-10 Celsius and a Cardinal

I went out for a walk to the reservoir and down into Rosedale Valley on the last day of 2008.

On the way back I saw a Cardinal trying to stay warm in the sun on the ledge of my neighbour’s house.

 

 All the best for this New Year from David Archer and Loon Theory.

Sidewalk Anagram (With Umbrella)*

A fool sits on a sidewalk in the rain

A man with an umbrella approaches

“I have no change” he says

“But you can have this umbrella”

A man with an umbrella sits on the sidewalk

A fool walks away in the rain

 

 

*A true life event

Merry Christmas Leah and Everyone!

 
Love you, HoneyBear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Gift of a “Gift of Screws”

 

Enough of Popes and religion. One of my all time favorite musicians/guitarists – Lindsey Buckingham – has three (partial) songs available for listening on his MySpace page including one (Did You Miss Me) from his latest release ” Gift of Screws”.

I’ve always been entranced by Buckingham’s whispery, airy and perfectly placed guitar lines.

 It all seems so… perfect. Absolutely controlled, yet infused with a wild passion and intensity that simply cannot be taught.

Beautiful, strong, yet gentle guitar work from a long time master.

Thanks, Lindsey.

Merry Christmas to all.

Like Vapour On the Sea

I don’t usually write much on the subject of religion. I have my own very strong views – based on a starting point that I cannot possibly know the mind of God and niether can you – but I generally leave folks to their own beliefs and hope to receive the same considerations.

But I am afraid the Pope guy has (once again) crossed the line from a religion very much of the dark ages into what I consider hate speech in these modern times.

The logic the Pope is working from is itself predicated on many hundreds of years of study and academic work carefully considered and written down – and almost all of it wrong because it is all built on a millennium of previous wrongs and terrible misunderstandings. (but don’t worry, they do make corrections and admit their mistakes. They’ve been all over that Galileo thing recently. Good work, guys!)

Whether it is the R. C.’s view of womans rights, homosexuality, birth control or countless other issues,  there are  lifetimes of brainwashing, theft, manipulations and backward science that are still in place as the underpinnings of this very dark and twisted vision of  Divinity and Humanity. 

All of this  plus the  latest Christmas idiocy places the Pope – as far as I  can see –  on the same level as white supremacists and other bigotry fueled pronouncers of hatred and ignorance.

The Pope is on a pathway to making himself and the Catholic Church irrelevant.

Though it is difficult to do, the Pope should be treated the same way we treat other emotion based hate spewers:  He should be ignored.

“You’re invisible to me, like vapour on the sea”

As mankind slowly and painfully pulls itself from under the crushing weight of Dark Ages organized religion we need to distance ourself from ancient wrongs while finding a way to retain the good things that religion has taught us.

Somedays, when the Pope cannot hold his ugliness inside him but instead must spread his poison as Christmas approaches, that seems impossible.

 

UPDATE:  A full text translation of the Pope’s remarks can be found here.

Andrew Sullivan, who as I understand is gay, married and Catholic – and therefore actually has several dogs in this race – has a rather more nuanced and calmer view, though I found this comment very interesting and, in fact, chilling.

From Andrew’s post “What Fundamentalism Requires“:

 

“The description of homosexual orientation as evil, of course, is linked to the view that women’s physical subordination to men is intrinsic to nature and must be enforced. You cannot extricate the two concepts. The erasure of homosexuals is deeply, theologically connected to the subjugation of women.”

The Pope Lays Down Some Christmas Hate

I do not believe in providing yet another platform for Pope Benedict’s bigotry and hatred, but that strange, twisted, angry and hate filled old man who uttered these nasty words must be held up to the sunlight, ridiculed and finally, rejected.

Good people and those of genuine faith must refuse to look to benighted haters such as Pope Benedict as leaders.

Just when I thought I’d heard it all.

Unbelievable.

In response to this bitter old fool, I give you Pete Townshend, Roger Daltry and “A Man in a Purple Dress”.

 

 

A Man in a Purple Dress

How dare you wear a robe to preside
How dare you cover your head to hide
Your face from God
How dare you smile from behind your beard
To hide the fact your heart’s afeared,
And wave your rod
How dare you be the one to assess
Me, in this God-forsaken mess
You, a man, in a purple dress
A man in a purple dress

You are all the same
Gilded and absurd
Regal, fast to blame
Rulers by lost word
Men above men, or prats
With your high hats
You priest, you mullah so high
You pope, you wise rabbi
You’re invisible to me
Like vapour from the sea

How dare you? Do you think I’ll quietly go?
You are much braver than you know
For I can’t die
Your staff, your stick, your special cap
They’ll protect in Hell? What crap!
Believe the lie
How dare you be the one to assess
Me, in this God-forsaken mess
You, a man, in a purple dress
A man in a purple dress

