1. For the own good of the reporters. Keep them away from the real danger of ground zero. No need for any iron fence. Stay with the fake lake, and keep out of trouble.
2. We have money to burn, the taxpayers don’t mind and the oppositions can’t touch us. Just follow the example of China, building our own brand of 民族自豪. We cannot again lose face in the world. To compensate, have to do everything in excess.
3. To top the list of Harper’s Follies, that includes “perogie/ prorogue”, Our Great Musical Leader/Pianoman — the later day Beatle, Pick & Choose Women Health, Redact to Retard, “No Staff Allowed” gag, EMP ……… and now Fake Lake.
4. To create a transcendental atmosphere for all pregnant ladies to relax and meditate, in those Muskoka chairs, to better their maternal health, no need for abortion after all.
5. Pre-emptive damage control. Reporters are all nosy fellows, can’t let them out of our sight. Unexpected digging will definitely ruin our perfectly scripted stagings. Keep them away from the real conferences, create a quiet virtual environment to calm their urge and curiosity. No more bad publicity.
6. It is a Marketing Pavillion, stupid. “There are thousands of visitors from around the world,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the House of Commons. “This is a classic attempt for us to be able to market the country.”
7. Prop for our first TV soap series, produced exclusively for our very own big C new TV channel, “Fox News North” — tentatively named the “Faux Muskoka”.
8. A new travelling trend: Virtual Reality Travel, sponsored by Tourism Canada — “Be There Without Being There” (神遊) and lots of Photo-op moments. We will throw in the self-cleaned public washroom for good measure.
9. “Put a fake lake in every Canadian backyard” — this is going to be our next election slogan.
10. Artistic Inspiration — a new song is born: “If I have a Billion Dollars”
“Wavin’ Flag” is a song by Somali-Canadian musician K’naan, from his album “Troubadour”. He performed it at the Canadian Winter Olympic, the for Haiti telethon and other events. The song was also remade by a supergroup of Canadian artists, credited as Young Artists for Haiti, and became a charity single. The song was chosen as the anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup of this month, to be held in South Africa.
As for the lyrics, it was originally a memoir of K’naan’s childhood in the streets of Mogadishu during the Somali civil war, a life he escaped for Toronto at age 13 on what was, reportedly, the last commercial flight out.
Cut with poignant images from Haiti, the Young Artists for Haiti video begins with K’naan saying, “It started out as my song. But then it became their song. All of these artists’song. Now it’s really going to be Haiti’s song.”
The Young Artists for Haiti performance brought together some of the hottest Canadian acts in the business, including Drake, Hedley, Avril Lavigne, Nelly Furtado, Sam Roberts, Jully Black and, last but not least, the latest pop-ups Justin Bieber and Nikki Yanofsky.
Wavin’ Flag
K’naan
When I get older, they’ll call me freedom
Just like a Waving Flag.
[Chorus]
When I get older, I will be stronger,
They’ll call me freedom, just like a Waving Flag,
And then it goes back, and then it goes back,
And then it goes back
Born to a throne, stronger than Rome
but Violent prone, poor people zone,
But it’s my home, all I have known,
Where I got grown, streets we would roam.
But out of the darkness, I came the farthest,
Among the hardest survival.
Learn from these streets, it can be bleak,
Except no defeat, surrender retreat
So we struggling, fighting to eat and
We wondering when we’ll be free,
So we patiently wait, for that fateful day,
It’s not far away, so for now we say
[Chorus]
So many wars, settling scores,
Bringing us promises, leaving us poor,
I heard them say, love is the way,
Love is the answer, that’s what they say,
But look how they treat us, Make us believers,
We fight their battles, then they deceive us,
Try to control us, they couldn’t hold us,
Cause we just move forward like Buffalo Soldiers.
But we struggling, fighting to eat,
And we wondering, when we’ll be free
So we patiently wait, for that faithful day,
It’s not far away, but for now we say,
[Chorus] 2x
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And everybody will be singing it
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And you and I will be singing it
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And we all will be singing it
(Ohhh Ohh Ohh Ohh)
[Chorus] 2x
When I get older, when I get older
I will be stronger, just like a Waving Flag,
Just like a Waving Flag, just like a Waving flag
Flag, flag, Just like a Waving Flag
“Sir, Mission Impossible IV accomplished. Commandos Paradise, Goodyear and I, stormed the Jaffer-Guergis Parliamentary Inquiry Flotilla, captured the forum by force, with shouting matches; disrupted and dismantled the whole proceedings. We created a smokescreen of bickering, chaos, and left them in total disarray. Unlike the Israeli, we did that without raising any Canadian outrage.”
“Well done, Commando.”
“Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. We did it again. First we circumvented the attack of the Gang of Three by perogation of parliament. Then we redacted the Afghan detainees documents and perogation. Our sudden dumping of Guergis left the opposition stunned and stared in the dust, with their mouths opened. Now we did it again, by refusing to let our staff to testify. This is a cunning move, if I may say so myself, ha, ha.”
“Yes, Commando. The opposition raised the war with the club of Parliamentary Inquires, using these Inquiries to get at us. I like your idea of throwing the parliamentary rule book at them. An eye for an eye. Don’t expect us to give them the other cheek, or any cheek at all, as a matter of fact.”
“Yes Sir. We are going to continue this Democracy Blockade, to isolate them, to prolong our survival. Divide and conquer. We’ll keep them disorganized. We are fortunate to have such weak characters in opposition, to tell you the truth.”
“They are talking of forming an alliance without the Bloc this time.”
“Don’t worry, the Liberals are falling apart, the visiting professor just announced he is dead set against such marriage proposal. Their window of opportunity to do such is closing fast on them.”
“Losers don’t get to form coalitions. Winners are the ones who form government.”
“Yes, we wish. Sleep tight.”
“Excellent, Commando. Carry on, with our political games, better than my son’s Nintendo.”
In 1971, John Lennon expressed his vision of hope, peace, a world free of poverty, a world without countries or religions, through his powerful song “Imagine”. Lennon believed, “we are all one country, one world, one people”.
In the book Lennon in America, by Geoffrey Giuliano, Lennon himself commented that Imagine was an “anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic [song], but because it’s sugar-coated, it’s accepted.”
Decades later, his lyrics continue to influence and inspire.
Imagine
John Lennon
1971
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
