The Power Of Silence

Every day, without exception, social and the mainstream media offer up reasons for voting against Barack Obama or Mitt Romney; the same reasons over and over and over and over again. God! It is so tedious and inane most of the time that it leaves me with the same disgusted shiver I get when I hear someone drag their fingernails down a blackboard. 

Most of them are tweeted or posted by people who have never looked beyond their political bias at simple things like facts, political records and the real details being promised by both party platforms. Indeed, some of the most strident comments come from people who haven’t got a clue what is being offered by either party. They never allow objective analysis of the country’s economic or foreign affairs situation to get in the way of what they tweet or even what they believe.

Obama is black and cool, therefore he should be president. Romney is conservative and has nice hair; therefore it is he who should be president. The country would be no worse served if both names were simply put in a hat and one drawn to become president.

The rhetoric and hyperbole has has gone beyond partisanship and become blind fanaticism in many cases.

There are plenty of reasons not to vote for Barack Obama but these aren’t them even though they are the most often offered up by Twitter:

- He wasn’t born in the United States and is not an American

- He is a Muslim agent of Iran

- He is secretly gay and has had gay affairs while in the White House

- He’s stupid

There are also plenty of reasons not to vote for Mitt Romney but none of these are any of them even though they are offered up daily but those who support the President.

- He is wealthy and earned his money by raiding companies and firing people

- He wants to give more money to the rich at the expense of the middle class

- He has initiated a war on women

- He’s a racist

What a crock this stuff is. None of it is true for either candidate and none of it is relevant to deciding for whom to vote. It is noise and invective that is designed to bolster weak and prejudiced opinions that have no factual basis or to distract the opposition from exposing the weakness of the candidate they support and, quite frankly, there are more than enough weaknesses to go around.

Barack Obama is an intelligent, well-intentioned person who has simply failed to deliver on the promises he made in the 2008 campaign. The American economy is a disaster that can no longer be blamed on the previous administration, recent events in the Middle East and North Africa have underscored the weakness of his foreign policy and the country has become more divided and angry under his administration than under any that went before it.

Unemployment is too high, America’s credit rating has been downgraded again, and the national deficit has increased by $6 trillion in four years compared to the $4 trillion over the eight years of the Bush administration. In other words, it is accelerating.

Mitt Romney is an intelligent, well-intentioned person who stumbles from one gaff to the next. He is caught between the radicals and the pragmatic within his party and hasn’t figured out quite what to do about it. His approach to leadership is timid and weak. He lacks vision. Consequently, his policy initiatives also lack clear direction or consistency which becomes clear every time he opens his mouth. His economic policies are as rooted in the failed ‘trickle down’ theories of the past as Obama’s are rooted in some fuzzy concept of redistribution of wealth.

Neither candidate is Satan but neither is very good. It’s amazing to me that a few billion dollars in campaign funding can’t produce better than what either the Democratic or Republican parties have offered to the American people this year.

I’m conservative and I make no apologies for it but I am not an idiot nor am I so partisan that I would rather sink and drown because I voted a failed conservative ticket than voting for a liberal ticket that actually made sense. The problem in this election is that neither platform makes much sense nor is either candidate offering much hope for the next four years.

The Obama Administration is a record of failure and lack of direction and is offering a continuation of the policies that created that failure. The Romney platform is a confused mish mash of economic and social policies that are out of date and will simply continue the downward slide of a great nation. 

Neither party is addressing the real issues facing the United States today.

More than 26 million Americans go to bed hungry or without knowing where their next meal will come from. Half of them are children. Where is the candidate who has a plan to deal with that level of poverty in America, let alone even thought about it?

More than 23 million Americans are unemployed. That is 2/3 of the population of Canada. Where is the plan to stimulate economic growth to produce jobs and not the low income and part-time jobs that have been produced over the past three years but real jobs; jobs that can sustain families?

Where is the commitment to reform taxation so that all pay their fair share? Both candidates are promising to tinker with taxation again but it will only add more complexity to the already 22,000 tax regulations that exist at the expense of one or another group of voters over another. It isn’t tax reform; it’s the same political pandering that has been going on for decades.

