Robert Paterson's Weblog

The Joy and Sadness of Summer

It's great to be alive isn't it and to have a great partner. But as July ends and summer peaks, I cannot help feeling the approach of winter and also the winter of our lives as we get older. When I was 20 summers were "Endless" and so was life. Now they are both so precious. Precious because I know how short they both are.

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Why I have not been blogging recently

One of the most important reasons that we moved to Quebec has been to be able to see our family. We have had 3 weeks of full on family that is still ongoing. 

I am also working at dawn on 2 books - one non fiction - and a health project. More on all of this later. But for the first time in more than 10 years I just don't have the energy or time to be a regular poster.

So enjoy the break and see you later this summer.

 

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An Iconic Memory of our Daughter - The Fairy Liquid Girl of her Time

 

In the UK - once a year a child is chosen to be the Fairy Liquid Child - now they have boys! Here is Hope our daughter who has a girl the same age as her in this ad. Nearly 30 years ago - how time flies.

Here she is with her 2 children now.

 

What do PM Harper, PM Morsi, Gov Perry & PM Erdogan all have in common?

They all are very religious.

This religiosity is expressed in their self assurance that God is on their side and that what they believe is not only a good idea but is THE only idea. It means that those who do not support them are bad people. It means that even a slight majority is a sign of God's will to enable them to give the ungodly the right things. It means that any compromise is a sin.

What they therefore also have in common is that they use the ballot box as an excuse. Once elected, they have a duty to impose God's will. They have a duty to engineer the right electoral result.

It means that they are hijacking the ideals of democracy.

What is happening as a consequence is that the mass of people who do not hear God talking to them, are getting pissed off.

So far in the US this has lead only to a filibuster. In Canada, only to sad attempts to use the law. 

But in Turkey and in Egypt the less religious are revolting. It is no longer a given that the nation state will end up as a theocracy. In both nations the Army will likely step in - ironically to save democracy.

On this anniversary of Gettysburg, the cultural divide in the US is as stark as it was at the beginning of the civil war. The irony is that the Founding Fathers had looked at 200 years of religious war in Europe as their reason for removing religion from the political process.

How long will the non religious in the US stand by? As I have said before, in the US the Religious, or Traditionals, have aligned themselves with the Corporate Elite. In the US they have used "terror" as the excuse to create the power of a police state.

In the US this has meant that most of the forces of innovation have been shut down. It has meant that issues like climate change have not been acted upon. 

Canada has been transformed in 10 years from being a beacon of good global citizenship to being a lap dog of the corporate elite.

There are powerful forces in play.

Will the "Sleeper Awake" in the US and in Canada?

My sense is that what is going on in Turkey and Egypt will have a global impact. More and more people will see the irony in the US and in Canada.

 

 

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