Bob – Common Sense and Clarity in Troubled Times

Interesting times, these.

Unlike any I can remember. Oddly enough, it is now, when we are all so far apart, that we are united and closer than we have ever been. The whole mudball in the same boat. Proof we are ALL brothers and sisters with the exception of the few who cannot and will not embrace what their eyes, and surely their subconcious, inform them of what is happening all around them. There is little talk of war. Less hate. More understanding. As though we have all been handed a pair of glasses that corrects our sight and headphones that make the voices loud and clear.

This is a moment of spiritual awakening and clarity that needs to be embraced and acted upon.

This column has been cobbled together from previous articles written in 2015 and 2016, with current additional material. It is long and it is (for me, anyway) so on point to our current situation that I find it almost eerie.

My lovely GF speaks often of going with her feelings, of spiritual moments she has experienced that seem out of place or out of the ordinary, and I must admit I have made fun of her in regards to those moments, but I can honestly say I now understand what she means.

Take your time, but PLEASE read this through when you can and add your thoughts in the ‘Reply’ section at the bottom of the column.

Let’s do our best to get to the other side of this problem with new knowledge and respect for one another. In the meantime, Be Well, Stay Safe, and Have Hope.

Much love to all of you …even those who still cannot see clearly.

2015 – I Nap With the Mayor

I’m scrolling through my Facebook news feed a couple of days ago and I came across a link to an article called “20 Things Every Woman Should Know About Her Vagina” No…not kidding, and the article did contain some valuable information all women should be aware of. That said, I’m pretty sure women have that subject well in hand. After all, the ladies all HAVE one and have been wrestling with it since they were born. What we REALLY need, is an article called “20 Things MEN Should Know About a Woman’s Vagina”, because, according to a lot of women, some of us boys need a clue, a map, a shave, and a manicure…and boys, you know who you are, and because they talk amongst themselves about EVERYTHING, so do the ladies.

www.care2.com/greenliving/20-things-every-woman-should-know-about-her-vagina.html

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The point I am trying to make is that we have reached a point in our evolution that allows us to communicate with one another about anything. We can openly discuss any subject that exists, from anal bleaching to Trump’s comb-over, from the burning concern over whether Caitlin Jenner sits or stands when she pees, or to the size of Kanye’s brain compared to pretty much any Kardashian’s ass.

…and occasionally, we have the opportunity to discuss the important issues of the day; Should we ask the Bush family to just, you know…stop talking or running for office or breathing, or should we try to reason with a Republican/Conservative/Fundamentalist/Christian/Evangelist/Loofa or Fox News Talking Heads with Beautiful Complexions, Gorgeous Blonde Hair and Large, Firm, Breasts about…well, anything…without wanting to clamp their heads in a vice and grind a cheese grater over their noggins until we can see just what the hell is inside their skulls that replaced a normal brain? And…and I do not want to appear offensive, rude, or racist here…but would someone from the African-American community please explain Ben Carter to the rest of us? Cannot he sing or dance either? Is he bereft of sportsball skills? Does he drive a Hummer or repurposed bus to make up for other inadequacies?

Even though we have reached a point of being able to discuss ANYTHING, we rarely have the discussions we should have. …and even if we DO have the discussions we really should have, that STILL leaves us with the actual, overwhelming, elephant in the room…

We TALK about shit…but we rarely, if ever, get around to DOING anything about it…like…for example…who the fuck are these people who keep bringing fucking elephants into the rooms where people gather to discuss stuff?

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Call me old fashioned…or make me an Old Fashioned, (http://oldfashioned101.com/) but I was raised to do my best to find the solution to a problem, and then implement the solution that has been arrived at to see if it works. If it doesn’t, then you cut bait and try the next suggestion, and so forth, and so on, until an actual solution is reached.

We have lost the ability to do so.

Ego, large committees of pompous, thin skinned bureaucrats, Nervous Nellies, and waffling assholes who are just there to get paid and eat the free donuts, drag their feet, quibble like a Jury who are never actual “peers” of the accused or the accuser (Phil Spector was not tried by 12 successful, eccentric, production geniuses who have dealt with insane wannabe celebrity stalkers who are unpredictable and capable of doing crazy shit on you), so you are basically at the mercy of 12 people who are either too stupid to get out of Jury duty, or worse…LOVE jury duty because it makes them feel important. Either way…sometimes an OJ happens and we get all outraged and shit because…well…uh…fuck it…if we go there we’ll be there all day.

