CALLING FOR RESIGNATION OF ALL HYPOCRITES

 

CALLING FOR RESIGNATION

OF ALL HYPOCRITES

By Joe Ingino

Editor/Publisher

“I live a dream in a nightmare world”

I call for the resignation of all politician and or official that violate the stay at home order and or the travel restriction mandate.

The headlines read:

Halton region police chief travels to Florida amid COVID-19 pandemic.

Did he really need to go to florida? Is he not the top dog when it comes to enforcing law on violation of Fed/Provincial legislation related to Covid?

Why is this man still a Chief of police?

NDP Deputy Leader Sara Singh said Doug Ford cannot give Finance Minister Rod Phillips a free pass for his choice to leave the country for a vacation in December, while instructing everyone else to stay inside their home.

Another... How is it that the finance minister can travel and the rest of us must stay home and not even be allowed to go to work.

I call for his resignation.

ONA President Vicki McKenna, RN, notes that international travel for non-essential purposes breaches federal travel guidelines during COVID-19.

"It is disturbing to see reports of prominent politicians and at least one hospital leader opting to knowingly break the guidelines that the majority of Ontarians are following," she says. "While we certainly understand the need for a break – and our front-line registered nurses and health-care professionals are themselves exhausted following many months of providing care for their patients, residents and clients – we remind everyone to follow the guidelines and travel only if the need is essential."

The leaders of OPSEU/SEFPO are demanding the full resignation of Thomas Stewart as CEO of Niagara Health and St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton after revelations that he vacationed in the Dominican Republic over the holidays.

Like really? These are all 250k plus positions. All positions of authority and responsible for assuring compliance of legislation related to COVID-19. Yet, they clearly are in violation. Showing no respect or care for what the rest of the population are undergoing. These are the same people that call for total shut down. While they still collect their 250k plus a year.

You and me worry over where the next mortgage payment will come from. Will you last the next 6 months. Yet these over paid incompetents run our lives and do not follow the same rules.

I am tired of hearing this buffon of Ford telling people they must close down their businesses. You want us to close down our businesses. You stop taking pay from the people.

You live amongst us. You worry about your daily bread. What am I saying. The man is a millionaire. As for our chief medical officer. Cut her pay until she and her people come up with a real plan to beat the spread of the virus.

To just come up with ‘STAY APART’, wear a mask and stay home just does not cut it.

It is proving tha isolation is not the way to beat the virus. There is more to this then these over paid incompetents care to know about.

I call a pay freeze to anyone that has anything to do with the decision making process of closing down businesses.

See how quick they will come up with a totally different strategy when their pay checks disapear and they are still responsible for mortgages, utilities and food.

If we can learn anything from what is going on in the United States. It is that the system is broken. Democracy is dead. Our governments do not work.

Governments today are about power and greed. It is about filling your pockets as quick as you can while you are still elected in office.

It is not about doing what is right. What is best for the country.

This COVID-19 and all it’s off shoots. Are nothing but marker to the end of civilization. Every political ‘ism’, has failed the test of time.

Political ideology only work in small groups and communities. As soon as the population number surge.

The system fall apart. We the people in modern society have become nothing short of numbers in a system that is far from fair or working in our best interest.

From politics to law. The flaws on the service to the people are huge. Our policies and laws are not reflective of the current times.

We live in a world of misconceptions and easily influence public conscious. Individualism and free thinking is a mirage in a sea of misinformation and convoluted opinion to sway public thought. Who is this Ford to tell us to close down our businesses. Who is this Canada Chief Medical officer Theresa Tam person that can’t figure out a plan to stop the spray of this Chinese released virus?

I say cut their pay until such time as they come up with a real plan. The vaccine is not a plan. The vaccine is nothing short than a prayer and hope that the numbers will fall.

I do not think that any official knows the true threat. The true spread. I personally believe that this virus is by design to infect the population at large. This so called virus. I do not see it as the magic bean that will stop the spread. It will slow it down. Far from controlling it and or bringing it to a halt. If we are to entrust those that lead us. They should then led by example. If they expect us to suffer financial hardships. Should they not endure the same pain?

We must demand accountability. We must demand fairness in an unfair world.

YOU PLAY YOU PAY. DON’T EXPECT US TO PLAY YOUR GAMES AND WE THE PEOPLE FORCED TO PAY FOR YOUR MISTAKES.

LOCK DOWN LOCK DOWN WAIT UP... WHO IS GOING TO PAY FOR IT?

LOCK DOWN
LOCK DOWN
WAIT UP... WHO IS GOING TO
P

AY FOR IT?

By Joe Ingino
Editor/Publisher

“I live a dream in a nightmare world”

   Have you noticed this trend.... When politicians have no clue what they are doing... What do they do.  NOTHING.   In the case of COVID-19.  Politicians that have no training in dealing with viruses and it’s transmission instead of coming up with an aggressive team of people that can truly combat the virus.    Politicians take the easy way out and tell us to wear a mask and shut down our businesses.
   Really, how easy it is to tell business to shut down for 28 days.  How did they come up with 28 days, why not 100?    I say that if politicians without much care force hard working people to shut down their businesses.
Politicians pay should also be shut down.  Most make over 100k a year what do they care about  the true small businesses that at times don’t even make a sale in any given day.   Who is going to pay their utilities, their rents.   Who is going to pay these same folks mortgages, loans and financial interests.
It is easy for politicians to shutdown when they have nothing at stake and or understanding.
I CALL THAT LEGISLATION BE PASSED THAT EVERY TIME A POLITICIAN PASSES A RESOLUTION TO CLOSE BUSINESS IN THEIR MUNICIPALITY/PROVINCE.   THAT ALL POLITICIANS IN THOSE JURISDICTIONS PAY BE ANNULED.   This would show solidarity with those that voted them in...
The Federal government has made various attempts to help those businessess affected by the shutdowns but in my opinion it is not enough as many local businesses across Durham Region are closing at an alarming rate.
There is no guarantee that in 28 days things will go back... to open for business.   We have no guarantee that in 100 days we be any better off.   If anything we will be worst as the virus develops new variations of the same.
OK, so if the latter stands true.  Where will all these people get money to feed themselves?  Will the government put everyone on UI?
What is more fundamental to this argument.  Does the government have the power to shut us down?  To force us to wear masks... To force us to stay home.
Are we not surrending our basic rights.   To boot the government seems to have taken the initiative to punish anyone not conforming.   Building detention centres as self isolation places.
What if this pandemic can’t be brought under control and it is by design going to infect us all at one time or another.
What if in the name of COVID-19 infection.  The government starts sending those economically affected by the virus to these facilities.   
After all, money is going to eventually run out.   People will loose all their resources.  Banks, Insurance companies keep making billion as utility companies such as Bell, Rogers.  Not to mention the Walmarts of the world.   Oh yea and lets not forget Uber and services alike.
Once all this said and done... and they vaccinate the popuation.  Who is going to pick up the bill for the catastrophic defecits.
Will the government of the worlds turn to China and make them pay since that is where the virus originated?
Will the world turn to China and demand retribution for damages across the world?   If had been an oil spill would it not have been deemed a national environmental catastrophe.   Would someone not been held accountable?
Why should China get away with such an attack on the world?   China boast on having the richest economy.
All I know is that the common folk like you and we are victims of an irresponsible government that should be made to pay.

The World and Canada in 2021.

 

The World and Canada in 2021.

by Maj (ret'd) CORNELIU E. CHISU, CD, PMSC,
FEC, CET, P. Eng.
Former Member of Parliament Pickering-Scarborough East

After enduring the trials of a gruelling year blighted by the Corona virus and our political leaders' bumbling attempts to handle the pandemic, can we expect to glimpse the light at the end of the tunnel in 2021? This is the question.

The World, including Canada finished 2020 by gasping for some kind of relief. Squeezed between the worst pandemic in a century and the potential administration of various vaccines, there is hope that we will succeed in getting out of this nightmare.

