Political Correctness, Lord Love a Duck!

Political correctness is the false belief that one can pick up a tourd by the clean end.
Freedom of speech is essential so that doctors can tell patients that they have cancer. Once a thing is correctly named there is a possibility of cure.  However if we are denied the right to speak truly of the disease then of course the poor will die.
Language is important  despite the fact that today ‘marketting’ prevails. Recently the spin doctors of the Liberal government called the ‘immigrants’ ‘refugees’.  The common Canadian, especially the most uneducated and inexperienced who were attracted to the Satanic appeal of Justin Trudeau and the Trudeau charm, did not know that there is a vast and critical difference between a ‘refugee’ and a ‘migrant’.
A migrant can indeed be an ‘invader’ and many of the ‘migrants’ in the recent refugee scandals have indeed been invaders, a fifth column of the Islam Caliphate.  Many also have been the adult children of wealthy families using the ‘refugee’ route to immigration to by pass and jump the queue of the conventional ‘immigration’ systems.
A refugee is a person who goes to the first country of escape.  The Harper Conservative government resettled millions of Vietnamese becaus not only were these people refugees but they had been the allies of the American and Canadians in the war between Capitalism and Democracy and Freedom versus the Communism and Slavery.  The Vietnam war was won by the soldiers on the ground but lost by Hollywood, Hanoi Jane and the ‘marketting” media which effectively undermined the war effort at home.  Drugs, sex, and rock and roll , love in’s, and peace rallies were offered and funded by the communists in America while American soldiers were betrayed and killed overseas. All efforts to further peace in Communist countries by contrast were met with Gulag and death squads.  The very freedom that democracy offered resulted in its own demise.
Not until Reagan did the Communist system die.  Margaret Thatcher said, "Socialism fails because it runs out of other peoples money .” The halcyon cry of socialism is not 'steal from the rich and give to the poor" but rather "steal from the worker and give to the idle".   Even today Trudeau has squandered for his own nefarious purposes the nest eggs gathered by Canadians under conservative governments for their children and children’s children. Just as Pierre Trudeau did Justin Trudeau is selling the country into massive debt.
To maintain the momentum he is also pushing drugs.  "Give them cake" Marie Antoinette cried.  Trudeau says, "Give them pot".
The fall of Russia occurred because of rampant alcoholism. Of the western world only Russia had a rising infant mortality due to fetal alcohol syndrome. The products of their factories were further flawed such that in the competition of arms , the "Dessert Storm Arms Bazaar," "American made and "NATO pushed" won out over Communist made products. Communist workers drunk and under paid produced weapons that misfired. American workers well rewarded made weapons that were reliable.  The genius of design was further rewarded in the west compared to the east where the best dachaus always went to the bureaucrats and administrators.
Communism , now Cultural Communism,  in the west is Aetheism. It’s a godless regime devoted to Dictatorship.  Lenin, a mass murderer, with the assistance of Wall Street set up USSR system of central authority and the 5 year plans with hundreds of millions killed and mass starvation due to poor administration and corrupt beurocracy.  As Arendt had found in her study of Nuremberg the key to appreciating the demonic dynasties of mass murder was not in looking at the character of their leaders but rather the lack of character of their followers.
Arendt’s term was ‘banality of evil’.  The whole of the Nazi (National Socialist system to separate it from International Socialism or Communist system ) system was dependent upon the followers
Buffy St Marie, the female Canadian aboriginal folk singer, wrote the most provocative song “Universal soldier’ saying that war dependent on one man’s decision.  There is obviously much truth in it but Arendt’s life work showed that “Universal Beurocrat” or “Universal Administrator” was more likely the better explanation for the deaths of millions than ‘blaming the victim’ , 'unknown soldier.
The civil service noted for  its cowardice and it's pretence of civility is distinct from the active military service noted for it's bravery and rawness.  Soldier's live by their decisions whereas beurocrats get others killed. Lawyers and judges are all like Monday morning quarterbacks, pretentious critics who stay as far from the front as possible, making as much money as possible on the suffering of others and their real decisions. They are at least superior to journalists and Hollywood who get rich off the spectacle of war.
Buffy St. Marie, because of her gender's identification with the civil service and tendency to be protected from real combat, disparaged the actual real 'victim' of war, the soldier.    In contrast to WWII which was a rich and poor man's war, Vietnam was merely a poor man's war, the sons of the wealthy and eliteall using 'loopholes'  to  stay  home to participate in the party with the 'free sex' girls of the 'women's movement".
The individual soldier is no different than a slave, a tool created for good or evil and rarely much more.  He and now she are the pawns of the rich and powerful forces.  The army today is little different from the mercenaries in the army  of the British empire and    Ottoman  empire and Roman Empire before that.  The largest army of the world, the Chinese army, retains some ideological basis.  While patriotism is under attack like the white history in America, in China  the superiority of the racism inherent to the  Chinese is fuelled by communism's megalomaniac world domination goals.  The UN Islamic army of Bangladesh is fueled by religion like the Christian and Muslim army of yore.  The Crusaders were a defensive army against the mass murderer Mohammed who transformed the Middle east from Christian and Zorastrian to present day Islam.  
A Romanian, asked what it was like under communism before the fall of communism, essentially at the time fall of the Berlin Wall said, “Everyone was poor. Everyone was depressed.  You couldn’t complain because if you did they put you in jail. The leaders called themselves communists.”  After the fall?  “Everyone was poor. Everyone was depressed. You could complain now and they didn’t put you in jail. The leaders were the same people but they called themselves businessmen now.”
Bob Dylan, one of the world’s greatest plagiarists and writers of original material paraphrased Dr. Johnson by saying “Steal a little and they put you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king.”  Karen Armstrong in Fields of Blood , like Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs and Steel showed that the agricultural revolution was immediately followed by the empires of robbers and pirates.  The world overall was changed rapidly from the farmer providing for his family and communities needs, and as Marx would say ‘owning the land, the means of production’  became the property of the STRONG MAN.  All land and all means of production became the STATE’s as the Kingdom only changed in name under communism moving from one form of dictatorship to another.  At least in the monarchies  the Magna Carta and such advances for benefits of individuals had occurred, while in Communism the very design of the system attempted to circumnavigate the difficulty of Magna Carta.
The STRONG MAN, the gang leader, took power and then agriculture allowed him and his band of merry follower to have workers/farmers/slaves producing food and arms while the military went to the next valley to conquer, i.e. steal and rape.

1. The “Military Industrial Complex” isn’t an American made product of the post Industrial Age as Social Communist propaganda would say but in fact dates back to the dawn of civilization. UR in ancient middle east, birthplace of Abraham, was the one of the  first of the Western Civilizations “military Industrial complexes”.  In the day Chariots were made and copper swords, before bronze swords and steel swords gave way to todays  AK47’s and Cruise Missiles.  All were made by peasants but today's peasants have better hair styles ,watch CNN and listen to CBC news. 
2. The United Nations is a war lord construct.  The penultimate tribal gang is todays MAFIA.  It’s the basic unit of Civilization.  The blood related 'tribe' of traditional society, the north American Indians (not Nations as they would have you believe but rather tribes, language counts) has given way to the Hell's Angels a non blood related tribal construct. 
3. The first dynasties were family and blood related.  To this day they remain mired in this materialistic eugenics model with the dynastic rule of Kennedies after the business mogul liquor running father, then the Bush father and son oil producers for the military machine, with their business connection to oil the elixir of war.   Justin Trudeau the dynastic son of Pierre Trudeau, the same communist pairing as Korean’s Kim Jong un and his father despite ideological differences revert to the primordial favourite like some kind of modern day  parent child, the favourite of religous iconography.  At least Canada dynamic communist duo dress better than their counterparts.   
4. A leader is never just one man, at least not since the days of the hunter gatherers.  Today’s leaders are more like sports ‘coaches’ or ‘movie producers’ with a core ‘nest’ of merry men, much like the medieval lords around the King.  The administrators are by strict contrast no more such political leaders than soldiers are. They have the same peasant mentality though they wield enormous power.  They are without the talent of political leaders whose skills at diplomacy, compromise and capacity to mould and lead are evidenced by their success. The pompous men of Brussels EU  are in strict contrast to the genius of political leaders like Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. The latter are dependent on their extraordinary ability to choose the right people and  fashion alliances. Ataturk of Turkey was one of the greatest leaders of all time similar to Churchill in these gifts. Bill Clinton was a genius to marry Hillary despite his obvious failure to satisfy Monica.   Hillary made the grievous error of depending on the abject losers Robby Mook as her campaign manager.   By Contrast Donald Trump chose the brilliant  extraordinary Kellyanne Conway as his Campaign Manager.  Conway Trumped Book!!! It was reminiscent of games with Goretsky controlling the ice in hockey. Indeed American men study sports especially football as a training in the nuances and understanding of politics. Sadly women such as Hillary Clinton's Huma Abedin, while they obviously knew about sex given the marriage to Weaner and money given their ties to the Saudi purse appeared utterly ignorant of any team sport which would have prepared them better from the campaign.  Administration and Soldiering are based solely, not on the acquisition of power, but rather on the distribution of power.  This explains why military dictatorships so rapidly devolve into fear based entities because they lack the appeal of character which the likes of  Clinton and Trump bring to office. Administrations and administrators necessarily appeal to the socialist minded as socialism is so dependent on legalism and dictatorships. It's no surprise that the UN , the greatest socialistic entity on the planet after Communist China, should put out AGENDA 21 encouraging Beurocrats and Administrators the world over to rise up and take power. It's call to world domination and control is little different than the original Lenin cry 'worker rise up'  Rise up so we can eventually win the world and be dictators to you as we are today still dictators say this communist leaders like China's STRONG MAN Stalinesque figure Xi Jinping.   Get rid of the Magna Carta, the French Revolution and the American Constitution and skip  right to the Emperor  Dictator bits say all these socialist communist liars and philanderers.  
5. The failure of communism was its inability to competitively create wealth. Capitalism with it’s inherent reward of the worker individually, ie capitalism, has been in direct competition with system of distribution of rewards of the worker by the Communist STATE whereby the most meritorious gain little while the least meritorious gain a lot.  
6. The trick of political correctness and ‘marketting’ is to deny individuals ‘real’ power and wealth by giving them the appearances of ‘power’ and ‘wealth’.  This is seen in ‘badges’ and ‘ranks’ and ‘influence pedalling.’  

