Tiger Woods is a dumbass!

What is it with famous men?

Tiger Woods has one of the most recognizable faces on planet earth and yet feels he can somehow cheat on his wife for two and a half years and she won’t find out?

That, Mr. Woods, makes you a dumbass.

Is is the power thing? Powerful man feel entitled and somehow think they are invincible?

Seriously, cheating when you wife is pregnant with your child is the lowest of the low when it comes to husband cheating choices, second only to cheating when she is dying of cancer…paging John Edwards.

On his website Tiger has made the following statement:

I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone.

Am I the only one who has reached their limit for publicist written "transgression" tripe with Tiger's statement?

From me to you Elin, dump his dumbass. Men like that are not worthy of the pain you will go through trying to ever trust him again. This was not a really bad choice he made once in your marriage. A man that sleeps with a series of women and does so while you are carrying his baby does not respect you. And without respect there is no real trust. And without trust there is no real love. He likely has narcissistic personality disorder. I know, he is the man you love and trusted until now and your heart is likely shattered into a million pieces, but you can never trust a man like that again. Dump his dumbass!

And Elin, you really need to get tested for HIV and all STDs. Yes, that is a scary statement, but your husband is apparently a man whore. You have two children to raise without that fucking machine and you need to be healthy. God Bless you if your whoresband has given you an STD.

And next time, take a driver to his manhood.

Next Blogum: December 2009

Sage Spencer

“Don’t react out of love.” Rihanna is a good role model.

Thursday November 5, 2009

I just watched the ABC clip of Rihanna being interviewed by Dianne Sawyer, the interviewer I would choose if I had to be interviewed in her situation.

Like many, I have been looking forward to hearing what Rihanna would have to say regarding Chris Brown’s assault on her back on February 8, 2009.

In my opinion, she did really well in the first of three pieces that are set to air over two days on ABC.  The second piece airs on Good Morning America tomorrow morning and the entire interview airs on 20/20 tomorrow night.  For the first time since Barbara Walters left 20/20, I will be watching it tomorrow night.

I was impressed.  She has come far from a girl in an abusive relationship.  Yes, she says she originally went back to Chris Brown after he assaulted her.  However, it seems that she woke up to the truth soon after, that she did not want to teach people to go back to an abuser.  She seems to grasp intensely that she is a role model to young girls.  She gets indefatigably that if she had stayed with Chris Brown that she would be sending the message to legions of young female fans that it is ok for a man to hit you.  She should be applauded for making the right decision and sending the right message.  She is clear on what she wants them to learn from her experience.  In her own words:

“Don’t react off of love.  F-Love! Come out of the situation and look at it third person and for what it really is and then make your decision because love is so blind.”

Part two of this Blog will continue after the rest of Rihanna’s interview has aired…

Tuesday November 17, 2009

I watched the rest of Rihanna’s interview with Dianne Sawyer that aired on 20/20.

The only other point I want to add from my original blog is to echo thoughts of Rihanna’s regarding Chris Brown.

After watching Chris Brown’s online apology to fans, his Larry King Live appearance and his MTV one, I was left thinking, “this boy just doesn’t get it”.

That is my biggest concern now.  I think Rihanna gets it and thank God she took the role model route.  Countless young girls will benefit from her decision, not to mention that she will save herself years of pain by avoiding being with a man who is not ready to love a woman.

I do not think Chris Brown is a bad guy or that he cannot one day be a good man for a woman, but right now I do not think he gets it.  And if he does really get it, he has not once communicated that so far.

I am glad to see that Rihanna also thought that Chris’ apology sounded like he was reading off a teleprompter. 

Rihanna is dead on when she says: "I didn't know if he understood the extent of what he did."  I do not think he yet gets it.

Rihanna described Chris in his abusive rage as

"he had no soul in his eyes, just blank".

The man she hopes will

"accept this as a man would and accept the responsibility and not find a way to feel sorry for himself"

is not there yet…not even close.

I hope for his future girlfriends’ sake, the court’s mandated counseling will get him there and one day we will see a genuine apology from a man who does get it, not because we deserve one, because we don’t, but because he could help young men, the way Rihanna has helped young women…if he were to truly get it one day.

Next Blogum: December 2009

Sage Spencer

I think I am in love.

I just moved to a new apartment. I didn’t want to, but I had to.

Outside my building each day is this guy standing, smoking and talking on his phone. Each day as I leave, he smiles at me, this wonderful warm smile.

