The Israeli airforce bombed Gaza yesterday.  I read about how cleverly they chose their targets.  What about their timing?  Palestinian children were making their way home from school all over the Gaza when it happened.  I also read that after a target was hit once, a bomber returned to hit it again, while rescue workers were attempting to assist anyone who had survived.

Before I continue, may I remind you that the people of Gaza have been illegally occupied by the state of Israel since 1967 – denied peace, economy, energy, food, medicine, (etc!). Babies have been born, grown, terrorized, imprisoned, beaten, bombed and murdered in Gaza for over forty years.  This is a wide open human wound.  Please don’t look away; look closer.

U.S. funded Israeli military forces took to the air over Gaza again today while I spent my afternoon with a big crowd of lovely people with a purpose.

This was interesting … “…THEY are TAUGHT TO KILL.”.  Who isn’t these days? It is important to point out that this is the only evidence I could find in my photo journal of the tiny gaggle of pro-killing-children-in-defense-of-Israel (a.k.a. COUNTER) protesters.

Let me put this another way: if you can’t have your beloved state of Israel without turning millions of people into refugees (on their own land) and/or displacing / bombing / starving / torturing / murdering them, indiscriminately, beyond disproportionately, then you should consider that it isn’t worth having, such as it is. (Canadians – take note: think about the Indian Act … now think again.)

We were gathered in front of the Israeli consulate, 180 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Canada… For whatever reason, the crowd I had joined kept growing while the one across the street remained a small, angry, static clot/mob which suddenly exited stage west – cold feet?  The ever increasing crowd of supporters of the people of Gaza suddenly overflowed their banks, occupying both sides of the street.  It was a beautiful, subtle, colourful bit of human poetry…

One gentleman I spoke to told me that as far as he knows, the consulate is on the seventh floor – he told me that the building’s elevators don’t stop on the seventh floor without special prearrangement.

We marched south, to the U.S. consulate …

I had met a precious young woman called Dua.  Her name means ‘prayer’ in Arabic.  We handed out leaflets together, moved with the crowd, smiled, discussed the mystery of hate and the miracle of love.  She sang to me. Go with God, Dua.  Peace be upon you and your family and everyone you love.

I fell in love with this guy instantly.  How could you not?!

He, possibly inspired by recent events at a press conference which needs no link, inspired others …

My toes have never been so warm on the concrete in December…

“Thank you, sweetheart.”
Ma’ salaam.

PREDICTION: landslide.

If I try to imagine how long it has taken and at what cost it has come about, that a black citizen of America should rise to the post of POTUS, I feel
gutted.

They called him a socialist and a muslim – as if those were, by definition – bad things.  They called him a terrorist.  Forgive them, even if they know exactly what they’re doing…?  Well… free to ride a bicycle.  Free to run for president – and win.

The first thing I heard by way of a result was the Dixville notch count in New Hampshire.  It’s long been the tradition in the tiny precinct of Dixville to close the polls at 12 a.m. on Election Day and count the ballots.  Dixville and the nearby polling station in the town of Hart’s Location combine their electoral efforts and proudly proclaim a 100% voter turn-out since 1948.  The first voters in the country to release their results set the tone for later in the evening: 32 for Obama and 16 for McCain (2 write-in votes for Ross Perot and none for Ralph Nader).

I don’t know about you, but … I was worried about these dang things …!
YIKES!   (Then again, I’m a Canadian, so… you can imagine why I would.)

Barrack Hussain Obama is the president-elect of The United States of America.

Maybe, just maybe, the crowd is bullet-proof.

The real question and what remains to be seen is: HOW FREE is HE?

“The most powerful force possessed by the individual citizen is her own government… Government is the only organized mechanism that makes possible that level of shared disinterest known as the public good. Without this greater interest, the individual is reduced to a lesser, narrower being limited to immediate needs.” – John Ralston Saul

post mortem (two things):

Part 1-  Lowest Voter-turnout in Canadian History

42% of eligible voters did not cast a ballot.  Roughly TEN MILLION Canadians endowed with a right to civic engagement and democratic power over their own governance willfully abandoned their responsibility to take part in this federal election.  Saul comes right out with it and calls us “lesser, narrower being(s) limited to immediate needs”.  I think Saul would say we are all reduced to this when sufficient numbers abstain from the greater interest as a way of life.  I submit to you that 10 million is sufficient.

