Be Lived on Searchlight 2019

What is Searchlight?

"Searchlight is CBC Music’s long-running hunt for Canada’s undiscovered musical talent, judged by a combination of audience voting and a panel of celebrity judges, who represent a cross-section of the best that the Canadian music industry has to offer."

Leah Hokanson has entered her song "Be Lived"

If you go to the link, go to "Artists" and then put Leah Hokanson in the field ... it will take you to the image of her album cover and the song itself so you can hear it.

A music and sound explorer, with 30 years experience as a vocalist, pianist, conductor, teacher and facilitator, Leah has recently released her first CD. The cover is titled "Be Lived" - an excellent piece of advice for living, which you can play from the website.

Leah's music is rousing, reflective, inspirational and meditational. She has a deep resonance of compassion in her voice and the way she leads the choir. I have learned how healing music can be with insightful, professionals like Leah. Her CD is titled Facets and you can order it from her website.

Torturing Youth is Okay with us?

“More than two-thirds of Canadians feel Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the wrong choice in awarding a $10.5 million settlement to Omar Khadr, according to a new poll by the Angus Reid Institute.” CBC News

But we don’t see the survey questions in this article. How was the poll actually worded? Reading one article might make us believe we are well informed, but how does a single poll actually tell us how people feel?  

“And while the survey shows that a majority of Liberals and New Democrats are opposed to the government's decision, how the numbers compare to previous polling suggests that views on Khadr have hardened over the last decade — and that he remains a divisive figure.”

How can a single poll tell whether Khadr is a divisive figure or not? What information do respondents have to make such a claim? 

The article then switches to a former US special force soldier who was blinded in one eye during the 2002 firefight in Afghanistan involving Khadr.  Of course he would be critical of this, but who needs a US soldier’s advice on a decision between Canada and Khadr. Why would we expect the widow of Sgt. Christopher Speer who was killed in that battle to agree either? 

The article claims 71% of respondents agreed the government had "done the wrong thing".  "Though Khadr has publicly renounced the radicalized worldview of his father, almost two-in-three Canadians (64%) don’t appear to believe him." says the ARI article. What information do they have to believe or disbelieve? What news sources do they get their information from? Who paid for the Angus Reid Poll? 

How would these respondents feel if their son or daughter was imprisoned and tortured at the age of 15? How would they feel if their government did nothing to help for ten years and left them there to be interrogated by a formidable power?

But here is the reason I suspect this CBC article was written. "This disapproval with the government's decision extended to Trudeau's own supporters: 61 per cent of Canadians who said they voted Liberal in 2015 felt that the wrong decision had been made. That increased to 64 per cent among NDP voters.”

This article is much more about a Conservative push to win public opinion with help from a single poll and media.   Andrew Sheer was quoted here almost as a wink that we can expect him to be the next prime minister.

The article claims the “poll suggests Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, in his fierce criticism of Trudeau's decision to settle with Khadr, is on the right side of public opinion.”

I don't believe a single poll represents public opinion in a deep and meaningful way. I believe we feel more comfortable when justice is done. We would probably be sickened to see or hear of the cruelty that happens in prisons and battlefields. We value kindness and helpful neighbours, but we haven't figured out how to create that politically and economically. 

Naomi Klein and The Future of The World

Activist and author "Naomi Klein argues in her new book No Is Not Enough: Resisting the New Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need that we should have been expecting someone like [Trump]."

Anna Maria Tremonti's interview with Naomi Klein is something we, who care about life on this planet, need to listen to. We need to think about strategies of resistance rather than reacting to every crisis being broadcast.

Humanity - a Post Mortem Audit?

"The immersive and inescapable way children and teens are exposed to violence in their "media diet" on social media apps, video games and movies can make them more aggressive and fearful, the American Academy of Pediatrics says in a new policy statement." CBC.CA 

There is no doubt in my mind that a diet of violent entertainment disturbs my equilibrium. Even though I am a senior and have many years experience of living in a reciprocal community, TV dramas make me feel insecure on a vague, semi-conscious level. 

Children and teens have not yet developed their own survival skills and independence, so they are vulnerable to  messages wherever they come from.  

Also there is very little in the media that doesn't "bleed" and there are very few examples of people solving real problems. 

Have we become unconscious of how we internalize the messages that we know intellectually are fiction? The fast moving narrative of violence everywhere? After the music, images and high drama does it make hope of any kind seem naive?

I have just watched a brief interview of a gun toting white man (CBC.ca) who will vote for Donald Trump because he believes the government is corrupt.  He sees his role as protecting the innocent. Has he got his worldview from television where the dots are rarely connected, and facts don't count?  

