DEAR AMERICA

OPEN LETTER TO:  62.9 Million Americans

Dear 62.9 Million Americans, (aka Trump voters)

Eight years ago I looked on in wonder as the American People elected as your 44^th President, an African American. I and most of the world were inspired by this “leap forward” you were making. It was to say the least inspirational. It was an act that demonstrated to the world, to those young and old, from all ethnicities and religious backgrounds that no matter where you have been you can always move forward; that you can break the chains of your past no matter how painful and difficult that past was. In 2008 no more than 143 years after the abolition of slavery and 43 years after the institution of the “ Voting Rights Acts” you elected an African American man into the highest and most powerful position on earth. The world looked upon you with renewed hope and belief that any Country, any people, any race could overcome the greatest of barriers, darkest of histories and move “Forward”.

Yesterday, Tuesday November 08, 2016, I sat in front of the TV with my 13 year old son and watched as you collectively turned back time 100 years. We watched as you sent a message to the world that no matter how far "Forward" you can go, you can always go “Backwards”. There are few words to describe that feeling. To look at your 13 year old son and try to explain to him how the most advanced, prosperous and progressive society could make the decision you made. There was no way to explain, nor is there any explanation you can offer to justify what you have done. No logic applicable to defend your putting into the greatest and most prestigious seat of power an individual who over the course of the last 16 months (and most of his life)  has shown themselves to be a racist, bigot, sexist, misogynist, narcissistic, pathological liar. Just to name a few. Yes I know someone is going to tell me that you had no good option, that one was just as bad as the other. Wrong! That is the biggest cop-out ever. If you could not see the difference between the two options then you can only chalk up your choice to having the same values as the person who beside their name you put your X.

No woman who voted for Trump can defend their vote. No man who has a wife, mother, grandmother, sister, or daughter can defend voting for him. No African American or Latino can defend voting for him based on the premise that they voted for the best of two evils. Or that it was some type of political revolution. To attempt to do so undermines not only your credibility but your alleged vote of defiance against, “the System”. You see therein lies the kicker. By voting for him you actually voted for the system and against yourself. You voted for an individual without morals, convictions or concern for his fellow man and woman. An individual who got rich taking advantage of the very systems you claim to despise. A man who made himself rich off the backs of the working class, the middle class. A man who bankrupted companies and walked away leaving the small business owner high and dry, unpaid for their services and work. A man who worked the system by seldom paying taxes thereby rarely ever paying anything into the agencies/institutions you so value; social security, the military, education and on and on. In voting for him you effectively voted for that which you claim to be against. More importantly though, in so doing you have shown your true colors. A person votes for a politician who most closely reflects their values and their ideologies. You simply can`t pretend the contrary or chose to ignore who that individual is and what they say or do on the back of "craving change". Nor can you simply claim it was a protest vote against the establishment or the ''other'' candidate.

Now you have handed the keys to your great Nation to a man so resoundingly undeserving of the house. You have mortgaged your children’s and your grandchildren’s future with a false prophet, a snake oil salesman of the grandest scale. The harsh reality (this won't set in for awhile) is now you can never go back. You can never again claim the high ground against those Nations, organizations or individuals you so loudly claim to despise and deplore for their values as you have now voted for those very same values. There is no way back. It will take decades to undo what you have done. The saddest part is I truly believe most of you do not even have a clue what you have done and that unto itself is terrifying. The most difficult part is that you have now collectively lost the trust and respect of half the people of your own Nation and those of the people of other Nations who will never believe in any good measure or effort you ever attempt to undertake from this point forward. You have forever tarnished the veneer of your Nation and diminished its luster and credibility worldwide.

Over the next few days I challenge you to sit with your 13 year old, or your young growing daughter, or your Latino neighbor, or your mother, or your Muslim and African American co-workers and tell them how you justify your vote. Explain to them what exactly your vote is going to do to improve their quality of life. How it is going to improve their life experience or make it a better Nation. Explain to them how you do not share the same opinions, values or ideologies as the man you voted for but that you had to choose between the lesser of two evils. I wish you good luck with that! Because in the darkest recesses you know why you voted the way you did. You voted that way because he best represents exactly what you truly are deep down inside. Knowing that can at times be very difficult to live with….just ask people who have supported regimes that littered our historical landscape with the darkest moments of our time. You will be remembered as the people who started it all....whatever "all" turns out to be....P.S. It won`t be good.

In the wee hours of this morning, my son looked over at me and asked me this, “Dad, don`t you have to be eighteen to vote?” I responded. “Yes!” He then said, “given the results coming in you would think it was a bunch of 8 year olds voting. I am 13 and I would never vote for someone like Trump…” That my 61.2 million Americans pretty much sums up how far backwards you have gone!

ANGRY WHITE PEOPLE

It used to be reserved primarily for the male gender. But lately it seems to be inflicting a large portion of the population. We see them every day. They are everywhere. At work, the bank, school, on the roads, in restaurants. You name the place they are there. They come from all walks of life, all cultural backgrounds. Men and women, old and young. They are “Angry White People" (AWP). This was put on display and culminated last week with the arrival and speech of the Angriest of all orange…i..i.. mean white people. Prior to his arrival on the Convention stage, I had rarely seen a gathering of so many angry white people in one spot (that is if you exclude the 8:00am line up at the Starbucks). Yup, you know what I am talking about. The RNC (Republican National Convention) also to be reffered to as the “Gong-Show”. I mean seriously, these people are angry. Ugly angry. The kind of talk really loud until red in the face, say absolutely ludicrous things, draw everyone into your spewing rhetoric kind of angry. These people fit the perfect profile for some prescription drugs.

