Curtis Sagmeister

Goodbye 2010, Finally

2010-12-09T19:40:00.000-08:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (GOODBYE 2010, FINALLY)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Another year bids us adieu. It seems the older we get, the faster the time evaporates. A look into the bathroom mirror reveals a new grey hair or two, and maybe it’s just me, but I think my skin has drooped a bit too. Perhaps it is just the lighting though. Yes, let’s stick with the light thingy tale.

A quick scan of the year’s news unveils nothing surprising. Still, we cling to the superficial goings on of the celebs du jour while our military men and women sacrifice their lives for the sake of corporate greed and well crafted propaganda. The poor are still poor, maybe poorer. The hungry still starve. And the rich? Well they had themselves a banner year and thank you very much.

But although I long ago pledged to never make a New Year’s resolution, I have nonetheless vowed, for the sake of this article if nothing else, to take a positive forward looking viewpoint on the world and all it encompasses.

Anyone familiar with my writing in this series can no doubt imagine the hours it took me to write this paragraph after the last.

If I were to have any hope, it would be that, given the countless elections held throughout the world in 2010, at all levels, we would witness some tangible positive change in the direction which our governments have pushed us. We have seen more than a few of the old guard ousted from their comfortable thrones and, while it is too early for any trophies to be awarded, my fingers are crossed that we begin seeing a demonstrable movement toward reasonableness and accountability.

May your heart find peace and contentment in this world as it struggles to right itself. May your health thrive so that you may contribute to spreading joy in your corner of the world. And, may you promote love and forgiveness in your circle and encourage others to do the same in theirs.

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for welcoming 2011.

And that’s my take.

Not So Pretty

2010-11-15T07:59:00.000-08:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (NO SO PRETTY)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

I had occasion recently to sit among the sickly and infirm in the waiting room of a medical clinic, the result of which is two stark observations I never thought I would contemplate. Firstly, that our once proud medical service has deteriorated to the point of utter laughing stock status where a four hour wait is considered normal, raising nary an eyebrow among the gaunt faces, wailing babies, and quiet moans of discomfort sitting in desperate anticipation waiting the announcement of their name. It’s a lottery of sorts.

And secondly, that, as a rule, we are not a pretty species.

I could belabor my first observation till the proverbial cows come home and still not begin to adequately flush out the complex series of issues that have spiraled us downward toward a third world medical establishment. Maybe another time.

One could possibly argue that my second observation is skewed by having a statistically small sampling, or that the group of unwitting participants were predisposed to not looking their best due to the nature of their presence in such an establishment, or even that my own attendance at the medical facility placed me in a less than forgiving mood. Admittedly, all these are true.

As a guy, it is possible I am hardwired to be acutely attuned to noticing physical beauty. I am not ashamed to concede that my head will swivel to permit my eyes the dubious opportunity of inhaling a fine female specimen. I am even secure enough in my manhood to suggest that a striking male sporting Adonis-like qualities has caused my jaw to drop in envious awe. Still, I do not get the whole Johnny Depp thing. Apparently he is gorgeous. I think not, but then again, I didn’t think Michael Jackson’s Thriller album would sell well when it was released. So, I have been known to be wrong. Very wrong.

Maybe we prize physical beauty so highly because it is so rare. We worship rarity in all things on this planet and in terms of our subject matter, cosmetic surgeons and Big Pharma are riding an unprecedented wave of desire to look a certain way, extending the fountain of youth well into the golden years and capitalizing all the way to the bank.

Being a physically stunning human being is certainly an exception, yet the appreciation of such is as common as the house fly. Few things are as superficial in our lives, yet represent an entire economy within society. Yes, there are people on this planet earning a healthy income just because they are good looking. They get paid handsomely (celebrate the pun folks) just to be themselves, while the rest of us have to learn a trade and slave for a master to earn a mere portion of what is freely doled out to the chosen few.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

Visit EarthFootprints.com at http://earthfootprints.com
Visit Redacted Copy at http://redactedcopy.blogspot.com

Women On Death Row

2010-09-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

EXPOSED – WOMEN ON DEATH ROW
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

It is not often anymore that state sponsored executions in the United States make national or international news. Texas is perhaps best known for implementing its death row sentences, and they do so with the speed and efficiency of the drive thru lane at a fast food restaurant. Of the 38 states (plus federal government) that still include capital punishment as part of their criminal justice system, Virginia just rocketed to the top of notoriety for executing a woman for the first time in almost a century.

As with all executions in America, controversy swirled around the lethal injection of Teresa Lewis in Virginia, who was found guilty of being the mastermind behind the 2002 murder-for-hire deaths of her husband and stepson. The ever present pro versus anti capital punishment delegations were in fine form, but a focal point for dissention is that the two gunmen who carried out the actual murders escaped the ultimate punishment, instead receiving more lenient sentences of life without parole. Additionally, Lewis’s mental capacity was in question, with tests showing a low IQ and therefore, it was argued, she could not have been any sort of ‘mastermind’ for any plot.

Before Theresa Lewis, the last time a woman was executed in the United States was Frances Newton in 2005. There have been around 575 women executed in America since 1632. That pales in comparison to the number of men executed, although nobody disputes that men are the more apt of the genders to be perpetrators of crimes ‘warranting’ death row.

As an interesting measure, although women commit approximately 10% of murders in the United States, they make up less than two percent of the death row population. And while violence committed by women has increased in the past quarter century, their rate of executions has dropped. Is that because women evoke a level of empathy or sympathy from judges and juries to which men can never aspire?

Overall, 56% of all defendants executed in the United States were white. Of the female death row inmates, 65% are white. Of the nearly 3500 men and women on death row awaiting their sentence to be carried out, 44% are white, which seems to indicate an overall decrease in white criminals receiving the death sentence. This stands in contrast to the statistic of a higher percentage of white females receiving the ultimate sentence for applicable crimes.

Society may be more tolerant of females who kill. Women are reared to be nurturers, while men are raised to be competitive. Statistically, women who kill make a more sympathetic defendant and are thus, more likely to be offered a plea agreement to avoid the death penalty.

Women on death row are more likely to have killed a family member, spouse or intimate. More than half claim to be the victim of physical and/or sexual abuse. On average, a female inmate waits on death row for 7 years and 11 months, twenty seven months less than men awaiting the final punishment. More than half of the women on death row acted in concert with at least one accomplice, but in most of these cases, their codefendant did not receive a death sentence.

Because of the limited numbers of women on death row, those serving such sentences usually do so in some form of solitary confinement, leading to allegations of sexual, emotional and physical abuse at the hands of correctional officers, concerns over the onset or exacerbation of mental illnesses, and legal challenges over the harsher living conditions as a result of isolation.

According to a report released in November 2004 by the American Civil Liberties Association (ACLU) titled The Forgotten Population: A Look At Death Row In The United States Through The Experiences Of Women, women’s experiences leading to incarceration on death row share a number of traits with that of their male counterparts, including inadequate defense counsel, official misconduct, poverty, alcoholism, drug abuse, mental retardation, and mental illness.

While there is no scientific research as proof, the impending execution of a female inmate seems to stimulate larger protests against the death penalty, and given the amount of media coverage of such a spectacle, one might wonder why the pro capital punishment movement hasn’t found a way to exploit such an event.

Setting aside any argument about the validity or morality of state sponsored executions, it is significant to acknowledge that women generally receive more compassion from the criminal justice system than men. However, once dealt a sentence of death for their crimes, women can expect a shorter wait in an ill prepared and acrimonious prison, as the swift hand of the executioner prepares to render his ultimate punishment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit EarthFootprints.com at http://earthfootprints.com
Visit Redacted Copy at http://redactedcopy.blogspot.com

Daytrips From Terrace - The Nisga'a Museum

2010-09-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

DAYTRIPS FROM TERRACE – THE NISGA’A MUSEUM
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

On September 15, 2010, items of cultural significance were returned to the Nisga’a First Nations at an official ceremony at the yet to be opened to the public Nisga’a Museum in Laxgalts’ap (pronounced Lack-La-Zap and once known by the Anglo name of Greenville) in northwest British Columbia. It is a sign of the responsible times in the art and museum world where historic and culturally significant works are being repatriated to their rightful owners after being removed under dubious circumstances, outright plundered, or illegally sold.

The biggest newsmakers in this fairly new movement demonstrating regret, honor, and principal have been the museums worldwide that have begun to return valuable works of art pillaged by the Nazis during World War Two from Jewish victims. But in Canada this year, proudly, there have been some marked cultural works that have been returned to their proper homes. The totem that stood as a beacon for decades in the Town of Jasper in Jasper National Park found its way back home to Haida Gwaii (pronounced Hi-Da-Gwi and once known by its Anglo name of Queen Charlotte Islands) in British Columbia. And now, more than 300 pieces of Nisga’a items of cultural significance have been repatriated and will be showcased at the Nisga’a Museum in a vibrant new 10,000 square foot world class facility.

Getting to this remote part of British Columbia takes some effort, but your determination will be greatly rewarded as you can also experience the Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park and the stunning scenery of northwest British Columbia. My travel series titled Daytrips From Terrace is published on this site, one of which includes the self drive tour of the park.

Follow the Nisga’a Highway (Highway 113) north from Terrace for approximately 140 kilometers to bring you to the village of Laxgalts’ap. Stay on the highway as you pass through the village, and on your right hand side just before exiting the community, a clearing will frame the Nisga’a Museum entrance.

I have driven this highway on several occasions with Asylum, the world’s worst guard dog and my ever present companion. It was such a joy to witness the emerging construction of such a structure that encompasses Nisga’a attributes. Early into its construction, I knew this showcase building would be different from anything I have experienced. The roofline of the Nisga’a Museum is shaped like a traditional canoe used for transport and trade by these ancient people. The interior emulates a feast bowl and the cross section is designed to represent a longhouse. It is a remarkable building that instantly evokes clichés such as unique, stunning, different, wow, and imaginative. It is indeed these, and more. I could not even imagine having to clean those vaulting panes of glass that spire 52 feet to the heavens. If you enjoy architecture as much as I do, I have every confidence you will appreciate the jaw dropping first impression the Nisga’a Museum provides.

The initial collection to be on display brings together items used during feasts, rituals, and daily life of the Nisga’a people in addition to iconic pieces. They come from the collections of the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria and the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa as part of the Nisga’a Treaty signed on May 11, 2000.

The Nisga’a Museum is seen by her people to be a root of cultural celebration from which other avenues of discovery and understanding will swell. In the future, Laxgalts’ap will welcome visiting students and researchers to study, document, and magnify this proud aboriginal culture. Additional infrastructure will be required to support these endeavors and there could be archaeological crossover opportunities with the lava beds. Exhibit programming will certainly include visits from schools in the region, and relationships with museums throughout the world could lead to some exciting exchanges. Regardless of what the future holds, the Nisga’a people are committed to leading the way in opening up the vault of history and culture for the rest of us to explore.

The next steps for the Nisga’a Museum are to hire a Director/Curator, prepare for a soft opening over the winter months of 2010/2011 and plan for a grand opening to possibly coincide with the eleventh anniversary of the signing of the Nisga’a Treaty in May 2011.

Now that would be a ceremony worthy of your attendance!

LINK
Nisga’a Museum www.nisgaamuseum.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit EarthFootprints.com at http://earthfootprints.com
Visit Redacted Copy at http://redactedcopy.blogspot.com

Autumn And The Harvest Moon

2010-09-22T21:42:00.001-07:00

AUTUMN AND THE HARVEST MOON
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

The Harvest Moon arrives for its annual visit, its suitcase packed with paintbrushes of vibrant colors for the falling leaves, stubbornly illuminating the blackened sky for farmers to reap their bounty, it brings a night chill that stiffens bones, lays a thin blanket of ice atop ponds, and forces squawks from geese as they eagerly retreat to warmer southern climes.

Where has spring and summer gone? Seems like only yesterday when the emergence of that glowing sun struggled to melt the winter’s snowfall and breathe new life into all creatures and plants. Tilling the soil for a garden seemed to take forever and the weather never cooperated. It’s a wonder anything sprouted, let alone thrived. And now it’s time to unpack the sweaters, heavy coats, and warm boots. Don’t forget the shovel, mitts, and toques. Ugh!

Packing away the t-shirts, shorts and suntan lotion, a reminiscent smile broadens across the face, remembering the crackling bonfire roasting marshmallows during that long weekend camping trip; recalling sitting on the patio of that café wearing dark sunglasses, sipping on a cold beverage while people watching and forming quiet opinions on their interactions with each other; and questioning the purchase of that flimsy trinket during the window shopping spree while on vacation. Good times!

Maybe there was warmer weather this year after all. It sure was a short season though.

Autumn serves as a transition period. It is a time for reflection and it is a time for preparation. Perhaps that is why Thanksgiving is celebrated in the fall. It allocates the opportunity to be thankful for the important things in life such as family, friends, and health. And it compels the necessity to insulate against the coming harshness and to stockpile against the dwindling availability of provisions.

Splashing acrylics of hue on dancing leaves, gently tugging them from their waving limbs and easing them earthward on a thick layer of ice fog and heady air, the autumn daylight unveils a hidden masterpiece created by a nocturnal Harvest Moon. Quickly covering pathways that recently guided followers, the mounting piles of psychedelic petals provide nature’s canvas for a lunar muse. Stepping through its carpeted cushion, occasionally kicking up its fibers ranks high as one of life’s greatest memorable experiences. Rolling in them amid maniacal laughter runs a close second.

That big, bright Harvest Moon runs a fool’s errand as it attempts to lengthen the rapidly shortening days, yet it is impossible not to appreciate its enterprising endeavor. Darkness outside brings darkness inside.

Rape On Campus

2010-09-20T15:32:00.000-07:00

EXPOSED – RAPE ON CAMPUS
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

For many parents, watching their spawn begin post-secondary education brings back memories of being all choked up over the tike’s first day of kindergarten and elementary school. It’s a time when parents realize how the years have flown past and with heavy hearts reminisce of the reliance the children once had on them. They grow up so fast.

Campus life is many things. It brings together students from the full spectrum of religious and spiritual beliefs, socio-economic backgrounds, and political slants. They attend their chosen studies to achieve the education needed in their future occupations, adhering to an impossible timetable of study, work, and play. This mixture of personalities and purposes results in a vibrant elixir that sharpens imaginations, stimulates the senses, and propels minds to achieve. And after a few years of indoctrination, graduates are dressed in an unflattering gown, capped with a funny matching hat, and urged to take on the world.

Campus life is other things too. Those very same students with all their prides and prejudices become citizens of a city within a city where not everyone plays by the rules. In the United States, a recently released report by The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) claims that one in five female students will be the victim of rape or attempted rape by the time they graduate. The US Department of Justice says that figure is closer to one in four.

As with sexual assaults in the general population, pinning down an accurate figure is difficult due to the high degree of under reporting. The CPI research goes on to say that prosecutors are reluctant to prefer charges against alleged campus perpetrators largely because the cases boil down to a He Said, She Said situation where various levels of intoxication are involved by both assailant and victim.

With the victim lacking any feeling of justice, she follows the only other path available; that of seeking sanctions against the offender through the university’s Code of Conduct process. The harshest penalty available for the ill-trained resolution panel under this loose amalgamation of vague passages is the expulsion of the offending student, but it is a rarity that this measure is undertaken. Statistics show that in better than 85% of cases adjudicated under these processes, absolutely no sanctions were meted out to the offender, even if he has confessed to his complicity.

The overall stance from institutes of higher learning appears to be that they are educators, not judiciary, and cases brought forward under resolution panels are a thoughtful way to hold the offender accountable and should focus on lessons to be learned by the offending behavior, rather than punishing anyone.

Campuses in the United States, eager to attract tuitions and grant money, are subject to the Clery Act and to what is known as Title IX. The Clery Act and Title IX are federal laws that mandate colleges and universities to report crimes on campus and provide key rights to victims. It is full of loopholes that campuses exploit to paint a picture of a safe learning environment for prospective and current students.

One of the more glaring findings contained in the CPI’s report is that campus rapists tend to be serial offenders who have, on average, six victims. Clearly the perpetrators are aware that their felonious activities are given little importance by campus administration and are likely to be covered up to avoid embarrassment to the school. There is no research to show if campus offenders continue their plunder in the general population once they graduate. Even if you don’t buy lottery tickets, you would still have to bet that offenders do not cease their criminal acts once they receive their parchment.

In Canada, there is no equivalent of the Clery Act or of Title IX. No recent research has been conducted a la The Center for Public Integrity. But none of this should suggest that the crisis of rape on campus is any different in Canada than it is in the United States.

As with the United States loopholes, crime on campus statistics in Canada is full of inconsistencies. While there is no legislation for post secondary institutions in Canada to publish their crime data, most do so as part of their disclosure to parents and students. However, some publish only the previous month’s crimes and there is no standard for equity in reporting. Others, such as the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon openly post all their crime statistics online, and according to Bob Ferguson, Director of Campus Safety, were the first in Canada to do so.

Victims of sexual assault on campus face peculiar hurdles not faced by victims in the general population. Because of the intermingling of offender, victim, and witnesses in close confines such as dorms, fraternities, and sororities, when a victim makes an allegation of sexual assault, it often causes dissention among the various close-knit demographics, splitting opinions, friendships, and interpretations of the assault. This is further aggravated by these groups of people attending classes together and the institution wanting to protect its reputation and exposure to litigation. These factors contribute heavily to complaints being recanted by the victims, or the victim dropping from or transferring out of the university.

There is considerable reluctance on the part of educational institutions to discuss sexual assaults on campus in Canada. Few of the universities, all household names in primary cities of Canada, contacted for comment and input for this article responded. There could be any number of reasons why they did not wish to contribute to this article, but it should not go unnoticed that the faculty and staff presumably have children who currently, or will soon, attend a post secondary facility.

Given the odds indicated by The Center for Public Integrity or the US Department of Justice that 20-25% of young women who attend a college or university will be the victim of a sexual assault or attempted sexual assault during their years of study, one would have to question why this subject is not on top of every campus agenda to protect potential victims, advocate for victims who come forward, and contribute greatly to the punishment of offenders.

LINK
The Center for Public Integrity www.publicintegrity.org

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit EarthFootprints.com at http://earthfootprints.com
Visit Redacted Copy at http://redactedcopy.blogspot.com

Pennsylvania Homeland Security Exposed

2010-09-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (PENNSYLVANIA HOMELAND SECURITY EXPOSED)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Startling revelations made in the cradle of democracy lend considerable credence to what protest groups and anti-establishment individuals have been preaching all along; that the Pennsylvania Homeland Security Department has spied on law abiding citizens with ties to animal rights groups, gay rights groups, environmental groups, and others.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, to his credit, has publically ordered his minions to cease spying on its citizens who are engaged in lawful activities.

The Founding Fathers of the United States of America penned its Constitution, the document that is supposed to outline the rights and obligations of all its citizens, in Pennsylvania, so it is ironic indeed that such a government department would violate so many of the tenets of the revered document.

In these days of distrust of politicians and government puppet masters, it is refreshing to learn that perhaps there are a few in office who may still believe in the oath they took in accepting the trust of the people.

If you had the opportunity to watch the documentary Gas Land, you will recall that the film took a very dim view of natural gas exploration around the United States, but took an even more dismal view of such exploration in Pennsylvania, the filmmaker’s home state. He too, along with participants in the film were subject to a secret investigation by the Pennsylvania Homeland Security Department. Kind of reminds you of witch hunts of the McCarthy era, doesn’t it?

It would be wise to approach the exposure of Pennsylvania’s activities with a grain of salt for now. We should all remember that J. Edgar Hoover, while running the FBI, thumbed his nose at all the Presidents under which he served. For the most part, he was immune to the threats from the Oval Office, and only his death permitted the disclosure of all the underhanded and illegal activities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Maybe there are some parallels with Pennsylvania’s Homeland Security Department.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit EarthFootprints.com at http://earthfootprints.com
Visit Redacted Copy at http://redactedcopy.blogspot.com

I Love A Rainy Night

2010-09-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

I LOVE A RAINY NIGHT
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

When the rest of the air is still and droplets of rain dance on the roof in rhythm, I could stay awake all night to listen to the symphony they play. That is, if my body would allow me this one simple pleasure. For it seems the well-choreographed performance serves the dual purpose of singing a velvet lullaby, and in no time I am lost in dream land.

Awakened during the night by the log sawing snores of Asylum, the world’s worst guard dog and my ever present companion, is a sharp contrast to the peaceful rock-a-bye that lulled me into the trance of serenity only a few hours before. Nudging Asylum to interrupt his industrious fog horn, it is I who must turn over to expose my almost deaf ear, leaving the good ear planted firmly into the cool depths of a feathered pillow. Bliss.

The pampered pooch, oblivious to his war time assault on my sanctuary, wets his dry mouth audibly, and resumes his comfortable position, apparently forgiving me for agitating his regal slumber. I swear he was a cat in a previous life.

It is pouring outside. Almost violently so. Even the deaf ear can transmit the poundings of Mother Nature’s wash. But inside, in the warmth and comfort of home, hidden under a thick duvet, all I hear is a concert building to a crescendo. The best part.

Full of piss and vinegar, the percussion drives the thundering pulse, flooding the senses with an overpowering wave that the mind surfs to the crest. The blood curdling claps from above drench with a new thrust of down pouring. The sky illuminates with relentless natural fireworks. It’s like the boogey man in the closet, the shadow following your walk, by God, it’s like the first time anyone had sex! Electrifying and terrifying in unison.

And then without warning, its peak achieved, the very public presentation of its climax performed, the downpour returns to the precipitous sprinkling that first enveloped me in her bosom. My heart races against the quiet composure of the rain dance, hypnotizing me once again.

As if on cue, counting my forty winks, I slip back into a sweet repose listening to the soundtrack of a rainy night.

And That's My Take... (What Price Is White For Europe?)

2010-09-05T04:27:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (WHAT PRICE IS WHITE FOR EUROPE?)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

If Arizona thinks it has an illegal immigration problem, they might want to take a peek at the European Union (EU) and the attempted extortion of 5 billion Euros annually by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. During a speech in Rome, Gaddafi claims he needs the money to shore up border security against the flood of Africans seeking refuge in European countries and to prevent them from “turning Europe black”.

As one who is no stranger to controversy, Gaddafi also used his two day visit to Italy to urge Europeans to convert to the Muslim faith. Call it a fundraising pilgrimage. Libya is well known as a gateway for illegal migration into Europe, and exploiting his own architecture to extract a continuous ransom must be seen as brilliant from Gaddafi’s perspective. Threatening the stability of an entire neighboring continent is not new to Libya, but to do so without bombs and bullets is not only novel, but probably more effective.

Playing to colonial airs of superiority resulted in a degree of support from European politicians, some going so far as openly entertaining the notion but questioning the price tag.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is rowing a different boat then that of Colonel Gaddafi of Libya. Both stand on the vanguard of the explosive political and social issue of illegal immigration that has no simple solutions, but some key differences do exist.

Arizona and other states facing similar challenges are a destination for aliens, whereas Libya is, for the most part, merely a conduit to a destination. Being the final stop in the journey means that each illegal immigrant costs Arizona taxpayers at every turn, creating a disproportionate ballooning of service provision (and corresponding expense) against its true census. Libya is like an open faucet, taking in illegal immigrants from one end of a pipe and spilling them out the other end without providing anything in between.

Libya is controlled by a dictator who may act on a whim, arbitrarily enacting and enforcing policy and legislation as he so chooses. Arizona cannot act with such disregard. Yet.

Some borders are better controlled than others. Ever attempt to enter or exit a country run by a dictatorship? Not as simple as the free for all that separates Mexico from the United States. Gaddafi knows with the stroke of a pen that he can hermitically seal his borders. So does the EU. Governor Brewer, on the other hand, is at the mercy of a federal agency that clearly has done its job with all the ineptness of a fox guarding the hen house.

Perhaps chief among the differences between Libya and Arizona is that while one is hoping to cash in on illegal immigration, the other is looking to cash out of what has become an alien lottery.