Where is the focused and comprehensive approach to foreign policy that goes beyond dreaming about past glories and continuing to make the same mistakes over and over again at the expense of American prestige and the lives of American citizens? How much longer will the leadership of the United States continue to pour billions of borrowed dollars into countries that have no respect for America and wish it harm? Where is the candidate who recognizes the failure of that stupidity?

The American people were promised change you can believe in during the 2008 election. What they got was more of the same confused leadership that bounced from issue to issue without much thought or direction and obstructionism from the opposite party at the expense of the people.

The simple fact is that American politics are now more about elections than governing. More effort, money, time and energy is spent getting candidates elected than in having elected candidates do their jobs. The President of the United States has spent more time traveling to and from campaign events this past week than in leading his people through the chaos of the latest radical Islamic uprisings.

For his part, Mitt Romney has criticized to varying degrees (depending on the latest news commentary) the actions of the President but always from some campaign event and never with any hard-core, specific alternatives offered.

It’s small wonder that those who would harm America don’t take the country seriously. They see a weak, confused leadership regardless of who gets elected. They see a super power that conducts itself like an adolescent with a huge military at best or standing like deer caught in the headlights at worst. 

More than a decade has passed since 9/11 and all that has changed is that Americans are subject to more intense security at their airports than is seen in many American embassies and consulates around the world.

All of that makes me wonder why so many people spend so much energy and are so aggressive in trying to prop up one or the other candidates for president. It seems to me that the nation would be better served by Americans, regardless of political affiliation, coming together and demanding better from the two main parties rather than supporting one of them as they are now.

And I do mean demanding.

How? What if they held a campaign rally and nobody showed up to cheer and chant? What if they asked for campaign funding support and nobody wrote a check?

What if they held an election and nobody showed up to vote?

What indeed! Revolutions don’t always have to involve guns and guillotines. Sometimes the most revolutionary acts are a simple refusal to continue to play the game or to be pawns in the games being played by others.

Every time someone supports their candidate by calling supporters of the other candidate a liar, a racist, a fascist, a homophobe or any one of a hundred other ridiculous and inaccurate labels that I’ve seen on social media over the past week, they support the game and perpetuate the downward slide.

Every time marauding gangs of virulent supporters try to shout down or overpower legitimate criticism of their preferred candidate rather than engaging in a reasoned and informed discussion, they only support the further decline of their government leadership.

It’s like cheering for cancer rather than working to save the patient.

Imagine what would happen at both campaign headquarters if Twitter and Facebook suddenly went silent about the election. Imagine what would happen if people just stopped talking about the candidates and refused to publicly take sides.

Imagine what would happen if Americans refused to tell pollsters how they were going to vote or the mainstream media who they were supporting. Imagine what would happen if Americans simply refused to play the game anymore and stood silently until the political class took its head out of its ass and finally came to its senses.

Imagine what would happen if nobody showed up to vote because they were so disgusted by the alternatives being offered to them they refused to participate or be treated like morons as they are to a great extent now.

Imagine what would happen if people suddenly realized that freedom of speech include the freedom to say nothing at all.

It won’t happen, of course, but just imagine how much power there would be in that for the people compared to how little power is in all this absurd bickering, accusation and noise. Silence isn’t just golden…..

......it often has far more power than noise ever will.

© 2012 Maggie's Bear

all rights reserved

The content of this article is the sole property of Maggie's Bear but a link to it may be shared by those who think it may be of interest to others

Follow The Bear on Twitter: @maggsbear or connect on Facebook: Maggie's Bear

If The PQ Win The Quebec Election - You Can Expect More OF This

"I think you merit our contempt for what you are writing in this
blog which is a racist rag. How can a self-respecting
English can write such nonsense."

- Jean BOUGARAN (in a comment left on my blog)

That was a comment left for me on my post about Pauline Marois and the PQ Party’s bigoted and repressive policies towards minorities in the province of Quebec. Even though I live in Quebec, you will note that the commenter referred to me as English rather than as a fellow Quebec citizen. That is because I am not ‘culturally’ and ‘linguistically’ pure enough to merit equal rights in their eyes.

Let me give you an example of the separatist/sovereignist version of democracy and equality for all citizens.

This is the Quebec that Pauline Marois and her PQ party are building. This is the arrogance and intolerance her policies not only encourage but enable.

