In tents evening at Occupy Toronto

The tension was palpable. Helicopters over the village of tents outside St. James Cathedral, media trucks parked along the street, cameras and microphones at the ready.  I stepped into the library tent at the Occupy Toronto site. Some children were listening to a story read by a woman and others gathered around. I introduced myself to four of the folk and asked them directions to the information tent.  We talked about the anticipated eviction and was invited to the general assembly meeting starting in 15 minutes.  I made a brief foray to the information tent and dropped off a couple of flyers for a conflict transformation workshop facilitated by Lee McKenna. I found out that song writer Gordon Lightfoot had been there earlier to check on his daughter who was occupying. I spoke to an older couple with greying hair who were on their way to the general assembly.

The assembly was a circle of about 300 or so and the meeting began with a mic check, the human microphone where one person's speech was repeated by many others so the entire group could hear. Rules of order, a few announcements including one about a workshop on knowing your rights and then some information about what the legal team was doing in court at that very moment.  An announcement was expected at any moment about whether the city would proceed with the eviction.  Since I had to be at work later in the evening, I peeled away from the meeting. On the way out of the village, I went by the medical tent and saw some of the artwork in production laid out on the bank.

It was clear that the occupiers are a mix of people of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds. A few were homeless folk who would have been sleeping in the park with or without the Occupy crowd, so it was good they had a group of supportive people around them.

On the way home I heard on the radio the eviction would not proceed.  There were fourteen (and counting) of the 44 city councillors who had signed a letter asking the city to hold off. St. James Anglican Church officials have asked the city to continue allow the occupiers to stay. The church is half owner of the park. Occupy has a court date Friday with a final decision expected on Saturday.

What these folk are doing is worthwhile. We have only begun to see the fruits of their labour and I am grateful.

Leaderless, homeless, perhaps? Hopeful? Surely.

The list is long, but what Occupy wants is very clear.  The "demands"  all stem from how the economic system that once had some measure of stability and gave most people an opportunity to achieve the basic foundation of what some call the "American dream".  The financial system has been hijacked, people defrauded of their homes, livelihoods and pensions and control now rests with a very small number of people. This is antithetical to the American ideal of freedom.  Occupy wants to restore freedom to the people who no longer serve their country but are enslaved in it.  What Occupy is doing is quite libertarian socialist in certain aspects.  Government cannot be trusted since it is in the pockets of corporations.  So, it works outside of government and corporate structures and connects people with one another as well as taking care of one another.  In that it has been spectacularly successful.

If you find it is like trying to nail jelly to a wall and grasp at straws trying to find  spokesperson(s), perhaps it is like that.  Life is messy and resists being packaged and marketed.  People need to know they do not need to operate alone in struggle with the system that demands more work, offers diminishing rewards and charges increasing prices for goods and services and hangs people in hopeless debt.

People are tired of worshipping the "golden calf" of Wall Street, Bay Street and all the other financial streets around the world and getting nothing in return.  When Occupy offers intangibles of soul restoration, sustenance and hope, it is easy to see why it has taken hold.  People will turn to one another as neighbours and society can be rebuilt.

Rob "effing" Ford

The mayor who flipped a bird to a mother and her child after they pointed out he was using a cellphone while driving his vehicle is now national news. Rob Ford, as many federal and provincial politicos have enjoyed, had the privilege of getting the ambush from 22Minutes' "Marg Princess Warrior" (Mary Walsh) one morning and refused to play along.  He called 911 TWICE to have the comedienne and her crew removed from his driveway and hurled obscenities at the dispatchers because they weren't moving fast enough to his liking. Dear Mayor Ford, don't you remember your vow to cut the gravy at Toronto City Hall? This is what happens when you cut into bone. And, that's not funny at all.

http://www.cbc.ca/22minutes/

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/10/27/rob-ford-911-call-cbc-attack-dispatchers_n_1034470.html

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/10/27/rob-ford-makes-a-bad-situation-worse/#Comments

Of Anthony, family troubles, unemployment and homelessness

I find it rather disingenuous that the Toronto Star put the story about Madonna's brother Anthony who is broke and homeless in its entertainment section AND puts Madonna's picture instead of his beside the story. Aside from anything to do with family squabbles that may have brought him there, the problem of homelessness and the circumstances that take someone from a good job to living under a bridge is a serious one. Presenting it in this fashion in entertainment sections of news media diminishes the urgency of the problem.

