Seasons Greetings

As we approach the start of the year we choose call 2020 which but represents but a small portion of the time that mankind has roamed this ball of dirt we call earth and I approach my 74^th year of stumbling around on it I am in a thoughtful frame of mind. This 'holiday is predicated on the 'celebration' of the birth of one particular individual many centuries ago and many folk still remember it as such, however many do not, either subscribing to other 'religions' or not finding the need to 'worship' an entity or individual, real or imagined, past or present, in order to treat our fellow living creatures with care and respect. I am one such individual, in broad terms I am a 'christian' believing in the christian ideals but without finding the need to embrace the religious rituals that some find necessary to embrace. I find little wrong with those that do, to each their own, but I have much more respect for those that practice the christian ideals in their daily life than those who pretend to on a weekly, or just on certain holidays like the one up coming, but do not practice what they preach.

When discussing religions we cannot ignore the fact that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of organized religions across the world and indeed many of them have active subscribers here in Canada. I mean no disrespect to any of those groups religious beliefs with my words here, as I said above to each their own, HOWEVER where those religious beliefs cross over into political areas and / or abuse and suppression of those who do (or do not) not subscribe to a particular religious group or belief the I do have a problem and will speak out! I am not going to pick out any particular group where such religious bigotry has resulted in not only suppression of opposing views but 'ethic cleansing'' entrapment, human right abuse and other similar abuses but to say that the middle east seems to be a breeding ground for these sort of abuses some of which those of us in supposed 'civilized' nations fail to condem.

As I have said above whilst I subscribe to most of the christian ideals I reject the religious aspect to it and have looked for an overall description that encompasses these ideals, the nearest I have come across is “Humanist” and there are several 'organized groups across the world who promote this view. A short outline from one such group follows.

“Humanists base their moral principles on reason (which leads them to reject the idea of any supernatural agency), on shared human values and respect for others. They believe that people should work together to improve the quality of life for all and make it more equitable.”

I cant end this ramble through my mind without covering a few other ever increasing troubling world wide goings on the most alarming (but apparently the least important for our 'leaders') being climate change. Australia …. all time record temperatures of 105f (40c) and large portions ravaged by bush fires, England …... record rainfall and flooding across the south, more tornadoes across the SE U.S. ...the list goes on meanwhile our 'leaders' cannot even agree on a statement about it all at the UN Climate Action Summit mostly due to the U.S. leader who denies there is any such thing as climate change. Which brings us to the mess that is increasingly becoming a worldwide problem as one set of Senators attempt to remove the clearly unstable and out of control U.S. president from power as others simply follow the light shining out of his rear orifice. Anything can happen when a country is being run by a twit who governs via twit rant and even the evangelical right are bailing out. I am not sure that politics is for some not a 'religion' that should be treated an affliction that should be eliminated whenever possible. But then I am feeling particularly old and grumpy about now!

Thus ends your Sunday Sermon this 22^nd of December 2019.

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A most Spectacular Mistake.....

Brexit has been “one of the most spectacular mistakes” in the history of the EU and followed a campaign marked by “an unprecedented readiness to lie”, Donald Tusk has said.

In his first interview since standing down as European council president last week, Tusk said Brexit was “the most painful and saddest experience” of his five years in office, a tumultuous period marked by the Greek eurozone crisis, bitter rows over migration and the election of Donald Trump.................

Citing the 2016 US presidential race and the Brexit campaign, he said a new element in politics was “the unprecedented readiness to lie on almost everything … to treat a lie as a justifiable tool to win”. He said this “shameless” behaviour would have disqualified politicians only 10 years ago.

Asked by the Guardian to specify who he had in mind, Tusk replied: “I don’t want to be too spectacular in my first interview … I have enough problems in my own country with professional and pathological liars.”

Its very hard to disagree with him on this not only was the original decision a disaster waiting to happen but the fact that the British pubic had NO idea of what such a separation would entail but the politicians, then and even now, don't have a clue except that all know it will be enormously disruptive for years to come no matter which way it goes.

Apparently much more informed folks are equally concerned ....
The UK diplomat in charge of Brexit at the British embassy in the US has said she could no longer "peddle half-truths" on behalf of political leaders she did not "trust".

"I have been increasingly dismayed by the way in which our political leaders have tried to deliver Brexit, with reluctance to address honestly, even with our own citizens, the challenges and trade-offs which Brexit involves; the use of misleading or disingenuous arguments about the implications of the various options before us; and some behaviour towards our institutions, which, were it happening in another country, we would almost certainly as diplomats have received instructions to register our concern." 

That many other nations are going through similar divisions should be no comfort to those in the country of my birth for the Right is right mindset is taking hold all over as clearly shown by the upcoming internal war currently under way just to the south of me in the U.S of Eh.

Keep your heads up folks, the next few years are not going to be fun both there and world wide. 

Update....
Then there is this  tongue in cheek long but rather accurate description of the situation in Britain  at this time....

Election Countdown

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