Hello My Name Is...

Picture yourself at a party standing next to a man like Henry Morgentaler, chatting away about various topics and divulging in the cocktail party lingo that one might often run into during such events. Now, Stephen Harper and Tony Clement break through a window, throw a case of beer in the centre of the room and start verbally teasing everyone in the room.

You may be wondering where the point to this random scenario comes in and I sadly must admit there really is no clear point at all. However, I can imagine you smiled when the thought of good ol Steve came into your head wearing an outlandish party outfit and screaming: "Party on the peoples money! Partaaaaaay on the peoples monaaaaaay!"

The sad reality is that this scene isn't to far from the truth when looking at the current affairs in Canadian politics. We have a Toronto mayor raiding buffets and smoking as much crack as the street can provide, while a Conservative government continues to embarrass itself with constant examples of unprofessionalism that should embarrass us all as Canadians. 

it is Friday night and instead of reading this you should be preparing to go out and have a great time, the work week has come to an end for the majority of us and while we still have to pay our way through life via hard labour or the distant dream of the lottery, we can relax as we know that others have their meal paid for in full and like our good friend Mr. Duffy has shown...when your in a pinch...it's alright to get a little help from your friends.

Out of respect to the creator, this image will remain until I get enough emails to remove it (like 1000) or a lawyer comes to my door! A piece of genius!

The bank of Canada has a problem with this excellent piece of art! So, being good Canadians, I want you all to copy this image and print it off, give it to your friends, throw it to the impoverished in the street or just donate it to your local church!

As much fun as the party is, there is always a time where it has to come to an end and everyone has to look up and realize...Monday is coming!

So, I wish you all a great Friday night, Saturday morning and know that while you may act silly, drink like a fish or eat at a buffet, your probably still acting more mature than the elected officials currently running our government!!!!

Until Next Time! 

Hahahaha Clement Hahahahaha...Nice Joke!

Tony Clement to bring in performance reviews for public sector employees. "if your not performing, prepare to be out."

What a joke!

I wonder if Tony Clement has some type of performance review that dictates if he keeps his job? Oh yes, I believe he does...it is called an election...and looking at the recent findings for the 2011 Conservative victory, we know how he and his party handles their performance reviews, with thieving, nontransparent and corrupt tactics!

I find it so funny and so embarrassing that an individual who proudly calls himself a supporter of Stephen Harper can even think of further lamenting our hard working public sector employees, when he barely has the moral ground to call himself a public servant.

For the sake of the people and for those who dedicate themselves to work on behalf of the government and Canadian people, how about Tony Clement begin with an audit of his own party and introduce mandatory income reductions based on employment violations. If your skirting the system and not fulfilling the promise you have made to those you serve, you should be punished by losing the income that said population provides to you.

This entire proposition is another example of Harper's overall union bashing, worker submission and pro manager stance. Of course the top public office is safe from such reviews, but lets make it harder for the unionized employees who serve Canadians day in and out.

This government has burnt out and needs to go. We as a collective people need to show it the door and bring in someone who is not only going to support the many over the few, but also introduce a more productive Canada through innovation and support, not fear and a loss in the quality of life this beautiful country is famous for!

Until Next Time!

Oh Poor Rob Ford...Oh Poor Toronto Buffets!!!!

While many people are still working on their beach bodies and taking care to eat right and live healthy, poor Rob Ford is suffering as a stress filled wretched soul! I can only imagine how awkward and embarrassed Rob Ford must be feeling with all of this media buzz and gossip about him, why...with all of this attention and fame you would think the guy was the mayor of Toronto or something...Being an individual with a heavier set, I understand that Rob Ford must be eating his stress like crazy, I mean realistically he cannot go to anyone and talk about the conspiracy regarding his "alleged" crack use.

You may be wondering why I have waited until now to finally release an entry on the scandal that seems to have been with us for such a while? Well, it is exactly because of this that I have decided to put forth my opinion. I cannot believe the media frenzy that has been created over an as of yet seen video showing the mayor of Toronto smoking something. I mean, if anything could help strengthen "Ford Nation" even more and bring his followers and supporters together, this has got to be it. While many believe they are exposing a truth about Ford that will ultimately ruin him, I sit here and scratch my head. Without proper proof and with all of the attention put on Ford, I can only see him becoming stronger after this controversy, especially if he is able to attain said video and conceal it, if he has not already. I would even go as far as to speculate that Ford staged this little stunt himself, if not to shake things up and put the attention back on himself, maybe to get the chance to really have the media act like a fool while they attempt to crucify him.

All of this stress for poor mayor Rob Ford and more importantly all of this stress for the various buffet style restaurants within his reach. I can only imagine how much stress eating is going on while Ford processes all of this material. How a man who dedicated himself to fight the gravy train, is now consuming it along with various types of potatoes, beef and mixed veggies. 

