Digitally Removing the Confederate Flag from Old Films

I saw the following posted as a comment on an article about whitewashing of black characters and thought it was a very good comment, and thus worthy of a blog post:

While we are fixing this problem, can we also got back to old movies and REMOVE something digitally that very often doesn't need to be there?

Eg. The Confederate Flag.

There is a time and place for the confederate flag, like in Civil War movies or in films where racism plays an important role, but films like "Smokey and the Bandit" however, wherein two of the protagonists are driving around in a black Trans Am with a confederate flag on the front next to the license plate... That is unnecessary.

Yes, the villain in the film (the evil sheriff Buford T. Justice) is a racist bigot, so racism does play a role in the film... But if anyone should have the confederate flag on his car, it should be the racist sheriff. Not the protagonist.

This problem can be seen in other films too. "Smokey and the Bandit" is hardly the exception.

We should also be digitally removing the confederate flag from many other movies and even TV shows. Eg. Dukes of Hazard should definitely remove all the confederate flags.

If the Washington Redskins can finally change their racist name, isn't it time we digitally remove unnecessary symbols of racism from films?

And honestly, I agree with this idea.

Furthermore, organizations like Netflex could even take a stand on this issue by refusing to display films like "Smokey and the Bandit" and others until the studios which own their rights take the necessary steps to remove the confederate flag from any film where the flag doesn't need to be there.

Do you want to get Radiation Poisoning from your food?

Doug Ford.

The name brings fear to the minds of many people in Ontario.

Doug Ford is the Premier of Ontario, and he is a jerk. A real nasty jerk. He wants to dump nuclear waste in Bruce County, close to the town of Teeswater. The Teeswater River (and the underground aquifer beneath the region) supplies the drinking water to:

• Tens of thousands of people.
• Dairy cows.
• Water for agricultural farming (corn, potatoes, soy beans and more).
• Water for Aquafina bottled water.
• Cattle, pigs, turkeys and chickens. Bruce County is the Beef Capital of North America, but it also produces a lot of other meat products.

If you live Ontario you've eaten food many times from Bruce County. Guaranteed. You've drank the milk. You've eaten the cheese. You've eaten beef, pork, turkey and chicken. You've eaten the corn, the potatoes, the soy products. You've drank Aquafina water.

Even if you are a vegan and don't eat milk and dairy, you should still care where your soy products and other vegetables are grown and where your bottled water comes from.

And that is why you should care.

If you care about what you eat, then you should protect what you eat. Learn more at:

https://www.protectsouthbruce-nodgr.org/

If you care write to Doug Ford. Tweet him. Phone him and leave an angry voicemail.

Share this post. Copy/paste it to other websites. Share it on Facebook. Share it on Twitter. Share the memes below.

Show that you care about your food and where it comes from.

Protect your food and your health from Doug Ford.

Republican White Christmas

This bothers me.

It bothers me because I am not sure if it is really, seriously, the Republican NC Official Christmas Card for 2016 or whether it is a joke. I honestly would not be surprised at this point if it was real.

Which says a lot about my opinion of the Republican Party, the so-called "alt-right" (which is code for white supremacy), and the KKK members that Donald Trump is currently picking to fill posts in his government.

Take for example the guy Donald Trump chose to head law enforcement in America. He picked the biggest racist he could find, during a time in which police are murdering African Americans willy nilly and getting caught on video doing it again and again. Picking a gigantic racist sends a strong message to American police. It says "Go ahead. Shoot as many as you want."

You know how some Americans were joking about moving to Canada?

Well here is an idea for any Americans reading this.

You should seriously move to Canada. Don't joke about it.

Start looking for a job here and look into moving to Canada. Start doing it today. You don't need to move here permanently either. Just work here, then in 4 years when it is time to vote again you can go back and vote for someone sane who will try to fix the ruins that the American economy is in by then, let alone what looks like a gearing up for a civil war (white supremacists vs everyone who believes in equality).

Oh no, not the Fenians!

 I saw this a few months ago and felt it was funny in light of the uproar regarding Syrian refugees.