I’ll *try* to express myself on this matter with great compassion and tenderness. Clearly, these 10 million fellow citizens count many among them whom are such painfully delicate flowers of such a sensitive and simple nature that they cannot confront the nakedness of their individual and collective ass-wipery directly.

Whenever queried about their practice of enlightened disinterest they will say things like, ‘i was working late/i’m super-busy’ or ‘the candidates all suck’ and ‘their platforms are stoopid’ as well as ‘i wouldn’t feel right about voting cuz i don’t pay much attention to that stuff’.  Also revealing is this precious insight from a young fella crowing about his community-based activism and extra-rational voting philosophy, [I don't agree with everything any of them say, soooo ...].  wOw… wTf?

*Try* to understand this (speaking directly now to the cast of millions whose epic failure to combine reason with action has had such a profound influence on what has happened/is happening/will happen): listen up.  It is called RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT for a reason.  WE are responsible, by which I mean YOU and ME.

If you -think/believe/suspect/have heard/have a funny feeling- that Stephen Harper may not RULE OVER US with the best interests of all Canadians uppermost in his heart and mind, AND you did not vote, know this:

Not voting MEANS you voted for Harper.  Got it?  Good job, (@$$h*le).  Alienation is a tasty word you use to deflect the fact that you are a lazy, ignorant coward, without defence or logic, setting fire to your real and enviable responsibility to govern with the reasoned defiance of a two year old who has decided to forego potty-training, preferring to defecate in his pants instead.

If you are a woman, may I remind you – you were not given the right to vote in this country.  Your great-grandmothers had to organize and WORK for it.  They demanded it.  Inuit Canadians were barred from voting until 1953.  Registered Indians living on reservations were disqualified from voting UNLESS they were willing to give up their status as First Nations people until 1960.  Nice, eh?  When the seed of modern Canadian nationhood was first planted in 1867, the right to vote was restricted to some white men.  Think about that.  pssst!  Hint! Life isn’t always *fair*…sometimes you have to get up, get involved and HELP OUT!

Here’s what I think and I KNOW my Dad would agree 111%; Elizabeth May is a goddess of triumph and determination compared to you.  Stephan Dion is a warrior genius of principle and courage compared to you. YOU are the one who SUCKS! YOUR platform is STOOPID!  You should be ashamed of yourself. You’re wandering around with your head jammed so far up your own rectum, you cannot hear how ridiculous you sound.  It’s got to be a doozy of a feedback loop, I agree. Believe it or not – I even empathize. Snap out of it.

We honestly can’t say what we might accomplish with true democratic engagement and full voter participation.  Why?  We’ve never had the chance to try it, dammit!!  In the first place, this appalling state of affairs could be pinned on elistism, racism, sexism and enforced policies of genocide, exclusion and isolation as dictated by some white men.

What shall we say now, eh? What’s that? Oh. Awwwwwwwwwwwww… your vote ‘doesn’t count’? I’m bleeding for you, really. Hey! I’ve got an idea!  You could get your @$$ off the couch – and make it count!!

If you know how to read critically, it is your obligation to take charge of your education.  Visit a public library.  Google is your friend.  If you don’t know how to read critically, you need to learn.  It’s that simple.  When opportunities arise for you to participate in your government you will then be prepared and well-equipped to vote, at the very least.  You may even become inspired to make a deeper commitment to the process and progress of Canadian society by proposing and advancing clever solutions to the very real flaws in our first-past-the-post electoral system.

DO NOT – I repeat – do not wait for some fantastic assembly of what you deem *perfect candidates *(they being in complete harmonic accord with you in all things) before condescending from your lofty perch to join us in our silly little democratic election thingy.  How about a little co-operation and consensus building?  A few episodes of Sesame Street and a cursory study of the political structure of The Iroquois Confederacy may fill in the widest gaps for those who are less familiar with these practices. The general idea is that we each work toward identification with the basic welfare of our neighbours as equal to and in common with our own.  We work constructively and peaceably with others to build a society in which we are all free, ready, willing and able to be, love, learn, think, speak, share, pray, participate and contribute.  As this is not yet the case, we all have much work to do.

Part 2 – Quebec

We should plant a sugar maple for each Quebecer who voted for the Bloc Quebecois; thank you for voting against Harper.  The one federal party with the least avowed interest in the future of Canada delivered the most effective opposition to a Harper majority, thereby insuring that a future for Canada *may* still exist.

Oh, irony.