But, getting back to the European Union, it is conceivable that certain countries within the continent are having second thoughts about the immigration policies and experiments undertaken in the past decade. Some member countries are paralyzed with fear of a violent backlash, unwilling to make difficult decisions after flooding their citizenry with identifiable minority groups who now act as a magnet for their brethren.

It is funny how history repeats itself. When the European colonists of yore sought to enrich themselves at the expense of other sovereign nations and indigenous peoples, no thought was given to the disruption of the invaded cultures or their identity, nor were any of the conquered peoples afforded any of the rights enjoyed by well armed military and settlers that plundered with impunity. Karma is such a bitch.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit EarthFootprints.com at http://earthfootprints.com
Visit Redacted Copy at http://redactedcopy.blogspot.com

And That's My Take... (Blueprint Unfurled For Next Phase)

2010-09-02T01:55:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (BLUEPRINT UNFURLED FOR NEXT PHASE)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

You absolutely know it’s coming. You’ve seen it before, even if you didn’t realize what you witnessed. It follows a well-worn path leading to the only destination possible. You’ve been there too. And like watching the brilliant execution of a magnificent illusion on a Las Vegas stage, you will stand in awe questioning the mechanics, the logic, the defiance of all that is humanly possible. There you will be standing in downtown Tehran with the rest of us, thinking this is déjà vu all over again.

On September 01, 2010, US President Barak Obama addressed a war-weary nation on live television, spewing the same propaganda as did his predecessor, but wrapped in a kinder, smoother lullaby. Laying the groundwork for the next overthrow of a foreign nation, Obama appeared sharp, confident, and, using his well-crafted velvet tongue, he could have sold sand to Iran. The blueprint has been unfurled.

The diversionary tactics are currently being ramped up for your delusionary experience. Watch the news headlines of your co-conspirator corporate media as they fill your television and newspaper with fluffy lead stories of an NFL player’s million dollar insurance policy on his hair, of Apple iWhatever launches, of celebrity goings on, of the name of Conan’s new talk show, and of any kink that can be sensationalized to ensure you do not pay attention to the slight of hand occurring right under your nose.

The friendly corporations that conspired with Bush Jr. to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein enjoyed the trillions in ill-gotten loot. They utilized the same plan. All it cost was 1.5 million Iraqi citizens, a few thousand American residents, and under 5000 military personnel. That is the textbook epitome of minimal collateral damage. Now they need a break in the lottery to connive revised plans for the next Near East hood, Iran.

Imagine a new world including the mammoth land mass of Iraq and Iran, with all its geographic advantages and commercial waterways, under the thumb of the puppet masters. The neighboring Arab nations shall quake in their sandals as they readily succumb to servitude, much to the delight of Israel, on that path to the ultimate prize in the Far East, China.

Perhaps Obama might be open to a name change suggestion for the conquered nations of Iraq and Iran, They could be renamed the OSA, the Oil States of America. With the OSA properly engendered, they will be used to fuel the massive build up to the campaign that could only be described as apocalyptic.

Who among the 200-ish countries on this little blue marble can stand up to this tyrannical powerhouse permitted to run rampant on its quest for total world domination? Certainly none in the southern hemisphere. Of those in the northern hemisphere, perhaps only Russia and China have the military technology and manpower to amass any formidable defense. Unless we were to do it from within. Will you stand up?

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit EarthFootprints.com at http://earthfootprints.com
Visit Redacted Copy at http://redactedcopy.blogspot.com

Daytrips From Terrace - To Kitimat And Kitamaat Village

2010-08-28T21:13:00.000-07:00

DAYTRIPS FROM TERRACE – TO KITIMAT AND KITAMAAT VILLAGE
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Third in our series of Daytrips from Terrace is a short hop to the town of Kitimat, BC and the Haisla First Nations community of Kitamaat Village. Save this one for the day where you feel the need to relax a bit more.

While Kitimat and Kitamaat Village share much of the same history as Terrace and Prince Rupert, the one important difference for Kitimat is its founding with the construction of the Aluminum Company of Canada (Alcan) in the 1950’s. It was built as a company town.

Even though the town’s future is precarious, after major industry closures and shaky world economics, Kitimat is worthy of the short 45 minute drive from Terrace. Certainly not a shopping destination, Kitimat lacks the bevy of tourist traps and you will immediately notice entering a time warp if you pay any attention to building design.

Of course, on board with me for every trip I take is Asylum, the world’s worst guard dog and my ever present companion. He enjoys pinning back his ears and letting the wind blast his face while comfortably balanced on the arm rest of the rear door of my car. It looks like fun, but I tried it once and it wasn’t. To each their own.

Driving south on Highway 37 from Terrace, one of the things that strikes me is how green and lush the area is. Every shade of green is represented on trees, shrubbery and grasses, and when there is a break in the continuous flow of forest, I am treated to the layers of coastal mountains that were formed here millions of years ago.

I am not what you would call a beach bum, but Lakelse Lake Provincial Park is about twenty minutes from Terrace and its beaches are a Mecca for residents of the region. If the sun is shining brightly, you can bet your bottom dollar that Lakelse Lake is hosting kids of all ages. There are picnic areas here as well if you want to pick up a lunch at the deli and enjoy it in the great outdoors.

On this particular drive, something caught my eye as we drove over a bridge crossing the Kitimat River. Stopping for a quick peek, it was two grizzly bear cubs wrestling over a salmon. I stood and watched from the bridge as they fed, all the while hoping to see mommy bear join in the frenzy. Unfortunately, she did not make an appearance for the camera.

There are two natural places Asylum and I enjoy in Kitimat. One of the breathtaking destinations is the Giant Spruce Park, a small forested area within the town boundaries that is home to mammoth spruce trees, some dating back 500 years. One of the Sitka Spruce trees measures about 11.4 meters (almost 38 feet) in circumference and is the oldest known living organism in the Kitimat Valley and the largest living Sitka Spruce in British Columbia. Standing at the base of these giants, I could only marvel at the tales it could tell as it towered over the forest. Thankfully, it is protected by law, otherwise it would be harvested and would provide enough lumber to frame nine average size houses.

The other little gem in Kitimat is Moore Creek Falls, located directly across from the Alcan administration building. There is only one small sign indicating access to the snowfall melt that sustains the falls, and it is easy to miss, so it is best to watch for the Alcan building as the marker. There are 26 steps carved into the earth leading to the viewing platform and the water is absolutely crystal clear.

For specific directions to these highlights, I recommend stopping in at the Visitor Centre located just before you enter Kitimat.

Kitamaat Village is located approximately 13 kilometres from the town of Kitimat. Signage on Highway 37 immediately after the Visitor Centre will point you in the right direction. Home to the Haisla First Nations, Kitamaat Village is a hub of commercial and cultural activity. The Haisla First Nations was formed by a merger of the Gitamat (Kitamaat), People of the Snow, and the Gitlope (Kitlope), People of the Rocks. They spoke similar dialects and amalgamated in 1948-1949. What are now referred to as the Haisla have occupied and flourished in this area for centuries.

The Haisla proudly share their culture and heritage in a number of ways, one of which is by offering guided tours of the area for bear viewing, whale watching, natural coastal hot springs experience, and local cuisine, including the only fresh seafood restaurant in Northwest British Columbia. It would take an entire article of its own to properly represent the unique aboriginal experiences of the Haisla, and perhaps that will become a future article, but for now, please enjoy the link provided.

No disrespect to the Kitimat area intended, but I view them as a filler type of experience, one that does not require much planning and forethought. It’s close and committing to a visit to the industrial hub of the region can be made on a whim. So if your itinerary in Northwest British Columbia is a little cramped for time, visiting Kitimat and Kitamaat Village is an excellent way to take in another corner of this most beautiful neck of the province, while not seeming like it is a major undertaking.

LINKS

Haisla Tourism www.haislatourism.com
Tourism Kitimat www.tourismkitimat.ca

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit EarthFootprints.com at http://earthfootprints.com
Visit Redacted Copy at http://redactedcopy.blogspot.com

And That's My Take...(Her Name Is Rio And She Dances On The Stage)

2010-08-25T15:52:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (HER NAME IS RIO AND SHE DANCES ON THE STAGE)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Ah, yes. The city of Rio de Jeneiro. Oceanside playground famous for sunshine, sandy beaches, and dental floss bikini clad beauties. Party Central for its nightlife and Carnival. An overpopulated and crime-ridden city towered over by the iconic open arms statue of Christ the Redeemer atop Corcovado Mountain. And the next victim to be beta tested for the complete robbery of personal rights and freedoms.

Personal rights and freedoms might not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about any country in South America, however, that is precisely what makes this advanced phase of beta testing so pivotal, as Rio is about to dance on the world stage as host city for the 2012 Earth Summit and the 2016 Olympic Summer Games.

What we have learned from recent world events is that they have been used to violate and severely restrict our personal rights and freedoms overtly and covertly. We learned that the police have employed fascist tactics such as the use of agent provocateurs to further their own agendas. We have learned of laws enacted in secret. And we have seen the corporate media conspire with the puppet masters to manipulate public image. All this, and more, in countries such as Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Denmark.

Imagine what can happen in a country like Brazil, where, for all its positive attributes, the ability and motivation for its citizens to stand up to a government and police force known for their selective abidance of human rights, is dangerous and ill-advised. Being ‘disappeared’ is a fact of life in all of South America.

There is plenty of time for Rio to ready itself for the advanced beta testing. With several world events and summits occurring between now and the River of January’s turns in the spotlight, there is ample opportunity to craft changes to legislation in place and tweak any rough edges before anybody realizes what is happening. Of course, there is the added bonus of being able to be schooled by those preceding events in modern stealth subversion tactics. The citizens of Rio and Brazil won’t even know what hit them.

This same time span might also represent an opportunity for those who value personal rights and freedoms to act on behalf of Brazilians who are not in a comfortable position to do so, despite their probable desire to protect what little remains of their personal rights and freedoms.

While the world is dazzled by performances under the spotlight, remember that rehearsals leading up to the well-choreographed puppet show include set design and placement of lighting. The star is Rio, and she dances on the stage. Watch what happens.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit EarthFootprints.com at http://earthfootprints.com
Visit Redacted Copy at http://redactedcopy.blogspot.com

And That's My Take... (Christians Embroiled In A Crisis Of Faith)

2010-08-24T01:32:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (CHRISTIANS EMBROILED IN A CRISIS OF FAITH)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

While the Nation of Islam welcomes a huge and rabid surge to the Muslim faith, and the Jewish faith enjoys an insular growing population, the Christian religion struggles to envelop the hearts and minds of the western world’s remaining majority. So why then, with our planet teetering on the brink of proving ancient prophecies correct, are we not witnessing, as one might reasonably expect, a massive resurrection in Christianity? Why has the flock not sought the guidance and deliverance of all that is holy?

Religion is a daily news event now. It hasn’t always been this way. But religion is being politicized as never before, to the point of being used as an adjective a la the news reporting during the American civil rights movement where someone described in a news story would be identified as colored (or the many euphemisms used during those turbulent times). The defining of one’s religion now seems to feed the hysteria of division among the general population. It helps to sell newspapers.

Colonial empires and Christianity collaborated (in the name of God and the monarchy of course) to invade foreign lands and peoples, plundering the rich resources, razing the aged cultures, and writing the history books to make it seem as though the invasions were ‘discoveries’ and that the inhabitants of these new found lands were justifiably and mercifully saved from themselves and delivered into the righteous hands of God Almighty Himself.

And perhaps that very expansionist collaboration is at the root of the crisis of faith which embroils Christians today. From such a pompous tree of greed can come only spoiled fruit.

Amassing untold wealth after centuries of ransacking indigenous peoples around the world has provided Christian churches with the financial means to privately address the criminal acts committed by the many sex abusers they employ and protect. Bribery, cover-ups, and out of court settlements don’t come cheap, but save for the selling of a few underperforming local churches, the major Christian sects are still among the richest corporations in your country. Business is slipping though as it would be a rare follower indeed who could knowingly condone, through continued membership and tithe, the rape of their sons and daughters.

The world clips along at a pace few can maintain, and while it is comforting to have sanctuaries in our life where we can find solace, those refuges must be realistic and congruent to the realities of our life if they are to be an influence. Christianity, as one of those possibly coveted sanctuaries, fails to address many of the complexities of modern times, choosing instead to maintain obsolete and ultra-conservative interpretations of often conflicting ideals, burying its head in the sand like an ostrich.

We need to believe! We want to believe! But, frankly, it is almost impossible to believe in Christianity when the image of the religion is suffering greatly at a time when it could be basking in the radiance of salvation. In troubled times, we need a strong focal point to guide us through the minefields of trepidation. For many in the world, that shining light is a religion or some form of spirituality.

Increasingly so, Christianity is losing its devotees to alternate forms of worship and other organized religions that are more representative of a contemporary life and bereft of the morally corrupt activities recently exposed.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit EarthFootprints.com at http://earthfootprints.com

And That's My Take... (World Domination Lessons From Shampoo)

2010-08-20T12:16:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (WORLD DOMINATION LESSONS FROM SHAMPOO)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

These days, just about every consumer product contains some combination of ingredients, warnings, and instructions on use. Some such products defy the intelligence of the user, as evidenced by your typical bottle of shampoo. Wash. Rinse. Repeat if necessary. Add conditioner. Rinse. But it could be argued that these instructions properly belong not on shampoo, but in a step by step implementation manual on how to subvert populations.

Wash. As the puppet masters openly cleanse from us our personal rights and freedoms, we submit to this procedure because we are made to feel good. We are distracted from the dirt and grime of their rule under which we dwell, bathed by the soothing lather of the righteous crusades we undertake, by the dazzling bubbles of the blockbuster propaganda for which we clamor, and by playing with the little homogeneous toy ducks we lined up to purchase, on credit of course. Like a cool shower after slaving away in the fields on a drought stricken day, we ache for the precious droplets to stream over our skin to wash away our sins, to purify our deeds, and to perfume the stinking pores of conformity.

Rinse. It is not enough to just wash. Shampoo gets in our eyes. It hurts like hell, awakening us to the perils of this act designed to lull us when most vulnerable. Rinse! Water down any remaining iota of those personal rights and freedoms we claim to hold dear. Feel the relaxing pulse of the massaging shower head as it directs its tiny bursts of puffery on our cranium. Our sigh of abidance is audible.

Repeat if necessary. Not all can be cleansed of their defiance to world domination in one fell swoop. Some need a more thorough wash, as their sweat clings more rank to the flag of their fathers. Like a Limburger cheese, it is a distinctive aroma appreciated by only a few connoisseurs. It is the sweet fragrance of freedom that, in the eyes of those constructing the New World Order, is an offense to the olfactory. Yes, repeat until that odor becomes order.

Add conditioner. Now that we have been disinfected from any notion of enjoying personal rights and freedoms, we must be conditioned into championing compliance. Apply liberally. Subject us to interrogations and invasive body scans at airports, to warrantless search and seizure, and to live tracking of our movements. Collect our personal information for cross-referencing in data banks. Feed us genetically modified foods, prescribe mind altering drugs, and plague us with experimental diseases. Provide police and corporate security entities with excessive powers to limit our expressions, to deny our inquiries, and to detain us without cause or due process.

Rinse. As we have now been conditioned to accept limitations on our personal rights and freedoms, it should come as no surprise that the bar will be lowered again. Drown us in Marshal Law. Let the waves of tyranny flow like the storm sewers from which they rise. Soak those tangled weaves until they droop into submission. Rinse Baby Rinse!

Who would have thought that an entire lesson on world dominance could be found on a bottle of shampoo? Perhaps the time is now for us to learn about and insist upon the founding declarations of our respective countries. Stand up for your personal rights and freedoms. It is, after all, your hair.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit EarthFootprints.com at http://earthfootprints.com

And That's My Take... (Lillooet And The Zeitgeist Of The Police State)

2010-08-11T15:45:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (LILLOOET AND THE ZEITGEIST OF THE POLICE STATE)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

One would expect this kind of affront to rights and freedoms in countries generally regarded as being repressive. One might even think in the United States, with the last decade in particular witnessing the systematic dismantling of its rights and freedoms, we would see the open beta testing of the right to peaceful assembly being vanquished with the stroke of a pen. But, no, it appears small town Canada will hold the dubious distinction of being the zeitgeist for the open construction of the Police State.

Welcome to Lillooet, British Columbia. Population 2300. Located a little more than a two hour drive north of Vancouver, this sleepy community is an absolute treasure in terms of scenery and outdoor recreational pursuits. The last few years of wildfire season have placed Lillooet front and center in the news as Mother Nature cleanses and rejuvenates herself. Buried deep, if reported at all, is the recent surprise development of a new bylaw (Bylaw 343) proposed by Lillooet town council making it illegal to meet or assemble in public.

Thinly disguised as an attempt to control vandalism and loitering, Lillooet’s proposed bylaw would seem an unlikely arena to beta test one of the keystone principals of freedom on which we define ourselves. Any reasonable person would have to infer that those who are guilty of loitering and vandalism would have the same due respect for a law that prevents gathering in public. The proposed bylaw is loose on specifics, leaving it wide open to interpretation and enforcement. For instance, it fails to define what is construed to be a public assembly, how many people are needed for a formal meeting, and what kind of performances would be illegal. Even with such definitions, Bylaw 343 stands perpendicular to the founding tenets of our basic rights and freedoms.

Perhaps, though, Lillooet is the perfect venue for such an experiment. There is almost no risk. If the bylaw is enacted, Lillooet becomes a precedence for other communities, large and small, to adopt similar laws. In a small population, any direct opposition would be minimal. Can you imagine such repression being openly beta tested in a large urban area such as Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, or Vancouver? Even the architects of the Police State know it is too early to tempt such a fate.

If the proposed bylaw is defeated, and given that the mainstream corporate media has ignored or buried the story, few people would be aware of the experiment and it could be returned to the appropriate boardrooms to be rewritten and birthed somewhere else.

Either way, the challenges facing Lillooet in terms of vandalism shall remain intact. Bylaw 343 will not solve any of the veiled antagonisms exploited as the embryo for its enactment.

What is taken from us should Bylaw 343 be enacted is priceless. Like the foundation of a home needing to be without compromise to ensure its integrity, so too are the basic foundations of our rights and freedoms including that of assembly and gathering in public.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit EarthFootprints.com at http://earthfootprints.com

And That's My Take... (New Gulags Announced For Canada)

2010-08-03T12:25:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (NEW GULAGS ANNOUNCED FOR CANADA)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Fresh from their Police State beta tests at the G8 and G20 conferences, Canada has just announced it will spend billions of dollars it doesn’t have to build and operate more federal prisons. This is a perplexing course of action, given that Statistics Canada figures clearly show that crime in the country is down significantly. Does Stockwell Day, Treasury Board President and the career politician who made the announcement, know of an impending need for gulags that he is not sharing with us little people?

Day, showing what can only be described as a warped sense of reality, claimed that statistics confirming a decline in crime in Canada are not accurate because he has information that victims are not reporting crimes, and that is why it appears crime is reduced.

Will building more prisons suddenly convince all these alleged victims to report crimes? Preposterous.

There is only one reason to be building new prison facilities, and that is if our government knows there will be a sharp increase in demand to house our wayward souls. How would our government be able to foresee such demand contrary to official statistics? Only if they created the demand.

There might have been a time when such a line of thought would have been considered paranoid. But times have indeed changed. One only has to look at how the so-called ‘security’ forces that operated during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games and a few months later in the Toronto area’s hosting of the G8 and G20 summits. Both events included subversive tactics by government and their jackboots, including the passage of new laws in virtual secrecy intent on making criminals out of otherwise law-abiding citizens.

One of the things the security forces of these two events could agree on was that their detention facilities were insufficiently small to house the numbers of people subjected to experiments in the suppression of personal rights and freedoms. That is all about to change with Day’s announcement and slippery spending. Now, Canada will have permanent gulags capable of meeting the challenges of the coming Police State.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit EarthFootprints.com at http://earthfootprints.com

And That's My Take... (Oh Woe Is The Oil Industry)

2010-07-31T18:50:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (OH WOE IS THE OIL INDUSTRY)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

It can’t be easy being in the oil and gas industry these days, especially since the British Petroleum fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico. If there can be a silver lining found in such devastation, perhaps it is in the raised awareness to the potential dangers in oil and gas exploration and transportation, to the disproportionate reliance we in North America have on the black gold, and to the rapid dissemination and sharing of information in which we participated.

From the lenses of amateur and professional cameras, we saw firsthand the pattern of destruction caused by millions upon millions of barrels of oil suffocating an ecosystem and destroying families. The internet allowed us to watch live video feeds of ruptured equipment. And the outrage voiced by the worldwide citizenry may have been unprecedented in numbers. If nothing else, the microscope under which the United States and British Petroleum found themselves exposed the mockery that are the safeguards and planning processes touted by them to be sufficient.

As the daily news of the Gulf of Mexico trickles, other important and similar issues are being brought forward. Enbridge, a Canadian natural resource giant, just dumped a reported million gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan from their pipeline. Certainly this cannot help them in their proposal for the Northern Gateway Pipeline, a mammoth pipeline construction project running from the Edmonton area in Alberta to Kitimat, British Columbia, and receiving heavy public opposition.

Trans Canada, another Canadian natural resource giant, is proposing a massive pipeline to be constructed to Houston, Texas from their Alberta operations. As if their proposed route wasn’t controversial enough, including crossing the Olgallala Aquifer (the largest aquifer in the United States supplying eight states with fresh water), they have applied to regulatory officials for safety relaxations in the thickness of their pipe and an increase in the amount of pressure they can push through the pipe.

Given what Enbridge just experienced in Michigan, one would think Trans Canada would quickly scrap their applications for relaxations of the already lax regulations to instill some level of public confidence in their proposed 1700 mile project.

Those within the governments have dropped the ball when it comes to our safety and that of the environment. Our minimum standards, if implemented at all, are not adequately monitored, nor do they have the teeth to sufficiently punish those who choose to operate outside the law. Without appropriate consequences, there lacks any incentive for huge corporations to comply.

We need oil. We are not currently in a position to do without oil. Ergo, we need to continually explore for and transport oil. However, 2010 has seen more than its share of manmade ecological disasters, enough to send every corporate executive back to the boardroom to devise new plans that promote their business objectives while ensuring the highest level of safety and security in the areas which they operate.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit EarthFootprints.com at http://earthfootprints.com

And That's My Take... (CIA Given Green Light To Commit Crimes)

2010-07-26T18:39:00.001-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (CIA Given Green Light To Commit Crimes)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein has given the green light to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to commit crimes with impunity as he handed down his ruling against an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) motion to have the spook agency disclose illegal activity against detainees.

In its campaign of scare-orrism, the US government, through its various overt and covert channels, have detained citizens and foreigners in clandestine gulags without granting access to legal counsel, human rights organizations, or family. During these incarcerations, fully permitted under the far sweeping passages of the Patriot Acts, anyone – and that means YOU in case you were blissfully unaware – can be arrested, detained, and now legally, tortured, dehumanized or executed by firing squad. Yes, executed. It is written right into the Patriot Acts.

If you have not read the ironically titled Patriot Acts (both of them, and believe it when it is said that there is nothing patriotic about these acts), you would be shocked by the swath and depth these laws have against your personal rights and freedoms. And they apply to you, even if you are not an American, which is why it is vital that you understand the implementation, interpretation, and instigation of the tyranny contained in its passages.

Hellerstein stated that he was unwilling to “second guess the CIA Director regarding the appropriateness of any particular intelligence source or method”, removing the only remaining vestige against the total annihilation of rights and freedoms in America. His ruling essentially says that once the spooks have you in their care and control, they are under no obligation to disclose anything to anybody about what they are or are not doing, legal or otherwise. And there is nothing you, or anyone else for that matter, can do about it.

Danger. Are your Spidey senses tingling yet?

