Inspiration from the Beehive

Not the actual beehive, of course. Think vuvuzelas, in quantity. A strange place to find inspiration? Maybe. They've certainly inspired complaints from World Cup viewers around the world. This is about a different, if related, kind of inspiration.

Mi esposo is embedded in the World Cup. When he isn't on the tennis court, he's glued to the HD screen, ruining his eyesight and hearing in one fell swoop. A Nederlander by birth, it's no mystery who he's backing, as is most of his family, apart from the Argentinian in-laws. I'm not a great afficionado of the game, but am quietly rooting for New Zealand, a rank underdog. What was it someone said? Oh yes, 3 pre-game hakas and they're toast!

But, I digress.

The World Cup is a very strange place for me to find inspiration, consisting of huge, generally mindless crowds and team sports which I typically find abhorrent in principle. However, football, or soccer as it's known here in the upper two thirds of North America, is the least obnoxiously violent team sport. Apart from the fans...

I used to listen to CBC Radio 2 a lot. (No, not another digression). Lately not so much, after they squished out most of the classical music, but I still have my alarm clock set to it, for when I bother with an alarm. Most of the drivel that issues from the mouth of the morning show host is utter garbage, but this morning he surprised me. I was only half awake, so can't quote him accurately, but I was sufficiently impressed by his comment that I wanted to share it.

So, to paraphrase Bob Mackowycz of Radio 2 Morning:

After the World Cup they should ship all the vuvuzelas to Toronto, for use by the protesters at the G8 meetings later this month. Perhaps, like international World Cup fans, the attendees will be so anxious for the noise to stop that they'll commit to some real action to address the needs of real people rather than the privileged few. Like seeking some realistic solutions for problems like world hunger, health of women & children, managing international debt, to name just a few.

Perhaps a faint hope, but worth a try!

I'm ashamed

that a minority government, voted for by only about 35% of the 65% of us who bothered to vote in the last federal election, are spending more than a billion of our tax dollars pandering to the G8, G20, and the slavering media hounds who lick their Armani shoes.

that religious-right-nutbar ideology is being used to justify withholding of funding from organizations from groups they don't approve of, including women, gays, working poor...and that they would withhold access to safe abortion as a component of international funding for the health of women and children.

What on earth has happened to Canada? We've become the laughing-stock of the world, that's what.

It's called c.R.a.p.