Monday, November 30, 2009

An open letter to President Obama from Michael Moore...







The following is an open letter to President Obama from filmmaker/social activist Michael Moore. I felt I would be remiss if I didn't share it with you:


An Open Letter to President Obama from Michael Moore

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Dear President Obama,

Do you really want to be the new "war president"? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they've always heard is true -- that all politicians are alike. I simply can't believe you're about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn't so.

It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That's the way General Washington insisted it must be. That's what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade China. "You're fired!," said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in' hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).

So now you feel backed into a corner. 30 years ago this past Thursday (Thanksgiving) the Soviet generals had a cool idea -- "Let's invade Afghanistan!" Well, that turned out to be the final nail in the USSR coffin.

There's a reason they don't call Afghanistan the "Garden State" (though they probably should, seeing how the corrupt President Karzai, whom we back, has his brother in the heroin trade raising poppies). Afghanistan's nickname is the "Graveyard of Empires." If you don't believe it, give the British a call. I'd have you call Genghis Khan but I lost his number. I do have Gorbachev's number though. It's + 41 22 789 1662. I'm sure he could give you an earful about the historic blunder you're about to commit.

With our economic collapse still in full swing and our precious young men and women being sacrificed on the altar of arrogance and greed, the breakdown of this great civilization we call America will head, full throttle, into oblivion if you become the "war president." Empires never think the end is near, until the end is here. Empires think that more evil will force the heathens to toe the line -- and yet it never works. The heathens usually tear them to shreds.

Choose carefully, President Obama. You of all people know that it doesn't have to be this way. You still have a few hours to listen to your heart, and your own clear thinking. You know that nothing good can come from sending more troops halfway around the world to a place neither you nor they understand, to achieve an objective that neither you nor they understand, in a country that does not want us there. You can feel it in your bones.

I know you know that there are LESS than a hundred al-Qaeda left in Afghanistan! A hundred thousand troops trying to crush a hundred guys living in caves? Are you serious? Have you drunk Bush's Kool-Aid? I refuse to believe it.

Your potential decision to expand the war (while saying that you're doing it so you can "end the war") will do more to set your legacy in stone than any of the great things you've said and done in your first year. One more throwing a bone from you to the Republicans and the coalition of the hopeful and the hopeless may be gone -- and this nation will be back in the hands of the haters quicker than you can shout "tea bag!"

Choose carefully, Mr. President. Your corporate backers are going to abandon you as soon as it is clear you are a one-term president and that the nation will be safely back in the hands of the usual idiots who do their bidding. That could be Wednesday morning.

We the people still love you. We the people still have a sliver of hope. But we the people can't take it anymore. We can't take your caving in, over and over, when we elected you by a big, wide margin of millions to get in there and get the job done. What part of "landslide victory" don't you understand?

Don't be deceived into thinking that sending a few more troops into Afghanistan will make a difference, or earn you the respect of the haters. They will not stop until this country is torn asunder and every last dollar is extracted from the poor and soon-to-be poor. You could send a million troops over there and the crazy Right still wouldn't be happy. You would still be the victim of their incessant venom on hate radio and television because no matter what you do, you can't change the one thing about yourself that sends them over the edge.

The haters were not the ones who elected you, and they can't be won over by abandoning the rest of us.

President Obama, it's time to come home. Ask your neighbors in Chicago and the parents of the young men and women doing the fighting and dying if they want more billions and more troops sent to Afghanistan. Do you think they will say, "No, we don't need health care, we don't need jobs, we don't need homes. You go on ahead, Mr. President, and send our wealth and our sons and daughters overseas, 'cause we don't need them, either."

What would Martin Luther King, Jr. do? What would your grandmother do? Not send more poor people to kill other poor people who pose no threat to them, that's what they'd do. Not spend billions and trillions to wage war while American children are sleeping on the streets and standing in bread lines.

All of us that voted and prayed for you and cried the night of your victory have endured an Orwellian hell of eight years of crimes committed in our name: torture, rendition, suspension of the bill of rights, invading nations who had not attacked us, blowing up neighborhoods that Saddam "might" be in (but never was), slaughtering wedding parties in Afghanistan. We watched as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were slaughtered and tens of thousands of our brave young men and women were killed, maimed, or endured mental anguish -- the full terror of which we scarcely know.

When we elected you we didn't expect miracles. We didn't even expect much change. But we expected some. We thought you would stop the madness. Stop the killing. Stop the insane idea that men with guns can reorganize a nation that doesn't even function as a nation and never, ever has.

Stop, stop, stop! For the sake of the lives of young Americans and Afghan civilians, stop. For the sake of your presidency, hope, and the future of our nation, stop. For God's sake, stop.

Tonight we still have hope.

Tomorrow, we shall see. The ball is in your court. You DON'T have to do this. You can be a profile in courage. You can be your mother's son.

