Waiting for the . . .

Second boot to drop?  Next government scandal?  The upcoming recession? Dental appointment?

When my wife and I first got married we lived on the bottom floor in a two story apartment.  In one of the apartments upstairs from us, we would hear a boot drop.  We waited for the second one, which duly arrived.  But then would come a third one.  Unnerving to say the least.

Governments at all levels and in any country are prone to gaffs, scandals and stupidity.  It has become almost a daily event and we wait anxiously for the next one to arrive.  The latest in Canada has been the Ethics Commissioner’s report on the performance of the Prime Minister during the SNC Lavalin issue.  To my mind, the worst part was not the report itself.  What is the most damaging was the refusal of the PM to apologize for his behaviour.  He said that he would not apologize for saving Canadian jobs.  But there was never any danger of jobs being lost since the projects that the company had would still go on and they would still be done by Canadian workers.  See my previous blog on this subject at http://gordf.blogspot.com/2019/03/snc-lavalin-fantasy-of-numbers.html. 

The President of the United States wants to buy Greenland to add to its colonial empire.  Denmark, which “owns” Greenland says there is no way that they would sell the world’s largest island.  So POTUS took umbrage and cancelled a visit to Denmark.  Another so-called US ally down the drain.

In the UK under a new Prime Minister, Brexit staggers on to sad conclusion.  The UK has to learn that this is no longer the Victorian age where Britain could claim to be the most powerful and commercially successful country in the world.  It is now the age of globalization and despite those who deplore the idea, globalization is not going away.  Multi-national corporations now control most of the international commerce and they are not going to let that go.

“You will find that the State is the kind of organization which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly, too.”
  - John Kenneth Galbraith

“Too bad the only people who know how to run the country are busy driving cabs and cutting hair.”
  - George Burns

There is a lot of talk these days about “the” upcoming economic recession.  Most of this talk is in the financial press, but it sometimes leaks into the news section.  This is the way a lot of recessions begin; with predictions in the press.  Which makes me wonder if this press coverage becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Because of the press coverage, people stop buying goods and services.  Investors stop investing.  Companies stop making improvements or hiring new hires.  Voila, a recession.  Maybe if the press shut up about it, things would be fine.

“In journalism, there has always been a tension between getting it first and getting it right.”
  - Ellen Goodman

 I was at my dentist the other day.  As I was led to the dental chair by the dental assistant, I took off my glasses and my hearing aids.  She said, “You don’t have to take those out.”  I said, “Oh yes I do.  I hate to hear myself scream.”

Donald Trumps motto:  “The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth.”
  - Edith Sitwell

And what are you waiting for?

Barbeque Tips and Quips

It’s summer, at least in the northern hemisphere, so it must be time to turn attention to barbequing.  I like barbequing most things.  But I sometimes wonder at the way we go about things.

Let’s take steaks for example which is a barbeque favourite to most.  Personally, I cannot barbeque a steak properly. I follow directions, I marinade it to death, I sear it and it still turns out like shoe leather.  But a lot of people do cook them properly and really enjoy them.  They know the right cuts of meat to buy.  They prepare them when the steaks are fresh.  Then they drown them in marinade the night before and then slather them in barbeque sauce while the steaks are cooking.  All this so that they can get that real steak taste.

Hamburgers are another favourite for summer barbeques.  You can acquire hamburger patties in a number of ways.  The easiest way, and my favourite method, is to buy them already made.  But, of course, this does not satisfy the purist.  They must be made by hand in your own kitchen.  So first you go out and carefully shop for the perfect ground beef; from the best type of beef, with just the right percentage of fat.  Even better is to choose the best cut of steak and grind it yourself.  You now have the best meat in order to make the finest burger patties.  You know they are going to be juicy and taste incredible.  You mix the meat with a few spices, a little salt and maybe even a touch of pepper. You gently shape the patties to just the right shape, size and thickness.  Oh! These are going to taste wonderful.  It’s now time to flash up the barbeque to just the right temperature.  What’s you favourite heating method?  Does your barbeque have to have charcoal briquets with a sprinkle of hickory mixed in?  Or are you okay with propane or natural gas?  I much prefer natural gas for its convenience and consistency, but of course I’m not a purist.

