Life is Belief & Struggle - Ahmed Shawqi

Saturday, February 27, 2016

The Please Clap Party

Politico is reporting that the Republican donor class is researching the feasibility of running an independent for President in a new party if Donald Trump becomes the nominee.  I want to suggest that the party be called the Please Clap Party.  Why 'The Please Clap' party? Glad you asked. Settle back and watch. 

Stumping for the Donald or Why America in an Election Cycle is the Greatest Show on Earth.

No country has anything like it. Enter the Stump for Trump Girls - Diamond and Silk.

On Hillary Clinton:



On Megyn Kelly:



On National Review and the GOP establishment: Meet the Red, White and Blue:



Much is made of the hold that the Democratic Party has on the African American community, and in order for any Democratic Nominee to win the Presidency, it requires the African American community to turn out for the Democratic Nominee but what if they do not?

I wasn't sure if the "Sisters" were creating parody videos until I starting searching You Tube. Apparently, The Black Trump phenomena is alive, well and stumping for the Trump.


Donald J. Trump, not just for angry old white people anymore. It's at times like these, that I can say, from the bottom of my heart: G-d bless America.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Wear a Hijab day ‘cause Muslim fundamentalists need love too.


One of the most boned-headed ideas of I heard of for a while is the Wear a Hijab Day for Ottawa women sponsored by The City for All Women Initiative (CAWI) (Ottawa is the capital of Canada).


Apparently, Ppresident Gamal Abdel Nasser thought the idea of suggesting women wear the hijab was outrageously funny.




But really what’s next? And where does it end? In a 'cut your clitoris day' so you empathize with women of Female genital mutilation?

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Economic Traitors

I voted against NAFTA. I thought it was a bad idea then, and nothing I have learned since, has made me change my mind. The innate inequalities between US and Canada were too vast. A higher standard of taxation, differing minimum wages, pollution controls, health and safety, costs of operating, standard benefits were literally worlds apart. I do not have enough hands to count all the people I knew who lost their decent jobs to companies relocating their manufacturing to the United States. Furniture, cabinetry makers, small appliances, electronics, shoes, clothing, food and auto industries were either decimated or hit hard in Canada. Then came, the expansion of NAFTA with the entry of Mexico, and the nightmare just rolled on.

Many of those workers never found replacement jobs that provided even close to the same standard of living. Many of those workers did ‘retrain’ but their age and educational level often worked against them. It’s amazing what the impact 3-4 years of low wage retail sector employment and accumulative debt will do to your financial future. The 90’s was all about being turning Canada into a technical tech hub so we trained our young to be techies since we had destroyed our manufacturing sector. Then came 2000’s and so began the rapid outsourcing of white collar and technical professionals. 

Everyone tells you globalization is here to stay. You cannot turn back the tide. It’s a lie but I understand whose interest it is in to prompt this myth and let me give you a hint; it is not ‘we the people’.

Rarely do we get a glimpse inside the modern day robber barons, but this video originally posted on Facebook gives us a glimpse of life behind the corporate veil. The video begins with a Carrier official addressing their workers. “It became clear that the best way to stay competitive, and protect the business for the long-term is to move production from our facility in Indianapolis to Monterey, Mexico.” No doubt notice was given in order for the company to be in compliance with the WARN ACT.

The Carrier official entreats the crowd to understand, it’s not personal, but the business, the thing must be protected at all costs. Their lives and fate are meaningless outside this Borg. This thing is what must be protected at all costs.



Carrier indianapolis plant is closing 2017
Posted by LaKeisha Austin on Wednesday, February 10, 2016


There is an act of irony here. Carrier is relocating to Mexico to produce a product for re-sale in the United States, a product, a thing, that these very American workers may not be able to purchase in the foreseeable future. Furthermore, Carrier was granted a US$5.1 million 48C Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit in order to expend its Indianapolis operations. In a just state, this should be repaid in full with interest before it leaves the US. Instead, it’s ‘we the people’ who have underwritten the profit and shareholder value for this crony capitalist. Frankly, I would lose no sleep if the Carrier workers started to tar and feather these economic traders. Why any economic traitor should be allowed the safety and security of the Nation state at the expense of ‘we the people’. I never thought I would quote Pat Buchanan but he put it most succinctly, "Globalization is the economic treason that dare not speak its name."

There is a solution. A system of tariffs based on the equalization of wages, workers and human rights, subsidizations, health care, pensions, environment and health and safety standards for the importation of products made in countries who have no or lower standards than our own would go a long way to protect ‘we the people’. The only role for the nation state in the modern era is to protect and promote the well-being of ‘we, the people’. If the nation state does not protect ‘we the people’ then the Nation betrayed the social contract.

As for me, since adding shareholder value has become an all-encompassing pre-occupation with our business leaders, I am waiting for the day wherein, Boards all over the corporate world, recognize CEO’s can be outsourced to China, and a Chinese CEO can be had for USD$270,000 instead of millions.

Now that’s real shareholder value.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Give a Vegan a leaf and and he'll demand a human right, give a vegan a human right, and he'll want to take yours; 'cause you are wearing a leather belt.....

Some of the most joyless soul suckers have to be modern VEGANS.  

There is no way faster to ruin a party or a good time than to have just one of these joy suckers into a room. Quickest way to ruin a Shabat dinner? Invite just one vegan. Just one.  The moral preening and exaggerated sense of entitlement beggars belief. 

I don't care what dietary choices you make, but why do vegans insist on preening and being preachy to the rest of us?Just keep it to yourself and get on with it.  But no, they couldn't do that.

Now they want to be a protected 'creed'. Toronto Star.

Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice, has been fighting for veganism to be recognized by the Human Rights Code since she was a law student in 2011.“I wouldn’t call it an epidemic, but I do hear cases regularly of people who feel they have faced discrimination for their beliefs about animals,” she said.

 Animal Justice believes the updates could assist vegans in cases where students refuse to dissect animals, wear a work uniform with an animal-based component such as a leather belt or even ensure vegans aren’t excluded at work events held at steakhouses. “This is a really big step forward for human rights in Ontario,” said Labchuk. “It protects people like ethical vegans for whom not doing harm is more important than anything.”

Ethical veganism refers to people who not only follow a vegan diet but also extend the philosophy to the rest of their life and oppose harming animals or using any animal by-products.But some critics say ethical vegans may have bitten off more than they can chew.“The Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Code were put into place to combat real persecution based on a person’s cultural, ethnic or religious affiliation,” wrote Amanda Hohmann, of B’Nai Brith’s League For Human Rights, in an email to the Star. “Should the interpretation of what constitutes creed be broadened to the point where any meaningful protection becomes difficult, this would weaken the effectiveness of existing legislative protections.”

Dominique Clement, a sociology professor at the University of Alberta, said he suspects the Ontario human rights tribunal won’t ever actually recognize veganism, but if it does, it will come down to whether or not accommodating their “creed” is reasonable.“If the person works in a restaurant, for example, and doesn’t have to wear leather, then that is absolutely a legitimate objection,” he said. “On the other hand, if you want to work at Danier, then you can’t ask your employer not to be around leather.”

However, he added it’s crucial for human rights law to evolve over time, so there is a chance ethical vegans will one day be recognized.“The idea of veganism as a creed sounds crazy.” he said. “But keep in mind there was a time when the idea that gay people and lesbians have a right to not be discriminated against was equally absurd.”

The other joyless soul suckers news; the Temperance movement philosophy just refuses to lay down and die a well-deserved death. Ever since the Toronto Star turned off comments the paper seems to have become more 'nanny' than news.