We're counting on you.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

Friday, November 27, 2009

Sarah Vaughan: Live in Tokyo


'Tis the season for all kinds of ailments. For the past two weeks I've been under the weather. Hence I've been resting and getting frustrated at my inability to go outside and enjoy the fine Ontario fall weather we've been having. Thank God for my Senniheiser headphones and my CD collection.

About three years ago I was listening to a gent on "Public Radio" who sounded like he had some sort of grand pooh-bah credentials in music. The topic was the "greatest jazz albums" that have ever been recorded. The announcer was head over wheels in in love with Sarah Vaughan and some live album that she had cut in 1973. I didn't pay much attention to the name of the album and since it was from 1973, I knew that our humble little music store in rural Ontario wouldn't stock it anyway.

This summer I walked into a book store near London,Ontario and lo and behold: The Sarah Vaughan "Live in Tokyo" album from 1973 had been re-mastered on the "Jazz Lips" label. I purchased it and believe me it was the best $34.99 I've spent in a long time.

At the risk of sounding like I'm fawning, Vaughan is the only person in the world who can sing "My Funny Valentine" and get you so hot that she makes Barry White look like a 13 year old schoolboy (I had an Elvis Costello version on a bootlegged album,and he sounded like a dick). If your significant other listens to Sarah sing "Round Midnight" and they don't want to make love to you, kick them out of your life because they have no pulse and/or crappy taste in music. Seriously, Sarah's music is powerful stuff.

After this album Vaughan continued to record, but sadly she passed away in 1990 from lung cancer. At her funeral she was eulogized by a close friend who said "She had one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century".

The friend was only half right. She had one of the most wondrous voices in all of music.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Sarah Palin scares the hell out of me too...

I love bitchy women. Any man with half a watt who denies that he loves a bitchy woman, is a liar. I don't mean whiny women who complain to their hubbies that they're tired or they're fat or that their 10 minute routine at "Curves" is killing them. I'm talking about a well heeled, intellectually gifted, self motivated woman who doesn't turn to goo at the site of a dead animal, doesn't read a book because Oprah told her to, and doesn't shake her head like a bobbing head doll every time you express an opinion on religion, sex or politics. My bride of twenty years and I may not agree on everything, but I have to respect her for all her tenacity when it comes to a difference of opinion.

When Sarah Palin first appeared in HD on my Sony Bravia, it was hard for me not to, as Jimmy Carter once put it, "commit adultery in my heart". The summer of 2008 was winding down and Republican Senator John McCain had picked Palin to be his running mate for his run to the White House. Palin had a reputation for being abrupt, direct, and well informed on environmental issues. Palin also cut a striking figure on CNN: That auburn wind whipped hair, those "Dr Melphi" glasses, the Helen like jaw, those tight fitting jackets, those red heels, and that government job in Alaska. What Canadian guy, no matter what his lot in life, wouldn't get hot at the site of Sarah?

Unfortunately I got brought down in spades once Governor Palin opened her heart shaped mouth. It all started with the infamous interview with Katie Couric in September of 2008. Couric, who is not exactly the Barbara Frum of tenacious interviewers, made Palin look like exactly what she has turned out to be: Another vapid hockey mom from Alaska.

For those of you who didn't see the interview, here is a small excerpt:



Couric basically hands Sarah her head on a platter. The woman that I thought displayed an aura of self confidence and sensual bitchiness, turned out to be an inept dunce who gave answers that would embarrass a terminated Wal Mart employee. The interviewed aired to much fanfare and the rest,as they say, is history. McCain and Palin went down in a ball of flames, Obama became a media darling, the Democrats went on to the White House, and most self respecting Republicans caught the last Amtrak out of Washington. I thought that Sarah would no longer grace the lines of resolution on my Bravia, but alas, it was not to be.

Palin has since given up her job as governor of Alaska, has "written" a book, and is taking her show in the road. Even a Grade 5 schoolgirl knows that this is a veiled bid for the White House in 2012, but Palin vehemently denies it.

Palin's book "Going Rogue", is already on most bestsellers list and she is still portraying herself as the God fearing hockey mom from Alaska. ( On her recent stop to Michigan she said to a crowd of well wishers: "Alaska is a lot like Michigan with it's huntin' and fishin' and hockey mom's")

Sarah, her buddy Rush Limbaugh, and the rest of her ilk scare the hell out of me. How can any political party worth their weight in oats take this woman seriously?

Is this the best bitchy woman the Republicans can give the voters of the US?

Sunday, November 8, 2009

The Fort Hood aftermath: This could get ugly...







I like to think I have a wide variety of friends.Although I live in rural Ontario, my civil service job allows me to meet and mingle with people all over this vast province.

