Stephen Roney's Blog, page 74

That's the Ticket

 

Canada has a convenient outlet now for escaping the current atmosphere of growing social dysfunction and government overreach: Pierre Poilievre; with Max Bernier too helping move the Overton window. The US seems in worse shape.

Most Americans, according to polls, do not want to see another matchup between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. I don’t either. Biden is senile and grossly corrupt. Trump is divisive, so hated by the other side a second administration is likely to increase rather than prevent social strife. But the American system seems to be herding them towards this choice.

The ideal ticket for the Democrats, for ending the strife, would be RFK Jr., with Tulsi Gabbard for VP. A dream ticket.

The ideal ticket for the Republicans is trickier. The all-out assault on Trump from the left makes it essential now that he be at the top of the ticket, to ensure such tactics do not continue. To balance things out and bring peace to the Republican Party, I say the best pick for running mate would be Chris Christie. Christie is a great attack dog; and accepting the nomination would cancel out his criticisms of Trump for the general. For Trump, it would show magnanimity, which might reassure some with TDS. Get into line, and all may be forgiven.

But neither ticket is going to happen, sadly.

'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.

Songs of Identity

 

A student of mine is taking a required course in pop music at an American university. His current assignment is to select ten songs that express his identity.

They mean the intersectional categories: gay, straight, transgender, cisgender, male, female, black, white, indigenous, Hispanic. They also mention home town.

One further question they ask is where and how do you listen to the songs.

This makes the narcissistic assumption that people listen to music because it makes them think about themselves; as opposed to thinking it is good music. This might help explain the decadence of contemporary art.

But just for fun, I thought about my own list—of music that might best express my identity:

Sidewalks of New York. Seems to me this is a kind of anthem of the North American Irish. My grandmother used to sing it to me as a child. Which wraps it as well with memories of my grandmother, like remembered tobacco smoke or the smell of lilacs at dusk.

Si Bheag Si Mhor. To me, the essence of Irish music, and I am mostly ethnically Irish, if many generations removed. Something about Irish music always stirs my blood at some deep level, as though there really is a race memory. I also think this is one of the most beautiful melodies ever composed.

The Maple Leaf Forever is my own personal Canadian anthem. Never mind the words; other than therefrain; they are variable. But it is a much more stirring tune thanO Canada. 

Complainte pour Ste. Catharine. This speaks of mychildhood spent in part in Montreal, of the excitement of that city, and thepart of me that feels Francophone. The McGarrigles are, likeme, Quebec Irish.

Long May You Run. This is suffused with the spirit of smalltown Ontario, my other “home town.” Evokes memories of my Gananoque and some Kingston friends, some of whom have not survived. And of the bittersweetness of growing up in the Sixties.

Did She Mention My Name? Gordon Lightfoot’s take on small town Ontario. We have some of the same memories. And of course this evokes memories of a certain someone.

Summer Wages. Memories of mucking about on boats in the St. Lawrence River, not Vancouver Harbour, with myslippery city shoes on. And of how girls in small towns tend to break off relationships over the summer season. Memories of makeshift jobs for which I felt ill-suited. And the cowboy lilt; I spent my infancy intending to be a cowboy, and Roy Rogers was featured on my first schoolbag.

The Faith. All of Cohen speaks to me. We share many memories, somehow. This one expresses our shared feelings for religion, and isto the tune of a cherished inherited chanson, Un Canadien Errant.

The Boxer. I don’t want to talk about it. My wife only knows I sing it in the karaoke parlours with tears in my eyes. 

Ave Maria. Nothing more can be said.

Soll mein Gebet zu dir hinwehen.
Wir schlafen sicher bis zum Morgen,
Ob Menschen noch so grausam sind.

Canticle of the Turning.



'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.

A Rap Against Poiliev

 

I don’t see nearly as many leftist posts on Facebook as I usedto. Maybe because the cultural tide is turning; maybe because all my old leftistfriends have by now unfriended and blocked me. Probably both.

But I saw this one today:

I don’t see nearly as many leftist posts on Facebook as I used to. Maybe because the cultural tide is turning; maybe because all my old leftist friends have by now unfriended and blocked me. Probably both. 