The year 2021 will be decisive in giving us the highly desired optimism for finding the road that will get us back to a new palatable normal. By now most countries' economies are in shatters. Such an insecure global outlook hardly makes for a secure context for economies to make a quick recovery.

However, let us hope that the strongest economies, including Canada's, will continue to show a resilience in the midst of the pandemic as government relief programs continue to offer support. How long this support will be in place is hard to predict.  On the positive side, financial markets have done better than expected despite the earlier doom and gloom pronouncements prophesied nine months previous.

Certainly, some things in the present world have clearly changed, and perhaps permanently.  The global job market has been ravaged by COVID, especially in the service and tourism sectors, where typically low wages left millions vulnerable and highly dependent on government stimulus measures to survive.  The prospects in this area are not very optimistic at present, with the pandemic entering a new and more dangerous phase.  The chances of small to medium sized businesses having to close their operations for good are strong and worrisome, as this eventuality will create unprecedented hardship for many people and their families.

The future doesn't look good, as the World Bank contends that Covid-19's wide-ranging effects will result in an increase of the poorest by up to 150 million people. The success of the past 30 years, where the numbers of the world's poorest declined from 36% of the 1990 global population to 8% just prior to the pandemic, has now been devastated.  This is a tragedy of significant proportions.  
But we are still optimistic that the Western economies including Canada's are capable of rebounding despite a new wave of the pandemic devastating much of their productivity, just as we looked for recovery to commence. Unlike the Great Recession of 2008-2009, when economists felt they understood the ground and how to rebuild, our current predicament has left these same financial experts scratching their heads.  They are aware the unemployment numbers will remain stagnant for perhaps decades.

Our present economic challenges are now on a global scale and the reverberating effects will remain unknown for years to come.  In order to contain the virus, actions needed to be taken that actually hurt global economies, rather than invigorating them.  Health concerns paralyzed us and have transcended everything as civilization seeks to survive something it can't even see.

Our recovery will take much more than we actually think. Just when trust and cohesion are required at the societal level to wade through this calamity, increasing numbers of citizens and businesses are deeply concerned at the COVID restrictions designed to save lives, that are, ironically, killing their livelihood.  The wobbling decisions made by governments both provincially and federally add ferment to a badly deteriorating situation. The societal unease and fragmentation arising from this uncertainty could become an element for endless partisan divisions in upcoming provincial and federal elections.

There will also be positive outcomes arising from the pandemic, such as an increased respect for our healthcare providers, even though the healthcare system is badly in need of modernization. Health science and the research accompanying it will be more respected.

There will certainly be positive global changes on the societal scene and new trade opportunities with Canada's traditional allies in America and Europe. Hopefully we will have a new vision on the ability to focus on Main Street, not only on Wall Street. Canadians will look forward to effective and fair societal changes in line with their values and traditions and a more collaborative form of politics at all levels of government.

This will be our life in 2021 - more uncertainty, slow economic recovery, the rising divisions within the temporary hegemony caused by COVID, increased tensions with Russia and China, and the ever-present politically motivated climate change challenge.

Will Canada remain a reasonable and reasoning country?  The answer to that question is within our control, although much of our fate in 2021 will be determined elsewhere, and how it will unfold and how these external forces will influence us remains to be seen.

Welcome to 2021! Happy New Year!

A Lockdown New Year!

 A Lockdown New Year!
by Maj (ret'd) CORNELIU E. CHISU, CD, PMSC,
FEC, CET, P. Eng.
Former Member of Parliament Pickering-Scarborough East
Politicians all over Canada are running around like headless chickens chasing the Coronavirus pandemic, as cases increase by the minute. There is no apparent coordination, no coherent thought put into counter-measures, only sad efforts at improvisation at both the federal and provincial levels. The medical professionals in charge give contradictory advice; mask/no mask, more lockdown/less lockdown by rainbow colors, vaccine/no vaccine for allergies, and so on. Nobody seems to care about the people losing businesses and livelihood for their families, with public service employees enjoying secure jobs paid for by tax dollars, looking on, seemingly twiddling their thumbs.
Ontario, Canada's most populous Province, has announced that as of Boxing Day, southern Ontario, will be entering a 28-day lockdown. The new rules include restrictions on businesses and gatherings, as well as shutting down some outdoor activities such as downhill skiing. Parks, skating rinks and cross-country ski and snowshoe trails across Ontario will remain open. Incongruously, just across the Quebec border, hills will be still open.
The lockdown for southern Ontario will be in place from Dec. 26 until Jan. 23, but will be lifted for northern Ontario on Jan. 9. Health officials have  criticized the delay, with one top infectious disease doctor saying it was ridiculous to wait until the day after Christmas to shut down. I wonder what date the good doctor had in mind for going into lockdown?
 "We had hoped not to see a shutdown," Joyce Lock, the medical officer of health for Southwestern public health, said. "This has many implications for individuals, businesses and services. (No kidding! LOL). "However, this virus is raging within our communities. This is the best tool we have to keep distance between people and stop the spread."
There is no mention of the best non medical advice, of course, which would be to continuously educate people to respect each other and hygiene rules, to allow small businesses to survive. The role of the state is to help its citizens live peacefully and enjoy their freedom.  It's not to impose arbitrary rules that serve their own interests; implementing contradictory, baseless, and ad hoc measures.

With the worrying surge of cases across the province potentially putting more patients into Ontario hospital beds, many seem to consider the lockdown a necessary precaution. The question is why we do not have enough doctors and nurses in the province to face this kind of exceptional event? And what about people whose life saving surgeries are on hold;  being delayed indefinitely?  Need they become victims of the virus too? The medical profession is silent and politicians do not know what to do. They are ready to declare however, that if the lockdown is not taken seriously, we risk more people becoming very, very sick, and will overwhelm the health-care system. My question is this: how can we justify a healthcare system in this country, which swallows billions of tax dollars every year, and gets worse, instead of getting better?
The new measures in Ontario- the most stringent since the spring lockdown - will ban in-person shopping in most retail stores, shutter gyms and recreation facilities and force restaurants to offer takeout or delivery only. The lockdown also prohibits indoor social gatherings, except with members of the same household, and caps outdoor gatherings at 10 people.
On top of these worries, there is now a new variant of COVID-19, which appeared in Britain and has prompted many countries to implement travel restrictions against the United Kingdom. Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam says that this mutation has not yet been identified in Canada. Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has said it is analyzing known cases to determine whether the new strain, which research suggests is significantly more transmissible than the variant currently dominant in Canada, is already in the country.
"Obviously it's an evolving situation," Tam said. "We've been very active in the last couple of days and activated all the scientific networks in Canada."
Unfortunately, long before they will have all "the results" the virus will have taken many more victims. The appearance of the new variant of COVID-19 has also sparked concerns that it may reduce the efficacy of existing vaccines.

