Reflections of an Old Man

Watching a video of Imperial Rome reminded me of an experience I had visiting Singapore in 1971. Staying overnight in a modern hotel on the outskirts of the downtown, I ventured into the heart of the old city where narrow cobblestone streets had an open sewer running down the middle. In fact, if you approached the downtown from downwind, you could smell it a mile away. Eventually you get used to it but the initial impact is quite powerful. And so it was in Imperial Rome, a city with some 1 million people, many of whom lived in poverty and squalor. A hive of activity and breeding ground for all manner of infectious diseases. On the other side of the ledger, I lived in the City of Baghdad in 1961 where dry heat day temperatures in the summer ranged between 40 and 50 degrees Celsius. It did not have open sewers (the water would likely have evaporated) but the smell was so different, and not unpleasant, that I experienced it in my dreams long after having returned to Norway.

Since time immemorial it has been the practice of a minority to sow the seeds of suspicion and fear of “other” in populations they wish to control and dominate. They identify with “us” vs “them” that are demonized and dehumanized for the purposes of subjugation. That happened to the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island when hordes of settlers arrived from Europe and ideology was used to justify their forced removal from their lands. On a different scale, when both sides are more equally matched in terms of power to wage war, power groups on both sides of the issues will try to mobilize their populations using the same techniques. Media control is essential for this strategy to succeed. That’s exactly what has happened in Ukraine which has now become a punching ball between the Western Empire and the Russian Empire.

“Our Father who art in Heaven...” So goes the traditional Lord’s Prayer in Christianity and I believe that it has its origins in a time when the sun (Sol) was considered to be the supreme being in our world. Sol can literally be seen in the heavens as he marches across the sky, is reborn every morning and creates the day which makes our lives possible. When we die we are purposely laid to rest facing the east and Sol’s re-emergence, in order for us to be reborn into the afterlife. I have come across plenty of anecdotal evidence that Sol was universally worshipped by peoples all over the world in ancient times, especially here on Turtle Island where the Sundance was a very important event connecting native peoples to a mighty power. For example, the indigenous name of the Medicine River in my area was “Sundance River”, changed by the colonial authorities. Question: Why was Sol considered to be so powerful? I mean, he is there every morning, seemingly unchanged. Answer: That has not alw...

The prevailing view in the political power structure of Russia is that it is faced with an existential crisis where an external enemy is intent on obliterating it and install a puppet replacement regime. And they are exactly right because that is the stated aim of Western Empire politicians, including Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly who, along with colleagues in cabinet, never bothered to ask Canadians whether they agreed or not. Putin, who represents a country with an imperial past and similar aspirations for the future, sees the Western Empire as a bully with a set of ‘values’ completely antithetical to his own. And he has managed to persuade a lot of Russians to feel likewise. Very likely, the only way the war in Ukraine will end, is if the Western Empire concedes to Russia the territories it has under control at this time, including Crimea and the eastern areas. From an intellectual perspective, Putin sees the world as a multipolar place, with several powers, including Russi...

From the Canadian Encyclopedia: “In the 19th and early 20th centuries, public health was concerned with quarantine measures and emphasized improved sanitation and vaccination campaigns that were initiated in an attempt to control major infectious diseases.” The creation of special agencies concerned with public health followed and officers of these agencies were given special powers to issue public health orders in regards to regulating public behaviour. Seems to make sense, but a problem arose during the Covid pandemic which has its roots in the professional backgrounds of most of the people working in public health agencies: The higher echelons are doctors and nurses that have emigrated from the sick care system and so have brought their attitudes and beliefs with them into their new jobs. Their preoccupation as public health operatives therefore became the preservation of the sick care system as we understand it, i.e. overcrowded hospitals. The overall health of the public became a ...

I live in a 100 acre wood, 20 of which belong to me and 16 acres being a municipal reserve set off for public use. The surrounding fields are mostly used for hay cropping by local farmers. Having retired from 30 years of raising German Shepherds, and only retaining three dogs as pets, my place in the bush has become decidedly more quiet of late, a fact not lost on the local deer hanging around. In the summer of 2021 I created about 1.5 kilometres of track through my bush, wide enough for my truck, in order to access standing dead trees for winter firewood, another fact not lost on the local deer. This year the farmer’s field to the east also happened to have hay bales left sitting on the ground until the end of November, which the local deer really appreciated. Result: 20 acres of deer trampled snow and surrounding roads impregnated with hunters’ truck tire marks, and a shot into my yard to top it all off. Anyway, the deer using my property are pretty happy, judging from them still han...

Reportedly. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to spend a week in Jamaica with his family, compliments of the Royal Canadian Air Force (that is us, taxpayers), skipping all the nasty weather Canadians and Americans are having to put up with, including power outages, untrafficable roads and grounded aircraft. This is perfectly in line with previous behaviour, like ignoring the first Indigenous Truth and Reconciliation Day on September 30, 2021, going surfing at Tofino on Vancouver Island instead. And that’s only one in a long list of behaviours indicating his self centred behaviour and indifference to others. His ego likely took a huge hit when his minders persuaded him to go into hiding in a cottage in the woods as the Freedom convoy approached Ottawa back in February. At that time he became the laughing stock of better than half of all Canadians. (Reminds me of the time when Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser appeared in the lobby of a Memphis, Tennessee hotel in his ...