One of my dearest "work" friends is a woman named Fatima.She works in my office's HR section. Fatima is " 30 something" and her story goes like this: When she was a young girl,she and her family emigrated from Moravia,Liberia. The political climate was such that a progressive Muslim family was persecuted and hog tied for showing any type of work ethic or embracing any kind of liberal view point. Hence, her family came to Canada.

Her mother and father opened a small convenience store approximately 100 kilometers north of Toronto. For those of you who unfamiliar with Central Ontario, it is an enigma: There are tall trees, small pristine lakes,and marinas that dock small vessels, Unfortunately, there is also a small group of inhabitants who see all Muslim newcomers as a threat to their sanctity and exhibit characteristics somewhat akin to the most hardened white trash racists of the southern United States.

Fatima and her family managed to deflect the racist slurs and prosper somewhat, and she ended up working in a civil service job. I got to to know her through my work, and I had the pleasure of getting to know her on a personal level. This was long after the ugly events of 9/11.

The more I got to know Fatima, the more comfortable I got asking her questions about being a Muslim. She answered patiently and projected the qualities that the prophet Mohammad felt were necessary for living a long and decent life: Compassion, empathy and charity. These are in direct contrast with what the criminal scum who call themselves the Taliban preach, namely: Murder, intolerance, and sexism. Unfortunately, it is the latter that most people in North America associate with being a Muslim. But hey, when you get your news from the "Fox Network" or "CNN", who can blame them.

I have a sinking feeling that things are going to get a little more uncomfortable for Muslims in North America.Last week a somewhat troubled, rotund, loser US Army psychiatrist went on a shooting rampage at his army base in Fort Hood, Texas. By the time this swine was finished, 13 people lay dead with scores wounded. The shooter, a Muslim of Middle Eastern descent cried:" Allah Akbar" ( God is great) before commencing the slaughter of his unarmed teammates. Within hours of the shooting, CNN and Fox were reporting the gunman's words, while trying frantically to prove a conspiracy theory that had terrorist undertones.

President Obama, to his credit, went into major damage control telling Americans that this was the cowardly act of one crazed person and not the act of a whole religious community. But by then, it was too late. The words of the shooter were burned into the psyche of every God fearing American who watched the event unfold in high definition.

I cannot imagine the heart tugging, mind numbing black pit of grief that the personnel of Fort Hood are feeling right now. To lose friends, colleagues and soul mates in this type of abhorrent act, leaves one speechless and asking for answers. The US government, the Justice Department and the US Army has vowed to bring the shooter to justice, and get the to the bottom of why this occurred.

But there is another group of people who I am feeling some empathy for: The thousands of Muslims who came to North America who had nothing to do with this atrocity. For every shell casing that hit the floor that fateful day in Fort Hood, there will be scores of Muslims who will be looked upon as complacent co-conspirators. For every time the shooters name is mentioned on cable news , there will be thousands of women in hijab's who are viewed with contempt by their co-workers. For every life that taken on that fateful day in Fort Hood , will be ten ultra conservative talk show hosts, whipping their already paranoid listeners into a frenzy and looking for the Muslim religion's collective hide. Trust me, this could get ugly before it gets better.

If only everyone involved had a friend like Fatima.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

The last bastion for male bonding..


In the 1970's there was a magazine by the name of "Oui". It was the brainchild of Bob Guccione, the publisher of "Penthouse". I could never understand why the two magazines were published by the same company. The only difference I could see was that the girls in Oui tended to be from France, while the girls featured in Penthouse to be from North America. It didn't really matter: All the girls made me hot,so I could have cared less where they were from.

While taking the time to actually read an issue of Oui, I came across an interview with Francis Giocabetti ( or some name similar to that). He was an Italian photographer of some merit and he was being asked about his home life. His answer:
"I have three daughters at home, and if I had my way I'd have three more. All men do is talk about hunting and fishing. It's all fucked up.I think women know more about life because they are the ones that bring life into the world".

As fate ( or luck ) would have it, I'm the father of three beautiful girls. As I grow older I ponder what the Italian photographer said: Women do have a profound sense of the aesthetic and my life is certainly richer because of it. However, this does not mean that I don't need a little time with my own gender now and again.

Before I go any further let me explain that I've tried to be a "sensitive new age guy " and so far I think I'm succeeding somewhat: When my daughters were born I took parental leave so my bride could pursue her career. I'm quite content to let my wife dictate how the house should be decorated. I do all the cooking for my family and actually enjoy it. I have grown to appreciate antiques. I let my middle daughter give me manicures. However, despite all these things, the testosterone in in my body seems to always seems to rise to the surface of my olive skin and I find myself agog with the overwhelming desire to watch two steroid juiced men strap leather to their hands and beat the shit out of one another in an organized mayhem called "UFC". Or go down to the local gun club and fire a couple of hundred rounds from a Sig Sauer 239 . 40 caliber handgun, all the while reveling in watching the spent casings fly out of the gas powered ejection port. Ah, the things that stir your humble author's animal instincts...

