Hideous and celery

Celery is about all these models must eat to stay so deathly and wretchedly thin.  Their poor bodies must be screaming for a few carbs!  I felt sorry for the struggling bodies trying to keep their hosts alive on a carrot a day.  Watching "Seven Days Out" on Netflix, I happened upon Paris fashion week and the offerings of Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel. 

OMG!  Absolutely hideous!  Who would actually wear any of these monstrosities?  The dresses were, well....gruesome.  Feathers, ribbons, bows, ugly black boots, stupid hats.......you name it, Karl had worked it all into his collection.  And the ridiculous thing was it was literally "The Emperor's New Clothes".  Everyone was falling all over and congratulating themselves on how fabulous everything was.  Karl, of course, will never wear any of his outfits, so he's off scott free.   

I have news for them.  The clothes were ludicrous, absurd and unwearable.

Silly, silly, silly.    

Another first

Went to a neighbourhood party here the other night and met a middle-aged woman who had weaned herself off fentanyl after years of using it for pain.  This was the first time I had met a fentanyl person.  Her doctor had actually prescribed it so she thought she could safely use it.  But it wasn't working, so instead of upping the dose, she went "cold turkey".  "I did not sleep for two weeks," she told me.  "It was a nightmare." 

But she said her personality had actually returned.  This is how so many get hooked on this drug.  First, they are prescribed it and next they are hooked.  "The doctors get paid to push it by the drug companies," said a friend who knows how all this skull drudgery works. 

They are killing a lot of people. 

Only I....

....would venture into Walmart on Christmas Eve.  What a "duh" thing to do!  Yes, it was insane because December 24th is the day all men decide to do their Christmas shopping.  That, my friends, is a fact.  Men do not shop until they absolutely have to. 

Just to double down on that dumb idea, I then decided it was a great day to go to the liquor store!  Again, a hoarde of last-minute-ers was wandering or dashing around.  Those of us who know what we need and where it is dash; the rest wander, trying to find something unique to bring for Christmas dinner.  Dashing or not, it was still a wait-in-line event. 

But, it got done.

I was in Walmart because I had second thoughts about the gift I had bought my granddaughter -- she of the dress-herself variety.  And you never know what that means.  She will absolutely not wear anything her mother or I suggest, so the adorable moose hat I had bought her in Banff a while ago seemed a long shot.  It's so cute, but the "cute" type she is not.  Although adorable, this one is not inclined to dress the part -- a trait I support because I am like that myself.  And so was her mother.  I could not dress her mother either and the apple has not fallen far from that tree.  So I opted for a "Peppa Pig" top and leggings.  Those she will wear.

If you know me, you know my style is my own.  I do not -- and never have -- followed fashion.  I wear what suits me and colour outside the lines now and then.  I remember years ago, when we went to my late mother's for Sunday dinner, she remarked, "G-d, I certainly hope you don't go to the office dressed in some of the outfits you wear here."

I was shocked because I thought I always looked fabulous.  And yes, I did go to the office in "those" outfits.  But she was a very conventional and conservative dresser and I was/am not.  I am a high-heel gal and always will be.  Give me pink heels, or give me death.

On the food front, we were at a gathering the other evening and the hostess served Tortière.  Being Westerners, no one knew why it was called what it was?  I explained that it had originally been made with torte meat, a bird long extinct, but that now it had to be made with ground pork and beef.  So, a few Westerners have been educated on the famous meat pie.  Mission accomplished. 

Merry Merry.    

My first enounter

For her work, she gets $2,000 a month.  I am talking about a young pregnant woman who cut my hair the other day.  "When are you due?" I asked.  In February, but it's not mine, she told me.  Taken aback, I was glad she filled me in before I had to ask what she meant.  She is a surrogate for a gay couple in the US.

How cool!  I took the opportunity to quiz her on how it all worked.  Apparently, not even the egg is hers.  The couple picked an egg donor, fertilized her egg and then froze the embryo(s) until they picked a suitable surrogate.  They chose this young lady.  "There is a two-minute window to implant the embryo after it is thawed," she told me.  "Two days later, I knew it had taken because I started morning sickness."  This couple already has a surrogate-bred boy, so the other male fertilized this baby -- which happens to be a girl. 

"Do you think it will be difficult to part with the baby you've 'cooked' it for nine months?" I asked.  "Not at all because it's not mine.  I have even arranged to be a surrogate for another gay couple in Toronto after this one is born."  Wow!  I was amazed.  Apparently, she went to Toronto for the implantation, but all her other tests are performed in the states, where she travels with a friend and enjoys the weekend.  "They pay for everything, of course, and the couple attends all the appointments with me.  If I were in the US, I would get $5,000 a month, but I'm not really doing it for the money.  Sort of, but not really.  I mean, why not give a couple a baby if I can?"  She has a seven-year-old son of her own, but apart from a little morning sickness, is one of those happily-pregnant women who breeze though it all.

I left with a great haircut and a little more knowledge about how some babies are made.  Being adopted, I began to existentially ponder my own fate, had this procedure been available to my parents.  I would probably have been raised in an orphanage, instead of in the wonderful household and family in which I was.   

P-correctness at its most silly

'Globe and Mail' columnist, Denise Balkisoon, has written a piece today attacking Doug Ford's declaration that free speech is to be implemented at all Ontarian universities.  Unless it is hate speech, or against the law, students are now free to say what they like.

Wow!  What an idea!  Isn't that what universities are for?  To let young people express their opinions and learn from each other -- whether they agree or not?  Guess not, in Balkisoon's opinion. 

This is the welcome antidote to what Allan Rock did at Ottawa U a number of years ago, when he succumbed to a gang of Arab protestors who did not want American, right-wing celebrity, Ann Coulter, to speak.  They went wild and Rock caved.  She was not permitted to speak.  That was an outrage and I, for one, am glad Ford has decided to change the universities' channels.

When at Carleton, I took "Religion 101" and learned so much from other faiths.  Would they have been banned because they did not follow common orthodoxy?  Probably, but here we are, teaching about all faiths in a university.  What's next?  A modern-day Luther's head on a stake in the public thoroughfare?  A heretic in a stockade in the town square?

People need to get a grip.

 

Ludicrous

So, the international climate groupies have wound up yet another conference in Poland, declaring they have solved all the problems.  Really?  No.  Without fossil fuels, the world cannot operate.  Alternative energy?  Doesn't exist at the moment.  Here they are, closing out yet another useless conference:

 

They look so self-satisfied, but have actually accomplished nothing.  And there's our girl "Climate Barbie" on the left, looking so happy.  Actually, it's very sad.

 

Also in the news today, the knashing-of-teeth-and-pulling of hair in Ontario because Doug Ford has slashed educational funding for special tutoring and native studies.  About time.  Why should taxpayers fund tutoring?  And why should they fund native studies?  We had a couple of our kids tutored and paid for it.  That's how it's supposed to work.  If kids are failing in class, they either fail, or the parents finance tutoring in the hope they might pass.  As to native studies, that should be left to the natives.   

 

 

It can be done

Apparently, "having" all is impossible.  I beg to differ.  Some of us actually "did" it all.  Because we had to.  Margaret Wente wrote a column about it in 'The Globe and Mail' the other day.  She was talking about Michelle Obama, who said it couldn't be done.  And this from a woman who had hot-and-cold running staff while she lived in the White House!  If she couldn't manage "it", she failed.

The column referred to Cheryl Sandberg's book about "Leaning In".  She advocated women's doing it all, which I actually did.  Some of us actually did it "all".  I was determined not to be penalized for the biological function of reproducing -- which women were.  When I had a baby, I was in the office during labour and only left when the pains got a tad unbearable.  Back then (1976), one got a job back, but not one's own job.  We also did not get our pay; we got unemployment insurance and returned to work six months later to find someone else in our offices, doing our jobs. 