His is big, hulking big, looks like a body builder or a bouncer.

I finally responded to his polite attempts to speak to me and now I cannot stop thinking about him.

We have talked only a few times, but for hours each time.

He smokes and has two cats. That is two strikes against any friendship. I am, according to my allergist, the most allergic patient he has had in his career. I cannot be friends with a guy who chain smokes and has two cats?!?

And yet I can’t stay away from him.

I think I am falling in love with him. It has been years since I fell for a guy. I am still quite young, but I do not fall easily. Maybe trust issues are the reason; I’m not sure.

He hugged me tonight. Not a romantic hug. At least I don’t think so. I was nervous to hug him back: afraid he might sense that I have fallen for him. Though I cannot stop smiling at him, so maybe he knows? I am trying really hard not to let him know.

Why? Because I am not ready to be in love right now. It frankly could not happen at a worse time. I want to meet him a year from now, though that is assuming he likes me and I am really not sure if he does. I am having real trouble deciphering that.

Whatever happens, he has shown me something important…that I don’t want to be alone anymore. So, even if he doesn’t become my guy, he has already given me a great gift.

Thank you Dave.

Sage Spencer

Next Blogum: November 2009

The Magic of Robert Pattinson.

I have a crush on a vampire.  How’d that happen?

Sorry Johnny Depp, but I am breaking up with you. That line alone will deservedly prompt you to highly doubt the next one. The next one being that I don’t have crushes on celebrities. I just don’t; well, very rarely anyway. Don’t know why; all my girlfriends are true fangirls, seven days a week.  Even Johnny Depp, who has been the sexiest boy alive to me since the first time I laid eyes on him, is just that to me, the sexiest boy alive. I don’t harbour fantasies of being his girlfriend – because you know things like that could happen of course?!?  I just think he is hot and I appreciate that he makes parts of me vibrate in the best girly way possible.  I think that the universe was really paying attention the moment he was put together. You know what I mean? 

So…why am I breaking up with him.  Because, it is official; I have a crush on the boy behind the vampire…aka Robert Pattinson.  So what, you say?  So does the half the worldwide female population.  Didn’t you hear, someone paid tens of thousands of dollars for a kiss from him…on the cheek?!?

Yes I did hear that.  About that! That is what prompted my personal discovery of Robert Pattinson.  I heard about that expensive kiss and was shocked. Who is this guy that two women paid $20,000 each for the chance to meet, greet and win a kiss on the cheek from?  I thought the economy had tanked?!  Okay, so I admit that I knew who Rob Pattinson was…but barely.

This is the embarrassing part where I out myself.  No, not in that way.  I have always liked boys and always will. No sexual orientation or gender issues here.  I have enough issues anyway.  No, I am outing myself to admit that until recently I had not seen Twilight nor did I really know much about Robert Pattison.

No, I have not been living under a rock.  I am sure you just asked that question.  When Twilight came out, my girlfriends all went to see it but I thought, vampires and me…we won’t be friends. 

I was wrong!!!

Via one of my girlfriends who loves Twilight, has read all the books and never stops talking about Robert Pattinson, I have regularly heard his name.  But when I heard someone had paid tens of thousands of dollars to be kissed by him, I repented ignoring all things vampire.

I rented Twilight, watched it and then bought myself a copy… the next day!  I still have my shopping list: Clothes detergent (Nature Clean Citrus Blossom ); pain au chocolat; milk (Organic Meadow 2%) and Twilight video.  By the time I had finished watching it, the first time, it was official.  I had a crush on a vampire named Edward.  That is one hot vampire!

Then I searched out the expensive kiss video, as I have taken to calling it.  After I watched it, I was smiling from ear to ear. The looks on Robert Pattinson’s face as he is being sold for $20,000 a kiss are priceless.

Seriously, how many guys can say people paid $20,000 to be kissed by him?!  I hope it does not go to his head because the guy in that video seems lovely in all the right ways.

I hope with the inevitable fame he is able to hold on to who is is right now, because that guy in the expensive kiss video, is real, down to earth, funny and sweet…and yes all that just makes him even more hot as hell.

So, after finally falling for the hottest vampire in the world, I wanted to see him in any other work he has done.

Wiki presented me with a few options.  I chose Little Ashes, a Spanish-British film in which Robert plays Salvador Dali.  Coincidently, it was just finishing up a run at a local theatre, known for showing more art pieces and documentaries than big budget films.

