Why?!

So, we're giving natives almost a billion more to "fight" COVID.  Why, oh why, do we keep giving them more and more and more money?!  As I have blogged and blogged, in addition to the billions they are given each year, they have a quiet little trust fund of $2 trillion stashed away, which earns $35 billion a year in interest!!@@!!!!  (See, "You knew this was coming," 2020/04/06)

That's right, I said $2 trillion!!$%@@#$!!!!!

But here's the latest:

So, folks, that's another BILLION!!%#$^^&$#!!  Why does no one notice this outrage?!?!

A doctor's perspective

I swim with a couple of doctors and have kept in touch with one throughout this mess.  The other day,  I asked her what she thought of what was going on.  Here is an excerpt from what she said:

"We will give away our rights to assembly, to worship, to not wear those ridiculous masks and we will wind up in a nasty situation where everyone will be spying on their neighbour and reporting them to the Covid Police.  Do NOT get a covid vaccine, even if someone puts a gun to your head, Nancy.

"They are rushing this thing to market.  Huge money is involved.  We have no idea what the long-term consequences will be.  Now we have this multi-organ immune reaction syndrome surfacing in children who get covid.  There is no guarantee that the same thing won’t be triggered by the vaccine as well.  Case in point: Guillaine-Barre Syndrome.  It happens in people who get the flu and it is also caused by the flu vaccine, although to a lesser extent.  It’s rare but catastrophic, regardless of what induces it.  One of my patients wound up in a wheelchair for the rest of her life after her flu shot.  There is evidence that the spike protein genes that appear to have been grafted into the genome of covid-19 can cross react with multiple human proteins involved in celiac disease, MS, thyroid disease, joint inflammation just to name a few.  If some of that genetic material is part of the vaccine then we will be opening the door to all kinds of autoimmunity problems.

"We have also been mistreating covid patients by shoving them on ventilators.  Ventilation makes people worse, not better.  A covid infection is not the same as a viral pneumonia and needs to be treated with therapies to control the immune response."

So, dear reader, that's scary.

How can people get these wrong?!

All the time!?!?

There, their, they're

Until:  The short form is not "till", that's where the money is kept.  The abbreviation is " 'til"

Your, you're

Its, it's

Were, we're

If anyone has any others, please let me know.  It's all so basic.

How far have we come?

Not a millimetre.  That's the obvious answer when you look at the daily "Sunshine Girl" picture in any 'Sun' across the country.  Absolutely nothing has changed.  To get these models, the photographer must have to stalk the streets of the cities in which 'The Sun' appears, pick up "chicks" that look like this and offer them money to pose.  A couple of years younger and these girls would be illegal.

Does anyone want his/her daughter's T-ts and A-s to be splashed all over the country via a huge, full-colour photo that will be leered at by thousands of strange men?  The fact that parents and the young girls themselves are willing and eager to participate in these displays is, frankly, disgusting.  Such parents must be bringing up their daughters to admire and aspire to the role of sex symbol, instead of doctor, lawyer or professional.

Well-reared women with self esteem don't do this.  What is the objective?  Money is the obvious answer, but sadly the men who buy 'The Sun', read the sports section and oogle the girls must also have been brought up to think this type of woman is the ideal.  I guess they don't want to be caught reading 'Playboy' in the local cafe, but 'The Sun' is fine.

With a daughter, a stepdaughter and two granddaughters, I would never, ever have let mine do this -- but nor would it ever have occurred to them to even consider it.  My husband, son and stepson would have agreed.

What does it tell you about Canadian values and educational levels that 'The Globe and Mail' no longer has distribution anywhere in the Maritimes, but you can bet 'The Sun' is everywhere.

But we must not forget the role of the female sports editors who seem to be willing accomplices.  A few years ago, there was a triathlon in Ottawa, which my daughter happened to have won.  Coverage, however, was only of the men.  Checking to see who the sports editor was, I learned it was a woman.  When I called to speak to her and ask why the female winners had absolutely no coverage, I was told by the male who answered that the sports editor had been having her hair done and hadn't covered the event.  I KID YOU NOT!!!!!

As I always say, women are their own worst enemy.

Your average Calgary Sun Sunshine Girl in 2020.  Basically, she is saying, "Come get me, big boy."  Sad.

Today's truths

We are living in a police state, make no mistake....................

Canadians have given the natives trillions of dollars in 153 years.  Still not enough for them to manage their own affairs.  It's unconscionable.

