Reflections of an Old Man

The sudden drop off in registered COVID infections in Britain can best be explained by infected people not seeking medical attention, I believe. People are getting sick and tired of being dictated to by government officials and asked to isolate at great personal cost. So, is they feel off color, they just don't tell anybody and keep going. That means that actual virus spread is a lot higher than suggested by official figures and will likely only be detected when a 'bloom of virus' occurs. So, the critter from inner space keeps outsmarting us at every corner. Here in Alberta the prevailing attitude is: "Because I'm bigger than you, you don't count for anything" : ) We shall see.

Premier Jason Kenney has been trying to wish away COVID for quite some time now and is interpreting the lull in infections detected during the summer as an excuse to bolster his fantasies. To that end, I suspect a lot of pressure has been put on Alberta's Chief Officer of Health, Deana Hinshaw, to ease restrictions and pretend that COVID is evolving into another flu like disease we just have to live with. Evidence is now emerging from across the world that nothing could be further from the truth, as COVID DELTA is smiling benevolently at its future victims, and looking to spawn ever new variants in order to intensify this attack from inner space. I feel sorry for Dr. Hinshaw as she is being made a scapegoat for bad decision making behind the scene.

The Alberta UCP government under the leadership of Jason Kenney and a small clique of insiders has committed the age old political sin of becoming arrogant in their newly established political silo of 'we know best'. They are blissfully unaware of the political significance of their mistakes to date, including failed coal policy, education policy and pushing their old wheelbarrow of reduced health care system spending by punishing front line workers. Right from the outset the "United Conservative Party" was formed by a coalition of disenchanted conservative groups with little glue holding them together, other than wanting to get rid of Rachel Notley and her NDP government. Now, the pandemic has created serious rifts within the UCP, in contrast to Notley's party, where unity is strong with a healthy warchest to boot. In the 2015 provincial election, Notley and her party unexpectedly won government because Albertans were desperate to get rid of the Progressive Cons

It is suggested on mainstream media that anyone with concerns about the spread of Islam in the western world suffers from some kind of 'phobia'. Any half serious student of history cannot fail to notice past conflicts between Christianity and Islam and the ramifications that has had for societies of the day. Perhaps the problem lies in the nature of organized religions? Do we really need them?

There have been reported sightings of unidentified flying objects for years and the general assumption has been that they may originate from outer space somewhere, likely because they are observed in-flight. There are also verified observations of these things disappearing into the ocean, rather than into space, after a recorded flight. That suggests to me that they may have their origins there, in inner space, rather than coming from somewhere amongst the stars. Is it possible that some kind of superior life emerged in the oceans of Earth, which is now taking an interest in what happens on land, not unlike us exploring the oceans from our land based vantage point? Or, that the oceans have been chosen as a suitable observation platform by some extra terrestrial intelligence, from which to operate with impunity? Anyway, this may be a good reason for focusing our explorations on inner space, rather than just what happens above our heads.

If 4 million people had been killed by an alien invasion from outer space these last 18 months, there would likely be a state of pandemonium on Earth today. Doomsday prophets would be having a heyday. Instead we are now marching into the arms of our new enemy from inner space by trying to ignore him until he gathers enough strength to scare us again. That is how COVID 'waves' are created, by way of the interaction between ourselves and the virus. And COVID is winning, while we keep our heads in the sand, hoping for the illusory 'herd immunity'. New, more potent variants are continually emerging from areas of high infection rates, as the virus adapts to our feeble countermeasures. I believe Africa will prove to be the source of even more potent variants in the future, due to the lack of protection for local people.

The Roman Empire existed for a very long time in various forms, and in many ways resemble the arrangement that prevails in the western world today. How did they keep it together, with multitudes of factions competing with each other for power? One way was through the fostering of sports activities of many kinds, including blood sports, etc. We are now learning, the hard way, about what happens when sports go on the backburner during a pandemic, allowing animosities between opposing groups to grow and find release in very negative ways in the absence of organized sports. This medium that I am now using has proven itself to be an excellent amplifier of this phenomenon. The Romans had it figured out: "Keep 'em busy and preoccupied so we can get on with the business of running the show!" And that is what will likely happen as things settle down with the ongoing pandemic in the background. How so? Because the people who effectively run the Western Empire of today are the desce

. George Orwell (Eric Blair), the famous author of "Animal Farm" and "1984", among other works, used to work in the British Imperial Civil Service during his early years, as a policeman in Burma, as I recall. A statement he made in reflecting upon that time in his life, when a local person was executed for something he had done, has stuck with me: "A universe ceased to exist" Over the years, that statement has given me pause for reflection on many a time, especially following a car accident in 2011 when I was knocked out cold for about half an hour and took some time to realize where I was and what had happened. One way to 'look' at things is as follows: What we perceive, feel and understand is a product of our material bodily structure and the many forces acting upon same. 'The Universe' is an aggregate of the above and give us a sense of who and what we are within the grander scheme of things. Now, let's put ourselves into the shell

"Being a politician ain't all it's cracked up to be". That sentiment has probably been voiced by more than one outgoing politician. The upside of being a politician happens when things are going well in the community/society you represent. You can get on your soapbox and claim credit for what is happening and expect a number of feeble minded people to believe you. One the other hand, however, you are made the scapegoat for when things are going off the rails and pelted with rotten words. After some time in office, you are invariably discarded in favor of some other chest beating wannabe. So, what's in it for you, at the end of the day? A good solid pension, that's what. You have to hand it to politicians, they have figured out how to make it all worthwhile!

I see Canada as a colonial construct, initially based on fur trading between Indigenous people and Europeans. Later, with the coming of the railways and the attendant influx of settlers, Indigenous people were ethnically cleansed from their landscape to make room for agricultural settlement under the guidance of railway companies and with the blessing of the government in Ottawa. Life was made impossible for the previous trading partners as the bison herds were exterminated leading to the internment of people who no longer had a means of generating an income for themselves. Vain, half hearted attempts were made to turn them into agriculturalists without the landbase to make it economically possible. The outcome was entirely predictable. How do we move on? What we all have in common, even though we don't like each other very much, is a magnificent landscape with a wealth of natural resources. So, we have to figure out how to share the cake equitably and enjoy and preserve what we ha