It was a small audience in a quiet theatre, except for the female giggles that erupted when Robert first appeared on screen.  There were definitely fangirls in that audience and I estimate from the giggles that at least 50% of that audience was there to see Robert.

I really enjoyed the film and found the relationship between Robert’s Salvador Dali and Javier Beltran’s Federico García Lorca believable, moving and sad.  Robert’s Salvador Dali portrayal was convincing to me and stayed with me for days afterward. Fans of Robert should watch it.  The scene of Lorca having sex with Magdalena while Dali watches and masturbates in view of them both is one whose sadness I won’t soon forget.

What is the magic of Robert Pattinson?  Besides all the obvious stuff of course, like his dreamy eyes and that hair you just have to run your hands through.

First, it is his honest portrayal of Edward Cullen that is swoon worthy.  His Edward makes every girl desire to know the man behind the vampire.

Second, it is that the man behind the vampire, when presented to us, is genuine, funny, goofy, down to earth and real.  While he is no longer one of us, as he will sadly be surrounded by security from here on in, in personality he still is one of us.  He has not become entitled as many who achieve stardom or power can.  That genuineness is very sexy.

And third, he is a talented actor.  He has great potential to be a around for a long time in the acting world.  I hope he chooses his roles wisely beyond Twilight.  Little Ashes suggests he will not allow himself to be pigeonholed.  My first boyfriend certainly did not.

That brings me to my dilemma.  After starting to write this, I went to see Public Enemies.  I had to see it.  My boyfriend was in it.  And now I don’t want to give up my boyfriend.

Can I have two boyfriends?  Johnny Depp?  Robert Pattinson.  How’s a girl to choose?

Sage Spencer

Next Blogum: October 2009

PS.  I committed to this being a monthly blogum, but did not blog In June, July and Aug 2009.  A family member had a relapse of a serious health problem.  Beyond all the weeks spent in the hospital, I just couldn’t write anything.  I tried, but nothing came.

Beretta Food Mill Grinded Stainless Steel Into My Pasta Sauce

I was planning on writing an entirely different blogum tonight, but then I ended up having to throw out what were thirty perfectly delicious-looking tomatoes and plans changed. Wasting food always makes me angry. I am fortunate to have food to eat and too many aren’t so lucky. And I love tomatoes. Fruit or vegetable, whatever they are, I love them.

For years I have wanted a food mill, but I had committed to not buying anymore small kitchen appliances or tools unless convinced I would use them enough to justify the money spent and the real estate occupied in my small kitchen. Truthfully, the idea of having only two pots and two knives seems really sexy to me right now, but I doubt this pack rat will ever have the courage to go there.

So why did I finally cave? Basically, because I love meals made with tomatoes and I no longer eat canned ones due to the presence of the chemical Bisphenol–A, commonly referred to as BPA, in the can lining. Studies of Bisphenol-A have found many health effects, including a relationship between the amount of BPA that individuals had in their body (measured in their urine) and the occurrence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes (adult onset diabetes) and abnormalities of liver enzymes (suggestive of liver damage). Bisphenol-A also has been found to affect the normal activity of estrogen and to cause chromosomal abnormalities in eggs.

Due to Bisphenol-A’s widespread use, it is likely not possible to eliminate my exposure, but given that canned foods are the predominant source of daily exposure I can reduce my exposure to this chemical by switching from canned food to fresh and frozen food products. And so I did, stop eating canned food as much as possible that is, which in my case means there are no longer tons and tons of tomato cans in my recycling box.

Since then I have been eating less tomatoes (not happily) and skinning and seeding fresh ones when I do eat them. I do not enjoy skinning and seeding tomatoes and I miss the convenience of canned tomatoes. I have very recently also bought tomato sauce (not pasta sauce) in glass jars a few times, but it still isn’t the same as canned tomatoes. If I could find a company that sold diced tomatoes in glass jars, I would be their first customer. I keep hoping Eden Foods will consider selling tomatoes in the same cans they sell their beans in or alternatively in glass jars. Eden Foods sells their beans packed in steel cans coated with a baked on oleoresinous (a natural mixture of an oil and a resin extracted from various plants, such as pine or balsam fir) c-enamel lining, that does not contain bisphenol-A. My understanding is that they do not sell their tomatoes in the same cans because they would not last as long due to the acidity of tomatoes, but I would still happily buy them with a shorter expiry date.