Today there is a mix of central or socialist State power and decentralized or capitalist power.
Many would argue that the control of wealth and power in the world is limited to handfuls of families. The Rothschild’s are the most often identified by the conspiracy crowd but the Italians were the leading family at one time, starting the back rooms banker traditions in the 15 th century and others before.  One could almost guess that each of the controlling families was the last remnant of the former empires, hence the Italian bankers are what’s left of the original Roman Empire but before them were the Greeks magates left over from the Greek empires, the Mexican Billionaire a product of the Spanish Conquest,  the Egyptian billionaire family a product of  Alexander’s spoils.  In the far east the spoils of the Moghuls stand behind much of the leadership that exists centuries later. Definitely Mecca , the Eastern Disney mandatory tourist franchise was created by  Mohammed who stole all the wealth of the Christians, Jews and Zoroastrian throughout the Middle East to gain his power, best represented today in the glory of Dubai.
Capitalism has reigned since these early war lords. The two latest groups of wealth gathers were the leaders of the French and American Revolutions coupled with the Communist Revolutionaries in West and East.
 “Steal a little and they put you in jail, steal a lot and they make you King”.  Or Czar. Or Caliph. Or President. Or Prime Minister.
If I today were to get the local poor of Vancouver's DTES ghetto to rise up and throw off it’s beurocratic masters  marching  through Kitsilano,  Shaughnassey and West Vancouver, taking the wealth of the rich elite we’d likely have enough swag to party for a few dozen years. That’s about as long as Communist Countries last. The traditional capitalist decentralized distribution of wealth is simply to date superior to the left liberal or progressive rape of resources and pillage and then central redistribution.  Communist distribution is necessarily corrupt giving rise to the obvious corruption inherent in dynastic leaders like Trudeau and son, such an obvious throw back without any suggestion of meritocracy.
The success of empire is a much more complex thing. It’s fundamental to the study of English cricket, American Football, European Soccer and Canadian Hockey.  Basketball, developed by Canadians, might well have been a major contributor to Obama's successful campaign.
The Mainstream Media, now called the Fake Media would have us believe differently. They would deceitfully argue that they are ‘free’ and giving us ‘news’ but simply are no longer reporting ‘facts’ without ‘opinion’ as was once the case. But then before we understood Marshal McCluhan’s the “Medium is the Message’ that was true. Now the age of rationalism and age of intellectualism of man has given way to the age of emotion and age of emotionalism of women.  Cognitive behavioural therapy says that emotion is merely downstream construct of thought.  "I think therefore I am of modernism became  “I feel therefore I am" of so called ‘Post modernism’ which is probably better called  ‘ultra modernism’.  Neither represent "enlightment"  The clever and emotional are not wise.  Wisdom has been limited rather than expanded by the intersectionality of their social or cultural communism. History gave us dickheads who were followed by Vagina heads. The biggest hats are seen in the Eastern block.
Truth is what is lost with political correctness. Politics is a choice of the least bad alternative.
The Security Council of the United Nations is simply the principal arms dealers of the planet. They were put in place to maintain the status quo.  Not to end all wars. What would be the benefit in that to the Military Industrial Complex, ie Civilization as we know it.
As Camus and Kaffka showed so elegantly and the movie Clockwork Orange did as well, the struggle is between the Individual and the State. This was best depicted in recent years by the communist construct of the BORG versus the Federalist construct of Captain Picard in the Star Trek television series.   ‘
In the military the double speak became “the best defence is an offence’.  So in political correctness, ‘black is white’.  This was the ‘peace missile’ and the politician saying ‘trust me I’m a politician’.  Whenever Justin Trudeau speaks, with his endless stream of distracting platitudes, his forked tongue flicks.  While Canadians see Justin Trudeau as the greatest liar of all times so the Koreans see Kim  as their greatest liar.   Neither is.   The competition is for the biggest lie. That's the only truth in the great deceit of political correctness. The system  is fundamentally based on deceit.
The big brain of man, the sociobiological construct is that we not only evolved as ‘tool makers’ but we developed ‘political correctness’ and created the lies of the ‘emperor’s new clothes’ and all the myths that maintain a few in power over the many, whether they be the committee of communist murderers or the dynastic rulers of the Bush and Trudeau families.
What is ironic today is just as Mugabe has been deposed because his wife Grace wanted to use him to gain the throne as Hillary attempted to use Bill,  both  lost all.  There remains a  stronger eugenic belief that blood trumps sperm.  Even Dan Brown’s materialistic Da Vinci Code sought the ‘blood’ of Jesus hoping for a ‘DNA” combination. So marriage more rarely that progeny transmits royalty, ironically even in Communist Countries.
No wonder Marx and Engles set out to destroy the family to place all power in the head of state.
Proxy wars are the thing today.  Real life competitions between the military hardware of various families and nations.  Argentina buys missiles from the French and these compete with Missiles from British factories.  In truth France served both England and Argentina. Just as the Rothschild banked for Britain and France at Waterloo the backers of war bet on both sides to spread their likelihood of winning. George Soros as Satan's man destroys everything in hope of making a profit on the resulting wars.
Normally wars are wet and dry, in jungle or dessert with hard ware and men competing in opposing environments. The Falklands was as close to an arctic war as we’ve seen since the demise of the German army in the Russian winter.  No one is quick to put their machine against cold, water and heat yes, but not so much cold. Oil freezes, tanks and planes perform poorly.
A Scandanavian researcher showed that the working class of Israel and Palestine , soldiers, scientists and more were involved in war while the administrative class that much more deceitful and politically correct lot were involved in failed peace talks. If peace came to the Middle East there would simply be no economy and mass starvation would follow.
Despite the feminist outcries and forced participation and lingerie and sex and all manner of marketting ‘women fighting’ or even ‘pornography’ doesn’t make as much money as ‘War’.
Today abortion pays more than birth.
Euthanasia supersedes healing.
Death culture.
There is life and death.  Yes and No.  Leonard Cohen summed it up by saying “there is a war between the odd and the even”.
The proposition ‘all’s fair in love and War’ simply underwrites that war might lead to sex but it was seriously frowned on when sex lead to war. Domestic violence was one thing but the Rape of the Sabines was sticky business from a marketing perspective. The ISIS marketing  of war is an opportunity for  ‘sex slaves" certainly was the attraction for Canadian men to leave political correct and sexually rigid Canada for the potential promiscuity of Arabian nights. The pornography of the millions of Chinese male soldiers is mostly white American girls.  The ‘spoils’ of war has been Sex and that's unlikely to change any time soon despite increasing numbers of women and gays in the military. Women may well be attracted more by swag.  The 60’s Wood stock communist sale was ‘free sex’.
The lie is always in the world prepositioned by the word  ‘free’. The marketting campaign of the navy is ‘free travel’. And of course a girl in every port.
Political Correctness is lying.  It’s putting a wrapping on a dirty thing. It’s deodorizer. It’s that Pine fragrance in the cigar smoker’s car. it’s the deodorant put on the dirty arm pits. It’s all these ‘lies’.  It’s a big brain thing. It’s fake news.
It’s demonic if you believe Satan is the source of all lies. That is the Christian position. There is Satan and there is Jesus. That’s the dichotomy of religion. Us and them.  Good and Bad. Patriotic and Unpatriotic.
The communists moved this to ‘clean energy’ or ‘holy energy’ and ‘evil energy’ . The irony is that coal and nuclear power were creating the electricity to power the  apparently clean ‘electric cars’ which the silly consumers were buying them  for their ‘cachet’ value. The long term pollution of solar panels is only now being exposed.  Political correctness is solely fashion. It's the latest see through bikini.  It's the sexy niquab and the exposed ankle of Victorian era. When it's not outright deceit it's the tantalizing tease.  Politically correctness is akin to bestiality and pedophilia put forth as true love. Marketing. Marketing. Marketing. Big brains.
It’s the pink paint on the cruise missile
I don’t know why it bothers me but I prefer the Truth. So when the Judge calls me a liar , I’m resentful and offended and must spend years praying for him because I know he’s identified with the criminal whose dirty money has paid for the lawyer who has contributed to the sacrifice of the near virgin girl who suicides when she can not protect her child. There’s a chivalry in the truth. The the White Knight hang up. There’s all that coupled with the Pirate and the Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry appeal to the rebel. Today’s the rebels are without a cause cause and call themselves ‘activists’. Their song is  Mila Cyress  “Wrecking Balls”.   The Angry Young Woman is a caricature of the Angry Young Man. As I grow older I realize that those who have died before have done so because of the soul destroying boredom of government and Hollywood myth productions.  Nothing is new. All is Vanity says Ecclisastaces.
The Reformer is the Enemy of anyone who benefits from the status quo.
So year in year out the politicians offer ‘change’ but do the same old, same old and when a politician is real and is new then the whole industry of "has been" wars against the ‘change’ for the manufacturer of ‘no change’ is a very lucrative business.  Eventually the ripples go and calm settles and the revolution goes back to everyone is poor.   Everyone is depressed. The pendulum only swings between todays era of political correctness and everyone who complains is fined or goes to jail and 60's and 70's when everyone could complain and no one went to jail.
They would lock us up if we complain. Dr. Jordan Peterson is denied freedom of speech while Wilfred Laurier is the new Hitler High.
Soon beurocratic interventions, gag orders, political correctness,  Islamaphobia, Hate laws and such make it possible to put us all back in jail. The ones that most need jailing today are the pesky pro life sort who simply stand outside abortion clinics, gandhiesque.
Jesus swore in his day. He had a potty mouth they said. The more an administrator focuses on the alignment of the writing of the page and the quality of the paper the less they focus on the content on the page. Political correctness is all about form without substance.  General Patton swore and Queen Victoria swore. All journalists and Christian leaders and Muslims and Jews and Buddhists have at times had potty mouths.  Expletives are ‘natural’.  Artifice is the life of the politically correct. In the church the emphasis on swear words, especially sexual references is social communism and not Christian. Blaspheming is taking the Lord’s name in vain. Jesus said 'shit!".  It’s not chauvinist feminism ‘protecting the little ladies delicate ears’. All of the statues and law to ‘protect the ladies’ is touted as ‘feminism’ and women in the west are surrounded by ideological burkha’s while they pride themselves on being powerful and free in their poverty.