We had to start all over.

To add more to my burden, I married a man with a complete b-tch for an ex-wife.  Money hungry, she never let up being uncooperative and unfair -- even though the courts ordered her to share.  A concept with which she was unfamiliar, unless it was with our money, which she could not get enough of.  I found it wrong that my salary was factored into her spousal and child support, given the fact that I earned it and had to support my own two children with no contribution from their father.  You'd think she'd have been ashamed to take money from another woman, but not on your life.  The more she could grab, the better. 

So, "lean in" is nothing new to me and my cohort.  We invented the concept and are still leaning.  I am grateful women now get a year off with pay.  We did that for them, so when well-educated women elect to sit home with kids and meet for coffee, it pisses me off.  They will regret it when they try to re-enter the workplace and find it has moved on without them, thank you very much.
_______________________________________
Switching gears, the latest lamentation is from the human rights gang who are up in arms because more blacks than Caucasians are being arrested.  My question is, what are the crime rates for these groups?  Of course, no journalist asks this obvious question.  I mean, if more blacks are being arrested, they must be committing more crimes.  No?  It has to do with crime, not race, but G-d forbid anyone asks.   

Stupider and stupider

Now the mayor elect of Hearst, Ontario, won't take the oath of office because he would have to swear allegiance to The Queen.  Wouldn't you know it, he's a native and therefore blames everything that has ever happened to any native anywhere in Canada on Her Majesty.

Well, of course he does.  Frankly, Hearst would be better off without this guy as mayor because there are a lot of municipal affairs stuff that is tied to the monarchy, which he would have to avoid.  Geez, he wouldn't even be able to walk into a Royal Bank!  Or how about the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce!?  Another land mine!  And for Gawd's sake, don't enter the Royal Canadian Legion for a nip or two!  A frightening trigger for sure! 

So that's the first "stupider".  But the next is even "stupider".  Apparently, the hapless Andrew Scheer actually addressed a gathering of the Assembly of First Nations the other day without a platform.  Without a platform!  He actually stood up there and told a questioner he'd have to wait until the Conservatives put his native platform together to find out where his position lay and what he would do as PM on the Indian file.  I'm not kidding, that is what he did! 

OMG!  It's not as if he had accidentally bumped into a native leader on the street and was caught off guard.  No, he decided to go to the meeting, stand at a podium and say, "I' don't know what I'll do if I am PM."  Duh!  This guy is going to be defeated for sure.  And on that file, nothing will change.  Harper tried reconciliation by having a smudging ceremony in the House of Commons to grovel and apologize to the natives.  Didn't work.  Then Trudeau comes into power, promising to focus on native issues -- even splits the department in two to make it "better" -- and still the natives aren't happy.  They want to know how Scheer will do better than Trudeau and Harper to solve their "issues". 

Here's a bulletin:  The natives will never be satisfied.  Never, ever, ever.  No matter how much money we throw at them, they will never, ever, ever, ever be content to get on with their lives.  Know why?  Because they don't have to.  So good luck with that.
  

Except we're not there

In the Punjab, I mean.  We're in the Parliament of Canada.  "It's normal in the Punjabi culture to lend money to friends and family," said a ridiculous assistant to the disgraced Raj Grewal, trying to defend why Grewal won't reveal who has handed him the millions needed to pay off his astounding gambling debts.

Obviously, those giving him the cash want him to remain in Parliament, representing them for their own self interest.  I mean, that's obvious.  But in Canada, we don't do things like that and he should resign, as he said he would.  Guess he can't forego that $170,000 salary -- that would buy a lot of poker chips. 

It wasn't that long ago Canada was a very puritanical society, maybe three generations.  I can well remember my grandmother and great aunt frowning on even drinking tea, let alone liquor.  At Christmas, my father and uncles would sneak out to the back porch to have a snort or two, out of sight of Aunt May.  "Would you like me to wave the tea bag over your cup of hot water, Aunt May?" one of my uncles used to ask.  As to dancing?  Out of the question.  These are the foundations upon which our Parliamentary democracy was built and stands today.

Honesty, frugality and transparency.  Not money laundering and under-the-table payoffs.  Frankly, we're still fairly puritanical underneath all the sex, drugs and rock and roll. 

As I always say, if you smell a rat there's a rat to be smelled.  A few years ago at one of my dinner parties, a friend speculated about a member of our tennis club perhaps being a Nazi because he hailed from Argentina, but was blonde and blue-eyed.  "You can't call him a Nazi," one of the other guests said.  "Of course he's a Nazi," piped up another.  As I said, a rat to be smelled. 

How annoying

"Christian tradition seems more and more out of step with our wonderfully multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-faceted society."  Honest to God, that's how Kathe Lemon, editor of Calgary's 'Avenue Magazine', described this major Christian feast in her editorial piece this month.  Christmas.  Out-of-step with society.  How annoying, she said. 

What a crock.

This is how far out-of-whack things have become.  Now, Christmas isn't Christmas because others don't celebrate it.  I am soooooo sick of it.  In today's 'Herald', the front page had a lovely picture of Hanukkah.  They didn't call it the lighting of "Holliday candles".  They didn't call it the celebration of "Seasonal candles".  They called it the lighting of the Hanukkah candles.  Good on them, but why has Christmas been banished and defamed?!  It's the same with Eid.  These dates are fixed and revered, but not Christmas.  No siree.   

It's a politically-correct outrage.  And whenever I see "Xmas", it offends me.  Does that mean we have "X-ed" Christmas?  I guess it does.

"It is that element of feeling forced to take part in a celebration, even if it is neither meaningful nor fun for you, that makes Christmas distasteful to many."  That is how this idiotic editor ended her BS editorial.  If Christmas is so "distasteful", why does everyone celebrate and love it?  Last time I checked, December 25th was actually Christmas Day.  Let's stop allowing people to stomp all over it.

Stand up for Christ and Christmas!

p.s.  I didn't correct her grammatical mistakes (above); she needs to be outed.      

Waaaaay too late

So, Notley has finally quit playing cutsie/footsie with Trudeau and is literally climbing on the cow catcher to get oil moving.  There she was yesterday, declaring the oil price disaster a crisis which had to be acted upon "now".  What in Gawd's name has she been doing for the past three years while everything here went for a sh-t?!  Did you just look up and notice we are effed? 

Frankly, it's too late -- for both her and the industry.  Jason Kenney is hard on her heels and gaining and he knows how to deal with Ottawa.  She obviously has no clue, having fiddled around with the vacant Trudeau far too long.  As a "feminist", you'd think he'd be thrilled to work with a female premier and energy minister, to name a few of the women running this province.....into the ground. 

But the equation is simple:  Alberta gets the shaft because very few people vote Liberal.  And because they don't, we get the shaft.  It's as simple as that.  No votes no pipelines.  No pipelines no votes.

By the way, Trudeau is no more a "feminist" than the most dedicated male chauvinist pig you can think of.  All his female appointments are tokens and most are in the wrong jobs because of it.  Climate Barbie heads my list of incompetents, but there are many others.  The way he treats women in photo ops makes it obvious he looks down on them, just as did the father who raised him.  Tudeau senior viewed Margaret as a uterus for procreation....but don't get me started on the pathetic Margaret, a disgrace to her gender.  Women in my cohort were the real feminists, paving the way for those who followed to be allowed to have children and get back to work.  We didn't all burn bras -- never a winning strategy in my view.  We pushed forward with employers and governments and succeeded.