In the end I guess we should have expected no less. After all the head "Angry Man" sporting his fake hair and orange tan has spent the last 12 months traveling from one part of the United States to the other enflaming the anger we saw play out in Cleveland. The question here however is more about, "what are all these people really angry about"? Are they angry about the economy, immigration, national security, politics, and foreign policy? Or are they really angry about the loss of power? My feeling is it is the latter. You see this has everything to do with losing power 8 years ago to an African American male (born in Kenya, who is a Muslim, You have to understand that the truth and facts rank extremely low for these individuals). As a general rule Republican`s (not 100% of them) carry a certain "chip" on their shoulder and an even greater level of benign hatred for others. It is not simply an adversarial dislike of those who do not share their vision. No, their ideology of a mix of religion, guns, oppression of minorities and politics allows little wiggle room for anyone not completely on the same page as them. They carry an imbedded hatred and a desire to destroy everything that is not like them. We have been witness to this over the last week through the rhetoric which has spewed forth. Here are but a few examples along with a question I would like to ask to each quote;

QUOTES

"It's time to take back our country and 'make America safe again.”

Question: What exactly are you planning on taking back? Did you lose something? If so. What? Or are you talking about a nostalgic yearning to a day of white picket fences and women barefoot in the kitchen. Is that what you mean when you say take it back? Oh and to quote Jon Stewart. ``The Country doesn`t belong to you uniquely". As for safe, the FBI 2015 report on crime in the United States actually shows a declining crime rate since 1991. Yes there are cities plagued by gun and gang violence but overall America is safer now than it has been in the last 26 year 

"I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son ... If Hillary Clinton can't give us the truth, why should we give her the presidency? That's right, Hillary for prison. She deserves to be in stripes."

Question: Should we blame every leader and politician for every young man or women lost in conflicts abroad; sanctioned or terrorist related (the easy answer to that is yes, but the reality is no) . Sorry but you cannot just simply point to a scapegoat at the time that is convenient to appease your pain. Decades of failed foreign policy is what is to blame not any one individual.

“Our convention occurs at a moment of crisis for our nation. The attacks on our police and the terrorism in our cities threaten our very way of life. Any politician who does not grasp this danger is not fit to lead our country. Americans watching this address tonight have seen the recent images of violence in our streets and the chaos in our communities. Many have witnessed this violence personally. Some have even been its victims.”

Question: Crisis??? Seriously? Are you living in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, or anywhere else in the Middle East? Judging from that statement you are. I was in the United States as recently as April and I don`t recall the streets on fire, or versions of the “purge” taking place nightly. Is there problems? You bet your ass there are. Is it a crisis? Not! Fearmongering appears to be your calling card. Regradless it is a National and International dis-service to call what is happening in the US a crisis.

“America is far less safe and the world is far less stable than when Obama made the decision to put Hillary Clinton in charge of America’s foreign policy. I am certain it is a decision he truly regrets… This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction and terrorism and weakness.”

Question: Really? Might not the current situation be more the result of foreign policy failures, fake wars and ill advised alligances? Or support of dictators or the arming of rebel groups once believed to be friend not foe. The current situation is a result of that which was perpetrated by numerous administrations over the last 30 years. Therfeore all foreign threats existing worldwide are not caused by the previous Secretary of State.

“Law officers have been shot or killed in recent weeks in Georgia, Missouri, Wisconsin, Kansas, Michigan and Tennessee.

Question: That truly, is a very sad reality. Nothing should be more important than supporting our law enforcement officials who fulfill a very difficult task. While we’re on the subject though. How many unarmed African Americans have been killed by Police Lately? Do they not deserve the same protections within our society? Unfortunately there is something known as “cause and effect” this is what happens when a clear existing problem exists and no one in authority does anything to correct it. You have those very angry individuals who step forward to brandish their own form of justice. It’s wrong, very wrong but so is letting a problem go on for so long without action. It appears the only way to stop this is for both sides to recognize their responsibility for the situation and then to work togehter to fix it. Just a thought.

To add to these quotes there was Christie`s mock trial of Clinton (ref "lock her up" chants) and Carson’s comparison of her to Lucifer. Add onto that all the ridiculous claims made by the Gong-Master regarding immigrants, minorities, foreign trade and economics and you have yourself an arena full of anger. No not anger....actually rage.

Now if you’re looking at this from an outsiders perspective (as I am) you have to wonder exactly what these individuals where on about. More importantly though I did not hear one word about how all those claims made above were going to get resolved. I heard alot of "very fast", "great again" and "were going to have" without one substantive solution. If you look around the world you quickly understand that America is not what these angry white people have been making it seem like over the last week. Undoubtedly there are things to fear. With the San Bernardino, and Orlando shootings combined with the terrorist attacks in France, Iraq, and elsewhere, one can certainly be excused if they are a little frightened. Combine this with the current unrest over race relations, policing and the justice system in America and you can easily understand that there are significant issues to be dealt with. However to go so far as painting a board stoke portrait of America in shambles is going too far. It is simply an example of the Politicians (yes including the Orange man because he is now one) using fear, hatred, mistrust to leverage an agenda with the goal of paving their way to power. Rarely have I seen this high a % of America so afraid, so distrusting. It is a bi-product of the after effects of 911 combined with a relentless 24hr news cycle that exaggerates and amplifies the problems throughout the world. It only took a match (that would be the orange-Man) to ignite a powder keg. The snake oil sales man that he is, saw this opportunity and seized it by the throat and is now using it to carry himself and his bigoted, racist and narcissistic ass into power.

It appears after last week that a certain demographic seems willing to follow him and to go "all-in" hook line and sinker into the nonsense. What is clear though is this. They simply remain angry white people who probably have the least to be angry about of all the citizens of the United States. Even today when you push all the BS aside, that is a fact!