Political correctness is ‘they lock us up if we complain’ . That’s how you know Canada is communist. Justin Trudeau is a liar and he says he’s for the poor and weak and business. He’s not.  But if he stays in power he’ll probably call himself a businessman and we’ll be able to complain again.

As a doctor I have taken an oath to save the life of Justin Trudeau or Donald Trump or Kim or Adolf or even HIllary Clinton, Lord love a duck.
But yes, Buffy St. Marie, I am the ‘Universal Doctor’ as you are the “Universal Artist”.

We’re all guilty as innocence in the land of the politically correct.

Lord love a duck.

Christian Christmas Dinner Party

Christmas is a special time of year in Canada.  Here there. is an uncanny juxtaposition of the darkest time of year with the coming of the light.  Commercial jingles and angels singing. I’d just been to Lucia Frangione’s Funky Christian play, Holy Mo and Ron Reed’s annual night of song and humorous, wholesome, unusual Christmas stories coupled with songs and music of inspiration and good cheer. The extraordinary meaning of the time was slowly building in me. This was despite the increasing burden  of  work and the mundane along with family, friends,  aging and death.  It was thus this year of our Lord, 2016.
John phoned me early this week to invite me to another of his marvellous dinner parties. It was good to hear his voice. I always look forward to being with him.  
The roads were icy.  My little black Miata sports car slid some seeking traction, accelerating  down the roads, gracefully avoiding collision with other cars sliding by.  Vancouver, gripped by an arctic cold front, was struggling to manage.  The vendors Christmas lights on Granville street were bright and cheerful. Here and there a Kitsilano house had decked itself out in holiday spirit.  4th was downright festive.  I stopped to pick up some last minute cupcakes for the occasion.
John’s house has bit of Hobbit abode feel to me. I ‘ve been coming here so long that I remember when all his sons were home, sons that now have grown older into fine young men making families of their own.  Parking on the street,  walking up the sidewalk onto the veranda, announcing myself with a  knock on the door, I entered without waiting to be let in.  Despite 60 years of living there are very few homes outside of my family's where I feel as welcome in this world. That speaks to me of the love of this family and this home. I know I am not alone in that feeling of wonder.
“Come in, Bill. It’s so good to see you,” shouted John  as I stepped into the warm.  Helen was already there taking off her heavy overcoat, her cheeks flushed red with the weather..
“Hello, John. You look wonderful, Helen,” I said. Helen and I  hung up our winter wool overcoats together stuffing mittens, scarfs and togues in sleeves, leaving shoes at the door.
No sooner were we done than Caroline, John’s new assistant came though the door with James..
“Welcome, Jim, Welcome. Come in.” said John, moving his wheel chair deftly back to make room.
“Thank you, don’t worry I will, “  saidJames,  slapping his gloves together, smiling face beaming.
“I hope you’re keeping yourself warm,  I know Rita would want you to be. “  I said.
“Oh thank you, I am. She would, you know. Look at this heavy sweater I’ve been wearing,”  It really was suited to the cold.
Then John and Caroline made sure that everyone had something to drink, coffee as always for me, juice for Helen and James.
“I’ve just been to Japan and then came back to fly to Seattle but they lost my bags not on the trip to Japan but on this little hop cross the border. Three days without my suitcase. They’re making a recording of forty two hours of my lectures in this recording studio on a little hill.  But the ice was so bad on the road that we couldn’t get up the hill to the recording studio till the second day I was there.  It’s really been a trial.” said James. “Have you been doing any travelling, Helen."
“I’ve just come back from Australia. I received a call that my Dad was in hospital.  He’s had pancreatic cancer. I was hearing that he had days or weeks but insisted on speaking with the doctor who said it might only be days or hours.  ‘So if I wanted to come  I really should come now. ‘ he told me.  I hopped right on a plane.  By the time I landed in Australia I heard he was going down. They said he couldn’t speak  but he could still hear.  They put the phone to his ear and I said, 'Hold on Dad, I’m coming.'  It was a whole other flight to get there.  y brother picked me up at the airport and rushed me straight to the hospital. Dad was alive and not able to speak but I knew he could hear me. The doctor said "heheld on till I came:.  And he passed on in the morning. I really was so glad to be there.”
Jim sat beside Helen on the couch. John in his motorized wheelchair sat in front of her. I was on the other couch.  A kind of protective circle of brotherly men sitting in silent prayer.
“Since Rita passed I’ve felt so much more closer to heaven knowing she is there,” said James, softly.
“My brother died last month.” I said, “ I’ve been  flying back and forth every couple of months this last couple of years to be with him and his family.  We talked into the morning about childhood mostly. He had pancreatic cancer as well.  By the time he died it was as though we’d caught up with all we’d had to say, even what had been unsaid. "
Just then Caroline came in the room with a tray of hot buttered soups, “Please come to the table and have something warm after all the cold."
We  gathered around the table, John at the head with Jim and Helen on either side and me beside James.  The table festive with red napkins and spriggs of green sparky ornaments for the Christmas season. John had the Christmas tree up with ornaments and lights on b the front window.  It was like my childhood home at Christmas. All the trappings. ds.
“Have you been travelling this year, John?" asked James.
“I’ve just come back from a month in Australia.  It’s always a whirlwind visit.  I feel like a rockstar when I go. All my family there want to see me and I’m taken about to everyone’s house to meet their children. My sister is there. It’s really a wonderful time.  Tough with the chair and all but so much love and fellowship.I need to come home for a rest after all."
John asked James if he would say Grace and we and the food were blessed this Christmas by James prayer.
The soup was delicious.  John’s favourite. Buttersquash. Caroline said.
“What took you to Japan?” John asked.
“My daughter  lived there but I was invited to speak at a Methodist conference. It was on science and faith.  I’ve been so amazed at the work in my life these days. I was only saying how much we needed a leading physicist who was also a man of faith to witness our Lord.  Christianity and science go very much together but there’s been too many of these people who don’t understand that. I feel that this time calls for men of science to express their faith to counter the ignorance.  Just as I had said that I met this Japanese leader in the field of quantum physics who was there as a Christian.  He told me that he’d felt just the same."
Before teaching Christian studies as one of the founder professors of Regent College, James had taught geology at Oxford.  He actually continued to teach at UBC in the department of geology early days of Regent.
“But what is truly remarkable is,  I learned that,  just as UBC has been given 30 million to make it a centre for physics,  the new head is announced one of the  greatest quantum physicists of our day,  he also happens  to be a deeply spiritual man. I find that so uplifting.”
“You may recall  when we began Regent we had a vision not just to teach Christianity for pastors but rather to also help men and women who were learned in their own fields to be equally learned in their faith."
Jon and I had studied Christian spirituality with James over several years, delighting in his evening courses.  We  attended these after long days of clinics.  We’d catch a pizza coming home and talk late into the night about matters of history, anthropology, sociology and theology as well as our chosen fields of medicine and psychiatry. Jame’s courses were so inspiring. The questions he raised opened up our own fields to us as well as deepening our faith.  The conversations late into the night that followed were sometimes as exciting as the classes.  
“What of your mission,?” asked Jim of Helen.  Helen, her long black haired, a contrast to John’s thinning grey hair, my marginally thicker grey and Jim’s white hair, the youngest at the table by far, looked lovely in her red Christmas jacket.  She proceeded to tell us of her work in Sudan.
“The rebels are still fighting. When I was there a man from one tribe had been killed and the discussion was of what to do about it. Retribution was the norm. The pastor asked if anyone could think of any alternative.  An eye for an eye is so entrenched in that culture. It was some time before a young man said we might let it go and forgive as our Lord taught. But we’d be seen as weak  countered another in the church. The pastor asked, would that be so bad. And everyone thought about that."
“It’s like our Lord coming as a child so vulnerable. I find as I get older I am more taken by the Child Christ.  Our Lord coming into the world so tiny and yet God.” said James.
“That’s just what the question lead too,” continued Helen,”Women began asking about what would happen to the children.  The man who had died had two children and a wife.  There were so many children from wars who were wandering about without parents.  20 came into the village as I was there from other villages. It’s often hard to know where some of them come from.  The killing happens and they run or wander off from where their parents have been killed.  It’s heart breaking to see these little 3 and 5 year old children sometimes alone but usually with another child may 6 or 7 or a teen walking with them looking for someone to feed them or take them in. The Red Cross is there but they’re over run and the churches are doing all they can.  I really see a need for helping the children. I feel the Lord is calling me to this.  When I came back I approached my church to help me with this.  Everyone is keen to. I hope to go back in the spring to set up a house with a house mother maybe for these children as a transitional place till we can find relatives to get them back to their villages."
"I was asked to come to do reconciliation workshops with the people,” said Helen, " Which is what I was there for but the plight of the children seemed so much more that I’ve begun this second mission. The reconciliation workshop was as much a success as can be hoped.  It was the rainy season when I arrived and getting off the plane there were a hundred children waiting for us singing hymns they’d practiced for days, standing in the knee high mud. The tents that had been set up for the dinners were leaking and everything was mud. The women were cooking in the mud but we sat down to eat and this was the first time many of the men had done anything but try to kill each other. After we heard that some had said that maybe they could come together and talk . And that was the start we’d all be praying for.  It’s just a little start."
“Well we were all concerned to hear you were on the ground in the war, we are so glad you’ve come out safe.” said John.
“There wasn’t actually a war going on this visit.  Not like last when we had to cancel our meetings because shots were being fired and troops were coming into the area.  I’d had to fly out that time as they were afraid for my safety. Because there’s rebels all around it’s never totally safe for the people but this time there was no incident.  It’s just by the children without their parents that you know how much killing has been going on."
 “I’ve been studying the Syrian and Coptic Christians,”I said. “I’ve  just read some books about it, surprised at how large and extensive Eastern and Southern Christianity was before the Islam invasions There were thousands of churches throughout the middle east.  Now there’s hardly any Christians since the Muslims forced conversion or killed all opposition, leaving so very few. We just heard of more persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt their churches being burned down and dozens of Christians killed by Muslim Brotherhood or their sympathizers.  The eastern and southern Christian community was so very much larger than the Roman and western elements."
Jim added, “And very important for our understanding of Jesus’s divinity. It was the Syrian bishops that challenged the Roman notion that Jesus was divine when he performed miracles but human when he told parables.  The Syrians would have none of that insisting he was wholly human and wholly divine all the time.'
  “i was so impressed to be at their monasteries in Cappadocia  when I visitted Turkey a couple of years ago, “ I said.  . They were so contemplative and had such a great set of cave homes among the fairy spirals.  But they had also built the vast underground city with underground churches in the time of the Muslim invasions.”
“There really is such persecution of Christians. I would be so happy if our Prime Minister would consider more the Syrian Christians refugees who are even now being persecuted in the camps where the fleeing Muslims are still continuing to persecute them.” said James
"But not the Suffi’s.  I have just learned that one of the Suffi scholars is in all manner of difficulties because he’s published a book about the two sides of Mohammed. Mohammed was initially very conciliatory and inclusive of Christians and Jews and tolerated many views until he took up the sword.  There was this almost schizophrenic change in the man.  Muslims are killing as many muslims as they kill any other.” continued James.