How hard is that to figure out?  The scary part is that idiotic, vacuous Trudeau and his unoccupied brain are polling ahead of Andrew Scheer.  The Conservatives should have voted Bernier as leader because he would at least have stirred the pot with fervour.  But no, they opted for Scheer who in fact looks and acts like a Pollyanna in spite of the mess in which he is standing.  As B's grandfather used to say, "That poor chap stepped right in it."

Oh me, oh my.  All I can say is thank G-d for my pension. 

Can I wear shoes?

That's what I asked the hostess in an email before we went to her abode for dinner last night.  She said yes.  The reason I had asked was because the one other time we had visited for coffee, I had noticed how precious everything was.  The floors are special, she had told me.  "And don't walk on the carpets, please."  Seriously?  Unless one can walk on air, where else are we supposed to walk?

These people are acquaintances of B's; I don't really know them.  But he wanted us to go, so I agreed.  Now, there's a reason this blog is entitled "The View from Hats and Heels."  I love my high heels.  So when we arrived, I took off my boots and pulled my shoes out.  These classics -- black suede high heels, which I love:

 

 

When I began to put them on, she gasped.  "Oh, you can't wear those on our soft-wood floors."  How can you have floors made of soft wood no one can walk on?  She herself was wearing the ugliest flats in Alberta, but I was stuck.  I almost said, "We're leaving," but I removed my shoes, rendering my outfit ridiculous and leaving me to pad around in stocking feet all night. 

 

What is wrong with people? 

 

These are people who live in a $2 million house (most of their neighbours are Flames hockey players, so you can imagine) filled with every expensive knick-knack, painting, sculpture and doo-dad you could possibly acquire in ten lifetimes.  So many, in fact, you can't see the forest for the trees!  And they have two of everything -- two living rooms, two dining rooms and a myriad of other "twos".  But rather than sit in the "good" living room, we were ushered to the basement rec room.  "What can I get you to drink?" asked our host.  Things were looking up.  "I'll have a scotch, please" I said.  "Oh, we don't have any scotch," he replied.  "We don't drink it, so I don't buy it."  Really?  Well, why did you ask what I'd like to drink?!

 

Do you have any vodka?  No.  Well, what do you have?  Wine.  I don't know about you, but every bar should have at a minimum a supply of scotch, vodka, rye, bourbon, gin and rum -- particularly if you invite guests and aren't sure what they drink.  Oh, and did I mention they have a bar set up that rivals Montreal's Ritz Hotel's?  Too bad it's bare.

 

So, there I was with wine -- but not the wine I had brought.  No, a sweet, German variety that didn't work for me.  Again, I almost offered to dash to the liquor store and buy some scotch, but I resisted the urge.  Struggling through cocktails -- such as they were -- I was looking forward to a delicious dinner, the hostess being of Polish heritage.  I felt sure Polish would be on the menu.  But no.  Instead she produced shepherd's pie and salad in a bag -- something I throw together on a lack lustre Tuesday.  Hopes dashed again.  And were we permitted in the "good" dining room?  No, we ate in the kitchen.  I guess the special one is reserved for Elizabeth and Phillip. 

 

Now, I have had a few interesting jobs in my career.  I worked for a big Toronto publisher (just like 'Mad Men'), IBM, DuPont, Expo '86, the original Free Trade Task Force and the team that developed the GST.  Mildly important here and there.  But as our host was one of those men who never talks to "the wife", only the husband, no one at the table learned about any of my adventures -- and there were plenty!  However, he, being Chilean, helpfully instructed me on how fabulous everything was in Chile (sorry, "Cheelay").  To these people, Canada is a country of convenience -- and health care -- sort of like the shipping industry views Libya.  Initially, I tried to inject a tidbit or two, but gave up quickly.  There was not stopping this freight train of enchantments about Chilean delights and joys.  Frankly, I would have preferred to have talked about the "con carne" variety, but alas, no luck. 

 

While they were complaining bitterly about the fact they couldn't get a British pension at the same time as they collected their pensions here (I mean, come on!), I kept muttering to B in a stage whisper, but neither host nor hostess heard a word, so intent were they on  Poland and Chile.  B, however, knew my Irish was up because after so many years together, husbands know when that happens.  We finally took our leave and as you can imagine, B unsurprisingly got an earful all the way home.

 

That, folks, is my swan song with those people.      

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Let me get this straight

On the same day the news is all about millions being given to native women for abuse and violence, a bill is being tabled in The House to ensure native children are kept in their homes and communities. 

Really?  "A safe haven for survivors," is how the Awo Taan Healing Lodge is described.  With 343 native women out of every 1,000 being victims of violence -- compared to 96 for non-native -- how are native homes the best places to raise children?!  In fact, the stats reveal the children of these women witnessed this violence -- which is probably why 40,000 native children are in care.  Hello!  "So many people are fearful of their indigenous culture," said Jackie Bromley, leader of this Lodge.  She actually acknowledged this!  So, why did minister Philpott table a bill today which would reduce the number of native children in care and keep them in their lethal homes and communities.

Listening to 'Power Play' covering it today almost made me scream.  There sat the usual native talking heads braying on about how taking native children away from their (abusive) homes is cultural genocide.  There is a reason these children are taken away or they would not be.  So, are we now going to leave them in these violent homes to.....to......what?.....I have no clue??!!

At the same time this is happening, the Blood Tribe south of here is experiencing record carfentynel overdoses and deaths.  Wow, what a brilliant idea to leave the kids there while mom and dad shoot drugs, overdose and die.  (My son-in-law is a firefighter and first responder; I know of what I speak.) 

Brilliant.  There's a big right-hand-left-hand problem in the PMO.  No one's thinking there.    

OMG and WTF!

 

Our sad GG.  What has she got on her ears, what is she wearing and what is her hair doing??!!

Another one with seventies hair.  Seriously Margaret, get a hair cut.



Stuff

Watching the wretched Jerry Dias raving about the Oshawa GM plant's closing reminds me of Bob White, another union head.  I was stuck in a Charlottetown hotel many years ago, during a snow storm with an attractive female colleague, and Bob and his sidekicks sitting next to us in the bar tried to pick us up.  Seriously!

But White was a pretty good union leader -- unlike the incompetent Dias.  If  Dias hadn't noticed the storm coming and the plant about to close he was incompetent.  He should have and yet to have done nothing is proof of his incompetence on the file.  This is the union head!? 

Speaking of pickups, last night B and I went to the local Keg for dinner and I was riveted by what was going on beside us at the bar.  (I always sit at the bar 'cause it's the best place to see what's going on.)  Two gay guys were having dinner and it was obvious they were just getting to know each other in advance of their real agenda, i.e., sex.  I often wonder why couples do the date dance, when all they want to do is have sex? 

My other question is, why did Ottawa trade the fabulous Erik Karlsson?  I had no idea this had happened, but watching the San Jose/Toronto game last night at The Keg, I realized they had actually traded the guy.  Duh??!!  A friend and colleague from my journalism days is a prominent sports writer and he told me Karlsson had been shafted, but so was Doiron, who got zip for him in the trade.  He also said Karlsson was too cocky and stopped listening to the inept coaching staff, which pissed the owners off.  But he is not being used to his ability, now being on the second power play line instead of playing the entire time. 

In the end, everything is personal -- just as all politics is local.  Bring it Jason Kenney!  



   

Disgusting ingratitude

So, Dennis Shapovalov, Milos Raonic, Vasek Pospisil and Eugenie Bouchard have all moved their official residences to other countries such as Monaco and the Bahamas.  Why?  To dodge taxes, of course.  I find that disgusting.  All raised in Canada and supported by Tennis "Canada", they have now just buggered off to stash money. 