But I saw this one today:

 

The point being attempted, of course, that the Liberal government is much more distinguished and qualified to be in power than the opposition.

But note the obvious anomaly: they are comparing the opposition leader to the deputy PM, not the PM. Justin Trudeau is significantly less formally qualified for a role in government than Poilievre. B.A., B. Ed., short career as a drama teacher. His primary qualifications are simply that he is handsome and is named Trudeau. Poilievre, by contrast, was in the business, learning the political and government ropes, as assistant to Stockwell Day and Stephen Harper as opposition leaders, as a longtime MP, and as a cabinet minister. 

As for Freeland? It takes good marks, but it also costs a lot of money to go to Harvard. It costs a lot of money to go to Oxford as a foreign student, and you have to be rich to be able to stay out of the workforce for that long. Or long enough to write books, or learn five languages. Mostly what we learn from this is that Freeland was the child of two lawyers, while Poilievre was an orphan adopted by high school teachers. Chrystia Freeland, like Trudeau, was a child of privilege.

The Liberals are the party of the ruling elite, and those who doff the cap to them. The Family Compact, the Chateau Clique, the Laurentian Elite. They respect the credentials that show you are a member of that elite, that you have a pedigree. An Ignatieff, a Turner, a Martin, a Trudeau. Tories, by contrast, respect the common man and the self-made man who rose from obscurity by their own effort.

'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.

The Tories in Quebec City

 

The Conservative convention has just concluded in Quebec City. I can’t recall when a party convention, absent a leadership contest, ever garnered so much attention. It feels historic. Chantal Hebert, no friend to the right, noted recently on CBC that the last time a governing party was as low as Trudeau in the polls was during the Mulroney era. 

The next election, Mulroney’s Tories won two seats.

The tone was no longer the pusillanimous apologetic tone of Erin O’Toole or Andrew Scheer. There was a large banner behind the rostrum reading simply “Freedom.” Speakers returned more than once to the theme of recovering pride in Canadian heritage: “our history must be celebrated, not apologized for nor cancelled.” “We should be proud of the flag on our soldiers’ uniforms. This is the flag that should be flying from government buildings.” “Those leaders who build Canada should be celebrated, not toppled.”

In French: <<new immigrants must understand that Canada’s history is now their history. They must adopt our traditions. We must not listen to those who, like Mr. Trudeau, say that Canada has no basic culture.>>

And Poilievre himself: “English Canadians can learn this from Quebec—and I’m saying this deliberately in English-- Quebeckers do not apologize for their culture, their language, or their history.”

Poilievre and other speakers made many references to Quebec, and Quebec politics. This made sense since the convention was held in Quebec. But then too, why did the party decide to hold their convention in Quebec? It seems that Poilievre and his team are making a point of seeking Quebec support, their weakest region. This suggests confidence and a hope of running up the score.

There was also recognition of the Freedom Convoy: “If Canadians feel strongly about something, the prime minister should listen; not attack and insult them…. If thousands of Canadians feel strongly enough about something to get in their vehicles and drive all the way to Ottawa, the prime minster should pay attention.” And this got a standing ovation.

Poilievre showed his rhetorical brilliance, leading off with a story. Fine rhetorical touch, referring to the garage as “Herb’s Garage.” Make it personal; refer to an “everyday Canadian,” one of the “common people.” And one who has lost his business. He cleverly insinuated that his wife, whose first language is Spanish, was a Francophone (“What’s Ana, a smart and beautiful Quebecois, doing with this Anglophone wearing glasses?”). His praise of his wife, and her speech on his behalf, pointed cruelly to Trudeau’s marital troubles. He skillfully used alliterative phrases like “powerful paychecks,” “affordable food.” Inflation was “a silent thief, quietly picking the pockets of the poor…”

It was all devastatingly effective, and Poilievre kept getting interrupted by chants of “Bring it Home!”

We haven’t seen this kind of enthusiasm in Canadian politics since the days of Pierre Trudeau. And it is a very good thing for a country to see this kind of hope and excitement for the future.

