Tag: opinion

Government money is YOUR money

 

 

I will never understand how, in a democratic country, people can think of the government as a separate entity. The government is made up of people that YOU elect to serve YOUR  best interests. The money they make is the money YOU pay in taxes. The money they spend is the money YOU pay in taxes.

In the United States, there is an entire party (the Republican Party) running on the idea of never, ever raising taxes for anything, ever again. What I don’t understand is, how do they expect the government to pay for things like medicare, the military, social security and their own salaries without tax money. The government is funded by tax money and tax money alone. People seem to want everything paid for by “the government” like that money doesn’t come out of the pockets of everyone living in that country. Even people who are too poor to pay income tax, are paying into the system through taxes on goods and services.

In countries like Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden and even Canada taxes are higher, but you get what you pay for.  Yes, if you live in these countries, you will pay more in taxes, but the people who live in these countries are happier.

Recently, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development put put their annual report on life satisfaction in the developed world. They put out a list of the top ten happiest countries based on the following criteria: housing, income, jobs, community, education, the environment, civic engagement, health, life satisfaction, safety and work-life balance. There are many things the top ten countries have in common, but the one thing they all share is a higher tax rate than is enjoyed in the United States. So yes, Republicans, it is possible to pay more taxes and be happy… or HAPPIER even, as long as those taxes are spent on things that the people who elected you actually want, like better healthcare, more affordable education and jobs, not another needless war.

My advice to the American people is to look outside your own country for a split second to some of the countries on this list and find out why they are so happy. See what is working for them and perhaps suggest to your government representative that they try some of these things out. After all the government is YOU and YOUR tax dollars. If you don’t stand up and tell them what you want that money spent on, make them accountable, you will continue to get what you’ve been getting… a government who has forgotten who they work for.

If you are interested in reading more about the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s report, you can do so here http://247wallst.com/2012/05/22/the-happiest-countries-in-the-world-2/2/ or in slideshow format, here http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/344450/20120523/top-ten-happiest-countries-world-2012.htm#page1

Useless emotions

Guilt

For me a useless emotion is one that is used to manipulate the masses into behaving a certain way. Businesses like advertising or religion have utilized these emotions in order to get you to buy their product. In the case of religion, guilt is a heavily played upon emotion. Religion makes us feel guilty for committing acts that are within our own nature, then tells us that only by seeking forgiveness from the church can we be absolved of the very same guilt they, themselves have made us feel for our actions.

For me guilt is akin to crying over spilled milk. If I have done something to someone else that I feel bad about, I apologize sincerely. Sometimes I am forgiven, sometimes not. Forgiveness isn’t in my control and if that is my only reason for apologizing, then I’m not truly sorry. Once I have tried to make amends, whether I am forgiven or not, I move on. It’s a waste of time to dwell.

Shame

Shame is another useless emotion. It is the flip side of guilt. Guilt is something you feel over something you have done, whereas shame is something you feel over who you are.  Look at the seven deadly sins, anger, greed, sloth, envy, lust, gluttony and pride. They are all emotions that humans feel naturally. If we are to believe that we are made in the image of a deity, then why are these emotions somehow shameful?

Women are made to feel shame for everything from natural bodily functions like menstruation (the curse) and menopause (the change) to our sexuality (slut shaming). It’s a wonder we can leave the house at all.

Envy

One of the best marketing tools that is employed by advertising agencies around the world is envy. Ads that make you want what others have have proven to be very effective. Even ads that use the old adage of sex sells are using the envy model. They make you covet the lifestyle being shown to you… a lifestyle you don’t have. What’s wrong with what you DO have? I can guarantee if you don’t like your current lifestyle, that buying a new iPod isn’t going to fix it. In fact a new iPod may just magnify the situation (I have no friends to put into this huge address book, for example).

Jealousy

Jealousy differs from envy. With envy you want what someone else has. With jealousy you want to be what someone else is. It makes you ask, ‘What’s wrong with me?’ In marketing this is famously utilized by an ad for Pantene shampoo in which actress/model, Kelly LeBrock says, “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful”. This ad was meant to make women think that they could be beautiful too if they would just wash their hair with Pantene. If jealousy has to be used as a marketing tool, I’d much rather see a university advertise itself by having an accomplished woman like Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel or Christine LaGarde saying, “Don’t hate me because I’m smart.” At least that would send a more productive message to young women, but I digress. Jealousy is useless because you may never be what someone else is. Happiness is to embrace who YOU are.

