Loathe Donald Trump even more after his latest attacks on women and religious folks?
SFH despise him too!
So sing along. It might make you feel better. It did us.
SFH despise him too!
So sing along. It might make you feel better. It did us.
From my column in next week’s Hill Times, Troy Media, etc. You asked what I think, here’s what I think.
“…But the Senate of Canada is still – after all of Justin Trudeau’s efforts to affix lipstick to it – a pig. It is a disgrace. It is an anti-democratic abomination, and it should be abolished, not maintained. Kill it, now.
All of us have heard the arguments for the Senate. That it is a chamber of sober second thought. That it improves legislation emanating in the House. That its reports and resolutions are unsullied by politics.
But we don’t care. WE DON’T CARE. If the Senate of Canada were stuffed to its ermine walls with cloned replicas of Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Plato, Nelson Mandela, Mozart, Kahlil Gibran, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, Socrates, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks – and, on civic holidays, apparitions of the Buddha, Moses, Mohamed and Christ – it would still be this: a body of unelected persons, however eminent, wielding real power.
It would therefore be illegitimate. It would be illicit. In a supposedly modern democracy, it would be unlawful, even.
Most of us, out here in the real world, don’t have expense allowances and living allowances and “travel points.” We aren’t guaranteed a job until age 75. We therefore don’t give a sweet damn about how impressive are the CVs of those who won the Mother of All Lotteries on Friday.
We don’t give a shit, actually.”
Laura Miller is back.
Back in her job, that is, as executive director of the BC Liberals. It was just announced in Victoria, I believe. And – she’s a great friend, and I’m biased, true – that’s a good and right decision.
Ten reasons why:
I'm Irish, but Guinness tastes like poop. There, I said it. Excommunicate me or whatever. I don't care anymore.
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) March 17, 2016
So, St. Patrick’s Day.
As teenagers, and as charter members of the Non-Conformist News Agency, we always had a slightly different take on today. One of my best friends at Calgary’s Bishop Carroll was Jim Keelaghan, and the two us – who were Irish all the way back, on both sides – held the view that St. Patrick hadn’t expelled every snake from Ireland. We’d wear black armbands on this day. (What can I say: we were young.)
Anyhow, punk came along in April 1976 and changed everything (for me, not Jim, who is now an international folk music star). Irish punk wisely steered clear of The Troubles: the Undertones wrote songs about chocolate and girls, and the Outcasts sang about being a self-conscious teenager. The Clash went to Belfast, to be sure, but they said precious little about that subject when they were there.
Stiff Little Fingers (who, bizarrely, took their name from a Vibrators song) chose a different course: they (bravely) confronted The Troubles head-on – and (even more bravely) they condemned both sides.
I loved them for that; I adored them. I thought they were what the Clash was supposed to be, before the Clash became a wannabe rockabilly act in 1979. I bought Suspect Device on a trip to Vancouver to see the Clash, and it so electrified me, I persuaded the Hot Nasties to cover it. We played the song when we opened for 999 at the U of C on St. Patrick’s Day in 1980, and it nearly caused a riot (it also led to my decades-long involvement in anti-racism, but that’s a story for another day).
Suspect Device was angry and political. It was extraordinary and anthemic. But the SLF song that would send me, us, over the edge was Alternative Ulster. It was about being a bored teenager, it was about the future and hope. We’d hear Jake Burns play those opening chords, and we’d just go nuts. Two dozen leather-jacketed boys, leaping about, crashing into each other. Good times.
Here, then – after a very long and nostalgic introduction, apologies – is Alternative Ulster, played back when we were all young and acned and skinny, and when we didn’t think we’d make it to 20. It is perfect, and perfect for this day.
Nothin’ for us in Belfast
The Pound so old it’s a pity
OK, there’s the Trident in Bangor
Then walk back to the city
We ain’t got nothin’ but they don’t really care
They don’t even know you know
They just want money
They can take it or leave it
What we need is
(Chorus)
An Alternative Ulster
Grab it, change it, it’s yours
Get an Alternative Ulster
Ignore the bores and their laws
Get an Alternative Ulster
Be an anti-security force
Alter your native Ulster
Alter your native land
Take a look where you’re livin’
You got the Army on the street
And the RUC dog of repression
Is barking at your feet
Is this the kind of place you wanna live?
Is this were you wanna be?
Is this the only life we’re gonna have?
What we need is
(Chorus)
They say they’re a part of you
But that’s not true you know
They say they’ve got control of you
And that’s a lie you know
They say you will never be
Free free free
Alternative Ulster
Alternative Ulster
Alternative Ulster
Pull it together now.
Man, @realDonaldTrump sure has the right-wing loons busy commenting on my web site, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Anyone else experiencing same?
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) March 16, 2016
And so:
The RCMP, CSIS and OPP are now involved in the investigation.
Ironically, the elder Trudeau was pretty good on this terrorist stuff. He didn’t screw around.
The son – as we saw have seen for years, now – finds it challenging. My sense is that he fundamentally believes that the usual response to terror – the one, ironically again, favoured by his own father – isn’t the right one. He may be right about that, but public opinion is not on his side.
Anyway. We are all grateful that the injured soldiers will be okay.
We would also be grateful, equally, for a government response on terror that is clear and coherent.
Like we always got from Pierre Trudeau.
UPDATE: And here is the accused. So, has anyone questioned the Prime Minister yet? There’s not much he can say, of course, but I suspect the Canadian Armed Forces personnel – who take their orders from him – would like to hear from him.
UPDATED AGAIN: Trudeau responds, here. Good. Would be no different with Harper.
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