This was in an opinion piece in today's 'Calgary Herald', written by an economics' professor who says what I always say:  You have to pay your taxes!  And the stupidity of Tennis "Canada" is that it still lists each on the roster as "Canadians".  They even play Davis Cup for Canada, for Gawd's sake!  They should not be permitted to, but they will.  (I regret travelling to Edmonton last year to pay money to see Shapovalov play in Davis Cup because that just put more money into his dishonest jeans.)

What's culturally significant is that three of these "Canadians" are Eastern European -- notorious people when it comes to financial matters.  (I know; we used to profile all ethnics when I worked for RevCan, although we would never admit it.)  Bouchard is a French Canadian -- all separatists under the hood, as my good Montreal friend Richard says.  (See, "Another Botch up", Nov. 13, 2018)

And speaking of ingratitude and entitlement, there was a little story buried at the bottom on page A-11 in today's 'Globe and Mail' about how $550 million has been earmarked by B.C. to build 1,143 homes -- both on- and off-reserve -- for natives.  What!!??!!??!!  Why are Canadians giving money to natives to build homes when they already get tossed billions every year!!???  And why are they not expected to pay for the own houses, like the rest of us, when they move off-reserve?!?!  I don't get any of it, but then that file remains a baffling mystery to me.  The clue that we are being ripped off is that the native leaders, "welcomed and praised" the plan.  And the ridiculous part is that usually money is thrown around to buy votes, but natives don't even vote!  And regardless of who the government is, they will get their billions.

Well, of course the leaders love the plan because it's "...money for nothing and your chicks for free".

On another effed up file, postal workers have been -- or will shortly be -- legislated back to work.  There's another good article in 'The Herald' by Ian Lee, of Carleton's Sprott School, pointing out that postal workers get paid 66% more for delivering ever-diminishing mail than workers doing the same work in the private sector.  And they're still not happy!  Were I Trudeau, I would immediately fire Canada Post's CEO, Jessica McDonald, and Minister Patty Haidu (sp?) for allowing this mess to go on for more than a year without resolution.  But, as an avowed "feminist", Trudeau will not do this.  There was absolutely no reason to have to legislate this.  When that happens, it is a failure by management -- regardless of how inept the union is.

We are an absolutely effed up country, sorry to say. 

   



   

Memory Lane

As a member of the "Lindenlea Community Association", I was asked to submit a memory on the neighbourhood's 100th anniversary.  Here is what I wrote:

 

"Where do I start about growing up in Lindenlea in the fifties and sixties?  It was a magical place and I thought everyone had such a neighbourhood.  Turns out, no one did.  Firstly, Lindenlea was bounded by Springfield, Maple Lane, Acacia and Rideau Terrace, so there was no through traffic.  You went around Lindenlea, not through it.  The only cars we ever saw were those of neighbours and friends who lived there.

"Every year there was an elaborate Winter Carnival, where we all dressed up and skated around and around.  A shack was put up every year, with a caretaker in the middle, dividing the boys’ from the girls’ changing rooms.  A big wood stove heated it and waltz music was played on a loudspeaker so we could skate in pairs – if we were lucky enough to have some boy ask us.  One year, Barbara Ann Scott actually came and skated and I was amazed that she could skate around the entire rink, one leg raised, without stopping!  

"There was also a Summer Carnival, sponsored in part by Craig Florists, which occupied the land on Rideau Terrace from Springfield to Ridgeway and all the way down to Putman.  Now it is all houses and condominiums.  We also navigated the mysteries of the Catholic nuns who shepherded the children from the orphanage on Springfield, which is now all housing.  This was a big, mysterious place to us and we were slightly afraid of the uniformed charges who were marched down Springfield and back every day by severe nuns in their black and white habits to the school at the bottom of Springfield at Beechwood.  I remember once packing a bag and trying to move in there when I was angry at my mother.  Didn’t get past Lindenlea and Springfield before going back home!

"There was a Lindenlea Bridge Club, to which our parents and friends belonged.  The couples rotated Saturday night bridge parties in turn and I remember well the clinking of crystal high ball glasses with ice and the wafting of cigarette smoke as we children lay in bed listening to their laughter below.

"My mother and her sisters lived around the corner from each other and as a child, I had dinner wherever I happened to be at six o’clock.  My grandparents lived with one of my aunts, so we were privileged to have them constants in our lives. 

"What was indeed funny was when Robert Campeau applied to tear down the magnificent mansions on Rideau Terrace to build the Champlain Towers.  And they were magnificent, believe me.  We used to play croquette on those lawns with our friends.  Back then, Charlotte Whitton was mayor and she was adamant no building was to be constructed that would have been taller than the Peace Tower.  My mother, aunts and neighbours protested vehemently at city hall and to see pictures of Miss Whiton wagging her finger at the towering Campeau in protest was indeed funny!  Campeau won, the mansions were torn down and the Champlain Towers erected.  And where did my mother and all her fellow widows end up living?  In the Champlain Towers, of course!  In fact, the widows continued their “Dessert Bridge Parties” in turn well after their husbands had died.  These were women who worked hard, volunteered, supported their husbands and children and could make a gourmet dinner out of a potato and an onion; no one had any money after the war when they had moved to Lindenlea.    

"We also had dances every Saturday night in the Community Centre – properly chaperoned, of course.  The boys sat on one side, the girls on the other and you just prayed someone would ask you to dance.  The highlight was if one of the boys walked you home.  All so heady and innocent!  Brownies and Guides were also held there, as were ballet classes every Saturday morning.  Is the ballet bar still there?  We were instructed by David Moroni of the National Ballet who said once, “Girls, walk properly.  When you walk down a street, everyone will know you are a ballet dancer if you know how to walk.”  Still remember and follow that advice.

"Halloween was perfect.  No parents needed because the neighbourhood was so safe.  You went with cousins and friends and came home with your loot.  We all went to Crichton Street Public, even though Rockcliffe Park Public was just up the road.  Back then, Rockcliffe was a village and we were not allowed to go there.  So, we walked to Crichton and back four times a day.  We met all our Rockcliffe friends when we all ended up at Lisgar – one of the most illustrious collegiates in the country.  All my children went to RPPS.  Things had changed for the better. 

"I moved back to Lindenlea, to 43 Rockcliffe Way, when my children were little and they experienced the same magic as I.  Growing up in Lindenlea was a magnificent gift.  I treasure it to this day."

Submitted by Nancy Marley-Clarke (Griffith), 8 Lindenlea Road and 24 Rockcliffe Way

November 20, 2018

Do you really think....

...much will change at St. Michael's School in the wake of the scandal?  Frankly, I don't.  It will just go further underground and get worse -- especially for those who blew the whistle.  It's all a right-of-passage which has gone on forever.  Heck, I remember frosh week at Carleton, during which we were dragged around and made to do very dumb -- but fun -- stuff. 

And you could not say "no"; you just had to go with it.  Now, I admit using weapons to abuse the boys was pretty brutal, but that's just how things escalate.  Think William Golding's classic 1954 'Lord of the Flies'; think Patty Hearst and the "Stockholm Syndrome".  That's how it all works.  That's how cults work -- and many religions too. 

In fact, engineering students at Queen`s are still the worst and nothing changes.  Engineers are engineers.  Get over it because they can't get over themselves.  When daughter was there, the engineering dorm had signs plastered in the windows saying, " 'No' means more beer!"
_____________________________________________

Here's another one I don't get:  `Black Friday`.  Why do we have this in Canada?  Our Thanksgiving was weeks ago, so this is not ours.  But, stupidly, forgetting it was "Black Friday", B and I went to Market Mall yesterday to find it swarming!  I actually had time to drink an entire glass of wine in the time it took poor B to circle and circle the parking lot trying to grab a space!

p.s.  We didn't buy anything.  Here is a sad depiction:

 



        

Thank you Joe Davidson

I remember when Joe Davidson was head of the postal union and you couldn't even understand him because of his severe Scottish accent.  He -- along with the naïve Lester Pearson -- gave postal workers the right to strike.  The disgruntled Davidson brought his British-labour-bad-attitude to Canada and the post office has never been the same. 

