Democracy Is Fine, Until It Isn't

 

I don't post on a daily basis anymore, partly because I have other things keeping me busy and partly because I do wonder if anything good can come from a frequent barrage of my deep-seated cynicism. I see little to inspire hope in the world, so why simply drive home the point again and again?

There are times, however, when what is being reported calls for denunciation, and my anger today emanates from the hypocrisy with which democracy is presented to us. On the one hand we are told that it is sacred, but on the other hand, when it results in things some don't like, they find their own ways of undermining and denouncing it, but in terms that are not so obvious.

Recent episodes come readily to mind.

In an effort to promote more moderate drinking, Ireland has passed legislation that will mandate cancer warnings be placed on all alcohol products sold in the Emerald Isle. While I have doubts about the efficacy of such labelling, I don't dispute the democratic right of a state to make and enforce health policy.

Not everyone agrees.

The United States and other countries have expressed concerns over Ireland’s plans for labels on alcoholic products that would warn of a link to cancer at a World Trade Organisation meeting on Wednesday, officials say.

The item was on the agenda of the Technical Barriers to Trade Committee of the WTO when it met in Geneva, a forum for the organisation’s 164 members to discuss and mediate potential disputes over regulations.

The US, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic raised concerns that Ireland’s new alcohol labelling requirements signed into law in May could present a barrier to trade at the meeting, according to a Geneva-based trade official.

Additional countries also spoke up in the meeting about the issue, some supporting the complaints made by others, including Japan, Colombia, Canada, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, Cuba, Australia and Guatemala.

Now, on the surface this looks like a trade irritant. But if any thinking person peeks behinde the curtain, they may come to the conclusion that it is the affected corporations that are really calling the shots, and the state is essentially their 'beard'. In other words, the nation-state, as it often has, is doing the bidding of its corporate masters. This will not be a revelation to many, but that it is a fact should outrage all of us.

The Irish situation is reminiscent of something that occurred several years ago pertaining to the WHO's efforts to reduce global use of tobacco. The tobacco company Philip Morris lobbied intensively and extensively to weaken measures aimed at reducing the consumption of their very lucrative product. You can read all about their sordid tactics in the link, but this excerpt might provide a little flavour of what they were up to:

a goal of Philip Morris is to increase the number of delegates at the treaty conventions who are not from health ministries or involved in public health. That’s happening: A Reuters analysis of delegates to the FCTC’s biennial conference shows a rise since the first convention in 2006 in the number of officials from ministries like trade, finance and agriculture for whom tobacco revenues can be a higher priority than health concerns.

A WHO treaty to discourage smoking was successfully implemented, but, at the time of the report,  while the U.S, signed the treaty, it did not ratify it. So much for the freedom to enact democratic and life-saving policies, eh?

We can look closer to home for further illustrations of whose interests are served in our democracy. The Rogers-Shaw merger, despite the protracted political theatre and government hand-wringing over competition in the wireless industry, was, as I knew it would be, endorsed. Who benefits? I think you know the answer. Who suffers? The citizens, of course.

Then there is the federal government's apparent inability to recover billions of dollars in evaded taxes. Despite the revelations of both the Paradise and Panama Papers, the CRA seems strangely reluctant to go after the titans who hold those accounts, Much easier it is to go after small businesses, as evidenced by the fishing expedition the tax agency is going on for Shopify records.

Even closer to home is the absolute contempt Doug Ford and John Tory evinced in the mayoral race which Olivia Chow just won. Both men had vowed to stay out of the election, but neither did, the most egregious violation by Ford, who pronounced absolute catastrophe for the City of Toronto should a "leftie" like Chow be elected. But what else can one expect from someone whose loins are set atingle whenever a privatization plan is mentioned?

"The people are never wrong," goes the cry about democracy. True, unless they want something the people behind the curtain don't. 

So much for the voice of the people.

Advice For The Ages

Since most of us no longer attend Sunday services, we do not benefit from wise, well-considered homilies. The following advice from the philosopher Bertrand Russell in 1959 resonates now more than ever, and would be a welcome message from most pulpits today, except, of course, from the hatemongering and crazed evangelicals so popular in Amerika these days.

In 1959 BERTRAND RUSSELL was asked what message he would most like to pass on to future generations.

H/t Michael Warburton

UPDATED: See No Evil

 

The evil would be the visibility of homeless people. The 'solution' that had been sought by Barrie City Council was an odious bylaw that would have outlawed individuals giving food, drink and other succour to those living on the streets. Essentially, it was a "don't feed the wildlife" approach, apparently in the hope that if you didn't encourage them, the unhoused would simply make themselves scarce.

As originally envisaged,  legislative fiat would 

include prohibiting the use or distribution of tents or tarps in public parks or lands without a permit, banning food and grocery distribution in public spaces without permission and reducing timelines for park camping and the storage of goods in public spaces. 