The bold dismantling of personal rights and freedoms are occurring right under our noses. So smug are the puppet masters and puppets that they do not even attempt to hide their diabolical schemes. They know you of all people are unwilling to confront them. Similar plots are unraveling in every country and on each of the continents. Tyranny is being beta tested in Canada and Mexico, in Europe and South America, in Australia and all over Africa, with Asia serving as a model to lock horns with at some point in the future.

In disbelief? Review for yourself the last several laws enacted, in public or in secret, by your home country.

Perhaps the only refuge from tyranny remaining is on the continent of Antarctica, and one has every reason to believe we are incapable of evolving in such a restrictive environment. Sadly, unless we are prepared to confront and remove the oppressive powers, we deserve nothing more than to regress to medieval monarchy subjected to the whims of the gleeful few.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit EarthFootprints.com at http://earthfootprints.com

And That's My Take... (Imagine There's No Internet)

2010-07-19T17:16:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (IMAGINE, THERE’S NO INTERNET)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

In the past week in particular, You Tube and its parent Google have arbitrarily closed user accounts, ceased connection to videos and websites, and have funneled previously free videos to pay-per-view sites that they control. Why?

Could it be that sites they have ceased ties with openly question covert government activities? Could it be that videos clearly demonstrate political and electoral shenanigans and challenge US President Barak Obama about his citizenship, his contradictory statements pre-election versus post-election, and his ties to entities that do not have the best interests of Americans at heart? Could it simply be a cash grab?

Interestingly enough, none of the account holders with You Tube and Google were given any notice, and the vast majority of the usurped accounts are alternative media, private individuals who blog their views of the impending new world order, and individual videos that express views unfavorable to that of the government. That alone is stinky.

There are those in high public office who have stated openly that we (meaning the puppet masters who make presidents and world leaders dance at will) should be able to control the internet and shut it off with a switch. In fact, that is possible given the architecture on which the internet was built. Add to this the coded search engine technology on which Google is built having its roots dug deep in military intelligence circles, and you have a recipe for total information control by a small handful of world elite. There is even a segment of the population who believe that Google itself is a front for intelligence agencies.

The Washington Post, who seemingly act as a quasi public relations vehicle for the White House, exposed some deep dark secrets of intelligence operations, including the fact that more than 854,000 people now have security clearance at the highest levels. These are not all military personnel or spooks folks. Many are employees of multinational corporations that earn billions each year. These corporations have a vested interest in controlling the information we see.

With apologies to John Lennon, imagine. Imagine not having access to information from all points of view. Imagine being told what you can write on your blog. Imagine not being able to have a blog. Imagine having to rely on news and information that comes from a small handful of corporate controlled media. Imagine there’s no internet. It’s easy if you try.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit EarthFootprints.com at www.earthfootprints.com

And That's My Take... (Surely, That Can't Happen Here)

2010-07-16T00:30:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (SURELY, THAT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

As professional armchair critics, we take immense pleasure in highlighting the flaws of other countries while basking in our own supposed superiority. Some of it is in jest, or in sport. Some use a comparative analysis case such as the delivery of health care services in Canada versus that of the United States. And then there is the sobering contemplation of the differences in the world respecting rights and freedoms.

All in all, we in Canada and United States are pretty darn lucky to have been born under a flag that was secured by the blood, sweat, and tears of those who came before us. Probably our greatest flaw in securing these precious rights and freedoms has been how we have treated our aboriginals (a shameful course of events that still cry for a resolution). And while we are far from perfect, we are generally regarded throughout the world as shining beacons of freedom.

Good for us.

As we learn of deplorable human rights violations and suppression of freedoms in foreign countries, it is perhaps one of the few times when we concretely revere just how fortunate we have become, and at the same time convince ourselves that surely, such repression can never happen here. Certainly, we would not tolerate similar abuses. Absolutely, it would incite a revolution.

Surely, certainly, and absolutely it already has happened here. This year. And you either were unaware your rights were violated, or you were aware and you did nothing. Perhaps you were too afraid to speak out? You might have had a wee taste of the conditions under which a great many of the world’s population live.

A clear and very recent example of your rights being trampled occurred during Toronto and area’s hosting of the G8 and G20 Summits, that spendthrift hosted by Canada that proved once and for all that yes, you can spend more than a billion dollars on goose-stepping security to pamper a few hundred diplomats for a few days of solitude at a luxury resort and smack dab in the middle of the country’s largest city. For math’s sake, security costs alone were approximately 200 million dollars a day at a time with high unemployment and increasing numbers of personal and business bankruptcies.

A conspiracy involving municipal, provincial, and federal governments and their respective departments saw the secret passage of laws restricting your freedoms and granting unprecedented powers to police and military personnel to interact, arrest, and detain you without charge or right to a lawyer. And it wasn’t the first time in 2010 that this has happened in Canada. During the Olympic Winter Games held in mid February in Vancouver and area, curiously also costing approximately a billion dollars for security alone, black-clad storm troopers enjoyed similar latitude. Some refer to the Olympic security Goliath as the proving grounds for the G8/G20 Summits.

In addition to the fascist and unchecked powers the cops were secretly granted, they employed tactics the most ruthless dictators of history freely used, including the use of agent provocateurs, to lead, incite, and participate in acts of violence, sabotage, vandalism, crime, and general riotous behavior. All of this was designed to undermine the legitimate and legal peaceful protesters exercising their rights under properly enacted laws. Perhaps these tactics were the means necessary so the governments and organizations involved could point the finger at unruly mobs of criminals to justify the end costs of ‘security’, which, by the way, we still await to be made public.

This was in passive Canada. It would take volumes upon volumes to cite similar abuses in the United States in the past several years alone.

The above two recent examples were used by your governments to desensitize you to losing your freedoms without consequence. Depending on your politics, you might be able to dismiss your government’s abuse as some sort of imperative. Regardless, what about next time? There will indeed be a next time. Where will you draw the line now that the envelope has already been pushed this far?

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
For Environmental Articles, Visit EarthFootprints.com at www.earthfootprints.com

I Want To Replace Larry King on CNN

2010-07-14T03:09:00.000-07:00

CNN's Larry King will be retiring this fall from his Larry King Live show and I have launched an internet and social media campaign to be his replacement. I welcome your support on my Facebook page HERE. Once on the Facebook page, click on the LIKE button and then post a message on your wall to invite your friends to join as well.

Thank you for your support.

You can read my international press release HERE.

And That's My Take... (Legalizing Pot A Civil Rights Issue?)

2010-07-07T22:45:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (LEGALIZING POT A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE?)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Proposition 19 in California is on the ballot for a November vote. If approved, this initiative would permit the recreational use of marijuana in the Golden State. Chances are reasonable that voter turnout will be significant, but to suggest that legalizing pot is a civil rights issue seems to be a slap in the face to those who have suffered, struggled, and won hard fought advances for equality and freedom from persecution.

So who is endorsing Proposition 19 as a civil rights issue? Shockingly, it is an organization that has been one of the leaders in the civil rights movement in the United States, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

A collection of strange bedfellows support the legalization of marijuana. Among them are the ‘pot heads’, those who just want to get high and enjoy a doobie or two a day. There is a segment of the medical community who recognize the benefits of medical marijuana for patients suffering certain afflictions. An association of law enforcement and legal professionals known as LEAP (www.leap.cc) Law Enforcement Against Prohibition supports drug legalization in general. And if you do not personally support legalizing marijuana, chances are better than average that your neighbor does. But one would have been hard pressed to think that any civil rights organization would want to jump in to such a spirited debate as this.

Has the NAACP run out of civil rights battles?

The NAACP claims African-Americans are disproportionately affected by the criminalization of marijuana and for this reason, makes Proposition 19 a civil rights issue. Supposing their claim is accurate, there could be several possible reasons why this would be true. But, a civil rights issue? Come on.

Various legislation enacted in California tends to lead other states into similar discussion and debate, so this November will be instrumental in influencing sister states to consider legalizing pot. That is good news for both sides of the equation. Healthy debate is exactly what is needed to weed through this tangled issue (celebrate the pun folks).

Perhaps in a few years, we will see an entire country where recreational use of marijuana is permitted, controlled and taxed just as alcohol consumption is. It is, however, misleading and misguided to debase civil rights progress by committing its precious resources to fight for legalized pot. Shame on you NAACP.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit EarthFootprints.com at www.earthfootprints.com

And That's My Take... (Handing Injustice To Israel On A Silver Platter)

2010-07-03T22:59:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (HANDING INJUSTICE TO ISRAEL ON A SILVER PLATTER)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

A recent decision by the US Department of Justice to extradite Anton Geiser to Israel to stand trial for alleged war crimes during World War Two is a difficult one to comprehend on so many levels. Any time you mix emotionally charged sentiments surrounding Nazi atrocities with the continuing Jewish browbeating of the Holocaust, no possible outcome can be harmonious.

Geiser arrived in the United States in 1956 from Austria, and became an American citizen in 1962. By all accounts, this now 85 year old man was a model and productive citizen of his welcoming country. In 2006, Geiser’s American citizenship was revoked after an investigation revealed, and Geiser admitted, that he was a SS prison guard at three different concentration camps as a young adult from 1943 to 1945. Why has it taken the US government this long to pursue eviction from the country?

There is absolutely no evidence to suggest Anton Geiser committed any war crimes. Not even from Israel. He is, instead, guilty by association for merely being a prison guard. And this association is enflamed by his enrollment in the SS, a branch of the Nazi military known for its voluntary service and particular affinity to Hitler’s ideologies.

One must remember the times. The world was at war. There was no internet and very little in the way of outside media influence. Everything was censored. The fervor of the Nazi propaganda machine was both subtle and overt. Even today, tactics used to brainwash and program the German people then are purposely practiced with admiration by so many nations. This speaks to how effective it was. To a young boy growing up poor in and around the mob mentality of Nazi superiority, promised riches, and institutional influence such as school, government, family, peers, and employment, Geiser was unaware and ill prepared of mounting any sort of defense against such hypnotism.

This does not excuse those who chose to actively ‘cleanse’ the planet of anyone deemed undesirable, but it does serve to establish a framework of the carefully contrived barrage of approved thought under which Nazi controlled territories were subjected. The consequences of non-conformity were grave.

Austria and Germany want nothing to do with carrying out prosecutions of alleged war criminals anymore. They gladly allow Israel to try these Jurassic reminders of a painful and deplorable time of conflict and attempted genocide. However, Geiser does not fit the bill. He was a lowly soldier guarding the perimeter fence.

Officially, the United States has revoked Geiser’s citizenship and is extraditing him based on his deception under declaration when he entered his adoptive country. This is completely suspect given the timing, however, under almost every circumstance, nobody would denounce the right or motive of the American government to undertake this course of action. But, in this particular case, one would have to question why Big Brother would seek to persecute a man with more than one foot in the grave, with a history of leading an exemplary life contributing to American society, and with so much time elapsing.

There have been many Holocausts throughout mankind’s existence, even during the World War Two years. Absolutely every country on the planet has participated in an attempted genocide at one time or another. Why are we continually focused on what happened to the Jews? In fact, given the current set of circumstances in the Middle East, one could easily argue that what Israel is doing to the Palestinians is attempted genocide. History does indeed repeat, despite our promises to the contrary.

We grant hardened repeated criminals more compassion and opportunity for atonement than we are willing to offer this otherwise law abiding immigrant. And speaking of immigrants, does the United States not have more pressing illegal immigration issues of mammoth proportion than to hand such injustice on a silver platter to Israel? There must be a better way to hold this old man accountable for his deception upon entering America almost half a century ago.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
For Environmental Articles, Visit EarthFootprints.com at www.earthfootprints.com

And That's My Take... (Double Standard On Sex Abuse)

2010-07-01T20:13:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (DOUBLE STANDARD ON SEX ABUSE)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Without much ado, it is fairly easy to identify a number of double standards that exist in our corner of the world, and this one will likely not surprise you. Why is it, if an adult male has sex with a minor, society in general is reviled, but if a female adult engages in sex with a minor, the same revulsion is not visited on the woman?

High profile cases involving teachers make headline news quickly. And none rocket to the stratosphere with more propulsion than when the teacher is female, and the student is male. Add to the mix that the female teacher possesses the physical beauty that the raging testosterone of a young male craves, and you have a volatile cocktail of emotion, lust, passion, curiosity, and criminal activity. It’s what sells newspapers and titillates the day’s roster of leading news broadcasts.

An unscientific sampling of initial comments from average Janes and Joes shows a not so surprising bias toward categorizing a female teacher having sexual relations with a male minor student as being a victimless crime. In fact, many would be high-fiving the student for his ‘accomplishment’. A number of similar stories have reached our consciousness in the past few years.

When the teacher is male, we are quick to label him a pervert, a pedophile, a sex offender. Arrest him. Punish him. Castrate him.

When the teacher is female, our reaction is considerably tempered, almost sympathetic, and we look upon the male student as someone with the rare sexual prowess to conquer a hot female power figure. We nod in admiration. Way to go. That’s my boy. You ‘da man.

Yes, boys are different from girls. Boys have generally been encouraged to sow their wild oats. Girls have generally been cautioned about the motives of boys and to be vigilant in guarding against them. Boys are raised to be go-getters. Girls are raised to be nurturers. Perhaps these differences are at the root of why we are reluctant to perceive these boys as the victims they are.

The trauma suffered by victims of sexual abuse runs deep and long. Tragically, we continue to hear of those in authority positions violating the very trust we singularly and collectively place in their influential hands. Cops, parents, church officials, teachers, and coaches have all been perpetrators.

For young male victims, we must break down the barriers to help them confront their trauma, encourage them to disclose and discuss such experiences, and to identify ways of coping with their hurdle in life. For society, we must broaden its realizations as to what sexual abuse is, how it affects victims, and to accept that young boys having sex with their teacher is as wrong as young girls having sex with their teacher.

As we have learned, even victims may not know they are victims.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
For Environmental Articles, Visit EarthFootprints.com at www.earthfootprints.com

And That's My Take... (Planning Your End Of Life Care)

2010-06-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (PLANNING YOUR END OF LIFE CARE)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

End of life decisions are an emotional rollercoaster for those wrestling to make the right decision at a tumultuous time, conflicted by waves of hope and the compassion for dignity and empathy of one’s life. The guilt and stress that accompanies such an impossible decision is something more of us will be faced with as the population ages.

Generally speaking, there is some reluctance on the part of prosecutors in North America to pursue criminal charges against those involved in assisted suicide especially when a medical doctor is involved and it remains a private matter. When it is flaunted in public, however, there is little option but for the authorities to vigorously prefer charges. Think Dr. Jack Kevorkian, and even he was victorious and enjoyed fantastic public support. It is possibly the worst kept medical secret that doctors involved in end of life care have taken steps to ease suffering of their patients by withhold treatments, and thus hastening the evermore.

Germany’s Supreme Court has just paved the way for legal euthanasia provided certain criteria are met. Switzerland outright permits euthanasia and has unwittingly crafted its very own suicide tourism industry, whereby patients travel to Swiss clinics and hospitals to privately end their life with dignity under medical supervision. However, some countries in Europe (Italy and Spain among them) consider assisted suicide illegal, likely because of the influence the Vatican plays in their everyday life.

As the discussion surrounding assisted suicide lessens its taboo status, it opens a window of opportunity for us to create a dialogue where we can let those closest to us know of our final wishes. There are three vital actions you can take that will ease the burden on those you leave behind, and the earlier you accomplish these tasks, the more likely it will be that they will be honored.

First and foremost, get your affairs in order. Write a Last Will & Testament and a Living Will. The Living Will sets out your wishes should you find yourself in a position unable to make legal decisions. Not all jurisdictions recognize the validity of a Living Will, however, having one, at the very least, will be documentation of your actual wishes, thus avoiding the arguments that ensue in the event of your incapacity. Consult an attorney, especially if you have a complex estate and when minor children are involved.

Next, sign your donor cards. Human organs are desperately needed for research and for transplant. Your passing could provide life to someone who is suffering and facing death themselves. It really is the ultimate gift you can bestow.

And thirdly, discuss your wishes with your family and friends. Nothing is more tragic than those you love wrapped up in a bitter dispute over their interpretation of what you said twenty years ago, or if you would have wanted your suffering to end or of you would rather fight an uphill battle.

Watching a loved one erode and suffer before your very eyes is a gut wrenching experience. Putting your family and friends in the position of having to make life ending decisions is clearly not what you intended to happen, so do the right thing now so they can do the right thing later.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
For Environmental Articles, Visit EarthFootprints.com at www.earthfootprints.com

And That's My Take... (Shove Your Apologies)

2010-06-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (SHOVE YOUR APOLOGIES)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

We sure have been inundated with apologies lately. The Pope continues to apologize while permitting sexual abuse by his minions. British Petroleum cannot seem to find the right words to apologize for their shameful handling of the Gulf of Mexico fiasco without triggering new controversy. Major auto manufacturers apologize to their shareholders and customers for design and safety flaws. And the list goes on of high profile public apologies.

It used to be that if a high profile public apology was forthcoming, we the little people admired the fortitude that it took for the Chairman or Chief Executive Officer of the company to accept at least a dichotomy of responsibility and in return, we would grant at least a pinch of forgiveness. Perhaps an admittance being so rare was what made it such an outstanding and heartwarming sentiment.

But are we becoming immune to those two little words so easily said, so often suspect?

The spin doctors who weave tales on behalf of corporations, politicians, and the like don’t think so. Their fingers are always on the pulse of human behavior and still advise their clients to step in front of a microphone to admit fault and commit to righting the wrong. Those masters of public opinion are right in one thing. We are sheep in need of a shepherd. It’s a role they relish.

We still respond to apologies though. We still want the convicted criminal to stand up in court at sentencing and convey some remorse for his dastardly deed. We still want our significant other to say ‘I’m sorry’ for their wayward actions or words. And we still want an apology from those who we feel have wronged us, often meaning more to us than any financial vindication awarded in a court of law.

It is difficult to believe these pontificators of righteousness when all they had to do was do the right thing in the first place. They are not sorry they committed the wrong. Rather, they are fiercely apologetic that they got caught.

Having said that, we are only human and we all make mistakes. And for those honest deviations from decency and honor, we should indeed apologize and atone accordingly if we are truly sorry. But for those who purposely create situations, or cover up known activities, as are the cases with the Catholic Church. British Petroleum, and the automobile manufacturers, you can shove your apologies where the sun doesn’t shine.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
For Environmental Articles, visit EarthFootprints.com at www.earthfootprints.com

And That's My Take... (Timing Is Ripe To Demonize Iran)

2010-06-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (TIMING IS RIPE TO DEMONIZE IRAN)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

The timing couldn’t be better to ramp up the demonization of Iran. After all, we have done it before but got sidetracked when we discovered other nations to vilify such as Nicaragua, Iraq, Panama, Yugoslavia, etc, etc, etc. We were interrupted by the end of the cold war, the independence of former Soviet republics, a skirmish here, a conflict there, 9/11, Kuwait, Darfur, Somalia, the occasional famine, a few natural disasters, and most recently Haiti and the Gulf of Mexico. We were busy!!

Save for perhaps the latest ethnic cleansings in Kyrgyzstan (a country you could hardly pinpoint on a map, let alone pronounce its name) and our continued outrage with British Petroleum, we need to drum up some support for a new villain. After all, there is the mighty war machine that needs funding now that Canada has announced its exit strategy from Afghanistan for 2011 and the United States contemplating the same, while opposition to the Iraq War grows with each dead soldier. Funny we don’t seem to shed a tear for any of the million and a half Iraqis killed since we sauntered into their country.

Pegging North Korea is not working for us because we know they are just posturing, as they have always done. Besides, there is not enough oil there. No, we need to place an absolute stranglehold on the Middle East. That’s where the almighty fossil fuels are.

Now it wouldn’t be couth to just stroll on into Iran with our Humvees and assorted military might. We wouldn’t want the citizenry back home to divert their currently focused outrage to yet another war effort. The spin doctor departments are already overworked and it is vacation season. Have a heart, would you?

We have to follow the plan. It is a plan that has worked triumphantly for every nation since the dawn of mankind but the western allies have perfected it to the point of almost mass hysteria. First we must identify what we want to capture for the good of our puppet masters. Then we choose which foreign nation can provide said commodity with the least resistance. Next we create a publicity campaign (subtle at first as we wouldn’t want to obviously alarm our own people) that builds up a disdain for ‘those’ people. Create some sort of imagined conflict (remember Pearl Harbor, Gulf of Tonkin, 9/11, etc). Move swiftly to ‘solve’ the conflict. And before you know it, PRESTO!, our war mongers are making billions of dollars and we debate for years when and if we should ever leave our new ‘homeland’. After all, we are liberating those poor repressed people, aren’t we?

But don’t worry folks. Your sons and daughters will not be in harm’s way if you live among the correct tax bracket. Don’t forget to wave your flags though. It’s not so much for patriotism as it is for relief that we have a dispensable growing population of abject poverty to send to the front lines. But, the optics are what count here.

You don’t live among the elite? Shame on you for not sending your spawn to private schools, for not having a diverse portfolio of insider trading secrets, and for not cultivating special relationships with the elected puppets. How do you live in such squalor? Guess you will have to resign yourself to be sacrificed like the security guy from the original Star Trek series who always wore a different colored shirt than the others. That’s how we knew who was going to die first. What color is your shirt?

With our growing lust for oil, we need a fresh supply. We need to create jobs in foreign lands to ship over those that use our social system, which accomplishes two aims, that of reducing the number of social recipients and that of reducing the number of unemployed. And we need to enrich the bank accounts of those who are in power to push us into another unwanted war. There is but one place on the planet which is capable of attaining all our short term goals. Let the demonization of Iran begin.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
For Environmental Articles, Visit EarthFootprints.com at www.earthfootprints.com

And That's My Take... (Billions Upon Billions)

2010-06-18T17:24:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (BILLIONS UPON BILLIONS)
© 2010 BY Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

There is a lot of talk these days about billions. For most, the mere comprehension of how much a billion is, is well, incomprehensible. With the exception of quantifying the world population or the wealth of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, we regular folk rarely use the word billion. We are still trying to make our first million.

With that in mind, let us have a peek, shall we, at a few of the billions in the world.

There are about 6.6 billion homo sapiens inhabiting the planet today. But that pales in comparison to the number of insects, which are the most successful species on the planet with around a million varieties and at any given time outnumber humans 200 million to one. I swear I met every one of them at the lake last weekend.

According to Forbes (www.forbes.com), the twenty five richest people in the world, most of which are Americans, have amassed a combined wealth of almost 660 billion US dollars. That’s almost two thirds of a trillion dollars, and it’s too early to be making the word ‘trillion’ an everyday word. And while thousands of families in the United States are losing their homes, this elite microcosm of privilege see their wealth grow. Imagine how much further their wealth could reach if invested in the twenty five poorest countries in the world.

As the late US Senator Everett Dirksen was quoted as saying, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money”. Thank you Senator Dirksen for exacting my place in society. Things are much clearer now.

Only one country in the world can claim a population of a billion or more. That is China. But India is chasing that dubious honor quicker than you can say Bollywood goes mainstream. To contrast, Canada, the world’s second largest country, has the population of California. Maybe it is too chilly in Canada to fornicate, or maybe our seed is as infertile as sands of the Thar Desert. But those countries contributing to a population explosion ought to discover the word latex.

Twenty Billion. That is the latest phrase to join our lexicon. It represents the amount of money British Petroleum (www.bp.com) has been ordered by US President Barak Obama to place in escrow to ‘begin’ (yes, BEGIN) to compensate victims of the Gulf of Mexico environmental catastrophe. Even BP doesn’t have that kind of money. They only have seven or eight billion dollars on hand (yes, ONLY). One would guess the shareholders will not be getting their comfortable dividend for a few quarters. And with no end in sight to the erupting oil, one could also hazard a guess that the costs to clean up this mammoth region and provide compensation accordingly will continue to escalate and surpass the twenty billion dollars figure.

Maybe some of those world’s twenty five wealthiest people could loan poor BP a few bucks. Nope, sorry, those people are too busy scooping up the shares dumped on the market at fire sale prices, only to inflate their bank balances to obscene levels a little later on in the process. While regular folks are divesting themselves of BP stock, the mega wealthy are on a buying spree.