Complete incompetence

To think that Canadians had to rely on CTV to learn about the tragic loss of Snowbird Captain Jenn Casey in a horrific accident is beyond comprehension?!  Just as with the shootings in Nova Scotia by a deranged lunatic, we did not hear a peep from the head of the RCMP, Brenda Lucki.  No, we learned all about that mess from bystanders and the media who were left to piece together what had gone on.  Then, Lucki -- still hiding in her basement -- shoved out some lower-ranking, local RCMP schlep to fumble around on TV while the RCMP was still "drafting" a statement.  48 HOURS AFTER THE WHOLE THING HAD TAKEN PLACE!!!!!

This is exactly what happened yesterday with the Snowbird mess.  Neighbours, bystanders and the local fire chief had to explain what had gone on.  Lucki's minions...."weren't able to confirm what had happened and whether anyone had died."  All this while one captain had landed on someone's roof and poor Captain Casey lay dead in someone's yard.  With the wreckage of the plane strewn around a Kamploops' neighbourhood, it was left to the media to tell Canadians what had happened -- not the RCMP and not the Forces.

Trudeau said his "thoughts were with the family" and Sajan said he "was thinking of the loved ones".  Neither had the nuts nor inclination to stand in front of a camera and take control.  To think that the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defense were nowhere to be seen means that Canada is no longer a country.

All I can say is, WTF??!!?!!  Like Tam, Lucki needs to be fired.  In his "feminist" zeal, Trudeau has forgotten that competence still counts.  It must remain paramount.  It must take precedence over gender.

From the horse's mouth

This was written by Native Wun Feather.  Have a read:

"This post is gonna hurt some feelings.
I am good with that.
I am totally tired of people who say stupid things like "Give us back our land".
Like seriously.
I like to look them in the eyes and say:
"Ok. If you had your land back, what would you do with it?"
I will wait for the answer.
Have you ever taken the time to use google maps and look at the huge tracts of Federal land that are not being used for any purpose at all?
No one is trapping any beavers on the land.
No one is hunting wolves or coyotes, or any other fur bearing animal on that land.
Very rarely do you ever see anyone hunting anymore.
If we compare that land to the land owned by the Hutterite Colonies, you would shit yourself if you saw what they are doing on their land.
They have hay and oats and barley and grain, and they run large herds of livestock and flocks of domestic geese and chickens.
Well, ever since I was 18, I have owned my own home.
Seriously!
I bought my first mobile home in Fraser Lake BC and darn it all, it was mine.
Nobody gave it to me.
I never held my hand out for it like a pet monkey in a zoo.
I earned it.
And I have never, ever, EVER been without at least one house on land ever since that day.
I guess you could say that I am the kind of Indian who just goes to work every day, and buys my own piece of land with the money I earn at my job.
I have every single right that anyone else in Canada has.
Oh.
But because I am a status Indian, (I am non Treaty.) That means even though I am Status, I am not bound by any treaty agreements or obligations.
I have WAY more rights than most Canadians.
Firstly, I have the right to be free.
I have the right to become educated if I want to.
I have the right to freedom of speech, and I have the right to every single privilege that any other Canadian has.
But that is not where it ends!
I can hunt and fish and trap and do significantly more than all my non Indigenous friends do.
No one has ever stopped me from trapping animals for subsistence on crown land.
No one has ever stopped me from hunting for subsistence on crown land.
No one has ever stopped me from gathering medicines, plants, fungi, berries or roots for traditional or ceremonial purposes.
So if I can do all those things like my ancestors did before me, why would I want to have that land back??
Isn't it actually already mine to use anyway??
Only, unlike the land that I have bought for myself over the years, I do not have the burden of paying property taxes on the land where I harvest my moose."
_________________________________________

Well said.

This'll be a real mess

So, the brilliant Carolyn Bennett, minister of "something Indian", has put her empty head together with the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs and come up with a deal to transfer power to the latter, thus disenfranchising elected leaders and every band member who voted for them.

What a stupid idea.  Of course, Bennett, who has gone native herself and now sports beads and fringes and other Indian accoutrements, has obviously forgotten the basic principles of democracy -- the same principles by which she was elected, instead of someone who lived down the street in her riding, but whose relatives had put down stakes in the neighbourhood before Bennett's.

The memorandum of understanding covering this mess contains a requirement for a six-month "reunification strategy" in a lame attempt to unite band members behind the hereditary leadership.  It will never work.  Never.  And why should it?  How can a bunch of members come out of the woodwork and confront elected leaders in a show of power?  And how can the government side with the un-elected chiefs?  Furthermore, isn't it odd that when band leadership wants to confront one another, one side suddenly sidles up to a government they have always opposed?

