Musings on Remembrance Day

Spent a good part of the day watching coverage of this solemn day and it got me thinking about the various members of my own family's experiences.  

Many soldiers returned with PTSD, but they didn't go into treatment.  They went to the Legion.  That's where they shared their experiences and healed each other.  The PTSD recovery industry has been very handsomely built by capitalizing on the trauma so many vets experience.  

Frankly, how can a 30-something psychiatrist possibly relate to the arbitrary horrors soldiers who faced death saw all around them?  They can't, but their comrades at The Legion can and that's how they supported and understood each other.

I call BS on that industry, just as I do on expensive treatment centres for alcoholics.  The only thing that works for alcoholics is AA.  That's where they share and care -- not in a sterile facility staffed by "experts".

I also thought about my time as a volunteer on the 'Friends of the Canadian War Museum' board of directors.  There again, members supported each other and I was privileged to have been invited to join.  I learned humility and respect for the fine gentlemen -- yes, I was the only woman -- with whom I worked, including the late historian and author Tim Cook.  He was such a great guy and took the time to take me around the various displays and paintings when I joined, explaining everything housed there.  Taken far too young, may he Rest in Peace.

I am currently watching a documentary series about the U.S. Marines.  As you know, my birth father, William Doyle, was a Marine and fought in the bloodiest battle of WW II, Okinawa.  Eight thousand US Marines died in only 36 days.  What an unbelievable tragedy.  Billy Doyle returned a changed man, so my sisters have told me.

Billy Doyle, a proud US Marine.

I never met him and only learned I was his daughter two years ago, thanks to DNA.  What a shock!  But I have so much respect for him.  In terms of genetics, I think I could have been a Marine and probably would have enjoyed it.

So, another Remembrance Day closes.  May all who served sleep soundly, not knowing the damage politicians have done to this wonderful country.  Paging Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney!

Five generations

That's how we gathered yesterday for High Tea at The Fairmont Palliser Hotel in Calgary.  There were only three present -- me, daughter and granddaughter -- but another two were there in spirit:  My mother and Grandmother.  My mother because I wore one of her jackets and my grandmother because I carried her shillelagh walking stick -- in fact, that stick may have actually been her mother's, so that would be six generations!

In any case, we were five generations there yesterday.

It was delightful, but expensive.  (I won't tell you how much because you'd die!)  Nevertheless, well worth it.

Just a delightful time and rare that we are together, given the hectic schedules of daughter and granddaughter.  I am so grateful.

  

This makes no sense to me?

Here's a doozy.  Parliament just passed a lunatic bill, C-3, that will now allow a Canadian parent, "born abroad but with a substantial connection to Canada, to pass on citizenship to any child born abroad beyond the first generation."

This means that a parent not born in Canada, but who has lived here for just three years, can travel back to their homeland and give birth to a child who would automatically have Canadian citizenship -- even though neither their parents nor they were been born here.

That's nuts!  This allows Canada to continue to be a birth tourist nation to get citizenship.  The worst offenders are the Lebanese, who regularly arrive here, get citizenship and then immediately go back to Lebanon to have kids, live with their family and friends for generations and even run businesses.  But whenever conflict erupts, they demand to be flown to Canada at taxpayer expense.  And for some reason, they are!?

Why is this permitted?  I think it's all for votes because all these "citizens" vote Liberal.  I mean, what other reason could there be?

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A word about the Mega Projects Office Carney has established.  Firstly, why did we need this?  There are multiple government departments already tasked with these projects.  Must be because he wants to control what goes on without the annoying interference of meddling bureaucrats.

Looking at the five major ones he wants to get going, I see each will have to pass through Indigenous territory.  Guess what?  They'll never get buy-in from natives because the latter's funding does not depend on projects.  It is baked into the Canadian economy, so they can protest all they want, they'll still get their billions.  Naturally, they have taken the usual "no" position:

They believe "consultation" means "veto", so good luck getting anything past them.

We're doomed.   

Trigger warning

If you're squeamish, don't read this post.  Yesterday, I thought I had something stuck in my eye, so I kept rubbing it and trying to get it out.  Nothing worked, so I went to my doctor who assumed it was conjunctivitis and prescribed drops.

No sooner had I put a couple in, my eye lit up with excruciating pain.  Felt like it was filled with sandpaper!  So, off I went to the Urgent Care facility here in Cochrane.  But it wasn't pink eye, it was an ulcer on my cornea!  Talk about pain! 

Lots going on in the average eye and apparently, the cornea is one of the most excruciating pains you will ever experience because it has 16 nerves in it. 

I was immediately referred to a specialist at the eye clinic in Calgary, so off I went (with daughter driving me because I couldn't see) to  spend a lovely morning getting assessed and prescribed more gunk.  It turns out the worst thing you can do with a ulcerated cornea is put antibiotics into it!

So, finally on the mend, but no swimming for a while.  As an old friend said, "Geezer Alert!!"  Don't get old! 

 

The arrogance

It was breathtaking!  Watching Vassy Kapelos interview Tim Hodgson, minister of energy and natural resources, I was shocked -- but not surprised -- by his arrogance and rudeness!  He talked to her as if she were a child who needed scolding, saying at one point, "Let me educate you, Vassy."

He then launched into an obviously-rehearsed speech about how much Canada was diversifying its trade and investments outside the U.S.  After his fudged non-answer, Vassy said, "Thank you for the education, but you didn't answer my question."

He then went on to deny that Carney had said Canada's traditional relationship with the U.S. was over -- which Carney did say and which she quoted verbatim back to him.  He shrugged awkwardly and repeated his rehearsed drivel for the fifth time.

It almost looked as if he had been trained by my former colleague, Barry McLoughlin, who runs a very successful consulting business teaching politicians how to avoid answering questions.  Lesson learned, Mr. Hodgson.  Barry does his job brilliantly because Hodgson didn't answer a thing she asked him.

As I said, it was breathtaking, but Vassy got him.  It was stunning.

Captain Arrogance Tim Hodgson.

Words of wisdom

 

Useless expressions

Here's a list of pointless expressions:

• At the end of the day.........
• That being said.............
• In a perfect world.....
• All things considered.........
• All things being equal.........
• On the one hand..........
• On the other hand........
• When you really think about it.......
• Conversely..........
• Without a doubt.........
• Going forward.....
• Not to put too fine a point on it but....

They are really meaningless fillers and my late editor, Mrs. Portugal, would tolerate none.  They actually give the user the option of not committing to any position.  One of the worst master offenders of the device is Andrew Coyne, who uses them all with gay abandon, filling the inside front page of the 'Opinion' section of 'The Globe' every Saturday with columns and columns of drivel.

Right up there with Coyne is Allan Gregg, a Canadian pollster and self-described "pundit" who used to opine regularly on CBC.  His favourite expression was, "That being said.....", after which he would launch into the complete opposite of what he had just fervently espoused.  Cute trick because he never commits to any position on anything, but makes a ton of money doing it.  (Allegedly, reportedly, just my opinion, as the great Maureen Callahan always says adds after she excoriates a victim.)

The elusive Mr. Gregg.

So, next time you hear anyone using any of the above, take note: They're not saying anything.