Let your voice be heard. Don’t keep it all inside. Send a letter to the editor…any and all editors. Post comments on Facebook groups pages and political blogging sites, sign petitions – do something!
Contrary to popular belief, it will make a difference – to you and your community. Let everyone know when you’ve been wronged or righted. It’s the only way to facilitate changes for the better. Even if it isn’t publishe
d in the newspaper, it’ll be off your chest and that in itself will provide some relief. You will also gain more confidence and won’t feel bullied – and that in itself will affect everything you do.
Alternatively, find a Facebook group or political blog with common goals and leave your comments. Use proper etiquette and respect other people’s opinions, because if you get over-zealous with your words, others will let you know. Sign petitions and add your personal supportive notation.
Also, television stations scan the Letter to the Editor section of newspapers daily to see if they are stories that should be told on a bigger scale.
MY PUBLISHED LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- September 13, 2016 Nanaimo New Bulletin
- March 30, 2015 Nanaimo News Bulletin
- December 17, 2014 Nanaimo News Bulletin
- November 27, 2014 Nanaimo News Bulletin
- March 12, 2014 Nanaimo News Bulletin
- January 20, 2014 Nanaimo News Bulletin
- July 18, 2013 Nanaimo News Bulletin
- Jul 26, 2012 Nanaimo News Bulletin
- Feb 4, 2011 Nanaimo Daily News
- Aug 3, 2010 Nanaimo News Bulletin
- Mar 18, 2010 Nanaimo News Bulletin
Here is a partial list of local newspaper editors in the Nanaimo and surrounding area – with some you can always try to sneak the truth in.
- editor@nanaimobulletin.com (edit to 250 word count)
- news@nanaimodailynews.com (edit to 200 word count)
- info@newswire.ca
- provletters@theprovince.com
- sunletters@vancouversun.com
- letters@timescolonist.com
- editor@thetyee.ca
- List of Canadian newspapers by province.
- List of Global newspapers.
A better society starts with family dynamic
Imagine the shock when you find out by accident searching the Internet that your son’s father had died nine months earlier by reading it in the obituary of his hometown newspaper.
For some people the thought of not being told that your only child’s father had died is enough to make you feel ill in the face of such heartless behaviour. One might well ask what kind of person would exude such disregard for humanity and you would be hard-pressed for an answer, because it is unconscionable to say the least.
Sadly, there is a man much loved by others in spite of his familial neglect who will never know his son, nor will he know his new granddaughter. Those blessings will remain with the ones who keep their hearts open to the love a child brings to a parent – estranged or not.
Furthermore, his DNA will live on through his offspring and that will keep his spirit alive to continue his legacy, especially when they look like him and share certain character traits – in spite of never meeting him.
City needn’t be so prudish
Body appreciation is harmless and body shaming is wrong.
There are those who would judge another’s chosen profession in the entertainment field of burlesque. Burlesque is an art: it celebrates the beauty of the human body – without discrimination. The word itself means satire or lampoon and in this context it’s a spoof on striptease – without full exposure.
These gals and guys work tirelessly with sets, routines, costumes, makeup, choreography and sound. They do all of this so we can be entertained by their passion to basically perform a song and dance in their underwear – it’s an act.
This genre is pure entertainment: cheeky, maybe, or racy for some, but harmless, and far from wrong.
Those who would berate burlesque performers need to look in the mirror and see if they can love their body at all. If not, I recommend a burlesque show over years of therapy.
We need to stand up to bullies
We read in some form of media about bullying at school and corporate bullying, but, do we ever notice when we are being bullied in our own home, workplace, business and even volunteer group?
Likely not, because it’s a different kind of bullying: it’s prejudice. Some think their rights are more important to the point of causing great discomfort and injustice to others. We are all capable of abiding by the same peace-serving rules, except some individuals change the ones that don’t suit them because their way is the only way.
To others adversely affected by this narcissism it becomes a point of contention and action: become a doormat, complain to a higher level or confront the individual. Some will do the former, but that does not stop the bullying; it actually validates and perpetuates the bully way of life, as do the bully supporters you complain to that tell you to ‘Put Up & Shut Up’.
