Preoccupations of a Great Leader

I’m not talking about Justin Trudeau. He’s not a leader let alone a great leader. I’m referring instead to the Hillary and Bill Clintons, the Bush Family,  Donald Trump and Melania and Ivanka family.  These are like the kings and queens of old.  Putin and Xi Ling are like them as was King Henry and Churchill and so many of the leaders of history, like Constantine and Ataturk.

They shared in common an appreciation for the land where they lead and the people of the land.  Today we attribute this to the aboriginals but it’s universal. The Scottish people identified with Scotland.  Not as a nation but as a place. Like Indians and Chinese and Nepalese do. Just like Kenyans and Chileans.  They identify with the slant of the sun, the taste of air , the mountains or valleys , the waterways , the accent of the people, their tribal associations.  We think of the song lines of the Australian aboriginals but these are true of all the tribal people and the clans that followed and the people that lived under all the great political associations that used these originals relationships to strive for bigger and better things. The family company becomes the corporations. The corporation continues to look to authority of the original individual and family that began the firm.  Identification with these large groups gives meaning to lives.  But fundamentally it’s where we are born and where are people are from. 

The great leaders of the world identified with the land and the people they lead.  Next they worried a whole lot about living long and well.  The longevity of a leader isn’t always that great.  Lieutenants, lowliest of military leaders, were dying in minutes coming off helicopters.  Snipers always try to kill the leader.  Assasins go for them too.  A great leader has great enemies.  Look at Mr. Trump and Mr. Obama if you don’t like the idea of looking at Mr. Stalin and Mr. Hitler. The latter lost whereas the former two survived their rule.  The winner writes history.  The world is continuing to live according to the military leaders of WWII, England, America, Russia, France and China.  

The great leader knows his or her survival depends on the survival of his land and people. So great leaders have always focussed on defence. Sometimes like Israel’s Ben Gurion, a great leader can not only protect it’s borders and hold onto it’s land and people, He canexpand it’s defensive perimeter to greater advantage and protection.  The son of a wealthy father is expected to hold the father’s gains but too often in that microcosm it’s rags to riches in one generation then riches to rags in the next 2 or 3.  This issue of maintenance of wealth not increasing wealth but just holding on takes an enormous effort by a leader.  There is a constant struggle for domination.. Even the Dalai Lama’s peace loving people couldn’t stand up to the murdering unevolved communist thugs of China  who invaded Tibet. China, that running dog imperialist, invaded , colonized Tibet  and genocides his people.  China just keeps right on doing it too. The red hair of the Irish came from the constant invasion of Ireland  by the Vikings have the red hair genes, and happily raped and stole, even though the editors of Huffington Post say that’s not nice.  That’s been going on forever. Raids and pillage and theft. Rape is popular especially with the religion of peace. All of the Middle East was Christian or Zoroastrian before today’s religion of peace. White farmers are being butchered daily in the enlightened South Africa.

Of course the “ better sort “ don’t do this but their proxies might..  It’s strategy and tactics and takes enormous time and energy. Most of information is sought to protect against rebellion or invasion.  This is why it’s called ‘intelligence’.  Our autoimmune systems work in the same way and require a tremendous amount of the body’s time and energy. Just maintaining the status quo isn’t easy.  It’s not necessarily natural either. Neutrality may be desired but the Nazis, Communist aetheists, pagans  and countless religious radicals and their religions of the day haven’t been keen to leave well enough alone if there’s gold and land to be had along with virgins and slaves. All Utopian seekers are even more disastrous and wasteful than the real politic sort. 

The great leaders can’t be smoking dope all day or doing opium or getting drunk in the morning. They can’t be living in the brothels or living a profligate life. Even Justin Trudeau has minders who ensure their puppet shows up relatively present despite the great number of occasions he’s acted and looked like he’s still recovering from a night of debauchery. He’s not a great leader.  Great leaders must have self control in action though as we saw with the great leader Krushchev they can really act a part when they need to. Unfortunately Trudeau can’t even act. Reagan could at least do that. 

 All great leaders historically have played their cards close to their chest because the world stage, politics and law, is a gambler’s game.  It’s all smoke and mirrors.  The great leader is a diplomat has the capacity to mobilize his own people. While in other fields of endeavour ‘transparency’ is the best, not in war, not in gambling.  Perhaps not in the pseudowar of diplomacy and sales even.  There’s a whole lot of drama and sleight of hand.  Mr. Chrétien, one of Canada’s great leaders, concealed his immense intelligence so as not to alienate the common man.  Unfortunately Trudeau has alienated all men and most women by not concealing his immense stupidity.