If all goes according to the master plan, we will see our first one hundred billionaire by the time the world ends in December of 2012.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
For Environmental Articles, Visit EarthFootprints.com at www.earthfootprints.com

And That's My Take... (Israel Behaving Badly)

2010-06-16T18:17:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (ISRAEL BEHAVING BADLY)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

It is difficult to imagine a more controversial and contentious part of the world than the Middle East, and given the recent behaviors of Israel, one would have to wager that the area won’t be seeing peace anytime soon. For the longest time, it was Palestine who was the villain, and possibly more accurate, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). News coverage throughout North America portrayed the Arabs generally and the Palestinians specifically as terrorist thugs, and the Israelis as passive victims.

The very active pro-Israeli lobbyists took full advantage of this façade and cultivated close relationships with politicians in Canada and United States to perpetuate the myth. The western democracies needed a strong ally in the oil rich region and for all intents and purposes, this was a match made in heaven. We poor minions continued to be subjected to the propaganda.

Before we go much further, let it be crystal clear that there are no innocent hands in the Middle East, nor are there in the meddling from the military superpowers of the world. Historically, for every blemish one could place on Israel, one could easily identify some bruise caused by one of the surrounding Arab nations. Due to its logistically geographic significance, the region has rarely seen in its history a lengthy period without conflict or outright hostilities.

Nowadays, with the proliferation of cell phone cams, handheld video cameras, and international news organizations, we thankfully learn about more events and quicker. Regardless of where your politics lay, or how you juxtapose the major religions of the region, you really have to be asking some serious questions about the recent actions of Israel.

It was revealed in late 2009 and earlier this year that Israel was caught, and subsequently admitted to, counterfeiting passports of friendly nations, such as Canada, United States, and Australia, so that its spy agency, the Mossad, could conduct some international covert operations including an apparent assassination at a hotel in France.

It is naïve to think that Israel is unique in conducting covert operations of this grave nature. But getting caught has got to be embarrassing and kindergarten-ish for such an elite agency that is held in high esteem by their fellow spooks of the world.

Possibly the one single event that has turned a number of people worldwide against Israel is the attack on the relief flotilla on May 31st. The continued opposition is gaining loud voices that up till now have been rather silent, or whose opinions were held close to ones chest. One might be able to rationalize the Israeli aggression if the flotilla were in sovereign waters and the military perceived a threat, but the aid convoy was in international waters and the mortal piracy committed by those flying the Star of David can be considered no less than criminal and merciless. The cover-up began immediately, so do not expect to hear of anyone being found culpable.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Ottawa cementing relations with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the day of the unprovoked attack. He cut short his flesh pressing with Harper and cancelled his sojourn to Washington where he was scheduled to make nice with President Barak Obama. Instead, Netanyahu quickly flew home to escape the emerging grassroots wrath and to preside over the spin doctoring.

Veteran White House Correspondent Helen Thomas was forced to resign her privileged and comfortable tenure after expressing her personal views of Israel since the assault on the aid flotilla. In Canada, Member of Parliament Libby Davies is on the receiving end of considerable hot water for her unflattering public comments about Israel. Certainly there are others who would love to expound their viewpoints, but they walk on eggshells when discussing Israel in public, given the gravity of the rapid responses from elected puppets.

With all the posturing of Canada and United States demonstrating a clear bias in favor of Israel’s buccaneering and murdering on May 31st, one is left to doubt that any justice will be meted out to those responsible, and that those in society who have the clout to speak for the accountability of Israel will be intimidated and silenced.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
For Environmental Articles, Visit EarthFootprints.com at www.earthfootprints.com

And That's My Take... (Attempted Genocide In Canada)

2010-06-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (ATTEMPTED GENOCIDE IN CANADA)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Two years ago, the Canadian government apologized to its aboriginal people for the official policy of assimilation, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper asking for “forgiveness for failing them so profoundly”. In response, the government received the forgiveness it sought and with this forgiveness, the healing may begin.

What precedes this is, in particular, the establishment by the Canadian government of residential schools beginning in the late 1870’s. The last one closed in 1996. What we have learned that occurred between those years can only be described as attempted genocide. In collusion with the government was the Catholic Church and other religious orders, who operated the facilities and who were directly responsible for the treatment suffered by our aboriginal people.

Records indicate approximately 150,000 First Nations, Metis, and Inuit children were forced to attend these government funded residential schools in the 120-ish years in which they operated. Many children were physically, emotionally, and sexually abused in these torture chambers. Perhaps more striking, there are several allegations of outright murder against those who should have been safeguarding the pupils.

Right across Canada, from British Columbia to Newfoundland to the high arctic, one hundred and thirty incubators of ethnic cleansing were established to rid the aboriginals of their language, culture, and pagan rituals. Aboriginal children were forced to attend residential schools and those that refused were kidnapped from their families.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established to hear accounts from our aboriginals of their residential school experiences. What is sure to come of this will be more evidence of corruption, abuse, and shame. As with most tribunals of this nature, those responsible will undoubtedly skirt blame and accountability while pointing the finger at someone else. Hopefully, the word ‘truth’ will be heeded and the final report from the Commission will illustrate fully the extent of abuse suffered by aboriginals, and hopefully the word ‘reconciliation’ will designate those responsible for criminal and civil punishment.

Of course, no amount of money nor any prison sentence can atone for the terror suffered at the hands of the holy, but there is a sense of completion, or closure, or revenge seeing those responsible suffer a punishment, albeit in a measured and civilized form thereof, in helping the healing to come about. It is reassuring for victims to discover that the abuse was not their fault and gives them permission to grieve.

It was right under our noses that this injustice occurred. It was happening during our lifetime. It was happening under the cloak of education and religion. It is shameful that it was de facto endorsed by our government. And it is time for justice to be served.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (British Petroleum Not So Transparent)

2010-06-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (BRITISH PETROLEUM NOT SO TRANSPARENT)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

There is really little that compares to knowingly being on the receiving end of misinformation, disinformation, and outright deception. Possibly the only scenario worse than this is when those who are charged with protecting us are, in fact, sleeping with the enemy. Such is the continuing saga that is the British Petroleum (BP) ruptured pipe in the Gulf of Mexico.

The latest estimates now claim up to one hundred thousand barrels per day of leaking oil, with no top end estimate, leading one to believe that this number could skyrocket from there. Critics claim British Petroleum is creating hurdles for government and independent scientists to properly gauge the spew. Despite a promise from BP for transparency throughout this disaster, it would be extremely difficult for them to defend actions that clearly refute their promise.

We place our faith in the government departments to enforce regulations in place to protect us, our land, and our wildlife. Clearly they have failed miserably in the case of the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe. In fact, it would be easy to make the case they are cozy in bed with British Petroleum, since they place themselves aboard BP-hired boats and shoo away media who are attempting to make public the extent of the horrific disaster and clean-up efforts.

Even Barak Obama broke presidential decorum during an interview expressing his apparent outrage at British Petroleum’s mishandling of North America’s worst oil spill in history. BP seems to be thumbing their nose at the United States, its President, and its environment. But how serious is Obama? Really.

Those affected states along the shores in the Gulf of Mexico can no longer trust anything British Petroleum says, and nor can they extend such a courtesy to their own government, citing evidence of close cooperation between BP and government agencies. The optics of such collusion does little to instill confidence in a population that is being robbed of a way of life while watching a black glob wash ashore.

Those of us who are removed from the direct affects of this oil spill should be more vocal in demanding real answers from BP and from our government agencies. We, too, are affected by the impending doom of an ecosystem that provides, for example, 80% of the oysters we consume. Look for the sticker shock on your local grocery shelves and restaurants as oysters, blue crabs, red snapper, shrimp, and other seafood become more scarce.

One of the often overlooked components of this disaster is that eleven men perished with the explosion that triggered this devastating calamity, including one whose child was born after his death. Apparently British Petroleum has essentially lawyered up, because there has been scant interaction between the families left behind and the multinational money grubbers.

It is time for British Petroleum to step up to the plate and address all the concerns it faces, rather than hiding behind high priced public relations firms, spin doctored ad campaigns, and corporate misinformation.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Escaping Scrutiny)

2010-06-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (ESCAPING SCRUTINY)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Like driving past the twisted wreckage of an automobile accident attempting to avert one’s eyes from the carnage, it is extremely difficult to avoid the front page of every major newspaper and the lead story on every major news broadcast. While our attention and eyes are fixated on North America’s worst oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, other environmental disasters are escaping the level of scrutiny, outrage, and media attention they would normally command.

Approximately eight miles off the coast of Singapore in late May of this year, the oil tanker MS Bunga Kelana, a Malaysian registered ship, collided with the MV Waily, a Caribbean registered bulk carrier, and spilled 18,000 barrels of light sweet crude oil into the ocean. True, this quantity represents only one day’s spew of British Petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico, however, it is nonetheless a significant amount in this particular ecosystem.

Throughout the months of April and May, the Chevron refinery in Burnaby, British Columbia has been leaking a mixture of oil, gas, and diesel into the Burrard Inlet, causing contamination of this important waterway and to sacred sites of the Tsleil-Watuth First Nations. Provincial government officials and those from Chevron Canada downplay the pollution caused and infection to aboriginal hallowed ground.

And now, we are hearing of another oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, unrelated to British Petroleum.

Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling platform explosion triggered a media frenzy during an otherwise blasé news week that fed off itself with the discovery of the spewing oil. As hours passed and the dead were identified, the story morphed into the biggest single news headline around the world and has remained front in center ever since, even eclipsing that of world conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the emerging peril with North Korea, and overshadowing major natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, and volcano eruptions around the world, all of which require courageous and brave response to human needs.

This brings to light the power and influence of the major corporate media in North America, and how wielding such swagger and sway self-anoints media as the conscience of a nation. One day, North Korea dominates every major news organization headlines. The next day, one can barely find the words North Korea mentioned anywhere. One day, we are chasing Osama bin Laden, the next day, he is never mentioned. One day, humanitarian relief in the poorest countries suffering natural devastation is spotlighted, and the next day, all such references disappear.

Setting aside the sheepish and powerless feeling we must all have at being the pawns of multinational influence peddlers that the corporate media are, perhaps the saddest anecdote of where we are in terms of information sharing is that these very same media outlets who claim to be the epitome of ethical and balanced reporting are, in fact, open for sale. Those with the appropriate bank balances are able to dictate what information is disseminated to us mere mortals, in what timeline, and using the verbiage that best advances their position. And so essentially, news is one big covertly sex-filled, mysteriously titillating advertisement intertwined with sponsorships containing overtly sinful innuendo designed to appeal to the emancipation of responsibility.

Those responsible for the Singapore oceanic collision and oil spill, those responsible for the Chevron refinery leak in Burnaby, and those responsible for the other Gulf of Mexico oil leak, are exceptionally fortunate to have the British Petroleum disaster in the Gulf of Mexico dominating the news blotter so that they escape the level of scrutiny and accountability they deserve.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Great News If You Are An Alberta Grizzly)

2010-06-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (GREAT NEWS IF YOU ARE AN ALBERTA GRIZZLY)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Despite a recommendation to do so back in 2002, the Alberta government failed to list the Grizzly Bear as a threatened species. But in June of 2010, the majestic bruin joined the ranks of species in Alberta that have fallen to dangerous levels and now enjoys official Threatened Species status in the province.

On the one hand, this is sad. Grizzly Bear are a benchmark species on which to gauge the health of all wildlife in the ecosystem. When they are threatened, the entire animal kingdom of that region is also threatened. They are top of the food chain. Their only predator is man, whether by hunting, interaction with trains/trucks/cars, or by becoming habituated to humans and crossing thresholds such as foraging for food at campsites, homes, etc, only to eventually be euthanized because of the danger they pose. To have this pivotal animal at risk of extinction speaks volumes of our inability to coexist while encroaching on its territories.

Maybe it is not so much an inability to coexist as it is an arrogant disregard of ours for wildlife habitat.

On the other hand, making the grade to Threatened Species status will give the Grizzly Bear some protection from human activity. Additionally, with a new spotlight shining on Ursus Arctos Horribilis, studies are certain to be conducted aided by research money that magically appeared from coffers held tighter than a tin of sardines. And none too soon, it appears, with the Silvertip numbering only 691 animals this year, down from the 2002 census of 841 animals. Adding to the plight of Grizzly Bear is their reproductive rate, one of the lowest of all terrestrial mammals in North America.

While it is admirable that the Government of Alberta finally added the Grizzly Bear to the official Threatened Species list, much more work needs to be done to restore the population to self sustaining levels. Intricate collaboration with the Province of British Columbia next door, Parks Canada (who manage Jasper, Banff, Yoho and Waterton National Parks) and their US counterparts who manage Glacier National Park in Montana is required to bring all resources to bear (celebrate this pun folks) in an effort to protect the animal and the habitat for an extended period of time, allowing this misunderstood creature to reclaim its dominance over its lost kingdom.

For the Grizzly Bear and other wildlife, we must place more effort into the planning of our encroachment of their habitat. That includes better community design in areas within and adjacent to protected areas to ensure migration routes and birthing grounds are avoided. Communities with their multimillion dollar homes and absentee ownership need to undergo extreme scrutiny before becoming elite resorts for the privileged as it is exactly this kind of economic development that seems to sacrifice consideration of wildlife and habitat in favor of money.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Handcuffs For British Petroleum?)

2010-06-05T18:26:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (HANDCUFFS FOR BRITISH PETROLEUM?)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved

With twenty thousand barrels of oil per day spewing into the Gulf of Mexico the environmental catastrophe is already taking on a physical and real picture. Oil is washing up on the beaches of three states. Brown pelicans wear slick black coats. Blue crab, shrimp, oysters and red snapper are already showing toxic signs of being poisoned by the invading glob. More is sure to come.

A way of life has been plummeted into chaos threatening to eliminate tens of thousands of jobs with recovery being a distant optimistic forecast. The reality is more probable to see economic calamity for the aquaculture, tourism, and resource industries, as well as those who rely on those industries for their income.

As outrage plumes as thick and quick as the leaking oil itself, British Petroleum (BP) continues failing at stopping the worst oil spill in North American history. Seems BP’s redundant safety measures and emergency response procedures did not include the one environmental concern topping most people’s minds, that is, an oil spill. With the majority of the oil slick yet to arrive on land, BP has been slow to respond and contain the erupting oil.

Fingers begin to be pointed in all directions. In Senate hearings, BP pushed blame onto Transocean, the company earning half a million dollars per day to drill for oil on behalf of British Petroleum. In turn, Transocean is quick to lay responsibility at the feet of BP. And then there is the United States government, which is responsible for overseeing offshore drilling. Everyone points the finger at regulators whose job it is to ensure environmental and public safety.

White House officials claim BP will be held accountable for this unprecedented disaster. What that means to politicians and what that means to the citizens are likely two very different polar opposites. Along with the emerging outrage around the country, and in particular from those areas directly affected by the oil spill, are very vocal calls for prison sentences for the corporate elite of British Petroleum.

It is extremely rare anywhere in the world where corporate officers have received prison sentences for the decisions made in the course of normal business practices. What ends up happening instead in the few cases where a corporation has been found guilty of some action, is a financial penalty has been negotiated. These are, after all, the corporate elite with access to the best legal minds in the country and the private cell phone numbers of high ranking politicians. We cannot expect them to be wearing orange jumpsuits, can we?

Speaking of finances, BP has indeed suffered already. BP stock price has taken an almost 75 billion dollar drop in valuation. The direct cost so far with the Gulf of Mexico fiasco is floating close to one and a half billion dollars, and the cleanup has barely started. And you can bet your last drop of gasoline that the civil lawsuits that will be filed by affected parties will set another sad record in financial compensation as actual and punitive damages.

But that is just money. BP will recover. Wall Street will swallow up the undervalued British Petroleum shares faster than the explosive ignition that killed the eleven workers aboard the drilling platform and sell them off with appropriate timing to realize obscene profits.

More worrisome is the wildlife who struggle to survive while being smothered by the expanding glob. More troubling is the ecosystem devastation sure to have negative impacts on the people and their way of life for generations to come. And more challenging is the determining how we are going to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Would You Stay Behind?)

2010-06-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (WOULD YOU STAY BEHIND?)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Tragic news came down from the mountain recently that Scottish mountaineer Peter Kinloch was left behind to die by his climbing partners on Mount Everest. Sadly, Kinloch joins more than 200 others who have perished on the world’s tallest boulder. While others have succumbed to their challenge ascending Everest, Kinloch is believed to be the first to die after conquering the summit.

One can only wonder how agonizing of a decision it must have been by the climbing team to leave Kinloch behind. Could you do that to your friend, your colleague, your teammate?

Granted, in asking such a question, one must level the playing field by clarifying some of the perilous conditions thrust upon the remaining team. Facing hypothermia, high altitude sickness, and a host of health and logistical dangers one might imagine in such an undertaking, the climbing team provided what medical treatment and comfort they could given the limited resources available to them. Options were scarce and every member of that expedition knew intimately the risks they faced, including the very real potential of death.

As an experienced mountaineer, Kinloch was well aware of what would transpire to himself or to any other member of the team should any catastrophe occur, and would have planned accordingly.

Let’s presume you were involved in an automobile collision on a lonely remote road far from civilization, where you were essentially unscathed but your best friend was critically injured. You are reasonably certain that your friend will die if he does not receive emergency medical treatment during that crucial Golden Hour. It is getting late, there is a chill in the air, and dusk is kissing the sky. What would you do? Do you leave to summon help, not knowing how long it will be before you will find a telephone, knowing that even if you did make contact with a rescue department that it would take considerable time to respond to the crash site? Or, do you stay with your friend to give what comfort you are able and to compassionately share in his final moments?

Justify to yourself your supposed decision to the nth degree, but odds favor that you really won’t know what you will do until you find yourself in such an ugly position. And that is probably the most significant difference between your scenario and what happened on Mount Everest. The climbers had that discussion and were acutely aware of the resulting decision before embarking on their quest.

Kinloch included himself in history as being one of the few on the planet to scale the summit of a rock reaching 29,000 feet into the heavens. Shortly after doing so, his legacy then included the mortality of others who tempted the fearsome Everest prior. Unlike most of us, Peter Kinloch, only 28 years old, died doing something he loved dearly. We should all be so fortunate.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Prison Is No Prison)

2010-06-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (PRISON IS NO PRISON)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

In round figures, it costs taxpayers one hundred thousand dollars per year to house each prisoner in a Canadian federal prison. Ouch. The average annual income for a Canadian family is in the neighborhood of seventy one thousand dollars. Simple math says it costs more to house one criminal annually than it takes a family to earn.

For that hundred grand, prisoners have three squares and a cot, that is, the he receives three meals a day and a bed. Along with this, inmates receive other benefits such as education, health care, and a host of services and leisure activities. Say what you want about rehabilitation and prison conditions, but one cannot deny that a prisoner in a Canadian federal correctional facility has it a hell of a lot better than many in society. It’s not called Club Fed for nothing.

One of Canada’s newspapers broke the story recently that seventy year old Clifford Olson, currently serving eleven consecutive life sentences for murdering eleven children, was receiving $1100.00 per month under the Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement programs. Additionally, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police paid Olson a hundred thousand dollars to have him lead law enforcement to the bodies of some of the children. So, in addition to the six figure price tag every year for his room and board, we also pay this criminal to laze around.

Canadians were outraged to learn that we pay convicted criminals each and every month. The price tag adds up to around two million dollars per year for the federal contribution portion and around ten million dollars per year for the provincial portion of benefits, for a total of about a million dollars per month being paid to criminals.

In the grand scheme of things, a million a month to the federal government is peanuts, however the sheer audacity of rewarding someone while they are supposedly paying their debt to society is an insult to the victims of crime and to taxpayers who must now share the burden of their husbandry. And while this amount may not represent a king’s ransom, with so many federal and provincial programs being cut every year, each penny lost to this abyss could be better invested in precious services for the less fortunate in our nation.

As quickly as the story of this affront to Canadians broke, the government redeployed its crafty spin doctors away from their usual foray of political doublespeak to draft new legislation that would ban the prisoner’s cash cow. Whew! This may be a record pace for any government to design, debate and dissipate a decent law. Kudos to the Canadian government for responding appropriately.

The benefits of being in prison do not end there. Essentially, a prisoner loses nothing by enjoying our hospitality. They still get to vote. And that is disconcerting. If breaking the law has any consequences for an individual, it must include that he loses privileges in which he would otherwise choose to indulge.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (The Northern Gateway Pipeline)

2010-05-31T09:48:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (THE NORTHERN GATEWAY PIPELINE)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

A silent war wages in northwest British Columbia, where the bullets fly in the form of piercing spin doctored media pitches, where the mortar shells are lobbed in the form of unwelcomed industrial development, and where the rules of engagement are manipulated by the dominant force to suit a moneyed credo. But this war is rapidly losing its silence.

Like all wars, allegiances can make for strange bedfellows and at times the lines of individual participation can become murky. At risk are the ancestral lands of First Nations, the fragile marine and land based ecology, and the potential economic salvation of an entire region that suffers from sparse financial opportunities. Regardless of who will be victorious in this war, the result will inevitably mean huge losses for those not so fortunate.

In various stages of proposal and approval, northwest British Columbia has the dubious honor of being home to one of the highest concentrations of proposed mining, resource extraction, pipeline, and other industrial projects in Canada. Formal guidelines to receive appropriate licensing by competent authorities are being followed by the proponents of these behemoth projects, however, excluded from the planning process are the aboriginal peoples who have settled these lands for more than ten thousand years.

Some might find it difficult to understand any resistance to the billions upon billions of dollars in proposed investment and the thousands of temporary and permanent well paid jobs that would be created with the construction and operation of these projects. For some, the timing is impeccable, with a struggling economy, high unemployment, unrecoverable business losses, and a dwindling population plaguing the entire region. Also for some, it is equally confusing why, with aboriginal unemployment running eight to ten times higher than the non-aboriginal population, the various Chiefs and Councils and Hereditary Chiefs would not be actively soliciting these megaprojects, rather than impeding them.

The latest move to regulatory approval is the Northern Gateway Pipeline proposed by Enbridge (www.northerngateway.ca) which, if approved, would see a 1200 kilometer twin pipeline system constructed between the Bruderheim, Alberta area and the Pacific Ocean at Kitimat, British Columbia. A 36 inch pipe would push 525,000 barrels of tar sands oil per day westward to Kitimat to be loaded onto ships destined for foreign markets, principally those in Asia. A 20 inch pipe would send 193,000 barrels of condensate per day eastward back to Alberta’s Industrial Heartland area north of Edmonton, the location of Enbridge’s Bruderheim refinery.

Condensate is an additive mixed with heavier oil which allows the oil to flow easier in the pipeline. It is readily available in Asia. The plan calls for condensate to be offloaded from ships arriving from Asia at a yet-to-be-built facility in Kitimat, and then having those same ships reloaded with the arriving oil from Alberta. Sporting a 5.5 billion dollar price tag, this project could have mammoth positive financial benefits to the many communities along the proposed buried pipeline footprint in Alberta and British Columbia.

With the recent Gulf of Mexico travesty and vivid recollections of the Exxon Valdez in 1989, a coalition of environmental groups, concerned citizens, business owners, municipal governments, provincial governments, and First Nations have all spoken publically of their views. Some have minor concerns. Some welcome the financial impact. Some are dead set opposed, for a wide variety of reasons.

For many in northwest British Columbia, the opposition to the Northern Gateway Pipeline falls under two main categories, the real and potential negative impact on lands and water, and the perceived exclusion of First Nations input. Enbridge refutes these points of contentions, claiming to have redundant fail safes in place to ensure operational safety, and says they welcome input addressing First Nations concerns.

