Inquiries may be dangerous to some "missing" women

An inquiry into missing aboriginal women is a complete waste of money and time, while the native people say they want answers they really don't or they would change their attitudes and perceptions about a few things.

One being that it is all "White Man's" fault. Stop. Start taking some responsibility for your actions.

Being in counseling and seeking the help that I need have had to learn that I have to take responsibility for my actions but I don't have to take responsibility for other people's. 

The second thing is that MANY of these women are just like any other woman in an abusive relationship who do not get the attention they need from the police until it is too late.

In these cases it is exactly the same scenario as any other woman, abusive relationship where she makes excuses and no relative is willing to speak up. The police cannot do anything and abusers tend to walk through restraining orders anyways. 

The reasons why this group outweighs other groups is what people are wondering. The answer is very simple and doesn't need millions of dollars to be spent on it. 

Education in Self Awareness, Self Esteem and Self Worth. 

These things will never be taught to women in some religious backgrounds and cultures. Can we stop that from happening, well Bleeding Hearts want to try, I am a realist...if women do not want to get themselves out of the situation they won't. 


They are not taught they do not need to take abusive behavior from anyone. They are not taught to stand up for themselves in a positive way and they are not taught to speak up when they are being abused. They are told to sit down and shut up. 

Sound familiar? "White" women have been fighting for years to STAND UP against abuse, while Native women want the government to "deal with it"? 

You have to be the ANSWER, not expect money and the government to do it for you. You have to demand that your daughters, nieces and neighbor children are educated with self worth that they KNOW they do not need to take that shit from anyone, to BELIEVE in themselves in a positive way. 

The only answer to this problem is education. The answer to fixing it is up to NATIVE PEOPLES and their TRIBAL COUNCILS, not the government and NOT the taxpayers.

I would also like to point out, sometimes people go "missing" on purpose and don't want to be found. 

Harper may be telling the truth when he say that the cases have been solved some of these "missing" women may be in hiding and your interference with these "inquiries" is going to put them in danger.

Lower Canadian Dollar=Job Loss

I am no economist. I have a layman's knowledge of the stock market so will admit that I know absolutely nothing about what can and cannot help Canada grow.

But I notice that every time the Canadian Government and big banks allow the Canadian Dollar to drop so much lower than the American Dollar we see massive job loss, box store closures,  everything from a loaf of bread to fuel cost rise, and the cost of a barrel of oil drops.

In other words, we see recession.

We need to keep our dollar strong and obviously the Harper government no longer wants to do this. 

BUT...

Before you vote this next federal election inform yourself. Make sure that you know the parties, make sure you know their values. People believe that there is only one party for them, that you are either Liberal, Conservative, Socialist, Green, etc. 

It does not work that way. 

Your beliefs are your own, you may have some beliefs that are liberal and some that are conservative and maybe even one or two that are socialist or green.

What each person has to figure out for themselves is which Party best represents their beliefs and values. Each party has good and bad points, they will trash each other and they will undo each other's work, but sometimes good comes from change.

Different parties are needed to represent all because not all are just liberal, conservative or socialist. I know I have views from each and every party and have a very difficult decision this next election. 

This is the reason I was so passionately upset about the Reform Party of Canada ultimately drowning themselves into the Conservatives. 

Their constituents voted them in on their values and beliefs, I was one of them. If those people wanted a Conservative representing them as an MP they would have voted for the Conservative Representative. 

But Members of Parliament like Monte Solberg were hired by Reformist voters. Reform means change, conservative doesn't. So as far as I am concerned the voters who won the election in those areas were not represented at all and a bi-election should have been called in ALL those areas where those MPs crossed the floor. 

Again, especially to the younger generations...this is your country, you have to live here for the next 50-80 years...What do you want to see in your government? 

Remember, do not be afraid to hire a different type of government, they only have power for 4 years. Yes, damage can be done, but most times it can be undone...particularly by a new government.

