FROLITICKS

Satirical commentary on Canadian and American current political issues

Jun 27

Are You Going To Have Enough For A Comfortable Retirement?

by bcurry

Canada, like the U.S., has a federally-administered old age security program. In Canada, its main component is called the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). It kicks in at 67, although the current Liberal government has indicated that it will reverse that to its former 65 start.  There are also two other components — Old Age Security and the Income Supplement — the former for everyone based on income and the latter for those whose income in old age is very low. Now the federal government, with the agreement of the majority of provinces, wants to increase the contributions made by employers and their employees to the CPP.  This is the result of a number of factors including:

  •  Currently, the level of household debt to income in Canada is at its highest in recent history, combined with very low savings rates;
  • Individuals are not putting sufficient personal savings aside to ensure a comfortable retirement, including into Registered Retirement Savings Plans similar to 401Ks in the States;
  • Many seniors are compelled due to finances to continue working beyond 65, some well into their seventies and even eighties;
  • Only one-third of working Canadians have a private pension plan with their employers, especially defined-benefit plans; and
  • With an aging population there are already stressors on the public old age security reserves, with possible future increases in liabilities.

The proposed increase in CPP contributions has met with opposition from some interest groups, including those representing small businesses. The main argument is that the increase in employer contributions and associated costs will discourage additional hiring and result in job losses.  Employees may view additional contributions as a form of more payroll taxes, although they will benefit in the future when increased CPP payments are made to contributors.

What both sides really miss in their opposition is the fact that the costs associated with retirements, especially for those on fixed incomes, are increasing on a yearly basis. Anyone familiar with the costs related to providing housing, health care, personal support care, etc., etc., knows what I mean.  As a senior, try living in one’s home, in a senior’s residence or in a long-term care facility!  Indexing retirement payouts to annual inflation rates doesn’t even make a dent in meeting such costs.  If it weren’t for the involvement of families and volunteer groups in providing daily assistance and personal care to seniors, many elderly today would be suffering from poverty and isolation.  In two societies with so much wealth, can Canadians, Americans and their governments really ignore the future reality of trying to live in comfort as a retired senior?

Canada Seniors US

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Jun 8

Children as Young as 9 are Attempting Suicide in North America

by bcurry

In Southern Ontario, the small town of Woodstock, with roughly 38,000 residents, had five young people 19 and under commit suicide since the beginning of 2016. Local authorities noted that another 36 teens were known to have expressed suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide in neighbouring communities. How can this be?  Where are we as a society going wrong?

Well, the issue of youth suicide is nothing new in both Canada and the U.S.  Indeed, according to a 2011 U.S. study by the University of Washington, children as young as nine years old are attempting to kill themselves every year. Nearly 40 per cent of those who attempted suicide first tried to kill themselves in elementary or middle school.  Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for Canadians between the ages of 10 and 24.  According to Statistics Canada, 25 people in Canada aged 10 to 14 committed suicide in 2008. Girls are more likely to commit suicide than boys, and the proportion of girls dying by their own hand is increasing.  Depression was detected in 40 per cent of suicides. Cyberbullying may play a bigger role in youth suicide today than it did a decade ago.  These are not simply statistics, each number represents someone’s child.

According to recent research, teens who had a schoolmate die by suicide are more likely to consider or attempt taking their own lives than those who haven’t lost a peer to suicide — and the fallout can be longer lasting than once thought. That effect, known as “suicide contagion,” can last two years or longer.  Some believe that this form of contagion may have happened in Woodstock.

Whatever the causes, societies have to seriously begin tackling this issue. Resources have to be allocated to deal with youth mental health issues, reducing the daily pressures and stressors affecting young people, better educating the general population and instituting a comprehensive national strategy to address the issue.  Suicide prevention programs need to focus on elementary and middle school populations as well as high school populations.  The number of youth suicides, especially among girls, has been increasing in recent years. We cannot afford to continue to needlessly loose our children and adolescents to suicide.  The time for talk is over.  The time for action is now.