A great leader is busy and working and on call. He’s 24/7 at the helm. I don’t know where people get the idea that these people are living it up and walking on easy street. Even Trudeau a mere puppet whose been replaced wherever his handlers could do it with cut out dolls, has to maintain a tough schedule which has obviously been so overwhelming that he’s had more holidays scheduled than any leader I can think of. They’re probably mental health days in his case but they are exceptional.  By contrast great leaders must show up and be meeting and greeting and discussing and arranging and stroking this ego and putting down that ego every day of their reigns.  They’re constantly hounded too like celebrities without the benefit that celebrities have of just having to be pretty idiots at times.  The best of celebrities are like great leaders who are always working the room.  It’s not a pretty task. It’s not an easy task. It’s not a whole lot of couch and tv time.

The lower classes by contrast have a lot of down time. They go to work and they come home and they have time off. The greatest time for many was medieval so called dark age days when people did the same thing their father and grandfather did and the bar was pretty low except for taxes, disease and war.  Malthus times.  But there was job security and the wives didn’t leave you for lesbian lovers and the kids didn’t burn down the schools. It really once wasn’t so bad because there was that much change. Right now Canadians even those designated as in poverty have a higher standard of living than most of our earth’s population. The thousands of dollars which even a person on disability here can have and make is more than billions will ever have. There’s upward mobility here which is simply not possible in countries as corrupt as Haiti where the Clinto billions disappeared mysterious as so much money goes missing in that other great Banking Bermuda Triange, Pakistan. 

It really helped too in th peen days if your job was to plant things and you had a hundred IQ then planting things was satisfying. Today with the advent of computers and competition with robots and every other person on the planet in the great internet connection if your IQ is only 100 you may not have a job. Then in the west at worst you have couch time and tv land and drugs are cheap like alcohol and there’s a great social net. Not like Muslim countries where there’s still a crazy demand for productivity and thefts are dealt with by cutting off limbs. The aetheists camps would also put you in a far harder place than where ever you were if you didn’t pull your weight. The Gulag wasn’t Auschwitz but it ranked right up there with all other slave labour work camps. Great leaders have to deal with this tendency of lots of folks to be disagreeable and slackards. The communists have killed millions , though they favour killing smart people, whereas in the west the tacky media gets upset with a policeman uttering a bad word.  There’s little comparison.  On it’s worst day the western democracies have mass demand for entry whereas the countries most people are coming from have really bad leaders and really corrupt systems and people can’t get out of the deadly neighbourhoods fast enough.  

Great leaders have to deal with these problems. They also have to get people to give them money to deal with the problems. They’re the original go fund me where the buck stops.  The English and French leaders back in Napoleon’s day were always having trouble raising money for their wars.  Now they can’t get enough people on board to lynch tobacco company boards while in Canada Trudeau spent millions to put an ice rink on parliament hill when there’s a frozen river next door where thousands skate every year and have for hundreds of years. It’s one of the problems of having leadership that don’t care for their people and their land or even know it. Great leaders have to have their ear to the ground and it’s not easy.  

Before the puppet Trudeau was crowned because his Uncle Castro had his way with his mother who got the Trudeau name to wed the west with the east to allow Pierre to raise Quebec up and finally pay back that bastard Wolfe who beat Champlain, leadership required some sort of training and experience and education.  In the days of the original dolphins the school was the dinner table.  In 17th century Europe, in the days of chilvary.everyone was playing war and your future allies would be your playmates. It’s marvellous to see the sons of the Queen of England being taught war and leadership in the military.  Those are two great leaders to be with lovely wives who have the great intelligence of Melania and even some of the shrewdness of Mrs. Obama.  