NDP...DO NOT FIX WHAT ISN'T BROKEN

For 44 years the Progressive Conservatives have ruled Alberta. I believe all that needed to be done were 2 basic things in order for either a Progressive Conservative minority win or a Wildrose minority win. 

For the Progressives to have had Redford prosecuted like the Canadian senators. No IFS, ANDs, or BUTS about it. 

She took the Albertan taxpayers for millions and got away with it and the PCs allowed it. The gluttony of the Progressive Conservatives at its best shined through and allowing Ms. Redford to get away with abusing her title of Premier, that alone threw the voters in Alberta into defiance.

Danielle Smith screwed the Wildrose party so badly crossing the floor AFTER Redford burned the taxpayers. It was her biggest political mistake and she will go down in history as the dumbest leader of the opposition. 

The Wildrose Party would have taken this election BECAUSE of Redford, had the defectors not crossed the floor. They burned their bridges doing so and made it possible for a majority New Democratic Party win.

Albertans have shown that they are fed up with Progressive Conservative gluttony and with the Wildrose untrustworthiness...Liberals will not rule in Alberta and the Alberta Party are too new. 

With the defection of the Wildrose party leader and cohorts, Albertans saw a coalition between the Wildrose and the PCs happening if either had a minority government in this election and too many decided they did not want to see that happen, because of course…NOTHING gets done with a minority government and you end up going back to the polls in a year anyways with a minority government. 

With a minority NDP government the Wildrose and the PCs could have had a coalition to block anything that the New Democrats tried to do, even any good.

Change has to happen. Is this a good change? I have no clue, I have never lived with an NDP government, but that is not to say every NDP provincial leader cannot learn from the mistakes that others have made in other provinces.

All we can do is hope that the government is smart enough to do what only needs to be done and not overstep their bounds.

DO NOT FIX WHAT ISN'T BROKEN.

I know that the New Democrats like crown corporations, but…

Leave the roads and financing for the roads ALONE.

Leave the things that are working ALONE…

They are working and do not need your fingers in the mix.

ONLY FIX WHAT NEEDS TO BE FIXED.

Taxation has to be in degrees. Someone who makes $12/hour should not be paying the same tax rate as someone making $500/hour, but that person making $500/hour should not be paying more in taxes than corporations that are making billions and then laughing with their money as they run away.

Small business owners should not be paying huge amounts of money in taxes, like corporations, where they cannot make ends meet. These are the people who are hiring locals, paying employment benefits and pension plans, they do not deserve that. Keep taxes low for the small business owners.

But it is time for corporations to start paying their due. 

For instance, those heavy equipment operators drive huge trucks carrying huge loads of other equipment up and down highways; those highways take a beating from those trucks. You can see it in Saskatchewan. These companies are making billions off of the resources of our provinces and not putting money back into them. They use our roads to transport their heavy equipment and their oil.

The highways were not prepared for the Oil sands being opened to Oil companies in Saskatchewan and they are taking a thrashing. The Oil trucks were going 24/7 on these highways beating the crap out of them...That is where I stand by my statement of…

DO NOT MESS WITH THE ROADS!

Good luck NDP, you have the chance to make history with a GOOD socialist government example here in Canada. 

Don't screw it up.

Why Do Countries Trade?

Canada and the United States are allowing one family to decide that one of our natural resources is going to be worked, refined and sold off our continent and make BILLIONS doing this while ALLOWING another area of the world to do the same in North America?

Do you know how STUPID the voters of our countries sound right now?

We are allowing the bought and paid for politicians by the Koch brothers to decide what is done with our natural resources while allowing another country to profit off of our taxpayers.

Why do countries trade?

We have forgotten why we trade. Countries trade because we cannot get what we NEED where we are. We get it from other countries while giving those countries something they NEED in return.

Other than that, we should be self sufficient. If we can grow beets, we grow beets for ourselves, if we can raise livestock we raise it for ourselves and if we can harvest our oil or lumber we do so for ourselves BEFORE we sell it off to the highest bidder. This goes for all countries.

