The Oppenheimer Reort 10/29/18

A pre-emptive Happy Halloween to all my readers! I’ve always liked Halloween, because it inspires creativity. Are you donning, or have you donned a costume this year? I love the transformation of the self that takes place during Halloween costume parties. Normally mild-mannered, reticent people become their costumed persona. Add a little alcohol to the equation, and the results can be hilarious. The sum and total of my Halloween involvement this year was to buy a tube of fake blood from Dollarama for my annual disturbing Halloween selfie, and to resurrect last year’s Halloween decoration outside our house. Seated on one of the Muskoka chairs outside our front door is a scarecrow-like body, stuffed with leaves and bearing an orange plastic jack-o-lantern head, also courtesy of Dollarama. I know I have dissed the amateurs who do their last minute Halloween shopping at the dollar store, but there’s nothing wrong with doing something creative with props purchased at the dollar store.

Lots of people decorate their houses for Christmas; some put up enough lights to create blackouts in their neighborhood, but a lot of people decorate their houses for Halloween as well. Steve Spencer, a volunteer at Hunters Bay Radio who hosts the radio show Spirit Of Radio, and who is responsible for creating our new and improved website, gets serious about his “Holiday Haunt”. I completely get this. Today I Googled “Best Decorated Halloween Houses” and saw some great examples. Just across the street from the Hunter’s Bay Radio station, there is a wonderful Halloween display, complete with moving blowup ghosts. 

All of the nut balls seem to be coming out of the woodwork. Last week, there were two disturbing attacks in America by people who seem to have been incited by the Orange Emperor. Nut ball #1 is Florida resident and lone wolf Cesar Sayoc, who mailed out 14 pipe bombs to people or organizations (including CNN studios in NYC) he considered to be enemies of his beloved Rump. Posted on his van was a collage of anti-media/pro-Trump images, along with Rump targets bearing crosshair graphics covering their faces.  While no one was injured by his stupid hate-filled act of violence, his actions could have killed or maimed a lot of unintended victims. Law enforcement had Sayoc in custody within 24 hours, a remarkable accomplishment, but I fear that Rump’s venomous rhetoric has opened a Pandora’s Box of hatred. Last week, 11 victims were murdered at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, when an anti-Semitic gunman opened fire during Saturday services.  

I don’t hate Donald Trump, but I certainly hate the evil he has unleashed through his ignorance and irresponsability. Maybe these attacks would have happened under the leadership of a decent human being, there are after all a lot of mentally ill people out there, but Rump’s rabble-rousing campaign rallies, designed to energize his increasingly unbalanced base, have clearly thrown gas on the fire. This is the opposite of leadership; this S.O.B. makes Joe McCarthy look like a choir boy.  I realize that the political status quo has sparked this outrage, and that there is plenty of blame to go around with regard to Washington's failure to solve the big problems of our country. But, Americans elected a liar, a bully, and a fraud, who routinely spreads hatred through his insanely irresponsible rhetoric, and it should be fairly clear by now that he will not solve our problems. If there is any good that will come out of this mess, it is that Rump has exposed how broken we really are. This one man has singlehandedly unraveled the myth that so many of us still buy into: that America is a beautiful tapestry of different races and creeds, united under one flag. 

One final question ... who’s dressing up as Pandora’s Box for Halloween this year?

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2018 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The Oppenheimer Report 10/22/18

Last week, weed was legalized across Canada, and for many Canadians this is a monumental change.  I've never lived any place before where it is legal to possess and smoke pot in a public place. According to the news, The Federal Government legalized pot in order to eliminate the black market and to make it harder for minors to procure. I’m not exactly sure how that will work, because it has never been particularly hard for minors to find weed. I very much doubt that the black market will disappear simply because the government has decided to tax and legally dispense marijuana. Minors will find ways to buy weed the same way I found a way to drink beer when I was under-aged. In Quebec, the newly elected, and some would argue “Rump-like” Premier, Francois Legault, is planning to make 21 the legal age for smoking pot and I think that will virtually ensure that younger pot smokers turn to the black market. As well, there seems to be a greater demand than the government anticipated. In Ontario, where there will be no actual pot stores for about six months, the only way to buy legal weed is online. With the looming postal strike, how do you think that is going to work?  On top of this, there are widespread reports that demand is far outweighing supply, with many legal sources out of stock for many items. 