Aboriginal and non-aboriginal groups are extremely concerned about the disaster potential on Douglas Channel, the waterway inlet leading from the Pacific Ocean into Kitimat. With a projected 220 ship calls per year being added to this fragile ecosystem, fears run rampant of an Exxon Valdez sized disaster waiting to happen. From the Prince William Sound area of Alaska, we have learned that recovery from the pollution and havoc of an oil spill will last at least decades. Maybe longer. And British Petroleum’s troubles in the Gulf of Mexico only add to the ammunition for these groups to use against Enbridge.

What many in Canada may be surprised to learn is just how much further ahead the aboriginal people in northwest British Columbia are than in any other part of the country, at least in terms of being recognized with self government. In fact, the Nisga’a Nation just celebrated the 10 year anniversary of the signing of their landmark treaty. The byproduct of this is that aboriginals are organized and can mount significant opposition to activities they feel are infractions on ancestral lands and rights.

Recent public opinion polls, if they are to be believed, show strong grassroots support for opponents to the Northern Gateway Pipeline.

History is a prolific professor and an all-knowing oracle. With provincial governments actively promoting this project, with the billions in profits driving a strong corporate promoter such as Enbridge, and with the general population in the area screaming for well paying jobs to replace the ones they lost, one doesn’t need the latest in crystal ball technology to see that the money shall prevail.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Too Young For Sex Ed?)

2010-05-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (TOO YOUNG FOR SEX ED?)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Teaching sex education in schools is controversial enough, but how would you like to have your kindergarten aged child using anatomically correct dolls to learn about their bodies and childbirth? Surprisingly, this is exactly what is happening in one of the most conservative nations on this third rock from the sun.

Indonesia is home to the world’s largest population of Muslims and now can claim to also be home to that which has the world’s youngest formally educated students in sexual health. Little Islamic boys and girls learn in a vibrant upbeat classroom atmosphere about the differences between their bodies and how babies are born. There is no instruction on intercourse.

Like North American sex education in middle schools, Indonesian kindergarten students learn about the inappropriate touching of their private areas, the proper names for their genitals, and to be comfortable about talking about their bodies.

Back in the day, here at home, it was the parents who held the primary responsibility for teaching kids about sex. For the most part, they failed miserably. They were too busy dealing with their own hang ups. More recently, sex education became part of the school curriculum, and it seems that every year, the introduction of reproductive knowledge creeps in at an earlier grade level. The great debate for parents surrounds when it is appropriate to introduce their innocents to losing their innocence.

The little tikes are a naturally curious bunch. They have already discovered there are differences between the bodies of boys and girls. So perhaps it could also be just as natural to teach kindergarten aged spawn some very direct knowledge concerning an area of their body that plays such an important role in their lives, whether for waste removal, pleasure, or reproduction.

Still, knowing that a five year old is learning about reproduction and genitals must be unnerving for many parents no matter where you live or what your religious beliefs. It was no easy sell to introduce kindergarten sex education in Indonesia, and if the current controversy over school-based sex education in North America serves as any barometer, you can bet your derriere that any introduction of a similar program would be met with a fury not seen since the Roe v. Wade decision.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Sparking Up In Jamaica)

2010-05-27T12:29:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (SPARKING UP IN JAMAICA)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

It is difficult to imagine that in Jamaica, a country known for its laid back carefree lifestyle, that gang violence could erupt to the point of involving the military to quell the disturbance and restore confidence in this vacation paradise.

Thinking aloud about Jamaica, one envisions scorching sunshine, white sandy beaches, bikinis, blue skies, all inclusive resorts, ganja, rum, reggae music, and dreadlocks. It is inconceivable that crime even occurs here, but that may be a tourist’s blissful ignorance keenly sheltered from the poverty and meager existence that is so prevalent among the nationals.

Tourism represents one quarter of Jamaica’s gross domestic product, so maintaining an image of a safe, family friendly destination is of primary concern to their government and to their economy. Somewhat of a tough job already due, in part, to the assertive locals plying their souvenirs, rampant theft, and the general world economy, the island nation can hardly afford the negative publicity brought on by this civil uprising. Of course, tourism officials in Jamaica maintain the resort areas are safe, but concede that travel to Kingston requires second thought.

So what is sparking such an uproar in Jamaica?

Seems the war on drugs once again has the United States extraditing a foreign national from his own country to face charges in America. Christopher ‘Dudas’ Coke is named by the US Drug Enforcement Agency as a crime lord of the Shower Posse in the Kingston slums, whose income is derived from drug trafficking and gun running. An ironic surname he has, given that one of the drugs he is said to push is cocaine, the other being marijuana. Go figure.

Like so many crime lords before him, Coke enjoys a heroic reputation in his close knit communities, and those communities have responded to the Kingston Police and the Jamaican Defense Force with looting and violence. Cops and civilians have both been wounded and killed. Each day, the death toll rises.

This raises the question of whether or not it is sensible to continue the supposed war on drugs.

Somewhere in the neighborhood of one hundred billion dollars each year are spent in North America pursuing a losing battle, the result of which is a substantial increase on drugs entering our country and innocent lives lost, like those citizens in Kingston. To repeat, there is an increase in drug importation, not a decrease. How is this possible given the resources dedicated to this war?

Perhaps it is time to revisit our legislation concerning drugs. There has to be a better way. Clearly, what we are doing is not working. We should consider removing the criminal element from drug use, thereby cutting off the head of these cash flush organized crime syndicates who are at the root of uprisings like that in Kingston.

We can only hope, for everyone’s sake that Jamaicans will come to their senses, sprawl out on the beach, spark up a fatty, and mellow out.

And that’s my take.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Remembering Kent State)

2010-05-26T16:37:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (REMEMBERING KENT STATE)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Almost embarrassingly so, May Fourth this year came and left with very little recognition of a milestone 40th anniversary of the shootings of students by the Ohio National Guard on the grounds of Kent State University.

The year was 1970, and tensions on campus grounds were thick with protests against the Vietnam War, and the US invasion of Cambodia. Fresh on the heels of learning about the My Lai massacre six months prior, America was galvanized against a war they had, for the most part, supported. And it was an awakening of sorts, when citizens discovered they had been lied to by their government, something that had been heretofore unfathomable.

A rude awakening indeed, as the masses would soon learn that it wasn’t the first lie the government perpetrated on its people, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. The Kent State shootings would come to be a pivotal launching event upon which we openly questioned and criticized our sitting government.

The Ohio National Guard were ordered in and stood their ground. Regardless of which version of events you believe, irrefutably those very events led to the Guard opening fire with live ammunition on unarmed students and bystanders. The result of this armed aggression was four student protesters killed and nine wounded, one of which was permanently paralyzed from the chest down.

With some certainty, one can envision that the university itself would not want to be known primarily as the location of a multiple murder scene. It is, after all, a place of higher learning that focuses on training students for the future, rather than being reminded of a now forty year old violent escapade.

Perhaps a commemoration of this tragedy is too painful. And perhaps it is questionable what any sort of commemoration would accomplish. But we pay homage to a wide variety of events, disasters, and incidents that have equally agonizing end results, some of which are even granted holiday status or esteemed with having a day named after them.

Given the social and societal importance of this particular fatal affair, it is perplexing why an anniversary of this importance does not receive more prominent attention.

Monday, May 04, 1970, shortly after noon, sixty seven bullets left the weapons of the Ohio National Guard and transformed an entire generation into one that purposely chose sides, pitting average citizen against neighbor, and forever taught us that no action, however horrific, can be put past our government.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Buddha Must Be Weeping)

2010-05-19T22:16:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (BUDDHA MUST BE WEEPING)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Not one known to show emotion, Buddha must now be weeping over the civil unrest in Thailand.

For more than two months, protesters have camped out at a downtown Bangkok park, using it as a makeshift headquarters from which to launch their public grievances. And now, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has given the green light to the military to shoot the protesters. How did things get so out of control?

This is all so confusing to one who perceives Thai people as being peace-loving beings that prefer their food spicy, who are devout followers of the teachings of Buddha, and who live in a country rich in lush vegetation and beauty. And they always seem to be smiling while pressing their hands together in a prayer while welcoming you to their home.

Of course, there is also the other side to Thailand, and Bangkok particularly. That is, the sex trade industry catering to those who like their boys and girls young. Very young. Pedophiles from every corner of the world visit Bangkok to participate in any sexual kink and depravity one could imagine, all of which receive less than enthusiastic enforcement by local, often corrupt, law enforcement. Even the Thai federal government is reluctant to seek prosecution because the child sex trade is one of the premiere generators of tourism and foreign currency in the country. Sad, but true.

It seems like only yesterday that the Yellow Shirts were protesting against the Thai government. That was two years ago. Nowadays that hue of protester supports its government and it is the Red Shirts today who seek to oust the government that overthrew its previous Prime Minister, billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra.

What is surprising when looking at the history of this 700-ish year old unified country is that it is the only one in Southeast Asia not colonized by Europeans. Interesting history lesson huh?

Recently, the Red Shirts have reportedly undertaken acts of arson, and it is this violent criminal act that has prompted the shoot to kill order by the Prime Minister. In addition, the government has begun forcibly dismantling the barricades established by the protesters, while publically reassuring the world that things are under control. Apparently not convinced, foreign governments have issued travel advisories and are warning their citizens to avoid visiting Thailand.

The Thai people are no strangers to the see-saw topsy-turvy turmoil of their government. Even the name of their country has switched back and forth between Siam and Thailand. First established as Siam, the country was renamed Thailand in 1939 until the end of the Second World War, then renamed again to Siam until 1948 when it was again renamed Thailand. As far as Siam concerned, it doesn’t really matter what the name of the country is (celebrate the pun folks).

The same flip flop appears to apply to Prime Ministers of Thailand. Once overthrown for being corrupt, former Prime Minister Shinawatra now seeks to repay current Prime Minister Vejjajiva for similar reasons. Caught in the middle are Thai people.

To echo a song by The Who… ‘Meet the new boss, same as the old boss’.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (The Doomsday Cometh)

2010-05-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (THE DOOMSDAY COMETH)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

The cuckoos are out in full force pontificating the end of the world again. This time, they point to the Winter Solstice of 2012, the end of the Mayan calendar. To think that we are the smartest Homo-sapiens in history is naïve and arrogant, however, it is quite incredible to believe that an ancient calendar, as precise as it has proven to be, necessarily predicts the end of the world. Isn’t it just as conceivable to think that the Mayan calendar is approaching the end of its cycle and that December 22, 2012 begins another predictable cycle?

Several prominent religions throughout history have predicted the end of the world. And as if this needs emphasizing, wrongly so. Surprisingly, they have been able to sustain a flock of believers. This is puzzling, given that if the major tenet of one’s religious beliefs is a certain end date for the existence of mankind, and said date turned out to be nothing but a sham, just how brainwashed would one have to be to continue counting themselves among the faithful?

The most laughable of the nest are those who predict Armageddon, the day comes and goes, then they arbitrarily select a new end date to sermonize at the next revival meeting. You just got to have faith!

Still, there are those infamous doomsday cults. What a trip they are. If they were such staunch believers in their own teachings, why would they have to drink a poisonous cocktail to end their lives to find salvation?

The sheer number of major natural disasters seems to add credence to those who believe the end of the world is coming on December 21, 2012. Their claim is that these phenomenon occurring parallel to the ending of the Mayan calendar is definitive proof of biblical prophecy. Kind of Christianly pagan. It’s junk science to attempt to make the ‘evidence’ fit the ‘crime’. The same applies here. One doubts the Spanish Conquistadors paid much heed to the cultural or religious beliefs of the savage Mayan they were exterminating.

Certainly, it is intriguing trying to unravel what, if anything, the end of the Mayan calendar means. Serving up this delicious morsel of complication, whisked up with frothy tidbits of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and freaky weather results in a savory buffet ripe for exploitation to sell books, newspapers, and television.

Besides, if December 21, 2012 is going to be the end of the world, someone had better email Santa Claus so he can plan for a round of elf layoffs after Christmas 2011.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Joined @ The Hip)

2010-05-18T15:07:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (Joined @ The Hip)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

As profound as it turned out to be, even the invention of the telephone didn’t have the impact on society and our lives as has the personal computer and the internet. A bold statement indeed, and one not made lightly. While the telephone has enjoyed a renaissance as of late, its mobile resurgence has less to do with its telephone functions than with its digital communication capabilities such as texting, web surfing, and email.

We are seemingly joined at the hip to our instant communication devices and at no time is that more apparent as when we are forced to exist without them. Have you ever had malware or a virus on your computer? Have you ever misplaced your cell phone? Have you ever lost connection to the internet or email? Few events can make us feel so empty, so hopeless, so lost.

Time once was that being so connected was looked upon as being efficient and convenient. This somehow rapidly escalated to a point where several jurisdictions have enacted legislation making it illegal to use your cell phone, GPS, MP3 player, etc while operating a motor vehicle.

Some jurisdictions have not gone that far yet, preferring instead to mount a public relations campaign to educate drivers of the danger. In the United States, a national television spot by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Oprah Winfrey is currently running on high rotation.

Anybody who drives with any frequency on busy roads has encountered those distracted drivers who are far more concerned with the cellular conversation, the incoming text message, or adjusting their MP3 player. Some of these encounters have had tragic, even deadly, results.

Of some prominence these days is the delicate marriage of teenagers using their omnipresent mobile devices while driving. Their inexperience behind the wheel coupled with their obsession with mobile gadgets is a honeymoon certain to result in a crescendo of peril.

There is recognition among the health and safety departments of larger corporations that employees using these mobile devices pose significant risk, and have updated their policy manuals to reflect this exposure. These revised manuals now instruct drivers to pull over and come to a complete stop before utilizing the offending devices.

Perhaps we are too accessible, too attached, too connected.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Crime Pays)

2010-05-18T14:38:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (CRIME PAYS)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Crime pays, if not for the criminals, then certainly for those employed in and by the justice system. Judges, lawyers, forensic analysts, bailiffs, and the prison system are but a few of the high costs directly associated with the administration of our growing plethora of statutes and laws.

To that end, our economy depends on these recession proof incomes as hedges against manufacturing and service sector jobs during cyclical downturns. The more laws, the more enforcement needed, and the more pressure placed on taxpayers to finance this abyss.

While not a huge groundswell of support yet, there are a number of surprising organizations promoting a reduction in enforcement of some laws felt to be archaic, draconian, and quite frankly, a waste of time. One of these organizations is Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a collective of current and former law enforcement personnel and justice officials. LEAP advocates for the elimination of laws pertaining to the war on drugs.

Shocked? Don’t be. Their logic is actually quite sound.

While not everyone would agree with LEAP’s philosophy, they, and others, believe they have a solution to free up critical resources so that law enforcement can make a real difference and have a positive lasting impact in areas where they do not feel they are on a carnival ride running a fool’s errand.

If nothing else, LEAP recognizes the billions of dollars wasted each year attempting to enforce laws made by overpaid politicians who appear to invent even more laws each year to justify their own existence. Has there ever been a year where the number of laws in force has decreased from a previous year?

No. Sadly.

As if to add insult to injury, governments now use 9/11 and the perceived terrorism threat to fast track laws designed to evaporate our personal freedoms. With these new laws comes the need for enforcement, or the threat of enforcement, either way adding associated costs thereto.

The bottom line (pun intended) is this. At the current pace, the sole career path that will offer job security, growth potential, and solid living wages, is soon to emerge to be that in the justice system.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Fill 'Er Up, Unleaded Please)

2010-05-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (FILL ‘ER UP, UNLEADED PLEASE)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

A little over two decades ago the Exxon Valdez unleashed untold ecological devastation in the sensitive area of Prince William Sound that continues to have significant impacts, despite the heroic efforts of those involved in its clean-up. And almost on cue to mark this infamous anniversary, but this time in the Gulf of Mexico, a British Petroleum (BP) rig spills even more oil than leaked in Alaska, causing no less than the President of the United States to become directly involved even to the extent of offering military aid in the containment and clean up of this latest environmental disaster.

Industry pundits perpetrate the safety of drilling and transporting oil over extreme distances. And to some extent, that is true. As is the case with jet airliner crashes, they remain few and far between, but when they do occur, it is big news. Obviously the Exxon Valdez and the recent BP rig are big. No argument there.

Coastal aquaculture industries, wildlife, and a host of marine and land-based issues are beginning to emerge resulting from the BP rig disaster. If the Exxon Valdez tragedy taught us anything, it is that once the ecology has been adversely disrupted, the devastation continues forever.

Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, foolishly proclaimed that a similar oil spill could never happen in his country because of the strict regulations in place. Yeah, right! How irresponsible and naïve.

This BP rig disaster is not just news unto itself. It is being hijacked as a watershed event as evidence to not construct pipelines in Northwest British Columbia, as a moratorium against offshore drilling in California, and as magnification of environmental infractions of Alberta’s Oil Sands. Yet, in the shadows of these transpirations, off the coast of Newfoundland, Chevron undertook one of the deepest undersea drilling explorations in Canada, at two and a half kilometers deep.

It is easy and harmless to be an armchair critic of the energy exploration sector of our economy. One does not have to look far to find faults with how Big Oil conducts business. However, it is just as easy to overlook the positive economic impact Big Oil has on our economy, the jobs it creates and maintains, and the leadership it owns on our stock markets.

Despite our misgivings about Big Oil, we continue to drive automobiles, buy plastic, and consume other goods which use and/or are derived from black gold, Texas tea, oil that is. Our demand for this slick is the biggest part of the problem. Simply put, oil is not located in our back yards, so it must be discovered elsewhere, and transported to us.

Having said that, exploration for oil should not be conducted at all costs, despite our need. There is a moral and legal responsibility for Big Oil to conduct business in an ethical manner that mitigates its ecological impact while contributing in a positive manner to our economy and to the needs of its shareholders.

Whatever the real cause of this explosion and spill is determined to be, it is paramount that we continue implementation of rigid safety rules and training, research and developing new monitoring devices, and identify and practice conservation techniques to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. We all own a portion of the guilt for the Gulf of Mexico explosion and subsequent oil spill.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Popping The Pill)

2010-05-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (POPPING THE PILL)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

May 9th, ironically Mother’s Day this year, marks the 50th anniversary of the approval of the oral contraceptive in the United States. Canada approved The Pill three years earlier, but only by prescription for ‘menstrual irregularities’. And oh what fun we’ve had since.

Widely regarded as the beginning of the sexual revolution, The Pill allowed for the freedom to engage in sex without the fright of an unwanted pregnancy. This contrasts greatly with today’s liberation when an unwanted pregnancy could be the least of your concerns.

Times sure are different now. Advances made in the arena of contraception now include a single injection for females that are as effective as The Pill and provide prevention of pregnancy for months on end. With more women than ever now involved in medical research, one has to believe that as spectacular as these advances have been, there is yet more to come. And for similar reasons, the tide is beginning to turn toward the other half of the equation where more emphasis is being placed on the males of our species to take more responsibility in preventing pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Ah yes, enter the male condom. Perhaps the future will include a needle for us males too. Ouch.

Not an entity known for progression, the Catholic Church in 1960 vehemently opposed the introduction of The Pill. Of course. Devout practitioners of the faith continue to strictly adhere to similar draconian sexual observances, despite the obvious risks, the significant peer pressure, and the mass media temptations for our youth to ‘give it up’. One would have to think the Catholic Church had its own internal issues to resolve regarding sex than to be threatening their flock with various religious sanctions for being human. See? Some things never change.

By the time The Pill was approved, women were already sprinting forward in the workforce and having considerably more outward influence in society, so an argument could be made that the introduction of an oral contraceptive was just one more of the many evolutions made in our culture, however, it would be difficult to dispute that the power women achieved through sexual liberation did not significantly impact who and what we have become in five decades.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

Day Trips From Terrace - To The End Of The Highway - Prince Rupert

2010-05-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

TO THE END OF THE HIGHWAY
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister

Prince Rupert, British Columbia is the next in our series of Day Trips From Terrace (see the first in the series HERE), a quick road trip to another community hard hit by economic woes, but rich in culture, history and shopping. If time permits and you are so inclined, I recommend you make this a two day road trip and plan on taking the excursion to the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary (pronounced koot-sa-ma-teen).

Billed as the City of Rainbows, Prince Rupert is aptly named, owing to its considerable annual rainfall. In fact, it is Canada’s rainiest city, but don’t let that get you down. Just bring an umbrella. On any given day, it is not uncommon to experience all four seasons. It’s part of the charm. Dress accordingly.

The drive from Terrace to Prince Rupert is a leisurely 90 minutes where you will experience hilly terrain that provides a glimpse of old growth forests, silent fjords, and a number of opportunities to pull off the road to inhale the heady aroma and view magnificent scenery filled with a wide variety of wildlife and plants.

I have driven this route countless times with Asylum, the world’s worst guard dog and my almost constant companion. We always choose to stop, despite it being a short jaunt, to stretch our legs and so Asylum can ‘get acquainted’ with the forest. It’s also a pregnant reminder to slow down life just a little. All along Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway) heading toward the northwest coast, you are almost assured of passing many avid fishermen who can be found near the roadside partaking in their favorite pastime.

Just before arriving at Prince Rupert is the community of Port Edward, home to the North Pacific Historic Fishing Village, the oldest surviving salmon cannery village in British Columbia. I highly recommend a one or two hour visit to this Parks Canada National Historic Site and a place I consider to be the second best area to snap photos of bald eagles that nest in the region.

A little plug here for the North Pacific Historic Fishing Village. This icon of early coastal enterprise is run by a small but dedicated not-for-profit organization that struggles financially to preserve an authentic representation of a very unique way of life. It’s an hour or two out of your day, a few bucks for admission, and I promise you it will be a memorable addition to your vacation.

A few minutes from Port Edward brings you to your destination of Prince Rupert. The Atlin Terminal is where the visiting cruise ships dock and the surrounding area, known as Cow Bay, is, not surprisingly, teaming with restaurants, boat charters, and nifty little gems for shopping such as Homework, a store offering souvenirs, home fashion, clothing, and some very cool stuff . You will discover your own treasures here. Funky and hip only begins to describe the Cow Bay shops and even if you don’t buy anything, a simple visit will definitely put a smile on your face.

Take a stroll around this lively area, where you may stumble upon a special event or free entertainment at Mariner’s Memorial Park. Seafest, the city’s major summer shin dig takes place in June, but the area is always a beehive of activity during cruise ship season.

Downtown Prince Rupert is only a few blocks from Cow Bay. Like any community suffering in an ill economy, there are plenty of vacant storefronts, but peppered among them are morsels of early 20th century architecture such as City Hall as well as locally owned shops and galleries offering a taste of Prince Rupert’s heritage and culture. Downtown is certainly more conservative and drab than the Cow Bay area and should be avoided if you have any expectations of being inspired in any way.

The Museum of Northern British Columbia and the Prince Rupert Fire Museum are located next door to each other near Cow Bay. Featured at the Museum of Northern British Columbia are exhibits of aboriginal heritage and culture. You will need a couple of hours to fully appreciate this important collection of coastal nations that have inhabited the area for more than 10,000 years. The fire museum is a quirky display of apparatus that screams to be visited by firefighters and kids alike.

Another leisurely stroll several blocks away is around the train tracks at the waterfront. The Kwinitsa train station is located here and serves as a gift shop and museum. While it is not germane to the city itself, it nonetheless is an authentic regional train station that has found a very nice home overlooking the port area. If you follow the tracks down a bit to the old pier, you will arrive at what I consider to be the single best spot in the entire area to snap photos of bald eagles. Your camera will get a workout especially if your timing is impeccable. I find between 4:30pm and 7:00pm during summer months for having the best luck capturing these majestic birds of prey in flight, hunting for fish, or just hanging out with their buddies.

You must be hungry by now. Chances Casino is on the waterfront next door to the Crest Hotel and the Museum of Northern British Columbia. Both Chances and the Crest are known for great food, however service can be hit and miss and the fare can be pricey. For mid-priced meals offering reasonable value, Zorba’s on 2nd Avenue West for a variety of Mediterranean dishes and absolutely fantastic pizza, and Dolly’s Fish Market on Cow Bay Road for seafood.