  What worries me more however is this supposed drug dealer who speaks a language other than English and wants $200,000 Canadian dollars for this 5 minute clip of Ford and a pipe. The fact that we are willing to pay such an individual this type of money for such material is more of an indicator of the society we live in than it is a bashing of Rob Ford. I wonder...if said individual was a convicted child molester or outspoken supporter of fundamentalism...would we be so eager to raise the funds for the same material? Or is a drug dealer more credible in Toronto as an informant? We as a collective Ford bashing society have for sure been watching to many movies.

Look what I can dood for Toronto!

I will keep this entry short, but I want to leave you all with this warning, because this media fiasco not only has the potential to tell us what we already know about Ford, but also leave a social precedent that could harm others.

Rob Ford is a horrible mayor, this is common fact and if you disagree with me than you have that right, but those who support me in this opinion need to really consider the important boundaries regarding the Ford video. If Ford did in fact smoke crack out of a pipe and not mention it to anyone, do we condemn him and further label others who suffer from this addiction or do we extend a helping hand and provide assistance?

Think about this before you jump to pay a delinquent of society $200,000 just because you think your mayor is an asshole. 

Until Next Time!

Someone Always Has To Die...

It has been a pretty busy week so far and this beautiful weather has been a much needed treat(ment) for the woes of working a stressful job and trying to get by. Fortunate for me, but unfortunately for 500 other people, there will no longer be good and bad days, nice weather or poor, just silence. My heart breaks to find out that the death toll from the building collapse in Bangladesh has reached 500 victims, because these deaths were not only avoidable, but also a sign of the times we live in.

One expert went into detail about how the workers should have formed a union, since under their country's law unions are legal and it is their right. This same expert then went on to discuss with the CBC host about how the government is calling this a tragic "accident" and how workers rights need to be addressed and fought for in the garment industry.

While many may see this generalized excerpt as proper given the situation, I cannot sit back and accept such nonsense. I agree with many of the points that the media has made regarding this unfortunate event, but so much has been missed and unfortunately it is going to take more than just Joe Fresh and Galan Weston to institute proper change.

One of the main arguments I have seen come out of this entire incident is that not only do companies need to police their garment factories more, but also support a union mentality in order to protect workers.

What a joke!

It does not take much to see evidence of continued union bashing in workplaces found in Canada and you think companies are honestly going to take the time and money in ensuring workers overseas have better conditions!?

I have worked in jobs where management has made every effort possible to have security and certain employees keep an ear out for any talk of unions at all. Upon hearing of any union conversation, these individuals would report the workers and they would be terminated immediately for "poor performance". Looking at the sweatshops used to provide companies with cheap clothing and record profits, workers are treated no different than the sewing machines they operate. They are expected to come into work daily, perform their duties to the company and ask no questions as their jobs are sacred compared to the alternative. We may look at the factory that has collapsed and state that we would never work there, but those workers were most likely not their to work either, they were there to support families, to feed children and to attain some form of financial freedom in a system that doesn't give them the time of day.

How can companies police their factories, when the level of corruption and deception by the government and companies themselves work as the foundation to this system?

I can tell you with utmost confidence that the only policing going on in that factory was between management against the workers. A no tolerance attitude in an environment that only focuses on the bottom line.  These workers were told to get back to work immediately after an alarm had just gone off stating something was wrong and out of fear more than anything else, they did just that and ended up paying the ultimate price.

How can we ensure a proper and ethical direction for our country, when we as people indirectly condone such barbaric practices? All the while, the only winners in this scenario are the clothing companies themselves, because as I have stated in previous entries, the workers destroy themselves on a daily basis making quotas, while the ignorant consumers in Canada and the United States bankrupt themselves buying the hottest fashion at highly inflated prices.

As television brought the Vietnam war into the households of Americans and opened their eyes, so to must the countless examples shown to us about the products we buy. The consumer has power in the market, but we as people, not consumers, need to start raising our voices and giving a damn. If we allow this kind of stupidity to continue guiding us in our lives, how long before we allow such acts to happen on our own soil?

I want you to imagine your child or close friend if you have no children, think about how much you care about them and then imagine their misfortune if they were forced to work in one of these garment factories and ultimately ended up lying among other bodies, because their manager didn't care about them, only about that imaginary bullshit called the "bottom line"?

We need to start removing the bottom line from our vocabularies and begin adding more accurate terms like human beings, quality and unity. The collapse in Bangladesh is not the first incident where people have died needlessly for the consumer, it happens here and it will continue to happen until people start to speak up.

We as people should not have to be constantly reminded by death when something isn't right. We are free persons, educated persons and we all have hearts, all the tools needed to know when something is wrong and more importantly know when to act. Canadians know the importance of equality and safety in the workplace and just because we require the labour of other nationalities to manufacture our products, it doesn't mean we ignore their safety.

A Vietnamese proverb that was told to me once by an NDP MPP:

"When you bite into a delicious fruit, remember the person who planted the tree."


Until Next Time...