We TRADE for what we need. Canada has a particular climate that growing tropical fruit isn’t possible, so we trade for it. Canada can produce numerous amounts of potatoes…so which tropical country would like to trade potatoes for bananas?

Is that too simple? It is just an example. We have much, much more to offer here in Canada than potatoes, potash being one of the leading exports for our country.

The issue is we have made it about money and how much we can make instead about what we need to survive on.

An example, McDonalds in South America should use South American beef thus promoting their economy. McDonalds in North America should use North American beef for the same reason; along with every other restaurant in these countries.

“Free Trade” is not free to the average individual. It is costing us our self sufficiency. We are giving away our resources that our countries need to survive.

China’s greatest trade for many, MANY years was Silk. The Han dynasty TRADED it for things like cucumbers, walnuts and figs as well as new skills like using grapes for making wine. They brought new ideas, products and innovation to their lives to become more self-sufficient while selling something they had an abundance of.

Now, and for many years, the secret to producing silk has been out. What China has had to do is revamp what it trades. The problem, they are trading cheap labour to companies that take advantage of the over abundance of the population and the products that are made by that population. These companies make millions on cheaply made products that these people work hard at making. It is not only that the product is poorly made; it is that it is cheaply made and that has to do with the company…NOT the workers. 

We keep allowing companies to push our governments into “free trade” deals that allow companies to take our resources, natural or otherwise, and ship them to other countries to make into products that we do not need OR if we do need them, they are taking our resources away from trading it out right for the product. 

Why would the Canadian government not trade its oil with China on its own for a quality product that Canada needs from China? Why would we need the Koch brothers as a go between? Why do the Koch family need to own any oil rights at all for that matter in Canada?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/03/20/the-biggest-land-owner-in-canadas-oil-sands-isnt-exxon-mobil-or-conoco-phillips-its-the-koch-brothers/

Should we not be using our OWN natural resource before purchasing it and making another country or one family very wealthy?

Should we not use our own natural resource before selling it to other countries and then selling or trading what we have left over?

We are buying a natural resource we have from other countries and selling our own oil in order to line the pockets of one family. Why are we doing this?

Just like we tell families when the economy goes in the toilet, back to basics…we keep what we need to be self sufficient, sell what we have extra and buy or trade for what we need with that extra.

Back to basic economics. Take care of our own, pay our own, feed our own, and clothe our own, help where we can and buy or trade for what we need.

I know it sounds to simple…but sometimes simple is best.

Busy Days for Me.

Busy, busy, busy.

For those who are interested, I haven't blogged for awhile in how things are going for me. 

Medications were switched last year and are working well. The stress from last year was overwhelming me and had put me into a depression but not as severe as the last one. 

Since last summer things have been a lot better and I have been working very hard at getting myself back into a mental state of being able to return to work. YAH.

There are a few options, but many are quite expensive as it would cost more in fuel than I would make...but the Dodsland Arena which is not even five minutes away is looking for a caretaker next season...starting in October...and that would give me a bit of time to 1. make darn sure I am mentally up for it and 2. I would be able to get my gardening done and dealt with for the season. Which is all to the good.

Keagan keeping me busy with the driving to the school for track and field now and badminton before that has helped boost my get up and go spirit as well. Finding her a Cello teacher who lives 20 minutes away is also a bonus. 

It is a 20 minute drive there and back to the school three times a week and a 40 minute drive to Cello once a week. There is no funding for fuel cost to get Keagan to these programs, all out of pocket so the cost of fuel is going to skyrocket for me but it is worth seeing her busy and happy. 

Gardening is getting started the flower beds are getting cleaned out and flowers are starting to sprout all over. Some bulbs my Aunt gave me last Easter are coming up this year so it will be nice to see what they look like. :) 

I have moved our specialty gardening boxes out of the gardening area so we will have more area to plant peas, carrots and beans. While still having the space to plant our lettuce, radishes, zucchini, cucumbers, etc. 

original site

new site

Keagan will be helping me this weekend by loading the trailer and pulling it with the tractor to fill the boxes with dirt from the garden area after I put the landscaping fabric down under them. 