Now you’re ready to cook these marvellous creations.  You carefully watch for any change in the temperature of the barbeque.  You watch the burgers as they sizzle and brown.  You cook them fairly slowly so that the heat will get right through them.  You have your water pistol handy in case of flare-ups.  You don’t take any chances.  A minute or two before the burgers are ready, you bring out the fresh buns and put them on a rack above the cooking surface so they will toast a bit.  And finally, everything is ready.  People’s mouths are watering in anticipation.  You carefully pair each burger with a bun, except for your teenage son who wants two burgers on his bun.  Oh, and of course there is your teenage daughter who has just announced that she is a vegetarian.  Nonetheless, everyone sits down with their burger.

And now the final ceremony begins.  Everyone starts ladling the accompaniments on their burger; tomatoes, onions, pickles, ketchup, mustard, relish, cheese and lettuce.  All the better to bury the taste of that lovely burger patty!

It’s a Mad, Mad World

Any question that we are living in a mad, mad world need only look at the actions of political leaders in several countries.  Where would you like to look?

How about Great Britain, the country in which I was born.  The fight over Brexit and the actions of its leader, Theresa May is sheer folly.  What kind of foolishness and old-fashioned thinking was fed to the people to convince a small majority of them to vote for separation from the European Union can only be imagined from this distance.  None of the predictions that it would be an easy thing to do have been fulfilled.  Brexiters like Nigel Farage have said it would be a great thing for their country and that they should walk away with no deal or guarantee are ridiculous.  Statements like “you wouldn’t want this in Canada” hide the fact that the Canadian situation is nowhere near the same as Britain’s.  My prediction is that soon after Great Britain walks away from Europe, it will fall to being a third rate power.  By themselves they cannot hope to regain their status as a wold class power.  The world is too big for that now.

“The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth.”
  - Edith Sitwell

In our country (Canada in case you’ve forgotten) leaders and hopeful leaders embarrass at every turn.  The current federal government doesn’t seem to know how to operate our armed forces.  They waffle on procurement of badly needed defence equipment while only promising to allocate money for Coast Guard vessels.  I wish the Coast Guard luck in getting that done.  With this and the last government having gutted all but two shipyards (one other yard has managed to hang on with innovative and successful projects despite the governments), there is no capacity to fulfill all these Navy and Coast Guard shipbuilding projects any time soon.  Add to that such fiascos as the Mark Norman case and the hidden Afghan Memorial (do you think the Afghan War will ever be recognized on the National War Memorial?) really must make you wonder.

“You will find that the State is the kind of organization which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly, too.”
  - John Kenneth Galbraith

On the other side of the political spectrum, the Conservative leader, Andrew Sheer, is making the most ridiculous promises.  He is a one trick pony whose only ideas revolve around how to exploit more oil from Alberta, the province he comes from.  Cancel carbon tax, build pipelines, develop an ‘energy corridor’.  Has anyone heard anything else from him that goes beyond this obsession?  I have no idea how he expects to put into practice his energy corridor.  The idea makes no practical engineering sense.  Where is it going to go?  How is he going to route it around Quebec?  More specifically, how is it going to route it around Montreal?  This is where the engineering part comes in.  The only way around Montreal is north, but there you run into the unyielding terrain of the Canadian Shield, some of the hardest and most impervious rock in the world.  Even if it can be done, the cost will be enormous. A rough estimate of $100 billion has been suggested. Only the federal government could consider spending that kind of money.  And whose pockets do you think that’s going to come from?

“A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time.”
  - Alfred E. Wiggam

In Ontario, Doug Ford, the Premier of Toronto and leader of the Regressive Conservatives, is cutting everything in order to eliminate a deficit.  It doesn’t seem to matter what is being cut, or will be cut in the future, it’s got to go.  His pledge that no jobs would be eliminated now seems an obvious fraud.  Wages and salaries are THE largest component of any product or service.  Jobs must be sacrificed in order for costs to be cut.  Oh, but jobs will be eliminated through normal attrition and retirements as many apologists will tell you.  But it is not just the existing workers in these jobs that must be considered; it is the young workers who will no longer have these jobs to aspire to.  It seems to me that the only level of government that has guts enough to do the obvious thing and actually raise taxes is municipalities.  Annual tax increases in cities is expected.  As more and more things are expected of every level of government, it is obvious we must be prepared to pay for them.

“Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship.”

  - Harry S Truman

And at this point, we won’t even consider what is going on in the United States.  It could be bad for our health.