BLACK DAY IN JULY

 

My apologies to Gordon Lightfoot who wrote and began singing this song in 1968 concerning the Black Race Riots in Detroit of the previous year.

Today his song would be simply be called …

                           DAY IN JULY.

The term ‘Black’ now being verboten.

I write this Blog in the aftermath of the shooting in Toronto where 23 people were shot and 2 killed by two black opposing gang members.

The Media would have you believe that these shootings were committed by a “certain ethnic group” living in “ghetto areas” and in “single parent families” (read single mother) - sadly this cowardly language is being used even by some of the commentators on Sun T.V. which prides itself on ‘calling it like it is’.

The Sun Lady I was watching did such a job of tying herself in knots - avoiding the use of the word ‘Black’ - I thought she was going to do serious injury to herself.

And do you know what else, at the end of her piece she declared that the cause of the shooting, as well as of the 3 or 4 other recent Toronto shootings, was the Weather. ‘It is just so hot these days …it brings out the worst in these gang members’.

Makes one sick to the stomach.

Even Ottawa’s CFRA morning call in host, who too has a bit of a reputation of telling it like it is, said today that he did not like it when ‘Colour’ was mentioned in regard to these shootings since he believed that to be “a non-issue”. 

Actually dear sir, it is the only issue.

And this in Ottawa where there have been 27 shootings already this year – that averages one per week and most committed by gangs with members originating from North Africa.

As an aside, the police came out to say they needed stricter handgun controls even though we have had very strict controls since the 1930s.  They also said – get this – gangs get 50% of their handguns smuggled in from the States and the other 50% are stolen from private collections here in Canada.  Merde de Torro.

A recent access to information request shows that less than 3% of handguns are stolen from collectors and that most of that 3% are stolen from police and military sources themselves. Even the police had to eventually acknowledge that their ‘50% assertion’ was merely a guesstimate. But it is much easier for the authorities – police & politicians, to blame guns, than it is to actually address the underlying problem.

And that is precisely why I believe race needs to be divulged in these cases.

It is the only way in which to begin protecting the Black Community who live in these ghettos; since it is they who are most often the victims of such gun and gang violence and it is they who live life in constant fear.  The two dead in Toronto were both Black – a young girl of 14 and a young man in his 20s; both innocent victims who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

So if there is racism attached to all of this – it is Society’s failure to get involved and take steps necessary to stamp out the problem.

And Dear Reader – it can be stamped out if there is the Collective Will.

So what to do:  First lock up the gang members.

We in Canada have the power now under the Criminal Code to lock up Gang Members for up to 14 years.  We need though, in the case of the Urban Gangs, to make it a mandatory 5 year sentence – not to a jail but to a reformatory where they can be taught the skills needed to integrate into society – skills that have alluded them all to date.

In the case of Toronto, the Police say they already know who the members of such gangs are and that  they total some 2,000.  Gather them all up and send them to an isolated area for Reform.  Teach them how to respect themselves and others and provide them with education and work skills.  It will be expensive and time consuming – but overall, Society and the Minority Societies in particular, will benefit greatly.

The second prong is to then go into the Minority Communities and work with the parents and their children to insure they get the life skills necessary to become contributing members of Society at Large.  With the Gangsters out of the Way – it will produce a Receptive Environment for this Message.  Again the costs will be high but not as high as the loss of such large numbers of people from contributing society. 

Plus, the bottom-line here is that it is the right and human thing to do.

This approach will in the end work – I have no doubt; but at the same time, I very much doubt that our Leaders will have either the foresight or the courage necessary to do it.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

TIMING IS EVERYTHING …

 

This just in: – earlier this evening Ambassador Horace Bullwinkle – our man in Topongo, was killed by a 25 foot crocodile while swimming in the Topongo River.  Details are few at this time…

Next Day: – we now have more on Ambassador Bullwinkle’s tragic passing, apparently he was with a non-swimming aide at the time of his death and the aide had seen the crocodile leave the river bank and head in the direction of where his Ambassador was swimming.

But folks this is where it gets interesting.  The Aide had along his trusty Blackberry and managed to fire off a message to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird minutes before the attack actually occurred.

This leads to naturally to the question, ‘What Did Minister Baird Do When He Received The Pre-Attack Message?’  In other words, could Ambassador Bullwinkle have been saved if Baird had reacted more promptly?

We turn now to Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair for comment:

“This is just another in a series of recent tragic events where senior Government officials have had knowledge of impending trouble and have blatantly failed to act quickly enough to resolve them”. 

“We are all aware that the Government knew about the shenanigans going on at the Iranian Embassy a week or two before it became public.  And then we have a senior official in Premier Clark’s bureaucracy being advised 2 or 3 hours in advance of a potential avalanche, and now this”.

“Clearly Our Senior Government Officials- from the Prime Minister down - are no longer in control”, blustered Mulcair.

In closing his piece, the announcer did allow that the Aide was asked why he had not dialled 411 to which he responded, “I thought of that, but knew they could not get there in time to save my Ambassador”

Of course.

As I see it …

‘K. D. Galagher’

 

Great Minds Think Alike …

 

Or Do They ?

This past weekend, while sitting under a sun umbrella trying to escape the oppressive heat, a family member casually mentioned to me that our Premier – the renowned Dalton McGuinty, deserved a lot of credit.  “How so” I naively asked?

‘Well we have gone through multiple plus 30 degree days recently and not one blackout nor even a brownout has occurred.’

“And why do you think that is” I responded?

‘It is due to Green Energy of course’. 

And with that statement, he and I were in total agreement – as we usually are on most of life’s great issues.

But as you can imagine dear reader, in this particular instance, we agree for diametrically opposed reasons.

He, like millions of others, has bought into McGuinty’s claim that Green Power has been one of his signature successes when, in actual fact, it has been an outright failure.

But that said, we have indeed been spared from power disruptions during this ongoing extended heat wave and it is indeed due in great measure to Green Energy. 

The money wasted on Green Energy and the meagre amount of energy it has produced – about 2% of the total - has resulted in skyrocketing energy costs.  Businesses have flown out of our Province in search of cheaper power jurisdictions.  For instance, with all the charges imposed on our monthly power bills, we are paying over .20 cents per k.w.h. whereas, just across the border in Quebec and New York, users pay about 6 cents per.  Triple the cost and rising.

Individuals too have changed their power usage habits – the poor – those on fixed incomes etc., are using less since it often comes down for them to using power or having enough to eat. 

As a result – power usage is way down in Ontario and we have Green Energy to thank for it.  Not because it has been such a spectacular success, rather, because it has been such a spectacular failure.

Today, we are using 15% less power than we did seven years ago despite the fact that our population has increased over that same period by about the same per centage.

Not all of the problem can be laid at the feet of Green Energy but a great deal of it can.  Seven years ago we were heading into Recession – so usage of power was bound to go down.  But what is surprising is that it has not recovered to those pre 2005 / 06 year levels.

If the Province had focused on supplying cheaper energy sources rather than spending .80 cents per kwh for Solar Power – think how much cheaper our power would be for us all – businesses and individuals alike.

So there you have it – Green Energy has kept our electricity usage down – has avoided the dreaded Blackout and we have dear Mr. McGuinty to thank for it.

The guy’s a genius.

As I see it ..

‘K.D. Galagher’