WE SEE YOU

We see you. We see who you are. You "False Christians". If we were ever in doubt, the Orlando Massacre has clearly exposed you. You’re not Christians, you are not children of God. Those of you who have protested at victims funerals or those who have taken to the airwaves, television and social media concerning the Orlando massacre to make statements such as:  “I will not oppose evil killing evil”, “no great lose they cannot reproduce anyways, “Gods punishment for their sins” and too many more to mention here; you have rightfully shown your true colors. You need not align yourself with God or his son Jesus Christ for you are not on their side. Anyone who truly knows the Bible and the values of God understands that there is no possible way to defend what happened in Orlando. You are simply as bad as the terrorist who executed those 49 innocent souls and injured some 53 others.

Yes. In fact, you must rise up now and proclaim that you are on the side of evil. That you are with the very terrorists who under any other circumstance you would have condemned.  You have now clearly shown that you side with those same terrorists who murder in a false loyalty to their God and his scripture. The terrorists who despise your freedom, your capitalism, and your open democracy are in fact your allies. You have aligned beside them in your failure to condemn that horrific act in Orlando. Yes you have shown your colors to be the same as theirs. Your hatred to be equal to theirs. You are no better than them and you are certainly not good Christians.

To be a follower of God you must hold yourself to the standard of God and to none other. To speak out under a false pretext of Christianity to justify your bigotry, your hatred, your homophobia; you have simply demonstrated your complete lack of understanding of the Bible and the God you proclaim your aligance to. For the record, I am not a man of faith. I am however a man of spirituality who believes each individual should follow that which fulfills them the most in their lives. That each person no matter their color, sex, religion, political conviction or sexual preference is created equal. That each person has the right to believe in whatever God (or other) best represents their notion of what it means to be a human being. In so doing they should be able to find the fulfilment they seek while mutually existing and respecting their brothers and sister with whom they share this earth. To claim or twist the words of any religion for self-interest or for one second claim that the tragedy in Orlando in anyway correlates to the values of any religion is categorically false. That also applies to the religion of Islam. So when you call in high voices for the words, “Radical Islam” to be used by your leaders to describe those who harness, wield and inflict such violence; yet in the same voice you use self-interpreted verses on your own religions Bible to falsely claim those massacred by that very same Radicalism you decry deserved in some way to be victims of it simply shows your own, “Radical Christianity”. Putting you on the exact same side as those you claim to oppose.

Having read the Old Testament on numerous occassions in addition to the New Testament, I can recall no verses of the Christian books that said, “Massacring innocent people in the name of another God was justified in any terms under any condition”. I did not read where it shall be, “proclaimed” by the flock of God which of his sons and daughters deserves to die and which do not. Nor did I read how one man shall judge all other men and women in the spirit of his own unique beliefs. For information purposes I believe God reserves uniquely that right. As a refresher read only a very few versus on this subject:  1 John 2:11 and 4:20. Or perhaps refer to Romans 3:10. Or Romans 2: 1-29. Or Romans 13: 8-10. Or 1 John 3:15. Oh and just for the record; those of you refering to Romans 1:18:32 to justify your vial; you need to recognize that in todays day in age everyone would be suceptible to the application of that Verse. Especially your Orange haired friend! (reference Boast, & Envy).

In the end you have now set your allegiance and picked your side. The unfortunate message I have for you is that in so doing you have set yourself on the side of evil and according to the very book and God you follow, you have sentenced yourself to eternal condemnation in the eyes of your very God. Fear not however as your God is apparently forgiving and through repentance will perhaps forgive your ultimate sin. On the other hand, I and many others will not, as we see you for exactly what you are.

LOOKING FOR ANSWERS

Even if you are not a follower of astronomy or science, the past few months has seen some very interesting developments in man’s exploration of space and its ultimate goal of understanding "are we alone". More interestingly it has opened a whole new set of questions which will cause us to revise how we consider ourselves and where we might have come from. It also raises questions about what drives Humanities strong desire to find out if we are alone. Is this drive a result of our general dissatisfaction with the state of our world and our seeming impotence to correct that which plagues us. Is it rooted in our confusion between what place Science and Religion should occupy in our lives. Maybe it is the idea that perhaps someone or something else can help us find solutions to our challenges. No matter what truly drives this curiosity and desire for knowledge, the fact is; man is destined to eventually find out the truth about our Universe and our existence. We are inching closer and closer based on the below.

The Kepler space telescope which was launched by NASA in 2009 and was designed primarily to search the milkyway for Earthsized exoplanets (planets particularly like Earth). It uses a principle of looking for the dimming of a star as a planet passes in front of it. Imagine tying a Ping-Pong ball to a string and passing it in front of a flashlight beaming against a wall. The light beam will dim as the ball passes in front but will never fully extinguish the glow you can see on the wall. Thereby indicating the presence of the planet whose size can be estimated based on the degree of dimming. Kepler though now partially disabled had been able to identify as of January 2015, 1000 confirmed exoplanets. In May of 2016 NASA announced it had spotted 1,284 planets and of these 550 are small possibly rocky ones of which 9 of them were found to be in the habitable zone. Four of those new confirmed exoplanets were found to orbit in the habitable zone of their related stars: three of the four, Kepler-438b, 442b, and 452b are almost Earth-size and likely rocky; the fourth, Kepler -440b is a "super earth". The Habitable zone is when a planet is located close enough to its star to potential permit liquid water and temperatures that would not boil or freeze you to death; also known as the goldilocks Zone).