Certainly, a major concern with the legalization of marijuana, and one of the things which is on the minds of many responsible citizens, is the issue of impaired driving. At present I don't think there is an enforcable test for whether a person is legally impaired by the effects of THC, but I’m sure that test will soon be available to police. There is growing concerned that more drivers will be driving stoned now that pot has been legalized. I think there were a lot of people driving stoned before it was legalized. Is this as big a concern as the issue of people driving under the influence of alcohol, I don’t know. There is evidence that driving stoned decreases reaction times. Impaired driving is impaired driving. Also of concern is the effect of smoking weed on the developing mind. No problem here, mine never did develop.

My main beef with the legalization of marijuana is that, at least in Ontario, I can't find any CBD products.  I'm particularly interested in the non-intoxicating CBD, because there is evidence it may be a healthier choice for pain relief. As well, CBD may also improve sleep quality and reduce anxiety, so it is particularly maddening that the most medicinal component to legal marijuana is still not legally available. What is up with that? I find it ironic that, in a country with socialized health care, there is currently no legal way to buy CBD or edible marijuana products. Let's sell the intoxicant but not the medicinal weed. And oh yes, if you use our product, you have to smoke it. 

Generally, I think it makes common sense to decriminalize pot. It would be wonderful if the government could somehow manage the proper and responsible use of this drug by legalizing it, but I don’t see this happening anytime soon. Regarding health concerns, the people who have always smoked weed will continue to do so, and they will likely find a way around the government rules if the government does not do a better job of offering it. In my opinion, they have not done so yet.

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2018 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The Oppenheimer Report 10/15/18

Today, winter is definitely in the air, and this first cold, damp day of fall always knocks the wind out of my sails. Looking at the angry lake, and my boat bobbing up and down at the dock, I realize that the time has come for me to put it away for the season. Every year I experience the same denial. Seems like just yesterday I was dropping the retractable dock for the summer season. In fact, I didn’t get out on the boat all that much this season. There was an ongoing electrical problem with the motor which caused it to keep running after it was turned off, sometimes for fifteen or twenty minutes. This was a new motor, allegedly under warranty, but my marina could not figure out the problem. We swapped out three key switches and still the problem kept resurfacing. To complicate matters, my marina gave up their Evinrude dealership during the time when I had the ongoing problem. I eventually ended up having it repaired in Huntsville, but the season here is too short for motor problems. I’m still fighting with BRP to acknowledge that this problem was never fixed during the warranty period, even though the issue was well documented. The boat went in the water in July, and now, quite suddenly, it’s October. In the twenty-five years I’d owned the previous motor (a Yamaha), I never had one issue. Guess they don’t make ‘em the way they used to.

There was a local news story today which caused some controversy on the Hunters Bay Radio Facebook page. A car drove over a fifty-foot cliff at an elevated lookout overlooking Huntsville, and HBR posted a photo of the wrecked vehicle. Shortly thereafter, a comment was posted under the photo, suggesting that the photo was in poor taste and that it was not appropriate coverage for a community radio station. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Still, the comment sparked a lot of debate about what is appropriate news to cover, and I found myself a little perplexed. I know it’s sensationalistic, and perhaps it's even grisly, but come on! In a small town, when someone drives a car with passengers over a fifty foot cliff, after pushing a boulder out of the way with the car to do so, dangling off the cliff for a period of time before plunging fifty feet to the ground below; well, I think that is newsworthy. And yes, I'd like to see what happened. It doesn't mean I revel in someone else's misfortune, but are we not exposed to horrible news every day?