Tam is clinging steadfastly to her stock phrase, saying that current "expert research" suggests it is unlikely to have a significant effect on the current or soon-to-be-approved vaccines. "Right now, we remain optimistic on that front," she said. Tam affirmed that it was important to work with the vaccine manufacturers and international partners - particularly the United Kingdom, which is also rolling out the Pfizer vaccine - in order to determine the potential effect of the new variant. Tam also warned that   Canada was currently on track for a strong resurgence of the virus over the next several months. She pointed to disturbing trends in cases, hospitalizations and mortality, and urged Canadians to continue to follow public health guidelines.
"This is a perilous time," she said, noting that unlike the first wave of the pandemic in the spring, the virus is now reaching remote communities. "With the widespread resurgence right now, there's a much more broad impact across all areas of Canada, and you can see the impact in Nunavut," Tam said. Nunavut reported its first two deaths related to COVID-19 last week. "And we're only getting into the winter," she said.
She further stated that the exhaustion of health-care workers, and ordinary Canadians, was one reason the next few months would be so difficult.
As of this week Canada had recorded a total of 520,045 cases of COVID-19, and a CBC News tally of deaths stood at 14,402. Ontario and Quebec are each recording more than 2,000 new cases daily.
On top of this, planes are still arriving with people not required to be tested before entering Canada, a precaution many nations have implemented. Public Safety Minister Bill Blair has said that the screening and quarantine measures in place since the spring in Canada are adequate and proudly claimed  that Canada has been among the most aggressive countries in controlling entry during the pandemic, alas, without backing up his statement with proof. (A pompous, politically motivated understatement perhaps?) "We have not been slow and not been unresponsive to the concerns that Canadians have," Blair claimed.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford described the border as a "sieve" and argued for a more effective testing system at airports across the country.
He said that he was asking the federal government to implement a requirement for pre-departure tests for people trying to enter Canada. Blair's counter argument is that international travel was the source of just 1.8 per cent of COVID-19 cases in Canada throughout the pandemic. "What we're seeing now is that the biggest problem in Canada is community transmission inside Canada, it's not really the importation of cases," claimed Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo, with confidence.
With this deadly new virus cocktail on the menu for politicians and medical professionals, let us hope that we will still be able to enjoy Christmas and New Year with our families.
Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2021

 2021


By Joe Ingino
Editor/Publisher

“I live a dream in a nightmare world”
   
  Another year has passed... and what a year it has been.  Normally for the welcoming of a new year we must first ponder on the year gone by.  the good and the bad.    Sadly, 2020 has been one bad year and very little good can be acknowledged.
It is hard to look at the future with optimism.   As per definition   op·ti·mist: is  a person who tends to be hopeful and confident about the future or the success of something. "only an eternal optimist could expect success".
From the COVID to the recent elections in the United States.  The world is undergoing changes like never before.    It is hard to look to the future with optimism.   A vaccine!  World peace!  Social order!  All long and far fetched solutions to a never growing problem.
If not to look at the future with optimism then the only other choice left would be to enter 2021 with a pessimistic outlook.
By definition a pes·si·mist. Is a person who tends to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen.   "the pessimists point to ways in which life has deteriorated".
Can we be a optimistic/pessimist?    After all there are so many thing on the balance. Here in Canada it appears we govern by following global trends....    It is easier to close everything down in the hope that the VIRUS will magically disappear instead of coming up with some plan of attack to assure public places are constantly disinfected to protect against this viral attack from China.
It appears it is easier to restrict civil rights and freedoms then to actually come up with an aggressive plan to fight the virus street by street.
Why does the government not come up with trucks full of disinfectant patrolling streets.  No instead they patrol the streets with pockets full of   violation tags in order to fill their coffers.  
Our government is of opinion of that of Thomas Jefferson.... Let us not be uneasy then about the different roads we may pursue, as believing them the shortest, to that our last abode, but following the guidance of a good conscience, let us be happy in the hope that by these different paths we shall all meet in the end. Thomas Jefferson
Well wishful thinking, I supposed.   The reality of it is we will still have to deal with COVID.  The reality is that due to forced closures in Ontario, many people will loose their businesses and homes.
In the word of Jesse Jackson...  "Hold your head high, stick your chest out. You can make it. It gets dark sometimes, but morning comes. Keep hope alive." Jesse Jackson.
It appears that Jesse Jackson had it right....  As governments of the world surely have their chest out and awaiting for a morning to come to get us out of this pandemic.
The question is how many people need to die.   After all just because you had been infected it does not mean you can’t be infected again.   Not to mention what affects you will have if you become infected by the new mutated virus.
In the words of Barack Obama...The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope." Barack Obama
Well Obama surely got it right.   We as a people need to stop feeling hopeless.  We need to take control of our future and demand on our governments to come up with a real solid plan.
The vaccine is not a government plan... It is a possible solution brought about by science.  A science that has in the past proven to have many failures.
This new vaccines promises a possible solution without telling us all the risks and all the future side affects.
At the moment we are being forced to trust or die mentality.   This is wrong.  Our governments are taking away our rights and freedoms in the name of public health.   I say malarkey.   Ask us don’t tell us.   Enforce those who are in violation of social norm.   Why are we closing the small businesses and Walmarts and alike are allowed to stay open.   This is not a democracy when our elected official pick and choose on our behalf with a hidden agenda.    How dare close big Walmarts...place where large number of people use.  
Happy 2021.   Will we make 2022?  How many of us must die?  How long will we wait?
We must be optimistic/pessimists in this ironic world we live.  

Staying the course

 The holiday season
 Written by,  Sharleen Cainer, BSW RSW
There are many avenues that can lead a person into homelessness.

Staying the course, giving up, going off into the great abys where a poor decision leads to a bad outcome and a poor outcome becomes a leader into another bad decision. Things are then galloping into an uncontrollable financial, personal, relationship mess. Where do we go from there or what do we do?

We are born with 3 attributes that define ourselves: resilience, personality, and character. Resiliency is documented as a prime indicator of our ability to remain mentally healthy, to bounce back from a disaster. Personal disasters are also are a marker or challenge to our ability to succeed.

Many extremely successful people have suffered many personal or financial disasters.  Jeff Bezos started a company in his garage called Cadabra, after his parents loaned him $250,000.  He gained a few other investors after a convincing sales pitch where he told everybody there was a 30% chance of success. Cadabra then became an online bookstore. Mr. Bezos then decided to name it after a river, Amazon. Mr. Bezos is now the richest man in the world, weighing in at 163.6 billion a year.  You might feel that if you had a parent that was going to invest ¼ million into your impending success, you would also be quite rich and famous. Well, maybe yes, and then again maybe not.

Mr. Bezos worked on Wall Street in New York. He became aware early in 2000's that internet businesses were flourishing while the same annual growth was not evident in other financial avenues. He set up his business to ride the Ecommerce wave. His vision and his problem-solving skills propelled him forward.  Long gone are the days when he was sitting in his garage plotting the success of an online book store business while conventional businesses met their demise.

Another inspirational individual, Jal Jok became a child soldier somewhere at around 7yrs of age. He, along with other children escaped and became involved with a British Aid worker, by the name of Emma McCune. This dedicated young worker smuggled a young Jal Jok into Kenya and he eventually came to Canada. He became the poster child for the story War Child. But on a personal note, he aspired to be a hip hop artist as EmmanuelJal. He amassed a large following and became remarkably successful.  You might be feeling that you would never have survived with your mind intact had you been forced to be a soldier at such a young age. Well, maybe not but then again, maybe.

EmmanuelJal is very insightful while talking about suffering; how he has run from one place to another. With each episode of suffering, a resolution awaits. With each resolution another set of circumstances arises that brings a new heightened intensity of suffering and then again, the resolution. The past can not be changed, the future is unknown. What you can be in control of is the present.  What do these two Iconic heroes have in common? Resilience, vision, problem-solving strategies, and self-reliance.

Institutionalization, the antithesis of self-reliance, will diminish an individual's ability to resolve their issues and expand their ability to problem solve, therefore becoming a gateway to homelessness. Hospitals discharge, with little attention of where too. Jails release with little thought of where too. Children's Aid, discharges, with a sanitized term called "aged out", and little thought as to where too. To resolve a crisis, one must be able to conceptualize the problem, then create the solution. Note where you came from, how you got here, where are you going from here, and how will you get there?

