Numerous Narratives

September 20th, 2007, was the last time the Canadian dollar hit parity with the USA dollar. Average household income before taxes in USA is close to $74,500 with approximately 12% poverty rate. Average household income before taxes in Canada is slightly above $106,300 with approximately 7.5% poverty rate. Just by looking at three basic simplified ways we Canadians can improve our standard of living... Expand housing affordability in urban areas. Affordable housing will help more people ga...

"Doesn't the world see the suffering of millions of Palestinians who have been living in exile around the world or in refugee camps for the past 60 years? No state, no home, no identity, no right to work. Doesn't the world see this injustice?" ~ Ismail Haniyeh "There is not one single place built in Israel that did not have a former Arab population." ~ Moshe Dayan "Referring to Palestinian refugees: "We must do everything in our power to ensure that they never return." ~ David Ben-Gurion "Fo...

Emerging markets and developing economies will be improving their economies by 4.3% India has amazing growth in all sectors with 7% growth. With China mainland with 5% economic growth. United States and Canada with 2.4% economic growth. With the European economic growth at 1% Israeli economic growth at 0% One of the worst situations that Israel is in due to the constant attacks towards different areas of the Middle Eastern societies, there's a massive reduction in economic activity due ...

As leader of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has warned the world, "Russia will never lose a war, especially a nuclear war." A typical Russian cultural thought process that we have read through many Russian writers such as Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, Russia has always had a very grim War strategy. "You destroy me, I then will destroy you" If the Russian society are close to losing a war, especially a nuclear attack, they have the "dead hand" or Perimeter fail safe system in which all the nuclear weapons...

"The power of Open Source is the power of the people. The people rule." ~ Philippe Kahn "Empowerment of individuals is a key part of what makes open source work, since in the end, innovations tend to come from small groups, not from large, structured efforts." ~ Tim O'Reilly "In open source, we feel strongly that to really do something well, you have to get a lot of people involved." ~ Linus Torvalds "There are many examples of companies and countries that have improved their competitiveness...

Whenever you treat people with dignity and respect, peace happens. Treating others with dignity and respect, fosters and cultivates trust, understanding, harmony, and positive change, leading to a peaceful environment. When we are disrespected, discriminated against, emotionally and physically mistreated like non-citizens, scapegoated, and targeted, it's hard to bring about peace. It is much harder to cultivate peace when, we are disrespected, discriminated, and mistreated. For many individu...

Collective punishment through military bombing of targeted infrastructure of a society as a whole is considered unethical. When civilian populations are specifically targeted such military actions are considered against International law, which was established by the Geneva Convention to protect civilians during times of internal and external conflicts and war. The world has watched for over a year now of the collective punishment dealt out by the Israeli military advised and supported by the U...

The scale of the casualties in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, with approximately 43,000 deaths, mostly women, children, and the elderly is atrocious, an absolute historical mass murder of innocent civilians, victims of "collective punishment" as the Israeli military and government describe their mass murder of the Gazan civilians. 43,000 Palestinians killed out of 2.2 million is a staggering comparison to Canada’s population. If we translate this figure to a proportion of Canada’s 40 milli...

As a new Canadian, starting college can be both exciting and daunting. But with the right support, it's definitely achievable. To make college more accessible, we need to break down barriers and create a more inclusive environment. This means offering programs to help you upgrade your qualifications and meet prerequisites, providing language support, and offering courses to prepare you successfully for academic life. Mentors can guide you through the process, while counselors can offer sup...

"History is replete with examples of empires mounting impressive military campaigns on the cusp of their impending economic collapse." ~ Eric Alterman "At the crash of economic collapse of which the rumblings can already be heard, the sleeping soldiers of the proletariat will awake as at the fanfare of the Last Judgment and the corpses of the victims of the struggle will arise and demand an accounting from those who are loaded down with curses." ~ Karl Liebknecht "The worst thing that will pr...

"Abandon the urge to simplify everything, to look for formulas and easy answers, and to begin to think multidimensionally, to glory in the mystery and paradoxes of life, not to be dismayed by the multitude of causes and consequences that are inherent in each experience -- to appreciate the fact that life is complex." ~ M. Scott Peck "That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But i...

Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge. Sayings remain meaningless until they are embodied in habits. Where can I find a man governed by reason instead of habits and urges? ~ Khalil Gibran "Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience. You need experience to gain wisdom." ~ Albert Einstein "Knowledge gained through experience is far superior and many times more useful than bookish knowledge." ~ Mahatma Gandhi "Experience is not what happens to you; it's what you...

One of my good friends said, "Israeli military are so tough, they bombed a mosque and a church where people were praying." Bombing Muslim mosques and Christian churches while people pray is such a tough military. The world should look up to an Israeli regime that killed 43,000 children and women and elderly, in Gaza and now in Lebanon. The Israeli military must be so proud of bombing Muslim mosques and Christian churches that Arabs and other cultures that pray to GOD. When you pray to God, a...

"The biggest problems with Iran in the region are not due to the size of their resources, but due to the fact that they've been more effective in supporting proxies and stirring up dissension and conflict in the region than America or our allies have been in stopping those activities." ~ Barack Obama "Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment." ~ Hillary Clinton The United States has a long history o...

No one starts a war--or rather, no one in his sense ought to do so--without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by the war and how he intends to conduct it. Carl von Clausewitz War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means. Carl von Clausewitz War is politics by other means. Carl von Clausewitz War is a conflict of great interests which is settled by bloodshed, and only in that is it different from others. Carl von Clausewitz ...