There may be some of you who think I should have included fear on this list of useless emotions. It is used by both religion, and advertising, not to mention government to make the masses behave a certain way. But fear differs from the above four emotions in one very key way. Fear is a warning sign that can save your life. Yes most fears are needless or even irrational, like my fear of birds. But sometimes a little fear can stop you from rushing head first into a dangerous situation.

Guilt, shame, envy and jealousy are about as useful as our appendix. They are emotions that, perhaps, it’s time to evolve past.

Rebel

James Dean- Iconic Rebel

I’m a rebel *(and I’ll never, ever be any good). Which basically means I don’t do what I’m told and my opinions usually differ from those of society at large. Politically, I lean more left than right, but my feet are not firmly planted on either side. I prefer to make up my own rules than go by the ones the government, (either a conservative or a liberal government) has laid out for everyone. Spiritually, it’s the same thing. I do not need some made up man in the sky threatening eternal damnation in order to be a decent, if a little odd, human being.

Even my taste in celebrities isn’t what the media touts as desirable. I’ve never gone for the traditionally handsome leading man and the seduction fantasy.

George Clooney- leading man

Or the non- threatening, baby faced teen idol types and the adoration fantasy.

Justin Beiber- teen idol

Instead, I go for men who can be the on screen personification of evil with a sly smirk that belies a filthy secret.

James Gandolfini and his naughty smirk

Not your typical brooding bad boy, more like evil with a touch of dangerous insanity thrown in.

Malcolm McDowell from A Clockwork Orange

Robert DeNiro in Cape Fear

Michael Clark Duncan in Red Scorpion

Don’t get me wrong, these are not the type of male characters I would enjoy spending time with in a real life scenario of any kind. They are simply some of my on screen fantasy men. I think the fantasy for me is the challenge that getting such a dangerous man to fall for me would present. It would be akin to breaking a wild stallion. Although, once broken, the attraction would be gone.

Yes, I am a rebel, even in my dreams.

*Refers to lyrics found in the song He’s a Rebel by the Crystals

More, More Moore

My collection (minus one… Fluke is on loan to my folks)

I am a huge fan of the author Christopher Moore. I have bought and read literally, every book he has written. It all started about seven years ago, when a friend gave me a copy of Lamb for my birthday. Lamb is a wonderfully blasphemous account of the early years of Jesus Christ as told by his childhood friend, Biff. Incredibly well researched, and told with great humour, Lamb quickly became my favourite book that year. Since then I have re-read it several times, each time finding something new and hilarious.

Lamb… the book that began a love affair

After reading Lamb, I went online to see what else Mr. Moore had written. To my delight there were several other titles in his catalogue. I bought them all and read them back to back in the order they were written. It’s hard to say which was my favourite, they all have complex stories, characters who are characters and a hilarious sense of humour. As a lover of King Lear, I do have a soft spot for Fool, which is the King Lear story, turned on its ear and told by the court jester.  Fluke also speaks to me as some of the novel is set near to where I grew up and it’s so unpredictable. The novels set in Pine Cove are also near and dear to me, as is the Vampire trilogy and their spin-off, A Dirty Job. See what I mean… no clear favourite.

A couple of weeks ago, Christopher Moore’s latest novel was released. It’s called Sacre Bleu and it’s Moore’s masterpiece about masterpieces and the men who painted them in late nineteenth century Paris. The book features several of my favourite painters of the era including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Vincent Van Gogh. As always there is a thread of the supernatural brilliantly weaving its way through the plot.

A masterpiece about masterpieces.

Christopher Moore takes the reader on incredibly fun journeys of suspended disbelief  and escapism. I am always so stunned by the amount of research that is involved with each and every outing. Moore, like Gore Vidal and James Ellroy, seamlessly weaves real people and fictitious plot lines into a feast for the imagination.

Typically, a new Moore novel is published once a year, which makes him ridiculously prolific for the amount of research that must go into each book. Each time a new one comes out, I try so hard to pace myself and make that first read last as long as possible… I usually fail miserably and polish them off well within a week. I only wish he could write as fast as I can read.

Driven to distraction by distractions

Ashley Judd’s “Puffy Face”

One of the most effective ways women have been kept under ‘control’ in western culture has been to make sure that no matter our age, or stature that we remain as insecure about our looks as we were when we were teenagers. One of the ways this is achieved is by insulting the most beautiful or famous of women in the media. This kind of bashing beautiful/famous women comes in many forms. From saying Christina Aguilera is too fat,

to saying that Angelina Jolie is too skinny,

from criticizing Jessica Simpson for gaining too much weight during her pregnancy,

to claiming that Nicole Kidman didn’t gain enough weight during her pregnancy.