In addition to the Kepler findings a paper released by Adam Frank and Woodruff Sullivan in April of this year revised the findings of the "Drake Equation"  (Frank Drake). The "Drake Equation" was developed to measure the potential existence of technologically advanced civilization in our universe. Based on evolving information and new research they were able to address three questions which were not complete or not known at the time of Drakes calculations. They were:

1. How many stars actually might have planets?

2. How likely it was for life to evolve on those planets and more importantly having ones which developed intelligent beings;

3. How long it might take for any civilization to become extinct.

The Frank/Sullivan equation used data and information which was not available at the time (1961) that Drake developed his equation. Given the number of exoplanets discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope. Through this analyses it was possible for astronomers to estimate that at least 1/5th of stars have planets in habitable zones. As to Drake's estimate as to the length of time over which intelligent civilizations release detectable signals, Frank/Sullivan asked the question, "Are we the only technological species that has ever arisen?"

The duo's new equation says the probability there has never been any extra-terrestrial life in space is an infinitesimal one in 10 billion trillion or one part in 10 to the 22^nd power. This is an incredibly small number, said Frank.

They also conclude that over the 14 billion years the universe has been in existence, it's very likely these civilizations have become extinct.

(credit Arthur Dominic Villasanta). 

These findings obviously increase our understanding and point to the fact that for planet earth and more importantly an Intelligent Civilization to be a "one off" is extremely unlikely. If we use the Frank and Sullivan adjusted Drake Equation we can calculate that even if the chances of there having had a "high tech" species being 1 in a 1,000 trillion, it would mean there is a possibility that there have been 1,000 occurrences of a history like our own on planets across the local region of the cosmos. The result of the revised Drake Equation however does something even more important. It increases the value of the Fermi Paradox. This "paradox" written by Enrico Fermi asked a very specific question. If we know the number of potential planets in the visible universe and the potential for development of intelligent civilizations. Where is everyone? Or more appropriately put; why have we yet to encounter any other intelligent Civilization or found evidence of such. So while the exploration and growth of our knowledge increases we are still left with the question Fermi asked so many years ago. We are however beginning to perhaps understand that maybe there were "others" but those others long ago disappeared. It is perhaps possible that given the age of our universe; that a type of cycle exists between the evolution of a planet into a civilized and technological society and its ultimate extinction. This therefore affecting who is "out there" at any given time. In layman’s terms perhaps a more fitting scene from Spielberg’s E.T would have had E.T phoning home only to find the line was dead.

This new information has caused me to reflect on mankind’s ongoing desire to answer the incredibly perplexing question, "Are we alone"? Having grown up gazing at the stars and wondering, what is out there; I have maintain this incredible curiosity throughout my adult life. My curiosity has always been tapered with a sense that we might have all along been asking the wrong questions. One need not be a person of faith or a person of Science to fully appreciate that one resounding question remains unanswered. Was the "Big Bang" the start or the end of something else? The fact that how everything really began for our Universe some 14 billion years ago does remain a scientific mystery. The simple fact is the "origin" had to come from something. More simply put you cannot have "something" that came from "nothing". That just does not pass the litmus test. If anything, one must ponder the following. We have established that our ancestors date back about six million years, the modern form of humans we know today only evolved about 200,000 years ago. What we recognize today as "civilization" has only been around for about 6,000 years, and the world most of us recognize today (the industrialization period) started in the 1800s. While we’ve accomplished a great deal from our birth to today, we are infants in the grandeur scheme of the overall age of the universe. In essence we are not even an embryo in the universes womb. If we take the age of our sun (approx. 4.5 billion years old and we believe it will last another 5 to 5.5 billion year) it theoretically means the earth will have benefited from its star for 9.5 to 10 billion years. If you apply that the Univers is some 14 billion years old the math dictates that planets benefiting from a star with the same life span as ours would have long ago been obliterated by their (dying) expanding and exploding stars. 

So now back to the real question. Is it possible that planetary development into intelligent Civilizations could be cyclical? Is it possible that all evidence of previous civilizations has been wiped out? That all we can see are remnants of the past and potentially developing planets of the future. That this particular moment is Earths "Time". Does this possibility resolve in finality the question about if we are alone? More strategically does it increase humanities desire and focus on leaving this planet to colonize another. Would this guarantee the continuity of mankind? A greater question if this is true is; why did no other civilizations already do this? The answer may lay in the evidence we are currently discovering. Could it be the Universe is telling us a story that we have yet to fully understand. The answer is, perhaps yes! Perhaps our theory of evolution holds as greater story. Maybe Earths evolution was enhanced by a civilization that could not leave its own planet on mass but found a way to seed another evolving planet. Is it possible that a civilization existing many millions of years ago helped the evolutionary process here on earth? That they ultimately discovered through their own technology a planet circling its star in the goldilocks zone and developed a way to send some sort of micro bacterial life to this planet to ensure the continuity of a species. Was it a desperate attempt to start over? An attempt to erase the errors of a previous Intelligent society doomed to extinction. A Hail Mary for a "new beginning". To start over from scratch.  

These are interesting questions. What they still fail to resolve is how did nothing become something? That is the quintessential question. A question which leaves the door open to "ancestors" or "gods" who perhaps helped to create life as we know it. Or  "evolution" helped along by unknown forces. All of this will hopefully be answered as we forge our way further into space and discover more of the Universes history and our place in it. In the end however one thing remains and should remain. Mankind must pursue its quest to answer these questions. It must pursue it to better understand not if we are alone but more relevantly where we came from and far more importantly where we might be headed.