Again…(I am becoming predictable and my own worst enemy) my point is, nothing SEEMS to ever get done because nothing ever GETS done. Well, sometimes something gets done, but not very often, or years after the problem surfaces,..and when the solution decided by committee or dart board DOESN’T work, we form ANOTHER committee and take a gazillion MORE months to come up with ANOTHER ‘solution’ and here we go again.

The solution to THAT problem is to gather the best minds (not the loudest, greediest, ego-driven, lazy, donut-loving politicians) and come up with at least a half dozen good, solid ideas, and then implement them after the previous one fails, and STOP when one WORKS.

Where’s that Old Fashioned?

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We have always had difficulty inserting Tab A into Slot B, just like we have lost the ability to use common sense when it comes to addressing a problem that, for the most part, is fairly simple to take care of. And, if one solid, common sense idea doesn’t put the toothpaste back in the toothpaste tube (use an Icing Bag and a small tip) make sure you have backup plans ready to go. Time is more valuable than money ever will be…and that is one of our BIGGEST problems; not knowing just HOW valuable time is and how secondary and, in the long run, unimportant money is.

…because we have been listening to the wrong people, and embracing the wrong things, and have been forced by a (comparatively) small segment of the population to NEED more money just to survive. And it is THAT problem, and THOSE people who have cattle-prodded, seduced, and corrupted us into believing that they are the leaders, the wise, the benign, and the concerned.

There are exceptions, of course. America has a great (perhaps one of the Greatest) sitting President. Men like Bill Gates and Elon Musk are devoting time, energy and money to improving our lives…and in every segment of every pursuit on this planet, there are those who strive to bring about change for the better,  and offer ways we an afford a decent lifestyle without making deals with the Devil.

…But those people who have steered us down a dark path that will only lead to a blind alley, who assure us that they are the leaders, the wise, the benign, and the concerned…They are NONE of those things…and we…are a bunch of Idiots.

…and if you haven’t figured it out yet, The Assholes run the show, and the Idiots do their work.

That’s the plan, that’s what’s happening, and 2015 was the year the plan kicked into high gear.

For those of you with short attention spans or terrible Long-Term Memory, let’s revisit 2015 through the eyes and easy-to-understand language of the great George Lucas, the man who sold Obi Wan Kanobi and Indiana Jones to a fucking Mouse.

In case You missed it….

Star Wars 2015

It is an incredibly idiotic time on Planet Earth. Stupid People have made other Stupid People famous.  One man, The Obama, tries his best to undo decades of bad moves made by Bad People, but is hampered by sinister forces controlled by  people who are a word that starts with A, that Lucasfilm won’t allow me to use. That’s cool, you know the word, right? Anyway, that’s just the tip of the Iceberg. In all walks of life, in every corner of the globe, Stupid has taken root, threatening the Un-Stupid with many stupid things, and Stupid Troopers fight for the Stupid with all their ill informed, uneducated, judgemental power.  The Un-Stupid look to 2016 as a ray of hope in defeating The Stupid and their Idiot Stupid Troopers, and living a pleasant, productive, happy life with family and friends, in peace and harmony, or at least at a respectful distance, with the rest of the world.  Join us here , Monday, January 11th for this exciting adventure….Why isn’t there a bar in this theatre?

Used it on Facebook to alert the troops to my Year End Review of 2015.

…and here it is…Part 1 of a look back at the recently deceased year I like to call:

Episode 2015 – A New Dope

International

Angry Young People from Everywhere call themselves by several different names and terrorize the wrong people for the wrong reasons in the name of a religion they do not believe in or understand. They cause everybody else to want to bomb the shit out of whole countries, and hate EVERYBODY from a bunch of different places for no reason because STUPID. The logic behind bombing EVERYONE to solve this problem, is like killing your dog because he has fleas.