I am going to leave a few boxes empty this year only because if the landscape fabric does not keep the grass from growing through I will dig out the sod by hand this fall and fill it in properly, but why do all that if the fabric works right?

The dirt I am hauling for the boxes is from on the other side of the lilac bushes you can see in the distance in the second picture. I have been doing it with the wheelbarrow, and my legs can tell you that...but it will go much faster with Keagans help...I hate driving the tractor and I know she loves to...;)

She does well with a standard tractor and her first driving lesson with the car went well. She is becoming a very smart,independent, young lady. She will need a doctors note to say she will be able to drive as she is missing her left hand and legally she will have to drive with her prosthetic...I cannot wait until the 3D printing prosthetics are available worldwide for all...but how many of us actually drive with two hands?

We all have our stresses, I am trying not to take on other peoples stresses only trying to advise where I can and not getting upset if my advice isn't taken...

I smile and nod when they screw up because they didn't take my advice, instead of screaming like I used to. 

While Brandon lives with his father 3 hours away, we do talk and spend time together. I feel close to him and he has been told numerous times that he can come to me about anything, which he has. We have even discussed his moving out to the farm...something that would make his mother immensely happy but now that he is an adult it is completely up to him. 

Brandon tells me that living on the farm has mellowed me out and it is good for me. I don't yell anymore. Like I said, I allow others to make their own mistakes without yelling at them or tell them "I told you so"...well, that one slips out once in a while yet, 

But on the whole I am trying to communicate better with others, which is difficult for me because I hate asking others for help or asking for things. 

Anyways, while it might seem like I am down because of the topics I discuss things are going well for me. I discuss these topics because I think they are important, not because I am depressed. 

Thank you for reading and have a great day. 

When is Change Needed?

I do find my life lucky. 

Some people may think that I am a downer, that I am so negative and many times when I am not on my medication that is true. 

But right now in my life I am happy. Even though there is stress, I am trying very hard to deal with that stress in a positive way. I am trying to help not only myself but others who matter very much. I keep busy with gardening and Keagan is keeping me on the run.

A short time ago I blogged how much money I received of government funding. I want people to know, I do not expect more than what I am getting. I have survived on what I get and I know it is my choice to live where I do.

I don't waste what little I have. I use my funds to feed, cloth and put a roof over my daughters head while still being there for my son who is living with his father. 

I am not responsible for any other person's expenses or hobbies but my own and my daughters which are minimal to begin with (until lately ;) Keagan has gotten into some school activities like badminton and track and field. We also found her a Cello teacher! YAH!) 

I live a very simple life, eating out happens rarely, I do not make expensive purchases for others or for myself without having the cash available in hand, meaning I save for it first. Snacks are a given in all households but there is a limit to how much is spent each month and fruit is always available in the house. I do preserves and freeze in the fall what we cannot store over the winter.

Do I expect others to live the same way? No. 

But there are those that are very much worse off than I and that is who I want to bring attention to...to those people who don't even make the $18,000/year, but are working from morning until night. 

Those who can make the difference are those who make more than I do, they make more than $40,000/year...these are the people who need to decide that cleaning toilets, mopping floors and cleaning grills is worth more than minimum wage and no benefits. 

These are the people who have to look at the numbers...inflation 1975 pay=2015 pay for minimum wagers...but the prices are wacked. These are the people who have to see that a house in 1975 was 10% of what it is now. 

Food cost has skyrocketed since then as well and you complained THEN that it was expensive, if you are not living on minimum wage now...think, if you were complaining about the cost of food in the '70s how do you think someone on minimum wage feels NOW? They cannot afford meat.

Doctors, lawyers, accountants, all those professional politicians, along with the floor scrubbers, hamburger flippers and skyscraper builders need to decide that those people who bathe, feed and dress our grandparents in the homes are worth more than minimum wage and no benefits. 