You would be forgiven for thinking this blogum was about the evils of Bisphenol-A; it is not.

In my desire to eat more tomato meals again, I treated myself to a stainless steel food mill yesterday, with plans to use it to skin and seed fresh tomatoes. And that is just what I did tonight, with thirty tomatoes. While at first I could not get it to work, I was turning it counter-clockwise instead of clockwise, in the end I was pleased with what I produced, that was until I noticed the pool of what looked like squid ink in the middle of my milled tomatoes. For those of you unfamiliar with squid ink, it is black, pitch black and I am pretty sure it is produced by squid not stainless steel food mills.

The next part of my story is embarrassing. After I recovered from the shock I then lifted some of the black substance onto a spoon. I was utterly confused. I knew that the food mill was meticulously clean before I used it, so I could not fathom that it had come off the mill, though I considered whether it was perhaps grease added to allow the mill to move smoothly? After that I thought maybe some sort of speedy oxidization had occurred from all the friction. Then came the embarrassing part. I told myself to calm down and mixed the pot of now milled tomatoes (not that I could have rescued the tomatoes from the black substance at that point anyway). But I could not relax. “No, something is wrong; trust your instincts. You have cooked with a million tomatoes by now and none of them turned black.” Then confirmation came when I found more black stuff on two locations on the stainless steel post holding the blade (first just above the grill/disc when the mill is assembled and the second just below the grill/disc, once again while assembled).



If you look at the picture above, the two arrows indicate where the further mysterious black stuff was found and if you look between the arrows you will see what looks like almost a groove. That is where the grill disc is located when the mill is assembled. However it is not a groove, at least not an intentional one. It is in fact the steel having been worn down into my tomato sauce after one use of the food mill on 30 partially cooked soft tomatoes.

So I ground stainless steel into my milled tomatoes!!! I will return it and I doubt I will ever purchase another one. This occurrence has turned me off them entirely.

Unfortunately, I decided to write this blogum after I had already tossed out the sauce, so I have few pictures of the black stuff and the colours of the first photograph do not make it looked appropriately black. The contrast to the white paper towel in the second photo is more representative of the colour.



This is the food mill that I bought:

Is stainless steel being ground into food a risk when using food mills or was my situation a historic aberration?

Is stainless steel dangerous to consume? I do not know, but I would guess so. All I know about stainless steel is that it has chromium in it, which blocks corrosion. All I know about chromium is that it was the chemical mentioned in the Erin Brockovich movie and everyone seemed to be dying of something in that movie. So, it was likely the right decision that I threw out the sauce, even though I was really looking forward to the Tagliatelle alla Bolognese and so were my nephews, as it is their favourite dish of mine. Oh yeah! Did I mention that part? I almost served stainless steel to children!!

Sage Spencer

Next Blogum: September 2009

Trooper Karine Blais did not give her life so you could rape your wife Mohammad Asif Mohseni.

Talibanism is alive and well in Afghanistan and I cannot seem to think of anything else today except two brave women and one old male troglodyte.

Canadians received the deeply sad news today, April 14, 2009, that another Canadian soldier has been killed in Afghanistan, Trooper Karine Blais, 21, the second Canadian woman to die in combat since the Afghan mission began. Trooper Blais was with the 2nd Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment Battle based at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier, near Quebec City. She was killed Monday when the armoured vehicle she was travelling in rolled over an improvised explosive device in the Shah Wali Khot district, about 40 kilometres northwest of Kandahar City, a district that is known as a centre of Taliban activity.

I will be on one of the overpasses, along the Highway of Heroes, when Trooper Blais is repatriated to Canada. I cannot imagine the shock and pain her family will be in, when they only weeks ago said goodbye to her as she headed off to Afghanistan.

I also cannot stop thinking about the loved ones of Sitara Achakzai, Afghanistan's leading activist for women's rights, who was murdered at the age of 52 on Easter Sunday by four men on two motorcycles who shot her as Ms Achakzai was getting out of her car in front of her home, though in Ms Achakzai’s situation, assassination is a more apt word. The Taliban, via spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmedi, has claimed responsibility for her murder. Add Qari Yousef Ahmedi to the troglodyte list as well.