The weather continues to get frightening fear inducing names like Polar Vortex, The Next One, Snowmaggedon, Rain of Terror, Betty the Hurricaniac, Mudzilla, and HeatAttack, instead of going by their old names, Freezing weather, Snow storm, Rain, Hurricane, Mudslides ,and “Jebus, it is ever HOT” Why? Because STUPID. In 2015, if it wasn’t scary or celebrity-centric, it wasn’t news.

Malaysians aren’t very good at keeping track of their airplanes. Which is more sad than STUPID…’cause airplanes are pretty fucking hard to misplace. or just happen to wander off course.

Russian leader Putin does some good stuff and some bad stuff and we’re not sure which is what because we’re not sure what’s true and what isn’t because STUPID.

Donald Trump replaces Rob Ford as the biggest non-celebrity to be thrust into our faces every 30 seconds because he is an Idiot AND an Asshole, while Ford was just kinda lumpy and sweaty. Both those who love them and hate them, and spend valuable, irreplaceable time shaming them, supporting them, spreading rumours, gossip, and out and out lies about them however, cover STUPID pretty well.

Ben Carter is just plain STUPID and I am surprised he can dress himself. Pretty sure he has a drawer full of clip on ties.

The people who elevate these celebrities to superstar status by going on and on and on about them, have proven to be biggest purveyors of STUPID. Further, the seemingly unlimited supply of these enablers and their targets have guaranteed a surplus of STUPID that will last until we are all fertilizer…or Soylent Green.

That little Korean guy who inherited a whole country from his father is as STUPID, and like his father, as dangerous as a 3 year old with an assault rifle and a drunk uncle.

International air travel became a cross between being herded like cattle and having Honey Boo Boo’s mother as a partner on “So You Think You Can Dance” So…DOUBLE STUPID there…NO…TRIPLE STUPID. Horrible traveling treatment, Honey Boo Boo is a celebrity, and so is Mother of Honey Boo Boo. STUPID bats 3 for 3.

Canada got boned, robbed, tricked, lied to, and fleeced by a Bush Weasel for 10 years until 2015, when he was replaced by someone who might have a chance to turn things around, but Canadians are already doubting his chances, and the Angry Right are STILL unable to get their ‘facts’ straight.

Bunch of other STUPID shit is going on, but hey…you know that already, don’t you?

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American Politics

I wish Obama could just stay in office until he does everything he has been trying to do. P.S, he does NOT want your fucking guns. Learn to read.

Highlights of one of the 2015 Republican Debates – A Short Bus trip to the travelling Carnival set up in a WalMart parking lot OR Angry Drunks in Suits go for Coffee in Bumper Cars and take Somebody’s Wife with Them

DONALD TRUMP LOOKS ON IN DISGUST AS JEB BUSH LIES ABOUT THE SIZE OF HIS PENIS

DONALD TRUMP, JEB BUSH, AND GOVERNOR SCOTT WALKER FIGURE OUT WHO LEFT THE TOILET SEAT DOWN IN THE GREEN ROOM, WHILE GOVERNOR JOHN KASICH TRIES TO REMEMBER WHERE HE PARKED 

CARLY FLORINA APOLOGIZES. EXPLAINS TO THE DIAS THAT WOMEN SIT DOWN TO DO NUMBER ONE AS WELL AS NUMBER TWO

DONALD TRUMP TELLS CARLY FLORINA THAT HE KNOWS FOR A FACT WOMEN DON’T SIT DOWN TO DO NUMBER ONE AS JEB BUSH STATES HIS BROTHER GEORGE IS SURE THAT WOMEN ONLY PUT THE SEAT DOWN TO GO NUMBER TWO AND NUMBER FIVE

AFTER DONALD TRUMP CALLS JEB BUSH AN IDIOT FOR INTRODUCING RARE AFRICAN AMERICAN BORG BEN CARTER AS UNCLE BEN VEREEN, WHO PLAYED LANDO CALRISSIAN IN THE STAR WARS MOVIE ‘A NEW POPE’, TRUMP RE-INTRODUCES HIM AS LEGENDARY SPORTSBALL PLAYER, WILLIE MAYS

Volunteer workers move into a bird sanctuary and ask to be paid in Yoo Hoo, Beer, Doritos, and Tootsie Rolls. A nation freaks out and they are headline news.

Why?