What a dumb move. 

After collecting a big salary and pension, Davidson promptly moved back to Scotland and died, leaving the rest of Canada with a whopping mess.  Even turning it into a crown corporation hasn't helped the disaster that is the post office.  Remember his successor Jean-Claude Parrot?  What a sullen soul he was.  Pissed off at everything all the time.  I see now the union has rejected the latest offer, so everything will be effed up for Christmas.

But, in my feeble mind, all labour grievances are the fault of management.  How long has this been going on?  For more than a year.  What have the people who run Canada Post been doing?  I remember when B became DG of training and development at Correctional Services.  The first thing he did was meet with the union and set down some basic ground rules, respect and understanding.  I have to tell you that I know three former vice-presidents of Canada Post and they were all women.  What does that tell you?  And the president now?  Another woman.  Sorry, but there we are.  (But I also know one former MP, who failed to get re-elected and was handed a cushy job high in the ranks there and he was a man; must be a place to dump incompetents because this guy -- we'll call him "DR" -- certainly was.)

There was not one iota of a problem in CSC the whole five years B was there.  If you have a union problem, you have a management problem.  So now I will get neither my Amazon-ordered fireplace garland, nor my bangle for Christmas. 

Oh well, it's not cancer.   

Another botch-up

The arrogance of the governor general seems to know no bounds.  Apparently, she is refusing to move into Rideau Hall.  Really?!  Wow!  She has been living at Rideau Gate while renovations and repairs were made to her official residence, but now has decided not to move into where she belongs. 

I have been to, and worked in, Rideau Hall when I ran the Vincent Massey Awards for Excellence in the Urban Environment back in 1975-76.  I had many meetings there and enjoyed coffee in the kitchen and trust me, it was a very comfortable place.  Apparently, she thinks it's too big.  Well, most of it is not used except for formal occasions; the private living quarters are lovely and cozy.  So, she is hindering the NCC which needs to house foreign dignitaries in Rideau Gate by staying there as a contrarian.  Were I in charge of the NCC, I'd house foreign visitors in Rideau Hall and she could stay outside the gates.  And when she deigns to move in, I'd tell her that she had to wait because the Prime Minister of Japan, or the president of Lower Slobovia was in residence at Rideau Hall.  Time to play a little chess with the imperious Ms. Payette.  p.s.  How can you be "imperious" and a "separatist" at the same time?   

A good friend from Montreal told me a while ago that scratch every French Canadian and you will find a separatist.  "Oh Oui, oui, oui," he said.  "Trust me, we are all separatists."  Frankly, that's what I think Payette's problem is.  She thinks she is making a statement for Quebec and is actually superior to Her Majesty herself!  So, that's why she doesn't want to move into a Vice-Regal residence.  It's not "French" enough -- or at all. 

A very bad choice by "Mr. Feminist".

J-sus! No!

To think that the Silver Cross Mother had to take a back seat to the punk son of the Governor General!  People, get a grip!  It has to be said:  The protocol of the Remembrance Day Ceremony in Ottawa has been officially destroyed. 

Payette has no husband, so show up on your own.  Don't bring your son as your "escort" and for Gawd's sake, don't have him stroll up to lay a wreath!  It was outrageous!  There he was, a nobody, swanning around The Cenotaph with "mummy", his hair hanging about all over, while honoured vets had to walk behind his ass.  Do you think the military would tolerate his hairdo?  That was a rhetorical question.   

OMG, Please!

The other "nobody" was Sophie Trudeau.  What the eff was she doing there?  Last time I checked, she had not been elected prime minister, so why was she there laying a wreath?!?!  She should be with the "grim groper" in France, having café with Macron's wife -- another nobody, but at least she is at her husband's side in the role of "wife".  Would she have been laying a wreath were Macron unable?  Hardly.  The French don't behave that way.  Trudeau's groping incident has obviously turned Gregoire off because she's nowhere to be seen these days. 

"Oh, you must be a grit," said the now-leader of the Senate to me a number of years ago when I met him at a cocktail party.  Shortly after, when the Conservatives won, he and Eric Nielsen were busy drawing up lists of senior public servants to be fired because the Conservatives were in power and paranoid.  At the time Peter Harder insulted me, I was the DG of Public Affairs in Customs and Excise.  I must have been on his list -- as was B -- but we still managed to survive to collect pensions.  A brilliant turncoat, Harder managed to switch allegiances, ending up as DM of Foreign Affairs and now leader of the Liberals in the Senate.

What a death-defying about-face!  From a frothing Conservative to a "loyal" Liberal, Harder was there with his two faces hanging out alongside other "dignitaries" at The Cenotaph.  It's an insult to veterans everywhere.  Here is my hero:

My late Uncle Rollie, Major R.M. Brousseau, a proud WW II vet.

 

Seen one...........

...seen 'em all.  Frankly, any "John Peter" I've ever seen looks like every other:  Ugly and grey.  What could have been so special about Tony Clement's dick that compelled him to send pictures and a video of it to some woman?  I mean, I know the guy's as ugly as sin, so maybe he thought a picture of his nether parts was a better bet than his wall-eyed face?  But as I always say, if you are going to have an affair, have it with someone who has as much to lose as you.  This woman must be unmarried and without children because anyone with a husband and kids would not want this out, about and frolicking in the public thoroughfare.

What an idiot.  So, that's him done. Caput. Finito.  Forever.

What is superlatively stupid is that it took Andrew Scheer so long to blast the guy.  When it appeared it had been an isolated incident, Scheer was actually going to support him.  Really?!  "Well, he only sent a picture and video of his dick to one woman, so we can just let it go," Scheer must have thought.  Then, when it became clear Clement had been a serial dickster, he decided to kick him out of caucus -- all the while "wishing him well on his journey of healing."  What a joke!  Scheer should have come down hard (pardon the reference) on Clement and kicked him to the curb immediately. 

And as for the grim groper himself, Trudeau, what does he have to say?  I guess not much, his own hands having wandered all over some young woman a few years ago.
____________________________

But what I really want to rave about is money.  More for the natives.  Tom Flanagan, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Calgary, wrote a piece in The Calgary Herald that made me seethe.  Here we go:

• $16.5 billion over seven years for the splitting of Indian and Northern Affairs into two departments;
• $71 million to fund programs available to new status Indians;
• $1 billion is Metis claims;
• $250 million a year for 10 years to fund new claims;
• $6 billion to settle historic claims;
• $750 million for "sixties scoop" claims; and
• $1.1 billion for Indians who contracted tuberculosis

That's not an exhaustive list and it's over and above what they routinely get every year, i.e., $17 billion.  It's an outrage and a disgrace. 
  

Puppy dogs and fairy dust

Don't know why I am on facebook, other than to keep in touch with immediate family.  I mean, you'd think the fact that after having been acquitted of blasphemy by a lawful court in Pakistan, a Christian woman would be free to go on with her life.  And you'd also think that someone would have something to say about this horror on facebook. 

But no.  Huge crowds in Pakistan are calling for her to be hanged anyway, yet no one says a peep on facebook.  It's all puppy dogs, fairy dust and silliness. 

As usual, I am out-of-step.   