As well, bylaws were 

to be changed to prohibit payments to panhandlers on city streets, intersections and highway ramps. 

For now, likely as a result of unpleasant publicity, the city has backed off from the plan.

Councillors referred the controversial bylaws back to staff at a meeting Wednesday night.

Council’s plan was to have the legislation be enforced, under the Provincial Offences Act, by bylaw officers or members of the Barrie Police Service, with individual fines set to range from $500 to $100,000, [my emphasis] depending on the circumstance.

Before the council meeting, dozens of residents gathered outside city hall, many holding signs and speaking out in opposition to the proposed rules.

“Charitable acts of kindness are central to our community,” Coun. Jim Harris said. “We do not want to punish that; that’s not the intent. I look forward to having a better bylaw that reflect what people really want.”

 Marie-Josée Houle, a federal housing advocate whose non-partisan office works under the umbrella of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, had also urged council to backtrack.

“These measures would severely restrict access to basic shelter and food for people living in local homeless encampments and, as such, are in direct contravention of international human rights standards,” she wrote in a letter to members of council, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark.

“I am concerned that the proposed approach of the city to deny basic shelter to people living without access to housing or other safe and adequate formal shelter options will lead to a worsening of the crisis that your residents are experiencing,” she wrote.

I have seen all manner of human debasement in my lifetime. Criminalizing compassion and charity is but another egregious example.

It is clearly the true evil here.

UPDATE: In my view, the following represents a pusillanimous 'walk-back' from Barrie's mayor regarding the bylaw proposal. Apparently, it is all a 'miscommunication' due to sloppy wording and not a war on compassion after all:

Canadians' eyes are on you and your council, Mr. Mayor.

 

Where Is He Now?

Were you to go down the right-hand side panel of this blog, you would see that Pat Robertson appears in 30 past posts. That I did not acknowledge his recent passing is attributable more to the fact that I've been busy lately rather than to a loss of interest in the crazed old evangelical, who exerted an outsized influence on the American political landscape.

We trust his arrival at his final destination went off without a hitch. 

Although I do not have time to list abuses of his evangelical authority over the years, you can click here if interested. His real master must be proud of him. In any event, a letter in today's Star gives one a real measure of the man, a diabolical mischief-maker who will not be missed by any sane and balanced individuals who still live amongst us:

Pat Robertson was an evangelical minister out for himself

Pat Robertson united evangelical Christians and pushed them into conservative politics, June 9

Ben Finley mentions some political scandals in his sparing reflection on Pat Robertson’s life. However, Finley notes that his enterprises included “Operation Blessing, an international humanitarian organization” without expanding on its reprehensible activities.

I am not surprised; very few people became aware of its work, except for those who saw the film “Mission Congo.”

The documentary screened as part of TIFF 2013. Shortly afterward it was almost impossible to find. I contacted the producers and directors to see if I could get a copy, using the information TIFF had provided, but could not reach them. For two years there seemed to be nothing. Best I could guess was Robertson’s lawyers had done a good job of keeping it out of public view. Eventually it came to Amazon U.S., but not Canada.

The film documented Robertson taking advantage of a huge, squalid camp near Goma, home to almost one million refugees. On his religious broadcasts he asked for contributions to send medicine and medical personnel to help the suffering. Seems like genuine Christian humanitarian work, right?

However, what the film demonstrated was: he used pictures of Doctors Without Boards workers to promote the fundraising, without their approval, making it look like Operation Blessing was providing the staff; sent boxes of Tylenol which the staff there found not so useful; used the money raised to purchase a light plane; and flew to the camp for a photo op where he shook hands with Théoneste Bagosora, the man who had helped lead the Rwandan genocide in collaboration with the Interhamwe and was later convicted by the international court in Arusha.

All of this would have been bad enough, but the real fraud came with how that new plane was used. It carried dredgers to Robertson’s diamond mine concessions in other parts of the Congo — concessions he had obtained with the alleged help of corrupt Congolese officials. The documentary included interviews with American donors who, having given from their meagre savings, felt completely duped.

So, let’s remember him for who he really was. Not someone who sold all to help the poor, but someone who milked the poor, ignored the true needs of others, and enriched himself.

Paul A. Wilson, Toronto

Somehow, I doubt that the good pastor is resting in peace.

Adding Fuel

In the debased species known as humanity, it perhaps is not surprising that the very wildfires consuming us have become fuel for yet more deranged people and their 'theories'. Here are two of my favourite examples of our ongoing slide into social, political and spiritual senescence:

The embers of one particular theory were fanned Thursday morning by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who was asked by podcast host Ryan Jespersen about how she reconciled her government’s resistance to emission reduction schemes with the reality that climate change is contributing to more damaging fires.