“I’m actually blessed to have many Muslim patients who are the most incredible people from all over the middle east.  They ‘ve taught me as much about the differences.  The Jihadists are mostly Sunni like ISIS but more specifically the Wahhabi sect which has been promoted by the Saudi Monarch.  The Shiites are the second group that make up Iran."
"That was the spiit at the time of  Mohammed’s uncle”.
"Yes, but there’s also the Ismaelis who seem mostly to be a loving community more interested in business and trade and less interested in anything ideological or divisive. But there’s also the Berbers and other groups in North Africa. and elsewhere who are considered as much infidels by the Wahhabi’s as Christians are.  I saw the Suffi’s dancing in Capadocia.  I really was moved by their mystical traditions."
"So very spiritual,” said John.
By now Caroline had brought forth, huge plates of Chicken, carrots, yams and pees.  Everyone having passed around the trays loaded with food, very much  enjoying the meal and conversation.
“i had the most extraordinary experience, a real blessing of the Lord. It’s a bit of a story but please bear with.It’s worth hearing the ending. When I was teaching at Oxford I had been in charge of a Latin and South American division in the department of geology so I had gone theire for a conference back in the 70’s. It was in Bueneos Aires. I met my cousin there and we really did enjoy each other.  He was fascinated with film and had a rich prayer life and loved his family as I. His son was the age of my middle daughter and we planned to have an exchange for a time of the two of them when they were 12, his son coming to Oxford to live a while with us and my daughter going to Buenese Aires to live a while and study with them.
The only thing is a year or so later they simply disappeared, all communication stopped and I couldn’t learn what had happened or if they’d just had a change of heart.  But then  a couple of years back I had a call from a woman in Buenes Aires who’d learned that there was a Dr. Houston at Regent and wondered if I was the one who’d taught at Oxford previously and come to Buenos Aires. Well I described the house were I’d met my cousin in Buenos Aires and she exclaimed that I was describing their family home. I asked whatever happened to my cousin and this is what I learned.
It was the time when the Nazis had influence on the president and governmen. There  it was called the Time of Disapearances. The government would take people in the night and they’d simply disappear. There were dissenters but mostly they were rich people who they’d demand a ransom for but if they didn’t get it they fly the people out over the Atlantic and dump them out of the planes. It was an awful time.
 My cousins son at 12 years old was kidnapped but being a very smart young lad had escaped. He’d  gone to a light in the distance which turned out to be the home of a catholic couple who asked him if he had the phone number of his father. With that they’d phoned his father. His father came  and got his son and then they’d driven all right out of the country to Paraquay where they’d been hiding ever since.
Well last year, the last of Nazi leadership had fallen  and they felt safe to come home. So we’ve been in touch again. And my son and I were in San Paulo Brazil at a conference for Businessmen of Faith when they showed up having driven a couple of thousand kilometres over often horrible roads to meet us. My son with two sisters and many female cousins now met his first  and only  male cousins and they had a wonderful time together , two men of deep Christian faith. That cousin, the son of my cousin has become a great film maker in his country too.  Now they’re coming up to Canada next summer, the young families to share to gather with us older folk in attndance.”t
“That really sounds like a movie,” said Helen.
 "There may ben bee a movie.” said James smiling.   “ But because of the topic of the conference in Brazil was Businessmen and Faith. I was able to invite them onto the stage at the confrence there and they shared their witness and faith in the kidnapping and exile.  It really was very moving.
Now what  I mean by Child Centred Christianity is that I feel the child of Christ is been reborn within us everyday as we practice the presence of Christ.  We are healing wounds of childhood within as we reconcile ourselves with God.
I had a couple of students who shared with me that their marriage was dead so I don’t know why I said it but i told  them, you must separate for six months before getting back together and seeing if it really is.  The woman had said ‘whoopee I’m going to Paris’ but I said no , you must go home to your parents for six months to see how they kept their dead marriages alive. While they did that and the woman learned that her father had said his marriage had died many years ago but that he’d simply stayed for his family . He had a a wonderful reconciliation with his daughter then approached his wife and said that hey must work harder on reconciling their differences to help their daughter with her marriage. And this they did.  She returned six months later having the deepest relationship now with her father  and even deeper relationship with her mother. The husband had returned home and talked with his parents only to have his mother take him aside and share with him the secret she said, “I’ve never told anyone , not even your father.”  Well , it turned out that she’d become pregnant as a young scholar and the minute it was known the university had assisted her in travelling to another country supposed for advanced studies but simply as a place where she was alone for most of the year hiding where no one could see her or know her until she had the baby she gave up for adoption. It was much later she met the father of her son and they’d been married.  She told her son how much weight she’d felt lifted from her shoulders being able to tell him this.  He returned with his relationship with mother more alive. The couples relationship much closer and they found their love again. I told them Christ is being reborn within us every hour and every day.  I just received a card from them thanking me for their continued life together and their children this Christmas.  Christmas is a wonderful time to be reminded of the continual renewal we have with ourselves with faith "
We were all silent for a while after this,  Caroline brought me more coffee and you could hear the sound the stirring of the spoon.
John shared then that he felt at times his body was struggling with renewal and  we all laughed. John always makes such light of his misery he has in his  wheel chair.  “I struggle with the pain and feel my life is made up of separate and different  complete domains which all can be working well or any one part can be difficult and therefore affecting the others.  There's this body of course, the pain and limitations I experience.  Then there’s the machine world  I have around me,the machines I must depend on , this chair, my special bed, the car I have with it’s lift and controls , the lift to get me out of the house, and the computers and phone I use to communicate.  When the body isn’t feeling like it’s breaking down something in my machine world is going wrong. Then there are the people who assist me around the clock with the caring for the needs of the body and the needs of the machines.  When all of these are working well I can  then most enjoy my work and my family which are the other major parts of my life.
Recently though I had another upheaval with my assistant up and leaving without warning. I’d never had that. I felt despite the interviews and references there was something wrong , that she wasn’t meant for the work as an attendant , I guess it was confirmed when she left without warning because I’ve never had that .  All the many other people I’ve had help me have waited at least until we could have a replacement who could be trained. I felt quite desperate all alone and helpless. It’ s a terrible feeling this sense of dependence I live with all the time but it can become even more horrible at times like this.  I was blessed that my sons interrupted their lives and families and work and came to pick up the pieces. They  all pitched in and  and carried me through until Caroline came.  She’s so caring and such a relief really. I have former attendants who allied to help me but now Caroline is in charge and we’ve arranged that someone else will ensure that there are back ups should this ever occur again.  It really is a time for prayer."
"Do you think of retiring?” asked James.
"I really enjoy my practice and my work.  It’s like my family in some ways.  But there’s something else I enjoy and that’s my life alone in my room in prayer and medtiation. I like to be alone exercising this body as little as I can, doing prayer and contemplation. I like that time.  I’m trying to write a book  too and I feel I never have the time for that. I thought I’d get some done when I went to Australia but it was this wonderful whirlwind insteadf I thought when I got back I’d have time but then this problem with being abandoned by the attendant arose so then all my work and family time seemed more of a chore even though they’re so important to me because I miss the time alone in prayer and contemplation then.   I ‘m discussing retirement now ,maybe even selling the family home, so I can have more time for myself and time alone with God, time to exercise this weary body, time to write . I’ve always given so much to others and found it so hard to say no. It’s something about being a doctor that we have this problem. I know it’s an issue throughout my profession but it’s just so much more poignant now for me in this chair as I get older and I think how little time there is left and I wonder if I can’t make more time for myself, something I’ve never really seemed to do."
 What a crew we were, Helen a young fifty, me an apparently young 60 and John a young seventy  a James a young 80.  Children would think us old but we didn’t think of ourselves that way.  But the time did seem more important now and we talked about time and purpose and meaning and God some more. We h talked of death and life , rebirth, faith,  work and retirement. The whole human cycle seemed to have been covered.  
"How is your work going?” James asked me.
"This epidemic of death in the DTES because of fentanyl has been disturbing. When I started working in addiction in the mid 80’s my patients in the detox were in their 50’s. We didn’t see heroin addicts having problems mostly until their late forties and fifties.  But now the opiate addicts are in their 20’s and all my patients have known a kid whose died recently from fentanyl. It’s put in the cocaine so when a person injects it they die from the fentanyl that’s been mixed in the drugs.  It’s even in the marijuana in the DTES and they’re dying from that. "
"I don’t understand why Prime Minister Trudeau is pushing for more access to marijuana,” said James.
"I agree we already have the highest incidence of marijuana abuse in children and teens in the western warld. We know its not good for growing brains .But more and more it’s the gateway drug for other drugs, more than alcohol was.  The drug pushers who the Canadian legal system doesn’t really discourage  are sprinkling the fentanyl in the marijuana to get the kids hooked. I know that the rich and elite like Justine Trudeau aren’t the ones hurt by his careless vote buying policies and all those wanting the short term profits. .  There’s a lot of scientific reasons for people wanting to be careful about anything that increases the use of the drug. Even the the police just want time till a means to detect it in impaired drivers is found.. I know researchers seeking the equivalent of a breathalyzer . .We don’t want more schizoprehncis which happens when there’s greater access to marijuana.  More users and more incidence of a lifetime medical illness that costs a fortune for the state not to mention the lost dreams for the child and parents.
What’s so cognitively dissonant for me today is that I’m drug testing professionals who only smoked marijuania, they didn’t hurt anyone, but there’s the Prime Minister who admitted to smoking marijuana when he was a teacher and when he was an MP.  He’s not being drug tested and frankly he looks stoned or hung over a lot to me , someone who really does know.  I can’t help but think there’s a terrible double standard."
“I just thought he was too young,” said James..
"He spends money and parties more like an adolescent than he does like a grown man,” said Helen.
" But what of Trump and Hillary.” I asked.
“Im thankful to see the Christians he’s appointing,: said James,   “Excellent men in their fields having high standards and men of deep Christian faith. It’s reassuring to me as a Christian after the corruption that surrounded the Clintons. "
"I was just in Hong kong and met this retired government official. He’s a man of deep faith.  He’d been the man who took on the job of cleaning up the corruption i the Hong Kong Police. He’s agreed to meet with the new government in Brazil because their problem has been the corruption  there.  There’s a woman there and she’s had several assassination attempts because she won’t go along with the corruption. The people there in this  new government process really want to change the way the government runs and get rid of the corruption.  Now this  Hong Kong man’s agreed to come out of retirement to help them.  I love the way things come together for good like that."