A group of Asian Canadians, visiting Quebec were accosted by a group of sanctimonious, pur laine bigots because they were speaking English among themselves in a private conversation. Apparently this is how Quebec pur laine fanatics greet visitors to their province who are not only fellow Canadians but who had the audacity to speak anything but French among themselves. Apparently, fanatical French Quebecers no longer believe you even have the right to speak the language of your choice with your friends and family.

There is no other word for it but racism and those in the French community who remain silent about it even though they do not support this behaviour or who who make excuses for it it are enabling this intolerance and paving the way for a society only fanatics want.

You won't hear current Premier Jean Charest, CAQ Leader Legault or any federal politician like NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair who is from Quebec speaking out against this racial attack. They are cowards who opt for political expediency over morality every time.

The PQ agenda has gone far beyond mere intolerance and has now crossed over from bigotry to purifying the culture. We have seen too much of this racism and discrimination in the past in places like Germany, Bosnia, Armenia and Serbia.

No one race, religion, culture, language or hair colour is superior to another. It is only the cowards who are afraid of everything that might force them to actually compete in a global village that focus on the differences between people rather than on all of the things we share in common.

Quebec is in dangerous territory economically and socially. Thanks to a portion of its population that has become entitlement-dependent, xenophobic and anything but democratic, it runs the risk of losing everything it gained as a modern society. If that happens, it can thank the Pauline Marois’, the Jacques Parizeaus, the FLQ and all of those who supported a racist agenda of cultural purity for that.

The PQ are turning Quebec into George Orwell's Animal Farm, an allegory tale where the animals in the barnyard were encouraged by the pigs to rise up against the evil farmer. After they took over the farm, the pigs moved into the farmers' home, they started selling off some of the animals and living just like the farmer and the rest of the animals found they were in worse shape than before.

The pigs reminded them that all animals are equal but some animals were more equal than others in order to justify their actions. In the PQ's Quebec, it is the PQ that are the pigs and the rest of the province that are sheep. The PQ's version of equality is highly selective and self-serving. It is built on intolerance and a narrow-minded view of the world and in the end, all citizens of the province, supporters of the PQ and minorities alike will get sheared.

When a society can no longer tolerate equally all of its citizens, it soon is incapable of tolerating equality for anyone but a privileged and elite few. History has taught us that.

It has also taught us that hatred, bigotry and racism are not the foundations of a successful society.

Did I respond to M BOUGARAN? Of course: "I have nothing but contempt for any group that feels it has the right to suppress the rights of fellow citizens as the PQ and pur laine do. Not being born French should not make a citizen of Quebec a lesser citizen nor should they have to bow to the pur laine. It violates the Quebec Charter of Rights, The Canadian Charter of Rights and the UN Charter of Rights. So spare me your cheap sanctimony. There is racism in Quebec but it isn't on these pages."

© 2012 Maggie's Bear

all rights reserved

The content of this article is the sole property of Maggie's Bear but a link to it may be shared by those who think it may be of interest to others

Non sinas bastardi tere te deorsum

I had a conversation on Twitter yesterday although to call it a conversation is to do the term a disservice. It would be more accurate to say that I was accosted by a fervent supporter of President Obama who decided that there was a need to straighten me out on a few things. She had jumped into another 'conversation' being led by yet another fervent Obama supporter who was offended by comments I had made on my blog.

She started by talking about all the jobs created by the president and it is true that over the past 29 months, the United States has seen consistent job growth and a decline in its unemployment rate from just over 10% to 8.3%. When I pointed out that this was still significantly higher than the 6.1% unemployment rate in 2008 when President Obama was elected, I was informed that the unemployment rate was fluid.

Fluid? Of course it is fluid; that was never at issue. The issue was, and remains. is it higher or lower under this president and according to the United States Board of Labour, it is higher. I was then sent a blog post by someone who went to great lengths to point out that the president wasn’t responsible for anything that happened during the first nine months of his presidency. Therefore, the steep increase in unemployment was the fault of the previous administration.

Sometimes the contortions people go through to try and avoid facing reality amazes me.

How Much More Stupid Can It Get?