FOR SLOWN

For My Son Slown,

For your 18th Birthday I wanted to share with you some words of wisdom, advice and general observations. Some of this I have applied in my life. Others I have not but probably would have been better off had I. You are an amazing young man who is going to go on to do great things in life. I am proud to be your dad. So here goes:

1) Success is subjective. Do not measure your own against anyone else’s.
2) Do not play with people’s feelings or emotions. Allow no one to play with yours.
3) People used to believe for a "fact" that the world was flat, remember this in context to everything people claim today as "facts".
4) People with lots of, "things" generally have very little.
5) Run backwards in public to know what it feels like to be "different".
6) Eat popcorn, just go easy on the butter.
7) Always have a dog in your life. They will always love you.
8) If your job is a "job" find something else to do.
9) Shivery only dies if we let it. Make sure if you have sons you pass that along.
10) Someone is always claiming the food you love causes some disease or another. Ignore it because no one gets out of life alive.
11) There are allot of real dangers in life. There are equally as many false ones. The key is in understanding which are which.
12) If everyone is running from something, sometimes you have to be the one running towards it.
13) Always defend the meek, the bullied, the repressed, the poor, those who cannot defend themselves. There is nothing nobler.
14) Accept for a fact; that some people are just, "Bat Shit Crazy"
15) Listen to your elders if not only out of respect then at least for a good laugh.
16) Never judge the misfortunate and especially realize that you are always just two bad moves from perhaps being in their exact situation.
17) Stop and watch birds fly and marvel at the possibilities.
18) Stop and watch young children play to remind yourself of how easy life can be.
19) Regularly try something out of your comfort zone.
20) Take no one for granted. Do not allow yourself to be taken for granted.
21) If you’re about to do something and that, "this is really stupid" buzzer goes off in your mind; go sit down and think it over.
22) In life nothing is certain. Just when you think everything is perfect is the moment a frozen turd from a passing jet liner will crash through your roof and land on that coffee table that you built in High School woodworking shop, smashing it into a million pieces. Life is like that.
23) Never drive drunk.
24) Never drive with someone who is drunk.
25) Being a good friend does not mean always going along or agreeing with everything.
26) Never let anyone disrespect your beliefs or values. Never disrespect theirs.
27) Listen carefully. Speak the same way.
28) Love big or go home!
29) It’s not that bad things will happen to you but how you handle them that will ultimately determine their true severity.
30) The person you love should be the most important thing in your life and you should never let them doubt it.
31) Write down moments that mean something special to you. Time will fly, your memory will fail, recollections will fade but you can always go back and read to remind yourself what they meant.
32) Volunteer
33) 50% of all advice you get should immediately be deleted or ignored. Therefore you just spent 50% too much time reading this.

Love,

Dad

DELUSIONAL

Delusional should just about sum it up. After the end of another disappointing season for the Montreal Canadiens, The Ownership and GM held their yearly ``state of affairs``. Subsequent to this everyone comes out of the woodwork to give their ideas, impressions and commentary on the state of their favorite team and the seemingly repeditive position of team ownership and management in regards to the failings of the Team.

 If your frustrated, angry, disappointed or just downright perplexed at how this has gone on for so long with this team, you would not be alone. It just seems that with every Ownership change, GM or Coaching change its always the same old nonsense. In essence the team should just record their season ending ``state of affairs`` and just play it back each year because for the last 23 years very little has changed. It is just different faces with the same message. The unfortunate reality is that the discussion around the team has a tendency to degenerate to ones of passion instead of one of reality. Yes the discussion always degenerates to; plans-dreams vs. reality, rebuilding vs. contending. Justification vs. responsibility, excuses vs. accountability. All of this simply amplifies the quagmire that is the Montreal Canadiens. This problem is compounded by certain in the media  (not all, some get it right) and the unbalanced influance it has on how this team is managed and run. All too often the multiple talking heads are either; a) So past their prime in relation to today’s NHL that all they provide is a recanted version of thier own history mixed with dilusional memories of nostalgia or; b) recently retired talking heads with no rings on their fingers, names on the cup and few games played. These heads who constantly second guess from a position of deficiency and not from a general coaching or management knowledge. In fact if you take the talking heads at both French networks and look at their overall Team management and coaching experience it would be akin to taking an Iron worker off of a multistory high-rise and asking him to give commentary on the overall building concept and construction and then accepting for a fact that he can provide valuable commentary on how to design a better building. This principle is ridiculous at its foundation.

All of this simply serves to confuse the fans, misdirect focus and create general confusion around what it should or will take to make this team a true contender for the cup. To do this it is important as a starting point to recognize specific historical elements of this team over the last 23 years and how that compares to the Teams who have won championships. This at the very least should serve as a road map for what kind of team you need to have to be able to contend in today’s NHL. More accurately it allows management/ownership to aim at the true target of what is required to make a winner out of this team.

Now I am simply an arm chair quarter back who loves hockey. I played until Junior and never skated up for a professional game. I was a very mediocre player. I am however a builder and an organizer who understands that building a team to undertake a $400 million dollar project is not much different from trying to build a championship winning team. For both to succeed you need excellent owners, top tier managers/leaders and most of all you need to piece together the puzzle of the resources (people/players) you need to accomplish the goal. If the Canadiens were a true business trying to survive in today’s market they would have long ago gone bankrupt. Fortunately for them they are an institution that plays to the heart strings of a rabid fan base and the population; who recall with yearning the great old days. They then bath themselves in that past glory to help them forget about the last 23 years. The tired old rhetoric about the Canadiens being the greatest franchise in sports is dead….yes I said it…it’s dead. It`s similar to a scene on the television show, ``Network`` where the anchor tells some naïve university students why "America is not the greatest country in the world" (look it up on YouTube you`ll love it) it’s exactly the syndrome many in the Canadiens camp suffer from. No one (other than Canadiens die hard fans) care anymore about what the Team once did. In todays competitive sports market it is all about what you have done now. It seems however that Ownership/Management is satisfied with the status quo. Fortunately for them the Fans have agreed to permit this. The owner doesn`t have to worry about filling up his arena or private lodges. Does not have to worry about diminishing merchandising sales or corporate sponserships. Nope. Not in Montreal! What this has lead to however is simple complacency.  23 years later Canadians fans have become no better than the Maples Fans or the Cubs Fans or the Jets Fans. They have become equally as delusional as the ownership and management in regards to the team.