"That’s why I think Trump may be good for the world, businessmen focusing on trade and working for the people. That’s what the government's primary job was and it seems they’ve been too distracted by all manner of other concerns that will simply resolve when business and trade is going well and making everyone successful without corruption. There’s reason for law and order. When people feel they will benefit from the work and effort and that their community will benefit from their work and efforts then everyone benefits."
 "I just couldn’t accept Hillary as a lawyer believing a third trimester baby had no rights just because it was in the womb.” I said, " Killing a 8 or 9  month old viable child by abortion is no different from killing a child in a house and saying that it’s okay because it’s not outside.”"
Helen shared how she liked Trump too,  “I just couldn’t stand all the lies that Hillary told.”  Truth is important to Christians.
We talked some about politics and more about family.  Helen talked more about her time with the children in Sudan and her prayers to return.
Caroline brought in the cake which James had brought.  She also brought in my cupcakes but the John’s sons will have to eat them because everyone preferred the cake which was truly delicious. There was a humorous moment too when Caroline put out the venison pate I’d brought as gifts for John, Helen and James.  I’d made it from the liver of the deer I’d shot.  “Half butter and half liver, so it’s really a diet food.”  I said.  Caroline and Helen laughed, saying they’d both thought it was ‘chocolate mouse’ to have with the cake.
We exchanged gifts then.  James gave me his book, “I believe in the Creator” and gave a couple of his other books to John and Helen. John gave me a book on Kierkegaard while Helen had baked us all cookies.  I had to admit I hadn’t made it out to buy a book and didn’t know what John and James hadn’t read so this year got them each a "travelling book light.”
We were all happy that John had been able to stay up that late.  But it was late and we got up from the table and hugged each other wishing each other love of the Lord and health in the New Year.  What a warm house it was.  We bundled in overcoats and winter boots to leave.
I had the honour of driving James home.  He loved getting into my little Mazda Miata sportscar.  I think it took him back to his youth in Oxford.   I drove like I had a national treasure in my car trying not to think of all the crashes I’d been in.  I noticed that James, true to his faith trusted in the Lord and showed no fear whatsoever.  

World Politics, Facebook and Media

I am hooked on politics these days. It's an addiction that I hadn't really noted until I realized it was the Grey Cup and I'd missed it. I haven't watched a single football game since the Trump Hillary sports extravaganza began.  I didn't miss hockey. As a Canadian, missing hockey would be seriously uncultured.

I sometimes think that the ancient Greeks and Italians nvented their Gods to comment on politics.  For most of the history of humans, Politicians have arranged for anyone who criticizes them to be killed or locked up.  It's only in Democratic Countries which have 'free speech' and 'liberty' that the State doesn't control the media.  In most countries of the United Nations  'journalism' is 'propaganda' like we have seen in the CBC.

Canadians call the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News , the  Communist Broadcasting Corporation just like Americans and even the BBC call  CNN, the 'Clinton Network News'.  The Winnipeg Free Press, once a non partisan source of facts and news is long dead. In it's place the journalists of the world have opted for Pravda.