This is all about the old chiefs opposition to the Costal GasLink pipeline.  Remember the rail blockades across the country that cost us billions?  Yeah, the same bunch.  "Reunification will be tough," said elected chief Maureen Luggi.  How about impossible.  "The MOU consultation process has lacked any semblance of credibility," the elected chiefs said.  "The federal government, the provincial government and the hereditary chiefs have completely ignored many clan members and elected chiefs.  These discussions have not included openness and respect for all parties."

Even Bob Rae has a problem with transferring power willy-nilly to the hereditary chiefs.  "What concerns me is there are many others who will look to this MOU and use it as precedent.  Why are they negotiating this agreement and not band councils?"  For once, the ever-accomodating leftie Rae has it right.

The hereditary chiefs say they "are aware of concerns raised by the elected chiefs and will be reaching out to them to discuss them."  I'd say they'll be facing more than concerns.  This is not over by a long shot and Canada's energy sector will bear the brunt of the mess.  Here the victorious strut:

   

Go away. Please!

After 40 years, B's ex is still meddling.  She's at it again.  Yesterday, he talked to their daughter and she actually said, "Mum asked me to let you know that C is suffering with cancer."  WTF!?  C is someone B was engaged to 50 years ago and hasn't spoken to since!  (There aren't enough exclamation marks on the keyboard to express how ridiculous this is.)

A few years ago, she actually called the house from some bar she was in with a couple of their "old, dear friends" and asked him to please come and join them!!!!!  Evidently, a tad over-refreshed.  They were married a total of nine years and 40 years after we got married, she's still bugging the sh-t out of us.

Then there was the Christmas where the daughter and son were over for dinner, but first we had to have a ceremony.  "Mum is giving you this book written by our dear friend blah-blah and she had it signed to you by him."  We all had to actually sit there while this bizarre voodoo ritual from the crypt took place!!!!  I have to say, their son was embarrassed -- to his credit.

And let's not forget that other memorable Christmas where yet another book presentation elaborately and relgiously unfolded.  This one from another "dear friend" from the forgotten cobwebbed reaches of the attic.  For this biggie, "Mum sent the book to England so blah-blah could sign it for you."  Wow!  That's fabulous!  Let's horn in on everything we can on the tails of the kids.  Why not!

Other times she has crashed Midnight Mass and sat with us, non-Catholic, non-anything that she is.  At funerals in Ottawa, she'd also show up and try to sit with us, until I put a stop to it.  "Mum said Nancy wouldn't let her sit with you," lamented daughter to B.  Well, boo-hoo.

I mean, seriously and seriously again!  B's ex lives in a sad world inside her own unbalanced head.  I picture her sitting like Miss Havisham in Dickens' 'Great Expectations', covered in dust and rotting wedding cake, still waiting for her betrothed to come through the door.  In past years, when trotting out the tired Christmas tinsel, she'd wander down memory lane...."Remember when we used to decorate this tree as a family...."  Cue the tears and sighs, as everyone looked downcast and sad.  Gawd!  Eventually, Ms. Havisham at least had the grace to die in a fire.  Enough said.

She also actually told B that another set of "old, dear friends" was getting back together and that  "everyone was just so thrilled!"  I should add that all these so-called "old friends" are the same people who dropped B like a hot potato when that sad marriage broke up and haven't spoken to him since.  Some ex-wives seem to live in a bizarre parallel universe.  When we got an annulment via Canon Law, she got a terse letter from the Archdiocese explaining that B had been granted an "Act of Freedom" by the Catholic Church so we could re-marry in a Catholic ceremony.  B's daughter said, "Mum didn't like that letter."  Oh, sorry, forgot.  She is apparently also in charge of all matters canonical. 

Let's remember that this is the same woman who told B to get out because she didn't want to be married to him anymore.  "I don't want to be Mrs. Marley-Clarke any longer," said the same woman who insisted on keeping his name all these years...."for the children's sake". But never mind, let's blame B -- and of course me -- for everything.  "You ruined my life," she once said to me.  "Really?  Don't know how I could have.  I didn't rear you and I don't even know you, so how I could have ruined your life would be quite the accomplishment," I replied.

When forced to leave, B moved into a dingy room at the Y and had to share a bathroom down the hall with all the other residents on that floor.  The ex, on the other hand, took it as a given she would just remain in the lap of luxury in the mansion in Rockcliffe.  His lawyer saw to it that that didn't happen, but stupidly, when the house was selling, she haughtily refused a couple of "ludicrous" offers forcing them in the end to forfeit $25,000 less than the original offer had been.  Brilliant negotiating skills there ex!