Sitara Achakzai was an Afghani woman whose family escaped her homeland in 1990 during Taliban rule to live in Germany. She returned to Afghanistan in 2004 to fight for women's rights…now that is bravery. Ms Achakzai became a member of Kandahar's provincial council, encouraged women to become employed and to fight for their rights. She bravely made herself visible in the struggle for women's rights in Kandahar. In 2008 she organized a peace demonstration of 1,500 women at one of the Kandahar’s largest mosques on International Women's Day. In a 2009 attempt to celebrate the same day, the women were banned from entering the building and instead held a meeting at appropriately the city's human rights commission. The bravery of all Afghan women leaves me without words quite often; the bravery of women like Sitara Achakzai forces me to find some, in order to celebrate their heroic acts.

That brings me to the third person I cannot stop thinking about today and definitely not a brave hero, but the troglodyte that is Mohammad Asif Mohseni.

Mohammad Asif Mohseni is a top Shiite cleric in Afghanistan and of the main drafters of a new Afghan family law that critics feel legalizes marital rape. As explained in the words of Mr. Mohseni:

"If she [the wife] is not sick, and if she does not have another problem, it is the right of a man to ask for sex and she should make herself ready for it."

"It is not possible for all women to pay the same amount of money as men…For all the expenses, can’t we at least give the right to a husband to demand [emphasis mine] sex from his wife after four nights?"

So much for the Afghan Constitution saying that men and women have equal rights and duties before the law.

I admit to being confused by so called Islamic proprieties. This is an Islamic cleric saying men should be able to demand sex from women and yet they profess that the purity of their girls and women is so important. Without choice Mr. Mohseni, there can be no consent. According to your new family law, a woman cannot say no, therefore she has no choice. If she has no choice, then she is not consenting. If she cannot consent, then it is called rape. Even prostitutes get to offer their bodies for a fee. By negating the need for sexual consent in your marriages Mr. Mohseni, you are treating your wives as less valuable than whores.

Why is it essential “for the woman to submit to the man’s sexual desire” Mr. Mohseni? Someone? Anyone?

If you are truly concerned abut the sex lives of your men Mr. Mohseni, then maybe you should focus on two things:

1. Teaching your men how to be good husbands, so their wives will want to have sex with them. Problem solved.
2. Teaching you men that having sex with young boys on Man Love Thursday’s is child sexual abuse and a heinous crime against God’s laws.

Prime Minister Harper, we can help Afghan women with Mr. Mohseni’s concern that they cannot earn the same amount of money as their men. Canada, can and should be building several factories in Afghanistan to process poppies into morphine and like medicines. These factories could even have all female employees, so there will be no mixing of the sexes. You want to change Afghanistan, empower a woman and educate a girl. If I had the funds, I would build the factories myself.

I know many Canadians will be saying we should pull out of Afghanistan because of things like this. Yes, Canada cannot sacrifice the lives of young women like Trooper Karine Blais so that Afghan men can rape their wives.

If we were to choose to leave right now, we would be consciously leaving Afghan women and girls to the Taliban and a President who apparently sees nothing wrong in passing legislation that allows Shia men to rape their wives.

We must hold the Afghanistan government accountable for its commitments to women, children and human rights with whatever power we have, before any conscious choice to abandon those women and children to possible re-Talibanization and treatment deemed less valuable than the country's chickens.

I believe in dialogue. I believe in civility and respect. I believe that for the most part, whatever kind of world we want to live in is the type of world we must demonstrate. But I am not naïve. I know that there are individuals and groups of people who throughout history are so dangerous, that talking to them is a waste of humanity's efforts. They need to either be locked up indefinitely or killed to protect a larger swath of humanity. And unless someone can explain to me, because right now I do not get it, how including misogynistic nihilists like the Taliban, who assasinate women for their gender and disfigure young girls with acid, in peace talks will ever bring peace to Afghanistan or dignity to its women and children, then as far as I am concerned, the Taliban need to be locked up or killed, just like the Nazis.

Sage Spencer

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Addendum: (less than 24 hours later)
It was reported in the press today that Gul Pecha, 19, of the Khash Rod district of Afghanistan, refused to marry the man to which her family had promised her and instead attempted to elope with Abdul Aziz, 21. They were caught by villagers, returned to the mosque, quickly convicted of immoral acts and murdered by firing squad in front of the mosque for all to view. According to Taliban spokesperson, Qari Yopusug Ahmadi, "But it was a very bad thing for these people to escape from their homes without permission and it is right that they should be punished according to sharia law."[emphasis mine]
------------------------------------------------------
Portions of the new contentious Afghan family law:

Article 132
• The couple should not commit acts that create hatred and bitterness in their relationship, The wife is bound to preen for her husband, as and when he desires.
• The husband, except when traveling or ill, is bound to have intercourse with his wife every night in four nights. The wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband.