“I think you’re watching, as I am, the number of stories about arson,” she responded. “I’m very concerned that there are arsonists.”

 The question of arson seems to have taken hold in certain corners of the internet among users who share stories of people charged with arson, and given oxygen not only by Smith, but by federal politician and one-time Conservative leadership hopeful Maxime Bernier, who tweeted earlier this week that he bet “a good portion” of the fires had been “started by green terrorists.”

Then there is this illustration of supreme idiocy: Nicholas is fighting fires in Alberta. The rumour is that the military that came to help isn’t even Canadian…it is the UN. Here, not to fight fires, but to round “them” up and put them……where? IDK .

“Our guts are telling us it’s round up time”

That's all I have the heart for today. 

UPDATED: A Lesson For All Of Us

Some 'religious' people will undoubtedly find this teaching from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hard to accept. 

Republicans have good reason to fear this woman, because her ability to cut through their BS is a master class in the art of political engagement. She absolutely understands how to sell a values driven argument and her honesty, integrity and passion spills out from every point she eloquently makes. #DemsAct #DemVoice1 #wtpBLUE #ONEV1 #FAM46

UPDATE: If you go to the six-minute mark in the following, I think you will find a perfect example of the kind of misconduct AOC is railing against:

Apparently the video is no longer available on YouTube, but here is a link to the story and video.

UPDATED: York Board Faces Backlash

 

The recent refusal of the York Catholic School Board to raise the Pride flag has generated a great deal of controversy. The childish and intolerant behaviour demonstrated by board officials, prelates and parents cries out for redress. Happily, Toronto Star readers are keen to provide some solid suggestions, the best being that it's time to stop funding the Catholic School system and its inherent bigotry:

Pride flag vote sparks outrage in York, May 30

Once again, proof that Ontario needs to jump into the 21st century and put an end to taxpayer-funded religious indoctrination.

Andrew Elrick, Whitby

 Despite the fact that Minister of Education Stephen Lecce and Ford have mandated all kinds of things with little or no input by the boards of education, both have suddenly developed a hands-off policy in dealing with the York District Catholic School Board.

When asked if he planned to intervene in the board’s decision not to fly the pride flag, Lecce answered with a bunch of political gobbly-gook.

Ford has “no comment,” obviously afraid to alienate his right-wing base. But it really comes as no surprise. Let’s remember when the Premier’s brother was mayor of Toronto and refused to fly the pride flag at city hall and also refused to appear in the pride parade because he spent that weekend at his cottage. Big brother Doug who was the mayor’s right hand man in all things apparently didn’t dissuade him to do the right thing.

The YDCSB’s refusal to protect a vulnerable group of students is reason in itself to eliminate provincial funding for Catholic education. It is long past the time to have a single system of education. As a taxpayer, I don’t want to be supporting bigotry.

Happy Pride Everyone!

Stephen Bloom, Toronto 

Somewhere in the Bible it says that God only loves heterosexuals?

I guess I missed that part.

Archie Gillis, Toronto 

 The York Catholic School Board is running scared. When will religion stop this persecution against LGBQT people? Be brave enough to fly the pride flag supporting the LGBQT community, especially our youth.

Fear is an insidious emotion that requires inner strength to overcome. Help our youth regardless of sex, sexual leaning, race, colour and religion. It shouldn’t matter one iota what a person identifies themselves as.

David Bell, Etobicoke

As a Catholic, I have to admit to being left in total confusion by the decision of the York Catholic District School Board under the guise of so-called “Catholicity.”

It is painfully obvious that their understanding of their church does not align with the principles and fundamental teachings of Jesus, its founder, because he stated quite categorically through Matthew’s Gospel (in KJV) Ch18: v5-6 “ … whoso shall offend one of these little ones … it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”

His directive is as clear as the decision of the YCDSB to not fly the LGBTQ banner in support of a minority and fringe group of students who they gladly have in their classes while taking tax dollars, donations and other financial support for their education.

If they were really honest, they should not accept any students into their schools who see the rainbow flag as a symbol of solidarity, unity, diversity and hard-fought acceptance. Through their decision not to fly this flag, they have not only offended these young people but have clearly taken a stance of rejecting them as full members of our human family.

 Matthew Marosszeky, retired Catholic school administrator), Aurora

Good letters to the editor have one thing in common: solid, informed opinion that is able to break through the miasma of prejudice hobbling so many people. 

Of course, I expect the words of the above writers to have no impact whatsoever. 

UPDATE:  The following is a good example of the childish hectoring the so-called religious like to engage in. My guess is that this warrior for Jesus has yet to crack open the New Testament.

My apologies to the above warrior. I had no idea he was capable of multitasking. Here he is with his 'freedom-loving' brethren: