People getting meaner in Canada too?

                                                           According to a number of recent polls many people surveyed opposed weakening collective bargaining rights or cutting the pay or benefits of state workers to reduce state budget deficits.

It was interesting to see, however, that sympathy dropped off when the richest where the most eager to slush away at pay benefits.

That's in the U.S., and I have no statistics at hand of a similar poll conducted in Canada.

Nevertheless, my impression is that things have changed drastically in Canada too in the last fifty years. I am not referring to the attitude of the rich as that seem to be the same almost everywhere on this planet.

I am talking of the average man or woman, toiling in insecure and low paid jobs threatened by automation and other worrisome developments.

Years ago when someone heard that this or that neighbour or friend got a better, well paying job, like driving a bus, or delivering mail, working for the city, etc., most people working in minimum wage type of jobs said "I will try and eventually I will get a job like that".

Today, many, if not most people working in hamburger flipping jobs, greeting people at the favourite box store, in the growing number of jobs with little benefits or security seem to have a very different mindset. In simple terms, it would appear that many are jealous of government workers, of their pay and benefits and want to cut those benefits. The imperative is, " If I can't have that, they should not have anything better".

True, there are some unionised workers who could drive the employer to bankruptcy or force the company to move offshore. But they are a minority and even they are more likely to compromise in these tough economic times.

The goal should be that everyone's pay and benefits should be upgraded so that we can all live. Instead of dragging down those who are doing a little better, we should aspire to achieve what they had achieved.

Make no mistake, I am not defending the CEO who is making millions and walks away with a fortune after bankrupting the company.

But it beleaguers me when people that would not qualify to handle a push-mower, or deliver a flier to a mailbox, suddenly shout they should drive a bus, deliver mail, issue drivers licenses, work in laboratories, and so on and life is unjust to them.

Of course I don't even waste time on those who could not manage a hamburger stand but tell everybody they should run Ontario Hydro. - Coming to think of it, possibly they may could do that.

Never Mind The Sasquatch, Keep Your Eyes On The Road

According to an AP report, an unfortunate woman driving a car in northern Idaho crashed into a deer because she was distracted by something.

No, she was not chomping on a juicy hamburger, drinking coffee,  texting or even applying make up.

The lady was distracted by something extraordinary she saw in the rear view mirror of the car.

She saw a Sasquatch chasing a deer on the side of the road and the poor deer suddenly crossed the road on front of the car and got hit.

The police report did not mention that they found evidence of Bigfoot.

One can only hope that the lady managed to get over the reported experience and will not be haunted by dreams of an unshaved and smelly Bigfoot knocking on her front door asking for directions to the nearest UFO landing spot.

Real Friends Or Social Media "Friends" ?

Like it or not , social media is not going away like many other fads of earlier years. The reasons are manifold.

Online popularity in our celebrity oriented world may provide you with real-world benefits. So, who cares if we are becoming more committed to our superficial virtual relationships than to our real flesh and blood friends?

Things got so bad the word is out that not having a social media identity is like a throw back to the puritan days of history. In other words, you are not with it.

Of course this is manufactured nonsense.  This fallacy is spread by commercial interests that deep-mining this newly created gold mine to hawk their sometime crappy wares and services. These types are using the social media as readily available platform for spam to replace email based and generally well filtered avalanche of spam.

We can think and do whatever we like about social media, the fact remains social media is just a means of often meaningless jabbering and not a means of teleportation or communicating with newly found soul mates.

Placing the practice of social media in a better light we may use it to do good and better the real world we live in, instead of spewing meaningless trivialities into cyber space boring to death readers who happen to click on one.

We can support social causes, without vile comments, we may support charities and other good causes by channels provided by social media.

Whatever we think and do about social media, we must always remember that our privacy is dying a slow death. Once is dead is very difficult to revive it.

If your social strategy relies increasingly on contacts in the realm of social media, it is probably better to hang on to your land line and existing friends.

Aliens, Yes, The Ones Out There

Harvard scientists just told us that somewhere in a far-away galaxy aliens getting ready to go somewhere.

Therefore, as they are booting up their spaceships we can see flashes coming from their part of the sky.

Yes, I want to believe that these mysterious energy flashes detected in far-away galaxies could be caused by a super-advanced aliens activating their interstellar spacecrafts.

The all-knowing scientists  climbed out on a limb and stated that the emissions could be leaked energy from inconceivably powerful transmitters capable of sending giant ships on trips between stars.

If so, these road ready aliens must be very sure of themselves and confident that no one in their  high tech neighbourhood would even think of snatching anything from their home base while they are away roaming at warp speeds toward unknown destinations.

Good luck to them. May they be guided by top of the line GPS wonders, unlike the one in my car, that suddenly spoke up and said, " In 400 feet, stop and let me out."

And if they happen to end up in hour solar system and mistakenly conclude there is intelligent life on this rocky and watery planet, they should re-calibrate their instruments and head back to interstellar space.-- Out there they may be safe and perhaps find something worthwhile.

Fill 'er up !

Here you see  Washington, D. C. filling station in 1924. You can be sure it was not the self-serve type.  As you may guess a gallon of gas was affordable. Perhaps even the windshield was cleaned
and without pushing your luck you could ask the attendant to check the oil.

However, nothing is perfect as you could not use your credit card
to pay for the service.
 

Audrey Hepburn 1929-1993

Audrey was the epitome of style and good taste in her day and prospered  without spewing obscenities as some of the aging stars do today. She had talent, taste and manners.

Audrey Hepburn was a British actress, model, dancer and humanitarian. Recognized as a film and fashion icon, Hepburn was active during Hollywood's Golden Age.

Say Your Piece But Don't Touch Me

Recounted by someone who witnessed a recent interaction between an elderly woman, and a protestor in a subway station somewhere in the U.S. Let's get on with the story.

There were demonstrators on the train platform handing out pamphlets on "The Evils of America".

I politely declined to take one. An elderly woman was behind me, getting off the escalator and a young (20ish), female, protester, offered her a pamphlet, which she politely declined.

The young protester put her hand on the old woman's shoulder, as a gesture of friendship, and in a very soft voice said, "Ma'am ,don't you care about the children of Iraq and Syria?
The old woman looked up at her and said, "Honey", my first husband died in France during World War II. My second husband died in Korea, one of my sons died in Vietnam, and a grandson died in Desert Storm; all so you could have the right to stand here and bad mouth our country.

SO IF YOU TOUCH ME AGAIN ... I SHALL STICK THIS UMBRELLA UP YOUR ASS
AND OPEN IT!!!