The fact is,all of this is way above my pay scale.

 Justin Trudeau is a millionaire.  Hillary Clinton is a multi millionaire. Donald Trump is a billionaire.

The very thought that any one of these actually caring for me personally is grandiose.  They are politicking about what's best for themselves and their friends but trying to convince everyone they care for the little guy.

The oldest law of the world is the Chinese Law of the Fish. There are Big Fish and There are Little Fish. Little Fish must be fast and numerous.
'
I'm slowing down. I'm getting older. I'm not numerous. I'm just a fairly anxious little Canadian watching the government tax my income year after year until with all my best work years gone,  I'm wondering now about the security of old age realizing that all the promises about working hard and being taken care of in old age are probably no more likely to come true than all the other promises of politicians.  There is however horrendous government waste and mismanagement.

But the government employed love their high incomes, low work load and great benefit packages.  I don't blame them. But they don't realize that without Don Quioxtes like me and the Deplorables, they couldn't exist in their smug arrogance and luxury life styles.  Oh to be a fatuous fat cat yuppie again!

The Serenity Prayer goes - God Grant Me the Serenity to ACCEPT  the Things I CANNOT Change, the COURAGE to CHANGE the Things I CAN and the WISDOM to know the difference.

There is determinism or fate and there is free will. I don't really feel powerful like the Activists and Television Personalities.   I don't even know if these new Gods and Goddesses of Celluloid are real.  We 'assume' so much reality.

Each day I awake and truly have this 24 hours of likelihood.

What I 'cannot change' seems more considerable.  I have hope and plans and goals and it all seems to go slowly forward most days, maybe 'slouching towards Bethlehem' or 40 days in the Desert or 2 steps forward and one step back.   To paraphrase  St. Paul it's mostly,  'what I don't want I do and what I do want I don't do' .

It really is quite possible that EVERYTHING is beyond my capacity to CHANGE it.  Free will may well be an illusion. This THING may be a COMIC STRIP.

Listening to Justin Trudeau I feel like I am in a nightmare of karmic proportions. I'm old enough to remember his father.  I'm  watching him mouth his father's mistakes. I'm seeing myself when I was naive and young thinking Pierre,  with his red carnation as 'hip, slick, and cool'.  I was so 'smart' back then and actually thought everyone over 30 was likely an idiot.

I fear  My punishment  is to see Pierre's son doing the same communist totalitarian wasteful spending and swaggering that so offended my parents. Now I'm older I'm seeing the son do the same shit. What's changed is my perception.  I'm being 'tortured' seeing the errors of my past.  I'm having to confront the folly and arrogance of my youth.  Everything that Pierre Trudeau introduced to Canada seems obscene to me today.  And here I am old watching his son in this Twilight Zone/Black MIRROR fixed loop nightmare.  I don't seem to have any control of it.

Meanwhile the Trump and Hillary fight it out like the Greek and Roman Gods of yesteryear.   I see Trump triumph and feel after a year of the Political Verbal GAME there will finally be PEACE in the VALLEY no it's not over till January when Trump will be inaugurated. It's overtime.  And the show gets crazier by the moment.

But all I have to change is MY PERCEPTION. It's clearly not  a TRAGEDY. IT's a COMEDY. At Least a TRAGI COMEDY.  Trudeau is a joke. The HILLARY OBAMA SIT COM is coupled with the Trump Family Show.

I can't change it. It doesn't really affect me today anyway.  I could be hit by a bus tomorrow before the next episode..

Facebook is propaganda.  Zuckerberg has admitted he's skewed the reporting left.  All the mainstream mead 'cheated' with Hillary. People who are losers 'cheat'.  These are losers, but who cares, its just ENTERTAINMENT and distraction.  It's Carne and Magic and Politics.  It's money and power.

Donald Trump is President Elect.  Trudeau is Prime Minister. Neither of them is here in the Downtown Eastside Vancouver where I'm seeing patients.  None of them are here helping me convince my patients  to stop leaving this present reality for unreality.   Every patient I see has missed a  possible death of heroin.

I don't blame my patients their wanting to escape this reality.  Any escape from TV /Facebook/Media Reality may well be worth it.  I expect that Media is the cause of much of the rise in drug addiction in the world. That and the Climate Change fear mongerers.  Everyone is pushing fear and fear's consumer antidotes.

World Politics is a new form of Sports. It's just another media event.  Climate Change is just the weather girl on steroids shouting for attention.   The corrupt  UN wants more money for their segment of the NEWS.Merkel wants money. Trudeau wants money for his jet setting life style.  It's all taxation, high costs, graft and promises.  But it's not real.

Real is what I think it is.  Real is my feet and hands. Real is this day.   Real is my family and freinds. Real is this computer and my dog at my feet.  Real is the  really good soup I had today at the Heatley.

I will say the Serenity Prayer and hope to have the wisdom to focus on what I can change. I am the VOICE OVER on this COMIC STRIP.  

I can change the VOICE OVER.  I believe that the WORLD IS UNFOLDING AS IT SHOULD.  I believe in a loving God who wants the best for me.

Everything else is way above my pay grade.

God is real and God is love. Thank you Jesus!                                                                                      

Donald Trump, President of the United States of America

I am so happy that Donald Trump has won the presidency of the United States.  I am so dissappointed in our Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau.
 It is so painful still to listen to the media, especially the absolutely horrid CBC news.  CBC has been as biased in this election as CNN, the  Clinton Network News.  Both deserve the Goebbels Press Award for the smost propagandistic new reporting of the year.  We continue to see a whole lot of Hillary Clinton and Obama despite the fact that Trump is the present and the future.  Move Over Hillary and Obama, your day is done and Donald Trump deserves centre stage. This is his time of victory, you stage hogging poor losers. I want to hear and see the new President.  Not yesterdays news!
The media, Trudeau, the Clintons and Obama, to use Obama’s phrase,  are  “on the wrong side of history.”  While I appreciate, given their elitism, privilege and arrogance,  that this is hard for them to comprehend, it is still so painful to watch them clinging desperately to the past.  
The media keeps repeating  out of context scripted sound bites and ad hominems that sounded hollow and hypocritical when first they were spouted but now sound downright sick and pathetic.
Donald Trump simply is not sexist, racist, misogynist or not qualified for the office of the President of the United States.  The media elite,  Hollywood drama queens and all those millions of Saudi and Wall Street dollars did not convince people yesterday. Today they are utter tripe.    Hillary Dumpty fell and all the Corporate dollars and UN horses could not put Hillary together again.
I feel like I’m at V day in WWII.   CBC instead filming the Canadian victorious troops has chosen to talk to the Nazi about their failed  plans for world dominion.   America and Britain have voted for democracy instead of a Kafkaesque beurocratic  dictatorship centred in Brussels.  
There is fresh air flowing into  the room but the stale air clings like old cigar scents and spilt promises.  There is new light in the darkness while the shadows scurry in the corners.
 "The media refused to take Trump seriously but they insisted on taking him literally.” This is the day that Political Correctness died. Unfortunately we will spend years clearing the rotting carcases left soiling our schools and society.  
There was no climate change denial, but there certainly is Donald Trump Denial. Donald Trump is President Elect of the United States of American. Wake up Media!
There’s a new president of the United States of America, Donald Trump.  Finally we can all hope Justin Trudeau will have adult supervision.

Random Thoughts on the News

The news continues to be more insane than the words of my most insane patients who I see day to day.  The lies of the media are beyond those that the psychopaths, sent to me by the courts, conceive. The competing claims of the various politicians are more fanciful than the insanity of my manic patients. There are countless promises and grand schemes that sound so like the most drug addicted patients who I see still spouting schemes despite being broke and homeless

I remember working in the asylum and a patient telling me that the bars on the window were to keep the world out.

"We're sensitive here and need a place to heal."

I read a book once where a man built walls around a little bit of beach. He put his bed and desk and table on the beach and looked back on the land.  Asked why, he said that it had been a mistake to come ashore and he wanted to divide himself from the world.  He was in his own way giving up on the amphibious and seeking something wholly fishy.

I can't help but think of Walden Pond and Civil Disobedience.  My Chinese friend asked me, "Are these interesting times."  I said yes, knowing what the Chinese say of those.  I believe so.  A curse and a blessing.

The hysteria rises.  The greed and fear of the authorities are palpable.

A genius and wise man told me that there's a struggle by the Globalists for control. They want to rule the world. One World Order.  A great empire of Arendt banality. Bureaucrats who see themselves with power and wealth and little risk to themselves. They are Brussels and Washington and Ottawa and Berlin.

I think of Leonard Cohen's songs. Not Hallelujah. We're getting to that. No, rather 'then we take Berlin.'

Germany has risen again as a caricature, a frightening clown face.

"Hillary is sick and dying. Some say it's Parkinsons.  One doctor insists she has a brain tumour. I think it's just end stage alcoholism but she can't last long.  She has seizures and needs help up stairs and is always falling."

"Do you think they'll attempt an assassination, blame it on Trump.  and then get Cain in."

The name Cain is biblical. The stories of the Torah return.