Poor Kate Middleton is deemed to skinny to even get pregnant.

Recently, the media slammed Ashley Judd for having what was described as a puffy face. Speculators were saying it was due to everything from plastic surgery to alcoholism. It seems the media finally picked on the wrong woman. Ms. Judd wrote a 1500 word rebuttal to her critics that you can read in it’s entirety here

She is absolutely right to stand up for herself and for women everywhere and I largely agree with her editorial. After all , if women are focused on how we look, then we won’t notice when our rights are being eroded right in front of our noses. In the United States the law makers are very busy trying to lessen women’s rights. Just a few examples include:

 A state legislator in Georgia wants to change the legal term for victims of rape, stalking, and domestic violence to “accuser.” But victims of other less gendered crimes, like burglary, would remain “victims.”

 In South Dakota, Republicans proposed a bill that couldmake it legal to murder a doctor who provides abortion care.

 In Congress, Republicans have a bill that would let hospitals allow a woman to die rather than perform an abortion necessary to save her life.

In Wisconsin, the Governor just repealed the equal pay law.

It’s time for women to stop wondering about whether or not Beyonce’s pregnancy was real,

or what Rihanna’s new hair colour will be.

We need to focus on the things that matter before we let our vanity marginalize us out of our basic human rights.We fought long and hard to obtain these rights and I say it’s worth fighting just as hard to keep them. After all, it won’t matter what we look like if we are all forced to wear burqas.

Ashamed of my country

 

One of the things I love about Canada is that we are proud of our multiculturalism. When it comes to race, Canada is one of the more enlightened places to live. Which is why it sickens me when I see an ugly thread of racism still running through this country.

Yesterday, the Huffington Post reported on a white pride rally being held in Edmonton. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/03/24/edmonton-white-pride-rally_n_1377368.html

White Pride??? Really??? I thought we had come a lot further than this.

The only conclusion I can draw is that even the two dozen or so demonstrators were somewhat ashamed to be there as most of them were wearing masks to hide their identities. This puts me in mind of the KKK who all wear sheets and hoods. If you know what you’re doing is wrong, why do it at all? If you truly believe in what you’re rallying for then why not do it out in the open with your faces uncovered and your head held high? Your cowardice disgusts me almost as much as your white supremacist dogma. This rally comes under hate speech according to Canada’s Criminal Code and never should have been allowed to happen in the first place.

Canada has worked hard, as a nation, to avoid looking like this.

 

 

We prefer our public image to look like this.

 

 

 

 

Hamm Fisted

I’ve never seen an episode Mad Men. I can’t recall seeing Jon Hamm act in anything, but I am a recent fan. This past month Jon Hamm was quoted in an Elle UK interview as saying,

“We’re at a place where the idea of being ‘elite’ is somehow considered a negative.

“Whether it’s Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian or whoever, stupidity is certainly celebrated.

“Being a fucking idiot is a valuable commodity in this culture because you’re rewarded significantly. And incuriousness has become cool… It’s celebrated. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Bravo, Mister Hamm for speaking your mind and speaking the truth.

A few days after the quote was made public, as is to prove his point, Kim Kardashian tweeted this,

“We’re all working hard and we all have to respect one another. Calling someone who runs their own businesses, is a part of a successful TV show, produces, writes, designs, and creates, ‘stupid,’ is in my opinion careless.”

Apparently, Ms. Kardashian isn’t aware that, in a free country you don’t HAVE to respect anyone you don’t want to respect or that working hard and being intelligent do not necessarily go hand in hand.

Oh, but the drama is not yet over. When pressed, Hamm did not back down from his original statement. On a recent Today show appearance, Hamm responded to Matt Lauer’s bringing up Kardashian’s rebuttal to his comments thusly,

“I don’t think they were careless; I think they were accurate, It’s a part of our culture that I certainly don’t identify with, and I don’t really understand the appeal of it other than in a sort of car crash sensibility, and it’s not something that I partake in or enjoy, but it is what it is, and here we are.”

Again, Bravo to Mister Hamm for not backing down from his opinion just because someone took offense.

I may never see Jon Hamm in an acting role, but I will remain a fan if he continues telling it like it is and battling against the celebration of ignorance in American society.

