Apr. 19th, 2014

riotheclown: clowning (slug)
Okay so I didn't write the following. No I am not a communist but I am a Canadian and once it meant living in a just and equitable society. So now CRAZY has moved so main stream you have to go stand with the socialists to find any sort hope for even a discussion about an equitable society. Sheesh. Also, there is no REASON for a state funeral for a former finance minister. It has never been done before because, well, it is wrong.

Flaherty was part of Mike Harris’ government in Ontario, whose cuts to water inspection services led to an E.Coli outbreak that killed seven people in Walkerton, Ontario. The same government imposed massive cuts to welfare and social housing, killing Kimberly Rogers in the process, and years later people continue to die from homelessness.

Flaherty was also part of cuts to healthcare at both provincial and federal levels. As the Council of Canadians wrote last week in an article titled Broken Promises and Abdication: Flaherty’s Healthcare Legacy, “March 31 marks the end of the 2004 Health Accord and the last day Canadian health care will have equalization payments to have-not provinces, national standards, and federal funding tied to achieving set benchmarks. March 31 is also a day to mourn the fact that we remain the only wealthy country with a universal health-care system and no national pharmacare plan.” Healthcare cuts kill, including the Tories' inhumane cuts to refugee health--denying basic health care to people who had fled rape, torture and war.

Flaherty was also proudly part of the Harper government that turns its back on global health crises—boycotting the International AIDS conference in Toronto, imposing a maternal health plan denying abortion, cutting humanitarian aid to Gaza, and defunding Sisters in Spirit that investigates missing and murdered aboriginal women.

While destroying social services, Flaherty and the federal Tories have poured billions into the military, which has killed countless people in 13 years of occupying Afghanistan, the bombing campaign in Libya, and the UN occupation of Haiti. At the same time, Flaherty’s budget policies included the New Veterans Charter—cutting benefits from veterans despite an epidemic of suicides and protests across the country.

Flaherty also pioneered the technique of using omnibus budgets to hide life-threatening cuts, from Bill C-45’s attacks on environmental protection and indigenous sovereignty that sparked Idle No More, to the more recent Bill C-4 that attacks workers—including their health and safety.
riotheclown: clowning (slug)
Thoughts for Easter

“Saul on the road to Damascus” is a great story. Saul had a good job killing and persecuting Christians. The story goes, on his way to Damascus he fell off his horse and then became a Christian. The difference between killing Christians and then being one is huge. It doesn’t always mean a career change however, I mean, some skills are transferable, you could switch to killing non-Christians for example.

Saul/Paul/Saul/Paul sounds the same. He also changed his name, but the important thing was that he fell off his horse. While falling, during the weightless moment of neither being Christian nor Christian killer, while being just stuff, stuff that falls, he came to a new awareness. No, not about gravity, that was Sir Isaac Newton and he was sort of wrong but close enough with the math that it wasn’t an issue until Einstein, He came to an new awareness about God and stuff.

My question is, what if the planet fell away from Saul faster than he could fall towards it and he never became Paul, he just hurdled off into space? Okay, that would have been ridiculous. What if his horse was just glad to be rid of him, and galloped away a happy horse and he never made it to Damascus or wherever to start a new religion?

Jesus was not interested in starting a church but I think he got a kick out sneaking up on people. The story goes, Jesus wanted to know why Saul was being such an asshole so he did the spooky thing of speaking to Saul, even though he was dead… “Saul, why are you such an asshole?”

Was it dark?

Why didn’t Saul just answer with “it’s my job! Jesus Christ!!! God you really freaked me out. Dude, where’s my horse?”? Maybe several people got spooked on the same road and answered with that before Saul came along…

But if it weren’t for Saul being frightened, falling off his horse and becoming Paul the whole story about Jesus getting nailed to a cross would not have been passed down through the centuries and we would not all be enjoying ham and looking for chocolate eggs to celebrate at Easter.
riotheclown: clowning (slug)
On the bus I read a poem where an advertisement should have been,
I got very excited and
I looked around.
Nobody else seemed to notice.
The words were what I would have said,
maybe they were mine.
I had no pen so
I sent myself a text:

dionne brand I have beenlosing roads land to.light on

I Googled “Dionne Brand” and she doesn’t look like me. I just thought, reading her poem that, as the words kissed my little grey matter, they belonged to me.

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