Indigenous people have been institutionalized since the arrival of the Europeans. Institutionalizing the Native inhabitants was necessary for European land ownership, which lead to the subsequent homelessness of the Indigenous. The residential schools separated the children from families and culture, leaving them to struggle with who they were, how they got into that torturous situation and how they were going to escape from it. Dominated as defenseless children, Indigenous youth struggled to conceptualize solutions. The concept of institutionalization has many arms, like an octopus.  Each arm has the same agenda, to dominate the spirit of an individual so as to ensure the compliance to policy. We have lost sight of the fact that "policy" is an ever-changing concept that shifts with the flow of the political pendulum. If you are sceptical on that think back to WW11 era, when in an address to the nation, it was deemed by the Prime Minister of Canada that one Jew in Canada was one Jew too many.  Think back to the days of slavery when it was policy that allowed the Prime Minister of Canada to own a slave. Policy changes because of public opinion. The role of institutions changes because of public opinion. Go Public, shelter the unsheltered.

Dream Lover

 Dream Lover
Q I’m an 18-year-old girl who just finished her first semester at her new college. Things have been going okay, I guess, but there is something that keeps bugging me. I can’t seem to get over my crush from 8th grade. And no, that’s not a typo. . .since 8th grade.
Back then, 8th grade was my “transitioning stage” from wearing glasses and kids’ clothing to dressing more girly and wearing contacts. I was always called ugly and a loser back then. However, since my “change,” people in and outside of school made comments about how pretty and beautiful I am. Anyway, in 8th grade I had 4-5 classes with this boy. He was tall (still is) and had blue eyes and blond hair (still does) and was really attractive (still is). He was one of the most popular guys in my grade, while I was a shy girl with dark brown hair and hazel eyes who didn’t go out often. For some reason, he started talking to me. Even more than that, he sat next to or behind me. He used to joke with me, poke me, and in general, be very nice to me. He gave me a lot of his attention. It made me so happy!
This guy, why would he want anything to do with an unpopular girl such as myself? I didn’t know either. I was just so happy! This was the first time a boy, and a good-looking one at that, was genuinely nice to me!  Thus began my crush.
I had two classes with him in 9th grade. We talked and joked around then, but in 10th grade nothing. Then 11th grade comes, and I sat right next to him as his physics partner!
We talked and laughed together. He even patted me on the head when I put my head down to rest my eyes. . .it was a wonderful feeling. Then senior year rolls around and I barely saw him, except in the hallway.
I said hi to him a few times and he said hi back, but that was it. The next thing I know, we have prom (I was dateless, he took a random friend as his date). I saw him look at me a few times as I passed by in my dress, but that was it.
Then we had graduation. My last name starts with a “K” and his with an “L.” Three people were between us when we sat down to graduate. I saw him look at me a few times, but I thought it was nothing.
That brings me to college. I go to an all-women’s school, but many men from a coed school take classes at my school and roam around. However, I feel sad that my little talks and times with my crush have ended. But I can’t stop thinking about him from time to time.
I thought I would have the opportunity to meet new guys at my new school, but every time I see photos of my crush at his college with friends who are girls, I get jealous. Why couldn’t that have been me? It’s so unfair! The guys I see now don’t compare to him.
I know this sounds weird, but I’ve fantasized and had a few dreams where he was in it, and even in my dreams he was a gentleman. The last dream I had of him was yesterday. Unfortunately, my mom woke me up in the middle of it. The fact that I wanted the dream to last made me so mad I almost wanted to cry! I was so sad my mom interrupted, you have no idea.
I know it sounds stupid, but I just can’t get over this guy! I wish I could have been his girlfriend so I could do anything to make him happy, but it’s too late.
Monique
A Monique, we go through life. We meet a lot of people. Some of them older, some of them younger. Some of them are pretty, some are plain. Some are friendly, some are standoffish. It doesn’t mean that every one of them, or any particular one, is the one for us.
You happened to meet a guy your age, good-looking and friendly, who didn’t ask you out. He treated you well, but as a classmate.
Because he was handsome and nice to you, you saw him as someone to date. Though you were lab partners in physics, the chemistry that makes people like each other in that way was not there on his side. Everything else was made up in your mind.
Maybe as a boyfriend he would have been terrible; maybe as a boyfriend you would have been jealous all the time; maybe you were not ready for that kind of relationship. That you say you would do anything to make him happy means it was a fantasy. A crush.
What are crushes for? They are one-sided, practice relationships. You get over them and then start having real relationships. Now you must do the grownup part. You don’t get to measure every male by a daydream.
You may have heard, time and again, that you have your whole life ahead of you. But you do! You don’t get to pick a boyfriend like you pick next semester’s classes. It has to be a two-way boulevard. It might be next year, or it might be six years from now. We don’t know.
But it will not happen when you are focusing on the wrong place. It will happen when you are acting from the place where you now are, as a beautiful, educated young woman.
Wayne & Tamara             
Email us at DirectAnswers@WayneAndTamara.com

What Did You Learn in Disastrous 2020?

 

What Did You Learn in Disastrous 2020?
 W. Gifford-Jones, M.D. and Diana Gifford-Jones
   How carefully have you been reading our column over the past year?  Take our True or False quiz.
#1: Excessive amounts of fructose, one of the main carbohydrates in refined sugar, is converted by the liver into fat. Glucose, the other component of sugar, is burned up as energy by all cells.
#2: It’s prudent to brush the tongue after eating, not just your teeth, as this removes bacteria, fungi, and even protozoa from deep fissures with benefits for your overall health.
#3 Magnesium found in dark leaf greens and whole grains helps to dilate arteries and lower blood pressure.
#4 The World Health Organization and 15,000 scientists have signed a petition warning humanity to cut back on eating meat, citing the environmental harm of methane-emitting cattle.
#5 Light therapy releases morphine-like substances, helps with the formation of new-blood vessels, and cures 60% of patients with degenerative changes in the lumbosacral region of the spine and compression of spinal nerves.
#6 Artificial intelligence developed by a Canadian company is assisting in early diagnosis among the 425 million patients worldwide who have diabetes, complicated by retinal atherosclerosis, and stand to lose their sight.
#7: Men suffering from chronic obstructive lung disease are more often correctly diagnosed than women with the same problem who are more likely to be labelled as having a psychiatric problem.

#8 There may be 2,000 ticks in an acre of forestland. A classical tick bite rash looks like a bull’s eye with a clear center, but only three people in ten get this rash.
#9 Keep the toilet seat down when flushing. A report in Physics of Fluids advises it’s better to keep viruses in the bowl. Spray, they say, can fly as high as three feet and in public toilets even higher.
#10 Dr. Charles Matthews of the Nutrition Cancer Institute in the U.S. pooled data from 9 studies which analyzed how activity affected 15 types of cancer. Those who engaged in 7-15 hours of physical activity a week showed significantly lower risk of 7 of the 15 cancers.
#11 Authorities say that the safe limit for canned goods such as acidic foods like canned tomatoes and other fruit is 18 months. For canned vegetables, beans, meats and poultry, it’s two to five years. A dented or rusty is a red flag. A swollen can means harmful bacteria are present and the can must be thrown away.
#12 A Gifford-Jones Law states that one degenerative disease often leads to another and another. This is why the epidemic of obesity often leads to type 2 diabetes and the complications of blindness, kidney failure and amputation of legs due to atherosclerosis (hardening of arteries).
#13 For baby boomers (born between 1945 and 1965) having hepatitis C, it most likely was transmitted long ago through contact with contaminated blood before robust controls were in place.
#14 A study at Boston University showed that cortisone injections for knee arthritis should be limited to 2-3 a year to decrease the risk of cartilage damage.

#15 International viral experts report that 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C taken three times a day, 3,000 international units (IU), 400 milligrams of magnesium and 30 milligrams of zinc daily will decrease the risk both of developing coronavirus and of dying of it.

The answers?  All items are true.

We close out this disastrous year of 2020 with a wish to all readers for your good health and a better year ahead.

