An Inse Suggestion

In my morning post, I reprinted the following letter from The Toronto Star:

With Stephen Harper’s Conservatives intent to push science back to medieval times, it may be time for Canadians to embrace those efforts and get with Harper Times. Issue all conservatives a bell to be worn in public. They have become pariahs of society, like the lepers of old, and should be treated as such.

How a party representing less than 40 per cent of the electorate can be allowed to systematically dismantle our democracy and scientific institutions shows the current first past the post voting system is a relic that has long passed its expiry date.

Tyler Lindsay, Niagara Falls

Inse subsequently sent me the following, which I post with thanks, clearly reflective of the spirit of Tyler Lindsay's missive:

The Fearless Pope Francis

Yesterday, The Mound of Sound had a post on the role that Pope Francis is playing in the climate change debate. Given his growing moral authority and extensive popularity throughout the world, those with vested interests in retaining the status quo that is destroying the earth, and their aiders and abettors, (Stephen Harper et alia), have, I think, much to fear.

Here is a video well-worth watching from Democracy Now! that discusses Pope Francis and the encyclical he is slated to release in March on climate change. It is so refreshing to see a pontiff who is doing what we should all be doing: comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.

2015: Day Two

H/t The Toronto Star

Well, it is good to know that Star letter-writers have lost none of their edge over the holiday season. Responding to the paper's recent editorial lacerating the Harper regime's science policy ("Whatever the government’s motives, whatever it understands or does not about how science works, it has over the last eight years devastated Canadian research in a way that will be hard to reverse.") they offered the following:

Re: Canada needs a brighter science policy, Editorial Dec. 28

A lack of national science policy is fallout from the Conservative strategy of pitting one end of the nation against another, favouring pipeline-rich Alberta and shunning Ontario, for example.

There is no mechanism for uniting Canadians against this divisive, undermining approach. Stephen Harper has made clear that those who do not subscribe to his views are on his “enemies” list, and this would include scientists and other intellectuals who would challenge his free market doctrine.

The disrespect Harper has shown scientists, Statistics Canada, and others such as veterans and aboriginal peoples, is a form of contempt all Canadians should note come the next federal election.

Unlike the openness and enthusiasm for science joyfully brought forth to Canadians by Commander Chris Hadfield, Harper has silenced the dialogue about any policies Canadians value as fundamental to our democracy and impeded the future of Canada’s membership in a worldwide community of scientific research.
One has to wonder about his motives. It is time for Canadians to stand up.

Diane Sullivan, Toronto

The Harper government has taken us back several decades in our understanding of our relationship with the natural world, decades we may not be able to recover. Degrading our natural systems — wetlands, lakes, rivers, forests, wildlife, diversity of species and atmosphere — and calling the resultant increase in GDP a benefit to society is counterintuitive.

Instead of reveling in the exploitation of the sources of our water, food, air, flood protection, erosion control, soil fertility, resilience to diseases or invasive species, and protection from climate change, it would be far more productive to develop National Accounts that place a value on the assets of our natural world.

We continue to devalue the natural world of which we are a part and is essential for our existence, at our own peril.

Melanie Milanich, Toronto

With Stephen Harper’s Conservatives intent to push science back to medieval times, it may be time for Canadians to embrace those efforts and get with Harper Times. Issue all conservatives a bell to be worn in public. They have become pariahs of society, like the lepers of old, and should be treated as such.

How a party representing less than 40 per cent of the electorate can be allowed to systematically dismantle our democracy and scientific institutions shows the current first past the post voting system is a relic that has long passed its expiry date.

Tyler Lindsay, Niagara Falls

A New Year's Gift From Inse

On my previous post, Inse left a link for the following. Enjoy!

2015: Less Can Be More

While I am long past the age where personal New Year resolutions are anything other than exercises in futility, I can't help but think that a few well-placed aspirations for both Canada and the world would improve everyone's lives tremendously. Although some of the following may sound a tad sanctimonious, they are bound by a common theme: less can be more.

So, for 2015 and beyond, may we all strive for:

Less consumption of the world's resources, and more respect for the limits of the earth.

Less material pursuits, and more spiritual ones.

Less self-centredness, and more concern for the collective.

Less engagement with our technology, and more engagement with the world.

And finally, most importantly for the well-being of Canada,

Less Stephen Harper and his reactionary, divisive and vote-pandering policies, and more politics based on critical thinking, compassion and real leadership.

I end this brief post with a quote from one of my favourite poems, Tennyson's Ulysses:

Come, my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

May 2015 be a good year for Canada and the world.

As The Year Ends

... this deserves one more play. For a full review of the abysmal Harper Veterans Affairs record, check out the good work by the good folks at Press Progress.

The Harper Contest Continues

Lots of good observations and suggestions coming in. The above picture of The Blue Meanie was offered by Peter Leslie in the Facebook group Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper (C.R.U.S.H.) It seems a most apt rendering of Dear Leader, and that very fashionable blue is sure to appeal to his acolytes.

Also on Facebook, Skeena has compiled a series of memes inspired by Michelle Rempel's bedroom selfie.

Here are two of them that do real justice to the Cowardly Lion residing at 24 Sussex:





Enjoy, and I hope these pictures inspire more submissions.