Ignore them…unless they cause one of the Sanctuaried birds to die, in which case, prison, because killing a protected animal is a Federal offense. Just send in a lot of birdseed and let them stay out of jail by making sure the little birdies are safe and comfy. Eventually they will either go home or reposition themselves as a branch of The National Audubon Society.

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Canada

Everything is pretty “cool” here (get it) in the world’s bestest place, but yes…we have our share of Idiots and Assholes, but fewer than most countries (No offense, Chad, Switzerland, and Norway) and they are mostly just good people drinking the wrong Kool Aid. You should, however, take another look at your Hydro bill if you live in Ontario, because it looks like 2015 went by without anyone who worked at Hydro knowing how to add or subtract or, you know, add up your bill, so they just made stuff up because, golly…math is hard!

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Things I learned in 2015….

Rebellion has been replaced by conformity

Radio has become a loud 24 hour commercial for snack chips, beer, soda pop, automobiles, television shows, movies, franchise restaurants and fast food, sportsball, donuts, and coffee, occasionally interrupted by format friendly commercials for producers, arrangers, beat specialists, people who talk really fast about what they own, want to own or used to own, bitches, ho’s, screwing, and jesus, auto-tuned pretty boys and girls, and Max Martin. All delivered by a 1000 DJs who all sound like Ryan Seacrest because they got the memo.

There are exceptions to every rule (see previous paragraph) but not many.

Lemmy cast a much longer shadow than the mainstream audience will ever know

Donald Trump became the biggest Idiot/Asshole in the history of the United States, knocking George W Bush down to number 2 and Reagan down to number 3. Newbie Ben (The Bewildered) Carter placing 4th in his first year in the running.

No matter how smart you think you are, no matter how accurate you believe your judgement of character to be, you can be completely fooled by a psychopath.

The Top 5 things People Are Looking For on Facebook

5. Something or Someone to love

4. Something or Someone to Hate

3. Likes, Kudos, and Congratulations

2. Sympathy

1. Attention

Buzzwords I Hope I Never Hear or See Again

Dropping

Trending

Branding

Impacting

Winning

Owning

The Six

Share if You….

Buzzwords

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Dumbest Shit I Read and Heard in 2015….

“Obama is the worst President in history…”

“Trump says what the rest of us are thinking…”

“Never trust anyone who doesn’t love The Beatles…”

“I fucking HATE the Eagles…”

“Today’s music sucks…”

“Cancer has been cured, but Big Pharma is holding it back…”

“We’re Number One…!”

“I made 2300 dollars in one hour doing this…”

“What millionaires don’t want you to know…”

“You won’t believe what happens next…”

“You’re watching FOX News…”

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Sayonara 2015, You Stupid Fuck….

I blame 2015 for the first 3 weeks of January 2016.

Why?

Because just before the decaying body of last year crumbled to dust, it up and took Lemmy with it and then expected us to enjoy our Boxing Day purchases and New Year’s Eve.

You sucked, 2015. I hope you die on Facebook 1000 times.

Asshole.

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Nothing says more about a period of time than our entertainments and diversions. They reflect the culture and mindset embraced by the populace in broad and easily understood strokes for us to enjoy individually and in crowds. And to either take our minds off the events taking place in our lives, or to educate and inform us of those events.

About Mad Max, Tomorrowland, and a message no one got except the movie critics who shit all over it….

I am not a fan of dire, dour, apocalyptic movies. Or books. Or TV shows. Or Memes. Or people who preach it, predict it, dwell on it, and spread the ‘word’ about it every time they read some screw-loose report from a conspiracy nut’s blog.

The popularity of The Walking Dead and all its spin-offs, imitators, and tropes, make me shake my head. The body count and totally dark and dreary nature of Game of Thrones confuses the fuck out of me. People tune in to watch actors pretend to die in the most heinous ways. Sex in the times depicted? Do you realize how those men and women would have SMELLED? No toothpaste, soap, deodorant or feminine hygiene products? Running Water? Toilets? Is all that worth it just to see the occasional pair of titties?

I’m surprised they could get close enough to one another to just shake hands or shove a knife into a pregnant woman’s stomach.