Health Care Mental Health Uncategorized Youth Suicide

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May 9

To Blog or Not to Blog, That is the Question

by bcurry

For about four years now, I have been blogging on a variety of issues within the blog entitled https://froliticks.wordpress.com/.  Blogging offers one an opportunity to express certain views on issues of the day, often in a satirical manner.  Whether they are read or not is often of little relevance as to why one bothers to blog.  If the writing is good and the subjects are current and interesting, one can only hope that its readers will enjoy the blogs and hopefully become better informed and willing to think about certain issues.

However, one must realize that there are thousands of blogs written every day. Besides keeping up on current events via print or on-line news sources, one only has so much time in a day to read blogs via the Internet.  For me, the frequent absurdities of politics in Canada and the U.S. make good fodder for any satirical writer. The current American presidential primaries are a perfect example of offering up plenty of comedic material for the likes of Saturday Night Live and late-night talk shows.  The total lack of real informed debate about serious issues is only one of numerous flaws in our political systems.  Both countries are among the wealthiest and best educated in the world, but have created leadership races involving mud-slinging and name-calling episodes worthy of the worst virtual reality television shows.

Select any important topic of current interest — be it the economy, climate change, inequalities among the sexes and races, national security, immigration, foreign policy, etc., etc. — and perspective candidates will respond with one-minute nonsensical sound bits. What is even sadder is the fact that voters and supporters continue to endorse such behaviour.  One would think that citizens would want to see well thought out and viable policies to deal realistically with today’s problems.  It was Otto Von Bismarck who said that politics is the “art of the possible”.  Moreover, it’s not necessarily about what’s right or what’s best. It’s about what politicians and governments can actually get done.

Listening to many of our politicians, you’d think that politics is the art of the impossible. Too many promises are totally absurd and lacking any grounding in reality and serious study.  This outcome has unfortunately culminated in the likes of Donald Trump.  Hillary Clinton is not too far behind.  Canada’s current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tends to be more of a stuntman than a statesman, too often immersed in selfies with his admirers. This political evolution provides an immense amount of amusing material for bloggers like myself.  As long as the current output continues, there is plenty of incentive to keep on blogging.

Canada Conservative Political Groups Justin Trudeau US US Politics

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May 2

Why Canada Should Get the Hell Out of Iraq

by bcurry

It was March 2003 and the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq. According to U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the coalition mission was to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people.  After 21 days of major combat operations, the loss of thousands of lives and the destruction of much of Iraq’s infrastructure, President Bush declared that the war was over.  At the time, I had many misgivings and was happy that Canada had refused to participate in this farce.  Remember, no weapons of mass of mass destruction were found and the war continued on for a decade.  Saddam Hussein was subsequently found and hung by the interim Iraqi government.  Iraq supposedly was supposedly on its way to discovering “democracy”— Western style.

Jump forward a dozen years, and where are we today? On April 30, 2016, thousands of protesters stormed the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad and took over Iraq’s parliament. A state of emergency was declared in Baghdad.  President Obama’s plan for fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) was predicated on having a credible and effective Iraqi ally on the ground in Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.  Instead, we have a corrupt and paralyzed government overseeing an Iraqi society fractured once again along ethnic and sectarian lines, with Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish elements fighting for power, oil and territory.

Meanwhile, Canada has increased its military advisors on the ground to help train Kurdish fighters in the north in their battle against ISIS. However, the problem is that the Kurds are really fighting to eventually establish an independent state, separate from the current Iraqi regime.  Since ISIS is nothing more than a bunch of thugs who rely on fear and threats to maintain their occupation in parts of Iraq and Syria, fighting ISIS has become a “good feel” campaign for the West.  Recent ISIS-inspired attacks in France and Belgium have given an added incentive to the campaign.  However, there is the much tougher task of helping Abadi repair Iraq’s corrupt and largely ineffective government before a ground war can be won against ISIS.

