Tuesday 2 June 2009

In the Face of Bankruptcy and Bill 44, Gardening.

Yesterday was strange.

The announcement that General Motors was indeed going bankrupt came early in the morning - it seems I am now a shareholder in that company, along with every other Canadian (and American), their kids, and their kids' kids. Not quite the kind of investing I'm accustomed to making. I would have liked a little more say in the matter. Frankly, I'm quite nauseated at the idea that a company can run itself into the ground, obtain billions of dollars of government bail out money, THEN go into bankruptcy, get rid of its debt and then come out of bankruptcy a few short months later all shiny and new, with squeaky clean books and no lessons learned. Um, shouldn't you have done that in the first place? I guess the saying 'live by the sword (of capitalism), die by the sword' only applies to ordinary people, not to multinational corporations who make large donations to certain political parties.

And then, to cap off the day, Bill 44 is passed. This is the most embarrassing, petty and vindictive legislation I have ever seen the Alberta government pass, and that's saying something. The Alberta government takes more than 10 years to add sexual orientation to their list of things that can't be discriminated against, and in the same bill back stab the people whose rights they are supposed to (finally) be protecting. And now teachers have to be afraid that every time the topic of sex, sexual orientation or religion comes up, they risk being hauled in front of a human rights commission. How can you teach people that human rights apply to everyone, when you can't talk about how those human rights apply to certain groups? This isn't governance, this is manipulative, gamesmanship, and Stelmach and Co. should be ashamed of themselves. What are they so afraid of, anyway?

So. In the face of so much soul-destroying crapola, what is an ordinary person to do? Well, it looks like more and more people are doing it*: veggie gardening. This year two of my close neighbors have planted medium and large size gardens and one of them is also keeping chickens! And another one of my family members is starting a garden this year as well! Do they feel the soul destroying crapola too? Or maybe they, like me, just want to witness something green, true and full of pontential again, instead of listening to the lies, spin and overall decaying putresence that oozes from our politicians' mouths on a near-daily basis.

It's funny, the only time I feel clean these days is when I have garden soil on my hands.

(*Uh oh. I said 'doing it.' I hope the Alberta government knows I didn't mean anything sexual by that. Well, except there is a lot of sex in gardening, all that pollination and pistils and stamens and, oh my, those crazy hermaphroditic earthworms. Wait, does this mean that parents can pull their kids out of classes on plant and invertabrate biology now? Hmmm...)

10 comments:

Stacy said...

Some days it almost seems like we are moving backwards, doesn't it?

Theresa said...

*Sigh* It sure does. Thanks for coming by Stacy, and taking the time to comment. :)

Amy said...

I always enjoy your ponderings. Sorry to hear about that new law, though. :(

Anonymous said...

I agree with you 100% about good ol' GM. Nothing like owning a piece of nothing! Here, let's give them BILLIONS in a bailout fund, just so that they can throw it away, then by filing for bankruptcy can wipe all that clean and not have to owe anything. Makes you wonder where those billions of dollars went. Oh wait, probably into the pockets of CEOs and higher ups. Isn't it frustrating to see these things happen? It just goes to show that everything we learned growing up is backwards. See, I always thought good people who worked hard to pay their bills, and busted their butts to make it through were rewarded and bad, slacking, lazy people got their just rewards as well. Come to find out, all we have to do is file for bankruptcy, let someone else pay off all of our debts, then happily trot away and start the cycle all over again. GRRR!!! Sorry for the rant, this kind of thing gets my something steamed, let me tell you!!!

Eco Yogini said...

ugh. You know- I really liked your viewpoint on how we are now 'shareholders' of GM- paying for their bankruptcy. It perfectly voiced this niggling- something's wrong about this picture' thoughts I was having.
government is so corrupt- it's so frustrating at times. Nova Scotia is having another provincial election next week- I'm hoping this will make a change... I'm taking your previous water example and writing a letter to the mayor of Halifax regarding the raw sewage being dumped in the harbour!

Plus- I discovered the 'New Resilients' blog from your blogroll- it's awesome!! I linked you on a comment there :)

Jerry said...

AND we will likely get another federal election this fall or early in the new year!!!

Theresa said...

Hi Amy - ya, it is a crazy law. This is such a weird province in some ways.

SensibleV - thanks for ranting! I feel the same way! I do think that ultimately, the karmanic 'just rewards' will be dealt out, but Oi, some days, I just can't stand the unfairness of it all.

EcoY - and Harper admits straight out the taxpayer will never see any of that money again! There are kids being treated in tents instead of hospitals out here, and they are giving money to poorly managed car companies, come on! Good for you for writing to your Mayor - I saw that story on the news about the 'floatables' in the Halifax harbor - how is that even possible in this day and age! Good luck with your provincial election - oh how I long for an Alberta election with even a ghost of a chance of a change in leadership. Here all we get is the same old arrogant entitlement. I also really like the New Resilient website - it is so practical! Thanks for the link over there :)

SBT - I would welcome an election if I knew there would be some practical, real change, but I don't know that would be the case, no matter who wins. So many frustrations! So, it is back to the garden.

Jerry said...

Don't worry though, we won't be hanging onto GM. One day very soon we will hear that it's been off-loaded to Chinese and Brazilian interests...

Unknown said...

Guess what? The potatoes came up! See, I know you'll appreciate how very super cool this is.

The world out there may be going to hell in a handbasket .. and ther are days when I wish it would hurry up and self destruct so we could just get going with 'real' life, but then ... well, fence posts cost money so maybe not until after the perimiter's done ...

No matter what, it's cool when the potato plants come up, isn't it?

Theresa said...

It sure is! My potatoes aren't up yet, but the beans are! Hm...I think I will go take a picture or two of them while I'm thinking about it...