Saudi royalty ordered a hit on disruptive Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and got caught by the world doing it. Now they're trying to spin it as an interrogation gone bad but nobody's buying it. The world is indignant, including Canada, but so far no one is tearing up any lucrative military contracts. No sooner did Hurricane Florence hammer the Carolinas, then Hurricane Michael whips up into a Cat 4 hurricane, wipes the Florida Panhandle clean, and we’re off to the races again. Speaking of horrible things I don’t need to see on a screen (but probably will someday); I am certain that, sooner or later, some hurricane-chasing newscaster will get flattened by a piece of flying debris on air and carried off into a roiling sea. I am also certain it will be watched by tens of millions of people. Sadly, that's just how it is, if you are remotely connected to social media or television, or just the world around you, you are going to see things you wish you hadn't. You can turn away if you so chose. But, when I see the controversy over a possibly inappropriate photograph, posted on a community radio Facebook page, I want to tell the dissenter, I think maybe the Good Ship Indignation has sailed. Know what I mean? You're barking up the wrong tree with both oars out of the water, and you didn't look before you leaped.

The Oppenheimer Report 10/8/18

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends. As I write this report, I am sitting out on our front porch off our bedroom, overlooking the lake, and a heavy rainfall has just drenched the property. The fall air is damp and cold, and I can smell wood smoke from a neighbor’s fire. That smell rekindles memories of places and people I have known. I am reminded of a fraternity expedition into the woods of Connecticut to cut firewood for the winter. I remember the smell of the damp dead leaves, the muted palette of a hundred earth tones surrounding me; the smells of fall. I remember laughter, and the sound of chainsaws, and my friend’s enormous ’68 Plymouth Belvedere with its big block V8, so full of logs that the back end was practically dragging on the ground. We used to joke about that car being the perfect mob vehicle because there was so much room for bodies in the trunk.

Today is also my 63^rd birthday, and I have much for which to be thankful. I’m still alive, for starters. The other day I posted a photo I took in the Porta-Bote as I putted up the Magnetawan River after picking up the mail. There won’t be too many more of those trips this season, and I felt blessed to have seized the day. It was late afternoon, and as the sun peeked through a canopy of pines, lighting up the multi-colored maple leaves on the opposite bank, I had one of those elusive moments of pure peace. For just one instant, I was mindful of the paradise in which I live, of the natural beauty which has become harder and harder for me to see. If I could only find a way to be more invested in the moment, and nullify all the misunderstanding and divisiveness that I can’t seem to outrun. All the drama, the trauma, the blame, the tragedy, the misogyny, the words that are derogatory, the spin, the sin, the divisiveness, the broken promises, the omnipresent hatred and misunderstanding; the losing battle to control or defeat the very elements which are uncontrollable – it all just drifted away in the snap of a cell phone photo. Sadly, I don’t reside in this peaceful moment often. I have the photo to remind me.

For what am I thankful? Let me see. I am thankful for my family, for the four wonderful parents (one still with us) who guided me through the first six decades of my life, for my remarkable, beautiful wife, who daily reminds me to chose love over hate, for all my good friends who have so far infused my soul with their complicated and beautiful personalities, and who continue to teach me by their examples. I am thankful for human kindness wherever it is found, and for the people who recognize and practice it in their everyday lives. I am thankful for all the trees, presently ablaze with color, some which we, or people we love, planted, and which remind me of the swift passage of time. I am thankful for the color blue in all its hues, for the key of D, for the chickadees who so boldly land on our window ledge in every kind of weather looking for food; for all the other birds I have lately come to admire, including but not limited to: blue jays, grey jays, nuthatches, crows, grosbeaks, owls, and eagles. I am thankful for the chipmunks, squirrels, groundhogs, porcupines, weasels, fox, beaver, moose, deer, bear, raccoons, etc.that live here with us. I am thankful for music in its rich array of styles, and for its capacity to unite unlike minds. I am thankful for my ability to communicate.  