Car-less, B was finally able to rent a tiny, one-bedroom apartment and scrape together enough money to buy a used VW Beetle.  I was still living on my own with my "wife" (a live-in nanny), but funnily enough we made do, coped and even managed and go to the drive-in with all four kids jammed into that Beetle   Oh, but let's not forget the money she transferred from our account to hers in spousal and child support when the kids were growing up -- even though we had majority custody!  That, sadly, was the "judicial attitude" back in 1983, regardless of the fact that she had gazillions in inherited family money.  I always thought she should have been paying us support (see "judicial attitude" above for the answer to that one.)

"I don't want you, but I want your name and money."

I thought moving to Calgary would put an end to it all, but no.  Thanks to the never-ending cooperation of her daughter, it just goes on and on and on and on........I remember going to a party in Ottawa many years ago to which the hostess had invited B, me and his ex.  "Isn't Ottawa like an ingrown toenail," said another exasperated divorced friend, whose ex had also been invited.  Ha!  Great description!

B has grandchildren from this daughter, but do you think she ever calls of her own initiative to let them talk with each other?  That was a rhetorical question.  He has to call down there to Houston and be censored by the "gate keeper", who stands there listening and tells them what to say.  It's all so disgraceful and humiliating for any grandfather -- especially one so generous --to be treated like this.  Makes me wonder if the advice given B those many years ago wasn't right:  "Just give her the kids and money and walk away."  We had to still give her a ton of money, but at least we might have saved huge legal and psychological fees.

Before I leave this, I want to add that the psychologist her lawyer picked recommended majority custody to B, adding that, ".....if Mrs. Ex can't live with this arrangement, I recommend full custody to the father.  I have confidence that the father would not deny access, but I do not have the same confidence in the mother."  In another insightful passage he wrote, "Mrs. Ex sees everything in black and white, with her holding the latter colour."  Dead on.  In the end, that was what happened.  We had the kids and they only went to her place two days a week and every third weekend.  More brilliant work, ex!

Now, all I can say is just PLEASE go away.  Forever.

A trashed country

Boy, if a country as trashed and ruined as Nigeria can contain COVID-19, what the hell is Canada's problem?  Answer:  Theresa Tam and her merry band of (wo)men.  Tam and her colleagues keep saying, "We've never seen anything like this before."  Yes, and that's exactly the point.  That's what you are paid to plan for because a pandemic is always "something we've never seen before."

Doug Saunders had an interesting piece in 'The Globe and Mail' yesterday about how Nigeria is handling the crisis.  Obviously amazingly well.  Lagos alone has a population of 20 million and yet the government has managed to keep the disease under control by using strict quarantine measures that spring into place immediately when a case is suspected.

"When the virus escaped China in January, Nigeria and other sub-Saharan countries were able to respond faster and more decisively than the US or Britain.  The countries that have avoided big outbreaks are those that responded very quickly in January and February," writes Saunders.  "Some threw huge sums of money at the problem, but others like Nigeria used techniques learned from the Ebola crisis of quarantine, contact tracing, social isolation of those infected that Western countries spent long weeks monitoring."  How dumb.

Apparently, when the first COVID-19 victim arrived in Nigeria on Feb. 24th -- a man who had flown from Italy and spent two days near Lagos before testing positive -- officials knew what to do and who should do it.  He was immediately quarantined and officials sent to interview hundreds of people who might have been in contact with him and then tracked all of their contacts.  Within 48 hours, they had set up a coronavirus command centre to gather data from hundreds of offices reporting to public health emergency operations centres in 23 states.

I have to add that B's uncle, the late Keith Marley-Clarke, was the regimental commander of the British army in Nigeria in the early fifties and the same military precision and control that he helped establish then was put onto to place for this operation.  Never underestimate British military might.

Those centres in turn gathered and digitized the data using contact-tracing software that had been set up years earlier by the US Centres for Disease Prevention and Control (CDPC).  This information was made available to the public immediately to enable everyone to alter his/her activities accordingly.  This allowed Nigeria to not only tightly lock down entire cities where outbreaks had been detected, but also to relax rules when infections rated slowed.

This was possible because the CDPC used to have satellite centres all over the world, but Donald Trump closed them.  That is why the whole mess got completely out-of-control in other parts of the world.  "Nigeria may be a poor and badly-governed country, but what it has in abundance today is disease- fighting knowledge," writes Saunders.

We would have much less infection and death on our hands if we'd learned from Nigeria.  While police are busy here ticketing kids who ride a bike in a deserted park or throw a few hoops on an empty basket ball court, all I can say is, "Over to you, Dr. Tam."