'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.

On Being Judgmental

 

Ezekiel 33: 7-9

7 So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and shalt tell it them from me.

8 When I say to the wicked: O wicked man, thou shalt surely die: if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way: that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand.

9 But if thou tell the wicked man, that he may be converted from his ways, and he be not converted from his way: he shall die in his iniquity: but thou hast delivered thy soul.

Matthew 18: 

15: But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother.

16 And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand.

17 And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.

18 Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.

19 Again I say to you, that if two of you shall consent upon earth, concerning any thing whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father who is in heaven.

20 For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

The postmodernists insist we must never be “judgmental.” We must never accuse others of wrongdoing. This Sunday’s readings demonstrate that this attitude is unbiblical and immoral.

We are all the sons of men. Ezekiel makes plain that this gives us an obligation to point out to others when they are sinning. If we do not, we will be held accountable for their sin. We have aided and abetted it. Above all else, we owe it to the sinner to advise them of their sin.

A point it seems lost on Pope Francis.

At the same time, this obligation is limited to the “House of Israel.” There is, after all, no point in trying to help someone who does not believe, in the first place, in right and wrong, in ethical monotheism. They are bound for hell in any case.

This principle is shown again in the second reading: one has both a right and a duty to point out when a fellow Christian has sinned, against us or against another. If he (or she) does not accept this and seek atonement and reconciliation, he has, by this, demonstrated he is not a Christian and not a brother. He is “a heathen.”

A second common distortion is also revealed by the second reading. The last verse is often misquoted as “wherever two or more of you are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” And this is used to stress the need for community over against the individual conscience, and so demand conformity. 

But the original is “two,” then “two or three.” If “one” is excluded from God’s presence, so too is any group larger than three. The ideal unit imagined is something the size of a couple or family, not even a typical church congregation. 

Accepting the authority of the latter is simply the ad populam fallacy. If a larger group automatically has more authority than a smaller group, Christianity itself is disproven.

The point is the presence of love; which necessarily requires more than one, as in the Trinity. 

Hence too no doubt the reference to a fellow Christian at the beginning of the passage, and in general,  as “brother.” The reference is to brotherly love, filos.

Whoever has such love is your brother. Whoever does not, is not.

'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.

The Wisdom of the Nursery

 

"Those who do not laugh have bad consciences."

- Brothers Grimm, "The Twelve Brothers."

Wise words from the nursery. Fairy tales and fables are the source of accumulated wisdom over the centuries—that is why they exist and persist. It is parental malpractice not to teach them to our children. They are the furniture of a healthy mind.

This one sentence is of tremendous value as a life lesson. It is invaluable for judging character, and it is a valuable lesson not to go down the path of dishonesty yourself—you will never laugh freely again.

Other essential lessons, too easily never learned, hard to convey otherwise, are told by Andersen’s “The Princess and the Pea,” “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” Aesop’s “The Frogs Who Wanted a King,” “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.”

Longer fairy tales like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, have been obscured because too easily adapted by those with no interest in the original moral. Disney had a tendency in its animated versions to make them all about finding romantic love. “One Day My Prince Will Come.” Not in the mind of the original Snow White. 

Everyone thinks that the story of the princess and the frog is that the princess overcomes some initial revulsion to kiss the frog, and this turns the frog into a handsome prince. So don’t judge by appearances in seeking a life partner, right? But that is not in the original: the princess never kisses the frog. She throws him against the wall. Don’t judge by appearances, yes, but there are other things also going on. This is not about romantic love.

The first failure of our education system is that fairy tales and fables, in the original, are rarely any longer taught.

'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.

More on the Sound of Freedom

 

It sounds incredible--but these are credible official sources.

'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.

Life and Stuff

 

Everyone in this world is engaged in a hard struggle. That is what the world is for. Some against external adversity, poverty, discrimination; but those who have had it easy have a struggle within themselves, against their own base instincts and cravings. It’s the one or the other, or both.

'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.