These are the people who need to say, enough of YOUR taxes going into the pockets of people who are not doing their jobs and into the pockets of people who are working. 

A person who works as a client care attendant/nursing aid in a group home for seniors or for the severely disabled should not have to be on assistance and a person working as a chambermaid should not have to be on assistance. These people should not have to be assisted with health care benefits.

Alberta has an election coming up in a matter of days...while I choose to live in Saskatchewan, I am always watching what happens in my beloved home province. 

Informing ourselves about the choices and allowing those choices to have a chance to prove themselves is how change happens, it is scary...but more often than not it works out for the best when we decide change is needed.

Republicans: Gods Police Force

First off I may not be American and many may feel I have no say in American politics, but I beg to differ. What happens in America affects the World. America IS the only Superpower and much of what happens in Canada is because of American Politics.

When you look at small, one street town for the most part everyone pitches in. While there may be a caretaker, the whole community deals with keeping the town looking good, by taking their garbage to the dumps themselves, community clean ups, etc. Government isn’t a necessity; While bigger centers need government to help get the massive amounts of trash to the dumps.

When you start putting boundaries in place, states and countries, you need larger parts of government to deal with bigger issues like education, roads, healthcare and defence.

Republicans think people need LESS government involvement in our lives. They don’t think government should be in our lives when it comes to gun control, health care, education, social security or taxing the wealthy.

However, they do think that the government should be involved in our lives if people are Gay, Lesbian, Bi or Transgender. They believe they should be involved in our lives cutting the benefits to the less fortunate (the people who serve them those $1000/plate meals), they believe they should be in our lives by policing the world.

What the Republicans say people don't need or want government involvement in is what people DO need or want government involvement in. They are the ones who are supposed to regulate and stand up for the little guys US…we vote them in to do this for us, which is their job. (ever get that the initials of the United States spell “us”…coincidence? Maybe, but could your Founding Fathers could have thought of another name something that didn't mean “together” in its initials)

What the Republicans WANT to get into peoples’ lives about is what they're NOT suppose to get involved in unless we are breaking (and here is where they are getting it wrong) any of MANS LAWS.

Republicans believe we are all sinners because we will not “apply” ourselves as hard as they did to succeed; only those who have become wealthy with money are successful as far as the Republicans are concerned are worth spending time dealing with. 

The GLBT are sinning against god...says so in the book...the people living in poverty are slothful and those who do not believe in God or believe in another faith are sinners as well.

Republicans are not a Government Party…they are an Organized Faith, which makes them a Christian Religion and Religion does not belong in Government.

Republican politicians believe they are Gods Police Force.

Publically owned Oil and Gas Industry for Canada...Good or Bad?

Is it time for Canada’s oil sector to become publically owned?

While I do not agree with publically owned businesses like the liquor board and the care of roads for transportation department, I believe that government run oil industry may be the way to go to keep our economy running, jobs going and job creation.

With less reliance on the United States for refinement we would create and keep jobs here in Canada instead of shipping them to the United States, a country that has become hostile towards our oil while they still support oil from countries that support terrorists.

Saskatchewan’s potash is doing so well it makes me wonder how well Canada’s oil sands would do if we were to kick the oil companies off the land and the provinces started producing it themselves.

Before this happens one huge deal would have to be done and that is building our own refineries close enough to the oil sands so that transport would not be a bigger issue than what Keystone is causing. 

I realize we have the environmentalists’ screaming already at my blog that refineries are pollutants and that no one wants to live by them…we have so much land in Canada where no one lives and no one wants to live and until our reliance on oil and gas comes to a halt, we have to suck it up that everything from our vehicles to the computers we own use this type of energy to make and use.

Many people commute to the oil sands and work for weeks away from home, the same cannot be done for jobs at refineries?

Strict regulations need to be made in order for pipelines to run to those refineries, oil spills do not need to happen damaged pipes need attention immediately. A government run oil and gas industry could make sure of this.

Creation of these jobs would also create stability in the economy. These jobs would also be higher paying, stable employment…something governments need to be making right now.

With all the jobs lost because of oil companies shutting their doors, this would be the perfect time to say ADIOS to these crooked companies that are only here to make money off Canadas resources and at the same time make Canada look like the bad guys to the rest of the world.

All the profit would come to Canada, it would fix our roads, educate our children and put food on the tables of many people who crooked companies have now laid off.

The Alberta and Saskatchewan governments could put people back to work; these governments could start making money again. They could do it by making the oil and gas industry a Publically Owned Company. They could keep this industry from down turns every 5-10 years by making it a publically owned company. 

They could invest in their government’s future and their constituent’s futures by getting oil companies, that do not care about the workers or the people of this country, out of our country and taking over the production and refinement its own oil and gas.

These companies keep saying that if royalties are too high they won't stay, well...lets call them on that. 

We do not need these companies; yes it may be easier to have them do the work…but is it better? Hard work makes everything more worthwhile. Doing things the easy way, may be easy...but it isn't right.

Obviously it isn’t better to have companies that keep destroying our economy when they feel like it by laying off thousands of people and treating of them like crap only to have the government have to support these people while the market is down.

Controlling our own oil and gas industry makes sense, doesn't it? 

Let's put our oil and gas industry back to work under government run, build our own refineries, creating jobs here in Canada and say good bye to reliance on Companies who sell out Canada when it serves them.

Religious Rights vs. Equality

I am not against Muslims wearing turbans or Hijabs in public, just like I am not against Canadian men and women wearing cowboy hats, baseball hats or spaghetti strainers, live and let live.

The problem I have is that because I am not religious and I do not believe in religion I do not have the same rights as people who do believe in this religion.

Muslim men are allowed to wear their turbans in their drivers licence identification. Jewish men do not wear their Kippahs in this ID do they? Are Hutterite men allowed to wear their hats in their drivers licence pictures? I do not believe so. Nuns would not be allowed full head wear during this process either. So why is it only one religion is allowed to have their head wear on during picture Identification?

There is a lot of back and forth debate, with name calling and slander, going on about whether the Turban and the Hijab are religious wear.

I see many Muslim men and women not wearing this head wear and many of them will admit that it is not in the Quran as a religious belief. They will say the Hijab and the Burka are ways to suppress their women and the Turban is to show which mosque they belong to…if that means the turban is a religious symbol, okay I will give that to you, but your driver’s licence is not in color so you still do not need to wear it in your picture.

Many people say if we are allowing Hutterite women, Mennonite women, Nuns and Cancer patients to wear scarves and head wear why we are not allowing Muslim women.I don’t have a problem with Muslim women wearing the Hijab, in PUBLIC.

When it comes to areas where I, as a Canadian citizen, am not allowed to wear a hat, I do not agree that any other individual should be allowed to either. Plain and simple, I do not care if it is a religious belief or not.

You should not have any more right than the person next door just because of your religion.

That said, the Burka is a completely different story. Not only does this garment hide an individual it can hide a weapon. It does not have to be a woman under this garment, as we well know.

When women go to a Muslim country they are expected to cover their heads and/or faces. Like Muslim women we are expected to follow Muslim laws and traditions. While the First Lady did not do this, she was well protected. I don’t think the average woman would be and could very well take the chance of being shot. My point, we are expected to follow Muslim laws and traditions in Muslim countries, but Muslims cannot follow Canadian laws and traditions in Canada? One being, no head wear in our courtrooms and no head wear in our driver’s licences.

Taking off a scarf in a courtroom or a turban in photo identification would go a long way to showing all Canadians that all Muslims want to be a part of our country and not just use their religion as a way to get what they want. No one should get special treatment because of their religion.

I do not believe in any religion. So because a group of people who believe in a religion do, they are allowed more rights than I here in Canada where I was born and raised?

I welcome you with open arms to our wonderful country called Canada, but do not use your religion to get rights in my country that I am not allowed to have myself.

