My Wet Coast Life

I guess i've finally had it and seen enough articles in the press to feel the need to lay in on this topic and put out my point of view on this issue. For years we have been hearing case after case of child abuse at the hands of the Catholic clergy and i'm sickened even more each article that shows more cover ups, secrecy oaths and lack of respect for the law, let alone the the number of innocent victims themselves, when it comes to this topic.

I ask myself, what is wrong with the Catholic religion? It seems to be the only religion facing these accusations as well as being just as diligent in covering them up. All you need to do is search the net or read the paper and voila, you have articles about child abuse occurring for decades, priests and bishops covering up the allegations, moving the offending priest to another location thinking that would solve the problem at hand (and in a lot of cases re-offending). On top of that, they were/are not reporting it to authorities, or if they did, the authorities in some cases would turn a blind eye, which i can only assume religion had a hand in that, which hindered this situation even more.

Seriously, WTF?

Does this religion not state the fact that child abuse is a sin as is homosexuality? Regardless of anyone's religion, i doubt many would accept child abuse as a privilege or right. The fact that for decades, or possibly centuries (one can only hope not), this has been going on and being covered up, just astonishes me but they still let it happen.

Now before i go any further, i am not for organized religion but i am for everyone's right to choice for the religion they believe in and sexual preference. It's your body and as a consenting ADULT, you should have that choice. But what grinds my gears is when people abuse their privilege and power to cause harm to innocent children and then hide behind their religion.

In my opinion, this shows me a couple things about the religion:

1. It is two faced depending on the issue at hand and what suits its needs, with morality and common sense thrown out the window.
2. It accepts violations of its own guidelines, principles and beliefs instead of condoning the actions and being pro-active in preventing it. What ever happened to practice what you preach? Religion or otherwise.
3. It is willing to cover up issues instead of identifying them, addressing them and being pro-active in preventing them from re-occurring
4. For anyone who was aware and did nothing to stop it and/or aided in the cover ups, they indirectly supported these actions of child abuse for not speaking out and are just as guilty.

Now why do i say that? Well, let's look at a couple examples and you can decide for yourself?

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With the recent massive quakes hitting Haiti and repetitively battering Chile, a couple decent shakers for Japan and South Pacific, we have been lucky to dodge the bullet in the Pacific Northwest. And that appears like it is going to change...

Around 1 week ago, i wrote about earthquakes and the frequency that they are occurring, how the Northwest so far has dodged the bullet and if British Columbia is in line for the next big one. In the last couple days, we have had two 4+ magnitude quakes of the coast of Oregon and now this morning, Los Angeles gets hit with a 4.4 magnitude quake. Luckily, no reports of damage or injuries have been reported.

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I woke up this morning to find out another large earthquake has struck somewhere on terra firma. The unlucky recipients today are the citizens of Turkey. A strong 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck Eastern Turkey Monday morning. So you are probably thinking what's the big deal? Earthquakes happen all the time and as long as it is not in my back yards, i will be sublime about it. Now are you sure about that?

Living on the wet coast, we live in the Pacific Ring of Fire. It is a 40,000km horseshoe ringed shape area, in the basin of a Pacific Ocean, where large numbers of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.

We experience earthquakes all the time in this area, but most tend to be small enough that they are rarely felt. But since 2010 began, at least in my opinion, I have noticed we have been seeing much larger quakes and more frequent and most of them were around the Ring of Fire. All you need to do is check out the U.S. Geological Survey's website showing worldwide earthquakes with magnitude of 4.5+ in the last 7 days to see there have been a few...

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It only takes a few to ruin it for the rest and it looks like Gil LeBreton and the editors of McClatchy Newspapers in the USA wants to take the gold for ignorance. My friend passed on an article titled "It was a Canadian party, and Canada sure enjoyed itself". After seeing the title, HELL YEAH! why wouldn't we enjoy ourselves. But then i started reading the article and shortly there after, my blood was starting to boil. Why? This poor excuse for a reporter references our Canadian maple leaf to the Swastika and compared our hosting of the Olympics and displays of national pride to Berlin hosting them in 1936.

Seriously, WTF?

To compare Canada, of all countries, to the Nazi's is just appalling. As a reporter, you should be able to present the story without needing to compare people to the Nazi's when it comes to celebrating and national pride. This could even appear as hate literature using the Olympics to disguise it. Plus it doesn't say much for the morals of any of the editors that reviewed and allowed this article to be published. With so many "good" stories that were not reported as Gil so eloquently points out, you think this article is good reporting and would make up for it?? And for McClatchy Newspapers, by publishing this story and syndicating it, you and all your syndicates endorse this piece of hate literature. Sorry, but shame on you!

How quickly you forgot all the American flags flying from US houses all the time and supporting your troops overseas. I went down to Seattle a couple months ago and flags were everywhere, without even an event happening. Should i relate then to your flag waving, pride showing fellow country men as Nazis? When you hosted the Atlanta and Utah Olympics, the media coverage of American events was so one sided. Did we complain, maybe. Were you compared to Nazis? doubt it.

