Getting it off my Chest!!!

Okay people, I've gotta get a bit of this angst off my brain, while I can still think. So I'll be breaking this blog into several subjects. I'm really hoping that it can knock a bit of common sense into those we call humans!

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Misdirected adulation....

First of all, this week saw the self-inflicted death of Amy Winehouse. While tragic in itself, the real tragedy is the adulation poured out to her in the form of shrines, columns in newspapers, stories and tears being shed by fans who have never met her, and likely - if she was still alive - she wouldn't have given the time of day or a passing glance.

Winehouse wasn't a great artist. She didn't write any songs that were destined to change humanity or society or even an overall attitude. Her music was simply average by today's standards. Yet - even if her music was exceptional, she doesn't deserve all the adulation and outpouring of grief and tears that have been shed.

Face the facts: Winehouse was in the music business for the money and glory and hero status that comes with it. She loved it .... she lived it ... and in it's shadow- it became her God. What happened to her was self inflicted - and she does not deserve being adored. In fact her fans should be peeved at her for taking away their music!

People - want to pay some homage to someone? Try Pope John-Paul, who spent most of his life serving humanity. Try paying some tribute in the name of Mother Theresa, a frail, tiny woman who spent every waking moment caring for others. How about Nelson Mandela, Terry Fox, or the Mayor of some small town whose salary isn't enough to pay the bills - yet, year-after-year, gets re-elected because he/she wants to make a difference, and the money is secondary. How about paying some tribute to the many farmers who are NOT converting their fields to solar power for the money, but trying to feed the population instead?

Those are the real people who deserve some support, some kudos, a bit of a tribute. Get over putting Amy Winehouse, Elvis, Michael Jackson on a pedestal - or any of the other singers/actors who more-or-less committed suicide with their overdoses!!!

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Time for some tough choices USA!

The United States has got to make some hard and tough choices. They are Trillions of dollars in debt and every year are running massive deficits. I'm not going to pretend that I know anything about why the States have become so massively in debt, but I will make a few simple points:

- Maybe those leaders in the government should start the ball rolling by taking a massive pay cut and show the public they are serious about managing this debt

- Maybe they should scale back their military objectives and not worry about where the next drop of oil will be imported from.

- Maybe some of these government agencies should be scaled back for a time and not worry so much about the "war on drugs"- outside their borders.

- Perhaps instead of bailing out huge corporations such as GM, Chrysler and banks, they should take and apply this money to the debt.

From what I've seen of the US economy, it is build on a house of cards and any ripple seems to send it reeling. They are going to have to make tough choices that won't appeal to a lot of people, but continuing on the current path - only one thing is certain - disaster will follow.

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Ontario Government and Hydro follies!

Recently, the Ontario government has started running ads showing how much new employment has been created by the Liberal government last year. What they fail to tell you is the year or two prior were the worst two years in Ontario's recent history for job creation. Its fairly easy to increase 20% when the starting point is low already. The numbers are just being manipulated for the sake of buying votes.

If these new employment figures are so fantastic, why then is the Ontario government cutting their civil service over the next few months? Surely taxes from all these employed people mean more income ... less UI being paid out ... less Welfare being paid out ... more employed consumers buying products .... all this should lead to more tax revenue coming into the government. Think about it!

The Ontario Hydro debacle is another point of contention. While I'm happy Ontario is giving energy to Quebec more-or-less free (Hooray - I pay less for longer), I'm left wondering why they charge so much to their consumers in the first place. The facts are again not always what we see: Ontario ONLY has an abundance of energy recently (96 days in 2011), not because of their solar and wind farms, but because manufacturing is down, industry is down, business has scaled back. These are largely due to failed government policies, the HST and increase in sales taxes, and increase in energy costs. (insert energy type here ... hydro, gasoline, diesel, oil etc.)

These municipal, provincial and federal governments have got to start realizing that their income is our money, not theirs, and they need to start respecting this and acting accordingly. Too many social programs isn't good for Canadians. They make us soft, lazy and expecting. It is not up to the government to provide for us, it is up to us to provide for ourselves. The sooner governments and citizens alike realize this and start acting like it, the better.

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Tragedy in Norway

Lastly, the recent tragedy in Norway has become a social scandal. People are looking for answers where none exist. No new laws governing this or that will fix the issue. Appeasing Muslims, or Christians, or Hindu's won't solve anything.

This was a tragic case of a single man who went off the deep end and started his own personal revolution. He has admitted doing the shooting and bombing, but has not come to any realization of wrong-doing. He shows no remorse or guilt.

This isn't a social issue, it isn't something to rally behind for new laws, or new freedoms, or a new charter of rights as some are saying... it is simply a tragic, horrible event involving a single man who has gone off the deep-end. Sometimes there simply are no answers!!!

I sincerely hope he pays the full price of Norwegian law.

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Earl McRae

Earl, I consider you a friend or sorts. We've done some Elvis Sighting society benefits together, you gave me advise on newspaper columns and helped me out with a few charity events in the early 1990's, but one of your recent columns on being a good samaritan really peeved me off.

http://www.ottawasun.com/2011/07/20/this-good-samaritan-one-of-the-lucky-ones-mcrae

To summarize what was written, Earl spoke about how a Good Samaritan made a citizens arrest and shouldn't have. Maybe Earl, this is why swarmings are on the increase in Ottawa/Gatineau. Perhaps, those criminals know they will not likely be stopped or caught because no one is willing to put themselves at risk to help someone else.

You gotta ask yourself a few questions if you are gonna stand around and watch a crime happen.

- if this was happening to one of your family members would you intervene?

- if you allow the criminal to escape will he/she do more harm to others before he is stopped?

- is your safety worth more than someone else's - or perhaps a number of other people?

- are you putting someone else at risk to save your own hide?

I'm not suggesting everyone try and intervene, but - as opposed to Earl's take that no-one help out and let the police catch the baddies ...... everyone has to decide for themselves. I know for a fact that if a similar situation to the mall incident Earl described happened and I was there, the guy running would have been out cold while the police were enroute... But thats just me.

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Well - for better or worse I feel better having typed all this.... and to those who I may have inadvertently made feel worse - get over it and get back to reality!