Most of all, I am thankful for the flickering but ever-strengthening realization that I am not on this planet to hurt anyone or anything else. I am thankful for times when I am mindful I do, and for my efforts to correct that behavior. I am thankful that, for the first time in over sixty years, I am beginning to love myself, and am therefore more likely to pass that love along. Finally, I am thankful for the occasional realization that most of what happens around me is out of my control. I can only work to keep lit the flickering flame of love within me and hope that it will illuminate the dream of a peaceful future when I am gone. Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2018 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The Oppenheimer Report 10/1/18

I watched the season opener for Saturday Night Live last weekend, and I thought the opening skit was pretty funny; well, as funny as it could be, given the subject matter. For those who didn’t see it, the skit was about the recent appointment hearings for Brett Kavanaugh, and it lampooned the circus, the hypocrisy, and the political divisiveness which has characterized those hearings. More specifically, the skit was about the very recent testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who claims that Judge Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when the two of them were teenagers.

I don’t know who’s wrong or right in this circus of spin, but it is quite clear where the liberal-leaning SNL writers stand on the issue. My uneducated guess on the outcome of this appointment is that, after the week is up, and the FBI has done their restricted investigation of Dr. Ford’s allegations, Kavanaugh will squeak through. Politics aside, the ability to confirm an accusation that happened so many years ago is next to impossible. Sadly, I believe Dr. Ford, and I do not, as some suggest, believe that her motivation in coming forward was political.  That said, her traumatic assault was politicized and, as has been suggested many times on the news, this scandal may have been payback by the Democrats for the scuttled Obama appointment in 2016 of the liberal-leaning Merrick B. Garland. I have several things to say about this latest downward spiral in human decency.

First of all, I find it noteworthy that this appointment became a powder keg moment in the “Me Too” movement. It struck a nerve, and this scandal seems to have unleashed all the rage and indignation that assault victims all over America have been experiencing for a long time. Bill Cosby, poster boy for sexual predators, just went to prison for his crimes. Harvey Weinstein will likely do time as well. Women are angry and Kavanaugh has become this symbol of oppression, a man who might have the power to determine a woman’s right to choose. In my opinion, there is something fundamentally wrong with any man making that decision for a woman. I don’t know what happened almost forty years ago when Dr. Ford and Brett Kavanaugh were in high school. Her testimony was compelling, and I believed her story. Does it fully explain what happened, probably not. What it does do is raise doubts about this man who is being interviewed for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. He could potentially be the deciding vote in the overturning of Roe V. Wade, so stories about his possible mistreatment of a woman, no matter how long ago, are troubling. When Kavanaugh was interviewed after Ford’s testimony, I felt he was less than forthcoming. Apart from his palpable and perhaps justifiable anger, he answered some of the difficult questions in an aggressive and combative manner. A man being interviewed for a seat on the highest court of the United States Judiciary should be level-headed. One thing is clear: two lives have been thrown into the Washington grist mill and spit out like hamburger meat. This whole thing stinks, and this brings me to point #2.

We’re collectively incredulous that a man like Rump was elected President of the United States, but this latest example of the self-destructive political vitriol which has overtaken Washington is exactly why Rump was elected. Arguably half of American voters chose Rump because he’s not one of them. People hate politicians. Politicians lie, they do not, as they are entrusted to, do what is right for America; they pander to their base, cover their butts, and kiss the asses of their big money financial supporters. I am a just-right-of-center conservative, but I do not like Kavanaugh for justice of the Supreme Court. I suspect he is not the villain he is being made out to be, I simply don’t want Roe V. Wade overturned, and I don’t like his stance on executive privilege. Regardless, the process by which he was to be appointed is severely compromised by the political divisiveness of the interviewers. What qualified individual in his or her right mind would subject himself or herself to the kind of character assassination and dirty pool so prevalent in this corrosive political environment? More often than not, I am confused by that which is presented as the truth, and the waters just keep getting murkier. I hope some good can come from all this ugliness, and that the ship of state will right itself. We’ll see.

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2018 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED