Happy Birthday Kari

The beautiful Tsusiat Falls where father and daughter took a well-deserved rest.
All that is left of the father is his boots and socks. “Yaa! But you’ve made it over halfway Dad. That’s good isn’t it?”    Guess who helped him?
January 1, 2018  (337) (April 17, 387)

Dear Kari,

It’s hard to believe twenty years have slipped by since we completed that magical eight-day trek on the West Coast Trail with David and Jenn.  What inspired me to prepare the following slide show and write this post was finding that old slide tray tucked away in one of the storage boxes.  It brought back so many fond memories for me and I bet it will do the same for the three of you.  As I was writing this post I spoke several times to David, as well as to your Uncle Barry and Auntie Agate.

Before getting into the details of the trek, take a few moments and enjoy the slides as they slip by.  I tried to find music that expresses the love a Dad has for his children and, as well, displays the sense of pride that comes from having one of your children lovingly act as a mentor and guide in taking on a difficult challenge.  The three songs were selected after pouring through dozens of father/daughter/son lists posted on the web.

Precious Memories, J.J. Cale
When You Need Me, Bruce Springsteen
Wildflowers, Tom Petty

The photos in this slideshow have also been uploaded link to the
McNeill Life Stories Facebook Page

Opportunities arise but once.

Life provides many opportunities for adventure, but when one declines an opportunity for any reason, it is most often gone forever.  Having achieved a Golden Age in retirement and understanding this, when our oldest daughter Kari phoned and ask if I might like to join her and a cousin from Montreal, David McGregor and his friend, Jenn D’Aoust, in challenging the West Coast Trail, the answer came without a second thought, “yes”. Sure I had concerns about my ability to tackle that particular trail, but if my daughter thought I could do it, who was I to argue?

Also, it gave me comfort knowing she was an experienced backpacker, held an Industrial First Aid Certificate (just in case pops packed it in), had tackled that trail twice before and, being an extraordinary backcountry trekker had at one time considered taking up a career in the emerging field of Eco-Tourism.

When this opportunity arose I was nearly two years into retirement, in fair shape and while I hadn’t recently attempted any long-distance wilderness hiking, I remember Kari’s comforting words: “Don’t worry Dad, you can do this and, besides, I’ve got your back.”  Hmmm!  Of course, it was a done deal as when someone, particularly one of your children, offers to share a moment like this, It must be taken as the memories will last for the rest of your life.

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Edna and Earl Davis (Lynn McNeill’s mother and father) at their Wedding in August 1943.  Earl met Edna while serving in England and soon married. After spending one night together, Earl shipped back to the Italian Campaign where he was stationed for most of the War. For the next months and years he and his troop mates fought their way up the spine of Italy from their original posting in Sicily.

His war years were primarily spent fighting in a number of bitterly won battles including final assignments in France, Belgium, Netherlands. When the war ended, Earl and his bride were not reunited until after the war when Earl returned to Canada where Edna was waiting after having emigrated with dozens of other war brides from England.

The World at War: Remembering our History¹

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November 16, 2016.  Until I watched the news tonight I had never heard of the ALT-RIGHT or 1488ers. Perhaps I just live a sheltered life.  In any event, media outlets across the country are expressing outrage at the racist comments directed towards any number of minorities including Muslims, Chinese, Jews, etc., by the Alt Right Group.  The following link takes to to one article.
CBC East York Alt Right Racist Posters

In order to gain a better understanding of who the Alt-Right represent, I checked out their Web Site but it was nothing like Britain First and other sites that openly preach racism and hatred.   Following that, I found an article titled, An Establishment Conservative’s Guide to the Alt-Right.  I found the article informative to say the least and have become somewhat suspicious of the media slant on this.  In post I am lead to believe the Alt Right Twitter account was suspended.

I encourage friends of every political stripes to take a few minutes to read the article and let me know your opinion. Send a private note if you wish.  I have not put in my opinion here as I don’t want to taint your thoughts with mine. Suffice it to say I was very surprised.

Note: It is a fairly long article and it would be helpful to read to the end as speaks to a group known as the 1488ers, another group I had never heard of.  Following are some of the comments on the Alt-Right poster.  I can’t find a copy of the bottom half as this stuff seems quite new to the scene.

I have deliberately left out the location of the article and the authors name at the beginning.  Both are included at the end.

Regards,

Harold

An Establishment Conservative’s Guide to the Alt-Right (verbatim)

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Photos (Web Source)

October 6, 2016: The twenty-five faces above is just a small sample of the 500 female RCMP members who joined in a Class Action Lawsuit against the force. Since the first woman was sworn in as a regular member in 1974, she and many hundreds who followed were subjected to unrelenting harassment and sexual misconduct up to and including rape. In light of the $100,000,000 settlement announced this week, which in effect is Government acknowledgment of that harassment, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson should do the honourable thing and resign.

Releases from government sources state the Commissioner was forced to accept this settlement as well, was required to make an unambiguous apology. The alternative would have been an extremely costly and ugly trial in which the sins of RCMP senior management would be put on full display for all Canadians to witness. Such a trial would have spelled the death of the RCMP in its present form. Will this settlement reform the RCMP, or is it just a means to protect senior officers who were part of the coverup and quite likely a large part of the problem.

We can only hope it’s “Goodbye to Mr. Paulson” and that the next Commissioner
will quickly establish the ways and means to end this shameful period in the history of the force.