So let’s take a closer look using facts from the last 23 years and you tell me how difficult it should be to start recognizing what might be required to help this beloved team find its way back to a championship.  

Just for clarity there have been 22 regular seasons since 1992-93 (as result of the cancelled 2004-05 season). Of those 22, 20 of them have been full seasons (94-95 as well as 2012-2013 were strike/lockout shortened seasons)

1)      Needless to mention it has now been 23 years since the cup has been won by the Canadiens (given the fact that it will not be won in the 2015-2016 season);

2)      In the last 21 years the cup has been won (2015-16 not yet won) 15 of those times it was by teams who scored 235 goals or more during the regular season. During the same period the Canadiens have scored more than 235 goals in only 8 regular seasons;

3)      Excluding strike shortened years and the cancelled season. Teams giving up less than 200 goals in the regular season have won the cup 12 times in 21 years. The Canadiens have given up more than 200 goals in 17 of the last 22 regular season; Bet you have a hard time believing that one!

4)      Excluding strike shortened seasons the cup has been won only 2 times by teams with less than Three 20 goal scores. Montreal has had 7 seasons with less than Three 20 goals scorers;

5)      There has not been a 40 goal scorer since 1993-94 (yes Pacioretty made it close in 2013-14 and 2014-15).

6)      The team has missed the playoffs 8 times in 23 years;

7)      The team has been knocked out in the first round 7 of the 14 years they have made the playoffs in the last 22 years

8)      The team has had 9 different coaches in 23 years.

9)      The team has had 8 different ``# 1 Goalies`` in 23 years

10)   In 2014-2015 season taking all rostered players who played at least 1 game in the regular season the average age of a player for the Canadiens was 27.5 years old. The Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks was 25.8. So much for the rebuilding and age thing in correlation to championships.

Some might say that all of these are just statistics. They are and they matter. They matter simply for the reason that they give you starting points for where to focus. For all to long (especially the last 6 or 7 season) all we here about is how goaltending and defense is going to be the path to the cup for this team. It is only true in the sense that teams giving up less than 200 goals in the regular season have a better chance of winning the cup then those who allow more. The Canadiens for all their talk about this have in fact allowed more than 200 goals in 17 of the last 22 seasons. It is clear that something is not working in the ``what we’re preaching`` vs. ``what were are actually doing and have done`` category. Notwithstanding any of this it is clear that the Ownership and management have absolutely no idea how to fix this team and make it into a contender.

With each changing GM we hear all the Blah..Blah..blah about the traditions and the history and about accountability and results. Ok so where are the results? In the last 4 years we missed the playoffs once, got knocked out in the first round, second round and third round. The Third round performance getting close to at least a ticket to the dance. Other than that it has continuously been failure after failure. We are not talking about 5 or 10 years of restructuring. This Team has been restructuring for 23 years now. The end line product looks like something you would get if you combined an elephant with a giraffe, lion and a turtle. It would makes no sense and you would have absolutely no idea what you were looking at. This is exactly the case with this team. How many times did this team put all its eggs into the goaltending basket? It seems like forever we have heard nothing but how goaltending is going to win this team a Cup. That same nonsense has been going on for 23 years. This season, that truly came home to roost; as everyone was sure that Carey was going to carry this team on his shoulders to a championship. Thre is no doubt that he is one of the best in the game today. Could he have done it had he not been injured? Absolutely NOT! There I said that too. No team, I do not care how it’s structured cannot get carried through 82 games of a regular season and then potentially 16 games of Playoffs by its goalie alone. The playoffs maybe…the rest. No way! Carey would have been so burnt out by the playoffs having had to backstop this team every night; facing 30 + shots trying to win games 2 -1 or 1-0 or trying for 2-2 and hoping for the shootout. Would he have then been able to carry a miracle into 16 playoff games? Common! This team averaged 2.69 goals per game, how can it be reasonably possible to expect him and his ``back up`` to hold the opposition each night to 2 goals or less. Just for fun the contenders for this year’s cup are averaging 3 plus goals per game.

Now all this said, the sad reality sets in. This ownership nor management have any intention on doing anything other than changing the paint and curtains. There is no rebuilding going on. There is no acceleration plan for surrounding Price, Subban, Galchenyuk, Pacioretty, Gallagher with already high caliber players. All the young players you saw rolled out this past season are 3 and 4 years from achieving the potential required to provide real support to these players. During those 3 or 4 years Price will age, his body will age, Subban is burning 1.5 years for every year he plays. There is going to be nothing left of those current stars in 3 to 4 years to build off other than the youngsters who will have matured but will not benefit from any veterans. In essence the team will look exactly the same in 4 years as it does right now.  The only way to fix this team now and give it the legitimate chance to contend is to let go of some of the veterans and the underperformers. The problem is the contracts and the marketability (saleability/tradeability) of who the Canadiens need to get rid of to make room for strong talent required now. Mr. Lafleur said it best in his recent interview; saying simply the team has, ``four 4<sup>th</sup> lines``. He might not have been exactly right but if he was off it was by just one line. We have Three 4^th lines. Without addressing this, this team cannot win nor even contend for a championship.