I say this because the destruction of a society comes with the belittling of the leadership. You could argue against the man, like I do with Mad King George the III and  Justin Trudeau, but I don’t negate the leadership.  I am ashamed as a Canadian of my fellow Canadians who are so ill educated and ill experienced that they should have been taken in by a dynastic ploy of the lowest order in a democracy where meritocracy is supposed to rule. But now it’s all about fake news and denying the good and undermining the ‘position’.  This was what Hitler did. It’s what Lenin did before them. They strategically undermined the rule of law, the structure of the society and wanted not to overthrow an individual but rather they wanted a revolution. Nothing serves a revolution better than to have King George III as a ruler of the opposition.  Justin Trudeau has not only ruined the reputation of Canadians leadership hard earned by the likes of Chrétien, Mulroney and  Harper but within Canada itself there’s a willingness to chuck parliament itself because despite opposition Andrew Scheer being better than Trudeau by a long shot he’s not ‘great’.  Indeed Canadian leadership is rather anemic despite the amazing land we have with the amazing people.  Sadly testosterone is declining as fast as the feminists kill babies . 

I like great leaders.  It’s not a job I want. I like the couch, Hagen daz and walking around in a ripped t shirt and underwear. I’d rather spend time with the my dog than XiLing. There’s no time for that with great leaders. They’re in the fray. They’re not on vacation. They’re doing a tough job.  The actual work that Trump or Clinton did was the same relatively speaking. The number of decisions made in a day whether right or wrong is huge.  I, like 90% of the rest of the country have an easier job than the great leaders. We might not eat as well and we won’t get to order a nuclear strike or shut down a drug dealer so our jobs are likely less exciting by a long shot but even if we have a dozen children around us with in-laws and such it’s not the circus that Moscow, London, Washington or Paris  is on any day.  I don’t doubt that these guys are working, unlike Trudeau who always appears like he’s a tad too wasted, and the dog ate his homework’s.  By contrast , these great leaders are doing a hell of a job.  They have perks.  They love their children.  Just as we all saw the love of the Obamas for their little ones we see the pride in Trump for his daughter Ivanko and his brilliant boy Baron.  They clearly feel good about the future they’re making for their children.  They have family and they get to wear nice clothes and ride in nice vehicles travel and see really neat inventions.  They get to know a whole lot of secrets which even PBS doesn’t tell us.  I’m not saying there aren’t perks but the great leaders work for them.  