Accommodations in Prince Rupert are mostly ma and pa style, although there are two corporate hotels and the four star Crest Hotel. If you travel by RV, there are many sites available.

The nightlife in Prince Rupert is non-existent, unless your tastes lean toward the tavern style establishments. And I don’t mean ‘tavern’ in the campy roadhouse style offering anything you can be proud of. Think old, dirty, and rough. Patronize at your peril. Besides, you are going to need a good night’s sleep so you can enjoy that day long excursion to the grizzly bear sanctuary.

That not-to-be-missed full day excursion to the Khutzeymateen, Canada’s only grizzly bear sanctuary, consists of 45,000 hectares, and is best experienced with Prince Rupert Adventure Tours, one of the few operators licensed to guide eco-adventures into this protected wilderness. They provide an entertaining and informative boat ride to the sanctuary, illustrating local history along the way, and position the boat expertly in the sanctuary, allowing you to quietly capture stunning photos of these coastal bruins. What I really appreciate about Prince Rupert Adventure Tours is their sensitivity to the ecosystem in which they operate. Follow their direction and you will have an exceptional experience. With any luck, you may see whales or other marine life during your trip.

For 20th century history buffs, you will be interested to know that Charles Hays is credited with the founding of Prince Rupert in 1910. Almost immediately, he saw the huge economic potential of the area and quickly made his way back to England to raise investment capital. He was successful in doing so and in April 1912 sought to make a hasty return to North America, and ultimately Prince Rupert. And the quickest way to do so? Charles Hays perished along with 1500+ others aboard the Titanic.

LINKS
Tourism Prince Rupert http://www.tourismprincerupert.com
North Pacific Historical Fishing Village http://www.portedward.ca
Prince Rupert Adventure Tours http://www.adventuretours.net

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Curtis Sagmeister is self-described as a Photographer, Author, Poet, Songwriter, Student of Human Behavior, Community Activist, Social Commentator, Environmental Steward and Wage Slave. A number of his creative works have been published throughout the world. His blog is accessible through his website at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Razing Arizona)

2010-05-02T13:06:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (RAZING ARIZONA)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

There are many things about Arizona to love -- its arid climate is a favored destination for Canadians escaping winter, the tough stance against criminals in Maricopa County, and perhaps one day, as ocean front property luring the tourists. Having said that, one particular reason to un-love Arizona is its recent enactment of a law that gives law enforcement unprecedented powers to detain anyone that cannot provide substantial proof of citizenship.

Ask yourself what you carry for identification of citizenship when you hop into your car and scurry off to the local 7-11 to buy milk. You are approached by cops who demand you prove your citizenship. Explaining that you only live three blocks away and are not even carrying your driver’s license, you are hastily ushered into the cramped back seat of the police cruiser and transported to an interrogation room. Sure hope nobody back home was waiting on that milk you were supposed to pick up for their Rice Krispies, because you could be detained for 3 days without charge, without legal advice, without any rights, etc until you can prove your citizenship.

Another scenario might include an out of state driver who is pulled over for whatever reason the cops conjure up, legitimate or otherwise. Yes, that means you grandma and grandpa touring the Grand Canyon State. Your out of state license plate leaves you wide open for intense interrogation, arrest, detaining, and subversion of basic liberties.

Understandably, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is taking a tremendous amount of heat for signing such legislation that makes it a State crime to violate federal immigration laws. Calls for boycotts of all descriptions, including the removal of the 2011 Major League Baseball All Star Game from Phoenix, are resounding throughout the country, stating that the law smacks of racial profiling, discrimination, racism, and violations of civil rights, the Constitution, and basic morality. And as if bureaucracy isn’t thick enough with obscene layers of waste, Arizona now will use its manpower, assets and money to enforce a law addressing an issue that is not even within their purview.

How can that even be legal?

Arizona estimates there are somewhere in the neighborhood of half a million illegal aliens living in its state, substantially all from Latin America, and of those, mostly from Mexico. Economically, it is clear that having one in twelve people living in your state sucking from the drained tit of a weakened social fabric will be a crisis that needs immediate and drastic attention to prevent the entire system from collapse.

No sane individual can argue that illegal immigration is not a problem in United States. It is perhaps a victim of its own success in continually selling the country as the best place to be in the world. But the United States cannot claim exclusivity to this problem. Europe is likewise plagued.

What can be gained by generating new layers within government, adding to existing layers, or ballooning the budgets of departments already challenged to do more with less? Won’t the cost (monetarily or otherwise) of enforcing this new law far exceed any potential gain?

California, Texas, New York, and Florida are some other states that share similar drains on their resources like Arizona. Bold, innovative measures are clearly needed in states that experience an influx of illegal aliens to not only protect the integrity of the state, but to also ensure the nation has the final say in who can live within its borders.

Despite some strong vocal support, Arizona has definitely suffered a black eye in the court of public opinion. And for all its good intentions in passing this new legislation, one can only offer this sage advice to Arizona… hire more lawyers.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Stop The Repressive Legislation)

2010-04-24T01:15:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (STOP THE REPRESSIVE LEGISLATION)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

When one looks at the dismantling of hard fought personal rights in the United States since that tragic September day in 2001, it is equally difficult to conceive that Canada, too, followed an identical path to evaporate the freedoms we had earned. Perhaps the one significant difference in the Nazi tactics employed by our governments at that time was the institution of a sunset clause by the Canadian government. In essence, the changes to our personal freedoms were truly temporary as the law enacted was set to expire in March of 2007. Which it did.

Score one for Canadian politicians. And given the massive erosion of rights in America since 9/11, it is an easy wager that the American people wish they had similar legislation in place.

The Canadian government claims none of the extreme measures enacted were ever employed. And for the most part, Canadians were none the wiser to their new servitude. Most thankfully, Canada never formed an entirely new bureaucratic, repressive, and paranoid fascist regime like the Department of Homeland Security.

Canada attempted to reintroduce this repugnant legislation again in 2008. It was shot down in flames. Score two for Canadian politicians.

We already see in Canada the fingerprints of the United States Department of Homeland Security – military donations of armored vehicles to local law enforcement, excessive fear mongering and issuance of heightened security alerts, installation of invasive body scanners at airports, training exercises involving military and police, introduction of identity cards designed to compile personal data and carry embedded GPS technology, increased surveillance of any organization that disagrees with government policy, suppression of the right to protest, violent brutality of citizens by law enforcement, and a plethora of subversive tactics veiled as necessary for our protection.

So, why now is the Canadian parliament considering yet another reintroduction of similar legislation designed to give foundation to the development of a Police State in Canada?

While Canadians are distracted, struggling to reinvent ourselves as we emerge from a crippling economic downturn, it seems rather sneaky and underhanded that parliament would use this sensitive time to attempt an introduction of totalitarian style legislation of which Hitler and Stalin would nod and smirk in admiration and envy.

Certainly, there are serious questions that need accurate disclosure surrounding 9/11, including who knew what and when. Looking in hindsight over who has benefited and continues to benefit from the losses suffered on that Tuesday morning, combined with the resulting billions that have been wasted chasing a phantom threat, one must truly wonder why we would want to saddle up that deceptive horse again and ride off into such a black sun.

The Canadian parliament has done a reasonable job of resisting the fear mongering of the American government and of falling victim to the prison of overreaction. We graduated that school of thought by refusing to renew repressive legislation. Now is not the time to go backwards.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Are We Too Free?)

2010-04-18T15:15:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (ARE WE TOO FREE?)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Can there be such a thing as being a society that is too free? Ask those who live under repressive regimes and the answer is a quick and resounding NO. But for those of us who live in Canada and United States, the brightest beacons for freedom throughout the world, one has cause for contemplation as we look at one such example of perhaps being too tolerant, too lenient, too free.

Mid April of each year plays host to the Vaisakhi parade and celebration in Surrey, a thriving city in the lower mainland of British Columbia outside Vancouver with an immense Sikh population. This ancient religious commemoration is one of the most significant in the Sikh calendar and also marks the beginning of the solar new year and the beginning of a new harvest season. Attending Vaisakhi is sure to excite all five senses as you are assailed with the sights, sounds, aromas, textures, and tastes that make the Sikh culture so accessible, so colorful, so alive.

The parade component of Surrey’s Vaisakhi has been a tarnish on an otherwise shining halo of cultural celebration. With more than 100,000 people in attendance at this year’s celebration, certain fanatic elements within the Sikh community have chose this holy occasion to pay homage to their martyrs on their floats by displaying gigantic photo likenesses of those responsible for acts of worldwide terrorism, including those associated with the Air India bombing and the assassination of Indira Gandhi. These extremists are using Canada’s gift of multiculturalism as a political platform calling for the new sovereign state of Khalistan to be carved out of India’s state of Punjab.

Supporters of such political ideology would cite their rights under Canadian law to promote their agendas. While most Canadians would grant these militants some latitude, they would also decry using an event that siphons precious public funds, assets, and services for being the type of freedom they want in their country. Why can’t they leave their political dogmas back where they came from? Why are they not protesting back in Punjab where the real fight is? Why bastardize Canada’s multiculturalism with such a militant platform?

Vaisakhi could be a zeitgeist for future cultural celebrations in Surrey. Perhaps even in other communities. Celebrating, condoning and encouraging mass murder, hate, and promotion of political agendas have no place in public parades. And Surrey has no business supporting such vile displays with public funds, assets and services, nor with the attendance of their elected officials.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Bullying)

2010-04-10T11:57:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (BULLYING)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Where it all begins is something of a mystery, but the seriousness of bullying has garnered headline news in the past few years, infamously beginning with the Columbine shootings in Littleton, Colorado, and most recently with the tragic suicide of Phoebe Prince, the fifteen year old Massachusetts school girl who suffered relentless bullying at the hands of fellow schoolmates.

With school being a setting where students who might not normally interact with each other are forced to do so, it comes as little surprise that one of the downsides of such a reality is that some with low self esteem will select prey that are different than the perceived norm to harass and dehumanize in order to feel better about themselves. We can all remember our school days and can readily name the bully and his easy victims. So what has changed? And why has bullying become such a pervasive problem in our schools and neighborhoods to the point where many jurisdictions have enacted legislation giving law enforcement a tool to use to combat this growing social phenomenon?

One alarming fact is that bullying is cited as the number one non-academic issue facing educators. In fact, in United States, almost 1.5 million students play hooky from school each day to avoid their tormentors.

Victims of the repeated abuse are reluctant to report their plight early on, fearing retribution, or possibly being considered a sissy, as bullying has been thought to be just one of those things we go through growing up. There are considerable signs of victimization including, among others, increased absenteeism from school, depression, physical wounds, substance abuse, and as we have seen too many times, suicide.

Predators who bully have an obvious need for power and at least one study indicates that if the bullying is not intervened and resolved, those perpetrators are more likely to drop out of school and work at jobs far below their intelligence levels and have a one in four chance of having a criminal record (five times that of the rest of the population). They also tend to abuse their spouses or partners.

Parents of bullies need to take the actions of their wayward offspring with the utmost seriousness. It is normal to be in denial that their precious spawn could ever be the perpetrator of any wrongdoing. They didn’t raise their kid to be such pariahs. But this is an ego-based denial that parents simply must get over, if there is to be any hope of changing the behavior of their Damien seed.

The consequences of failing to confront bullying directly are tragically apparent for the victims, and the long term costs to society for harboring underperforming criminals is one more burden we cannot afford to carry.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Anchor Babies)

2010-04-01T01:34:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (ANCHOR BABIES)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

With a challenging economy comes a wicked rise in racism, the sad reality of citizens unable to find work that pays a living wage, desperately needing to find someone to blame for their misfortune. Everyone is a target, and the more different you look, the more apt you are to be a victim of overt outrage and racism. The reverse is also true. In good economic times, we happily co-exist with all and incidents of racism dwindle to barely a trickle.

While it is difficult to necessarily connect the dots between the recent economic downturn and the rise in opposition to immigration policies (chiefly because immigration issues have recently become a dominant concern in the political arena), it is nonetheless interesting that the tide of antagonism against Anchor Babies (or Jackpot Babies as they have been referred) has become one of the magma political concerns of the century. When it will completely erupt is anyone’s guess. But it won’t be too far off.

Anchor Babies is a term for children born in a country to illegal alien mothers. It is not a term of endearment and is applied principally to illegal Mexican aliens who give birth in America so the offspring gains immediate American citizenship. This also grants permission to the parents to remain in the country. The phrase Anchor Baby has taken on a broader stroke and now refers to any illegal alien in any country giving birth for the purposes of attaining citizenship and social benefits offered by their new host.

The cost to the host country can be immense. In the United States, Anchor Babies cost the various states and the federal government hundreds of millions of dollars each year. To illustrate the drain this places on the local resources, one only has to look at statistics for Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. Yes, the same place JFK was rushed to on November 22, 1963. Parkland Memorial Hospital has the second busiest maternity ward in the United States, with 11,200 live births to illegal aliens in 2006, costing taxpayers something in the neighborhood of 75 million dollars. That’s one hospital in one city in one year.

Clearly, the constitutional amendment permitting automatic citizenship at birth in the United States is being abused. United Kingdom and Australia abandoned this policy many years ago because of its abuse. Canada still employs the birthright policy, but Canada borders only one country and does not have easy access from other countries. United States does not enjoy this luxury, and hence, has a formidable challenge to overcome.

And that brings us full circle, as the United States is under considerable pressure to change its birthright policy and step up deportation of illegal aliens, fueled by unemployed or underemployed citizens who believe strongly that their country is going to hell in a hand basket. The timing of this surge is suspect. It smells like the rotten fish of racism. Yet, one cannot help but empathize with the heavy financial toll Anchor Babies and their families have on taxpayers and the fragile social net already stretched to its breaking point.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Salute Thy Soldier)

2010-03-30T02:49:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (SALUTE THY SOLDIER)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

This year marks the 65th Anniversary of the end of World War Two, a pivotal point upon which much of the modern world map was created. An estimated fifty million people lost their lives during this war, military and civilian alike. Those who served their country and who survive to this day are few in number, owing to their advanced age.

Like all wars in history, we discovered newer and more efficient methods of slaughter en masse, perhaps one of only two ubiquitous legacies of military conflict, the other being that wars are waged for political gain, not for altruistic purposes.

After the treaties are signed, after the main streets have welcomed home the brave with parades, after the somber memorials and cenotaphs have been erected, we proclaim that never again shall we participate in the horrors of mankind. Never again shall we call upon our ripened men and women to defend their country’s interests. Never again shall we kill with such reckless abandoned. We say never again because it is precisely what we need to hear to justify the losses suffered, because it helps us reconcile the motivations for participating in the bloodbath, and because we need to fool ourselves into thinking that this was the last war. We repeat this sequence after each war.

We are naïve enough to believe the politicians and bureaucrats when they proclaim how, with surgical precision, they can manage a war to minimize damage and mitigate human loss. The current occupation of Iraq certainly spotlights what an absolute sham these sentiments are.

There is an old adage that says time heals all wounds, but conversations with veterans long after their participation in wartime conflicts defy this ism and reveal deeply hidden emotions that are as painful today as they were while they were dodging bullets in the battlefield. Perhaps no amount of time can erase the scathing memories replaying in one’s mind. Young men and women, barely old enough to drive a car, were entrusted with the responsibility and pressure of saving our nation. There are no pamphlets on how to prepare for that, and it is impossible to teach. We just ask that they do their best for us. They did. And they do.

Regardless of one’s beliefs, each of those who serve your country deserves your utmost admiration and respect, for it is they who sacrifice for your ability to agree or disagree with the political machine that sent your sons and daughters into harm’s way. Stand up to challenge your politicians and government whenever you do not agree with them, and stand up to salute your military to thank them for the freedoms you enjoy.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (You Can't Wear That Here)

2010-03-27T13:40:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (YOU CAN’T WEAR THAT HERE)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Of all the gin joints, who would have thought it would be Canada to draw a line in the sand prohibiting religious and cultural freedoms? Well, to be clearer, it really wasn’t Canada. It was Quebec, that whiney sister province that always seems to get what it wants in a country that would be strangely incomplete and less charming without her. Ironically enough, the Province of Quebec itself is a distinct society within Canada that demanded, received, and enjoys certain latitudes within this supposed democracy.

La belle Province introduced Bill 94 that would, in part, require those seeking provincial services to have their faces uncovered, a direct affront to the beliefs held by some Muslim faithful. At the core of this raging debate is the practice of wearing a burqa (pronounced burr-ka)or niqab (pronounced nee-cab), just two of the face covering garments worn by Muslim women throughout the world.

The heightened sensitivities about Muslims come as no surprise. In the past decade, words such as burqa and niqab have entered our lexicon of language, and Canada has generally been quick to welcome and embrace cultural and religious differences into its mosaic. Even the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) decades ago accepted Sikh turbans as part of their official uniform to accommodate diversity within its ranks.

No other province or territory in Canada demands that Muslim women bare their faces in order to access services, nor is it necessary to violate some Muslim beliefs to access federal government agency services.

It would be inconceivable to most Canadians that a restriction of religious beliefs would ever make its way into law in their country, even if they quietly opposed what some might argue is an open-ended free for all when it comes to Canada’s immigration policies. They ought to be more like us, they whisper. It’s about as patriotic as Canadians get in public, outside of a hockey game.

The strict traditional Muslim teachings by some Islamic institutions require the niqab to be worn by girls beginning at the age of puberty.

Canada’s Liberal Party leader, Michael Ignatieff, has spoken in favor of the provincial bill saying, in part that it’s “a good Canadian balance”. How ambiguous indeed. And Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s official spokesperson, on behalf of the jellyfish himself, came out in full support of Bill 94 by saying, “The law proposed by the Quebec government makes sense”. Perhaps it is political posturing, but one has to wonder why the Prime Minister and the leader of the federal opposition party are speaking publically about provincial affairs such as they are.

To be sure, there are many Canadians who welcome this politically incorrect and focused determination in delivering provincial services such as health care, automobile licenses, etc. And to be equally certain, there are not a few supporters of this proposed bill around the world who applaud Quebec for their stance and who wish their own country or jurisdiction would be as courageous.

Similar legislation is being considered in various countries, but it is almost a sure bet that The Netherlands will be next to ban the niqab somehow.

Canada, imperfect as she is, has made significant strides in accommodating those who have different needs. Those with physical or mental impairments, those in the lesbian and gay community, those of other religious denominations whose peculiarities such as ceremonial daggers and specific headwear are among the many who contribute to our glorious melting pot and who enjoy certain relaxations in our society. We are richer for it, and it is a wealth we proudly flaunt. But, if your religious beliefs involve covering your face, that’s going too far. Apparently.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Human Cloning)

2010-03-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (HUMAN CLONING)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved

The slippery slope created by those who engineered Dolly, the famous cloned sheep, leads us perilously close to being able to custom design our very own offspring. Hitler would be ecstatic.

One of the ethical questions revolving around this spectacular leap in scientific knowledge and capability surrounds the debate of just because we have the knowledge, should we necessarily employ it?

Granted, there are some sober and solid reasons to follow a path of research to develop techniques of cloning humans. Certainly, advancements made using stem cells, for example, have provided welcomed treatments and hope for those suffering countless terminal illnesses. The medical use of stem cells has been equally controversial to human cloning, but enjoys more lenient permission from society generally because of its limitations in ‘building’ a human being. It seems much less Frankenstein-ish. Still, despite the benefits of stem cell research and treatments, it, too, shares the wrath of those adamantly opposed to using science to ‘play God’.

Scientists are also now debating and considering the possibility of cloning a Neanderthal, which poses yet another subset of ethical questions. Can you imagine a Neanderthal existing on Earth during these times?

In Canada and United States, the governments and the general scientific community has voiced its opposition to human cloning. But that does not mean that research and progress into human cloning has ceased. In fact, it can be easily argued that there is a race on to grow the first cloned human. And at the front of this race is, perhaps most surprisingly, the Middle East.

One of the principal reasons why the Middle East is such a favored locale for human cloning research is that the dominant religion is Muslim and that the Islamic faith does not share the Christian belief on when life begins, thereby skirting another hot ethical debate for researchers conducting experiments on cells.

The ramifications of successful human cloning are immense, and chief among them are the military implications and the homogenization of our species. Like so many inventions and discoveries brought to fruition and intended for good rather than evil, it is without a doubt that human cloning will follow similar paths and find itself abused by those with nefarious motives.

Unquestionably, there are some very prominent positive motivations to pursuing human cloning research and the vast majority of these persuasive arguments revolve around the medical field. Still, one has to wonder that if we cannot co-exist in peace now, then how can we expect to do so with our genetic copies?

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Pope Apology Insufficient)

2010-03-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (POPE APOLOGY INSUFFICIENT)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

In what can be arguably described as a step toward healing, Pope Benedict XVI issued the first public document apologizing to victims of sex abuse at the hands of those employed by the Vatican. The document addressed sins of Irish priests and other religious figures stating, in part, “…You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry”.

The decades of known abuse, sexual and otherwise, by Vatican employees worldwide have been reported and in precious few cases, prosecuted. What is certain in this most unfortunate breach of trust and faith is the calculated conspiracy of silence and cover-ups that followed allegations, akin to and possibly superior to the talents of government agencies involved in covert operations.

There are good and bad in every occupation, in every society, and in every culture. However, the enormity of the allegations against church employees, brought forth in almost every country in the world, demonstrates that the conviction of this recent apology is wholly insufficient in addressing the pain suffered by those who placed their trust and spiritual faith in the hands of those who ultimately abused them.

One can only wonder why such an important document was written to only the Irish faithful. There are so many victims in so many countries.

The Pope’s letter does not indicate what action it will take to purge the Catholic church of pedophiles, sex abusers, and other criminals. The inference of this lack of action is that those criminals permeate every level of the Catholic faith, possibly right on up to the current Pope or previous Popes, and such exposure of the truth would prove embarrassing to the Vatican itself. Much like the transgressions of the Catholic Church during World War 2, if widely known, this crisis could lead to the end of the privileged status the Vatican enjoys.

It is known from research and treatments that victims of abuse, particularly sexual abuse, are at high risk of repeating the cycle of abuse and of suicide. By extension, it is reasonable to suggest the victimization of subsequent generations has produced countless new victims, and the tragically early demise of at least some of the faithful. This direct result of criminal activities by the Catholic Church has gone entirely unrecognized in the Pope’s apology letter.

Likely not a coincidence, the Catholic Church has been running an aggressive media campaign to entice those lost sheep to return to the flock.

For some, an apology letter from the leader of the church may suffice in addressing their crisis of faith. But, for the vast majority, Pope Benedict XVI has again failed them by merely placing a few words on parchment hoping to continue the cover-ups and thus, revictimizing the victim.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit Curtis Sagmeister blog at http://curtissagmeister.blogspot.com

And That's My Take... (Tourism As Salvation)

2010-03-19T16:02:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (TOURISM AS SALVATION)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Us western folk are blessed with the means and motivation to travel. For some, that means jetting off to some third world country where our currency permits us luxuries that locals can’t even begin to dream of enjoying. In fact, our air fare alone to reach these poor countries far exceeds the annual income of local families.

We forget about our own tribulations back home, while taking in the sights and sounds of some exotic locale, we meander through historic bazaars, walk ancient footpaths, snap photos of bare-breasted ethnic dancers in colorful regalia, dare ourselves to sample local delicacies, and touch the ruins of a great civilization. And we buy trinkets and souvenirs to bring back home.

Is our economic impact to these underdeveloped countries of any benefit? The easy answer is yes. The short term answer is yes. The long term? That’s when things get a tad blurry.

Hard foreign currency is how underdeveloped countries are able to repay national debt. So certainly us foreigners visiting such nations puts real income into the hands of locals, who, in turn, spend this money, and eventually this hard currency makes its way up the food chain and into the coffers of the national government.

The peril with this arrangement is when a country relies on this income solely and fails to invest in other industries, infrastructure, or social services. Vacation spots are very fickle. What’s hot today may be passé tomorrow. Add in outside forces such as unpredictable weather, natural disasters, and teetering insurrection, and you have a recipe for economic catastrophe. When a tourism destination is out of vogue, the rush of foreign currency dries up to a trickle quickly. And, without that hard currency in the coffers, nothing is possible.