When you place your frown
Between my God and prayer
However grand your crown
Or dignified your hair
Men above men, or prats
In your high hats
You priest, you mullah so high
You pope, you wise rabbi
You are invisible to me
Like vapour from the sea

I lovingly mock you noble lords
We all dress up to grant awards
I do that as well
I dare condemn your fashion sense
At least you’re not astride a fence
That would not sell
But I will deliver this address
Your soul’s condition don’t impress
You, a man, in a purple dress
A man in a purple dress

Smearing Ignatieff

From The Globe and Mail:

A telling moment came when someone asked him at his first press conference how he would cope with attack ads from the Conservatives. With a look of defiance and a rising voice, Mr. Ignatieff warned Mr. Harper that in the middle of a parliamentary crisis, “it would be a very serious mistake” to do so.

Nonetheless, I expect to see the Harper Attack Ad team spring into action immediately. Undercutting and smearing will not be as easy as it was with Dion, so we can expect to see a real flash of brilliant creative ugliness inspired by the under belly of American politics at its dirtiest.

Gee Steve, thanks for raising the tone of Canadian Politics.

Update

My secret, in the know, private source suggests that the Harper team will be releasing the new Ignatieff smear and disinformation comercials some time in mid Febuary.

Is the King dead yet? Not quite Mr. Dion.

Did the opposition just stage a constitutionally legal attempt to replace the Government of Canada and fail because their plan was poorly thoughtout, ill-timed and included a bolt hole for Stephen Harper? Was all this predicated on the hope that the Governor General would not allow Harper to prorogue Parliament? Did the Governor General allow a proroguing of Parliament so a government could avoid a confidence vote?

Did they manage to - metaphorically - kill the king?

Not quite Mr. Dion.

I have always heard that if you are going to strike at the King or (legally) unseat a government, you had better have a reasonable and realisticly clear path to achieving that goal.

What a mess.

What’s Done Is Done (New Reality)

 

What’s Done Is Done (New Reality)  Music and lyrics by David Archer (4:47)

Download mp3 (save target as)

After years of America and the world subject to the whims of hard right wing fantasies, and as the Bush era in the U.S. is drawing to an end, this song is my attempt at closure and judgment on what has happened. This is a song about Neo Cons and the narrator of the song is a compilation of people like Cheney, Armitage, Feith and Wolfowitz.

I think that more than anything else, this is a song about the denial of reality.

 

What’s Done is Done ( New Reality)

You can’t believe your lying eyes
You can’t read the writing in the sky
Clouds have gathered all around
As daylight fades
The wind is slowly rising in the east
You have become the beast we feed

By the guiding flame
With careful aim
We shot an arrow straight into the sun
If we go all in
We can twist and spin
There’s no time for regret
What’s done is done

So much more than meets the eye
In the fog of war, the con is where the truth lies
We know all you need to know
We call the shots, we give and go
We fix the game, we run the show
This is a new reality

By a blood red line
And a sacred sign
We fired a bullet straight into the sun
If we lose the race
We can win the chase
There’s no room for regret
What’s done is done

There are no words my angel
For these things you cannot see
No tears to cry my lover
For what will never be
I see no pain or consequence
Or any reason to return
I’ll take the weight of what I’ve done
And all the glory I have earned
(The lessons we have learned)
(The bridges we have burned)
And all the glory I have earned

(Radio Voices)

All my fine words have disappeared
Stop staring at me – nothing happened here
I can will this all away
If I threaten, if I pray
For another chance, a brand new day
I will write the end of history

By the guiding wire
Through the endless fire
We launched a rocket straight into the sun
If we lose the game
There’s no one to blame
There’s no reason to regret
What’s done is done

What’s done is done
What’s done is done

David Archer
Toronto
Dec/08

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Harper’s “Mob Surveillance” Ad

I just laughed out-loud when I saw the new Harper/Conservative Party of Canada ad showing Stephane Dion and Gillles Duceppe in a grainy, black and white, slow motion film that I think I will call “Mob Surveillance” style.

From the infamous “Do you think it’s easy to make priorities?” ad that effectively made Dion look like a bumbling fool before he ever got started, to this new oh so clever manipulation of footage into some kind of film noir meets 60 Minutes expose, the Harper marketing team has consistently shown a creatively nasty yet nuanced understanding of how to engage in the underhanded art of the smear.

The media manipulation/subversive tricks squad is the only part of the Harper Government that appears to fire on all cylinders.

You can see the new ad here.

Update -  The video is no longer available of the CPoC site. I will try to find it elsewhere.