Article 133
• If the wife was a working woman before marriage, and the marriage document does not condition her to stop working, the husband cannot stop her from work, unless her work affects the interest of the family or the position of either wife or husband in a negative way.
• Husband can stop the wife from any unnecessary, unIslamic act.
• Wife cannot leave the house without the permission of the husband, unless due to any serious pressure or difficulty and to address that.

Article 177
• The husband is bound to provide maintenance to his wife.
• The wife does not have the right to the provision of maintenance by the husband unless she agrees to have intercourse with him and he gets an opportunity for doing so.
• Obedience, readiness for intercourse and not leaving the house without the permission of the husband are the duties of the wife, violation of every one of them will mean disobedience to the husband.

Next Blogum: May 2009

Jewelz & Foolz: The Day after International Women’s Day.

Hope you were kind to women yesterday. This being the day after International Women’s Day, I am starting a hopefully annual tradition of naming Jewelz & Foolz. What is she talking about? Is that some sort of urban lingo? Nope, just Sage Spencer lingo.

So, what are  you ask?                              

Both are groups of men. The former, Jewelz , are men who I would like to share a beer or a cocktail with today, pick their brains, get to know their hearts and depending on how it goes, maybe flirt with them, just for one day, on the day after International Women’s Day.

Then there are Foolz, not the harmless kind, but instead men who’s judgment at the present time makes them not good for womankind.

And yes, for the majority of people, sociopaths excluded, Foolz can become Jewelz and vice versa.

In this inaugural Jewelz and Foolz column I offer six Jewelz and six Foolz for your consideration (presented in alphabetical order).

Jamie Foxx

– For saying publicly, and without hemming and hawing, when asked about the news that Chris Brown was alleged to have beaten up Rihanna: "No man should ever put his hands on you. No man should ever touch you. I don't care if he's 8-years-old on the preschool/play school ground...100-years-old, it doesn't matter."

Mike Holmes

– For his inspiring work in the Canadian construction industry and beyond, that comes from a place of practicing what he preaches, “That if you are gonna do it, do it right the first time”. And, for being part of the solution, both in the present, by helping individuals, and far into the future, by training more people to do the job right, the first time.

President Barack Obama

– For taking on the disaster he inherited with a sharp mind and an open heart. It would have been easier to be President of the United States at many other moments in history. May I add to your long to do list (as us women are fond of bestowing) fixing the US banking system, including better capitalization ratios and better regulation of mortgage practices.

 

Brig. General Gary S. Patton and Gen. Carter Ham

– The story has been told a million times in my family, how my great grandfather came back from war a very different man and soon became an alcoholic. Different times, yes, but hooray for these two men for publicly acknowledging the trauma that war can do to soldiers’ minds and for encouraging their soldiers to seek out mental health assistance. It takes more balls to ask for help than not to. Do people who have offered their lives for their country deserve any less, than for us to try and help them recover from any trauma they experienced doing so?

Chesley Sullenberger III

– For reminding us, that not only is doing your job with excellence the right thing to do, but that you have no idea what miracles you can create by doing the right thing so dam well.

 

And then there were:

 

Edgar Bronfman

– For alienating fans who buy music from The Warner Music Group, via it’s war against YouTube. Seems to me, that as a business, you should be nice to the people actually buying your products. By reviewing and denying the fair use claims of YouTube users to make fan videos with the music they have bought from you, including ten to twenty second long excerpts, you are in fact paying an employee to piss off your customers, increase the chances that fans won’t by your music and may in fact steal it.

Chris Brown

– For, according to police affidavits, punching his girlfriend, biting her ear and trying to choke her until she nearly lost consciousness. Unless you get help Chris and stay away from Rihanna until after you have, you will hit her again and the next time you may be charged with murder.

RCMP Commissioner William Elliott

- For not showing Canadians, in desperate need to believe that something is being done to fix the RCMP, that you get how the Dziekanski affair has traveled from shocking to embarrassing to ridiculous. Supporting wrongdoing when you are there to make things better doesn’t make you loyal, it makes you complicit. I am not saying you shouldn’t be supporting the rank and file, but when will the integrity of every RMCP officer not afraid of staplers matter to you?