There are days when I have to remind myself that I am living in the 21st Century and not the late 1800s. Some of the commentary and opinion, the beliefs and prejudices that get thrown about are so out of touch with today’s reality that I wonder if the Internet and the iPhone are part of a technological conspiracy to warp us back in time to a bygone era.

This week, for example, Missouri Rep Todd Aikin mused about ‘legitimate’ rape on national television. It wasn’t just his attempt to characterize rape as legitimate and illegitimate that was so bizarre; it was his assertion that the female body can actually prevent pregnancy in cases of legitimate rape. Apparently Mr. Aikin is of the opinion that a woman’s body not only can differentiate between the two but will actually make a judgment call as to whether or not to allow the pregnancy to proceed.

Is it possible, in this day and age, to get more stupid than this?

Well….actually yes it is.

The Irony Behind al-Quds Day

al-Quds Day promoted as an International Day of Peace
is little more than an orgy of anti-semitism

This past week saw quite a bit of debate and controversy over the intention to hold an Al-Qud rally at Queen’s Park, the seat of Ontario’s provincial government. Founded by Ayatollah Khomeni, the al-Quds Brigade is the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and has been active in promoting hatred of Israel and Jews in general.

Canada is a nation that has fairly significant hate-speech laws in place but for some reason despite its history, the Al-Quds Day rally became an issue of free speech rather than hate speech. Even the province’s premier, Dalton McGuinty defended the right of the rally to proceed which sort of reminded me of all those city mayors who defended the vandalism and rioting of the Occupy Movement on the grounds of the right to protest.

Politicians are always eager to appear to be politically rather than morally correct.

My Quebec Does Not Include The Bigotry Of The PQ

"Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another."

– Nelson Mandela

"We must, therefore, insist. . . not only on the need to respect human rights worldwide, but also on the definition of these rights . . . for it is the inherent nature of all human beings to yearn for freedom, equality and dignity, and they have an equal right to achieve that." 

-The Dalai Lama

My post yesterday about the discriminatory nature of the PQ platform in the Quebec Election stirred up a bit of controversy. I’m not surprised. It has been my experience that those with the weakest opinions are the most likely to shout the loudest.

Most of the criticism I received was because I compared Pauline Marois, leader of the PQ, to Adolf Hitler and others of his ilk. They clearly didn’t read beyond their emotions. My statement was that the attitude of both her and of her supporters has much in common with the attitudes of Hitler and the others I mentioned. Like them, Mme Marois promotes a singular version of society that is only fully open to those that she and her supporters deem worthy. The rights of others are treated with disrespect and restricted or taken away.

Her vision is an intolerant, nickle and dime perversion of democracy.

Only The White Hoods Are Missing In Pauline Marois' PQ

Pauline Marois continues her attack on the language
and religious rights of non-francophone/Christians

Sometimes I think we have become so jaded that in our rush to pick over the minutia of political campaigns we overlook and ignore the real threats. We are quick to condemn the other side and even more quick to forgive and embrace the sins on ours. We are particularly forgiving when the mea culpa is accompanied by a few handouts and entitlements.

There is an election campaign in Quebec right now and along with the usual promises to clean up government and hand out more cash, there is a disturbing undercurrent that has more in common with the darker side of human history than with a modern society like Canada.

History is littered with the remains of oppressive regimes led by those who rose to power through oppression and there were always excuses for suppressing the rights of others; racial purity, defending religion, protecting the rights of natural-born citizens and the list goes on. Inevitably, these regimes failed because they were built on intolerance, bigotry and fear.

This Is Honouring Pearl Harbour?

On December 7, 1941 the Japanese Imperial Navy attacked Pearl Harbour damaging all eight of the battleships in the harbour, sinking four of which two were later raised and six later returned to active duty. More than 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 injured.

It was a surprise attack intended to prevent the United States from entering the war. The attack was successful, the intended result was a failure. It awakened ‘the sleeping giant’ and America did enter both the European and Pacific conflicts which ultimately led to the downfall of Japan’s imperialist ambitions.

That happened more than sixty years ago and since then the United States and Japan have been allies and trading partners. Japan has invested heavily in the American economy providing thousands of jobs at American-based plants of Shimano, Toyota, Nissan, Mistubishi, Sony and countless others. When the tsunami hit Japan last year, the United States was one of the first to provide aid and assistance.