AND THIS IS 2020 CHRISTMAS

 AND THIS IS 2020 CHRISTMAS

By Joe Ingino
Editor/Publisher

“I live a dream in a nightmare world”
   
       Russian author Leo Tolstoy,  in his book  War and Peace.  a book about people trying to find their footing in a world being turned upside down by war, social and political change, and spiritual confusion.  May  be said that in part this is what many are going through today.  We are at war with COVID-19.   Our social and political leadership is being exposed for what they are.... nor left or right.... it appears they are one of the same.  It is not about the people but about politicians at all levels filling their own pocket at the expense of hard working taxpayers.
George Orwell’s 1984 book another warning from the past...  Litarete genius that in part fore warned us of a very real future.
What was George Orwell's purpose for writing 1984?
In writing 1984, Orwell's main goal was to warn of the serious danger totalitarianism poses to society. He goes to great lengths to demonstrate the terrifying degree of power and control a totalitarian regime can acquire and maintain.
Having witnessed firsthand the horrific lengths to which totalitarian governments in Spain and Russia would go in order to sustain and increase their power, Orwell designed 1984 to sound the alarm in Western nations still unsure about how to approach the rise of communism.
Today with the decay of political ‘isms’.  The world is in a free fall.  We have a Prime Minister that talks about a global social GREAT RESET.
About the world becoming one under one government.   It started with the phantom of climate control to now the very true threat of a pandamic.   An opening for governments to restrict movement and exercise serious violations of human right and freedoms.
We the people are being fed the pill through fear of infestation, when in reality it shoudl be the responsibility of the government to go after a vaccine and the real infectious point of threat.  No, instead they put fear in people and pass all kinds of regulations to restrict movement.
As we the people have been conditioned to be a good citizen we follow with limited challenge and anyone opposing will face strict reprecautions.   Tolstoy and Orwell both warned us of such powers by a govenment.   Why are we not listening.
  Our government has gone as far as telling us how and with who we should be celebrating one of the most important holidays of the year.
I can rationalize common sense.  I can’t rationalize hypocracy.   Government tells us to stay home.  They tell us to shut down our businesses.... and yet they increase and or threaten to increase staple items.  
As we turn with hope to 2021.  One has to wonder how this GREAT RESET will play out in our daily lives.   What will it mean when we are once again faced in 2021 with this COVID threat and what will be forced to give up in the name of public health.
In the words of John Lennon - ‘SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS’ -
“So this is Christmas - And what have you done? - Another year over - And a new one just begun - And so this is Christmas - I hope you have fun -The near and the dear one - The old and the young - A very merry Christmas - And a happy New Year - Let's hope it's a good one - Without any fear - And so this is Christmas - For weak and for strong - For rich and the poor ones - And so happy Christmas - For black and for white - For yellow and red ones - Let's stop all the fight.  The world is so wrong”
How reflective of what is going on in our society today.     As 2021 we should all be doing our part to combat COVID.   Not letting government tell us what to do.  But doing what makes sense in order to prevent the spread.  My Christmas wish is that we as a people as a nation stop looking at each other as the same but instead as unique.  As through our uniqueness we can become one strong nation of tolerance and understanding of all people.   I wish that we stop worrying about foreign lands and truly take care of our people.   That we stop the global thinking and put our hard earned resources into building on this great nation.   It is Christmas and it will always.  Let no agenda or hidden interst compromise a Canadian cultural custom and tradition.  We as a nation can celebrate Christmas any way we want.  It is up each and everyone to do what is right.  DO IT.  MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.  

Political allergies and Covid 19

by Maj (ret'd) CORNELIU E. CHISU, CD, PMSC,
FEC, CET, P. Eng.
Former Member of Parliament Pickering-Scarborough East
After nine months of a gruelling, unrelenting and frequently mismanaged battle with the pandemic, finally a vaccine has arrived in Canada and the world.
The start of vaccinations gave Canadian PM Justin Trudeau an opportunity to champion the environment, focusing on a new start of the economy in terms of the principles and promises of the Liberal Party.
In capitals around the world, political leaders have, with varying degrees of success, pinned their own political fortunes to the arrival and successful rollout of a vaccine. Who can blame them? After almost a year of unrelenting bad news, what politician wouldn't want to own the solution?
The people at Pfizer and Moderna, whom we actually have to thank for the vaccine, have worked hard to try to find a solution to fight the Covid 19 virus.
Here at home, it remains to be seen how our own political leaders will fare in their vaccine politics and whether the glory will be taken away by some unknown allergies.
Thus far, Trudeau and his cabinet are heavily pursuing an unknown, ambitious and somehow unrealistic climate change based new economy that will probably be extremely expensive and might well bring an economic pandemic to the country.  For example, in a recent announcement, it was predicted that the federal carbon tax would soar to $170 a tonne by 2030, adding 28 cents to the average price of a litre of gasoline. This is further evidence that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is joining a global revolution in embracing a wholesale, tax-induced adoption of less mobile, more vegetarian and generally far less consumptive lifestyles in the world's wealthiest countries, with the COVID-19 pandemic serving as a catalyst.
The Conservative Party and opposition leader Erin O'Toole are not far  from the same kind of promises  to Canadians; only the packaging is different. No innovative ideas, no policies in place which could mobilize the Canadian electorate to have a realistic choice and vote for a change. That said, it is a dispute purely over methods, not goals. Conservatives have committed to meeting Canada's 2030 targets under the Paris Accord, just not with a carbon tax.  The Conservative team has been signalling that it plans to get serious about fighting climate change more generally, but non essentially. O'Toole's predecessor, Andrew Scheer, stumped for his "Real Plan to Protect Our Environment" as "Canada's best chance to meet the Paris targets." Even Stephen Harper's 2015 platform boasted "We've committed to ambitious greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2030,"  but  no real action was ever taken.
With a potential election looming just around the corner, Trudeau has better hope and his team prepares for the landing, because there is no inoculation that can keep a minority government alive forever.  So he is preparing himself to be best positioned to win a new majority.
Their various post-COVID slogans "build back better," "a more resilient Canada," etc; even the press release announcing the carbon-tax hike begins, "As we continue to address the impacts of COVID-19 and ensure our strong economic recovery…" go out of their way to liken the battle against climate change to the battle against the pandemic.
But now comes the unknown which nobody wants to hear about. With the vaccine in place, the issues of people with allergies being advised to be careful about taking it, might easily translate to a political allergy, as the vaccinations proceed.
Pfizer has admitted that people with a history of severe adverse allergic reactions to vaccines or the candidate's ingredients were excluded from their late stage trials. However, the allergic reactions may have been caused by a component of Pfizer's vaccine called polyethylene glycol, or PEG, which helps stabilize the shot and is not in other types of vaccines.
On Dec. 12, Health Canada issued official guidance for those with serious allergies. Noting that all vaccines in Canada "carry a warning about the risk of serious allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, and immunization clinics are equipped to manage these rare events," the federal government warned that "people with allergies to any of the ingredients of the [Pfizer COVID-19] vaccine are currently cautioned against receiving it."
So as we approach the winter festivities, we need to be cautious and aware about the coronavirus pandemic and hope that our politicians do not become allergic to their duties. Life must go on……
Wishing you and your loved ones hope and happiness during this traditional season of giving.

Stress Won’t Kill You, But Your Reaction To It Might

 Stress Won’t Kill You, But Your Reaction To It Might
 W. Gifford-Jones, M.D. and Diana Gifford-Jones
  “Don’t underestimate the value of doing nothing,” wrote one of the world’s foremost philosophers, Winnie-the-Pooh, “of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.” Doing nothing is exactly what a lot of us are facing for an extended period of time.  But “not bothering” is probably not how most of us are feeling.

We’re worried about our families, our next meals, our jobs, the bills, the economy.  For some, self-isolation, quarantine, or lockdown is a risk factor for domestic abuse.  Many people are trapped in truly precarious situations, far away from home or from needed medication.  Others are just alone, and it feels like solitary confinement with no prospect of human interaction for weeks to come.