However, these desires are always fleeting and I am brought back to reality by the needs of my girls. I have though, allowed myself one male pleasure that satisfies my most primordial urges: My weekly trip to Gus the Barber in Toronto.

I discovered Gus ( the silver haired gentleman seen cutting hair in the picture above ) quite by accident. I had dropped my daughter off at dance and strolled down Bloor Street to kill some time. Gus's shop stood out amongst the Korean BBQ restaurants and wholesale electronic shops. The entrance way was marked with a red sign proclaiming : "GUS THE OTHER BARBER", with a Greek national soccer team flag draped over it.

The inside of Gus's shop sends a clear but subtle message: This shop is for men. Period. The walls are adorned with various soccer team flags from around the world. There are several pictures of Gus with various Toronto dignitaries including "Honest" Ed Mirvish, whose gauchely decorated "Honest Ed's" store sits directly across the street. Photos of wives, granddaughters, and girlfriends are proudly displayed in front of each chair, along with various newspaper articles dishing out kudos to Gus and his four other male barbers.

Although I've had this Saturday ritual for the past year, Gus has only cut my hair once. That is because Gus is a hot commodity not only for his hair cutting skills but the paternal advice that he regularly dispenses. He, like most Greek men his age, are only too willing to share their views about love, life family, law and order,and politics. And according to one regular patron: "Gus's advice is always good". All advice is dispensed with a subtle laugh and a sense of dignified decorum.

Gus's clientele are an interesting of mix: White collar and working man, devoted Dad and hungover player, Jew and Muslim, black and white. All sit together swapping jokes ( What's the similarity between the Toronto Maple Leafs and an escort? They both blow for $200 ) while waiting for Gus or one of his skilled counterparts.There are some days like this seems like the last bastion for male bonding.

If any "metro" guys are reading this, I should warn you: This place is not for the feint of heart. If you're expecting some woman named Rina in a body stocking to trim your cuticles, you're too far down Bloor Street. Gus's scissors are sharp, his fingers quick and deft, and he uses this blue concoction on your skin when he is done.

The Italian photographer was only partially correct. Men do talk about hunting and fishing, but at a place like Gus's, it is not always fucked up.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The Calgary Flames put the "swine" in "swine flu"...



Last night I ended up in the emergency ward with my middle daughter Bella. The poor stoic thing lay in bed with a high fever for most of the day, and ended up e-mailing her aunt with her symptoms. My sister-in-law, suspecting swine flu, called me at my work and I ended up leaving work early to tend to my daughter. Swine fly or "H1N1" is hitting the Province of Ontario very hard this winter, with not much relief in sight.

When we arrived in the emergency ward, it looked a scene that Dickens might have written about so many years ago: People with tired, sunken faces were clinging to moaning children who complained that they were " hot",Grown men holding their parents hands saying: "Don't worry Mom, it won't be to much longer now",and frustrated nurses trying to calm patients by saying "Yes, I know you've been waiting a long time, but the flu season is here and you'll have to be patient". It was not an uplifting sight.

Finally around 1900 hrs, we were examined by a young doctor who alleviated my fears: Bella did not have H1N1, but simply had a viral bug that was knocking her out. "Besides", the doctor said " A healthy young person like Bella is not a candidate for the "tamiflu" shot. It's usually given to young people under five and the elderly. Bella is young and in good shape, so she will be fine". After thanking the doctor profusely I brought Bella home, gave her a dose of children's medicine and put her to bed.

I went downstairs and started reading a story on the 'net about the Calgary Flames NHL hockey team. According to news sources in Calgary, the Flames have all had their H1N1 flu shot under the watchful eye of the Province of Alberta's health ministry. The people of Alberta, rightfully incensed, are asking how these healthy young men got a vaccine whilst the rest of the taxpaying population in Alberta has been waited to obtain the vaccine through their local health unit. However, I have to ask: What is everyone in the Calgary Flames thinking?

The H1NI swine flu is killing people everywhere in Canada. Thousands of Albertans line up to get their shots, and these overpaid gorillas get preferential treatment? Did the team doctor not stop to say: "Hey guys, you're pretty healthy, so this might not be necessary right now?". Did someone in the front office not think: "You know this might not look very good and this time"?. Did the players themselves not ask: " Why do I need this? I'm in good shape"? Are these selfish young men living in such an insular world that they have no friends or family that are concerned with the lack of H1N1 vaccine for the truly susceptible? Apparently not. When the press descended upon the players and management they were given the old "Well,we keep a hectic schedule, we get sick" Huh? All kinds of people travel for their job, you morons. What a lame excuse for selfish behaviour.

Good luck with that Cup run guys. I hope the fans in Alberta remember who put the "swine" in "swine flu".