Of all the movies casting doubt on our ability to overcome our problems and maybe solve a few of the big ones so our grandkid’s kids aren’t chowing down on Soylent Green and drinking purified urine, Mad Max: Fury Road was the straw that broke my camel’s back.

A depressing story about ugly people living in a ugly world, driving around in ugly vehicles, doing ugly things to other ugly people, in a dusty, fucked up, hopeless, ugly pile of sand and dirt, and just accepting that life, instead of banding together, using all the fucking fuel they seem to have, finding or building a fucking boat instead of intricate torture devices, and getting the fuck out of Dodge to look for something a little less…shall we say…ugly.

…and it was fucking LOUD.

…but no…lt’s just, do ugly things, be ugly and live ugly because ugly, dirt, hopelessness, kill or be killed, would you like some of this rat and a pint of warm urine and perhaps an eye-gouge, tattoo or maiming, is the way to go.

We, as a culture, seem to just LOVE being entertained by dying all together in a horrible, cataclysmic fireball of pain, fire, ice, aliens, asteroids, super-volcanoes, demons, brain slugs, super flu, zombies, vampires, Nazis, Open Carry Assholes, poison water, axe-wielding Christian Fundamentalist ISIS Terrorist airplane shoe bombs and sugar, red meat, and Frankencorn.

Here’s the deal.

If ANY of that happens, let it be a surprise…and if it ever does, just how dumb are you going to feel that you LOVED being entertained by the prospect of your loved ones dying and every bit of art and history and the entire wealth of human endeavour and knowledge being destroyed for all time and making our existence a big giant cosmic joke that only Douglas Adams could repair…and he’s fucking DEAD. …but some of the blockbuster ones are reallly fun.

So….

The GF and I go to the Colossus to see Jurassic World and Tomorrowland. We get in line for tickets and are told all 5 theatres showing Mad Max: Fury Road, are sold out.

Big Whoops.

We get our tickets, and head toward the theatre showing Jurassic World. As we walk through the massive lobby of this theatre, I notice the huge lineups at the 5 theatres showing Mad Max: FR. We walk into ours.

Two hours later, we come out and get in a line of about 10 people for Tomorrowland in the iMAX theatre. I look over my shoulder to see all five MM:FR theatres lines stretching across the lobby.

2 hours later, we come out of Tomorrowland, and I notice that the five theatres for MM:FR are again as bloated as a Kardashian’s rear end…only this time, I have a huge grin on my face.

Because I discovered that I am not only NOT the only person on this mudball that finds the obsession with the END of ALL THINGS to be spiritually and emotionally corrupt, but SOMEONE MADE A MOVIE ABOUT IT.

So, thank you Brad Bird, and Disney, and the writers of this fine piece of entertainment which also made a point that needed to be made…

…only to have it ignored except for the critics who were offended by a movie of wonder and thrills and hope and redemption, and instead gave it a thumbs down because it had a “message”.

Well, I have a message for you.

NEVER disrespect common sense, hope, or humanity’s ability to rise above its most uninformed, angry, negative, and smug bottom feeders…just be sorry for them and for those who buy into giving up, accepting the worst, and being part of the problems most of us would like to fix.

Hugh Laurie’s Tomorrowland Speech

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A Final Word About 2015 from 2016

Four years later and we’re JUST figuring this out ….

Last night I watched the Director’s cut of a film called “Cowboys and Aliens”, and the first Part of Ken Burns’ epic history of America’s National Parks. In both of these disparate entertainments, the wisdom and spirituality of the American Indian brings calm and understanding, and makes sense of the importance of the wealth of our surroundings, of the beauty of nature, that we have all but destroyed in the pursuit of money, control over others, and intolerance. We need to unite and embrace a lot of what the Indigenous peoples of this continent have believed for centuries, and face off with those whose obsession with the accumulation of wealth and power over others. I want Gene Roddenberry’s future, not George Miller’s. It’s time we stopped whining and yelling and arguing…and DID something about our problems.

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I love social media. Because of it, I have connected with lost friends and old chums, been reminded of past pleasures and experiences I had nearly or completely forgotten, and have over 4000 NEW friends I have never met, know nothing about, and will probably never meet. Instant Pen Pals from all over the world…but one thing about this mostly wonderful technology is driving me nuts.