Developing tourism is a great method of creating jobs, exposing the country to investment opportunities, and as an incubator for further exchanges, however, relying on one industry as the economic salvation is short sighted and an unmitigated disaster in waiting.

As our grandparents pontificated, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit Curtis Sagmeister blog at http://curtissagmeister.blogspot.com

And That's My Take... (To Kill You Dead, Nicely)

2010-03-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (TO KILL YOU DEAD, NICELY)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

It has been argued by some that state sponsored executions amount to nothing more than cruel and unusual punishment at the very least, or murder at most. And it has been argued equally as passionate by others that, if that’s the case, they are just peachy with that. Still others invoke biblical passages such as ‘an eye for an eye’ or ‘thou shalt not kill’.

No matter which side of the shifting fence you stand, capital punishment is one of society’s hot button issues that sits hesitantly quiet, like a freshly neutered pet, until the simmering majority erupts over a single galvanizing horrific murderer, demonized by a blood thirsty propaganda machine diligently fanning the flames and inciting your passions to their way of thinking.

Yes, it is political. The issue of capital punishment creeps out of the closet usually when the heartstrings can be gingerly exploited – when children are the victims, and more specifically, when cute white kids are the victims of a non-white perpetrator. It’s easiest for the machine to work when oiled with a whiff of racism.

Somebody has to pay.

Over the years, many countries have experimented with the entire spectrum of killing methods to render punishment on those that dare violate man’s law. Some societies reserved the most dire of penalties for only the most dire of offences. Others applied the ultimate punishment on a whim. The consequences and effectiveness of its imposition range widely, however, it can never truly be said that enforcing capital punishment has ever served as a deterrent.

One argument used against capital punishment is that we just don’t have a nice way of killing someone. For all the angst society has toward a convicted murderer, we still want to administer a clean, sober, efficient way to send the killer to his demise. It’s all so putridly civilized in a way, to extend the decency of a relatively painless yet guaranteed method of delivering a final solution to one who is so undeserving. After all, what mercy or compassion was shown to his victims?

Converting those on one side of this debate to the other has the probability of less that your success at winning the grand prize of the lottery. Still, there are those who oppose capital punishment principally on the basis of it being cruel and unusual punishment, and for those so leaning, there now exists a measure that can conceivably tip the proverbial scales of justice and their support 180 degrees to warrant state sponsored executions under at least some circumstances.

Recent research across the pond in England has shown that capital punishment can be humanely administered, thus opening that closet door another creek or two toward widespread implementation.
This research has demonstrated that inducing hypoxia (depriving the brain of oxygen) accomplishes a quick, painless, humane, effective, and economical way to kill you dead, nicely. It’s practically perfect and perfectly practical.

Inducing hypoxia (pronounced hy-pox-ee-ah) is as simple as injecting nitrogen into a vein. The nitrogen acts as a sponge in the bloodstream, sopping up all the oxygen and rapidly depriving the brain. This causes an almost instantaneous euphoria rendering the convict giddy and blissfully unaware of his impending doom in a matter of seconds.

We should all be so lucky in our own passing to experience such a benevolent expiration.

For jurisdictions reluctant to introduce capital punishment based primarily on humanitarian grounds, and for those passionate individuals whose opposition is similarly shared, hypoxia may very well emerge as the key ingredient to seeing more state sponsored executions in the near future.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit Curtis Sagmeister blog at http://curtissagmeister.blogspot.com

And That's My Take... (The Revolution Begins)

2010-03-13T15:45:00.000-08:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (THE REVOLUTION BEGINS)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

The explosion of civil unrest in one of this planet’s eldest cities perhaps sparks the beginning of the coming revolution against the substantial tyranny practiced by puppet governments run amok and puppeteer corporations that make them dance. Thankfully.

The spotlight shining on Athens over the past few weeks demonstrates that governments can push its citizenry only so hard, cutting services, slashing wages, raising taxes, and restricting rights and privileges, before the push back begins. Violently.

What makes this particular series of public revolts interesting is that police and military personnel joined the protests against their brethren. Imagine that, even those entrusted to enforce tyranny against the people finally realize how unjust their employer is, to the point of risking their job and their freedom.

Them Greeks sure know how to send a message! And it is a valuable lesson from which we should all learn. What is happening in Athens is the embryonic manifestation of what is sure to erupt the world over, unless a radical shift in public policy is undertaken where governments take back their sovereignty from their corrupt corporate puppeteer masters.

Finally, somewhere in the world, a citizen led movement had the courage to express in no uncertain terms, that enough is enough. No longer will they stand idle being bent over while watching their beloved cities and countries being eroded from within by greedy multinational corporations hell bent on scraping every iota of sinew from the remaining skeleton of national identities.

Unfortunately, Greece is not the empire it once was, and therefore does not command the prominence in the mainstream media that this revolution should. This could be the needed catalyst to generate the change in our respective countries – to deliver the hijacked democracy back into the hands of the people.

Sadly, it will take a few more of these revolutions to lead a worldwide movement from its embryo stage to the rebirth of thinking by those few good politicians remaining. What will propel the movement more rapidly than anything else is a revolution in a country least expected, such as Canada, United States or perhaps even in the U.K.

Just like the Olympics (one of the most tyrannical and oppressive organizations on Earth, masquerading as a benevolent sporting celebration), this revolution, too, began in Greece.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit Curtis Sagmeister blog at http://curtissagmeister.blogspot.com

And That's My Take... (Moving On)

2010-03-08T15:30:00.000-08:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (MOVING ON)
©2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All rights reserved.

This year, the Canadian government officially recognized the Armenian genocide at the hands of Turkey in the early part of the 20th century. And while this official recognition is decades too late, it is a monumental shift in public policy for a government that traditionally follows very closely the tone and content of its neighbors to the immediate south.

The American government at one time was on the brink of also recognizing the plight of the Armenian, but did an about face quickly when reminded of the strategic importance of their established military bases on Turkish soil.

There have been many genocides in the history of mankind, possibly none so prominent as that wrought by Nazi Germany during World War Two where Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, mentally retarded, physically deformed, and even political opponents were systematically eliminated in an effort to establish an elitist worldwide race ‘cleansed’ of undesirables. But let’s not kid ourselves, every country on this little blue marble has initiated or participated in attempted genocide at one time or another. The depravity of mankind knows no boundaries, especially at the hands of crafty spin doctors and their hypnotizing propaganda that feed on our fears and give us permission to point accusatory fingers at certain targets.

In Canada and United States, our historic government policies against aboriginal peoples and the internment of those with Japanese ancestry serve as just two glaring examples of more recent participation in our own versions of attempted genocide.

The United Nations defines genocide as “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group".

Officially, the Turks adamantly deny any genocide occurred against the Armenians.

One wonders why, after all these years, and long after the passing of those who made the fateful decisions to condemn Armenians, the Turks continue to accept no responsibility for those actions. It would be easy for one of Turkey’s current spin doctors to apologize to the Armenians, blame a different time, a different head space, a different set of circumstances, and that now Turkey is an international melting pot for a variety of peoples while pledging to treat Armenians with equality.

Canada did that. Canada apologized to both the aboriginal people and to the Japanese. It doesn’t right the wrong but it does start a healing process. Where it goes from there is up to those directly involved. And frankly, those who claim to now ‘suffer’ because of political policies of oppressing forefathers are not the same who truly paid the price.

We can all continue to fight like the Hatfields and McCoys, but rarely can we remember why we started fighting in the first place.
And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca

And That's My Take... (Democracy Is Hypocrisy)

2010-02-20T21:49:00.000-08:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE… (DEMOCRACY IS HYPOCRISY)
©2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Democracy is hypocrisy.

Malcolm X orated those words repeatedly in a speech around a half century ago. And, given the state of our governments and their policies today, one cannot help but marvel just how correct he was.

As prophetic a statement as that was, Malcolm X would not be the first person to warn us of government evils. No less a hero than Douglas MacArthur warned us to beware of the internal pressure from those who monetarily benefit from war. There have been others. Many others. Before and since. And look where we are today. Canada, United States – different puppets for the same puppeteer.

The constant build up of the Police State, the evaporation of rights granted to us by declaration and practice, the not so casual propaganda of fear mongering, the corrupt electronic voting machinery, the creation of crisis, and the erosion of a financial system once based on a real commodity (gold), but now a mere printing press, should all give us a pregnant moment to pause, take a step back, and objectively look at the very scary probability of civil war. The only question remaining is what will be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back?

Left wing, right wing, none of that matters. It is the same wing with a different coat of paint. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig. The rhetoric emanating from the political parties is the same bag of hot air, regardless of who is standing at the podium lying to us. Most agree with this and the proof is the failure to use our election vote in a meaningful way, rationalizing such behavior by convincing ourselves that our vote won’t make a difference. Not showing up when it counts makes it impossible to count you in.

The solution? The simplest solution, and the least bloody, is to show up to vote in every election in which you are eligible and to throw your vote. Vote for the renegades, the fringe parties, the independent candidates. Let the polls demonstrate your dissatisfaction with the state of governance. It may mean the occasional revolutionary gets elected into office, but that, my friends, is exactly what we need.

The message you send by not showing up to vote is that everything is just tickety-boo thank you very much. The message you send by throwing your vote is that you are wholly dissatisfied with being bent over and that enough is enough.

It is time for revolution. Hopefully in a bloodless fashion.

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit Curtis Sagmeister blog at http://curtissagmeister.blogspot.com

And That's My Take...(Water is the New Oil)

2010-01-27T23:16:00.000-08:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE…(WATER IS THE NEW OIL)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Water is the new oil.

That phrase will soon be as famous as the three opening words of Moby Dick.

But water is so much more than oil, for it gives life, nourishes our body and land, and dictates when and where mankind congregate. Those that have it shall enjoy luxury beyond the wildest imaginations of the oil tycoons and sheiks of today. Those who need it shall be their slaves, in every sense of the meaning.

As Mother Earth warms, climatic change affects flora and fauna alike, and mankind, it his ever present greed, stands in the middle, ready to exploit his position, to capitalize on the misfortune of others. It is not entirely wrong that this occurs. Since the dawn of mankind this has been the one universal truth. One has an abundance of bananas because he lives where they flourish. Another has widgets because of the close proximity of raw goods to manufacture them. Each seek top dollar for their commodity.

As long as one is prepared to pay for the optional commodities of bananas or widgets, then some form of trade can occur, whether it is for currency or for another commodity. Indeed, if both parties were so inclined, trading widgets for bananas would be a sane enterprise.

But what about water?

Water is an essential component to everything we make, everything we do, and almost everything in our being. Our brain is 80% water. We simply cannot survive without water.

The emerging economy will place a very high premium on the price of quality drinking water. We can see this developing already in our supermarkets, where entire aisles are devoted to bottled drinking water in every flavour, assortment, and claim one can conjure. The two leading world soft drink manufacturers, Coke and Pepsi, now rely on their respective branded water products for a stately portion of their revenues. And the seemingly regular ‘boil water’ advisories streaming from health authorities in our developed nations does little to ensure confidence in our supply of fresh drinking water.

It is indeed true that something in the order of a billion of the world’s human population does not have access to potable drinking water. Some estimates claim more than half of the world’s population relies on drinking water that is at risk.

So, it is little wonder then, that when one nation has a seemingly endless supply of safe drinking water, and another country needs a similarly endless supply of the good hydrogen/oxygen collaboration, that entrepreneurs and oligarchs will carve out a niche for themselves to monetize that which we have made even more precious by our wrongdoings.

Schemes and plots already in play have countries pitted against each other, adding to mounting tensions that currently include claims on other resources and sovereignty. With world politics and military actions becoming more common (often without regard to national or international law), can it be any wonder that nations with an abundance of water have their eyebrow raised at neighbouring countries with the military might to goosestep their way through our puddles?

And that’s my take…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Visit Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Visit Curtis Sagmeister blog at http://curtissagmeister.blogspot.com

And That's My Take...(Haiti's Grim Future)

2010-01-21T23:12:00.000-08:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE…(HAITI’S GRIM FUTURE)
©2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Haiti has been on the receiving end of considerable misfortune over the past several years. Civil unrest, corruption, a horrific economy (second poorest country in the world), an almost complete erosion of its ecology, and a host of natural disasters, the most recent of which has been the leading story on worldwide news, have all contributed to its current nightmare existence.

The silver lining is the outpouring of humanitarian relief, the realization of how lucky we are that it is not us amid the suffering, and the global coming together of friend and foe to identify ways to contribute assistance to Haitians. Even with their recent downward spiral, the depth of consciousness of the plight that Haitians faced, it seemed, has been only that it was just one more country needing aid of some sort.

The economic aid Haiti will receive shall come at a price however.

Opportunistic financiers and bullying multinational corporations, the names of which we are all familiar, shall pressure what remains of the Haitian government to employ policies and theories for its future economy that will provide precious little benefit to Haitians. Countless similar economic structures evolving exist in recent history with Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Poland, South Africa, Iraq, and just about every country in Central America, being but a few clear examples of where Haiti is headed.

Haiti will experience massive restrictions in social arenas while proclaiming itself ‘open for business’, selling off what little it has in terms of state industries, and creating huge revenue streams for those claiming to help. Because it is poor, with equally precious few options, Haiti will have no choice but to agree to those policies and theories. There is even a name for this practice – shock therapy.

Shock therapy, as the name implies, involves immediate and extreme changes to policy and theory. There will be no gradual reduction in services or programs. In fact, there will be no ‘gradual’ anything. Everything will be altered without prior warning, without consultation, and without regard to their impact on Haitians. Trade unions will be severely restricted. Union leaders harassed and jailed. Social programs will cease to exist overnight. Individual rights will be restricted. Government workforces will be shrunk, except the police and military which will be needed to control the anti-government demonstrations and rallies sure to erupt.

Most countries in which shock therapy has been employed have even seen a sinister braiding of economy and black ops, where those opposing or exposing the corruption surrounding shock therapy have gone missing, or been found dead under mysterious circumstances. Is this the future of Haiti as well?

While we are all focused on delivering food, water and medical care during this challenging time in Haiti, there are already foreign entities shamefully arranging their prominence to siphon the cream from a country that has not a drop to spare.

And that’s my take…

About the Author
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.
Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Curtis Sagmeister blog at http://curtissagmeister.blogspot.com

Articles Published by EzineAtricles.com

2010-01-13T15:38:00.000-08:00

Curtis Sagmeister is thrilled to announce that three of his articles have been accepted for publication on EzineArticles.com (www.ezinearticles.com), joining 240,000 other authors from around the world with millions of published articles.

You can read the articles on this blog, or on EzineArticles at http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Curtis_Sagmeister

And That's My Take...(Thank Goodness I Don't Have To Get Naked Anymore)

2010-01-09T22:01:00.000-08:00

AND THAT’S MY TAKE…(THANK GOODNESS I DON’T HAVE TO GET NAKED ANYMORE)
© 2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All rights reserved.

Airline travel in Canada is becoming less chic, fun, convenient, (insert your own description here) every day it seems, and that is a fact regardless of where you are flying from or to in Canada. If the surly staff of the nation’s dominant airline isn’t enough to dissuade you from flying, then their abusive baggage handling might, or maybe the misleading fares advertised, or perhaps the chaotic security personnel making you practically strip in front of your fellow passengers should take the cake.

But, thank goodness I won’t have to get naked in front of my fellow passengers anymore (and no doubt, my fellow passengers are thanking their lucky stars too), for the federal government has recently announced the installation of full body scanners at a number of Canadian airports. And that means a full day porn show for airport security personnel, and a huge invasion of privacy for air travelers.

These fancy machines cost taxpayers a quarter million bucks each and are capable of taking full body scans of you right down to your skin. They reveal your breast size, penis size, and all mannerisms of your body that many are afraid to reveal even to their doctor (if they even have one in this country, but that’s for another article).

For airport security personnel, it amounts to the largest uncasted porn show in the world, and who is to know what happens with our images? Nobody is saying. Undoubtedly, images will be stored on some computer somewhere, subject to abuse, and only then will there be a collective cry for freedoms lost.

Initially the scanners will be deployed in 11 airports throughout Canada, with more on the way as soon as the manufacturer can stop wringing their hands from such a lucrative deal and produce more. And for those who think these are for just international flights, think again. Soon, even the smallest of airports will be collecting this porn.

And while we are on the subject of smaller airports, for the love of lug nuts, why do they employ identical security tactics as the major international ones? If I was someone wanting to wreak havoc on the transportation infrastructure of this nation, or make any sort of political statement, would I choose a 38 seat Dash 8 twin prop, or a 300 seat jet? I am flying from butthole airport number one to butthole airport number two. There is no statement to be made in causing news from either of these lovely places.

Even in the 1970’s when aircraft were being hijacked all over the world, the only public security measure put in place was a warning about talking about bombs. Even joking about bombs would get you a private conversation in a back room at an airport.

Yes, it is a new world out there. And yes, maybe we need to employ some added measures to provide a false sense of security to the masses. But, full body scans, of which the technology will only improve to further invade our privacy, is extreme.

And that’s my take…

About the Author
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.
Curtis Sagmeister online at www.sagmeister.ca
Curtis Sagmeister blog at http://curtissagmeister.blogspot.com

Article Published by SelfGrowth.com

2010-01-07T18:03:00.000-08:00

Another article authored by Curtis Sagmeister has been selected for publication by SelfGrowth.com (www.selfgrowth.com). This bring to three, the total number of articles written by Curtis Sagmeister that have been published by SelfGrowth.com.

On January 01st, 2010, Sagmeister published the article And That's My Take...(Climate Change - What's The Big Deal?) as part of his monthly OpEd series. It is this article that has now found its way onto the online pages of SelfGrowth.com, and you can read/view it HERE.

New Offshoot Web Site Coming Soon

2010-01-06T20:33:00.000-08:00

Work has begun on the design and implementation of a new web site from Curtis Sagmeister to feature humor, sarcasm, funny photographs, and off the wall, sick, repugnant humor that only guys like.

The yet un-named site will be launched sometime near the end of January or first part of February.

"I am not suggesting that those of the fairer gender would not enjoy the odd peek at its contents, but by the same token, I am suggesting that based on my experience in regaling some of these stories and anecdotes to those same female persuasion type individuals, that such content was less enthusiastically received by them versus that of the male persuasion peoples", revealed Curtis in his oh so eloquent manner.

Watch for more news on this, the official blog of Curtis Sagmeister.

And That's My Take...(Climate Change - What's The Big Deal?)

2010-01-01T00:16:00.000-08:00

And That’s My Take...(Climate Change – What’s The Big Deal?)
©2010 by Curtis Sagmeister. All Rights Reserved.

Over the past few years, mainstream media has picked up on the idea that global climate change is a negative event and that we should be yelling at the tops of our collective lungs to summon a dragon slayer to deliver us from this beast of burden.
Despite reports of scientific cover‐ups and misinformation, one would be hard pressed to make a case that the climate isn’t changing. Visit any Ansel Adams location and compare your new photograph with those he took back in the day. We can see with our naked eye the receding of ice fields, the rising ocean levels, and we have all experienced those freak snow storms in the middle of deserts. And all the while, we proclaim the earth is coming to an end.

Billions of years before man and his ‘progress’ capitalized on her resources, Mother Earth has always taken care of herself. And she will continue to do so. Earth is absolutely not in trouble. Mankind, on the other hand, should be very wary about making any long term plans. And for (likely) monetary reasons, those two entities, earth and mankind, have had their names tossed together, interchanged in some generic dice game conceived to presumably fuel passions for charitable donations, job creation strategies, and other ill‐connected nefarious motives.

Want proof? Name one charitable organization that is called Mankind First!, Save Mankind, or Mankind Conservation Corps. You cannot because they do not exist. And why don’t they exist? Because of the 6.5 billion ‘mankinds’ on earth, barely a handful would fork over their hard earned money for such a concept. There is just no sell in saving mankind.

In Copenhagen recently, more than a hundred countries delivered representatives to discuss global climate change. What’s to discuss? Mother Earth is on a menstruation cycle of sorts, purging herself of toxins and waste. She has done this forever. Ice Ages, Jurassic Era, blah blah blah. Climate change is an inevitable and natural occurrence in the cycle of Mother Earth. Period.

I wonder how many carbon offset credits were needed for that Copenhagen conference.

Sure, Bangladesh has seen their coastal waters rise, as have other countries. And sure, it’s a bad thing for those living in Bangladesh coastal communities. But there will always be a Bangladesh coastal shoreline. You may just have to move inland a bit to live there! Maybe that old joke about ocean front property in Arizona has a ring of truth to it.

And to be sure, not everyone is adversely affected by the current climate changes. Discussions with aboriginal peoples in Northern Canada might give one a different perspective, as they do not fully share the mainstream view of dominant world countries. There are indeed some positives to this climate change. The censured mainstream media, major conservation groups, and interested multinational corporations will not speak openly about these positives.

No, my fellow reader, contrary to what certain religious, political, and social groups might have you believe, earth is not coming to an end... at least, not because of global climate change.

And that’s my take...

ABOUT CURTIS SAGMEISTER
Photographer. Author. Poet. Songwriter. Student of Human Behavior. Community Activist. Social Commentator. Environmental Steward. Wage Slave.

Article Published by SelfGrowth.com

2009-12-30T11:47:00.000-08:00

SelfGrowth.com (www.selfgrowth.com) has once again published an article authored by Curtis Sagmeister.

The article is a short story about Christmas as faced by a struggling family and is entitled The Best Presents at Christmas. You can see/read it HERE.

Article Published by Boots N All Travel

2009-12-30T11:37:00.000-08:00

A USA based travel site has published an article authored by Curtis Sagmeister. You can see/read the article HERE.

As the initial installment for daytrips from Terrace, the Nisga'a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park self drive tour also features four photographs by Curtis Sagmeister.

Boots N All Travel is a Washington State based travel site full of fabulous travel articles, travel tips, destinations, etc.

Dreamstime.com Adds More Photos by Curtis Sagmeister

2009-12-29T20:04:00.000-08:00

Wow. Another two photos by Curtis Sagmeister have been selected by Dreamstime.com (www.dreamstime.com) for inclusion in their massive stock photography portfolio. This brings to eight, the total number of photos by Curtis to be included in the Dreamstime catalogue.

Articles Available also on Today.com

2009-12-28T00:14:00.000-08:00

All articles published in this blog are also available on Today.com (www.today.com) unless the rights have been purchased and posting to others sites not permitted.

Hope your holiday season is going swell, no matter how you celebrate this time of year.

Great Gift Idea to Celebrate Newborns

2009-12-25T12:29:00.000-08:00

Well we all know that you can't smoke anywhere these days, so I have the perfect solution if you are welcoming a new addition to your family...why not hand out a cigar mousepad, rather than cigars? It's healthier. You get a discount in my store for multiple items.

Here is the link to my cigar mousepad...

http://www.printfection.com/CurtisSagmeister/Cuban-Cigar-Mousepad/_p_4628921

Order early to ensure you have them on hand for when that blessed moment arrives.

The Best Presents at Christmas

2009-12-24T23:57:00.000-08:00

The Best Presents at Christmas
Copyright 2009 by Curtis Sagmeister

The calm stillness and clear skies uncloaked a chilly Christmas Eve. Huddled together for warmth in the RV, the children bundled themselves in their sleeping bags trying hard to fall asleep. They knew how important it was for Santa not to be discovered when he made his annual visit. But, the harder they tried, the harder it was to fall asleep.

Christmas in the RV is not what the parents had planned, but circumstances being what they were, this is where they found themselves. Dad, mom, two kids and their ever faithful four legged mutt, Buttons. To be sure, it was cramped, with less than a hundred and fifty square feet of living space.

The kids and Buttons slept up top, over the driver’s area. The kids loved it because it reminded them of the secret tree-fort that they used to visit near their home. Mom and dad slept in the main bed to the rear. When all were asleep, nobody could feel the claustrophobic conditions. It rather felt like they were camping, as they had done so many times before, visiting relatives, taking long weekends in the mountains, and spending annual vacations in places where cell phones couldn’t find them. Better times indeed.