How will Trump make things better? What would he contribute to society? According to reports, he prides himself on not paying taxes because he feels that government is a waste of money. He has power and influence because his father had good connections, lots of money and was able to influence officials.  He has the key of wealth and celebrity, and that's where (we have been lead to believe) power lies.  

The first and most dangerous violence is the notion we are isolated egos, which means we have no agency within a conscious society and makes us slaves to whatever ideology has the most funding. 

We have elected through cynicism and intellectual laziness to let the chips fall where they may.  We are losing our sanity, our integrity and our civil society. What creature will outlive us if we forget what it means to be human?

Forward Civilizations

Just because those who promise to single-handedly save the world turn out to be fascist dictators, does not mean the goal of social justice is not worthy, nor that we are absolved of the responsibility to work for the greater good.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in his book "Not in God's Name" looks into the phenomena of killing for the sake of religion and religious extremism.  While some believe that we have to get rid of religion because of this Sacks puts the blame not in religious tradition but in the human heart - which he points out, is the most deadly weapon of mass destruction.

While I haven't read the book I did listen to the whole hour of  Tapestry when Sacks was interviewed. I was taken by his expressed reverence for life, by his tolerance of different view points including atheism.

As a scholar he is able to articulate the ages where humanity left God and pursued "the will to power". He pointed out that although we live in nature we have evolved to a consciousness of our effect on nature. Therefore power cannot be separated from responsibility without us losing our humanity?  Is this what Sacks means by our relationship to God? It's probably deeper than my interpretation.

I tend to see religion as having been misused to preach the supremacy of an institution, a race, a gender. When a religion becomes a mass movement the ruling elite re-interpret the doctrine in favour of consolidating their own power and their position. In listening to Sacks I understood that this misrepresentation is mostly due to our human tendency to put our selves into the centre of all things.

All stories are about how the narrator views him or herself as the interlocutor of meaning, and the many ways in which they are tripped up, thrown off their path of righteousness.  However, it is too late to interview Abraham, Jesus or Muhammad, so we have to find the wisdom in our doubts and experiences, to retrieve meaning.  The thing is we are so often wrong, we are limited, and our views must be fed with new information and examined. And what about God? 

I think the key point in Rabbi Sacks' interview is that we are in relationship to a higher power. God does not control me because I have free will, therefore anything I choose to do can be for the good of this planet and my community but I cannot claim to know what God thinks.

A way in which we might move beyond our own obsession with power is to understand that life and truth is beyond the time and place our small lives inhabit.  The clamor of extremism and a shallow fundamentalism is due to the arrogance of our species to think we have the hotline to the universe.

Religions who preach chauvinism of any kind pander to the vanity and fears of its congregation and so remove us from the whole story. Ideology that demands obedience to a certain doctrine cuts off our dialogue with the unfolding universe.

Our task is to be human, to think, to feel, to speak, to listen, and to love life, even though we don't know the outcome or the ending. Does this mean we can't help but create stories on the beginning and the end as all religions do?

Meet the Cop Who Cut the Murder Rate in Glasgow

Michael Enright of CBC talks to Karyn McCluskey

Karyn McCluskey brought in a program that reduced the murder rate in Glasgow from 71 in 2002 to 14 in 2015.

Her focus was on how to prevent crime by getting involved with families in crisis rather than wait until their youth fall into the habits of crime. The results have been astonishing and yet this has hardly been reported in mainstream media.

Why would that be? Who chooses media policy? Are publishers scared to publish stories about social issues that indicate we have policy options?

McCluskey and Enright focused on causes - the lack of male guidance in the lives of youth at risk, and grinding poverty.

Missing and Murdered Women in Canada

CBC has a page documenting all the murdered and missing Aboriginal Women since the 1950's. Every decade, apart from the last sees more women murdered or missing. The highest counts are west of Saskatchewan with British Columbia having the highest.

What do we know of these provinces? They are governed by conservative parties that are pro-business. They are resource driven economies. Is there a link between these and racism? Does the kind of economy define the social attitudes?

First Nations hold final 'healing walk' in oilsands

"For the fifth year straight, we will smell the crude oil and toxic plumes, especially if the wind 

pushes back south. Some walkers, as in past years, will be forced to stop walking due to 

breathing difficulties or bloody noses.  We will walk at ground zero of the oilands, surrounded 

by vast oil sands mines."