All the whining. Including mine….

We bitch, we moan, we decry, we rant, we spew, and we complain. We waffle, we blame, we demand change, and we yell, scream, and pout. We have even figured out how to shout at everyone BY TYPING OUR POSTS IN CAPITAL LETTERS AND ADDING EXCLAMATION POINTS, THE NUMBER OF WHICH INDICATES JUST HOW PISSED OFF/FED UP WE ARE, AND HOW  LOUD WE ARE SHOUTING!!!!!

Sorry…shouldn’t have raised my voice like that.

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Problems

When we’re young our problems (such as they are) seem enormous. They usually fall into three basic categories…

1. Does she/he like me?
2. Am I handsome/pretty/smart/funny/cool/sweating?
3. Do I say something/do something/smell okay?

That’s pretty much it.

Of course those are First World Problems, and nothing like Third World Problems, which are more like…

1. Will I get a drink of water tomorrow?
2. Will a lion eat my new daddy too?
3. My village was prettier when it wasn’t on fire.

and

4. Are all these flies going to eat me before morning?

…and that’s just Flint, Michigan.

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As we get older, our problems change. They come from without as well as from within, and from far away as well as close to home. We become aware of the world around us, and realize that what happens in France or Russia, or Chad, or Sudbury, can eventually affect us too. For most of us, this is an eye-opener and turning point in our lives. For others, it is easily dismissed and ignored. There ARE people to whom a line-up at the checkout stand is much more troubling than rising ocean levels and the continued popularity of the Kardashians.

Some of us are perfectly happy to skip through life with little concern for anything other than getting a new iPhone, while half a world away a woman who was caught listening to the new One Direction CD is subjected to a severe stoning, and I’m not talking bong here.

Lately, however, there seems to be a growing awareness of injustice, inequality, racism, and bigotry in its many forms, and a climate change of concern and involvement seems to be replacing the apathy and tolerance toward these uneducated and uninformed behaviours. Maybe, at long last, we are maturing. …or maybe we are just starting to realize that if we don’t address these ongoing, festering problems, we are just as guilty as the perpetrators and supporters of greed, avarice, judgemental posturing, and out and out inhuman attacks on those who will not conform to their demands and self-righteous leanings.

Maybe we don’t want to be part of the problem. Maybe we want to be part of the solution.

Maybe we are tired of talking about the problems both close to home and far away.

Maybe we want to take action, or see some action…or possibly shake some action.

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Turning a blind eye to the problems of the day, the apparent censorship of the news by the mainstream media, denying the right of the people to know the truth and limiting access to the available facts, and the lack of a balanced world view and not reporting both sides of an issue is nothing new. This has been going on for a looong time.

We are culpable insofar that few of us have the time or are willing to verify anything we read or hear, and just accept opinions as fact, assumptions as truth, rumours as written in stone NEWS.

Between hypocritical Neo-Puritans trying to re-repress us, and those terrified people who want the Government to raise their children because they can’t be bothered, we face a possible future where you will be fined for being overheard saying anything about s-e-x or d-r-u-g-s, or a-l-t-e-r-n-a-t-i-v-e e-n-e-r-g-y or the dreaded c-l-i-m-a-t-e c-h-a-n-g-e, and swaddling your kids in bubble wrap, a football helmet and Number 1000 Sunscreen, just so he can ride his 8 wheeled octocycle to the Organic Inconvenience Store for this week’s supply of kale, yogurt, tofu, and almond soy gluten free organic milk-like protein powder.

We will be buying sugar, red meat, coffee, and hot dogs in dark alleys…using code names…like a bunch of fucking crackheads.

Buying Sugar 2017

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Here in America’s Hat, Home of the Care Bear People, we recently ended a 10 year hostage situation in which our government decided to pay all of its attention to money and dick-swinging, and very little to the people who work their asses off for it while keeping their own dicks in their pants. We need that money to pay our taxes, our rent, our bills, and buy beer, and hockey tickets.

For 10 years we just wrote the odd letter to the editor and bitched on Facebook, and turned on one another until we were actually divided on the issues to the point that we became America Junior.

Well…we’re NOT America Junior…we are fucking CANADA.

…and we finally got to the point where we wanted our identity back.