Trudeau and my spirituality

Every day Trudeau attacks my Canada and my people.  Every day he breaks another promise and steals more of our present and our future.  Every newsflash shows him partying and lying, looking high and generally nauseating me. Two thirds of doctors want him gone. It’s not enough that I’m not alone.  Every spiritual person I know sees his lust and ego but his hair, the propaganda, the lemming parade and special interests groups, like the corrupt Quebec millionaires and Saudi billionaires have their puppet. I retch.
Spiritually, I am taught to love my enemy.
But my favourite Christian theologian C.S. Lewis encouraged the soldiers in the Battle of Britain to resist the Germans.  The old testament David was a great warrior. Jesus carries the blood of David.  He’s not some peace nik. He had limits.
He taught love God and love your neighbour as yourself.
To understand my relationship with Trudeau I have to consider Bonhoffer who felt that Hitler deserved to die.  The Centaurians were converts to Christianity.  The American soldiers in Italy who fought back Nazis were in AA.  The Buddhist priests fought back against the atheist Chinese invaders while the Dalai Lama was fleeing to India.  The spiritual Indians fought the Muslims as did the Sikhs who had been massacred by the thousands.
I visited Meteora and Capadocia to meditate on the right path when the tyrants and lizards and bugs are in charge. The Lawyer Lenin over through the Russia duma democracy then re wrote history with countless lies but first killing millions before Stalin took over and killed so many millions more. Mao the atheist out killed them both with hundreds of millions dead while Hitler another socialist only killed mere millions in his gas chambers.
If I was killing babies and the only way to stop me was by killing me then I’d want you to stop me. The effete intellectuals of Toronto disparage the police while those protected students of Ottawa with their fat cat politicians and their short memories leave the soldiers in the field exposed. They’d rather spend money on new desks than armour.
I asked my sponsor what should I do if someone is hurting me. Defend yourself as best you can. But what about praying for your enemy. “There’s no time for praying in a firefight. You just react”.  But what about politics where Trudea’s attacks on democracy, freedom and the middle class, doctors and old people and business and farmers is a daily event.
Just as I struggle to think of something good to say about him, he opens his mouth with another utterance of elite stupidity and self serving deceit.  Yet my Christian aunt told me that if you have nothing good to say about them you should be quiet.  But the Dalai Lama is not quiet. Churchill took over from Chamberlain who like Obama had created a mess of world politics with his strategy of appeasement at any cost.  Then Churchill put a stop to that later when an early response would have saved countless lives.
Every time I’ve capitulated to government they’ve just taken more and more like all bullies do. Beurocrats have no ‘enough' switch. They’re ravenous and progressive. Arendt describes the beurocrats of Nuremberg as having the ‘banality of evil’.  I see that in the coward haughty eyes the beurocrats I know today, corrupted and silent. Locally 20 billion dollars of illegal drug trade took place every year for a decade or more and not one of the people who were paid to care lifted a finger to help. Instead they got rich and fat and the toll of dead went up.
I look at Trudeau and listen to him and I see a beta version of myself, self centred, arrogant, married to the wife desperate for money and clothes, slow, afraid.  She’s like his mother.  He married his dope head mother. Another dope head Trudeau.
And in politics they say it’s like a street fight. If you play pillsbury rules you really shouldn’t be in the game.  It’s a bout money and sex and all the Robert’s Rules of Order went out years ago when Pierre Trudeau shouted fuck then lied and said it was ‘fuddle duck’ then turned his tanks lose on Canadians so that one day his son could joke about whipping out some jet fighters. Both of them are nancy boys unlike the English men who serve in the military.  Pierre Trudeau was an effete intellectual who argued with his leftist and nazi friends in Montreal and Parisian cafes thinking himself so brave just as Justin Trudeau lives a safe life as a drama teacher with a trust fund.
And I feel that when he stops hitting me and hitting Canadians with his taxes and lies and favouritism and anti christian and anti doctor rhetoric I should take the spiritual high road. But Dalai Lama lost his country to Trudeau’s friends, the Chinese Communists. The anti semitic media focuses on Israel all the while the Chinese Communist government genocides.
How can i focus on the positive and forgive and forget and rise about the attack.  I read the propaganda and it’s daily liberal lies, the pornographic huffington post stuff that made playboy look like gospel reading by comparison.
I want to be loving. I want to do as God would have me do. I say Thy will be done. But I think of Bonhoffer and his response to Hitler and Churchill and now I hear Trump and Pence talking on behalf of millions of men an women who think Trudeau is a dangerous dork.  The UN is a disgusting atheist islam war machine that is everything that it was set up to be against.  The Chinese have become the greatest enemy since Hitler and are allied with Islam in hope that when the final days come they can kill them faster than they can be killed. Like the Pact between Hitler and Stalin

I don’t know. I ‘ll ask sponsors and ministers.

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).

