Take a bow, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 254 members.
A tip of the hat to Whitehorse Legion Branch 254 members for another memorable Remembrance Day Service.
If, at any time, you’ve had the thought, and this week’s national television news suggested many have, even for a split second, that maybe it’s time to let Remembrance Day follow the old soldier and just fade away, the front page of the Vancouver Sun on November 11th would surely wash that thought away forever.
Using the whole top-half of its front page, in very large white letters on a black background, this statement:
“SINCE WORLD WAR 1 MORE THAN 100 WARS AND CIVIL CONFLICTS HAVE BEEN FOUGHT. 160,000,000 HAVE DIED.”
On the bottom-half of the page this statement:
“SINCE 2002, 42 CANADIAN SOLDIERS HAVE BEEN KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN.”
Obviously, worldwide, the seeds of war find fertile ground in which to grow. The secret of peace continues to elude us, though every culture has a golden rule suggesting we all know what it is.
How does the line in that song go, “When will they ever learn?”
Wealth conquered Rome after Rome had conquered the world.
Hoodia …
Smokers are out — out of favour, out in the cold, out of everywhere except their own homes.
The tobacco companies and their CEOs are still living the life of Riley, topping up government tills with tax dollars, which, along with our tithes, helps keep government people living in the style to which they’re accustomed, though some small business owners and their staff who’ve served the public forever, are scratching and some are falling by the wayside.
So tell me, who is really winning this one?
Overeaters are next.
Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator, is the mantra, get thin, or …?
It’s not as easy to find a place to ban these folks, is it?
Oh, it’s only a rumour, not even a trial balloon, that eateries of all sizes will have weigh scales at the front door; if your height and weight measurements don’t match up to the Canada Health rules, you’ll be like the smokers: no service here, begone sinner.
The mantra is identical to the anti-tobacco lobby; obesity will burden or break the health-care system.
Ah, but, unlike the smokers, according to some spin doctors there’s a fix on the way. It’s a cactus with promise.
A cactus treasured by the San Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in Africa.
Apparently, centuries ago, their ancestors discovered chewing the hoodia cactus on hunting trips in their desert home, killed hunger pangs, even reduced thirst pangs, allowing the bushmen to keep their tradition of not eating while hunting so all their hunting bounty could be taken home to their families.
The Bushmen are greatly amused at the thought we want to use its magic qualities to develop a pill to help us lose weight.
The promise for hoodia imbibers is they’ll get thin, while governments and international drug manufacturers will get financially fatter.
Their spin doctors have ensured skyrocketing sales when, and if, it’s finally introduced — they say there isn’t an overweight person in the 100,000 Kalharians. Then they throw in the kicker, it’s an aphrodisiac too.
Not unexpectedly, the hoodia ownership of the hoodia cactus rights, properties, incomes, and outcomes is engaged, and the Kalahari Bushmen and women are in the middle, being squeezed by big business and big government. So what else is new?
And if that’s not enough, Tim Hortons and Starbucks better watch out, there’s an anti-fat tea coming down the pike. Hoodia slimming tea anyone?
So maybe Pierre had a point with his flippant comment about the world unfolding as it should.
Governments should keep out of the bedrooms of the nation, and all that. Individual freedoms are being kicked around alright, so how far do we allow the state to limit these freedoms amidst this tangled web around us before we really kick the traces?
What’s next? Maybe, if we’re lucky, somewhere in the ancient world healthy tobacco and other moneymaking health, eating, even educational miracles are waiting to be discovered and exploited.
Remember Rome!