By Eriel Deranger, Melina Laboucan-Massimo, for CBC News Posted: Jun 27, 2014 10:41 

AM ET


Read the full article here

Free CBC of political interference

taken from MP Profile

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your email about the Conservative government’s plans to take control of the CBC’s operating budget. I agree that the CBC must remain an impartial and independent body.

Bill C-60, the Budget Implementation Act. 1, tabled last week, states that the Conservatives may interfere in the bargaining process of the CBC, a Crown corporation that has been independent for 80 years. They will now be able to dictate the wage conditions of journalists whose job it is to monitor the government.

As well, Bill C-461, An Act to amend the Access to Information Act and Privacy Act (disclosure of information), currently before Parliament, is a direct attack on the independence of the CBC and journalistic sources.

In Reporters Without Borders’ (RWB) latest Press Freedom Index, Canada has sadly fallen from 10th to 20th place. This report states that Canada is now behind Costa Rica, Namibia, Andorra and Liechtenstein. The RWB has blamed the Conservative government’s actions and their incessant attacks on the journalistic principle of anonymous sources for this slip in the rankings.

For your information, the NDP has tabled a proposal for splitting the Budget Implementation Bill (C-60). Here is what we proposed:
e) clauses 228 to 232 related to the Financial Administration Act and collective bargaining between Crown corporations and their employees;
….that the clauses mentioned in section e) of this motion do compose Bill C-65; that Bill C-65 be deemed read a first time and be printed; that the order for second reading of the said bill provide for the referral to the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates;
that Bill C-60 retain the status on the Order Paper that it had prior to the adoption of this Order; that Bill C-60 be reprinted as amended; and that the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel be authorized to make any technical changes or corrections as may be necessary to give effect to this motion.”

I want to assure you, my New Democratic colleagues and I will continue to defend the independence of the CBC. Thank you again for your email on this issue.

All the best,

Jean Crowder, MP

Nanaimo-Cowichan

Jean Crowder defends funding for the CBC

Below is a message from Jean Crowder, sent in response to my letter regarding the funding of CBC. Re-printed here with permission:

Good Morning,

Thank you for your recent correspondence concerning the future of CBC/Radio-Canada, and for your continued advocacy on behalf of a vigorous public broadcasting system. Heritage Minister James Moore’s recent musings about a 5% cut to CBC/Radio-Canada’s total budget represent the latest in a series of statements and actions which confirm his government’s ambivalence to public broadcasting.

In contrast, my New Democrat colleagues and I believe strongly in the importance of public broadcasting to help promote Canada's cultural identity and linguistic and regional diversity, both at home and abroad. Today’s unprecedented deficit may not permit immediate large-scale funding increases, but my colleagues and I are committed to provide stable, long-term funding for CBC/Radio-Canada, and to depoliticize the funding process by making permanent the Corporation’s annual funding allocation.

CBC/Radio-Canada took action to address a persistent deficit in 2008/09, reducing overhead costs by $171 Million – an ambitious voluntary reduction in excess of 10% of the Corporation’s annual operating budget. Even before this display of fiscal accountability, per capita spending on CBC/Radio-Canada lagged far behind that in other developed nations. For instance, the UK spent over $124 CAD per citizen on the BBC, while France’s public broadcaster received $77. In contrast, CBC/Radio-Canada’s allocation of $33 per Canadian is woefully inadequate.

My colleagues and I have proposed the following plan to enable CBC/Radio-Canada to strengthen critical components of its operations:

· Strengthening accessible local news service in rural Canada, vigorous regional programming and minority language broadcasting

· Revitalizing infrastructure to compete in the media marketplace of the 21st century

· Supporting the expanded production of compelling original Canadian content, and

· Continuing efforts to ensure transparency and fiscal accountability to taxpayers.

 As we move into the new session of Parliament, the New Democrats will redouble our efforts to protect and build upon the legacy of this important Canadian institution.

 You may be interested in a recent petition I presented to the House on September 28, 2011 :

 Mr. Speaker, the second petition has to do with the CBC.

The petitioners say they love the CBC and call on the Prime Minister to reaffirm the importance of the national public broadcaster.

Further, they call on the Prime Minister to provide the CBC with adequate financing by raising the CBC's parliamentary grant from the current levels to $40 for every citizen, in keeping with the recent recommendations of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.

 Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with me. With your continued support, we can ensure that when CBC/Radio-Canada celebrates its centenary in 2036, it remains the strong, vigorous and dynamic national institution Canadians overwhelmingly want it to be.

 Sincerely,

Jean Crowder, MP Nanaimo-Cowichan
101-126 Ingram St., Duncan, BC, V9L 1P1

www.jeancrowder.ca