No fun anymore

If he wasn't leaping out of bedroom windows because someone's husband had come home, he was hitchhiking to tournaments all over North America, or nursing a hangover through the first set of a championship match. 

I am talking about the greatest amateur tennis star of the sixties -- and maybe all time -- Whitney Reed.  Throughout his career, he beat the best of them, but had a ton of fun doing it.  So did Emerson and Laver, who co-wrote a wonderful book entitled, "Tennis for the Bloody Fun of It".

Sadly, those days are long gone.  No one's having any. 

Take the eternally-injured and always-boring Milos Raonic.  Having withdrawn from the Monte Carlo Masters in April and missing the clay-court season and French Open, Raonic pulled out of the Paris Masters with yet another right elbow injury.  Gee, wonder if it had anything to do with the fact that his next opponent was to have been Federer?  The guy is an embarrassment, always needing court-side treatment on his back and every other body part during matches.  Why this is allowed is a mystery?  Why are tennis players permitted to stop dead in the middle of matches to call for a masseur?  If you're losing because your back hurts, you lose. 

Whitney Reed would never have done that. 

But worse is Denis Shapovalov's ditching Paris because he was "exhausted".  What??!!  You're 19 years old, for Gawd's sake.  How can you be "exhausted"?  Another Canadian bites the dust to national shame.

But one of the all-time toppers is the chronically-broken Raphael Nadal.  Returning from a right-knee injury, which saw him retire from the US Open, Nadal also bailed on Paris.  "Maybe I can play today, but if I try to win, my abdomen will be injured for sure," he said.  "It would not be fair to say it is a real injury, but if I play it will be," he continued.  In other words, I am not injured, but I might be injured, so I won't play. 

How's that for logic!  Hey, I haven't been hit by a car yet, but if I go out today I might be, so I'll just stay home.  That's what the guy is actually saying.

Waaaaay too much money and over-training has ruined the game.  Whitney, where are you when we need you?  

Why do I watch?

"Long lost family" is a show I should not watch.  It's about adoptees and biological mothers finding each other, something I was not able to do.  It usually involves unwed mothers reuniting with their children, after the latter have been adopted and raised by others.

That was my life, except without the reunion part.

I had a fabulous upbringing by wonderful parents and a large, extended family, but always in the back of my mind was my birth mother.  When I looked at my mother and her sisters and brother, I did not resemble them at all and I wondered where I had come from?  When pregnant with my first child, I started a search.  Long before google and the internet, my search involved hours at libraries going through city directories.

When I was adopted, there was no such thing as an "open" adoption.  Your original birth certificate was destroyed and a new one substituted.  In fact, the original "you" ceased to exist and the only reason I was able to find a name for my birth mother was because the adoption had been handled by a lawyer, not the province.  Forging a letter from my father giving permission, the lawyer released the adoption papers.  But all that was on them was her name -- no address, nothing. 

Thus began a years'-long search of all the "Latimer's" in the Ottawa Valley.  Calling each one, I told a lie and each time the response was "no relation".  Finally, one last call to Kemptville, Ontario, yielded results.  "Oh yes, Shirley was my niece, but she died a year ago," said my great aunt.  I was crushed.  All that searching and nothing.

The long and the short of it is that I did connect with her family, but not my mother.  We are no longer in touch, because these people aren't really my relatives, but it was good to finally know from whence I came and what my people were like.  Nevertheless, when mother and child finally meet on "long lost family", I always break down.

That is why I should not watch.    

There's a clear answer to that one

Air Canada considers itself French, not Canadian.  That's why it only serves French wine on its flights.  Afterall, the president is an Eastern European and some sort of kickback (sorry "financial incentive") must be in the mix somewhere.  What a deliberate slap-in-the-face to all the wonderful Canadian vintners.  Some mystified guy wrote a letter to The Globe and Mail the other day, asking the same question I asked a flight attendant a while back.  "Why don't you serve Canadian wine?"

She had no answer, but I do (see above).  It's outrageous and unacceptable. 

In other news, cows are now going to help me with my aches and pains because I am on hydrolyzed collagen, which is made from cow by-products.  I am also starting regular protein shakes and I recommend them to all my friends of a certain age.  I bought the chocolate and it's delicious.  We'll see how everything improves and if I will start to look 21 again.

In still other news, apparently the Quebec Superior Court is also ignorant of the principle of the separation of church and state because it just ruled that banning the hijab and niqab for women dispensing public services was unconstitutional.  Really?  How can they not know this is how it's supposed to operate?  The public should not know the religion of anyone serving them via taxpayer dollars.  Why did everyone apparently miss this concept in grade nine civics?  If you invoke this basic democratic principle, the entire argument goes away immediately.

Aside: I just heard one of the World Series play-by-play guys say, "They had began so good."  Now that's one for the books!  And this guy gets paid how much?!

Canadians are a severely ill-educated lot.  And that includes all politicians because I have yet to hear one utter this fact.  It would be so much easier if we all understood this.  Sad.  

Here we go again

I know I am always "off side" on this file, but I read in amazement about the $121 million handed the Lubicon Lake Reserve because this band refused to sign Treaty 8 way back in 1899.  Hello, you did it to yourselves!  By not signing, your band of 680 didn't get aboard the federal gravy train and all the while, you have been asking for too much money, which is why it took generations to settle. 

Oh, and by the way, as an "insignificant" aside, they're also getting millions more for schools, a new hospital, a new recreation centre.......and on.......and on.  We've all seen what new facilities do to improve life on remote reserves.  Nothing.

With this money, each band member will be cut a cheque for $177,941.  Wonder how they'll spend it?  Wonder how their lives will be improved.  Don't answer, rhetorical questions.  The only answer is to get off the reserve and into mainstream society.  But they won't. 

Stupid hair

Here are two examples of the wrong hair for an old woman and my fav, Chrystia Freeland. 

This is the Alberta Queen's Bench Chief Justice.  Is she kidding!?  What a disaster!

So unprofessional and unkempt.



It is to weep

Had to turn off the CBC a few minutes ago.  There was the smug Chrystia Freeland blabbing on about how great she was and how great the new free trade deal was.  What else is she going to say?  As I have said, we wrote it thirty years ago and she merely tweaked it -- making a huge and unnecessary fuss about it all while she arrogantly smugged her way through the process.  As to the press conference, she didn't answer a single question.  Just repeated her mantra.   

I can't stand the sight of her, for some reason.  All that hair-flipping and tick-sniffing is abhorrent.  She has no true conceit of herself and that is what is offensive.  So, we have the narcissistic twins -- Trudeau and Freeland -- running the country. 

Into the ground.

Thirty-six thousand illegal migrants have crossed into Canada from the US in the past year and, judging from the throngs emptying out of Central and South America, thousands more will simply stroll in very shortly.  Thank G-d for Trump, is all I can say.  Hopefully, he will get very tough and build refugee camps for them before they disappear.  People laughed when he said the US needed a wall.  Not laughing anymore.

By the way, whatever happened to refugee camps?  Oh yea, they morphed into hotels and motels. 

   

Another

One of my old boyfriends has died.  Kind of shocking when you read the obituary of someone you dated.  This guy was gorgeous and charming and we had so much fun the summer we spent at his family cottage near Kazabazua.  Everyone presumed we were intimate, but we weren't because he was....ahem...unable.  But I didn't care because everything else was perfect.  I was working and living in Toronto at the time, so he used to fly me to Ottawa every weekend.  Came across a photo of me on his deck in a late sixties, yellow, terrycloth, shorts, jump suit with a hideous zipper up the front and a cigarette in my hand.

Yes, I smoked way back then.  Hard to even remember. 