Dear Mr. Paulson,

First, we must all thank you Krista Carle (photo right), Janet Merlo, Catherine Galliford (Audio Link) and all those brave women from the RCMP, who stood against an old boy’s you lead and whose network had closed ranks against them at every turn (1) since women were accepted into the Force. Mr. Paulson, you condoned this during your career, and as Commissioner you allowed it to continue as no one would dare question your good judgment.

Like the old saying goes about changing a man if it were cast in terms of the RCMP, “you can take the man out of the old school, but you can’t take the old school out of the man.” You are clearly an old school guy steeped in a tradition that viewed women as lesser officers in a force created for men.  Times might chance, but many older officers, as well few younger men will to tow the party line, preferred the old ways.

I clearly recall a favourite expression of one of the Chief Constable’s in my early career, a former military Regimental Sergeant Major, when dressing down a junior member in his office: “when I say jump, you just ask, “how high SIR.” Over the course of my career which ran from 1964 – 1994, my force along with the most other Municipal and City forces, changed in hundreds of ways, including fully accepting women as equals. It was a long struggle, but that change was fully accepted at twenty years ago.  A few of the old dogs still resisted, but they, not those who harassed, were soon drummed out of the service.

During the same period I worked with a number of members of your force and even by 1994 when I left, those attitudes were still deeply entrenched by the Senior ranked members who controlled the very lives and well being of rank and file members. There are thousands of good women and men in the RCMP who only wish to do a good job, but the top-down, authoritarian approach used by management has resulted in the force facing a crisis of considerable proportion as we move through the first two decades of this century. 

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Photo (Web Source): In 2013, this small Alberta town was seriously damaged by a massive flood.
The residents did something unusual in their efforts to rebuild their community and spirit.

NOTE: September 30, 2016   The Sidney Section of this post is being re-written as a result of further information being received.

Harold

Contents

1. General discussion on building people friendly communities.
2. Have we mended our ways in how we build communities?
3. Two new mall models from within Greater Victoria.
4. How one small Alberta town changed the way they do business.
5.  Are we capable of holding out for a better form of development?
6. Sidney by the Sea and North Saanich: (This section is being re-written as a result of new information being received from various parties in Sidney and North Saanich)

Appendix

1. Topical Links
2. Two Alberta towns with and amazing amount of unrealized potential
3. Another thing about malls

1. Moving to the realm of possible: Building people friendly communities

Is it possible to develop or redevelop our communities into people friendly places rather than communities defined by cars, traffic flow, parking lots, malls and nondescript suburbs.? While the development of commercial and residential land is essential for the continued financial health of our cities and towns, it is obvious developers lead the way in both design and scale. With few exceptions, we have completely missed the experience of other parts of the world where creating people friendly cities is a priority.

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Randolph Hearst established exactly the same path now being taken by Donald Trump.
The similarities between the two men is quite amazing as they seek to bring out the worst
in people as a means to advance their own interests.

The Rise and Fall of Randolf Hearst as a Presidential Candidate

While many fret over possible outcomes as Donald Trump continues his seemingly unstoppable ascent to the leadership of the Republican Party, an excellent article appeared in several papers this morning, written by Kelly McParland, in which he traced a similar situation occurring within the Democratic Party in 1924.

At that time it was William Randolph Hearst, an equally rich American who was determined to use his mighty empire, including control of most of the nations newspapers, to add the Presidency to his empire.  The path he followed was very similar to that now being followed by Donald Trump, the outcome of which is likely to be very similar to that experienced by Hearst.

You can link the storyhttp://www.pressreader.com on Press Reader (you may need to Google the title). If that does secure the article, the eight columns below can be opened to full size by clicking (make sure to go back rather than close the page).

Cheers,

Harold

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Photo (Web Source) In what is expected to become a flood over the coming months, 1500 Illegal aliens from the Michigan were intercepted while attempting to cross the St. Clair River into southern Ontario.  Earlier in the day, the above group posed as party goers in an attempt to evade detection as they crossed the river, however a change in the weather turned their escape plans into a near disaster.

The OPP and Sarnia police as well as the Canadian Coast Guard, Canada Border Service Agency and employees from a nearby chemical company Lanxess helped to pull dozens of exhausted men, women and children from the frigid waters. Some were suffering from the early stages of hypothermia and if rescue personnel had not arrived when they did, many might have died from exposure.

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 In another somber moment on Parliament Hill, RCMP Commissioner, Bob Paulson. has encouraged the Federal Government to chart a new direction for law enforcement. As with previous recommendations, Civil Liberties and the Charter of Rights is not of any concern.

Introduction

While it is likely just coincidence, it is reported the FBI has again alerted the RCMP Security Service to a potential terrorist in our midst just at a time when the Federal Government is looking at rolling back parts of Bill C-51.  The last time that happened was also when the Government was considering Bill-C7 and at that time opposition was also heavy. Back then (2013), the FBI alerted the RCMP to another potential terrorist attack and the Via Rail guys were taken down a couple of days after the Boston Bombing. Media around the world covered The Fog of War. Together, the timing of these two events was a little too neat in countries that have so few terrorists and terrorist sympathizers.

While  Bill C-51 is extremely intrusive in its present form, it will become even more so if Commissioner Paulson’s recommendations are accepted. In this post, I have replaced the word “terrorism” with that of “criminalization” as a means of demonstrating how far federal agencies, namely the RCMP, CSIS and the CBSA, is willing to go in order to enhance agency interest over public interest.

If you happen to support Bill C-51, a bill that is related solely to ‘terrorism’ and, perhaps, support even more invasive laws being included, what would you think about the entire content of C-57 (present and proposed) being folded into the Criminal Code?  Do you think that would give police to much power to simply bypass the checks and balances developed over the past 150 years? (check this post on Oversight)

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