Ronald Fenty, Rihanna’s father

- For trying to be the worst father in America recently by giving his daughter Rihanna his blessing to go back to a man who beat her a few weeks earlier. “I love my daughter with whatever road she takes. I'm behind her win or lose. I will be supportive.” Celebrating your daughter returning to a man who beats her is not love. Consider for a moment what Dr. Phil McGraw, if he had daughters instead of sons, would have said and done to a boy who had beaten up his daughter three weeks earlier. Yes, that is what you should have done.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper

– For precipitating a Canadian political crisis a few months ago while the worldwide economy was peering off a cliff, by sticking his finger in the eye of his political opposition. Sage Spencer, December 2008, A Canadian Coalition Government?

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir

– For expelling ten international humanitarian aid agencies from Sudan and threatening the well being of millions of Sudanese. You have already being charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, by the International Criminal Court. Haven’t you done enough already to damage your people?

Who are presently your ?

Sage Spencer

Next Blogum: April 2009

I was struck by older black men today.

I had decided that I was not going to write about this historic day, a day so historic I do not have to identify it for anyone reading these words. Thank you by the way, if you are.

Instead, I preferred to just breathe it in and remember what my heart and skin felt like watching it unfold.

Truthfully, it was so emotional that I am at a loss for words to describe it. Unlike millions, both in the United States and around the world, who watched the majesty unfold on TV screens en masse, I watched by myself and cried happy tears alone, overcome with joy over the achievement of this day. I am in the midst of many medical tests, so joining others in celebration was not an option today.

This will now be the second time in as many months that I will be discussing skin colour on this blog, making it twice more than I have discussed the topic in as many decades.

While my first blog, September 2008, made clear that I was not fortunate in one respect, my childhood was in fact shaped in another very privileged way. I was blessed to have spent my formative years growing up on street of immigrants from every corner of the world. As it has often been said, children do not discriminate until taught to. Having been surrounded as a child by all flavours of ice-cream, skin colour was normalized for me. I never considered the issue of skin colour until I grew up. It was then that I experienced immense gratitude for this gift from my childhood, after realizing that not everyone was granted this blessing.

I secretly hope that the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President of The United States of America today will be the skin colour crashing barrier event that leads us all on a short journey toward one people, the people that are humanity. I know it is naïve; after all, apparently a high school in Georgia held its first non-segregated high school prom in 2007 (that being one of the most shocking things I have read in my lifetime). Lord, let us please reach that place where we do not have to discuss a person’s degree of deposition of skin pigmentation ever again or race for that matter.

Ironically, after having just said that, I was in fact struck by skin colour all day, by the skin colour of one wedge of humanity, older black men.

Throughout this historic inauguration day I could not take my eyes off the stories on the faces of older black men. They may not all have been moved to the visible tears that overcame Reverend Jesse Jackson on election night, but their emotions were no less palpable, as their faces moved across television and computer screens worldwide. If provided the opportunity, I would delight in interviewing each of them, one by one, as I am sure they each have a story we need to hear. “What does the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama mean to you?” It would be a gift to listen to their responses.

There were a multitude of beautiful and inspiring sounds vocalized today, by poets, musicians and politicians. For me, after a day of being struck by the stories on the faces of older black men, it was then entirely appropriate that my favourite words should be expressed by one such man, the Reverend Joseph Lowery. I plan to quote them below, so I can re-read them again in the future. Thank you Sir for voicing them. My last feeling this evening as I watch President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama groove to the beat on the dance floor is that while I have always been proud of my nationality …today, for the first time, I wished I was American born.

May we step into the future of humanity with bold hearts after this historic day!


The Benediction of Reverend Joseph Lowery

“God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou, who has brought us thus far along the way, thou, who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee.
Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand true to thee, oh God, and true to our native land.
We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day.
We pray now, oh Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration.
He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national, and indeed the global, fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hands, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations.
Our faith does not shrink though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.
For we know that, Lord, you are able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds, and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor, of the least of these, and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.
We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that yes we can work together to achieve a more perfect union.
And while we have sown the seeds of greed — the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.
And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.
And as we leave this mountain top, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.
Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little angelic Sasha and Malia.
We go now to walk together as children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone.
With your hands of power and your heart of love, help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nations shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid, when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.”

Sage Spencer

Next Blogum: March 2009