In other words, enemies have become friends and that has benefited both nations as well as the broader world.

For And Against

There was a time when the debate on issues was not only civil, it was quite rich in content. It wasn’t so much an argument as an exploration of different ideas with both the left and the right bringing passion and conviction to an honest discussion of how best to resolve something. 

Today, there is none of that richness in the debate, no exploration of different ideas or the building of mutual understanding. Today it has come down to only two positions; you’re either for something or against it. Increasingly, the left which likes to call itself progressive and liberal is the ‘anti’ side of the argument and that is one of the major obstacles to our nations moving forward.

To be sure, the left is in favour of certain things but inevitably those things are at the expense of others financially or in terms of rights and/or individual freedom. They are threatened by the success of the individual claiming it comes at the expense of others. 

The left favours more government regulation on just about everything from the environment to healthcare. God alone understands why. If nothing else, government has demonstrated a remarkable inability to do anything cost-effectively, efficiently or in a timely manner.

The Satisfaction Quotient

Canadians live in a pretty decent country. Physically it is beautiful and much of it remains uninhabited and pristine, our economy is reasonably stable compared to the rest of the world and except for the odd gang shooting downtown or hockey riot in Vancouver, we’re a pretty safe and stable society.

We have national healthcare and while it is in trouble thanks to years of government dithering and stupidity, it does still provide some measure of health services to anyone who needs it and who is prepared to sit in the emergency room for a few hours waiting for their name to be called.

Canadians are, by and large, a fairly tolerant people although lately we’ve been getting a bit impatient with each other. I think a lot of it has to do with a rising level of frustration with politicians and government but I don’t believe that is the only cause. In fact, I don’t believe it is even the primary cause.

I believe that there is an inability to be satisfied that has gripped too many of us, especially on the left. I call it the Satisfaction Quotient.

Ben Provides Serious Insight About Poop!

“It’s not ok to poop in other people’s gardens right, mommy?”

- Benson Gagnon

Even bears know enough to poop in
their own woods and not the gardens
of their neighbours

When my daughter first shared my grandson Ben’s latest quote, my first reaction as it usually is was to laugh. Ben is not quite three and since he learned to talk, is pretty direct and often quite funny in what he chooses to say. What makes it all the more amusing is that he knows he’s funny and we believe he often says these things just to get a laugh. It’s fairly impressive cognitive thinking for someone his age.

Last week, when my daughter saw him sticking his hand down his pants she asked him what he was doing. He replied that he was tickling his junk and when she asked why, he replied, “because they’re giggly.”

I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone ever refer to their equipment as ‘giggly’ before.

I posted his latest quote on my Facebook page with a picture and didn’t think much more about it until just a little while ago when it occurred to me that maybe Ben had touched on something just a bit more profound than just leaving your mark in the neighbour’s flowers.

When Fear Reigns

Hitler, the politician campaigning
for power

One of the ways you can always tell when someone has run out of facts to support their argument is when they trot out some comparative reference to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime of the 1930’s and 40’s. 

Even though most of us didn’t personally live through that evil hell, we are well-enough acquainted with what took place to recognize it for what it was; a regime of single-minded brutality and oppression that resulted in the deaths of more than 13 million people including the outright senseless, systematic slaughter of more than 6 million Jews.

Two students being humiliated by
fellow German students simply because
they were Jewish.

One would think that any comparison to Nazi Germany and anyone today would pretty much be reserved for the likes of the Syrian or North Korean regimes or that of the former Iraqi dictator Salaam Hussein. Typically it isn’t.

Slaughter Of The Innocent

In the space of five days, Canada and the United States each  experienced terrible mass shootings rampages of senseless violence that are virtually impossible to comprehend.

In Toronto, Canada twenty-one people, including a three-month old baby, were shot at a barbeque in an inner-city neighbourhood. Two people were killed. In 1989, Marc Lepine entered École Polytechnique in Montreal and shot twenty-four people, killing fourteen women.

Yesterday, seventy-one people were shot in a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado; twelve were killed and memories of Columbine and Virginia Tech rush back with all their weight of needless death and horror.