I have traveled the world and the maple leaf and Canadian flag were always showing my national pride. Why shouldn't i be proud of my country and willing to show it? I unfortunately, can't say the same for the U.S. You have no problem showing patriotism on your home soil but tend to hide it when traveling abroad. Why? Are you not proud of the stars and stripes? I can only guess, with all the conflicts you are involved in, it makes it a lot harder to travel freely as an American in this day in age. I was appalled to come across Yankees in Holland, France, Belgium and Kenya wearing our maple leaf and flag and saying they are Canadian (BTW, doesn't work due to your accent, eh..) so they can avoid harassment and get better service (especially in Holland for trying to take our credit for liberating them). Each American i met, i politely informed them to remove it as they are giving us a bad name based on there actions (but i did say Sorry) and to stand proud for the USA or don't stand at all. Some acknowledged what i asked and complied, other stood them dumbfounded to why they should remove another country's symbol and invoke prejudice. Hmmmm...maybe there is a reason for this and Gil LeBreton seems to personify the reason. Good old ignorance. Maybe he should look up some history like the Underground railroad or remind himself how many Americans came to Canada to avoid the draft?

What does this say to the thousands of Canadian military that gave their lives fighting the Nazis only to have them compared to them 74 years later...

Going to the venues and just walking around town, it is kinda hard not to ignore other country's fans walking around with there country's flag adorned like a super hero's cape, face painted and enjoying all the festivities. National pride for all the participating countries were present. Now keep in mind, we are in Canada so there will be a lot more Canadians than any other country at the Olympics. But we are also a very ethnically diverse country with citizens from all over the world. When i was at the speed skating, the volume of Dutch orange in the crowd was amazing and everyone cheered for everyone, even the US athletes.

Shane Koyczan's We Are More speech defines Canada but i guess you skipped that part in the opening ceremonies...

Well, i doubt anything will happen to you for this article as the amount of traffic, albeit negative, it has generated has most likely made your editors happy. I will leave you with a comment posted for this article that more or less sums it up. Also, i will apologize to the Americans reading this article for having to be linked and compared to this ignorant cry baby, but once again, the few ruin it for the rest and his Wahhhhhbulance is on the way....

Coincidentally however, Hitler was also an uppity elitist know-it-all who feigned moral indignation to cover up latent insecurities and bigoted ignorance.

By your logic, I guess that makes you just like Hitler, eh?

But you know, not in a political way. Just in an Olympic kind of way.

When i was a child, it was always a great day to be able to go visit Sealand of the Pacific near my house in Victoria, B.C. Seeing sea life underwater doing what they do and then emerging to see the seals playing only a couple feet away was a pretty cool feeling. And of course the main attraction, the killer whales, Tilikum, Haida and Nootka! Now this was around 20 years ago but today, one of the whales, Tilikum has made the spotlight but in a bad way.
On February 24, he killed one of the trainers at Florida's Seaworld. Sadly, this is not the first time he has taken a life. When he was still at Sealand in Victoria, he killed one of the trainers who fell into the pool in 1992. Just before Sealand was closed, he was moved to Seaworld only to have a body found in his tank in 1999 (but appears the guy snuck into the tank, so can you really blame the whale?). Tilikum is a bull orca who was captured near Iceland in November 1983 at about two years of age. So he has been in captivity for almost 30 years and most of his life.

Now before PETA gets going on the "You should not put any animal in captivity" tirade they are known for but technically have a good point (and will leave it at that). Lets look at the mammal itself.

Orca's feed exclusively on fish, particularly salmon, and other populations hunt marine mammals such as sea lions, seals, walruses and even large whales. Killer whales are regarded as an apex predator as they have no natural predators. Now if something hunts other animals larger than humans and is an APEX Predator, then we are on the menu like everything else. These animals are not domesticated, they are wild animals taken from their life in the ocean and put into a big tank for the rest of us to enjoy. It is not a matter of IF, it is a matter of WHEN something like this will occur.

On the wet coast, whale watching is a huge tourist attraction. Fleets of boats set out everyday loaded with tourists hoping to see them in there natural environment, which is how it should be. We have a couple resident whale pods in the area so you are almost guaranteed to see them swimming freely. Sadly, Tilikum and any other whale in captivity will most likely spend there last days in those tanks, never to swim freely in the ocean again.

In my opinion, when i was a child, it was all about the ability to see animals close up. Whether it be an aquarium or a zoo. Now that i am older, lived and worked in Africa with animals not stuck behind fences, seen ocean life in the wild, i am not really for zoos and aquariums. I see the need of them to educate and show people animals not found in their region, etc but if you look at it this way, do we put humans in zoos and put on display from other countries? No (at least that i am aware of...). So why do we do it to animals? Technically they had friends and family they were removed from...

I find it funny the news didn't bother mentioning the number of calves he sired, the fact he has been in captivity for so long. Any human stuck in a confined space for that long is almost guaranteed to have issues and lash out randomly. Killer whales are intelligent mammals and like anything with intelligence, it can get angry, frustrated and lash out for no reason.

I guess i am just shocked and happy at the same time over this. I saw Tilikum many times when i was a kid. I was fortunate enough to pet his tongue (kinda like a cat's tongue but huge) and did so knowing the risks of putting my hand into something that could swallow me whole. He brought joy to anyone who saw his shows and hopefully inspired visitors to develop interests in marine mammals, conservation, etc....To know he is still alive, is a good feeling. The circumstances to find that out he is still alive is the sad part as well as knowing he has been in captivity for almost as long as I've been on Earth. In the end, with any job, it has it's risks and unfortunately for the trainer, it cost her life. We hear about work place accidents happening all the time, it just tends to be animal related accidents getting more press when really, i am not shocked to see in the news a tiger has mauled its trainier, elephant trampled people or a killer whale has taken the life of its trainer. It comes with the job

My condolences to the trainer's family.