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| Who knew the Easter Bunny was related to Krampus? |
First of all, let me wish all my Christian friends a belated Happy
Easter. I used to enjoy decorating the eggs, and of course, I loved Easter egg hunts. Every year, I
reprise the story about my Mom hiding thirteen hard-boiled eggs around our
house in Buffalo on Easter. We only found twelve, and Mom did not remember
where she hid the thirteenth. It turned out she hid it in a table lamp, which
we found out several months later, after it began to smell like a decomposing
animal. That was the last of our Easter egg hunts. The other day, I was checking
some online news source and read a story about some guy in the Philippines who had
himself nailed to a cross, and he has done this annually for the past 30 years. What the hell! I thought Easter was about
bunnies and chocolate. Asked what the experience meant to him, his answer was
that it hurt. No shit, Sherlock. I thought self-flagellation was a little over
the top, but now there is a new benchmark for crazy Easter antics.
Former Toronto mayor Rob Ford died last week after an 18 month battle
with cancer. Clearly, Ford was a controversial mayor, and his out of control
behavior and his admissions of substance abuse made him the laughing stock of
the world. Before the omnipresence of cell phones, video cameras, and YouTube,
this kind of behavior was easier to conceal, but these days, public figures
have to be more careful. One night on CTV News, I remember watching Ford,
captured on a security camera, drunk and urinating in a public place. His life unraveled
for the world to see, and it wasn’t pretty. Ford was like the car accident
everyone slows down to see, and I couldn’t help feeling sorry for him and his
family. Of course there has been plenty of internet nastiness, kicking the man
after he was gone, and he did prove to be an embarrassment for the City of
Toronto near the end. Still, I wonder how history will treat him. For all his
faults, he wasn’t all bad, and did represent the little guy.
Someone posted a YouTube video that I watched yesterday, and it suggests
that there is a conspiracy by the big drug companies to block efforts to find a
cure for cancer. While I take the information in the video with a grain of salt,
it got me thinking. It is interesting that so much money is pumped into cancer
research with so little to show for it. Yes, there are success stories but it
seems as if the incidence of cancer is on the rise. Whether it is increased microwave
transmissions, or the preponderance of unhealthful food we eat, or the water we
drink; something is feeding this disease. If the business of treating cancer
with radiation and chemicals is worth trillions, what if someone came up with a
cheap and effective cure for cancer? Would drug companies embrace it, even if
they stood to lose trillions of dollars in profit? Every day, I hear or read
some new theory about a diet or holistic remedy that may be more effective in
the treatment of certain kinds of cancer. One remedy, which suggests that changing
the PH balance in the body is effective, calls for sufferers to swallow two
tablespoons of lemon juice, mixed with baking soda. This concoction may kill
cancer cells while leaving healthy cells in tact. If natural remedies might work,
why is there NOT more research targeting these potentially life-saving
therapies? In the video, it was suggested that a promising new, low cost drug developed
in Canada was not approved for testing, because there was no profit to be made
from its distribution. If it turns out that any
of this is true, it is pretty disturbing news. First, I learn that I cannot
trust my leaders, which was a huge shock to me, and now the medical community
is suspect. Next thing you know, I won’t be able to trust reality television!
Isis claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing attacks in Brussels last
week, as well as an attack at a soccer match in Iraq. A branch of the Taliban
is claiming responsibility for the Easter Sunday attack in Pakistan. It’s a
strange world we live in, and between the media and the religious fanatics, and all the
nutballs running for President, I’m getting a little stressed out. I penned a
new song a few weeks ago, entitled One to
Ten and the following is one verse and the chorus from that song:
Jihadi John in the desert
About to take his pick
Dress those boys up like janitors
Send 'em to the River Styx
Cho:
I don’t know I can’t say
I wonder to which God does this man pray
And I can’t tell my enemies from friends
I can’t seem to calm down counting from one to ten.
I’ve got to stop watching “the news”.
Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2016 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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