"Mankind needs peace more than ever, for our entire planet, threatened by nuclear war, is in danger of total destruction. A destruction only man can provoke, only man can prevent." ~ Elie Wiesel "The survivors (of a nuclear war) would envy the dead." ~ Nikita Khrushchev "Except for fools and madmen, everyone knows that nuclear war would he an unprecedented human catastrophe." ~ Carl Sagan "If there was a war, a big war, a major war on the planet, it would be a nuclear war, and it would destr...

"In the end, reconciliation is a spiritual process, which requires more than just a legal framework. It has to happen in the hearts and minds of people." ~ Nelson Mandela "True reconciliation is never cheap, for it is based on forgiveness which is costly. Forgiveness in turn depends on repentance, which has to be based on an acknowledgment of what was done wrong, and therefore on disclosure of the truth. You cannot forgive what you do not know." ~ Desmond Tutu "I remain convinced that most hu...

If the Canadian Parliament, including the Liberal Party of Canada, hired the world's best economists to plan for eradication of poverty in Canada, with the total funds of 8-10 billion dollars, Canadian inflation would decrease. There would be more jobs for Canadians and there would be much less poverty and homelessness. John Maynard Keynes in the early 20th century devised of a plan that was so different compared to everyone else that eventually all the modern liberal democracies adopted and s...

"Details make stories human, and the more human a story can be, the better." ~ Ernest Hemingway "A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it." ~ Edgar Allan Poe "Find the key emotion; this may be all you need know to find your short story." ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald "If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden." ~ Haruki Murakami The hope for his homeland had crumbled around young Yehoshua. Each morni...

"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out." ~ Robert Collier "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." ~ Margaret Mead "The character of a whole society is the cumulative result of countless small actions, day in and day out, of millions of persons." ~ Duane Elgin "I don't do great things. I do small things with great love." ~ Mother/Saint Teresa Outcomes indeed have impacts an...

"Our foremost priority is the removal of poverty, hunger and malnutrition, disease and illiteracy. All social welfare programmes must be implemented efficiently. Agencies involved in the delivery of services should have a strong sense of duty and work in a transparent, corruption-free, time-bound and accountable manner." ~ Pratibha Patil "For us democracy is a question of human dignity. And human dignity is political freedom, the right to freely express opinion and the right to be allowed to c...

"But it is just when opinions universally prevail and we have added lip service to their authority that we become sometimes most keenly conscious that we do not believe a word that we are saying." ~ Virginia Woolf "Once we recognize the power of propaganda, we need to ask whether its exercise is consistent with those democratic ideals to which lip-service is commonly accorded." ~ Randal Marlin "Although we give lip service to the notion of freedom, we know the government is no longer the serv...

"I also think that we [Americans] are operating out of fear in our country. It's not that terrorism is not a threat, but it's not an existential threat. It is not the preeminent threat facing most Americans on any given day, and yet the power of nightmares is so strong." ~ Jeremy Scahill "I reject the idea that there is some sort of existential "clash of civilizations." I am an interventionist, but not a militarist. War should always be a last resort." ~ Bernard-Henri Levy For many years, in...

"Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." ~ Vince Lombardi "The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team." ~ Phil Jackson "Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude." ~ Zig Ziglar I am so fortunate to work with hardworking, modest, down to earth, outstanding coworkers, excellent people. Being surrounded by people with a strong work ethic...

Two conflicts that will eventually lead to regional wars, and then eventually a global war of nuclear annihilation. Ukraine's President Zelenski is asking the USA Biden government for long-range missiles that will hit anywhere in Russia from Ukrainian territory. Ukraine's President Zelenski is hoping by hitting major cities in Russia with long range land-to-land missiles, it will pull United States and the rest of NATO into a regional war with Russia. The Russian President Putin has already ...

"What one Predator drone pilot described of his experience fighting in the Iraq war while never leaving Nevada: 'You're going to war for 12 hours, shooting weapons at targets, directing kills on enemy combatants. Then you get in the car and you drive home, and within 20 minutes you're sitting at the dinner table talking to your kids about their homework.'" ~ P. W. Singer "A drone strike is a terror weapon, we don't talk about it that way. It is; just imagine you are walking down the street and...

"Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly." ~ Leo Tolstoy "Perhaps it's because I appreciate all I have so much that I don't worry about what I haven't got." ~ Leo Tolstoy "Many people have ideas on how others should change; few people have ideas on how they should change." ~ Leo Tolstoy One of my favorite authors is Leo Tolstoy. In, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy explores the deep essence of mortality and human conditio...

Passion is a huge prerequisite to winning. It makes you willing to jump through hoops, go through all the ups and downs and everything in between to reach your goal. ~ Kerri Walsh It felt like I was a bucket full of holes. Things kept going in but just as quickly, they'd drain out. So I had people telling me I was this and that and then I'd feel pressure to perform up to their standards, jumping through hoops so I could live up to their expectations. ~ Christian Hosoi We have all experienc...

Genocide is always characterized as murdering massive populations of a specific ethnic group of people. However, a specific nation state trying to destroy a culture is a form of genocide. If a country is destroying a culture, making it untenable by destroying the institutions that transmit it, then such country is guilty of genocide. A country that burns books, steals museum artifacts, and bombs archives, libraries, schools, universities, and publishing houses, disallowing indigenous language...

Most of our family and friends work under the umbrella of unions and associations. When workers and their Union negotiators seek higher wages, the key to success is finding common ground. This approach encourages a collaborative atmosphere, minimizes the list of arguments, and encourages using an open scientific mindset, leading to more successful outcomes. For the majority of Union negotiators, such individuals need to identify shared interests with the workers and management within the organ...