In his obit, I learned that he had married and I remember being told by a mutual friend that his new wife was a massage therapist.  Well, that may have helped his "ahem" problem and good for both of them. 

Dated one other guy who was "ahem" and kept dating him because again, he was so much fun and so charming.  Who gives a sh-t about "ahem"?!

I think yesterday was the first anniversary of the "#metoo" bullsh-t and I have to say that men are also subjected to that.  In fact, my husband was sexually harassed by five of his superiors that I know of.  Extremely good-looking and charming, he turned them down and his career suffered for it.  Women are not nice.  But when I met B, he was a perfect gentleman -- something which impressed me no end because I was used to being sexually-harassed myself in the workplace.  So don't think it's only women.     

One good, one bad

Today a couple of things happened:  Paul Bernardo was denied parole (good) and pot was legalized (bad). 

Ten minutes ago, Bernardo, the sexual sadist and murderer who maniacally took the life of two beautiful young women 25 years ago, was found with a shiv in his possession while incarcerated.  OMG!  Obviously, he should stay where he is.  He actually said in his parole hearing that he did it because he had low self esteem and had trouble with relationships!  OMG!  OK, so let's just kidnap, torture, rape and kill young women instead of getting help yourself.  The worst of it is that his partner in crime, Karla Homolka, has been out raising children of her own for years!  (I apologize for all the exclamation points, but nothing else seems adequate.)  

As to pot, I am not in favour.  I have known too many teenagers who got into big trouble with pot and lost complete control of their lives -- often ending up on the streets and into harder drugs.  To be clear, all the experts say it is very damaging to developing brains and causes life-long problems and I can tell you, from what I know, that's true.  Whatever happened to sneaking off in your parents' car with a cheap bottle of wine or a case of beer before you were of age?  That now seems so innocent and so long ago. 

The other problem is that tests on newborns in places where pot is legal show that half of them are born with grotesque levels of THC in their wee systems.  That's a crime.  All so sad, but we'll see more of that.  Their brains are being exposed to the drug while they are developing in utero -- just as my stepdaughter's two were while she smoked during her pregnancies -- and it will be no surprise when they take up smoking or toking when they get older because their neurons are hard-wired to it. 

Now, the nonsensical Trudeau is putting through pardons or expungements of those convicted of possession.  Why?  When they smoked it it was illegal and against the law, so why should they be pardoned now that it's legal?  It wasn't when they did it and they knew it.

Anyway, at least Bernardo won't be out wandering the streets. 

His priority is clear

One look at our mayor, Naheed Nenshi, and it`s obvious his priority is eating.  Every year he gets bigger which means he must be spending more time scarfing junk food than running this city.  Too long in office, he has completely lost sight of the task at hand, i.e., running this city efficiently and within a reasonable budget.

Now to add insult to injury he is determined to host another winter Olympics to the tune of billions.  And we only know this because a couple of responsible folks at city hall leaked the true budget -- not the phony figures Nenshi put out.  We're up to several billion and guess who will be paying for it?  (No need to answer that rhetorical question.)

When first elected, Nenshi was a sensible advocate for the citizens of Calgary; now he believes his own press and has become a megalomaniac.  All he wants is to bask in the ceremonies and leave a legacy.  Sadly, the legacy will be a severe blow in the wallets of everyone else. 

Also sadly, he will probably get re-elected.  Again.  Because he is ethnic and all the ethnics vote for him en bloc, regardless of whether they are of his ethnicity or another.  We're effed.   



 

The math

Wish I hadn't done it.  Got out the calculator and figured out I've been ripped off to the tune of $209,664 by B's and my ex.  My ex was supposed to have paid $450 a month until the kids were 18.  That was $89,000 I didn't get.  At four percent one-time interest, that would have been $92,664.

So, that was one of the rip offs.

Then, we had to pay his ex $1,000 a month, half of which was out of my pocket, so with legal fees, that worked out to $72,000.  Then we squandered $55,000 for B and sometimes me to travel down to Houston for years and the total out of my purse is $219,664.  Double that and B and I have thrown $439,328 down the toilet.

What a dope I have been!  Little did I know, when I walked into his office in 1980 and met him for the first time, I would be ripped off to this degree.  His daughter, Sarah, is the worst offender, having stolen $10 K we sent to her for her children's education.  Unforgiveable. 

So, we have written a couple of kids out of our wills to save our own financial asses.  All I can say is, marry the right person or you're effed.  Has no one any shame to have picked our pockets threadbare?!    

Here we go again

So, it's back to the drawing board for consultations with the natives on pipelines.  When will it ever end?!  Listening to Perry Bellegarde on 'Power Play' this afternoon I almost screamed.  He actually thinks natives have a veto on pipelines.

They don't.  But never mind, Perry, don't bother reading the Constitution Act of 1982 (which my husband helped write), where you might learn something, just barrel ahead with more bullsh-t.  The guy is delusional!  This new round of talks will add years to getting anything done.  As I have said, I don't care how much you "consult" with natives, it will never be enough.  What do they want?  More.  When do they want it?  Forever.

He went on about how the natives want in on the progress -- read "money" -- to be made with pipelines, but first we have to talk ourselves to death before anyone digs anything.  Notley needs to call on the "notwithstanding clause" to override more consultations, but she won't.  She's out the door with a swift kick soon anyway, but the new premier of Quebec is brilliantly going to invoke the clause to make it illegal for public-sector workers to wear religious symbols when they are dealing with the public.  This is what "Church and State" is all about; I don't want to know your religion when I access public services.  Why no one points this out is beyond me? 

I'm so sick of it.  Nero fiddles while Rome burns.

Bite me Chrystia Freeland

Thirty years ago, I was part of the original Free Trade Agreement task force that wrote the thing in the first place.  All Freeland had to do was tweak it and she took waaaaaaay too long to do so. 

Back then, it was all business, no showmanship.  I was with Customs and Excise and we had work to do.  We did it and not much has changed with this new agreement.  We didn't want the elephant to roll over on us, so we cooperated and got the deal signed.  I am very proud of my role in that exercise.  I had to work day and night over Christmas and New Year's in 1988 to meet the January 1st, 1989, deadline. 

We did it.  Here are a couple of kudos:

 



Dumb

Driving around, I cannot figure out why people buy luxury cars that don't look like luxury cars?  Remember when a Cadillac looked like a Cadillac?  When a Volvo looked like a Volvo, when a BMW looked like a BMW, when a Porsche looked like a Porsche? 

Now everything looks like a Ford Explorer.

Took a few pictures of these expensive cross-overs in your average parking lot today and I have no idea why people spend $10 to $20K more for a Ford Explorer "look-alike"?!  Just dumb.  Here they are in all their inglorious non-splendor:

 

A BMW (Ford)

A Porsche (Ford)

A Volvo (Ford)

A Cadillac (Ford)

The real deal:  A Ford Explorer

At least this still looks like a Mustang -- albeit not a GT, as we had. 
 





Guilty, regardless

That's the deal now.  Men are automatically guilty of sexual assault -- regardless of anything anyone says, proves or disproves.  Every airwave is full of the testimony of women who are siding knives out, full bore with Ford in the Kavanaugh hearing.  Never mind that they know nothing about what might, or might not, have happened, they're hammering the guy relentlessly.

It's obscene.  The worst part is how Ford cried her way through her testimony.  This happened 36 years ago and she is still crying about it in the public thoroughfare.  This is some kind of PhD professor and she's crying!  Remind me never to take any of her classes.  Justice isn't blind, she's got her eyes wide open and the verdict pronounced for all the world to see.