These adverse circumstances amount to considerable stress.  Yet, there’s hope, as it’s not the stressors that will kill you, but rather how you react.  In other words, your home isn’t going to hurt you, but your physical reaction to being cooped up might do some damage.  For example, you might be fearfully producing the chemicals in your body and brain that cause your heart rate to increase, breathing to quicken, muscles to tighten, and blood pressure to rise. Your behavioural choices and how those around you handle tension can also have a huge impact on your health.

As Lou Holtz, the American football coach says, “It’s not the load that breaks you down.  It’s how you carry it.”  Let’s do what we can to ensure that the current crisis doesn’t manifest an avalanche of cases of anxiety and depression.

We’ve seen examples of how people are alleviating stress amid the COVID-19 crisis.  Neighbours are joining in song from their balconies in China and Italy.  Social media is alive with suggestions for fun, sociable activities you can do online in groups.  Musicians are streaming concerts online.  And everywhere, families are getting quality time together.

But being stuck at home can lead people to adopt unhealthy behaviours too.  The most easily accomplished of these are smoking and eating too much.  It you have started smoking, then seek help.  Smoking will only pile on the problems.  As for food, don’t let this be a time for poor diet choices.  Those who struggle with weight management should focus on losing weight, not gaining it.  Join an online exercise group and remember to step on the scale every day.

Difficult relationships can be made worse when confined in close quarters. So use the occasion to talk out the troubles.  Find common ground.  Put time into building the foundation for new beginnings.  And reach out to professionals who can help you.

Even without the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety is already the world’s top driver of poor mental health.  The incidence of anxiety is certainly skyrocketing now.  So before you run for more pills, try proven natural approaches. Exercise is one of the best remedies. Yoga, meditation, even reading a good book. If you are having trouble sleeping, turn off the TV and put away your phone.  Try using a weighted blanket, which has a natural comforting effect.

Finally, think about all those who may need a little help with day-to-day living during these difficult times.  Call someone who may be lonely.  Check to see if seniors in your neighbourhood have the supplies they need.  Offer help and reassurance to those who may be facing uncertainty about their job security.  And show appreciation for all those on the front lines of the pandemic – most especially by staying home and keeping healthy yourself.

The holiday season

 

The holiday season
 Written by,  Sharleen Cainer, BSW RSW
  The holiday season is around the corner. I don't know too much about how others are feeling, but I feel an incongruency, hanging around my neck like an albatross. I find it difficult to celebrate a holiday, when I know there are so many people who are living the lives of the unsheltered in Durham Region.
You might wonder, why should is all of this unsheltered business be my problem, when I have shelter, and a paper to read while I enjoy my sheltered existence?  You don't know why; well, I can tell you why. The homeless population is growing exponentially around the world, but let's look in our own backyard, because it is growing there too. You might wonder and say, "yeah so"? Well, I will tell you why you should worry about your ability to shelter yourself and your family.
The democratic, capitalist social structure predicates on the ability of an individual to be able to earn enough money so as to marry, produce children, own a car, and a home. For the purposes of explaining, this is overly simplistic. However, when Canada's Founding Forefathers envisioned this country, it was seen to be able to provide for Canadians a land where a basic quality of life included a house. The economic plan in Canada, was geared to an employed man being able to provide a home for his family at the cost of one quarter of his earnings. Canada then introduced personal taxation in 1917 and it was to be temporary by the way until we got over the hump, that being the deficit resulting from the war. OK, so the good old days!!
Moving forward at a galloping speed, here we are. Personal taxation is now CRA and they will take what they want. The more financially challenged members of society will be paying the most tax. That is how it is structured. It is almost embedded in the documents so that unless you have studied taxation or economics, you may not know about it. So, with the CRA taking 30% of your income, the bank taking closer to 50% of your income to pay mortgage and that other tax, the property tax, people begin to struggle. Some bills go unpaid, unexpected expenses arise, and credit ratings start to diminish.
This is where it gets interesting. With a poor, to bad credit rating you need even more money to pay your mortgage or your credit cards. Needing more money to pay the escalating costs of living, you and your declining credit scores begin an expediated ride down a slippery slope into poverty. The bank manager will demand you live within your means, but that seems difficult when you, who of gainful employment is unable to demonstrate the financial prowess required to fund an average priced accommodation to shelter you and your family.
It is in these moments that issues such as domestic violence, or depression, or substance abuses or somatic illnesses begin to take up residence in your home and the day-to-day living becomes soul crushing for many.
Homelessness is not a problem that just suddenly happens. It is the culmination of many moving parts that come together in a melody of destruction. Many components of those moving parts are beyond the control of those who live trapped in this dark web of despair. Then what happens when we throw a pandemic onto the wood pile? If you ever doubted the seriousness of this situation, just review the earlier videos of Doug Ford's facial expression when he finds out we have a pandemic. That look of fear remained on his face for months.
We at Welcome Home for Less urge everybody to explore what it means to be humane. Engage in random acts of kindness. Help those who are less fortunate. They may not have been as lucky as you, but they still deserve humane treatment. Some people are just "down on their luck" so to say. No matter how hard we work, or how gifted we are, we still need to have some luck on our side. Nobody feels you did not dig deep and work hard for your reality.  Think about how you feel after you give to someone who needs to receive. Every year I donate to an organization that will match my donation by 10x instead of buying presents for my family. My family all agree there is not much that we really need.
Last week in Oshawa a number of things happened that we should be ashamed of.  There was a shooter on the roof of a building shooting at homeless people. In another situation there was a homeless man who was dragged from his tent while sleeping, beaten, and robbed by three masked men. Another homeless man, sleeping in a tent, was dragged from his tent, and beaten by three masked men.  These are cowardice acts of violence perpetrated on the weakened members of our society who are not in a position to defend themselves and deserve our protection.  
The Prime Minister put up 1 billion dollars to solely house and care for those who continue to remain unsheltered. Mr. Trudeau understands the necessity of looking after constituents. Unfortunately, the governing bodies who are responsible to administer these funds are struggling to come forward with a direct plan to shelter the unsheltered. Despite the efforts brought forward by many community groups to pitch in their talents and efforts, the situation remains unchanged. At Welcome Home for Less, I remain hopeful. A change is gonna come. 

ONE CHOICE IS NOT A CHOICE

 

ONE CHOICE

IS NOT A CHOICE

By Joe Ingino

Editor/Publisher

“I live a dream in a nightmare world”

Under the rule of communism. You are forced to comply or else. You are forced to contribute and not question.

Communism (from Latin communis, 'common, universal') is a philosophical, social, political and economic ideology and movement whose ultimate goal is the establishment of a communist society, namely a socioeconomic order structured upon the ideas of common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social individuality.

Is Canada becoming a socialist/communist regime? Could the NDP have no more purpose as it would explain its alignment to the Liberals? Have we become so polluted and convoluted by popular pressure that we lost the essence of freedom?

Could this be why we are having Chinese troops training in Canada? Is there a military invasion in the works? As if we do not have enough problems with China. Not only did they infest the world with COVID. China holds our citizens in jails for no real crime. Canadian intelligence has reported more than once of the influence in Canadian economy and society by Chinese mafia and government.

But wait... we can’t really label them communist or socialist as our government believes in filling their pockets first. That is not very communist. Could it be that there is a confusion in terminology? Could our government actually be fascist?

After all by definition: Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe.

Have the Liberals in their quest/desperation for power lost their way and now are on run away train type of political mentality...

Could this be the rise of a CommuFascist “ism”? Or are they one of the same? Could this be the new globalist mentality. Me first the people second?

I do not disagree that COVID-19 is real but by the same token I am not prepared to allow the government to take my freedoms away, while they figure it out.

First and foremost we the people of the world have been attacked by China. This was cause by the Chinese of that they still take no responsibility.

Since it hit our shores. Our governments out of pure ignorance decided to implement all kind of emergency acts. Emergency acts that were originally set forth in the event of war. Not pandemic. Then why are we under a state of war with no enemy. Why are we becoming the prisoners of war in our own nations.