Canada is caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, if it pulls out its advisors from Iraq, its allies and the hard-liners will argue that Canada is soft on terrorism.  On the other hand, if it continues with military assistance to Kurdish forces, the Shiite and Sunni factions will accuse Canada of supporting the Kurdish independence movement.  Iraq is becoming increasingly ungovernable and eventually the U.S.-led coalition will be left with overseeing the breakup of Iraq into separate political entities.  For the moment, the common enemy in ISIS has forced some form of sectarian cooperation.  If and when ISIS is effectively removed from Iraq, what will come next — another civil war?  Most likely.  Canada had better begin thinking about an exit strategy, sooner than later.

Canada Iraq Iraq and ISIS Iraq Today US

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Apr 25

Hi To Getting Legally High On Pot

by bcurry

Well, Canada’s recently elected Liberal national government just announced that it plans to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in 2017. Canada already allows for the growing, distribution and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.  Now, our governing members of Parliament will be able smoke their pot on the steps of our hallowed institution.  Indeed, last week an estimated 5,000 people toked up on Parliament Hill as an annual part of 4/20 across the country.

More and more jurisdictions are allowing their citizens to toke up across the Americas. Today, people are free to smoke marijuana in four U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and medical marijuana is allowed in almost half the U.S. Uruguay has fully legalized weed for sale. A large chunk of South and Central America, including Brazil, Peru, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica, have made marijuana more available in varying ways, whether it is for medicinal or recreational use.  Even Mexico has recently gotten into the act by loosening its laws on the possession of marijuana for personal use.

The real question in Canada is why it’s going to take a whole year to legalize the recreational use of pot. There are plenty of distribution systems in place already to replicate.  The provinces would only be too happy to reap in extra revenues from the sale of pot.  Smoke it, toke it, vape it, eat it — marijuana is going mainstream. In past surveys, the vast majority of Canadians supported either complete legalization or decriminalization for possession of small amounts.  Hell, pot was around and readily available when I was in college in the early seventies.  Like a lot of our more celebrated citizens, a good number of us experimented with pot in our youth.  Most of us boomers really don’t see what the fuss is all about.

With all the other more important issues — climate change, recessions, terrorism, gun violence — you’d think that we’d have more pressing concerns to worry about. Indeed, maybe toking up might help some of us to cope with many of these serious societal concerns.  Like alcohol and tobacco, societies have established reasonable means to controlling their access and use, particularly by our youth.  The debate about the merits of legalizing marijuana use is finished.  Governments now need to get on with implementing timely measures necessary to control its use just like it does for other legal substances.

Canada Uncategorized War on Drugs

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Apr 14

The Great North — Strong, Free and Mostly Poor for Native Populations

by bcurry

Attawapiskat is a remote community of roughly 2000 people, mostly comprised of first nation folks, and led by the reserve’s band council. It is located in the Kenora District in northern Ontario, Canada, at the mouth of the Attawapiskat River on James Bay. Like other remote northern communities, it is connected to other towns along the shore of James Bay by the seasonal ice road/winter road constructed each December. Otherwise, people and supplies have to be flown into and out of the region.

We have just learned that Attawapiskat has suffered from an epidemic of suicide attempts, including eleven young residents last April 9th involving what is believed to have been the result of a suicide pact.  Subsequently, the community’s dire situation was exposed by national media.  The province of Ontario and the Federal Government admitted that they haven’t done enough in the past to help such communities. Housing is inadequate, the local elementary school is falling apart, substance abuse is high, young people have little to do on the reserve, mental health and other social services are totally lacking, and poverty and high unemployment is rampant.  In this environment of hopelessness, it is understandable why the suicide rate for such communities is roughly eight times the national rate.

In Canada, Aboriginal kids drop out of school at a rate three times the national average. A larger number of Aboriginal children die in infancy than among the rest of our population’s newborns.  Aboriginal children and Aboriginal women continue to be sexually assaulted and violently victimized at higher rates.  Aboriginals are murdered at a rate almost seven times higher than the national average.  In 2013, the Correctional Investigator reported that Canada’s prison population has grown by 2,100 inmates — a 16.5-per-cent increase — in the last 10 years. In that time, the overall Aboriginal population in the prisons grew by 46 percent, while the number of Aboriginal women increased by 80 percent and now accounts for one in three women under federal sentence.  Something terrible has gone wrong.

