People Unclear On The Concept: Mother’s Day Edition

Barbara Kay of the National Post admits she has not read The Handmaid’s Tale, nor has she watched the new television show.

“Pious Christians are the last people on earth to dream up a system in which the state has control over everyone’s sexual and reproductive lives…”

http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/barbara-kay-the-problem-with-handmaids-tale-is-that-its-not-a-believable-dystopia-its-sci-fi

It’s pretty clear she doesn’t know the story.  In Margaret Atwood’s book, there is a plot reveal halfway or maybe two-thirds of the way into the story that made me foot stomping mad.  Because… of course!  The men in charge of Gilead are certainly not pious, they are hypocritical oligarchs.

Peace be upon you

It has taken almost a week to order my thoughts on the atrocity committed in Québec City on January 29, 2017.  Similar to the Polytechnique Montréal Massacre, I began with denial (this can’t be real) and slowly sank into the realization that of course it is real, and more than that, predictable.

©2001 Marion Pennell

Québecers came out by the thousands to mourn the men: Ibrahima Barry, Mamadou Tanou Barry,  Azzeddine Soufiane, Khaled Belkacemi, Abdelkrim Hassane, and Aboubaker Thabti.  The majority of people are sympathetic to the victims and their families and find the actions of the killer deplorable, shameful, and literally hate-filled.

Pulse, Orlando

As if a contest, now the worst mass shooting in US history is the Pulse nightclub killings the early hours of Sunday, June 12, 2016, in Orlando.

As I read many times, if Sandy Hook didn’t change the American culture, nothing will. And even with this death toll, there are sick people on predictable websites making jokes about the fact that gay people were targeted this time.  The people who died had family and friends who cherished them and who are now wounded deeply.

“I’m not a woman. I’m not a man. I am something that you’ll never understand”

When I wrote about David Bowie I noted that the only male celebrities I ever impersonated for Hallowe’en were Bowie and Prince. The two things that stick with me about Prince are in contradiction (like life).

I found his songs joyously sex-positive.  The women got off in his songs.  They did not exist as simply a plaything for a man.  (I wasn’t familiar with his earliest stuff, and the film Purple Rain didn’t appeal to me.  I am reading that I might find those misogynist.)  The Prince I listened to loved women.  They were also respected as full musicians in his band, not simple novelties.

What You’ll Find Here

Some fiction, lots of opinion of the world today and how it got this way, some photo essays of Montreal.  A lot of art throughout.  

Constructive feedback on my art and writing appreciated.  I’d love to hear from you.

Make America Great Again, please

Elect a Democrat…  or a Republican that is not a racist or a religious nut.

CBC had a good documentary on last night: “The Mad World of Donald Trump”.  His slogans stir up the latent anger in Americans.  Conservatives have a fear of  change, where liberals have hope for  change.  The conservatives in America who love Trump now, might be the ones most angry at him later.

Talitha koom!

“So, I understand you think you are Jesus?” asked the ever so condescending doctor.

“No,” I replied patiently. “Of course not. I am one of the apostles.”

“Which one?”

“How should I know? But I guess it’s not Peter if I’m not denying it.”

“But, you’re a woman.”

“Your point being?”

Jason, Josh, and Jimmy

Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller Aug 24/15

This morning I saw Jason arrested on St. Jacques Street.  He’s a large man, blond hair, bushy beard, wearing a white loose cotton tunic style top that was falling off the shoulder.  He looked like Jesus’ older brother.  A group of the homeless men regularly panhandle from cars at the stoplight coming off the highway into this part of the city. A new-ish fancy condo is also at that corner, and the tenants regularly call the police to remove the beggars from that corner.  Sometimes Jason can be loud, but he is very articulate and obviously educated.  Some people see his size and booming voice and body language and find him frightening.

Truth and Reconciliation – what we didn’t learn in school

©2001 Marion Pennell

Here are excerpts from the introduction of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final document (http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Exec_Summary_2015_05_31_web_o.pdf)

For over a century, the central goals of Canada’s Aboriginal policy were to eliminate Aboriginal governments; ignore Aboriginal rights; terminate the Treaties; and, through a process of assimilation, cause Aboriginal peoples to cease to exist as distinct legal, social, cultural, religious, and racial entities in Canada. The establishment and operation of residential schools were a central element of this policy, which can best be described as “cultural genocide.”

 

Physical genocide is the mass killing of the members of a targeted group, and biological genocide is the destruction of the group’s reproductive capacity. Cultural genocide is the destruction of those structures and practices that allow the group to continue as a group. States that engage in cultural genocide set out to destroy the political and social institutions of the targeted group. Land is seized, and populations are forcibly transferred and their movement is restricted. Languages are banned. Spiritual leaders are persecuted, spiritual practices are forbidden, and objects of spiritual value are confiscated and destroyed. And, most significantly to the issue at hand, families are disrupted to prevent the transmission of cultural values and identity from one generation to the next.

 

In its dealing with Aboriginal people, Canada did all these things.

The Ten Commandments and the Law

There is a lot of conflating the Ten Commandments with our current system of law.   Old Testament God was really strict.  In the King James Version Commandments One through Four get pretty wordy.