Ulyanovsk, Russia

Ulyanovsk is the birthplace of Lenin.(1870 to 1920)  Lenin was the adopted ’nom de guerre’ of Vladimir Ulvanov, a pen name he used when writing political pamphlets.  Ulyanovsk was called Simbirsk until it was named Ulyanosk for Lenin in 1924.  Lenin’s original name was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. He was the son of wealth parents, his mother the daughter of Jewish physician, his father a teacher of physics and math. He was raised Christian. His father died when he was 16 and his older brother Aleksander (Sasha) was executed for involvement in an attempt to bomb the Tsar.  Lenin studied law at Kazan University. He worked as a lawyer. He lead the Bolshevik faction against the Mensheviks. He was living in exile but returned to Russia when the February Revolution of 1917 ousted the Tsar.  He played a senior role in ousting the provisional government in the October Revolution of 1917.  He became leader of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and disbanded the Russian Empire to create the Soviet Union, a one party socialist state.  Industry and business was nationalized. Wide spread social reforms followed.  He made a pact with Germany giving away  a significant portion of Russia. Germany had assisted Lenin’s return to Russia to help destabilize its WWI enemy. The treaty was voided after the Allies won the war.
Lenin did not believe that party members should express themselves independently. He believed in the need for strong leadership and complete control. He broke with Julius Martov over this issue. He supported bank robberies and violence. He called Paris a ‘foul hole’. Lenin called Stalin the ‘wonderful Georgian’.  In 1917 the Cheka (Secret Service)  was created by a decree by Lenin.  At Stalin’s proposed  There were two assassination attempts on Lenin. Lenin commenced the Red Terror in 1917. He signed lists for execution. He ordered the execution of the Royal Family. This was confirmed by Trotsky in his Exile Diaries..  Lenin said a ‘good communist is a good Chekist’ and expanded their discretionary death penalty powers. Lenin decreed the execution of the priests and expropriation of their property. Estimates of deaths of the Red Terror range to a million.  He died in 1923 of three strokes possibly a consequence of syphilis.
Lenin was an atheist and believed socialism was inherently atheistic. He was married to Nadezhda Krupskaya a fellow Marxist but they never had children. She was a subordinate wife.
This is taken from Wikipedia which I usually find very ‘left leaning’.  It’s overall rather demeaning for a man who was obviously a great leader.  Journalists, being great talkers, are more likely to ‘chop the heads off others to make themselves taller’ . Given that Lenin was such a contemptuous journalists it’s possibly the writers are having their way of getting their own back.  Lenin as a journalist founded papers and used them to savage his detractors.  (Much later in history Deconstructionists were briefly successful at ridiculing other philosophers but the founders had a regular hissy fit when their very ‘deconstructionism’ was applied to themselves.  Boys and girls destroy, men and women create.) Depending on who tells the story of Lenin there's a different picture.
A further likely explanation for the change from eulogization of Lenin to increasing criticism of him is that, as this vast Communist Empire is dissolving, to some degree,  there is a tendency to bite the hand that feeds.  It was a ruthless movement that quickly turned on anyone who wasn’t a winner by any means.  There’s an American flavour there where the American population has demonstrated repeatedly that it’s more inclined to have a leader who ‘wins’ than one who ‘loses’ even if the winners  they ‘break the rules’.  A recent example is George Bush's 'weapons of mass destruction controversy'. Robert Graves addressed this human tendency in the Golden Bough.  The taboo of cannibalism is kept in check until the leader falls then the stupid masses eat him.
Lenin was obviously more sociopathic than his arch enemy Alexander. He and his regime were more murderous than the one they replaced. That’s if we don’t look back to the beginning of the Russian Empire.  In it’s early days, as in the early days of any empire, (including the Soviet) there’s war and mass slaughter of ones enemies.  Once a new leadership is established less killing in demanded.  (Stalin is an exception but matters might have been different were it not for the Nazi invasion)
The latter years of the Communist Empire there saw less killing.  The American Empire opened with its killing and  expulsion of the Loyalist and not many years later it's Civil War. Today it merely Gulags those who disagree.  It may be all Empires mellow and this may or may not be why they fall.
Economic inefficiency appears to be the cause of the fall of the Communist Empire.  However my own tendency, as a scientist, is to say that ‘technologically’ especially weaponry develop which favour the little guy over the big guy.  The chariot lead empire fell to the masses carrying spikes and shields.  Machine guns and tanks certainly were Germany’s advantage. The British was it's Navy.  America right now is its rule of  the skies and space.
Regardless Lenin was a great leader.  Compared to Alexander the Great or Caesar he like Stalin held their own.  Barbarian certainly.  I find he parallels Lincoln somewhat. Who knows what crackdown Lincoln would have had if he'd survived his assassination attempt.  He could be likened to Moses to for he lead his people out of the desert and his attacks his own and others was certainly not dissimilar.   Certainly I prefer Christians to atheists and raised in Canada supported Adams over Marxism-Leninism.
In the Bible there were the men trying to build the wall and whenever they picked up their hammers their enemies attacked them so they had to split their forces with half being soldiers and the other half being builders.  By contrasts the ‘contrarians’ (the enemy) had only one aim and that was to ‘steal the wall’.  They could devote all their forces to destruction.
Once the Communist Empire was in place it was faced with this greater difficulty of holding power.
Violence begets violence. In Canada today, according to my now dead friend, Dugald Christie, the courts are only serving the rich.  Those in power then become an elite and increasingly since the ‘rules don’t apply to them’ and they act ‘above the law’ then the rest of the country feels less obliged to respect the law.  As Canada becomes a ‘2 law’ nation it faces what all nations face to maintain power.  Some figure the corruption in the Communist government lead to inferior production.
My Checkoslovakian friend who had fleed communism was nevertheless sorry to see it’s fall. He felt that America, when Russia was strong, had to be ‘good’ and now with ‘one world order’ there no longer was any need to be  ‘good’.  Rather there is a devolution into a chaos of infighting and tribalism. There is a new ‘anti white’ racism to replace the ‘anti black’ racism.  The secular state attacks the religious.  The Bible condemned in America while in Russia it's welcomed back. Perhaps Russia isn't behind in this regard?  Personally, as a Canadian I think we're right but that's got a lot to do with basic patriotism.  God save the Queen!
I think it must have been ‘heady’ days when Lenin and his friends were ‘reinventing’ the wheel and trying to make a ‘new world order’.  The psychiatrist in me can only see the terrible sadness and tragedy of the man who saw his older brother killed, his father die when he was 16, the loving worrying mother .Then  as an idealist himself he was wounded and nearly killed by assassination.  It was a confusing life.  There is much Doystoyevsky would have admired in the passionate man who had an ‘idea’ which lacked ‘heart’. But I’m a physician not a politician and I think in terms of individual lives not empires.
I’ve devoted my own life to not killing.  I’d love to whack the opposition and reign holy terror on those who disagree with me but instead I’ve built my own faith around non violence.  I can defend myself but I don’t feel right about attacking others especially to get what I want.  I can certainly identify with Lenin. He was first and foremost a man, Indeed being of nobility and the educated upper middle class I can say he was like me.  Theres a ‘scale’ difference when we consider the ‘greats’  but it’s only in ‘scale’.  Jesus said, "Pluck the log out of your own eye before you try to take the twig out of your neighbours'.  Again I'm thankful I'm Canadian but understand better now the patriotic fervour Russians have and how they admire Lenin as the Americans admire their Washington.
History will tell, but I don’t think his tomb will last long in Red Square.  Even the Vatican buries it’s Popes underground eventually.  The difficulty with leadership is it's always 'herding cats' and even Lenin couldn't get his last wish met, that is to be buried.
 I love the nearby Volga.  As a child I learned the Volga Boatman song and here I am today. Barrett’s long time friend Victor met us at the plane and took us to this lovely modern Barcelona Hotel.