These appalling statistics and numbers represent real people. Every once and awhile, tragic stories like those in Attawapiskat make the headlines. Governments are forced to react in the short-term until the headlines fade from our memories.  Recognizing the complexities, cultural issues and history behind the problems, what we really need are long-term solutions in consultation with these communities.  Just throwing more money at the problem may not be the answer.  What is needed are on-going comprehensive and holistic approaches involving access to better education, social and health services, as well as innovative socioeconomic initiatives.  We have to stop simply reacting from one crisis to another.

Canada Native Issues Uncategorized Youth Suicide

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Mar 31

Are Actions by Trump’s Followers a Reflection of a Violent Society?

by bcurry

When you have what is the most violent society among western industrialized nations, it’s not surprising that violence has broken out at political rallies involving Trump’s supporters. Not only has the potential Republican presidential nominee condoned such violence, he has even encouraged it through his very own words.  Wow, and these are only the primaries.  What will actual election campaigning look like?  In one state, Republican supporters have even suggested that they be allowed to carry weapons into a Trump rally.

It appears that no matter how outlandish, Trump can say anything and get away with it among his supporters. Imagine, here you have a presidential hopeful proclaiming that he could shoot someone in the middle of Manhattan, and no one would care.  Lately, he suggested that women who have had an abortion should be punished in some way.  He has also proposed that nuclear weapons be used in the fight against ISIS. Sexist language is being used that denigrates women and racist and divisive comments spew out of this extreme narcissist’s mouth.

His supporters are lapping it up, continuing to sucker punch and pepper spray peaceful protesters at Trump rallies. His own campaign staff has physically manhandled and verbally harassed members of the media, in particular female reporters.  It’s only a matter of time before someone gets killed.

Dear Mr. Trump, the world is watching and waiting. The damage to American democratic values and reputation as a world leader will have future consequences.  This is no laughing matter, as violence is always met with violence.  I firmly believe that the majority of Americans cannot and do not condone such violent behaviour.  My American neighbours are better than that, and Donald Trump is not a harbinger of things to come.

U.S. Primaries US Politics Women's Issues

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Mar 14

Constant Complaining Will Only Make Matters Worst

by bcurry

People tend to constantly complain about a lot of things. We complain about the weather.  We complain about politicians and governments.  Of course, we complain about taxes.  Yet, where does all this complaining really get us.  We become ever more frustrated, anxious, stressed out and in some cases even angry.  We even like to complain about things that we don’t have much control over. Indeed in many instances, complaining often only makes matters worst.

Studies now tell us that constant negative thinking affects our mental health, and in turn our physical health. This repeated outpouring of “negativity” causes certain parts of the brain to adjust in a manner which leads to more destructive outlooks.  Receptors and neurons in the brain start to act in different ways, generally interpreting many daily events in a negative way. Furthermore, we are bombarded everyday with negative events on news media – be it in print, radio, TV or on social media.

Instead of rationally reacting to irritants in a normal way, the first response is one of outright umbrage. Then comes the complaints, even though in many cases there is nothing that one can realistically do about the irritant.  Trying to deal with anxiety and stress, next comes attempts at avoidance in our personal lives.  Often, avoidance takes the form of substance use, including lots of drugs and alcohol.  This in turn can lead to serious substance abuse, including addictions and physical harm.

Research has shown that our mental state greatly influences our physical state. All this added stress and negativity can affect our health in serious ways.  It literally isn’t good for the heart.  So I guess that we should all lighten up, smell the roses so to speak.  Take a deep breath and concentrate primarily on those things that can be controlled and are most important to us, including family and friends.  Prioritize you complaints.

Mental Health Uncategorized

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Feb 29

Donald Trump and Extreme Narcissism

by bcurry

I’ve just finished a fascinating recent book by Dr. Joseph Burgo dealing with extreme narcissists. Guess what?  Donald Trump is given as one example of an extreme narcissist in the book.  Basically, narcissism is recognized in psychologists/psychiatrists circles as a mental illness, often referred to as “narcissistic personality disorder”.  People with narcissistic personality disorder are characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance.  They have a sense of entitlement and demonstrate grandiosity in their beliefs and behaviour.  They also have a strong need for admiration, are manipulative, but lack feelings of empathy.  If challenged, they often will bully and disparage those who would dare criticize them.  Sound familiar?

