Transition time

It is that time of the year when I move from the somewhat stable - perhaps even predictable - some would say a rather conservative being to my other persona - "hitchhiker".  I don't mean to suggest that I am not stable when I travel - if anything I need to be more structured and careful in my thinking - but rather that I have absolutely no way of predicting how or when I will get there. It takes a certain amount of discipline to be able to let go (yes I am aware of the paradoxical nature of that statement). Making the move from one lifestyle to the other is always a somewhat difficult transition and this year it feels as if it has been harder than usual. Although I suspect that I say that every year.

School responsibilities have hung on longer than normal.and I don't feel as organized as I could/should about my trip. For example - I still have not decided what day to leave nor have I checked out my gear. Maybe next week I will get those things done.

Perhaps it is the weather - it is so hard to think about summer when it feels as if one can count on the fingers of one hand how many really nice days we have had in the past month or so.

BUT I am excited - for the last 6-8 weeks I have been dreaming of the rides I have got in the past and the rides that I will get this year. Rich fantasies of making it from Winnipeg to Duncan even faster than I did last year - although unless I get picked up by a couple mad people who drive 20 hours a day - I don't see how that is possible. I lay in bed and remember what the Rockies look like as one makes that long sweeping turn on the Trans-Canada some where between Calgary and Canmore....and there they are. Lord, they are majestic!!! But the soft fields of Manitoba and Saskatchewan and the gently rolling roads of the foot hills are equally as wonderful.

And then there are the people - what new stories will I be told? What lessons will I be given? Oh I am so ready to be on my way.

Happy Birthday!!!

I am 62 today. Not a momentous age compared to others. There was a time perhaps when 62 would have been seen as "getting up there" but not anymore. There are far too many active folks out there in the mid 80s for someone my age to come even close to being considered old.

But the signs of aging are there. It is not just the grey hairs in my beard ( which truth be told have been there for some time), or in the greying of my hair that tell me that I am getting old(er). The proof that I am not what I use to be is, for me, my mind. My memory  is slowly becoming less effective at retrieving information. All of that  information (much of which I must confess was rather useless)  that I have collected for years is becoming more difficult to find. I know it is there - I just can't find it.

It is frustrating to say the least.

On the other hand I am reasonably healthy; I have good friends, great kids and grand kids; a job that I enjoy and hobbies that fill my days. I suspect that as long as I can remember that I am truly blessed with my life - the other memory lapses don't really matter.

aftermath of an election

I am surprised that it has taken me so long to respond to the election results. I think it is in part because I have been politically depressed (and perhaps even afraid of being politically oppressed). In fact I have not felt this down since Mike Harris won the Ontario Provincial election in 1995. It is so tempting to throw up one's hands in defeat and despair. It would be so easy to say that there is nothing to be done; that we are lost forever as we rapidly descend into hell in the proverbial hand basket.

But there is something that can be done - more importantly there is something that must be done. We constantly seem to forget that those who are the right side of the political spectrum are smart people. They are planful. They develop strategies and stick to them. We of the left side of that someone hard to define spectrum need to do the same. The next election is only 4 years away. We must start today to plan for that election.

What does that mean? We need to reach out to and engage the 14 year olds so that they are ready and motivated to vote when their turn comes. It was great that so many (relatively speaking) university students got involved. But we need to get every student involved. It is not enough to say that we don't care who they vote for as long as they vote. We do care who they vote for - it is time we said so. The Right cleverly targets specific groups and nurtures a relationship with them. It provides a logic for why one should agree with and support the multi-national approach to government.

It is well past time the time that we can afford to make the assumption that the truth is self evident. It is clearly apparent that it is not. It is time for those of us who know and understand what is happening to do as Gramsci suggested. We intellectuals (using his definition of an intellectual) need to provide leaderships in the areas of education and dialogue.

It is time to act.

Elections - decisions

Polesters should not be able to release the polling numbers. It confuses me and I suspect it confuses most people. The latest poles seem to suggest that the Conservatives are in the lead - a romping 38% where as the Liberals and NDP are tied somewhere around the mid 20s.  Which may mean nothing at all. But people may panic and change their vote if they feel that the Conservatives may get a majority - or they might join the band wagon and vote Conservative.

If the NDP are only gaining support in Quebec - then they may get a few seats there ( seems unlikely) but will do little to bled seats away from the Liberals. However - if they take seats in Ontario - it might in fact help the Conservatives.

However if the most recent polls are right - we could conceivably have a Conservative majority government with the 2 other parties combined having more of the popular vote.(Do you think we need to change how we count votes??)

The above speculation is exactly why we should not see the results of polls - it causes us to speculate as opposed to making a decision about who to vote for based on policy as opposed to fear.







 

using a tablet

This is my first attempt at posting on the blog using my new tablet.

This bit about my thumbs to type is not only slow but inaccurate as well. I assume that I will get faster.
Just realized that there is no spell check here....what will I do?

Oops I just found.

How texters manage? I am starting to think that all of those abbreviations have more to do with typos than creating a new language.

Election.... and hockey

It might be somewhat sacrilegious to say this - but clearly hockey has become more important than the elections in Canada. (Yes I know most of the teams are from the USA and they don't care about our elections). When the date of the leaders' debate has to be switched because the Montreal Canadians are playing - it does show our priorities. (although to be fair it was Montreal and Boston playing - I can remember being at UNB when those 2 teams were in the play-offs - in spite of it being exam time - nothing would have stopped me from watching those games).

But what bugs me more - is that there is all of this juicy stuff going on about how the Conservatives got rid of one of their members and how they didn't want the students' votes to count at Guelph - and I can't find the CBC News!!! It keeps on moving around depending when the games ends.

Hockey is making it hard to educate ourselves.

Election - 2011

If I was a young person - or someone who had never voted before - I am not too sure if last night's debate would have done anything to get me fired up. But the debate could have done exactly that if the 3 opposition parties had been cleverer.

By picking on him, Mike, Giles and Jack made Steve look like a cool calm rational leader. With the exception of a handful of comments (mostly it seemed to me by Jack) there were  few policies statements that would provide a clear alternative to the present government. By frequently ganging up on Steve, the three other leaders not only looked like they were picking on him, but they also missed the opportunity to provide a real alternative. (Canadians have this natural affinity for the underdog - which last night -appeared to have been Steve)

There are of course differences. But it seemed to me that they didn't want to talk a lot about the specifics.  All of the leaders were at best disingenuous for much of the debate.  For example - there was a reason why the Liberals supported the Conservatives for 2 years....they were not ready for an election. They did not want to force an election and lose badly. That is the honest answer and one that many/most folks would understand. Hell most of us know that already. Why didn't Mike just say so.

Similarly it would appear to be clear that a number of years ago Steve would have happily formed some sort of coalition with the NDP and PQ - but there is no way that he can admit although there must be 100s of people who know that it almost happened. Their un-truths provide all the proof needed for some people to believe that they are all dishonest and that none of them are worth voting for.

It could have been an interesting debate if they had all had been wired to lie detector machines and if they had debated policy. As it is we are left with limited choices.