…and now we are divided over our NEW Prime Minister because of a growing number of right leaning, angry citizens informed by the same group of malcontents in The Lower 48, and to whom power and money take precedence over common sense and equality. That ‘My Way or the Highway’ is a goal, not an impediment.

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Ever since 9/11, North America has been dragged deeper and deeper into a pit of doubt, fear, and stupidity. Our common sense has become uncommon, our popular music has become vacuous and homogenized, our newscasts have become puff pieces about celebrities and frightening warnings about everything from the weather to hot dogs.

Everything is out to get us, and by gum, if we don’t put on our tin-foil hats and use every nickel we have to stay safe on this Venus Fly Trap of a mudball, then we are crazy and too uninformed to have a say in just how we accomplish the seemingly impossible task of turning this bus around.

We better let those in authority handle this.

All we have to do is let them spend our money where it will do the most good. You know…more bombs, more weapons, more rules, more regulations, more people to make sure we are safe, more security…because freedom without security is…ummm…is…uhhh…is…er….Oh Yeah…!

Life.

…and if LIFE was good enough for my parents, and my parent’s parents, and so forth and so on, well then, it is good enough for me.

Security is a myth perpetuated by those who can profit from it.

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Look, I’m not saying that being prepared and doing what we can to stay safe in this currently fucked up climate of heightened tension and greed driven decisions should be dropped altogether, but I am saying that we have a way to deal with the widening gap between sense and the lack thereof, besides yelling, bitching, blaming, accusing, cowering, giving up, and (for the more threatening boogiemen we have been saddled with) bombing the shit out of everything that moves and looks like Ringo in an Italian tablecloth.

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We have weapons that are far more powerful in today’s world than any amount of ordnance a standing army, or a billion dollar corporation can muster. We have a couple of things that every Government, Corporation, Idiot, and Asshole are terrified of or desperate to make their own.

Our votes…and our wallets.

And our votes and our wallets give us the one thing that the governments, corporations, idiots, and assholes do not want us to have.

A say in how things go.

People Power.

…and the possibility of that power gives us hope.

And when we used that power here in Canada on October 19th, 2015, we changed the course of a mighty river. A river whose direction had been sullying the reputation and tarnishing the ideology of this great country, and the people who love it, for the previous 10 years.

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America has one of the greatest leaders it has ever had. A man who has faced obstacle after obstacle, who has suffered lies, and untruths at the hands of those who fear him and his desire to make America and the world a better place for the PEOPLE he serves. No amount of Imaginary Facts or Bullshit flung by those who oppose him, fear him, or judge him through bigoted, racist, eyeballs, is going to change that. He has stood his ground and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat multiple times, but he needs more of his PEOPLE to reject what they have embraced because of the lies and untruths foisted upon them by those who WANT the inequality, the fear, and the uncertainty, to drive the populace into giving up more and more of their freedom and finances for a kind of security that does not exist, against an enemy who remains faceless and elusive, hiding amongst their brothers and sisters who are being judged by the actual criminals heinous actions, and are now as feared and despised as those who are guilty, though they are not guilty themselves.

We hate arbitrarily based on religion or ethnicity, and we do this based on the fear instilled in us by those who wish to profit from that fear. The same fear that has taken a culture of individuals and turned a loud minority of them into conformists who feel the need to belong, listen to the same music, watch the same shows, read the same books, and be comforted by news of this NBA star’s vagina addiction and that celebrity woman’s thrice weekly high colonic dependence. They long to be part of the huddled masses, be complacent, be proud to be a part of a country that has clearly, and tragically lost its way.

The squeaky wheel has ALWAYS gotten the grease.

Now America has to attempt to elect a leader who can at least continue to try and do the right thing as far as the people are concerned. That the sitting President cannot be elected for more than 2 terms is a tragedy that no one seems willing to correct, and the promise of a political system ‘By the People For the People’ that has stood for over 200 years, has been all but reduced to a shouting match between the angry, fearful, ill informed and their frustrated, knowledgeable, equally frightened opposite.

Clinton VS Trump

As far as the United States’ upcoming decision is concerned, and…

…at the risk of trying to teach a fish to ride a bicycle, let me get this off my chest….