What’s interesting is that Sarah Palin, who once ran as a Vice-Presidential candidate in the U.S., was also described by Dr. Burgo as an extreme narcissist in his book. So here we have one extreme narcissist publicly endorsing another extreme narcissist, Donald Trump, for the Republican Presidential candidate.  Like two peas in a pod, both Palin and Trump have histories of making outlandish and irresponsible statements about American values, politics and policies.

Unfortunately, Trump is the most dangerous of narcissists in that he can attract a fairly large following by being outrageous and expressing the evident anger of some Americans against the so-called political establishment. He is very effective in using his celebrity and money to convince average Americans that he has simple solutions to all their problems.  Stop illegal immigrants by building a wall and have the Mexican government pay for it.  Prevent terrorists from entering the country by banning Moslems from entry.  Resolve foreign policy conflicts by bombing the hell out of everyone.  All with the ultimate goal to make America great again!  As Hillary Clinton has said: “Since when has America not being great.”

I can only hope that Americans, particularly Republicans, will more thoroughly research Trump’s history, both business and political, to really see his portrait for what it is: that of  an extreme narcissist.

U.S. Primaries US US Politics

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Feb 16

Can Outsiders Really Save Syria or Iraq?

by bcurry

So Canada wants to stop its small contribution to bombing missions against the Islamic State, formerly known by the acronym ISIS, in Syria. Sorties by the six Canadian jet fighters represented only 3 to 4 percent of total coalition sorties.  Instead of this token symbolic gesture, the Canadian government now wants to increase its humanitarian efforts in the region and its training and arming of Iraqi ground forces.  Meanwhile, coalition forces and the Russians continue to bomb the hell out of the country, either against ISIS or (in the case of the Russians) insurgent ground forces fighting the Assad regime. The bombings to date have even included hospitals and other civilian targets, either on purpose or by accident.  The theme seems to be that either one will save the Syrians or level what is left of that country’s infrastructure to do so — while killing and starving civilians who have not fled Syria like the hundreds of thousands of refugees before them.

The ruthless Russians are supporting Assad against insurgent forces, while the western-organized coalition supports the ground war against ISIS and the insurgent forces’ struggle against Assad. Talk about a crazy helter-skelter mix of military and political strategies.  The campaign against ISIS forces in Iraq is not much better. Canada has been primarily providing military assistance to the Kurdish forces, recognizing that the Kurds really want to take advantage of the situation to move eventually toward an independent Kurdish territory.

Iraq is still divided along sectarian lines. Shia militias are battling ISIS, but have also massacred Sunni civilians.  Iraq witnessed a sharp increase in civilian deaths following the fall of large swaths of territory to ISIS in the summer of 2014. Now despite a string of recent battlefield losses for ISIS, civilians in Iraq continue to die in the thousands at a “staggering” rate, according to a United Nations report released in January 2016.  In addition, Kurdish Peshmerga forces, or in some cases Yezidi militias and Kurdish armed groups from Syria and Turkey, are operating in co-ordination with the Peshmerga. They reportedly have forced tens of thousands of Arab civilians to flee their homes.  There are now talks of war crimes being committed by all sides.

President Obama’s late-coming promise to confront ISIS reflects U.S. reluctance to commit troops to foreign wars unless Americans, or American interests, are directly threatened. Much of this reluctance is also due to the tragic experiences of decade-long American military efforts in both Iraq and Afghanistan.  As in Canada, after its involvement in Afghanistan, there isn’t much desire to once again become embroiled in either Iraq or Syria with boots on the ground.   In the end, I really believe that all these Iraqi and Syrian factions are going to have to decide their own futures, regardless of outside incursions and the humanitarian, political, economic and military consequences for the Middle East.

Uncategorized

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