So what now? Well if you start feeling like your stuck in the movie Ground Hog Day you wouldn`t be alone. We will as always surely hear countless discussions over the next few months leading up to the draft about how the Team needs to trade Subban or something ridiculous like that. Or how they need to go get Yakopov or Drouin. Or how the team needs more French Canadians. You will hear it all. This nonsense will for the vast majority come from those Journalist and talking heads I mentioned earlier on. You can also bet the management and ownership ownership have no real plans for building a contender. Why would they. You stuck around for the last 23 years haven`t you?

No unfortunately if you’re a Habs Fan you will have to sadly live with the fact that your team under this ownership, with its current management and coaching philosophy will only continue to disappoint you. Fear not however you will continue to hear about the past glory, the tradition, the class of the organization and this will sadly have to compensate you for the lack of success of this team.

15 YEARS GONE BY

Dear Dad,

Today is April 2, 2016. It has now been 15 years. They say,``time is supposed to heal us``. That with the passing of sun ups and sun downs, the turning of calendar pages, the passing of Holidays and Birthdays that the yearning and the sorrow will subside. That retrospective, reflection and memories will fill the void of loss. It is not true. Suddenly losing someone you love with no warning only leaves words unspoken, words unwritten and thoughts wanting to be shared in hindsight. Life is fragile, oh so very fragile. The death of a loved one only leaves a hole in the heart and the mind. One can attempt to patch over it with new experiences, new adventures and a renewed life. It is like putting tape over a hole in the garden hose. The hose still works but it is never the same. In the end, when the day comes back each year, the day you passed away; we are left only with the undeniable recognition that the hole is still there and always will be. That all those years have denied us your presence, your knowledge, your love and that no matter how much time marches on it will never march on the same way for us.

For you the journey ended 15 years ago. You were far to young, we were far to young to lose you. For all of us, all of your family who loved you so very much our journey continues. We can only hope that in your final moments you found solace and comfort in the love that surrounded you. That even today you find yourself forever comforted in the love we all still carry for you. For me Dad there is nothing I would not give to have one chance, if only for a few minutes to stand beside you, to fish with you again. A chance to see your smile, to hear your voice. A chance for one fleeting moment to say all the words I want to say to you. The words I would have said had I known you were going to leave. I know it is only a pipe dream, but it is the dream I cling to because in the end, ``time heals nothing`` so it is all I have left. I miss you so very much.

Your son.

THE SNAKE OIL SALESMAN

OPEN LETTER TO:

My Dear American Friends and Neighbours,

So what started as somewhat entertaining has rapidly descended into something rather frightful. Many of us north of your border took for granted over the last few months that a certain portion of the American population wanted to be part of a new reality TV show called, ``Presidential Apprentice``. Unfortunately it appears now that this is not a show at all. No wait. It is actually a show and quite entertaining but not exactly the show many of us want to see any longer. This is why I felt compelled to write to you. We are worried about you; no not only about you but ``for you``. This is going to be a little long; so hopefully you will follow along until the end.

Let me tell you a little about myself and my family. We have lived north of your Border for three generations. Not that long but certainly long enough to have allowed us to build a great deal of respect, admiration, infinity and passion for you our Neighbours. My Dad would often take me and my younger brother to the Plattsburg Airforce Base so we could watch the Fighter Jets landing and taking off. We also spent many a summer in Maine and Florida vacationing on the beaches. As I grew into my late teens my first big adventure was driving to Florida from Montreal for an epic road trip with two of my buddies in one of their Dads Chrysler Fifth Avenue.  That was when I truly began to admire and love the United States and most importantly its citizens. Since that trip many, many years ago I have returned regularly to your incredible country. I have had the opportunity to work there and play there. I have driven across your country twice. Yes twice! Why? You might ask. Well simply because I have gained so much from the interaction with citizens from the East Coast to the West Coast. From the Northern Border to the Southern tip. I have sat in your places of worship. I have eaten in your small town dinners and your big city restaurants. I have walked in the water of the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf. I have walked your greatest cities at all times of the day and admired the granduer of it all. I have fished along the banks of some of your great rivers, climbed some of your highest mountains and admired many of your parks and national monuments. Through all of these experiences I gained the greatest gift possible; the opportunity to meet, talk, discuss and laugh with thousands of divers Americans from all walks of life. American’s who have enhanced my life from the contact and interaction I had with them. What always impressed me was that regardless of their diversity or from which State they came, or from what ethnic or religious background; there was always one tangible. Your love of Country.

Fast forward now to 2016 and something dramatic has happened. For some yet to be, still completely complexing reason, a certain amount of the population has chosen to embrace an individual who is so counter to the values of all those fine Americans I have met over my lifetime. I have watched the United States and its people step up to face global threats from tyrants, narcissistic bullies and raving lunatics. I have watched you be the world’s police when other countries who should have stepped up shunned from their responsibility. I have watched as you have been often criticized for this action or your foreign policies. More importantly I have watched Americans die for a cause bigger then themselves. Regardless of this, you have continued to fight the good fight where you believed it was necessary. Some believe this was done only in the name of resources or politics. I have never subscribed to that notion. The reason being that no country can sacrifice as much as you have and have done it purely for self-interest. There was something greater at play. Maybe this can be tied back to your history and your ability to face dramatic internal challenges and differences to become a better Nation. For me it has always boiled down to this. America is not a place on a map, a simple populated land mass, it is an `idea` and I believe this is what generation after generation has sacrificed for. Nothing more simple then that. An ``idea`` of what a Country can be and more relevantly what America is and who Americans are.