Museum of Political History of Russia, St. Petersburg

This definitely has recent soviet era Russia.  Whereas much of what I’ve encountered overlooks this time here is a museum of modern times. Lennin, Stalin, Breschnev.  They even have the 1937 Reign of Terrior.  I was surprised to see this though suspect the actual numbers of deaths are deflated.  Still the merits of the times are represented. I was reminded of Smithsonian museums that are similar. Newspapers, furniture, photographs.  I was most impressed by replicas of the offices of the Bolsheviks and Lennin’s Office.
I liked the celebration of athletes. They referenced the great Russian and Canadian Hockey matches. Barrett, being American, didn’t even know of this greatest of moments in all history.  I explained to her that the game of hockey was at its finest then and we watched it with adulation because of the skill and strategy involved.  When Vlad and I had talked hockey yesterday he lamented that the best players had gone overseas.  I personally think Hollywood destroyed the game with all the crowd pleasing violence.  Recent head injuries and spinal injuries among players may bring the game back from its silly boxing matches on ice skates to stickman ship and skating.  I had to confess to Barrett the best hockey I’d seen recently was the Canadian versus American Women’s hockey.  Same level of skills without all the violence. That said I so enjoyed the Canucks game I attended last year. There wasn’t any of the violence and the skills of the players were world class.  The coaching left something to be desired in other games.
I digress, here in this St. Petersburg Museum, those greatest of hockey games are eulogized. As it should be.
The day was such a downpour that I bought us souvenir umbrellas in the underground station.
In the civil war there were  Red, White and Green Armies. I never heard of the Greens,  In the Bolshevik office it was good to see a picture of Trotsky resurrected.