Fenians, as you may or may not recall, were Irish "terrorists" from the 19th century who were reviled because they "bred like rabbits", were violent religious fanatics (Catholics) and a nation of drunkards.

"Like many of you I was shocked to hear of the recent Fenian attacks on Fort Erie. How can our government allow Irish immigrants to flow into this United Province of Canada while we continue to be terrorized by Fenian religious zealots? Every Sunday in Catholic churches across the land, radical preachers are whipping their flocks into a cataclysmic frenzy, urging them to cram their Nicene orthodoxy down our throats three different ways. On every ship coming into Montreal or Halifax, hidden among the malnourished, diseased Irish there are sure to be Fenian terrorists ready to slit your throat at the first opportunity. This needs to stop now.

We all know that the Irish are a bunch of uneducated, colonial savages with a primitive religion. How will our women and children be safe while hoards of drunken Irish flow into our cities and roam the streets? Meanwhile they breed like rabbits, all part of their plan of Papist domination. It is a scientific fact that if Irish immigration continues apace Canada will be a Catholic state by 1910. Enjoy having your wine with communion, because that's all about to end. And if we let the Irish in, who's next - Ukrainians? Chinese? Musalmen?

It is our sacred duty to preserve Canadian values now, before it's too late. In 150 years your children's children will look back and know that you did the right thing.

Be sure to share this leaflet with all your friends (or at least those of them who can read... and you can probably skip the women, not like they can vote anyways). Say yes to Canada staying Canadian. Say no to Irish immigrants!

Rev. John Strachan,
York
June 1866"

Note: "Musalmen" is an older derogatory way of saying "Muslim". So evidently if we are still worried about "Musalmen" then we really have not progressed much in the last 150 years.

It should also be noted that Irish slavery (that being the slavery of Irish people by the British) only ended in 1833 in Britain and in the East Indies in 1843, so when the above letter was written in 1866 many Irish were still considered to be "less than human" by many people in Britain and America. The history of Irish slavery isn't often spoken of, but it is the reason why many African-Americans also have mixed Irish blood.

African slaves were more expensive during the 1600s (50 sterling silver) whereas Irish slaves were cheap (5 sterling) because they might run away and gain their freedom somehow. At the time a practice developed of breeding Irish women with African men to produce more expensive children slaves. The practice not only allowed the masters to make more money, but also to ensure that if the Irish women ever gained their freedom they would stick around for the sake of their children - which being mixed race, were considered to be less likely to ever be emancipated.

The American Emancipation Proclamation in 1862-63 meant that suddenly everyone was free, Irish slaves and African slaves, and the slave masters (in the southern states where slavery was still practiced) were none too pleased about it. The American Civil War (1861 to 1865) happened around the same time, and thus the two events are often considered to be a war about slavery - although this is hardly the only reason. The main reason was because the southern states wanted to form their own country and live independently with their own rules (something Texas to this day continues to claim it wants to do).

During it all many Irish freed slaves went north, settling in Chicago, Boston and other locations now famous for its Irish heritage. Many African freed slaves also went north, some to Canada, and others to various locations where they felt more welcome.

Fast forward to 2016.

Canada.

One of the most welcoming countries in the world. Arguably the least racist, more open minded. It is often called the best country in the world. A veritable Mecca of diversity of races, religions and ethnicities.

But that doesn't mean we don't have mean people who say awful things about immigrants or refugees. Just look at the Conservative Party of Canada and you know how blatantly racist they are, even if they won't always admit it.

But it really is no surprise that Canada is the #1 choice for many refugees to come to. Free education, free health care, an open and free democracy that 'on paper at least' is accepting of immigrants of all nationalities and has such a great reputation internationally.

Unfortunately our reputation wasn't enough to save Aylan Kurdi, the little boy whose parents applied to immigrate to Canada as refugees. Chris Alexander, the Minister of Immigration under the 2015 Conservative Party of Canada personally vetoed the family's application to Canada. Why? Because the Conservative Party of Canada is racist. It is as simple as that. Chris Alexander is a racist. Just one of many in the Conservative Party.


New Democrat MP Fin Donnelly, personally delivered a letter to Minister Chris Alexander asking for his help from his office for young Alan Kurdi and his family, and Chris Alexander vetoed the idea, and later denied ever receiving an application even though all the paper work was handed in and he had received a personal letter from a fellow MP requesting the admission of the family to Canada.

And so Alan Kurdi took his young son on a dangerous boat trip to Greece, trying to make his way towards Germany, their 2nd choice to immigrate to, and desperately trying to get there. But the boat capsized and many refugees drowned, including the boy, Aylan Kurdi, below.

And we should note their last name: Kurdi. The Kurds were NATO's allies during the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, and continue to be our allies during the war with ISIL in Syria. Now admittedly that is reading into the name quite a bit, but it seems silly that would we deny entry to Canada to people who are:

A. Not our enemy.
B. Our allies which fought alongside us in various wars.

I will give another example:

During the Afghanistan War the USA offered Green Cards to Afghan translators and guides to help American troops during the occupation of Afghanistan. They fought alongside the troops, translated for them, kept them alive in dangerous situations, put themselves at risk, and for what?

It took the U.S. government YEARS to process and finally issue Green Cards to the thousands of translators and guides who assisted them during that war. Many of them NEVER even got their Green Card and gave up on ever getting it because the American government gave them a ridiculous bureaucratic runaround of forms to fill out in order to make it practically impossible for them to ever become American citizens.

What this really shows is the lengths governments (and the people in power) will go to in order to make it as hard as possible to move to a country and become a citizen there.

And Canada isn't much better. We are actually worse. Canada is the HARDEST country in the world to immigrate to. Worse than the USA.

But we do have loopholes. eg. If you are rich, Canada will let you in if you are promising to bring your money to Canada and start a business. So really what that means is anyone with lots of money can immigrate to Canada, but people who are refugees - who need a country where they can be free and safe from war and violence - are left to die on the beaches of uncaring world.

And it doesn't matter whether you are Irish, African or Syrian. People need a country they can call home.

Because it is 2015

"Because it is 2015." - Justin Trudeau, after swearing in as Canada's 23rd Prime Minister.

The question was asking why Justin Trudeau chose to have a cabinet of ministers that was equal men and women.

And Justin gave the reporter, in my opinion, a kick ass answer.

It is well past time women had equal representation in politics. This should have happened 50 years ago and it took until now to make it a reality.

Ever since then however I have heard men (and only men) complaining about how women don't deserve those cabinet post because they lack merit or experience or competence. I have heard it so many times, mostly on Facebook, that is annoying me to the point of frustration.

So here is the thing, those 15 women do actually deserve the jobs they've been given.

#1. Jane Philpott - Minister of Health

Why is she qualified? Philpott has been a family doctor at the Markham Stouffville Hospital since 1988. She also served as the hospitals’ chief of the Department of Family Medicine, and is an associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Family and Community Medicine. Note - She is the first actual doctor to hold the post of Minister of Health. Who better than a doctor to be in charge of Canada's health care? An accountant? A lawyer? A businessman?

#2. Jody Wilson-Raybould - Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Why is she qualified? Wilson-Raybould is a former crown prosecutor, and adviser at the B.C. Treaty Commission and First Nations chief. She will be in charge of the inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous women, and is herself indigenous. Who better for the job than an indigenous lawyer?

#3. Carolyn Bennett - Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs

Why is she qualified? Served as Minister of State for Public Health under Prime Minister Paul Martin. So she has already been a minister before.

#4. Judy Foote - Minister of Public Services and Procurement

Why is she qualified? Former deputy house leader and former party whip. Served as a provincial MHA for 11 years, holding numerous ministerial roles. This is not her first rodeo.

#5. Chrystia Freeland - Minister of International Trade

Why is she qualified? Asides from being an economics journalist for the Financial Times and well-traveled, Freeland also speaks five languages: English, French, Ukrainian, Russian and Italian. Being a polyglot economics journalist is very handy for international trade.

#6. Marie-Claude Bibeau - Minister of International Development and La Francophonie

Why is she qualified? Tourism based businesswoman from Quebec and an executive director of a Quebec museum, so she knows issues of Quebec culture and also works well for bringing tourism dollars into Canada. Please note she is not in charge of international trade, see #7 above.

