The End Of Days

In these latter days of our life as a species, there is little that shocks or dismays me. Instead, I find my predominant emotion now is one of disappointment:

Disappointment that we never realized our potential as a species. 

Disappointment that our headlong plunge into oblivion is done with eyes wide open, getting and spending, using and abusing, directed mostly by our petty and shortsighted impulses and preoccupations. 

We could have been so much more.

There will be no apotheosis, and there certainly will be no deus ex machina to bring us back from the brink. That is surely the stuff of fantasy, the hope of the benighted.

Probably George Carlin said it best in a 1996 interview. Thanks to the salamander horde for posting this on Twitter:

In Gun We Trust

 

H/t Moudakis

Just a brief post.

As a parent of two and a grandfather of one (our granddaughter was born last August), I do not have the stomach, the heart or the psychic strength to really contemplate the ongoing horror that is the United States. Nor can I read or watch the protracted coverage in the media of the self-induced, oh so predictable, massacres that have become a regular part of that blighted landscape.

Although we in Canada have had our share of terrible shootings, the fact that they are rare is largely attributable to the sanity that undergirds our gun laws. It really is as simple as that. Contrast that with all of the misdirected comments about mental illness in the U.S. when the inevitable happens again and again there, with nary a mention of the real underlying cause, the American love of the gun and the the weak laws that fuel that love. 

One final note: despite the dimensions of the tragedies, I don't see why Canadian media are spending so much time and so many resources covering what has happened in that alien country. It will not bring back the victims, and, I believe, it blurs the distinctions between us and them. 

Note to the U.S. It is time you changed your national motto to one more reflective of your befouled character. 

Paltry Offerings - Part 5

The same, of course, can be said of the other two major contenders in the June 2 election.

H/t Moudakis

Given the dearth of  plausible ideas put forth during this campaign slog, I nominate the following as 2022's unofficial anthem for those seeking office:

Me, Me, And Me

 

Here in Ontario, the 2022 June election will likely see another Doug Ford majority, in part achieved by cynically buying the electorate with cash gifts that I have written about in previous posts. People will use their own inflation-induced economic hardships to justify supporting Doug Ford. Isn't he, after all, the man who has already rebated and ended licence-sticker fees, promised a six-month reduction of gas taxes post-election, etc.?

What is a voter to do other than revert to an 'it's all about me" approach to the world? Voting with principle and integrity seems not within the cribbed philosophy of many. At the very least, they should have the courage to admit their selfish shortsightedness.

The following letter, taken from the print edition of today's Toronto Star, neatly encapsulates the political prostitution a sizable segment of the electorate is willing to engage in:

Ontarians should be ashamed if Ford is re-elected

• Toronto Star
• 24 May 2022

If Doug Ford is re-elected, it will prove Ontarians do not care about the environment.

If Ford is re-elected, it will prove Ontarians do not care about our seniors.

If Ford is re-elected, it will prove Ontarians do not care about nurses.

If Ford is re-elected, it will prove Ontarians do not care about the young.

So what will Ford’s re-election show that Ontarians do care about?

This election is about “affordability,” so in effect, if Ford is re-elected, it will prove Ontarians do care about their own bottom line — they are selfish. To be fair, a majority will probably disagree, but a sizable enough plurality will have shown we’re not “in this together” but, in fact, we’re each in it for No. 1. 

Ernest Tucker Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.

The Lighter Side Of Dementia?

In which Rudy Giuliani amply illustrates the old adage that it takes one to know one. May the farce be with him.

Marching behind Mayor Adams is

@RudyGiuliani

who gets into a shouting match with a Democrat. “You are a jackass… You are a brainwashed asshole… you are probably as demented as Biden,” Giuliani told the guy

Slouching Towards June 2

 

It would seem that Doug Ford guessed right: you really can buy people's votes with their own money. 

As the provincial election campaign continues, the Ontario Progressive Conservatives continue to sustain their lead, with a seemingly good chance at a majority government, as we get closer to June 2.

According to a poll from Research Co., conducted online with 700 Ontario adults from May 15 to May 17, 34 per cent of decided voters indicated they support the Ontario PC, 29 per cent support the Liberal, 23 per cent for NDP and seven per cent support the Green Party.

Oh well. I guess the man who, when he was a Toronto city councillor, advocated for a giant Ferris wheel and a monorail on the waterfront knows his alleged P.T. Barnum truisms.

He Speaks - But Will The Truth Set Him Free?

In the following, George Bush offers an opinion that reveals more than he perhaps intended. Was it just one of his usual gaffes, his advancing years, or a subconsciously motivated expression of atonement?