I learned the hard way how unhealthy the doormat demeanour is when it comes to personal and spiritual freedoms and although complaining can label one a trouble maker and confrontation can be sickeningly uncomfortable – I take those freedoms very seriously.
Tar sands, Ebola share similarities
As in every battle, our war with deadly killers such as the tar sands and Ebola is perfect breeding ground for profiteering and corruption stemming from hyena-type gluttony.
Although the tar sands and the Ebola outbreak source are half a world away from each other, the impact they have on humanity share many similarities.
The first and primary similarity being, they would not be happening today if it were not for the unscrupulous, the shameless, and the downright inhumane nature of certain government-level individuals.
Second, the secrets that were kept from the public exacerbated the destructive element of these horrors to the brink of global disaster, of which we are still under threat.
Third, the onus is on everyone to be aware of the goings on in a world where one day everything appears fine and the next, you can die from Ebola or the fallout from tar sands exploitation – no matter where you live on this planet.
So, I challenge all the ostriches to pull their head out of it, because this is the kind of politics indifference and apathy get you.
Pipeline propaganda abuses airwaves
Stop with the pipeline ads before I scream!
“If I see or hear another advertisement about a pipeline I will scream,” is what I said to myself last week and now I’m hoarse.
These oil companies are pushing this pipeline propaganda like a drug dealer pushes crack, with full knowledge they are dangerous to our health – this is why it is being ‘pushed.’
On top of that, strategically and immediately following those ads are the ones touting federal government programs, which is unnecessary and unjustifiably costly to Canadian citizens.
We are bombarded to the point of having to quickly turn the radio off, change the channel or leave a web page. This is nothing short of disrespect to viewers and listeners, but even more so, it is outrageous abuse of our airways and cyberspace and there should be laws against it.
What’s really infuriating is those pipeline ads show me what we will be losing if a pipeline is allowed to go through and reminds me how disrespected we are by both our government and the oil companies.
Policies making people sick
Our government is making us sick.
Between the hot water extraction of oil sands, water fracturing for natural gas, the destruction of riparian zones and deadly industrial fertilizers used in reforestation with logging in our watersheds, and the international companies siphoning water from our aquifers to sell it back to us in plastic bottles, where does our health come in?
Apparently our government forgot to factor in the importance of water to the life of the human being as well as the environment. That’s not to mention the carcinogenic and toxic chemicals involved in these processes and the byproducts of which that is poured back into our environment.
So what does our government do with our tax dollars? They suck more out of our ailing medical system to support these industries that are making us sick in the first place and force us to pay more out of pocket to regain our health. If that isn’t reptilian thinking I don’t what is, because logic and science both say this is lame limbic thinking at best.
We don’t need to be activists per se, but we do need to be active as individuals to put government back in its place, because what they do directly affects us.
Canadians must demand democracy
Canada’s political system is a democratic one, which means the people have the supreme power. Under this democratic system we elect ‘agents of the people’ and not ‘leaders’, as would be under a dictatorship.
However, somewhere along our democratic way, we have been misrepresented; we are no longer able to have our voice heard above the din of dictatorial drivel.
As Canadians, we have a duty to inform ourselves on the important issues that affect us: individually, provincially, and as a nation.
Politics is not scary, but what is happening to it is; it’s unconstitutional and it’s hurting us!
So, if you think there is nothing you can do, you’re wrong: you can pay attention to current issues, do some research to get the facts and see where the greater good might be. Then, you can voice your observation or support a voice to be a cause that will affect that greater good.
A few current causes for democracy are: Bike Ride for Democracy, Council of Canadians and Sheep Talk, a cartoon that brings awareness to many issues.
Come back to your politics,Canada – demand democracy and make it your Canada
Oil companies running Canada
We need to give each other a really good pinch, so we can all wake up from Stephen Harper’s nightmare.
The surreal dream we are living is the reality formed from the collective mind of the petroleum industry in Alberta.
This is beyond a corporate takeover, this is a self-coup with Harper as the face of a corporate agenda backed by the oil industry’s dollars.
We don’t have to watch the news with its depressing turmoil that makes it seem like the world is falling apart, but we can view non-partisan websites to keep informed on what our government is doing and who is backing them.
