US senator Bernie Sanders is chair of the health education labor and pensions committee. He represents the state of Vermont, and is the longest-serving independent in the history of Congress. The following opinion piece from is The Guardian, Wed 30 Oct 2024. I strongly recommend that you read the full article here complete with links... Continue Reading →
One week to go, and the memes and media columns keep coming. There’s an edge on everything written, drawn or spoken in the last week before US election day, an edge as hard as the polls are close. I hear repeatedly, “how can people vote for Trump and his minions? Are they stupid, or mad,... Continue Reading →
Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 30] (Sunday, October 27th, 2024)A SERMON for the congregation of St. Stephen, Summerland BCThe Very Rev. Ken Gray ON (MY) BLINDNESS When I consider how my light is spent, Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, And that one Talent which is death to hide Lodged with... Continue Reading →
I know, we’ll all gobsmackingly sick of the US presidential election. We definitely want the Harris/Walz ticket to win, but watching the cheating, disinformation, voter manipulation, and rubbish reaction of hardcore Republican Trumpian actors is so very tiring. Yet if we say nothing, or do nothing, then they win. Simple as that. And don’t think... Continue Reading →
Here in BC, following our recent provincial election on Saturday, October 19, 2024 both the BC Conservatives and provincial New Democrats remain virtually tied. The Greens may once again hold the balance of power with two seats. A handful of ridings are still too close to call given the number of mail-in ballots remaining to... Continue Reading →
With thanks to photographers Linda Curle, Linda Carnegie, Lorne Hoover, and Nancy Montgomery Still my favourite movie, Casablanca, contains some brilliant cinematic lines: “Play it again Sam”; “We’ll always have Paris”; and “Round up the usual suspects.” Filmed in 1942 during the depths of the Second World War, the plot centres around Victor Laslo, a... Continue Reading →
Henry Porter in The Guardian reports from inside recent Trump Rallies: “To attend a Trump rally in rural America makes you worry for humanity’s future. After six hours in the baking sun watching 60,000-plus Trump supporters lap up his lies, I am here to tell you that there are few more lowering experiences to be... Continue Reading →
BC’s average real GDP per capita was 2.4 per cent higher in 2023 than five years earlier, compared with a 0.6 per cent decline in Canada overall. Photo via Wikimedia, Creative Commons licensed (THE TYEE) It will not surprise readers of this blog to discover that I have begun to comment on the BC Election... Continue Reading →
On this the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, the effects of which remain deadly and destructive on all sides today, I want to promote peace, but how? There have been many peace walks, peace protests, peace initiatives in recent decades; there have also been peace trains: Cue Jusuf Islam (Cat Stevens). Why... Continue Reading →
The dedication and enthusiasm of American pollsters, journalists, academics, campaign workers, and the candidates themselves are matched—and in some estimates exceeded—only by the efforts of researchers here at takenote.ca. Our goal is to continue to place before you, dear reader, inspiring, witty, artistic, topically relevant, sometimes edgy political imagery which captures the intent and spirit... Continue Reading →
Take Note - Reflections on life, music, politics, retirement and more by Ken Gray 