"It's known George Soros wants to destabilize the west. That's the Islamic invasion. Not for the sake of them but as a means to impose civil war and authority.  Armies invade, like Hitler into Austria, like Putin into Ukraine, like America in to Cuba, claiming to assist  Always they are there to help, not to invade and conquer."

Public perception. Marketing.  The Devil wears Prada.

Climate Change is a hoax.  They're taxing the air we breathe.  All this is true but what's really new? The Emperor has new clothes but in this case it's the Voter has new clothes and everywhere the voting is changed to disenfranchise.

The Chinese shout down reporters. Their anger is palpable like the wrath one feels in the presence of a Hell's Angel Biker when you question the ownership of their motorcycle.

Steal a little and they put you in jail. Steal a lot and they make you king. (Dr. Johnson).

It was ever thus.  So has anything changed.

Yes.  I'm getting older.  I have to pee more often. My right hand shakes from the injury to my cervical nerves from vehicular crashes and carrying books and books and more books by the thousands over the years in a satchel on that right side. Today I try not to carry anything on that side and drink coffee with my left hand.  Getting my hair cut the other day I looked in the opposing mirror and saw that I had a bald patch coming at the rear of my head. I'd be so much aware of the receding hair line that I'd not considered to look on the other side and seen that the age police while kicking down the front door but had staked out the back door as well. There is no escape in this world.

Death stalks. Old age creeps. These are the changes. Not out there. I am reading histories with glee seeing how little has changed. Same play. Different characters. The Bible remains the best though.

Thank you Lord Jesus.

Anti-Authoritarianism and Politics

Anti-authoritarianism is fundamental to individuals and to the species.  Developmentally the first major conflict zone between the authorities and self is the parent child struggle named the Terrible Twos.  Developmentally at the age of roughly 2 to 3 a child exerts his individuality with contrarian distinction to the will of the parents.  Historically this was symbolized by the refusal to potty train or the 'no' and the 'temper tantrums.

Developmentally it is also a feature of the early teen years when children are moving from identification with their family to that of their peer group.

An old and simple truism is that the greatest leaders are the greatest followers.  There is great pride and narcissism in our culture with Frank Sinatra's song, "I did it my way" celebrating individual industry and endeavour. However there's a tremendous likelihood form most that this means a horrendous waste of time.  The NASA program doesn't encourage people to avoid the experience of learning from previous astronauts and just try jumping up in the air. Reinventing the wheel is avant garde but frivilous of resources.

Most creativity is done by those who have already accomplished the skills of those who have gone before them. Hence 'we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before" is a truism.

There are 'exceptions that prove the rule' but the facts remain, in todays society there is a direct correlation between years of education and probability of success individually and in community.  It is true that there are PHD's driving taxis and Grade 6 drop outs who have become dot come millionaires. However the ratio is that more than 90% of PHD's are making more than $50,000 a year income while 90% of Grade 6 , perhaps even Gr 11 , drop outs are making less than $50,000.

Inflation in education is that today a Bachelor Degree or Journeyman papers are the same standard as the old Gr. 12 educations.  There's ratios.  The more complex the activity the more likely the need for advanced training.  No one wants a jetfighter pilot 'winging it'.

The difficulty with drug abuse and alcoholism is that they interfere with learning.  They also are strongly associated with anti-authoritarianism. Commonly those in 12 step programs who are supposed to do a Step 4 overlook addressing fears and resentments which they have to institutions and principles. Authority is perhaps best understood as a principle.  The major authority structures in society are government, education, religion, police, military, banks.

We have just had an election in Canada in which three outstanding individuals who all had great leadership skills competed.  Individually most Canadians were well spread in their appreciation for any of them and an anti authority joke that made the rounds was that 'choosing a politician is like choosing which STD one wants."  However, Mr. Harper  had been Canada's leader for 2 terms demonstrating his outstanding democratic leadership skills when winning ever one election is extremely difficulty.  Mr. Mulcair was leader of the NDP Opposition party and while he didn't win the election was a greatly admired leader of the Opposition and NDP>  Justin Trudeau, the present prime minister did exceptionally well as leader of the Liberal Party bringing this third place party to win the election.  His leadership skills on this alone are to be admired.

The fact is that all the Canadian leaders are A students when it comes to political. If there were an exam for "Political Intelligence" , Mr. Harper, Mr. Mulcair and Mr. Trudeau would all score A.  To date Mr. Harper has been A+ as a democratic leader serving two terms and having 8 years of leadership experience under his belt.  Mr. Trudeau has survived many months now and continues to lead his liberal party and the government of Canada while having only 40% of the popular vote. Mr. Mulcair has many years of experience and is facing another leadership conference. But the fact all these leaders are exceptional leaders.

Right now the American election is in the beginning delegates phase with Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders all leading in the races.  Again , all of these individuals are exceptional leaders. They have demonstrated great success individually in their own personal and public life and now are demonstrating their impressive leadership skills in these really tough campaigns and debates and the rather ugly spectacle of rough and tumble American politics.  Given American Transparency and Journalism every wrinkle and slip of the tongue is enlarged and distributed the world over whereas in the rest of the world where so many police states and so much of politics is behind closed doors no such public demonstration exists.

Elections in western countries are rather like blood sports and the public has a front row seat. That
truly is the issue of democracy whereas in communist totatitarian countries and other dictatorships the public doesn't know and there is no allowance for criticism and dissent.  America quite possibly
can be called the country with the greatest level of free speech in the world. Without 'free speech'





  
there is no freedom and political correctness is today the greatest threat to 'freedom of speech' and

'freedom' and "democracy" since Nazi Germany invaded Poland.

In a democracy with freedom of speech everyone has the 'right' to criticize the government and the authority institutions.  In Muslim lead countries we have seen that criticizing, questioning or repudiating Allah and Islam is a punishable offence with actual death as a consequence. Charlie was killed in another country by Islamic terrorists but the actions of those terrorist were supported by the Muslim Brotherhood and by Pew Statistics a majority of mainstream Muslims. In Thailand there is a professor in prison for criticizing the historical behaviour of an ancestral King. To criticize the Royal Family today is to risk incarceration.  To criticize the Royal Family in Saudi Arabia is to risk death as death was the lot of so many Argentinians who criticized their government in the terrible years.

Freedom is still a quite rare entity. So many of the leaders of the United Nations countries are guilty of major human rights offences and are quite frankly anti freedom for their citizens and often only pay lip service to the very idea of democracy.  Much of the world is ruled by old style tribalism, akin to gangsterism.  Power whether taken by gun or inheritted by those whose parents and grandparents took power by violence is in many ways the norm for much of the United Nations leadership despite their fatuous rhetoric.  The United Nations Authority has given rise to the black humor joke, "How do you know when a politician is lying. His lips are moving."

However, every leader in the United Nations is an A student in "Political Intelligence" and political leadership.

I'm personally not a very good leader. At most I've been in charge of a unit of 10 to 20 staff. I've been the acting head of units of a few more people but not that many. Mostly my businesses have at most had 2 or three assistants. I've not managed a marriage well. lasting 10 years in that endeavour and haven't had children. By contrast my brother, an highly accomplished administrator has wifh his wife of 30 plus years managed a family of 5, in addition to managing many many people in the work place and handling million dollar budgets.  Note that these are the true basis for judging leadship skills. Critics today are a dime a dozen and usually unskilled in and fundamentally ignorant. They are
however a 'legend in their own minds!"


I can only admire Canada's Prime Ministers and Political Party leaders for their "Political Intelligence'.  My brother's "political intelligence" is greater than mine. Obvioulsy Mr. Trudeau is
very bright politically to be the leader of a nation just like those who are leaders of the United
Nations.



It also means to my mind that they were all likely less 'anti authoritarian' than I am.  A communist leader might have got into his position of socialist leadership by killing a few competitors just like a leader of the Hell's Angels or Jacuzza or Mafia.  Justin Trudeau, Harper, Obama, etc. all got to their positions of leadershi by playing the 'game' without overt illegal behaviour.

The trouble with 'criminal' leaders is that they may in fact have political intelligence but they're a bit like people who bring guns to golf games. Criminals may win the golf game in their mind by killing the Tiger Woods. That doesn't make themgood golfers. They're losers except as killers.

Authority is power.  The democractic leaders as compared to the totalitarian leaders and the criminal leaders don't solely depend on fear and force. In a great movie excerpt from the classic Grand Canyon, the stupid thug Rocstar has a gun on the old man Simon who is discussing respect with him. Rockstar "are you asking me as a sign of respect or are you asking because I've got the gun' and Simon says "You aint got the gun, we aint having this conversation." Then Rockstar says, profoundly, "That's what I thought: no gun, no respect. That's why I've always got the gun."

So authority comes with fear or love.  Totalitarian regimes and gangter oligarchies and communist Committee run countries  are lead by fear.

In a democracy, the fact is 40% of Canadians voted for Justin Trudeau. Justin Trudeau individually didn't force them to vote for him. He didn't threaten them (except perhaps with the fear mongering Climate Change Cult, vote for me I'll save the world, vote against me and we all die because the planet is going to die) but really, he put forward his 'best sales job' and beat the other two guys who were doing their best to get votes and the majority went to Mr. Trudeau. The same happened for Obama.