Occupation, boats and turning tides.

I get a little testy when I hear the often used saying "a rising tide lifts all boats." This assumes everyone has a "boat" and every "boat" is in good repair. Unfortunately, economic storms have tossed so many of these "boats" around that some are leaking badly or have been smashed beyond repair. Meanwhile there are very big "boats" that ply the waters picking off life preservers from the smaller boats leaving human beings to drown in the wake. It is for this that the Occupy movement lives.

Missing personal certificates on a pocket pc and my solution

I do find a fascination with old technology and the many ways one can use old PDAs and cell phones.  Recently I acquired an Audiovox PPC 6600 with Windows Mobile 2003. It came with a wifi SD card, Belkin wireless keyboard and the charging cradle can charge a second battery.

Loaded it up with Opera Mini and soon I was surfing the web at home using a Bell router.   The connection speed was good, though, as yet I have issues with the size of the storage and memory.  I can't play audio or video yet.  I might find a way.

So, in going back and forth between the wifi and another SD storage card and switching the batteries, I somehow lost the settings and it began demanding a personal certificate before connecting.  I searched the web for solutions and none seemed easy or fit the same circumstances as my problem.  Downloading this program or that so I could modify the registry was just too complicated.  Then, I decided to delete the settings for the connection and start over.  Presto! I am now reconnected.

Now, back to fun with Bluetooth.

Another "shocking" email arrives

Every once in a while I get an email from someone well-meaning who passes on some shocking thing about government taking religion or not taking religion out of society. I used to get a lot of them, but now they only come once in a while. This morning was one of those times.

The email said “Shock on CBC yesterday morning.” and made reference to a CBC poll on the question whether to keep the word God in Canadian culture. Apparently 86 percent of responses were in favour of keeping the words “God keep our land” in the national anthem.

First and foremost, I tried to source the CBC poll and could find nothing. So, whoever was upset can rest easy. The most I could find was an article about people's beliefs that said 23 percent of Canadians do not believe in God and some items on the uproar over gender non-neutrality in the phrase “all thy sons command” in O Canada in early 2010. I did find someone else who wrote on the topic and referenced a Snopes item where the text of an American chain email was lifted out and Canadianised.

The original lyrics penned by Sir Adolphe Basile Routhier in 1880 to O Canada are in French. Christianity gets its due from “Car ton bras sait porter l'épée, Il sait porter la croix.” (For your arm knows how to carry the sword and it knows how to carry the cross.) The English lyrics penned by Robert Stanley Weir in 1908 bear little resemblance to the French lyrics and no mention is made of God. “God keep our land” replaced one of the repetitive lines “stand on guard for thee” in 1968.

In early 2010 there was an uproar over gender neutrality in a nationwide discussion on the phrase “In all thy sons command.” It was an edit from the original by Weir himself “Thou dost in us command,” was a hint at getting support for the war effort in 1914 since women who fought in the war were not on the front battle lines and they wanted strong, young men.

Canada did not have an official national anthem until an act of Parliament in 1980. So, there is no shock, it is not on CBC and it s not about taking the word "God" out of Canadian culture.

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Sources:

http://www.suite101.com/blog/graywriter/shock-to-cbc--most-canadians-believe-in-god

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/godpoll.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Canada

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2010/03/03/o-canada-anthem.html

http://www.sen.parl.gc.ca/vpoy/english/Special_Interests/speeches/Speech_National_Anthem_Act_2nd_Reading.htm