Living on less than $20,000/year in Canada

It is transparency time. My disability is mental; I was diagnosed with Bi-polar disease when I was 28 years old. I worked off and on up until going on disability, which is why I am capable of receiving Canada Pension Plan for the Disabled. I would not be able to receive CPPD if I had not worked.

Here is the breakdown,

From the Canada Pension Plan for the Disabled on my T4A (P) slip my taxable income from them (what I receive for myself) was $6,345.24 for the year 2014.  From CPPD I receive non-taxable income (what I received for my daughter) $2,768.69 for the year 2014.

 In total I received $9,113.88 from the federal government Canada Pension Plan for the Disabled.

On my T5007 slip from the Saskatchewan government box 11 for Social Assistance Payments, which is used for their Disability as well as their Employment Supplement, is a grand total of $2,124.48 for the 2014 year.

The breakdown was $1,556.08 for the year from Saskatchewan Assured Income for the Disabled and $568.40 for the year from Saskatchewan Employment Supplement.

Even though anyone between certain income brackets receive GST/HST and Child Tax Credit, I am going to add the amounts that I receive for them here to give you all the information of what I lived on in 2014 from the governmental offices in Canada as a Mentally Disabled person with one child living with them.

I receive a little more for Child Tax Credit because my daughter was born missing her left hand. She is 13 years old and while she gets along pretty well in life there are daily struggles that can cause extra expenses. As all parents with children who have disabilities are able to receive and qualify for.

Each month from January to May of 2014 I received $523.32, in June it went up to $523.48 and in July I started receiving $528.08. So I received just about as much from Child Tax Credit for my daughter as I did from my taxable income from CPPD. Child Tax Credit grand total for the year 2014 was $6308.56.

Each of us “poor” people gets a check back quarterly called GST checks. Some are GST/HST.

My grand total GST/HST checks each year come to $1,155.00.

We are now receiving the Saskatchewan Employment Supplement because my common law returned to work. Which was difficult for someone with a back that has broken disks, but you take what you can get, so he works a job part time at just above minimum wage; we survive. His wages just cover his expenses, including getting to and from work which is a 1 ½ drive each day, insurance for the vehicle, his bills, etc.

So Taxpayers of Canada my grand total, unless my addition is whacked, comes to $18,701.92 of your hard earned dollars I have had to use to live off of for the year of 2014.

In total, $11,238.36 came from Canada Pension Plan for the Disabled, from Saskatchewan’s Disability program and from the Employment Supplement in Saskatchewan.

I work hard at figuring out which brain altering drugs the doctors put me on which will help me feel “normal” and I work hard at building my self esteem/self worth enough to feel comfortable putting on a smile and greeting you each day at a Wal-Mart, McDonald's, Tim Horton’s or Salvation Army when I am able to return to work.

In the mean time I would like you to know we are also working hard at supplying our own food by growing a garden during the summer, we can and freeze fruits and vegetables so that the funds we do receive can go to purchases we need for my daughters school lunches, purchase ever increasing meat and travel once in a while to see my sons, daughter and grandchildren.

I do not live off the government to “get rich” nor to “stay lazy”. It is not a lifestyle I choose.

I am not just demeaned by strangers but by family members as well, which can make it even harder to build up that self esteem and self worth when chemicals in your brain are not working properly and you start to believe they are right because they are better than you. They are doing better than you, they are successful and they are happy, so why not just listen to them?

What “they” do not understand is that the lack of chemicals won’t allow you to listen to reason; the chemicals only allow you to hear that you are a failure, especially to those who are supposed to be there for you the most.

So when you do start to see a light at the end of the tunnel and someone pulls the carpet out from under you, the fall can be devastating.

While changes have been made in my life and I am back on the tracks I cannot guarantee the wheels will not fall off again, but I can only hope that they will stay on the tracks and while I keep plugging away and gain a forward motion I can only hope and pray I can become self sufficient once again. It would be nice to be able to buy something new without feeling guilt.