In contrast many elections around the world, especially the phony communist elections and the fake democracies, if you don't vote for the dictator you're killed. He rules by the gun.

Now our government may well have the 'illusion' of democracy with the Elite, that 2% of every country that really rules, doing whatever they want to while giving us the illusion of choice.  In the
real politick of communism and socialist countries and other dictatorships the appointed people
simply take charge and tell you what to do.  There's no 'illusion of choice'.


That's fairly cynical and yes, all those who are cynical will naturally be 'anti authoritarianism."  Nihilism and cynicism are by nature 'anti authoritarian'.  The "loser' in the struggle of 'claw and tooth' in the wild will naturally be negative about their not getting the bone. Watching hyenas and lions is a study in such behaviour.  The multiplicity of carion beasts and the hierarchies of any society are complex.

But it remains that Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Obama today are A students in 'Politics'.  Just like Stalin and Hitler, and Henry the VIII and the Ottoman Sultan and Lincoln and Gandhi before them.  These men were all great leaders.

However, as the Golden Bough showed societies like to have leaders as 'scapegoat'.  Collectively the Germans who supported Hitler overnight denied association when the Nazi regime fell.  The same occured in the Bible with even Peter denying his association and following of Jesus, one of the greatest leaders of history.

Jesus was a great Authority, like Mohammed, like Moses, like Buddha, like other religious leaders. Personally I feel Jesus is the son of God but objectively all the religious leaders were A students politically and socially.

So when I criticize Trudeau who I personally do not like, his politics being as opposite my own as say the Montreal Canadienes Hockey team is from the greatest of all hockey teams, the Canucks.

In a democracy, with freedom of speech and political debate we can criticize our government openly
without wanting a revolution.  I love the Beatles song, "We don't want a revolution!"   I can understand why Americans want Hillary Clinton jailed and I can even understand why as many want Obama impeached as did Bush.  I would be ecstactic is Trudeau were step down from leadership of Canada and let someone more to my liking  win. I'd like the Canucks to win the NHL too.


I am interested in this issue of authority and anti authority though because a lot of people who have never even 'lead' anything or anyone speak as if they could do better than Justin Trudeau.  And it saddens me. I don't like Trudeau or even Obama but I really don't think with my experience and record I could do a better job than they are doing.

I'm a ship's captain and a rather adequate one.  I noted that when my ship was in a storm all the crew less experienced and capable than me wanted to be in charge.  I learned then that people who are afraid and unaware of their fearfulness, want to be in 'control'.  So often I have seen those out of control in my psychiatric practice want to 'take control' because this gave them the brief illusion of 'safety'.

I actually believe that our generation dominated by drugs and alcohol , television, movies and video games has an immense egotism and arrogance about their capabilities. I've seen so many picturres of rank beginners jumping on motorcycles and driving them first time. I've play video games. And yet, when I first drove a motorcycle it wasn't long before I crashed it. Even after advanced training and much experience I find riding my motorcycle a very advanced complex skill.  I've done these 'pilot simulation' series and I've been quite good. I've even sat beside dozens of pilots and had some basic training in flying. Still despite all the movies to the contrary I don't want to ever have to pilot or land a 747 or a jet fighter.

A professional is judged by his lowest level. The professional is one who does a whole lot of something and because of experience has quite outstanding successes but mostly can attest to a minimum standard of success.  There is no perfection in this human world despite the demands of authorities.    However a military sniper will hit the target with high probability most of the time.  They can have a bad day. By contrast an amateur can 'get lucky' and hit the target once.  Having delivered a hundred babies or so I see the great tv deliveries by the children, police, neighbour or whatever and think that's great.  90% of the time I really didnt' think I needed to be at the delivery. However there's at least a half dozen or more of the deliveries I attended that mother and child would
have died if I hadn't been there and I had n't had the greatest of teachers.

Because again, the greatest leaders are the greatest followers.  Just as I followed the instructions of
Rusty who taught me motorcycle riding, I had followed the instructions of the obstetricians and psychiatrists and other teachers who I was truly blessed to have as mentors. I also followed my father
and mothers instruction, perhaps not as well as I could have and certainly in retrospect should have, but I did follow them. I am indeed an extremely good follower.

But so is Mr. Trudeau.  He's been a great follower and learned from some of Canada's greatest leaders.  His father, Pierre Trudeau is just one. Both Mr. Paul Martin and Mr. Chretien supported and guided Mr. Justin Trudeau. Sadly even the Conservative weak link Mr. Joe Clark supported him.  He is clearly a great follower with great mentors and despite all predictions he has not totally bankrupt the country in the first 6 months of his leadership.  Obama might well be the devil incarnate but similiar America survived his rule just as it survived Mr. Bush.  Both Mr. Obama and Mr. Bush were as demonized as Mr. Harper in Canada was.

But the fact remains at this time they all are as great leaders as Mr. Putin or Mrs Thatcher.

Anti authoritarianism contains the inability to appreciate 'authority' in general and comes out specifically in a lot of situations.  Those who do drugs and alcohol are commonly anti law and order because it interferes with their addictions. Criminals are naturally 'anti authority' preferring to be 'a law unto themselves.'

Che guevara was as great a military leader as Ghengis Khan by some arguments but he wasn't as great a political leader as Khan or as his buddy Castro.  A great military leader or even a military hero might well not have the skills or political acumen to be the kind of leader that Truman or Kennedy were.

Political leadership is of a 'kind'.  It's a kind of 'authority'.  One feature is whether it's legitimate, criminal , or democratic.  Is is a product of force or attraction.  Is it 'respect' or is it a 'gun".

Now followers are fickle.  Mr. Harper, one of the greatest leaders of Canadian history, elected two terms and managed Canada through two world economic crisis is rejected overnight by the electorate one the basis of 'change'.  Anything is better than the old ways. Mr. Obama was elected much the same way after.  In democracies we don't as much vote for a person as against the last person. Even Winston Church lost his election despite what he'd done in WWII.  In democracy when a country is doing well the leaders may actually stay in power but the minute events change out they go.


It's been said that Benign Dictatorships are the best government overall for a country or a world however it's also said 'Power corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely".  History shows too that regimes corrupt and eventually competition replaces them with empire after empire till the present world empire today.

Now the whole idea of 'freedom of speech', involves 'criticism' and therefore I can criticism authorities and thankfully in Canada the retaliation is not what it is in Saudi Arabia where the regime is so weak it cannot tolerate any dissension.  It's a government by force compared to Canada and even the US where the government is by attraction.

What's interesting in politics is not just the left and right dimensions but when the quality of criticism is by leaders themselves.  Not outsiders, but rather those leaders who have been before or themselves had the job of running large complex social structures.

The joke of the Alberta NDP election was that never before in the history of Canada or perhaps even the west have so many utterly ignorant and incompetent people gained so much power democratically. The vast majority of elected in that province had far less leadership experience than me and I've run a business, been an expedition leader, had masses of education and am a ships captain. The majority of candidates there had no leadership experience to speak of and had never managed budgets greater than a hundred thousand or so.  Yet despite the bankruptcy of the province they're muddling along showing that politics can 'survive' with all kinds. When there is a revolution such as the Lenin communist revolution that deposed the Russian government lead by socialist Alexander Kerensky after the abdication of NicholasII there is a similiar situation with generally politically ignorant, naive and incompetent people taking their leadership by force and establishing control with a gun.

The loss then is monumental. But it's interesting that a multi billion dollar business like the country of Alberta can be taken over by critics and school teachers and it muddles along.  Indeed experience is mostly associated with efficiency and without corruption, saving.

Now I'm looking forward to the leadership races in Canada. Rona Ambrose has been an amazing conservative interim leader and Mulcair is up for review by the NDP.  Meanwhile Donald Trump and
Hillary Clinton look like they will be the contenders for the next American presidency.  I personally like Country Rock or Country Folk Music but I like to think of these leaders as different types of music,  Obama was probably Rap while Hillary might be called jazz and Trump rock and roll.  I think of Justin Trudeau as hip hop myself and thought Mr. Harper classic rock.  Trump might be Metallica but the bottom line and that's what I want heard here is despite my fear and criticism of Trudeau and Obama I fully recognise them as A plus students of politics. As a Canadian I will follow Trudeau's leadership as well, kicking and screaming as I go. I'm paying his outrageous taxes and choking on his wasteful spending just like Americans who felt that neither the establishment Democrats or Republicans served them so look to the genius of Donald Trump, definitely a major leader.

But this analysis is like respect that which fighter pilots had for each other in WWI.  Downed pilots were treated respectfully and returned exchanged in prisoner exchanges in a civilized way before the rule of mob violence.

ISIS today definitely is lead by an A plus leader but his leadership is coupled with barbarian behaviour.

I guess it's summed up by recognizing that Lucifer was a great angel and remains a great angel but thankful he doesn't play for the Canucks. Personally I think the Angel Michael and even on good days that Jesus plays for the Canucks.  (Jesus was not playing for the Canucks this last season).