These are moments that go beyond mere tragedy. They are horrific events that tear the hearts out of survivors and the families of those who were wounded or killed. Nobody touched by these moments of callous violence will ever be the same again nor will our societies.

This Canada Day......perhaps.

Canada Day fireworks over the
parliament buildings

July 1^st is Canada Day and Canadians everywhere will celebrate it in fine style. Some will have already headed to the cottage to spend time with family and friends; others will be attending Canada Day celebrations that will be held in every city, village and dell across the country.

There will be bands, stage shows and crowds; barbeques, parties and fireworks. The Prime Minister and every politician in the country will show up somewhere to be seen, to be photographed and to be ignored by most people. The mayor of our city, who will go to the opening of an envelope if you invite him, will somehow manage to show up at dozens of events.

Crossing The Line -Surfer Killed By Sharks & Reality TV

A few days ago, a young man in South Africa was attacked and killed by a Great White Shark. His name was David Lilienfeld and he was a champion body surfer with his life stretched out before him. He was only 20 years old and his death was the unnecessary result of the carelessness of others who crossed the line.

There is an old saying about crossing the line which refers to having gone too far in doing something. It means that a person has gone beyond what is acceptable and done something wrong. Robbery, for example, crosses the line from legal to illegal behaviour.

Noise!

There are days that I wish I had been born in a different era. Any era will do on those days because all I’m looking for is an escape from the noise. I get tired of the yelling and screaming online and in the media. I get tired of bureaucrats speaking in a language none of us understands and who work overtime trying to socially engineer our societies with politically correct doublespeak and regulation upon regulation for even the most mundane things.

I get tired of politicians pretending to believe in something just so we will elect them and even more tired of the sanctimonious and divisive rhetoric that spins out of that from their supporters. Much of that noise comes from folks who have bought into the fantasies spun by them and that’s all it is much of it is now…..noise.

 We have successfully turned our freedom of expression into a form of ideological slavery.

The Death Of Trayvon Martin - A Feeding Frenzy By Well-dressed Sharks

I am part of a multi-racial family that includes whites, blacks and Asians. My step daughter is a blend of all three and our family has some experience with racial intolerance. I mention that because it was part of the motivation that led me to write about the media coverage of the Trayvon Martin shooting.

As a result of some of what I have written, I have been called a racist, a Nazi and a member of the Klan. I wasn’t overly offended by the labels understanding that they usually came from people who hadn’t invested five minutes to think about what is actually known about the shooting before they jumped on the bandwagon of condemnation. Instead they followed blindly like sheep and bought into the narrative created by a mainstream media that ignored and corrupted its own professional standards from the outset and by cynical opportunists with an agenda, like Al Sharpton. The sheep were manipulated and they were willing accomplices to that manipulation.

But if I am not angered by the names I have been called for speaking out, I am angry - I am very angry.

Tulsa & Sanford - A Tale Of Two Cities

Two days ago, three people were shot and two others wounded in a shooting spree in Tulsa. All of the victims were black and the suspects were white. It was a horrific crime that touched many although it did not receive the flood of attention of the shooting of Trayvon Martin.

Left: |Councillor Jack Henderson
Centre: Mayor Dewey Bartlett
Right: Chief of Police Jordan
(photo newstimes.com)

Unlike the Trayvon Martin shooting, there was no rush to judgment, no screams of racism and no division of the community along racial lines.

Sticks And Stones

photo: community of children.org

Since starting this blog a few months ago, I have received many compliments about what I’ve written which I appreciate although am not convinced are deserved. I have also had more than a few disagree with me and that usually meant that they labeled me in a somewhat less than jovial manner.

I’ve been called a Nazi, a fascist, uninformed, a member of the KKK and my all-time favourite, a capitalist lickspittle. I love that one. It’s somewhat unique and has a sense of style to it. I always appreciate a bit of creativity in all of its forms.

Trayvon Martin - The Silence Of Selective Racism

For weeks, the mainstream media and the social media lynch mob have been all over the shooting of Trayvon Martin with accusations of racism. The narrative was that Trayvon Martin was the victim of a racial bias in America that saw blacks disproportionately victimized by whites. That narrative has been unraveling as more details are released by law enforcement.

Watch this video and then we’ll talk about interracial crime.