It is a struggle trying to live on less than $20,000 a year and much of the time I rely on my credit to get me through the month. 

I thank you for your understanding.

Anti-Vaxxers did not Cause Measles Outbreak

What we are forgetting about Measles is that it doesn't matter if we have gotten the vaccine or not, we can still contract the disease and we can still be contagious with the disease while having it.

I am no scientist, but I have to wonder, with the travelling that people do all over the world to countries that could be but are not as up to date on the vaccinations, countries where the wealthy are very wealthy and the poor are left to die in the streets, China and Saudi Arabia for example why are we blaming “anti-vaxxers” for a Measles outbreak?

We have businessmen, international aid workers, government officials, etc going to these countries and we have people from these countries coming to ours that are not protected from diseases we have supposedly wiped off our continent. And it surprises people that we are just now having an outbreak of Measles?

It won’t matter if someone has or has not had the MMR vaccinations as to whether it takes hold here in North America. It is here because it was brought here from another country by someone who is:

 1. An illegal immigrant

2. A foreign worker/refugee who is not up to date with shots or

3. A person who came into contact with someone who had measles in a country that did not have measles under control.

THAT person could very well have had their MMR, come back to North America without knowing they had the disease and began to spread it…a good example of this is when Ebola made it to United States several times.

Coming down on people who are “Anti-Vaxxers” is exactly the propaganda that government and pharmaceuticals want us to do.

We want to believe we have to protect our children from everything and we can’t. That includes disease.

I believe that one day vaccines will come back to bite us in the ass.

Measles has not mutated they say. So the same strain I contracted as a child of 7 or 8 is the same strain that hit Disneyland and is now in Ontario?

As I said I am no scientist, but I do believe that disease is part of our environment. We keep curing diseases, we keep making people live longer, we have more people on this Earth than ever before and our resources are running thin…your governments are saying this as well.

To me death from disease means there was a reason…and there is a reason, our Earth cannot handle the amount of people on it; death from the hand of a drunk driver makes no sense.

Our governments cannot control when a disease will break out. We are not prepared for this outbreak BECAUSE we ASSUMED the wrong thing, that we had wiped Measles off the face of North America.

Assuming something makes an Ass out of You and Me.

Are people still going to blame those who have not gotten their children vaccinated over the governments who haven’t even kept control of terrorist’s comings and goings?

I am not going to say this is a terrorist attack that would be silly right? Why on earth would a terrorist stand around in Disneyland with Measles? I mean it would be pretty stupid to distract a country with a disease that we have supposedly decimated, but then again…it is being reported that even doctors don’t know what the symptoms look like for Measles anymore it has been so long. 

Anyways, that is just another "stupid" possibility. 

If someone hasn't had their vaccines it is going to mean that they are going to get even sicker, they will have even a greater risk of the worst side effects of Measles. It doesn't mean that they are the cause of the disease.

Babies who have not had the chance to have their vaccines have always been at risk of all diseases, whether or not “anti-vaxxers” got their immunizations or not so stop blaming those who chose to not vaccinate and start trying to place blame on where it belongs…

1.     Anyone who goes to countries that have no immunization guarantees like North America need to be in 2-3 week quarantine after returning from those countries. You want the luxury of world travel, whether you are immunized or not, you can still contract diseases and you can still bring said diseases back to our countries.

2.     Any doctors and nurses that go to 3^rd world countries need to be in 2-3 week quarantine after returning from those countries. You want to help those in need, you can still contract the diseases like Measles and bring it back to the United States or Canada and spread it.

3.      Refugees/foreign workers should be in quarantine for 2-3 weeks after receiving their first doses of immunizations which should be given as soon as they arrive.

Now if testing can be done to prove that they do not have any diseases that are contagious, then quarantine wouldn't be needed, but it is not because people are not vaccinating that Measles is spreading, Measles is spreading in North America because someone brought it here from a country that has no immunization benefits.

***Yes my children are vaccinated.