#7. Mélanie Joly - Minister of Canadian Heritage

Why is she qualified? She is a lawyer, communications partner, mayoral candidate. Not her first rodeo in politics either.

And so on and so forth. You can read the biographies for all 30 new ministers at
http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/justin-trudeau-s-new-liberal-cabinet-full-list-and-bios-1.2642140


My point is, the people who are complaining about that these women lack experience or the proper backgrounds for the jobs they will be doing, well, they're just being sexist.

Pure and simple sexism.

They might try and hide it and claim that they love women, that they support equal rights for women, but then turn around and claim that these women don't deserve the job because they somehow lack merit.

As if men should automatically get the job just because they have testicles and maybe some merit.

Rather here is what I think what happened...

Trudeau asked his party members what cabinet jobs they would want, anyone who wanted a cabinet post put their names on the list of available posts, and then Trudeau sat down, looked at their qualifications and built a team based on their skills, experience and other merits... And for whatever reason, they ended up being 50 / 50 or roughly 50 / 50.

And for whatever jobs that were the most concerning, he picked people who he felt had lots of experience and the right background.

Take for example the two following minorities:

Navdeep Bains - Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development

Why is he qualified? Former financial and accounting analyst for years at Ford Motor Company. Economics and innovation. Also it is not his first rodeo either, he was first elected MP in 2004.

Harjit Singh Sajjan - Minister of National Defence

Why is he qualified? Former police detective and soldier. He is a highly decorated lieutenant-colonel who served three tours in Afghanistan and one in Bosnia.

Now here is why these two guys are important. They are also both Sikh. Visible minorities. Did Trudeau choose them because they are visible minorities? Or did he choose them because the one is an experienced MP who understands economics and technology, and quite possibly might be Finance Minister two decades from now, and the other is a highly decorated lieutenant-colonel who clearly knows what he is doing.

Now I haven't personally heard anyone complaining about Bains or Sajjan and saying that they are not qualified for their jobs, and even if I did, I would assume whoever is complaining is clearly a racist.

However if they were women, I bet people would be complaining about it, saying things like "Just because she is a lieutenant-colonel doesnn't mean she is qualified to be Minister of National Defence."

And other bullshit like that.

If anything it is some of the men who may not be qualified.

Like this guy:

Jim Carr - Minister of Natural Resources

Musician, journalist, Founding CEO of Business Council of Manitoba, and has been in politics since 1988. Of the first three, only business is tied to Natural Resources - and he apparently got a post as a Minister simply because he is an experienced politician. Not his first rodeo.

At which point you have to ask, what makes a person qualified for Natural Resources anyway? Being CEO of a gold mining corporation? Doesn't that really limit our options for who can hold these posts?

Canada elected 184 Liberals in October. Minus himself, Trudeau has to pick 30 people out of 183 to fill 30 cabinet postings, and he has to pick the people who are best suited for the job with only 183 people to choose from.

Chances are likely there are several people who are not qualified for the jobs they have been given. And we are not talking about the women here, but people in general.

For decades we have been giving the top jobs in Canada to unqualified men, because someone had to fulfill the role. Clearly the country did not collapse because we also have a system in place to correct any problems when people are not qualified. It is called a cabinet shuffle.

In my experience cabinet shuffles seem to happen routinely, every 6 to 9 months apart. Some people retire, some get demoted back to the benches, some people get promoted to a more prestigious ministry, and some get promoted to becoming a minister.

So how about we see what happens during Trudeau's first cabinet shuffle and see how the "game of musical chairs" plays out.

Ignoring retirements due to old age, I bet the women will fare just as well as the men do.

In the mean time please think on this phrase:

"You wouldn't be asking this question if she was a man."

Anybody But Stephen Harper

I usually try to avoid talking about politics on here, but today is the federal election day in Canada. It is the day Canadians get to decide whether we want to re-elect Stephen Harper (who has already been in power for 10 years) or whether it is time to kick his ass to the curb for all the horrible things he has done.