Contrast Ford's "performance" to that of the dignified Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings.  Hill was calm, measured, cool, collected and credible.  She is a credit to her gender, but Ford is an embarrassment.  The piling on is appalling and sets women's credibility back 50 years.  Grow up.  If you go to a drunken frat party, expect whatever comes along.  Frankly, with that long, dyed-blonde, young-woman hair, she seems to be still back there.

Regardless, Kavanaugh is done unless Trump digs in and threatens every senator and congressman with his wrath if he loses.    

Moral courage

Know anyone who has it?  B and I were talking about it today and I came up with very few.  Many are dead, but include B's grandfather, his mother, both my adoptive and birth mothers (the latter who had the guts to carry and put me up for adoption), my father, John Booth, Michael Kirby, Jacqui Sadler and John Vought. I know that sounds ridiculous, because these people are both living and dead and don't even know each other, but they stuck to their principles in the face of resistance.  Canvas your own circles and see what you find. 

On another note, the latest nonsense is the decision by that ridiculous Freeland to create the position of an ambassador dedicated to "women, peace and security".  What??!!  Why??!!  Trudeau made an embarrassing speech at the UN the other day lauding women and vowing to protect their security.  Great, but how are you going to prevent men in cultures that supress and violate women from abusing them?  You're not and neither will this ambassadorial position.  So ludicrous.

Canada already has devoted $450 million and a staff of 63 to a "peace and stabilization program" in departments and agencies across government.  What have they accomplished?  Nothing.  Why do we need another useless department dedicated to what can't be done?   

Both Andrew Coyne and John Ivison take it on in today's 'National Post' when they write about the disastrous appointment of Julie Payette as GG.  Speculation is the government is set to dump the vacuous Payette into that job and appoint a new GG.  Won't be happening if Payette has anything to say about it.  She may not like being GG and carrying out boring duties such as upholding Canada's constitution, signing stuff and pulling in $300 K a year, but if pushed, a contrarian such as she will dig in and stay.  So, that's a non-starter.  The betting is on the appointment of a native woman -- which is what I had predicted before Payette was named.  I got the gender right, but not the native part.  Now that can be glossed over if a native were to be named to this post.  But, as I said, she won't budge.

Coyne talks about "gravitas" being an essential part of a GG appointment.  The only holders of the office who had it were Vincent Massey, Georges Vanier and David Johnston.  Every other appointment consisted of light-weights -- mostly journalists.  Think of Jeanne Sauve, Adrian Clarkson, Michaelle Jean and Ed Schryer.  Any "gravitas" there?  No.  None.

In appointing Payette, Trudeau did not consult the panel of vice-regal experts, whose role it was to vet candidates, so Trudeau and his cronies could fast-track a female who ticked all his boxes.  Ivison says the whole deal with this new position is to create a superfluous job to provide a soft landing for Payette and cover for a blunder of Trudeau's own making. 



   

What a joke

So, parts of the Ottawa area were flattened by a rare tornado that hit over the weekend and where was Trudeau?  In New York making speeches at the UN about gender politics, lobbying to get a seat on the Security Council.  Why?  Why does Canada need a seat on the Security Council?  Just so Trudeau can say he got one and Harper failed?

I have no clue.  The UN is a castrated organization no one takes seriously, so what's the point?  Anyway, I guess it's more fun being in New York than Dunrobin.  Here's a picture of that devastated community:



It's hard to believe that little old Dunrobin has been taken off the face of the earth.  I can't even imagine losing my house like this!?  My heart goes out to those who have lost everything and I give kudos to the emergency responders who have stepped up so tirelessly. 

________________________________________
p.s.  Had a mammography last week and got my results today:  normal.  Very grateful.     

I told you so

The media is full of what a disaster our current GG, Julie Payette, is.  Installed a year ago, she remains seemingly unaware of what a governor general in a parliamentary democracy is supposed to do.  I wrote "Give her a copy of the constitution" on 07/11/17, pointing out that she thinks she has opinions to impart on government bills and won't sign them.   

No, she doesn't have opinions, but apparently she refuses to give Royal Assent to things with which she doesn't agree.  Really!?  Seasoned Rideau Hall officials and constitutional staff have tried and tried and tried to educate her, but have failed.  She actually has the gall to complain that her duties are interfering with her personal time!  OMG!  Guess that means she doesn't work nights or weekends, when most official stuff is carried out.  And by the way, she gets paid $300 K to do what she's told.  And as to being a "single mother", you can bet that kid's father is paying lots of child support.    

I also wrote "Is it just me?" on 02/10/2017 about her ignorance of her role and the inappropriateness of her dress and ridiculous hair.  When you're the governor general, this stuff is all very important.  People are counting on you to show up and look like "the governor general" -- not some ex-astronaut.  Years ago, when I was with Customs and Excise and Elmer MacKay was the minister, I went to a briefing to make a presentation on something or other (see how unimportant it all is in the end, can't even remember what it was about?) and Elmer said, "Nancy, as Woody Allen said, ninety percent of life is showing up and here I am, so what do you have for me?" 

He was right.  The fault, of course, lies with Trudeau and the PMO, who obviously failed to vet her sufficiently to have seen her personality just didn't fit the role.  She reminds me of Freeland, who thinks everything she says and does is perfect because it's she.  I'll bet Payette was chosen as the token female astronaut, but hasn't figured that out yet and thinks it was because of her brilliance.

Wrong.  Afterall, they train monkeys and dogs to go up in space, so how hard can it be?!

Trudeau needs to call her into the office and give her a spanking, but oh yeah, I forgot, he doesn't have a clue about the constitution either!  Someone should give me a call because I am married to one of the guys who wrote it.        

Let's all calm down

#Metoo has gone too far.  Now, if a guy got a little sexually eager with a girl 36 years ago, as teenaged boys tend to do when they're in the throes of emerging manhood, he's dumped in the dirt with Harvey Weinstein and the Boston Strangler.  Come on, people.  But yes, this apparently is the case with Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, who is currently being vilified by a girl he met at a party in high school he may -- or may not (she can't really remember because she was also drunk) -- have sexually assaulted. 

Brett Kavanaugh has a law degree from Yale, clerked for three judges and has had a distinguished career in public service; his work ethic is prodigious.  Not that any of that would matter, if he had been a rapist, but does one juvenile act define a man for life?  These days, I guess so. 

Compare this to the treatment accorded Omar Khadr, writes Christie Blatchford in today's 'National Post'.  This guy pleaded guilty to killing a US special forces soldier and partially blinding another by throwing a grenade during a firefight in Afghanistan.  He only got eight years and to top it all off, Trudeau handed him a $10.5 million cheque to compensate him for....something or other.  It was ludicrous.

And then there's the ruined Jian Ghomeshi.  Acquitted of all the charges against him, he is nevertheless done for life.  Done.  Yes, he was in a position of power and used it to date and have sex with women.  What man in power doesn't?  But the women were willing and none objected.  Where's the assault in that?  I can't find it?! 

I was a speech writer for ministers in Trudeau senior's cabinet and I can't count the number of times most came on to me (I was young and gorgeous at the time).  It didn't bother me in the least.  In fact, I was flattered.  I could hold my own in such situations because everyone was good-natured about it.  It was harmless.  Women either said "yes" or "no" and no one pressed it, but you had to be aware that if you said "no", you might not have been given that particular assignment, depending on the personality and ego of the minister.  One thing that amazed me was that even when pregnant and "out to here", I was still propositioned.  Weird.  But should I go back and start "#Metoo-ing" everyone?  Please.   

Ghomeshi recently wrote an essay for the 'The New York Review of Books' and people attacked him in the ether without mercy for telling his side and actually apologizing for the assumptions he made with the women he dated.

It's all ridiculous and I'm sick of it.  And, by the way, Q has never been the same without him.