Here's a Conspiracy Theory for You

 

A smiling face

Scott Adams has pointed out that, once you set up a secret service, it is only a matter of time before they take over the government. You are sending them large sums, with little democratic oversight, or oversight of any kind—because of the need for secrecy. They essentially do whatever they want. It is only a matter of time before these folks seize their opportunity to control government.

The KGB, or what was the KGB, has been in control of Russia for some time. Putin was their guy; before him, Andropov.

Assuming that the CIA, FBI, and/or associated agencies is already in control in the US explains a great deal. It explains why the Democratic field last time folded abruptly before Super Tuesday in favour of Biden. Something was obviously happening behind the scenes, something well-coordinated and with the ability to reward and punish--with greater ability to do that than the eventual nominee. It explains why the Democrats’ Iowa caucus was botched—it was producing the wrong result. It explains why the Democrats went for Biden and Harris, both incompetent party hacks; best to have compliant people, known good soldiers, with no fixed opinions of their own. It explains why they hated Tusi Gabbard, the Democrats’ most attractive candidate last race. She had principles, and so would not be easily controlled. Bernie Sanders was obviously controlled opposition, never meant to win, just to make it all look legit. The minute he was on the cusp of victory, twice, in two races, he folded. It explains who was able to get to Jeffrey Epstein, and how they had the means; it explains many unexplained and improbable suicides by Clinton aides and various political operatives. It explains the apparent rigging of the 2020 election in various ways; after rigging the media coverage, suppressing the Hunter laptop, and forging evidence of a Trump-Russia connection, Trump was still winning on election night. So they suspended the counting, started again next morning, and, miraculously, reported all kinds of extra ballots, all supporting Biden. It explains how determined they are to get Trump out of the race, by any means necessary: like Gabbard, he is not controllable. 

Occam’s Razor begins to argue in favour of such a conspiracy: it is the simplest explanation of many observed facts. Including the fact that “conspiracy theories” are now taboo.

RFK Jr. believes the CIA was involve in the assassination of his uncle JFK. He claims his father thought so too. He believes this is why the relevant documents have still not been released, sixty years later. 

That might have been the point at which they first seized control.

In Canada, there are signs of a similar conspiracy; growing signs. The ability of Andrew Scheer to overtake Maxime Bernier for the Conservative leadership looks possible, but surprising. Yes, there are always factions playing dirty tricks behind the scenes. But Bernier, as we have seen since, was a bit of a loose cannon; Scheer, a former House Speaker, was compliant and agreeable, a smiling face. The abrupt fall of Scheer looks equally odd, as did the sudden withdrawal from the race of all the top candidates except Peter MacKay, within a couple of weeks, very like the coalescing around Biden in the States. The more so since at least two of them eagerly ran in the next contest. O’Toole looks like he was controlled opposition. He unexpectedly won nevertheless; but then embraced the MacKay platform. He was a good soldier; he could be allowed to run because he could be counted on to do what he was told.

There seemed again a heavy-handed effort to prevent unwanted candidates from running to succeed O’Toole. This time the deck seemed stacked in favour of Poilievre. This is a bad sign.

Tom Mulcair’s loss of the NDP leadership also looked highly suspicious. He hadn’t won power, but the NDP cannot expect that; he seemed their best candidate, and deserving of another shot. It looked to many observers as though the vote that ousted him was rigged. 

And Jagmeet Singh’s dogged commitment to supporting the Trudeau government no matter what does not seem to make any electoral sense for the NDP--as though he is taking orders behind the scenes, and the voters and winning votes are not his main concern. Rather like those candidates in the US who now no longer even bother to get out and campaign. It’s all, as Stalin said, in who counts the votes, not in who votes.

Trudeau himself resembles Biden in being incompetent in the job, and obviously not qualified. He’s not interested in governing, just in acting the part. The very sort you want, if you are controlling things in the background.

Interestingly, though, the security services seem to have withdrawn their support for Trudeau. It was someone from the security services who blew the whistle recently on Chinese election interference. 

We may have two warring factions. Which would be relatively lucky for Canada.

'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.

An American View of the Canadian Holocaust

 

'Od's Blog: Catholic comments on the passing parade.