#1. Do you remember the swine flu epidemic? Well the image below demonstrates Stephen Harper's "love" for his fellow Canadians.

#2. In the last ten years Stephen Harper has run 6 deficits and boosted the Canadian national debt by $140 billion. That is a 20% increase of the Canadian national debt. Canada's population is only $35.16 million... so do the math, that is $3981.80 per person. The average Canadian will have to pay that off over time in taxes. And what does Stephen Harper have to show for squandering $140 billion?

236,200 more people are now unemployed compared to when Harper took office.

Well for starters Stephen Harper is now considered to be the worst economic leader in 70 years. The numbers on multiple economic factors show that Stephen Harper is either the worst or 2nd worst in a variety of economic factors. So basically Stephen Harper has botched the economy.

Whoever replaces Harper is going to have to fix a lot of the problems Harper created.

#3. The Rich Got Richer while the Middle Class got Poorer. One of the economic factors described above is the issue of the middle class in Canada. Harper lowered taxes for the rich - aka Reagonomics, the concept that if you lower taxes on the rich it will "trickle down" to the lower classes. Reagonomics has since been proven to only make the rich richer and everyone else poorer. Stephen Harper proved it during the last 10 years as prime minister.

Poverty in Canada is also up, making Stephen Harper one of very few PMs in the last 70 years to preside over record poverty rates.

Here's a little tip I picked up recently from a real estate website that talked about politics in Canada:

If you are rich and buy property by paying for the full amount in cash, then you should vote Conservative. The Conservatives will lower taxes on you, while ignoring the poor and middle class.

If you are middle class and buy property using a mortgage, then you should vote Liberal. The Liberals will lower taxes on the middle class, raise taxes on the rich, and increase spending to decrease poverty / improve the economy.

If you are poor and either renting or living in your parent's basement, then you should vote NDP. The NDP will increase taxes on the rich and the middle class, and they will dramatically increase spending to decrease poverty in Canada.

Basically they pointed out that Canada's three main political parties are all about class warfare and bickering over who should pay more taxes, and how much money should be spent trying to reduce poverty/boost the economy.

#4. Stephen Harper is actively promoting racism against Muslims in Canada. All the talk about "old stock Canadians", "barbaric cultural practices", and niqabs has just fueled racism on Canada's right wing. He is basically trying to feed into the hate some Canadians feel and then use that to get more votes from people who normally vote for the National Socialist Party. And oddly enough, to try and get more Jewish votes. Wow. Nazis and Jews both voting for the same party. That is really weird.

Take niqabs for example. 20 years ago niqabs wasn't even an issue in Canada. Nobody cared. But suddenly Stephen Harper has turned niqabs into a symbol of Muslim immigrants coming to Canada, and used that symbol to fuel hatred which has resulted in Muslim women being attacked on the streets across Canada.

Examples

Pregnant Muslim woman attacked in Montreal.

Toronto Muslim woman attacked for wearing a niqab.

Ottawa police urge Muslim women to report attacks after several incidents.

I should also note that promoting racism and spreading hate literature is a crime in Canada. Stephen Harper should actually be arrested for openly doing what the National Socialist Party does behind closed doors.

#5. Last but not least, Stephen Harper also did the following:

Shut down women's shelters across Canada.
Built more prisons while fear-mongering about crime in a country with a ridiculously low crime rate.
Invaded the privacy of Canadians.
Took away the right to privacy in the name of finding terrorists (more Canadians die from shark attacks each year than from terrorist attacks).
Removed vast amounts of publicly owned land from environmental protections so oil companies can drill there.
Gave the oil industry in Alberta a free ride while ignoring the rest of Canada's economy.
Completely ignored the plight of missing / murdered indigenous women.
Completely ignored the issue of clean drinking water in Canada's poorest communities.
Gutted laws that protected Canada's fish stocks,  because apparently free food and clean water is less important than oil.
Gutted the CBC's funding in an effort to control what they were saying about him.
Scrapped funding for arts and the film industry in Canada, industries that actually bring more money into Canada.

Basically pick any topic, and Stephen Harper did something bad during the last 10 years.

Want to learn more about things Harper did? Visit the website Shit Harper Did.