Politicians think that the vaccine is the silver bullet. I say malarkey. I say that the vaccine is the beginning to something much bigger.

Look at the baffon of Christine Elliot. A woman in politics by association and marriage to the late Jim Flaherty. A woman in charge of our health and yet has not medical academic background. She serves as Ontario Minister of Health. A lawyer by profession.... yet now she has the authority to tell the rest of Canada. ‘VACCINATE OR I WILL RESTRICT YOUR FREEDOM’. Who is this wonna be ANTIFA/NAZI that has given herself such powers.

This week a news reports read: Ontarians could face restrictions if they refuse to get COVID-19 vaccine. Elliot believes there are two types of people who are hesitant to receive the vaccine, “strict anti-vaxxers” and those who don't want to receive it first because they are still concerned about its safety. Dah. How can this woman/government be so irresponsible. In order to make the politicians life less stressful and make it look like they have a grip on COVID. They bank on possibly contaminating the population at large with something even more sinister, the vaccine. Elliot, knows best. Anti-vaxxers, really. So concerned citizens over the safety of this poison they want to inject people are being threatened that if you don’t have the card you don’t get access. REALLY. Is the card they will issue with every vaccine not the reverse of wearing a yellow star to identify you of who you were back in 1945?

I may be a lot of things... but i am not blind. Sure that for all vaccinations you are carted. After all how can you prove that you have been vaccinated. The question here is much more clinical. We spend billions on finding the cure for HIV and we come up with nothing. We spend years to find the cure for cancer...and nothing.

Now all of a sudden in a matter of months. A new technological break through with mRNA vaccines have elicited potent immunity against infectious disease targets in animal models of influenza virus, Zika virus, rabies virus and others, especially in recent years, using lipid-encapsulated or naked forms of sequence-optimized mRNA.

The problem is not the vaccine. The problem is our government not putting the effort to truly understand the virus transmission. The government bets on person to person. This is as far as they are going to take it.

Yet, the virus has shown in raw sewage. On many surfaces. The virus has been known to mutate. Where is the scientific data on this? Could this virus be nothing short of a political shock wave to destabilize society using the ignorance of our elected officials? After all as a Minister of Health we have someone with no medical background. How are we the people to expect her to know and make the adequate decisions that affect our lives.

Yet, she says stay home. Close your businesses and get the vaccine or else and we are forced by law to abide.

This is wrong. What we should be looking at is understanding the real threat of the virus. The real intent of the virus. We should be not putting the population at large by force in lock down but instead go after the perpetrator of this pandemic. No instead Canada opens the doors to China. I can’t wrap my mind over who made that decision. Why do Chinese troops need to train in Canada? Why not northern China? Could it be that China has other interest as Canada is so close to the United States? The next evolutionary step for humankind is to move from man to kind. The question here is what kind of society are we becoming. The GREAT RESET has begun. Shénsù

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In the name of political correctness

 

In the name of

political

correctness

by Maj (ret'd) CORNELIU E. CHISU, CD, PMSC,

FEC, CET, P. Eng.

Former Member of Parliament Pickering-Scarborough East

As the world economy, politics, culture, and communications face a growing wave of globalization and new economic and social challenges that are likely to continue for a long time, ethical challenges for journalists have also gone global, taking on new dimensions.

As we are living in interesting times marred by pandemics, economic and not to be ignored societal challenges, the journalistic profession is certainly facing a new world full of surprises.

As the challenges mount and information and data envelop us with the inevitability of an exploding volcano, the so called establishment's elite journalists operate out of their protected world; in their ivory tower. From this seemingly untouchable place of safety, they tend to interfere with increasing frequency in the political field, seemingly working to undermine the due political process. They are becoming imperial in trying to impose their unelected views on the public and shamelessly attempting to undermine the democratic political process. Unelected and free of any responsibility, they act in the name of a false political correctness. These days it is difficult to distinguished between the "Fake News" and the "Elite Fake News" promoted by syndicated journalists to push their own agenda.

Instead of abiding by ethical principles when they are challenged, they take immediate refuge in the defence of the freedom of the press. This subterfuge must change drastically because they are an important part of society, and the journalistic profession must sooner or later get rid of the weeds and seriously pursue the business they were meant to do.

There is a very real and immediate need for an overview of the code of ethics that applies to journalism, and an even more dire need for the strict application of those ethics to ensure that practitioners abide by them in real life. In today's society, journalism and the use of journalistic ethics are more important than ever.

The number of ways journalism can impact society and the lives of people around the word is infinite. However, the impact can quickly be turned from a positive to a negative, thus losing public trust in the media.

Journalists must believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. Ethical journalism strives to ensure the free exchange of information that is accurate, fair and thorough. An ethical journalist acts with integrity.

The ethical principle seek truth and report is particularly important, especially today. We are living in an era where lies are spread for political and social gain no matter the situation it puts others in. As journalists it is a duty to inform the public of accurate information in order not to tarnish the good name of a person, organization, or event.

Being accountable and transparent in journalistic work is possibly the most important principle to follow to ensure a journalist will not break any other principles. If someone does not understand the context of something said, it can ruin the mentality or meaning for the rest of the work.

Most stories have at least two sides. While there is no obligation to present every side in every piece, stories should be balanced and add context. Objectivity is not always possible, and may not always be desirable (in the face of brutality or inhumanity for example), but impartial reporting builds trust and confidence.

Journalists should do no harm. What they publish or broadcast may be hurtful, but they should be aware of the impact of their words and images on the lives of others.

Now let us have a look at some unfortunate events that have taken place in Canada in the last few years where journalist have influenced the political process in this country.

You may well remember the Mike Duffy affair, which was brought to light by one of his former journalist colleagues, Robert Fife. The timing of Fife's revelations was particularly interesting, because it seriously influenced the people's faith in the Conservative government of Prime Minister Harper, as the news broke just before the election was called. At the end of the affair, and after millions of taxpayer dollar had been spent on an investigation, Senator Duffy was cleared of all charges. The same journalist brought the SNC Lavalin affair to light, just before the last election in 2019. This, too, influenced the election; the country ending up with a minority Liberal government.

These are clear cases of political interference from the media in the electoral democratic process, in influencing the vote of Canadians.

Currently, there are many other examples of these kinds of Journalist "influencers" blatantly interfering in politics and showing bias in their reporting of the news.

For example, just days ago Robyn Urback a Globe and Mail columnist wrote and article entitled: "Anti-vaxxers have found their useful idiot in Conservative MP Derek Sloan". Of course the Globe and Mail was completely silent on the characterisation of an elected MP as an idiot by one of its rising stars and politically correct journalists. Even if you do not agree with the action of an MP, you do not have the right to call him names. Furthermore, the implication is that he is an idiot because he sponsored a petition, which does not mean support, in case the journalist would like to be informed in parliamentary procedures. This shows the journalist's own bias and reveals a possibly ill-informed opinion funnelled to the public. In publishing such blatantly biased and opinionated material, is the Globe and Mail abiding by ethical standards in journalism?

The question of the day is: Are the media trying to run a parallel government in Canada? You decide.

Homelessness a human rights disaster

 

H

omelessness a human rights

disaster

Written by, Sharleen Cainer, BSW RSW

You might remember a month or two ago, where the Toronto Homeless folks went to court in an attempt to have homelessness declared a state of emergency. Certainly, for the individuals who are experiencing homelessness, living unsheltered on the streets of any Canadian city, particularly in winter; it is a state of emergency at the highest order. Having lost all you have in the world due to factors that you may or may not have control over is a state of emergency in everyone's mind, except in the minds of the court. Historically, before the pandemic days, January 2019 to be exact. The Toronto city councillors addressed a motion regarding homelessness and human rights brought forward by Kristyn Wong-Tam that specifically addressed homelessness.