I will explain this as simply as I can so you understand it the first time…although, I fear I will be wasting my time.

Dear America,

You are on a plane. You have the choice of an experienced pilot who is familiar with not only how the plane is flown and landed, but the conditions of all the airports in the world and how best to land your plane safely at all of them. Your OTHER choice is a screaming 12 year old boy who has bullied the other children on the plane, grabbed some of the stewardesses by the groin, made fun of a passenger in a wheelchair, and called anyone of colour a derogatory name. He has never BEEN in a plane before let alone FLY one, does not know or care to know what the airports around the world are like, or what he needs to know to land safely at any of them. He has also made a point of telling everyone on your plane that he is the best at all of the things that are needed to make sure you arrive at your destinations safely…but has no experience, no education, no familiarity, and no DESIRE to learn ANYTHING about doing it successfully. Those are your choices. Do the math.

Choose the Angry, Visogothic, Delusional, Boy? Really?

We came very close to going down that path here in Canada. For 10 years we let it slowly open up before us, and many of us fell for the promise of sitting at the Big Dog table open-carrying a gun, and ultimately, forgetting who, and what, we are.

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We don’t know what the future will bring, no one does, but we , as a people, got to the point where we worked in consort to change the course of our river back to its original direction, and because we used our votes, and our wallets, and because we were willing to take a chance, we now have hope.

Hope that we can retain our identity and regain what has been diminished in our heritage.

Hope that we can continue to say “Pardon me”, and “After you”. Hope that we can help solve problems around the world with diplomacy and kindness. Hope that we can maintain and raise our standard of living, educate our children, heal the sick without costing them their homes, and create art and artists who will entertain and inform the world.

We can accomplish anything if we stand together for each other…and with one victory under our belts and a new government that offers hope and may even act on righting 10 years of wrongs, there is a chance that the feeling we all felt after the election will grow and our hopes will be fulfilled.

At least we have a chance.

…but damned if I know what we can do about the fucking Leafs.

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March 27th, 2020

This Virus could possibly lead to the reawakening of spirituality and common sense world wide. We are being taught a lesson here. Please, let’s pay attention.

I’ve been around for a long time. I have seen many examples of the good and common sense inherent in people make a major difference in our lives. I choose to be positive because I believe the mindset of people affects our reality. We have been going through years and years of embracing Mad Max, Dystopian movies, books, and TV shows, negative opinions, dour predictions, and hopelessness and darkness in all forms of public entertainment and conversation.

In part, I think what we are experiencing right now is the opportunity to embrace what is right, and carry what we are seeing with our own eyes past this crisis and forward into the future. I, for one, am sick and tired of all the finger pointing, mud slinging, and negative, toxic, opinions. I will not feed into it. Look at the changes that have happened in just a couple of weeks. Cleaner water, cleaner air, the vast majority working together to help and keep others safe.

Common sense has to be acquired through experience. So …how do you think the billions of people who have spent their whole lives in cities around the world that have been so covered in polluted air that there are many days every year when the elderly and children cannot go outside and have trouble breathing at the best of times, suddenly learn how easy it is to clear the air? To make the water cleaner? Working together, a minimum of energy, and we can make everything better. Consumerism, greed, following the money instead of making a better life for ourselves, is being exposed as one of the biggest causes of environmental damage, and our focus on material things instead of our families, friends, and the rest of humanity. We are seeing PROOF of the effects of joining together in a common cause …of doing what is RIGHT. …I am betting on the human race. Maybe it’s a long shot …but it is a shot.

I choose Hope.

…and You should choose hope too.

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Segarini’s regular columns are best enjoyed with a bottle of Pinot Grigio, a shot of frozen vodka or tequila, a Bourbon cocktail, a bag of Lays Potato Chips, and/or a Banana Cream Pie

Bob “The Iceman” Segarini was in the bands The Family Tree, Roxy, The Wackers, The Dudes, and The Segarini Band and nominated for a Juno for production in 1978. He also hosted “Late Great Movies” on CITY TV, was a producer of Much Music, and an on-air personality on CHUM FM, Q107, SIRIUS Sat/Rad’s Iceberg 95, (now 85), and now publishes, edits, and writes for DBAWIS, continues to write music, make music, and record.