Now I know things have not been easy. Things have been complicated economically, socially and politically since 2008 and more importantly 2001. Many things have changed. Security, once an afterthought seems today be the only thought. The average man and woman finds themselves struggling harder and harder every day to make a life for themselves and their families. Large corporations have too much power, Government representatives are more interested in their own `self-interest` then in the `greater interest` of their constituents. There are racial and religious divisions and disputes. There is a justice and policing system in shambles. Know this however; it is the same everywhere. What you are experiencing is not unique to the United States. It is happening all over the world. What I mentioned above manifests itself in different ways to different extents in different countries but they all share the same commonality. Recognizing this is half the battle. How you chose to address what you face and try to improve it is the other half. Which brings me to my point.

Through the last 330 years, America has reinvented itself over and over. You have produced some of the greatest scientific minds, inventors, artists and writers. You have contributed so much not only to your Nation but to every other Nation on earth. The inventions realized on your soil now benefit billions. Yes billions. Your Political leaders from both parties have helped to mold and sculpt the landscape of the world we live in today. Freedom in Europe or for that matter the world might not exist today if not for you and the other allied partners who deposed psychotic, narcissistic bullies. Your politicians and spiritual leaders have spoken words which have resonated around the globe. From Lincoln`s, ``Gettysburg address``, to King`s, ``I have a dream``, to J.F. Kennedy`s inauguration address and the famous words, ``ask not what your Country can do for you; ask what you can do for your Country``. The most important and relevant words for today’s condition came from  R. Kennedy speaking on the day after Kings assassination. He said some of the following:

``Too often we honor swagger and bluster and wielders of force; too often we excuse those who are willing to build their own lives on the shattered dreams of others. Some Americans who preach non-violence abroad fail to practice it here at home. Some who accuse others of inciting riots have by their own conduct invited them.

Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, but this much is clear: violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.

I have not come here to propose a set of specific remedies nor is there a single set. For a broad and adequate outline we know what must be done. When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies, to be met not with cooperation but with conquest; to be subjugated and mastered.

We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear, only a common desire to retreat from each other, only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force. For all this, there are no final answers.

Yet we know what we must do. It is to achieve true justice among our fellow citizens. The question is not what programs we should seek to enact. The question is whether we can find in our own midst and in our own hearts that leadership of humane purpose that will recognize the terrible truths of our existence.

We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge.``

Those words spoken decades ago have the same relevance for American`s today. There is today a man  of bluster, a man without substance, a man who believes only in his own greatness and not those of the people. A man standing in front of a podium trying to redefine patriotism. A man claiming to speak for the majority, telling them that he is their voice and can make them, ``great again``. He advocates from that very podium afforded to him by the sacrifice of young American men and women that free speech is his and his alone and that anyone who dissents should be violently confronted, arrested and locked away. A man who through the deceitful manipulation of his words talks about race, women and immigrants with full knowledge that he will incite anger, hatred, violence and resentment against those he speaks of. A man who`s only goal it to divide, to appeal to the lowest common denominator, to make you fear. A man who tells you he has the answer without ever providing one solid solution. A man who in essence represents the exact thing that most Americans are angry and frustrated with. He is the famous 1%. He tells you he is one of you and he is succeeding in making some believe that he cares about their issues, their anger and their disillusionment. Understand though that he is not in the least bit interested in your problems, challenges or issues. He cares only about telling you who is responsible and who you should blame for your current plight in life with the goal of riding that very dissent to power.  He wants to sell you an elixir and wants you to drink it without hesitation believing it is the cure. When in fact he is selling you nothing but snake oil. There is not one ounce of leadership in what this man is selling. Unless of course you consider inciting people to sexism, hatred, bigotry and racism;leadership. American`s have seen this type of monster before. You have sent your young men and women to battle to defend America and your allies against such evil threats.

My American friends,  you have scarified far too much and have come far too far to allow this embodiment of evil to take power on your soil. When I was twenty I fell in love with a girl from Brooklyn. We met on a beach in Florida. She was intelligent, beautiful and had an incredible spirit. She had such enormous belief in her country. In her countries ability to grow and become greater. As many young loves do we ended up going our separate paths but I always remember what she once said to me sitting in Battery Park, `` you know Rob I believe I can do anything, that I am going to achieve what I want. That I can make anything I dream of a reality. How can I possibly fail, when I live in the greatest place on earth``. Yes we were young but those words are true. As true today as they were 31 years ago.  Is America Perfect? No! Is anywhere perfect? Absolutely not! One thing is true. American is already great. Yes you have issues and challenges. What Country does not?.  Your only true challenge is to find a renewed path to grow that greatness.  This path however will not be found through that snake oil salesman or in what he is trying to sell you. For It can only be found through yourselves using the same passion, resolve, commitment and heart you and your forefathers have applied for the last 330 years. If it is rejuvination, restructuring or change you seek then you can find it but not through this snake oil salesman. I have watched you change, grow, adapt and succeed together. This Man. This manipulator of disenchantment and of your anger is not you. He is not you! He is simply an opportunist. A salesman of the hour, selling you a false cure to your greatest concerns and fears with the hope of misleading you long enough with the elixir so he can slip into the seat of power.

Your countries history is not to follow those who sell fear, hate or division. Your history has been to follow those who have help raise you up and unite you; who make the impossible possible. Who provided opportunity to make the next generations lives better than the ones before. Leaders who build prosperity for all and not for some on the back of others. Leaders who take you to a cross road and help you decide what is ultimately the best path for today and tomorrow. America is great because of all those leaders who came before but most importantly every American who ultimately was able to distinguish the difference between a true leader and a Snake Oil Salesman. The yelling, lying, sexist, exasperated, egotistical, narcissistic ``Orange man`` does not deserve to be your leader.

  All the best to you,

 Rob