Ironically, Paris Hilton wisely chose to keep her mouth shut on the matter.

*Note- All puns were intended.

Confession: I like men in drag

 Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Ewan McGregor in Velvet Goldmine

The other night, I watched the movie Velvet Goldmine again and it got me thinking about how much I like an androgynous man.  Velvet Goldmine hearkens back to the days of Glam Rock and features hot men like Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Ewan McGregor and Christian Bale in make up. Ironically, Eddie Izzard is one of the few stars in the movie not wearing make up.

I began to notice men in the 1970’s, when rock stars like David Bowie, Marc Bolan and the New York Dolls were popular. It was the days of men with long hair, glitter eye shadow and tarty lipstick wearing flashy clothes and it made a big impression on me. These men with their blatant gender bending were so much sexier than the average Jock type to me. They were rebelling against the traditional male uniform. They were bravely flouting convention in an in your face way that was hard for me to resist. You see, I also have a rebellious spirit and a keen fashion sense and I related to these men, who I saw as so much more manly than the Jocks or the Suits. These men were breaking new ground, they were leaders. They were the new Alpha Male in all of their peacock feathered splendor.

 

Marc Bolan of T Rex

The New York Dolls

David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust

Then there was Tim Curry in the Rocky Horror pictures show licking his shiny red lips with a naughty, mischievous glint in his eye and singing “Give yourself over to absolute pleasure”. It didn’t matter that he was into both women and men, in fact that was a large part of the lure for me. He was unabashedly crashing through sexual boundaries.

 

Tim Curry in the Rocky Horror Picture Show

Since those days there have been very few examples of in your face male androgyny. In the 1980’s, Prince filled that role. At once, both masculine, feminine and oozing sex from every pore, Prince was my fantasy in those days.

 

Prince, from the Lovesexy Album cover

In the 1990’s Marilyn Manson took androgyny to a much darker and more Gothic place with his flawlessly painted face and very masculine voice. he merged male and female into one hot package.

 

Marilyn Manson

Currently, the most famous example is the aforementioned Eddie Izzard who has been quoted as saying, “Women wear what they want and so do I”. That attitude is irresistible to me.

 

Eddie Izzard, in all his glory.

Androgyny isn’t just dressing in drag. It’s a mindset. It’s a lifestyle. It’s sexy as hell.

Confession: I love being alone

I am single. It’s not sad. It’s not anything to be pitied. I love being single. More than that, I love being alone. I don’t understand why it is that people think this is such a horrible fate. When I am asked if I’m married and the person hears the answer is no, the response is invariably something along the lines of, “Well, don’t worry, you’ll find someone.” I have news for you. I’m not worried, and even more radically, I don’t want to find someone.

No I am not depressed. No I am not lonely. No I am not bitter. No I don’t sit around all day crying. I am living MY life the way I PREFER to live it… by myself.

I like only taking care of myself. I like a life without arguments or compromises. I like doing what I want to do when I want to do it. I like travelling alone. I like going to the movies alone. I even like eating at a restaurant alone.

I have tried marriage. It doesn’t work for me. Before you ask, ‘What about love?’  That’s what my family is for. I hear you thinking, ‘What do you do about sex?’ Not that it’s any of your business, but I prefer doing that alone too. (at least I know the job will be done well). As for companionship, I have relatively no need for company… other people just mess things up. Conversation is wonderful when it’s intelligent and productive, which, sadly, is rare and preferably done over the phone or online.

For me being alone does not equate to being lonely. Being alone equates to being free.

But Off

 

I am sick and tired of people starting sentences with things like I hate to say it, but… or I’m not a racist, but… or You know I love women, but…

If you hate to say it, don’t say it. I suspect what you’re really saying when you say things like, “I hate to say I told you so, but” Is “I love to say I told you so” In fact it makes me think you love to say it this much.

 

If you start your sentence with “I’m not a racist, but” it just makes me 100% positive that the next thing to come out of your mouth will be the most racist thing I have ever heard and will make me think that this guy is your new best friend.

When you say, “You know I love women, but” my hands will involuntarily ball up into fists, because I know that the only thing that can follow that lead in is  something that will make me want to punch you in your sexist face. I know that what you are about to say will be the verbal equivalent of this image.

I guess the point I’m trying to make with all of this is, you are not fooling anyone by cloaking your smugness, racism or sexism in a denial followed by the word BUT.