Motion to Amend Item moved by Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam (Lost)

That:

1. City Council declare homelessness a human rights disaster akin to a municipal emergency.

2. City Council affirm housing as a human right and our commitment to take appropriate measures to address homelessness as a human rights crisis. 3. City Council request the Provincial Government to apply to the Federal Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (known as Public Safety Canada) to establish an intergovernmental table to address housing and homelessness in Toronto with the following terms of reference: a. establish a formal table with Provincial and Federal ministers to meet with the Mayor, City Manager, and appropriate senior City Staff to determine a work plan and 6-month strategy development framework in no less than 30 days; b. identify the unaddressed low-income housing support gaps, including those of mental health and addictions, that may contribute to homelessness in Toronto; and c. establish what programs, supports, and services can be provided by the appropriate levels of government to prevent homelessness upstream and provide the current population with accessible options for dignified, supportive housing.

You may be wondering why I am bringing Toronto City Hall to you. I have two reasons. Durham Region has not discussed the issue to this extent even though Durham Region suffers the same grievances. There was one small step forward with the motion. Part 1c was carried forward. Toronto council agreed to:

c. establish what programs, supports, and services can be provided by the appropriate levels of government to prevent homelessness upstream and provide the current population with accessible options for dignified, supportive housing.

Fast forward to right about now, the pandemic hits and homelessness abounds. Now people are arguing the right to live in a tent in a park. They took their case to court, the city lawyer arguing there was no reason that people could not just stay in shelters. The judge weighing the arguments, stated We are just going to have an endless series of one might say, roundups, and very unpleasant bulldozing of tent cities and so on. Is that really in the public interest? We're bouncing a problem down the road, rather than trying to find some medium here." Supreme Court Justice Paul Schabas came back two weeks later with a ruling that stated "the group had not met the standard of establishing harm to the public interest that would justify suspending the city's ability to enforce its bylaw". Justice Schabas went on to say that he was not directing the city to enforce its bylaws and to remove encampments in city parks," stating "That will be up to the city." Justice Schabas may not be directing law enforcement to remove the encampments, but he was most certainly ensuring that the city would not be held back from acts of aggression against those who are sheltering themselves in tents on public park lands.

Last week in Hamilton, homeless people were bulldozed off the park land where they were experiencing the existence of homelessness living. Guidelines from the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) are recommending that cities do not clear encampments during the pandemic individuals are going to be housed in appropriate housing units. Two doctors who are championing the cause in Hamilton are quick to point out that "appropriate housing units are not available. The Hamilton doctors (Hamsmart doctors Jill Wiwcharuk and Tim O'Shea requested) that the city please, stop dismantling homeless encampments for the duration of the pandemic until people could be moved to appropriate indoor space. An appropriate space would be one where all required services and amenities would be attainable. Much like the argument regarding the Beaverton project, there are no available services.

The position taken by many unsheltered is that they need to be located close to where their services and resources are located. The Beaverton project, which is a spin off from the Samac Project has no services located in Beaverton. The Samac Project had many services on sight or close by. Too often officials while calculating the checks and balances forget to include a needs assessment. The needs assessment will collect data from the individuals requiring the service. For example, when sending a pump to an African village, the needs assessment tells me how many people require water so therefore I know how big a pump I need to send. One thing we know about Homeless people is that they are particularly good at targeting what they need. The reason why many refused to stay in hotels is that the hotels were in isolated areas and too far for them to access their established services.

Last September 2019, the case in court put forth a requirement that the court make a ruling on homelessness by using the Emergency Preparedness criteria to gain access to emergency preparedness funds for the purposes of sheltering the unsheltered. In the fight against homelessness, the advocates put forth the following points.

- Comply with obligations under International Human Rights law to take all appropriate measures to address homelessness as a human rights crisis.

- Declare homelessness a human rights disaster and seek assistance from the province under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.

- Request the province establish an intergovernmental table tasked with addressing the housing and homelessness crisis in Toronto.

- Convene an emergency meeting with federal and provincial representatives to develop an urgent plan of action.

- Request that the Office of Emergency Management take immediate steps to augment services for homeless individuals and seek the support of the Red Cross.

In a discussion I had with a city Director of Operations for the Emergency Preparedness Plan I learned that the scope of Emergency Preparedness Planning does not include emergencies that are the result of systemic or social issues. Homelessness is declared a social and systemic issue. What has developed is that the Federal government has come forward with RHI, the Rapid Housing Initiative. There is approximately $25 million on the table for Toronto and the GTA to submit proposals in order to access this funding, which is for temporary, emergency, immediate, modular and micro homes. The land use can be leased, owned, rent to own, and so on. The innovation on this project is really positive and very generous. The Federal government seems to have bypassed all the infighting and just declared a need to house. One step forward for us.

HOW WOULD YOU TREAT YOUR OWN MOTHER?

 

HOW WOULD YOU TREAT YOUR OWN MOTHER?

W. Gifford-Jones, M.D. and Diana Gifford-Jones

It was 1949 and I was making rounds at the Massachusetts General Hospital with Professor Edward

D. Churchill, an original thinker who taught medical school students and residents the importance of science

in surgical practice. The X-ray showed a small mass in one lung in a very frail elderly lady. If it was a benign lesion, an operation might kill her. If it was malignancy and we did not operate, it might end her life. After much discussion, Professor Churchill asked a question I’ve never forgotten, “How would you treat your own mother?”

I told this story to Diana while discussing the number of people dying in seniors’ homes due

to COVID. What treatment would we want for our family members?

It’s reasonable to expect more infections in seniors’ homes this winter. Vaccines are on the

way and hopefully they will help end this nightmare. But in the meantime, loved ones will die.

So, prevention must be practiced, including refraining from gatherings, wearing face masks

and complying with social distancing rules. There’s no guarantee to evade the virus, but these

steps will decrease risk.

Yet, for loved ones in these group residences, this is not enough. In addition to these structural defences, we should help them ensure that their natural biological defences are as robust

as possible. Unfortunately, this first line of defence has not received due attention.

There’s an avalanche of information about fighting the virus from pharmaceutical companies,

institutes of health, university-based labs, and expert researchers around the world. We are

counting on these groups to make breakthroughs in medicine that will cure diseases and protect us from future pandemics. But where are the common-sense messages about good oldfashioned prevention and protection that come naturally from our immune systems?

In fact, you can find the ingredients for a strong immune system if you go looking. But there

are no mega-million-dollar budgets to push this information to you on the nightly news or in

commercial advertising.

COVID-19 is caused by a viral infection. So look at the research on the prevention of viral infections for guidance on how to care for your loved ones.

Doctors of orthomolecular medicine specialize in nutritional supplementation to maintain health. They deserve attention for two reasons. One, natural remedies don’t kill people and if

these approaches show results, then they should be a priority in treatment. Two, research by

these scientists, including published clinical trials, continues to prove the efficacy of natural

supplements for both the prevention and treatment of disease.

So how do we protect our loved ones? Dr. Damien Downing, a British allergist, has written on

vitamin D deficiency in relation to viral infections. He recommends 4,000 international units

(IU) daily for three months and then 3,000 IU daily in order to reduce risks of contracting viral

infections and to prevent disease from becoming severe leading to death. This is because

vitamin D enhances immunity, decreases inflammatory responses and acts as an antioxidant.

Other research shows that the addition of zinc 30 milligrams (mg) daily also beefs up immunity and eases inflammation. Magnesium at 400 mg daily eases the constriction of arteries

caused by viral infections.

Finally, don’t forget vitamin C, 1,000 mg three times a day. Split the dose because vitamin C

is water soluble and some is lost in the urine. It has been shown for decades to be a potent

antiviral agent. So for our loved ones, we would insist that these four safe, inexpensive vitamins and minerals be given. Afterall, you can’t replace your mother.