The tranquility of the evening soothed the kids to sleep and, before long, the parents as well.

As we can well remember from our own childhood, the anticipation of receiving gifts on Christmas Day seemed to prolong the arrival of the special day. Mom and dad remember too. And this year, they anguished over not being able to lavish presents on their two darlings, nor even have a tree.

Buttons, ever vigilant squire that he is, was the first to be alerted. Strange sounds atop the RV. First he whimpered, looking for someone, anyone, to hear what he was hearing. Footsteps on the roof. But not any ordinary footsteps. These sounded like a legion of reindeer scurrying about. Could it be....?

His constant whimpering and rustling about woke the kids, who scooped Buttons from his now frantic pacing, peering upward and now barking his protective, albeit yappy, bark. He meant business like only he knew. The kids usher him inside the sleeping bags to quell the warnings from Buttons, muzzling him with their hands.

“Shhhhhhhhhhhh. That’s just Santa. We have to be quiet”, Buttons heard in a whispered directive. The scampering overhead continued, conjuring up the wild imagination of the kids, and the constant disapproval of Buttons, his whimpering now barely audible, but his eyes fixated on the movement of sound above.

Dad was awoken to the hushed alerts of Buttons, and reluctantly arose from his warm slumber to investigate the fuss. Mom was a heavy sleeper, a helpful trait to have during these challenging times. Dragging his feet toward the front of the RV, dad now understood why Buttons was unstill, for he too, could hear the pitter patter of feet on the roof.

‘Oh crap’ he thought. Just what he needed, squirrels or chipmunks making a home for themselves on or in the RV. He now realized parking so close to the huge evergreen may not have been such a wise decision, despite its obvious advantages at the time.

As suddenly as the footsteps began, they ceased. On hearing dad approach, the kids in unison exclaimed “Santa was just here daddy”.

“Shhh, you’ll wake your mother. They were just squir....”, catching himself mid-sentence. “Yes I think I heard him too. Go back to sleep for now. We can see what he left in the morning”, his hushed raspy voice decreed.

Christmas morning couldn’t come fast enough for the kids, awakening with Buttons and swooping down to the small dining table. You could have a palace and the kids will sniff out the presents in no time, but in this RV, one could pivot in a single spot and ....well, you get the idea.

There on the table sat two small gifts wrapped in last week’s comic strips from the local newspaper. Each grabbing a gift and like Olympic high jumpers, landing in bed with mom and dad, Buttons jumping up like an attention-starved athlete himself, his tail wagging vigorously. Nobody bothered to check which gift was for whom, nor was the wrapping ripped open.

Mom startled awake with all the commotion, sitting up like a shot. Dad rolled over, wakening to the veracious banter. Like a tag-team wrestling bout, the kids began swapped adventurous stories of how Santa found them at the RV, and how they heard the reindeer, and how Buttons almost scared away Santa, and how daddy just missed Santa, and how Santa makes his sled fly, and how Santa left them presents, and how many reindeer there were, and where Santa lives, and what his reindeer eat, and if there was a Mrs. Santa, and...and...and.

Photos Accepted by Major Stock Photo Catalogue

2009-12-21T21:59:00.000-08:00

"I am giggling like a little school girl", beams Curtis Sagmeister in response to having six of his photos accepted today by the hugely influential stock photo company Dreamstime.com (www.dreamstime.com).

Keeping it all in perspective though, Curtis is quick to point out that Dreamstime has millions of photographs in their portfolio. With several thousand photos taken, Curtis is using this holiday season to sort through a small sampling and cherry pick ones that may be better suited to stock photography and submit them for possible acceptance by Dreamstime.com.

Stock photography differs from other photographic products. Images best suited for stock photography have a more generic quality to them and are used in everything from newspapers and advertisements to photos in annual reports and websites.

Watch this space for additional announcements regarding the creative pursuits of Curtis Sagmeister.

Photos Available for Sale at ArtistRising.com

2009-12-21T13:24:00.001-08:00

A selection of photographs by Curtis Sagmeister have been released for sale at www.artistrising.com, an internet-based promoter and retailer of wall art and a sister company to AllPosters.com.

Curtis has his own on-line gallery at this address... http://www.artistrising/galleries/sagmeister

Worldwide shipping is available directly from Artist Rising.

Happy Holidays to you and yours

2009-12-20T19:14:00.000-08:00

The time flies by so quickly and we find ourselves amid another festive season. It's a time for sharing and caring, for remembering and forgiving...it's a time to reflect on what's truly important.

Let us take this time, each of us, to be greatful to our armed forces deployed far from home who serve our country in their respective missions. No matter what your politics, remember it is the real civilian and military men and women on the ground who deserve our respect and admiration.

Let us each celebrate the joy of loved ones who have found another kingdom in which to dwell. No matter what your religion or spiritual belief, take this time to share a smile with someone passed.

Let us each deliver one random act of kindness per month in 2010.

And let us each commit to spreading peace on earth...in our homes, at our work, between nations, and between people, among friends and foe alike.

May this year of festivities and sharing keep you centered in all that truly matters in your life.

Happy Holidays from Curtis, Asylum, Aphro, Clovis, Sedna, and Ramses.

Some Wildlife Photos

2009-12-19T01:47:00.001-08:00

Some Wildlife photos for your viewing pleasure...
1. Mountain Goat
2. Grey Wolf
3. Elk
4. Bald Eagle
5. White Tail Deer
6. Bighorn Sheep Ram

New Art Available Today on Website

2009-12-15T18:05:00.000-08:00

Ya know, photography is one of those things that has enormous potential for derivitive art. By that I mean artwork that was created from original photographs. Today, I posted 18 new examples of limited edition Digital Oil Paintings from Original Photographs in the ART section of my webpage.

Please click here for a peek... Curtis Sagmeister Art

Can you buy one for yourself I hear you ask? Absolutely. Soon. For now, please look but don't touch!

Daytrips from Terrace, BC - Nisga'a Self Drive Tour

2009-12-11T18:36:00.000-08:00

Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park, Northwest British Columbia, Canada
(also known as Anhluut'ukwsim Laxmihl Angwinga'asanskwhl Nisga'a)
By Curtis Sagmeister ©2009.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, the earth opened up in this little known corner of northwest British Columbia. Molten lava oozed and spewed from the pores of the earth, consuming some 2000 Nisga’a (pronounced nish-ga) people. And these days, in a delicately balanced shrine to those ancestors lost and a showcase of aboriginal entrepreneurialism, the Nisga’a people have created a self-drive tour to highlight the epic scenery, educate visitors about their proud aboriginal heritage, and create tourism employment for an oft forgotten demographic in Canada.

While the self drive tour is accessible year round, I highly recommend you avoid this as a winter outing. Late spring is best for flowers and the rebirth of a year. Summer is fabulous for sunshine. And autumn cannot be missed for the color changes. But winter? Not my cup of tea.

The easiest place to access this remarkably unique tour is from Terrace, British Columbia, the regional hub of the beleaguered economic area located just shy of 2 hours north of Vancouver by either of the two scheduled airlines. In your RV or car, drive northwest along the historic Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16). Terrace is approximately 7 hours drive northwest of Prince George, BC.

Stay overnight in Terrace. You will need a fresh start in the morning to be all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. The hotels in Terrace are your basic standard fare, none of which offer anything unique. Expect three star standard and nothing more. Ferry Island Municipal Campground (open May thru October) is my choice for an RV in Terrace. You can make Terrace your hub too. Plan day trips from this centralized location to ensure an easy pace. In future articles, I will guide you through daytrips to Prince Rupert, Kitimat, Stewart, and Smithers.

Picking up your rental the next morning will save you a few bucks. No sense in paying for a rental to sit in a hotel parking lot, is there? Take a taxi into the city ($15-$20), unwind, have a nap, check your camera gear (you remembered your camera, right?), grab a bite to eat at the independent restaurants such as Don Diego’s (Mexican fare) or Villa 46 (Mediterranean fare). Unfortunately there is no restaurant offering aboriginal cuisine in Terrace, an oversight not missed by my hungry eyes. You can walk just about anywhere in the city from your centrally located hotel. It’s one of the charms of Terrace and your reward is unique shopping at stores like Gemma’s Gifts or Spirit Bear Gallery, located across from each other on the 4600 block of Lakelse Avenue.

The self drive tour along the Nisga’a is anywhere between 4 and 9 hours, depending on the stops you make and the time you decide to spend at each of the 13 designated points of interest. Make a full day of it because you will encounter wildlife along the highway (perhaps even the rare elusive Kermode bear), be entranced by breathtaking scenery of mountains, water features, and forests, and you absolutely must make Vetter Falls your picnic stop. And that reminds me... go to Safeway’s sizable deli section, including a Starbucks kiosk, to assemble your picnic lunch as there are precious few opportunities during this self drive to purchase anything to nosh.

Driving northward on Highway 113, also known as the Nisga’a Highway, the windshield is perpetually filled with panoramic mountains and vistas beckoning you to drive further, explore more, and inhale. If you live and work in a concrete jungle, it is moments like these that propel you into a fantasy dream that will leave its mark on you forever. As privileged as I am to live in this area, I still crave this drive as a way to detach myself from the grind and to remind myself that I work to live, not live to work.

Each time I make this drive, I have a different experience. Of the thirteen official points of interest, I have four favourites that always seduce me. To me, stop number three (Crater Creek/Lax Mihl) is like a crop field of lava rock. And I can imagine how fertile the lava-infused soil underneath must be. The trees here in autumn beg to be painted, but not by my shaky hands. Bring your canvas and brushes if you are so inclined to capture this kaleidoscope of joy.

Vetter Falls /Ksiluuyim Agiiy is an unpretentious, quiet stop almost perfectly positioned along the highway to give your legs a stretch and be soothed by the flowing water. It is stop number 6 on the guide and I am hard pressed to think of a visit here that did not include at least one rainbow. Asylum, the worst guard dog in the world and my ever-present sidekick, loves it here too. Aside from its natural beauty, this is an unhurried exposure to the lava rock that remained after entombing the Nisga’a. You can touch it, walk on it, and almost imagine the havoc this pyre brought on an unsuspecting people two and a half centuries ago. Oh, don’t try to take any of it with you. It is considered a protected resource under law.

Moving further north, stop number 7 is the official visitor centre for the Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park. With a traditional Nisga’a longhouse and some basic camping facilities, the visitor centre features historic and cultural interpretive displays, artifacts, and provides guided volcano cone tours. You will definitely want to engage the local staff in conversation, something they are pleased to do. Unlike the larger, more famous provincial and federal parks in Canada, the Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park sees fewer than 5,000 visitors per year, which means they can spend the time with you to assist in making your visit special, unique, and memorable.

A short few minutes later takes you to my next favourite spot of New Aiyansh (pronounced eye-ansh)/Gitlaxt’aamiks, the cultural, economic, and political center of the Nisga’a people. The local gas station also serves as a convenience store. Restock your beverage and food requirements here.

From New Aiyansh, there are some options for further discovery. Head easterly to the Cranberry Connector, but don’t be fooled by the pleasant sounding name. This is a 55km dirt road, rife with potholes and peril that connects to Highway 37, also known as the Stewart-Cassiar Highway, which you can follow south and then west to form a looped drive down back to Terrace, or alternately, up to Stewart and onward to the Alaska Highway. The Cranberry Connector can be a rough ride that only camels, cattle, and horses should traverse. But in summer especially, it can also be another fantastic way to experience areas that few ever have, even in a car.

Heading back westerly from New Aiyansh, you can rejoin the highway to return to Terrace. Although this obviously takes you down the same highway from which you arrived, seeing this photogenic scenery from a reverse angle gives you an entirely new perspective of these majestic mountain views. If you continue west, rather than rejoining this highway, you will happen upon quaint aboriginal villages with traditional names you or I can never properly pronounce (such as Gingolx, Gitwinksihlkw, or Laxgalts’ap), but whose flavour you will not soon forget. Thankfully for me, they have Anglo names such as Kincolith, Canyon City, and Greenville.

Click HERE to have a bird’s eye view of the Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park area...

Click HERE to learn more about the Nisga’a people...

Click HERE for tourism information for Terrace...

Join me next time as we take a peek at Prince Rupert, another easy daytrip destination you can include in your visit to Terrace.

Getting to Terrace
Fly – Air Canada Jazz and Hawkair both have multiple scheduled daily flights year round departing from Vancouver, BC
Drive – Northwest on the historic Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16) approximately 7 hours northwest of Prince George, BC
Train – Via Rail from Edmonton, Alberta or Prince George, BC

Auto Rentals in Terrace – National Car Rental, Hertz Rentals, Budget Rent A Car, Dollar Rent A Car

About the Author
Curtis Sagmeister is self-described as a Photographer, Author, Poet, Songwriter, Student of Human Behavior, Community Activist, Social Commentator, Environmental Steward and Wage Slave. A number of his creative works have been published throughout the world and he recently launched his website HERE and a blog HERE

And That's My Take...(Adonis and Me)

2009-12-03T16:31:00.000-08:00

Despite never having posed nude or knowingly had a photograph taken paparazzi style of me in the nude, there seems to be a plethora of those encouraging me via email to order little blue pills, vacuum pumps, and other ancillary products to, ummm, stimulate growth of a certain part of my male anatomy.

I get several hundred of these types of emails every month. Do they know something I don’t? Did someone I spurn a decade ago write to tell all them e-mailers out there of our experience together? In my defence, it was cold that night. Honest.

Regardless of one’s appendage, I know of no man who does not outwardly portray he is the Adonis of all Adonises (if that is even a word). Inwardly, equally, no man has ever not quietly questioned if he is all that he could be either.

And you women are of no help. Articles appearing in magazines apparently in the know, tend to favour the “it’s-not-the-wand-it’s-the-magician” mantra, and yet the chatter in bathroom stalls and girls night out is all about the bulge. So what’s a guy to do?

Around the water cooler, there was nary a mention from colleagues experiencing this same fate, yet I wondered if behind those impersonal cubicles lurked hundreds of deleted, and perhaps a few opened emails sporting intriguing newly twisted “hard-not-to-open” subject lines. So I did the unthinkable. I wondered aloud.

Well, let me tell you, the audible and collective sigh of relief that permeated the four eggshell white walls strewn with forgettable low resolution copies of famous art could be heard worldwide through the very same internet that created this mass confusion in the first place. And not just from the guys. The gals, too, admitted that they, yes THEY, also received the same emails. Why didn’t they say anything to us guys? Why the secrecy? Why continue to let us privately stew in the pot of inadequacy?

One extremely handsome man I know (yes, I am borderline secure enough to know when another man is handsome) is as close to an Adonis as I can imagine. And he freely admitted receiving the same emails, his inbox also peppered with those “help-me-now-and-receive-a-percentage-of-the-rescued-money” emails that are always a scam, and almost always from Nigeria. Seems there are bunches and bunches of American funds tied up in Nigerian bank accounts that families of now deceased prominent citizens cannot access. I wish them well and am sorry for their loss, but I have bigger, or should I say, smaller, problems of my own to solve.

Intrigued by this admission from Adonis himself, I engaged him in some idle banter and we shared similar light hearted pokes at receiving these informative emails. We should send them thank you replies, we thought, for such enlightenment. Comparing email contents as though we were trading sports cards and swapping statistics in a childish “my-dad-can-beat-up-your-dad” debate, I felt the anvil being pulled from my shoulders. It felt good. Without closing my eyes (hey, one doesn’t want to appear rude in the privileged audience of such an iconic figure) I drifted into a sea of clouds, effortlessly elevated above all, standing atop the same pillar as Adonis. Me and Adonis. Adonis and me. We’re the same, I imagined.

The distinctive Microsoft sound byte alerted me to reality, interrupting what could possibly have been the single most restful night of sleep I have ever had while awake. A more succulent, albeit fleeting, moment nobody has ever had. Adonis swivelled his monitor for my viewing pleasure. “See?”, he decreed, “Here’s another one for ya. And look, this cream is something you lather on by hand. Supposed to work wonders”.

And with that, I arose from the government style faux chrome trimmed grey flannel looking fabric chair to return to my cubicle, whispering to myself, “It does”.

And that’s my take...

Free E Cards Available at Sagmeister.ca

2009-12-02T18:00:00.000-08:00

Curtis Sagmeister Photograpy Vision Art today launched the beginning of a series of free E Cards available at www.sagmeister.ca. To access the free E Cards, click on www.sagmeister.ca and then click on the FREE STUFF menu tab at the top of the page. You will find the E Card section about half way down the page.

Featuring original photographs of Curtis Sagmeister, initially four categories of free E Cards are available and they are Just Saying Hi, Newborn, Congratulations, and Insult.

Just Saying Hi is a collection of E Cards to keep in touch with friends and family, perhaps to cheer them up, put a smile on their face, or let them know what's going on in your life.

Newborn is a section devoted to congratulating new parents featuring baby animal photographs by Curtis Sagmeister.

Congratulations is a section that will include birthday, anniversary, and other congratulatory cards featuring photography by Curtis Sagmeister

Well, what can we say about Insult E Cards, other than sometimes one might feel like communicating a harsh message to someone. The first in this collection features a cactus and is intended to be sent to a male for being a, ummm, prick.

Sagmeister recently launched www.sagmeister.ca and will make an announcement within a few days about a number of his photographs being available for sale as posters through an online order process.

Stay tuned.

Click this link for Yahoo Games Membership discount

2009-12-01T16:49:00.000-08:00

Save 65% when you purchase the Platinum subscription plan at Yahoo! Games.

Click this link for eCampus

2009-12-01T16:28:00.001-08:00

Click this link for SKYPE for your Business

2009-12-01T16:02:00.000-08:00

Skype for Business

Sagmeister.ca featuring Photography by Curtis Sagmeister Launched Today

2009-11-29T19:46:00.001-08:00

It has been a long time coming, but finally Curtis Sagmeister officially launches his Photography and creative web site at www.sagmeister.ca.

Beginning as a showcase portfolio, www.sagmeister.ca will evolve into being a complete representation of the creative works of Curtis Sagmeister, including visual imaging; authorship of articles, short stories, poetry, and children's books; and music and song.

Said Sagmeister, "I have taken literally thousands of photographs and it seems it will take a lifetime to post the more marketable ones. There are less than 100 posted currently. All things in time".

Free Web Hosting for Non Profits

2009-11-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to offer free web hosting to small and medium sized Canadian registered charities in exchange for a charitable tax receipt.

Only a few minor conditions apply, so please contact me via email and we can get you hooked up quickly. What a great way to save a few bucks from your scrimpy budget.

Skeena Valley Model Railroad Association, Terrace BC

2009-11-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

Just as you approach downtown Terrace from the west, the Skeena Valley Model Railroad Association has their headquarters. Photo taken November 2009.

Article published on-line

2009-11-19T20:41:00.000-08:00

I am thrilled to announce that my article entitled And That's My Take...(The End of a Decade) has been published online by SelfGrowth.com.

It is the identical article you can read below, but it is kinda neat to see it also published by the likes of SelfGrowth.com.

I look forward to bringing you more of my ramblings in the future. Think of me as, oh I dunno, Andy Rooney, but without the massive paying network contract. :)

Self Portrait

2009-11-17T11:23:00.000-08:00

I was just waking up one morning when I had this overwhelming urge to take a self-image. I promise not to haunt you by doing it again.

RV'ing With Kids

2009-11-13T11:59:00.001-08:00

There is a great book out there that happens to be authored by a good friend of mine, Joan vanDolder. It's called RV'ing With Kids 12 Months A Year, and it's about, you guessed it, camping and rv'ing with the entire family year round. Tips, tricks, favorite spots, etc. It's a great read and you can purchase it through Amazon or at select Chapters locations, or directly from Joan.

Here is a link to Joan's blog. http://rvmom.blogspot.com/

And that's my take...(The End of a Decade)

2009-11-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

As we rapidly close in on the end of the first decade of the 21st century, I can't help but wonder what the future holds. Save for maybe the 60's, we have endured the most prolific decade of change in mankind's history.

For nearly all of us, it was the first, and will be the last, time we have bore witness to a new century. But all that hope and forethought would soon be shattered as the pillars of financial gluttony would tumble from the sky. From that day forth, seemingly every aspect of our lives changed.

We worry more. Hope less. Understand more. Understand less. It takes twice as long to travel anywhere with all the security. We can't even take enough shampoo for a week in our carry-on when flying. We think differently. We have felt the proverbial belt tightening as we cope with record job losses. Not even the scions of the corporate world were spared. Taxpayers are now in the business of writing insurance policies, manufacturing automobiles, and banking.

Our telephones are no longer a telephone. In fact, being a telephone is rather low on the list of their functions. Now we take photos, listen to music, watch movies, surf the net, discover information, and play games on these smart contraptions that happen to also be able to make a phone call. And it all fits in your shirt pocket.

Our human interaction has never been so low as it is currently. And by the time you have finished reading this, it will be even lower. And so on. With blogs, chat rooms, twitter, facebook, and the various other social media available, you and I never have to meet in person. All we need is the internet. Hell, we don't even need the internet...we just need our neighbor to have the wireless version of it and we can still access this invisible globe of information and activity. No wonder we understand each other less with each passing day.

And don't even get me started on pharmaceuticals. We have a pill for everything now. What ever happened to 'take two aspirins and call me in the morning'?

But what sadly is the most prominent change in mankind in the last decade has little to do with places, or things, or events. It has everything to do with our attitudes. We have become a society of unaccountable, narcissistic, and apathetic sloths, possessing little motivation to invest energies and integrity into personal leadership initiatives that will result in positive outcomes for others first, then for ourselves. We yearn for better, but shrug at opportunity. And perhaps more damaging, we demand more, but give less.

And that's my take...

Wildlife

2009-11-11T04:46:00.001-08:00

Bear and Timber Wolf.

There's something kinda freaky about that bear. Look at it. I spent close to half an hour with it and snapped maybe 100 photos. I cannot tell if it is a Black Bear or a Grizzly Bear. Depending on the angle I look at the photos, I seem to arrive at a different conclusion. Others I have shown this pic to agree that this one is an odd duck indeed. Mayhaps it is one of those cross-bred bears.

Strawberry Fields Forever

2009-11-11T04:44:00.001-08:00

I will have one of those....and those....and, ooo, that one RIGHT THERE. Yummy.

Tour de North Cops For Cancer 2008

2009-11-11T04:39:00.001-08:00

Somewhere amid these photos dwell images of me at the Tour de North Cops for Cancer Fundraiser in Terrace (2009). However, this snap is me at the finish line of the Tour de North Cops for Cancer Fundraiser in Prince Rupert the year before (2008).

I can honestly say that there is at least one cute person in this photo. And two cops. LOL.

Prince Rupert

2009-11-11T04:35:00.000-08:00

Top Photo - View of Prince Rupert from Mt. Hays.

Bottom Photo - Cargo ship at Prince Rupert. I kinda like this grey look.

Some Random Snaps

2009-11-11T04:27:00.000-08:00

Photos from the top down...

1. Umm, honestly officer, I really DO enjoy the handcuffs.

2. I never did like the color orange until I spotted this at the Great Falls Auto Show, Montana.

3. The Norwegian Star arrives in Prince Rupert (2008).

4. That lil blue man best get his glutus maximus in gear if he is expecting to outclimb that monster wave coming his way.

I'm Falling For You

2009-11-11T04:25:00.001-08:00

I could not resist snapping this photo in Montana, not far from the Canadian border. At this angle it appears the old wood structure is leaning perfectly into the quonset style building, fitting like the proverbial glove.

Eagles of Prince Rupert

2009-11-11T04:21:00.001-08:00

I dunno what it is about Prince Rupert, but the Bald Eagles just seem to love it there.

Brrrr. Looks very lonely and chilly

2009-11-10T23:51:00.000-08:00

I dunno about you, but this looks like one lonely and chilly paddle. I often wonder how this paddler would take a poop.