Firearm Violence and Canadian Registry

80 million US citizens own guns.  75% of homicides are by handguns.  53% of firearm death is suicide.
Firearm death is a relatively rare cause of suicide. The rates of suicide remained constant when gas ovens were a principal cause of suicide of England and gas ovens were discontinued.  Suicidal people are more inventive and persistent than homicidal people.  Availability of a gun increases likelihood of a gun being used for homicide or violence.
75% of homicide victims are criminals. Hunting rifles are rarely used for crime.  Hunters are rarely violent.  Urban violence with firearms is double or more than rural violence. Hispanics and blacks are more prone to violence especially in ghetto areas.  Most firearms violence is gang related. Cocaine is associated with increased violence. 20 t o 24 yo single males account for a highly disproportionate amount of violence.
The amount of firearm violence was decidedly less when firearms were more common and unregulated 100 years ago than they are now in modern urban centres.  Accidental deaths by firearms are directly associated wiith storing firearms loaded and the problem is removed with proper firearms storage, i.e. unloaded. Present day regulations regarding storing unloaded firearms locked are principally a means to delay access by hot headed men and women in times of passion.
A quarter of robberies occur with firearms but the rates of robbery are not decreased by criminal's having less access to guns.  Criminals however with a gun are more likely to shoot a person dead in a robbery whereas without guns they would bludgeon  or stab their victims leaving them disabled or head injured for life. The latter victims live but not without lifelong consequence of the violent criminal robberies.  Robbery and assault rate in the US are comparable with Finland and Australia despite Aussies and Finns not being allowed to own guns.
In Canada 3/4 of death by gun is suicide.  A firearm was used in less than 2.4% of violent crime. 75% of violent crime in Canada is used by physical force. The latter statistic suggests that gyms and YMCA's should be outlawed and that men and women should be only allowed to have a certain muscular girth.  2/3 of all violent used of firearms in Canada was with hand guns.  Homicides committed with firearms were stable over 10 years suggesting that the Registry had no impact whatsoever on criminal behaviour though it alienated hunters collectively and condemned all of the men and women who had been in Canada as grandparents making this country the attractive place it is today.  Firearms account for 1/3 at most of homicides in Canada.

The Gun Registry assault on Canadian taxpayer legislation in Canada cost several billion dollars, gave political inspired jobs to security force related personnel, personnel themselves with a greater propensity to violence,  and only introduced purely reduntant legislation that cost hunters personally millions of dollars and as many hours of lost productive time in a silly beaurocratic game that has finally been removed.

Prime Minister Kim Campbell of the Conservative Party had prior to the Liberal Gun Registry offence and assault, ensured that guns in Canada were properly managed.

In Canada the principal violence by guns against women has been by criminals and by unregistered guns.  Hunters and outdoorsman were not against handgun and gatling gun restriction. They were already highly restricted before the Liberal Party of Canada's fueled urban female fear and ignorance and the tendency for women decades ago to deny their own propensity to violence.

Now Canadian women are world champions in marksmanship, politically more savy and the Liberal Party of Canada was said to be outsted partly because it did not treat women with the respect they deserved.  Canadian women today are taking up hunting and gun ownership in unprecedented numbers.

All parties, the Conservative and opposition NDP and the now recuperating Liberal party are taking a tough line on criminals.  Canadian political leaders in general today recognise that responsible citizens who have always registered their firearms are not the cause of violence and homicide in the community.

The rate of suicide will not be changed with lack of access to firearms as suicidal individuals in contrast to homicidal individuals are most likely to find alternative methods. In polynesian islands suicidal people jump head first out of coconut trees.

Increasingly domestic violence studies show that women not surprisingly have a prominent role. It remains to be seen whether the increasing ownership of guns by women will lead to an increasing rise in homicide by firearm in domestic violence.  Ownership of firearms by males under the age of 25, those with a criminal record for assault or violence, and those with demonstrated violent gang membership might  warrant review now that the silly beaurocratic sexist swindle is behind us.

It remains to be noted that Hitler and Stalin disarmed their population before Hitler first attacked Germans and Stalin first attacked Russians. Hitler killed millions and Stalin killed 10s of millions.  Governments which have historically been most vociferous about disarming citizens have a rather bad track record for the greatest numbers of state killings of citizens in the history of the world.

Attack on Leningrad - Movie

In spite of myself I watched a disturbing human drama of historical significance. I picked up the DVD kind of thinking I'd enjoy watching some fast action plane fights done up Russian style. Instead I weeped at the terribly touching story of two women, others, and the children.  There were planes and tanks and bodies lying dead to be eatten in the seige of Leningrad.  But there was also this moving moment when a father tells his departing daughter, "Don't give up."  Action packed, for sure. but spilling over with humanity as well.  Not at all comic book or cut out people. Acting so real by Mira Sorvino, Garbiel Byrne and Armin Mueller--Stahl and Olga Sutlova.  In the Nazi seige a British Journalist Kate Davis is presumed dead only to be rescued by Nina a member of the Soviet militia.  With papers lost and declared dead Kate stays starving and surviving with Nina's family.  Alexander Buravsky is the director.  The movie was so much more than I imagined.
In the end I felt like I'd just watched Dr. Zhivago expecting an episode of House MD.