10. I don't know much about managing forestry but surely for every tree taken one or more should be planted. Perhaps this is already in place.

There are many, many more that any of you could name. I simply wanted to test the waters and provoke some thinking. How much are you willing to sacrifice?

To summarize we could all cut the crap - or at least some of it - if we took action ourselves.


The Brewster

President H.W. Bush

Read My Lips

As a Canadian I have a somewhat remote attachment to any U.S. President. I do think that their 41st was one of the best. I believe many of my American neighbours share my feelings.

If the "Read My Lips" comment about no more taxes is the worst entry in his legacy then it is one to be admired. Since he raised a son who became President as well I believe that puts him into a very unique league.

He was a strong leader and apparently a devoted husband. His wife was highly admired. The man had integrity, guts and loads of experience including serving as Vice President and I just read head of the CIA. If there were any scandals, he was smart enough not to get caught. I remember an interview once in which he took the host to task for even hinting at scandal. The look he gave that anchor said it all. The topic was instantly dropped.

America and the world need more of the likes of him, Reagan, Kennedy, and yes - Obama.

So again I fast forward to the present and say to the voters south of me: "What were you thinking? After men like this? Give your heads a shake!"


The Brewster