And politics is not a swear word. Even though we often don’t like to talk about it, talk about it we must if we are going to regain control of our country from the clenches of a desperate, outdated petroleum industry.
We must stand up to government over HST
Did you say ‘NO to HST’ like I did? The imposed HST is the tip of the deceptive iceberg of our reptilian government whose methods are dictatorial: dismissive of the people; ignorant of the core purpose of government; destructive of basic life and familial protective services; self-serving with our money; and arrogant to boot.
We can stop this dictatorship by standing our ground on important issues without anger or frustration. We said NO to HST already and no amount of further trickery or bullying will make us say YES. The government is counting on us to be wishy-washy mindless sheep who will forget about the HST and the fact that we stood up for ourselves.
The HST is a prison where we will be ‘locked in’ to the GST – a tax we can walk away from with the right party. It is a win-lose situation where the corporations win and the consumers lose their hard-earned dollars. The only win-win is a single fair Provincial Tax for everyone and to stop paying GST to Ottawa for services that don’t serve us.
Let us think for ourselves and stand by our decisions when intelligence guides us. Otherwise, someone else is thinking for us – and that leaves us poor and powerless.
Patients wait in pain for medical solution
How bad is health care in BC? It is so bad that you can get bumped from surgery the day before it’s due – even when it’s emergency surgery. That’s the true picture of the internal workings from inside our government’s ‘band-aid legislation’ towards basic human life services that created our health care system. This kind of ‘duct tape health care’ that taxpayers have literally broken their backs for will not allow those backs to be fixed. It thus follows that this same system that we strive to maintain will find our children wanting when their backs are broken, too.
The arrogant disregard for a basic quality of life that this government has for the people is beyond appalling – it is mismanagement at its worst, bordering on criminal neglect. The wonderful health care system that we have been touting to the world simply doesn’t exist, except in our dreams and broken campaign promises.
The saddest part is that there are many people who have been in chronic pain for years and the hospitals won’t open the operating rooms. At the same time, the emergency room is a virtual bottle-neck of all kinds of sick and injured people waiting hours only to leave with a prescription in one hand and a campaign promise in the other.
As a parent, I want to ensure to best of my ability that the cornerstone of health care will support a foundation that my child can count on to keep him healthy when he gets to be my age. I used to think that I was covered by a great health care system, but am now finding that I have been naïve to the point of delusional since I have been struggling with chronic pain for nineteen months with nary a glimmer of hope to be free from it. I normally live a pretty health life style by walking one to two miles a day to maintain optimum health and use quantum biofeedback therapy as a further prevention tool for disease. I would never have considered that a herniated disc would be so crippling of an injury and the wait so long until it could be fixed with all of these fine resources at my disposal.
Through this ordeal I’ve learned a lot about what is really going on with health care in my community, as well as other government services– and it looks like I have a lot more work to do to find an intelligent government that can handle the job properly. Yep, I’ll get right on that – when my back is fixed.
Premier overstayed welcome
Gordon Campbell…You’re Fired.
Your services in the current position of the Premier of British Columbia are no longer required. I’m sure you know the reasons for the termination of your employment, but in case you are as far removed from reality as you are to the taxpaying people of BC who employ you, I will make them clear.
For one, you have failed to provide the services you promised when we hired you, beginning with your first duty in managing the province’s finances. Rather than being wealth-oriented, you have shown yourself to be incapable of managing our money to the point of instilling outrageous cutbacks to our life-basic health and child care providers, selling off our precious resources and extorting from organizations that are the very foundation of our infrastructure…to name a few.
For two, you have wasted more time and money by starting new and idiotic ways to extort more money from us. By the way, I know these stupid ideas are for the most part a distraction so you can conspire in some other underhanded scheme that won’t be exposed until it’s too late and that is the type of activity that is going to stop.
Going for three, the lazy people and the whiners do not pay your salary, the taxpayers do, which means that you work for us and not the other way around as you like to see it…we are not here to serve you or pay your ‘gambling with our money’ debts.
So, Gordon Campbell. Leave the truth about your past underhanded schemes on the desk when you go and take your co-conspirators with you, because they will be exposed eventually, too.